# Clearwater Crusaders - City of the Spider Queen (Updated 17th June)



## Eccles (Nov 22, 2002)

This campaign started a little while ago, and the goal is to build up until the players reach an adequate level to go into the City of the Spider Queen module. One of my players has very generously been writing a (highly biased!) journal of all their adventures, and I thought I might share it with you.

The principle characters are: -

*Jared Blackspawn* - A Half Drow rogue, and the narrator of our story.

*Rand Stormseeker* - A Human sorceror specialising in spells of speed and electricity.

*Braddoc Rudenheim* - A dwarven battlerager who distrusts all forms of magecraft.

*Stedd of the Old Order* - A human monk from a nearby monastery.

*Gorin Morgan* - An uncharismatic rapier-wielding human rogue.

*Edrahil* - An extremely noble elven fighter.


----------



## Eccles (Nov 22, 2002)

To begin with, it's one of the House Rules I have in operation that any new character gets an XP bonus for providing me with a character history. (This is to help the players be more attached to their characters and make the game more of a roleplaying session than might otherwise happen. I therefore present: -

The Life of Jared Blackspawn

Jared Malyk Jaelre was born to Chalithra Jaelre and a male human slave whose given name at that time was Lecktor (which in Drow Elven means Beast). His mother had mated with his father out of a sense of curiosity and simple lust, his fathers figure being larger and more muscular than most drow males, she saw him as something different. The pregnancy was not wanted, but for whatever reason she did not down medicinal herbs to kill the result of their brief union.

From birth Jared was raised in a cruel environment, where the weakest were weeded out systematically, for the good of the species. He relied to a great extent on his dexterity, a trait carried over from his mother’s blood, which ran stronger in him than that of his father (who he has never known). The children of the House were raised together, and fights were commonplace, the nurses assigned to watch the children, even encouraging such, and placing bets on the survival of certain children. Jared never got good odds... he defied them all the same. By the time he was 5, the other children had already dubbed him “The Blackspawn”, and as he grew older, this nickname would come into greater use by those of House Jaelre. Intended as a derogatory comment on his birth, he nevertheless adopted it, and made it his sobriquet. From the age of 5 his mother raised him, along with his younger sisters Qilue and Malise. What they lacked in age, they more than made up in evil intent, and it was a rare tenday that went by without them trying to kill him. He, however made no attempt to kill them, as he suspected that his mother, who made plain that she had little love for her bastard child, would have killed him for the deed.

When House Jaelre moved to the surface, to take the abandoned lands of the Elven Court in deepest Cormanthyr, Jared was brought along, and here he flourished. Not affected by the sunlight that hampered many of his tribe, he was finally able to stand as an equal, or so he thought at first. It soon became apparent that despite his sudden usefulness to his people, he would remain at best a second rate member of the tribe, owing to his "polluted" blood. His mother, who he at best could reach an understanding with, refused to intercede on his behalf, stating that if he wished to stand as an equal, he would have to earn that right by deed. This being the only wisdom his mother had ever imparted to her misbegotten offspring, he took this to heart, and began to train as a scout alongside several other youths, as such were now needed in the dangerous world they had invaded.

The youths were trained ruthlessly in typical drow style, those who could not pass the tests of strength, speed, wit and more that they were forced to endure were terminated. Jared knew that to fail was to die, and that terrified him. While others might have given into that fear, and despaired, Jared was determined to conquer it. If his worst fear was failure, than he would have to ensure that he did not fail.

While training he struck up a friendship of sorts, along with a fierce rivalry with another youth, a pureblood drow girl by the name of Akordia Coloara. In everything the two did together, they excelled, but neither could beat the other, and while they began as friends, the rivalry and intense training the drow elders put them through, soon drove a wedge between the two. For his part, Jared did not understand why this had to be, and for the first time doubt about what he was doing entered his thoughts, though he made sure never to reveal this to anyone, as such would be termed weakness, something he was intent not to show. The best of the scouts were a group called The Shivs, despite beating nearly every member at the various trials, he was not invited to join, Akordia was, and he grew angry.

Confronting his mother he questioned her advice, pointing out that no matter how well he did, he would never be accepted as an equal. She nodded and laughed at him, pleased at her own cruel joke. Blinking in disbelief, he turned and walked away, the hatred gnawing at him, muttering dire revenge upon her some day, her laughter ringing in his ears.

He went to see Jezz the Lame, one of the four rulers of the House, and asked for a mission, something, anything, to get him away from the rest of the House for a time. Jezz, not known for his acts of kindness, but knowing from reports from the trainers of this youths ability, nodded and assigned him a mission to observe and infiltrate Daggerdale.

While sounding ostentatious, in reality it was a suicide mission. The Drow have no interest in Daggerdale; after all, it does not abut the Cormanthyr forest, and after decades of battling the Zhents, the place is an armed camp, the people more inclined to "shoot first, and ask questions later". Jezz did not expect Jared to return... for his own part, neither did Jared. Pleased at such an assignment, it putting him a long distance from the rest of his people, and giving him an opportunity to study those of his fathers people. As he had never known his father, save for the few lewd remarks his mother had made about him, the chance to see where the other half of him came from, the "pollution" in his drow blood originated from was a godsend. He did not bid farewell to his mother, but as he packed up his few things, his sisters noticed and asked where he was going. Far away from you, was their only reply. They laughed and went off to tease the boys who sought their embraces, as the two girls had grown into beauties, much coveted by the young men folk of the House.

Making his way through the Cormanthyr forest with a raiding party was easier going than he had imagined it would be, the group staying well clear of the area of Myth Drannor, it's fell reputation known even to the Drow. When the group reached the outskirts of Mistledale, he parted company with them, seeing Akordia for the last time. Before he ran off to head towards his own mission, the two met in private and with no one to drive them to exceed each other, they embraced and coupled beneath the trees. When he woke up, she was gone, leaving only the memory of her in his arms. He headed northwest, staying clear of any trails, hunting for supplies as he needed them, occassionally raiding a trap some logger or farmer had set, and taking the catch that should have been theirs.

Reaching Daggerdale, he made sure to remain always out of sight, studying by day, wrapped in a green cloak, his dark skinned face concealed in the shadows of the hood. Curiosity burned fiercely in him though, as he noticed that far from being a human-only settlement, the village he was camped near, called Clearwater by the inhabitants was teeming with races. In the space of a tenday, he noted Dwarves, Elves, Humans, Halflings and even a Gnome visiting or resident in the area, all dealing with each other without any of the antipathy he had experienced from his own people towards him. Even a passing half orc was able to buy supplies, with nary a raised eyebrow from the people, and he began to crave the acceptance he was witnessing here. He knew, however, that should he make his presence known, that he would not find any such welcome... not yet anyway. He needed top put the people in his debt, and as chance would have it, he got the opportunity a couple nights later.

While studying a farm on the outskirts of the town, he noticed that one of the young girls of the family, who earlier in the day he had heard called Lora, was out at the back of the house, despite it being dark. She was watching rabbits that had come out in the twilight, and doing so, was heedless of the wolf that was stalking those same rabbits. Watching the scene unfold, Jared was unsure how to proceed. While he had been taught all his life that the weak perish so that the strong may survive and thrive, he had no wish to see the little girl be torn to shreds, as the wolf would undoubtedly attack her, as a far better meal than a puny rabbit would offer. He began to stalk the wolf, as it approached the farmyard. His reflexes honed, he closed in on the wolf, careful not to let it hear or smell his approach, and waited for it to make its move. As it pounced forwards and landed in the farmyard hurtling towards the girl, he took aim and fired, as her scream of terror pierced the night. His eyes well adapted to the darkness, his bolt flew true and struck the wolf clean through the heart felling it instantly, its lifeless body flopping to the ground beside the hysterical girl.

Her parents, drawn by the scream burst out of the farmhouse, her father brandishing a sword, her mother a bow, and stopped stunned, as they saw the dead wolf. At that point, Jared stood up, revealing his presence in the field nearby. He nodded silently to the astonished family, his hood down, the darkness disguising him somewhat, and turned, heading back to the nearby trees. Studying the village the next day, he was pleased to hear several people commenting about the mysterious silver-haired ranger who had saved Lora Krebble from a wolf. He knew then, that though it would take him a while, he could ingratiate himself with these people, and perhaps someday walk into town openly, and not be shot.


----------



## Eccles (Nov 22, 2002)

Jared Blackspawn’s Journal

Part 1

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

*Kythorn 23rd* - It has been two days since I saved the girl, Lora Krebble from a starving wolf’s attack. Yesterday the village was abuzz with speculation as to my identity, today seems quieter thus far, though I have overheard the occasional comment. All seem sincere in their gratitude for my timely invention, though tinged with the typical Daggerfolk reticence towards strangers of the general unknown.

The town is being beset by wolves it seems, so my chances for further aiding the folk of Clearwater remain good. I must however take care to conceal my nature, for some time yet. These are a nervous people, weary of war and strife; they will not give their trust easily.

Yesterday a messenger was sent to Dagger Falls to ask for help. He was dispatched by Mayor Butterstone, whom village rumour would have it is the man responsible for the pregnancy of the lady mage who lives here. A bounty has also been posted, 10 gold crowns per wolfs head, a shame that I will not be able to collect such. Still if the town wants dead wolves, then dead wolves it shall have. I will leave the heads by the properties of those who I deem to be most in need of the coins they will provide. I go now to hunt wolves, will write more later.

Drat! I decided to trail the group of adventurers who had blindly struck out into the forest to go wolf hunting, in the hope of luring them towards some wolves that their blades and bows might find good use. Alas, two wolves were stalking me it seems, and when the group’s monk spotted me trailing them and pointed me out, I fled and ran straight into the wolves!

Double Drat! The wolves damn near made a meal of me. I was saved by the group of adventurers and they then conveyed me to a priest of Chauntea. The entire village was soon gathered around my supine form as I was brought back from the edge of Vhaeraun's Kingdom. I awoke to find myself on trial. A Priestess of Kelemvor put a glamour on me, which compelled me to tell the truth, I did not fight it, once it had taken effect it would have been folly. I was questioned until the glamour wore off, and then jailed in a vault below the village Inn (also the Mayors house, the Inn acts too as the villages bank). After a few minutes, I was brought forth from my ad-hoc cell and told that I was to be placed in the custody of the adventurers, who were to keep an eye on me, and should I turn against the villages interests, see to it that I breathed no more. Not exactly the way I wished to join this community, but for the moment at least my head remains on my neck, so it shall suffice. For the time being until I can be trusted further, my home is the vault beneath the Inn, the darkness down here is soothing, and it is very quiet which suits me. 

*Kythorn 24th* - I was let out of the cellar this morning by the monk who introduced himself as Stedd of the Old Order. He is one of several monks resident at the Monastery a short distance from the village which I studied a few days back. The group set off to hunt wolves, my weapons being returned to me at this time on the condition that I led the group to the wolves and help them. They didn't notice when my reply omitted the part about helping them fight the wolves. Heading out to the north-east we spotted a small pack of wolves feasting on a downed horse... that of the rider who the mayor dispatched two days ago, it would seem he did not get far, as his own body was in the dirt nearby, partially eaten. We fought and defeated the wolves, with the unexpected aid of a moon elf who ran into the mêlée, calmly decapitated a wolf and headed straight back to the town and the caravan he had been escorting which had just arrived, no doubt to collect his mercenary salary. We then headed back to Clearwater with the wolf heads and the body of the messenger 

After a necessary diversion to the priest of Chauntea to tend our wounds, we made for the Inn to collect our bounties on the heads, the mayor looking less than thrilled to actually have some bloodied heads to deal with. Some people have no stomach for the sight of blood it seems. I have no such qualms. The elf then requested to join our group, and the dwarf who seems to be the leader agreed! Again, I am a witness to this strange acceptance of differences that these races seem to share amongst each other. Having said that, the look on the elf’s face when I dropped my hood was priceless. I feel at this time I should write of the composition of my keepers, so I have listed them thus 

Stedd - A Monk of the Old Order. Nimble in a fight, fleet of foot and fist, and fascinating to watch. Adheres to some form of martial code. 

Braddoc - A Dwarf warrior with a fierce temperament. Harshly spoken, he clearly prefers action to words. Seems to be the group leader for now. Lives at the village smithy 

Gorin Morgan - Unsure about this one at this time. Seem to take life less seriously than the others, a potential weak link. One to watch for signs of danger. A possible coward 

Rand Stormseeker - Apprentice to the village wizardess, so doubtless possessed of some magical skill. He shows an unusual disdain for books, so quite possibly a sorceror, rather than a true mage. He bears further study. 

Edrahil - I will watch this one like a hawk, as he will doubtless return the favour. He has proven himself deadly with a blade already, in time I shall know his other strengths. 

All in all an intriguing group, and with less immediate foes than I would have thought, Stedd seems to be the friendliest of them all, Rand the most mysterious. We retired for the rest of the day to lick our wounds and see to chores that some had about the village. I retired to the cellar. 

*Kythorn 25th* - I was not unlocked from the cellar today, so spent the day down here in the cool darkness. It was good to have time to meditate on recent developments. 

*Kythorn 26th* - Got back into town and delivered the wolf heads to the Mayor, whom I suspect is getting less pleased to see us constantly culling wolves, or at least with being presented with the evidence of our deeds. He seemed alarmed by Gorin bringing a live wolf pup into the village; the softheaded fool thinks he can train it! I inquired about the possibility of training with a local hunter and was told that no sheriff was present at this time, the dead messenger having been sent to fetch such. However, since goblins are in the area, Mayor Butterstone believes a sheriff could well have picked up their trail en route to this area, and have been following them, He dispatched a couple of local lads to see if such was the case. I tried to take up residence within Gorin's household, but after watching his uncle’s drunkard ranting, I decided I'd be better off in the Inn's cellar for a time longer, despite the Mayors unease at coming down there to fetch wines and beers knowing that I'm lurking about in the shadows 

*Kythorn 27th* - My respect for Gorin's uncle improved a notch this morning as he showed his face in the Inn while I was eating breakfast with Rand. He was carrying the bloodied body of the wolf pup. Thanks be to Vhaeraun for a swift (and exceedingly bloody by the looks of it) end to this embarrassing foe. As for Gorin, he showed up a bit later looking like a dog had had him for breakfast! I do enjoy a good laugh at someone else’s expense 

Around lunchtime a couple of lads helped a man into the Inn, he was severely wounded. After he had been patched up a bit, I got a chance to have a look at him. He was dressed in leathers and looked well travelled, quite possibly one of these sheriffs. My suspicion was soon proved correct, and it seems that the cause of his considerable injuries was an encounter with a band of goblins. I plied him with drink and questions (mainly the latter, he had a weak tolerance for liquor), and after some pressing, he agreed to teach me the basics of what he knows with regards to woodland lore and survival, as I feel a better knowledge of the wilds would greatly benefit me. Alfgeir is his name, which I found out just before he passed out drunk. I reluctantly took up the Mayor's offer of a room upstairs in the Inn as I think his nerves had worn a little thin with having to steel himself to enter his cellar each time, poor man 

*Kythorn 28th to Flamerule 7th* - The group has taken a tenday to rest and practice our skills, as our previous battle with the goblins showed that we are lacking strength in certain areas of expertise. I feel sure that we are now better prepared to hunt down and eradicate these pests. While training with Alfgeir, I took the liberty to order 20 more bolts for my hand crossbow from the village smithy, and they were delivered to me on the last day. Good workmanship, they will serve me well 

*Flamerule 8th* - We set off early today to seek out the goblin lair, using directions that Alfgeir gave me, with regards to the general area he managed to track them to before being ambushed. I swear the elf is going out of his way to annoy me. While I was busy trying to find tracks to follow, his thoughts were on nothing but feeding his stomach, often interfering in my efforts in placing his traps. I pray he catches nothing and that his efforts are wasted. One good part about this group not fully trusting me (if they even trust me at all) is I did not have to take a shift on watch as we camped tonight, one full nights sleep here I come! 

*Flamerule 9th* - This morning as we slept we were attacked by a warband of goblins who caught us unprepared, as it seems our watchman (whom I believe was Gorin!) was napping. During the fight I was witness to Braddoc succumbing to a frightening display of rage in the heat of battle. It would seem that he can channel that anger of his into combat prowess, even if it did look like he caught nothing for his own survival, being fully focussed on his foes demise. I believe I gave a good account of myself in the fight, dispatching a goblin that was battling Braddoc with ease. The dwarf did not thank me. 

With my newly honed tracking skills, I was easily able to lead the party along the route these raiders had taken, and to the goblins lair! However, the tracks also revealed the presence of a large humanoid in their midst, quite possibly a Troll. Stedd for all his calm demeanour, was clearly unnerved at the prospect of fighting such a beast, could it be a coward's heart beats beneath his breast? Also, we already have a fool in Gorin, and a maniac in Braddoc, quite the group of misfits I seem to have joined. The lair was a cave of reasonable size in a low cliff, some 7-8 miles from Clearwater. 

We ambushed the goblins at their lair, and in a drawn out fight emerged victorious against them, no mean feat since they had a shaman and an Ogre named Gronk with them (doubtless the cause of the large footprints I spotted earlier). As I surmised, Stedd proved himself a coward, when as the Ogre emerged from the cave, he fled, though he did return to engage the beast once it was clear the rest of us were not going to follow him in his flight. I am bitterly disappointed in my woeful showing in this fight, as I failed to dispatch even a single goblin. If I were back home I'd be beaten for sure (or worse) for such an abysmal performance, and I am lucky to still draw breath. 

Once the fighting was done we set to looting the lair. It seems the goblins had found an old vein of silver, and were busy mining it. The rest of the group decided to haul 3 chests full of silver ore back to town, a good day’s walk away. I managed to get out of doing any carrying, offering instead to scout ahead and on the flanks, to guard against any unpleasant surprises en route.


----------



## Eccles (Nov 25, 2002)

Jared Blackspawn’s Journal

Part 2

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

*Flamerule 10th* - We spent the day walking back to Clearwater, nothing much of note happened, apart from some small personal satisfaction as nothing was snared in Edrahil's traps. Serves him right. 

*Flamerule 11th* - We got back to Clearwater at around noon, and made our way straight to the Inn to rest, and also to deliver the good news that the goblins had been vanquished. Braddoc and Rand took the silver ore to the smithy, where they learned it would take a good three days work to smelt it down into useable currency. Since Braddoc is the village smiths apprentice, I guess we won't be seeing him for a little while. 

Reported the location of the cave to Alfgeir so he knows where it is to keep a watch on it in future on his travels, and mentioned the presence of a silver vein to Mayor Butterstone, who decided that while it was a useful resource to know about, it was too far from the village to be readily defensible, so it will remain unworked. 

Stedd headed off to his monastery to return a set of bloodied robes of ones of his order, that we had found nailed to the back wall of the goblins cave as a trophy. Meanwhile, I fended off Father Norris of Chauntea who having heard of wealth making its way into the village, arrived to make mention of the services his church could provide to our group, namely in the brewing and selling of curative potions to us. I managed to get him to leave me alone eventually after pointing out that the wealth we had recovered was in ore form, and it would be some days before we could spend it anywhere. I also assured him that we would look in on him once we had money to spend on such things. I almost had to deal with Sister Patricia of Kelemvor in the same manner, only she had been listening to my exchange with Norris, and so was already the wiser. 

While the smelting was going on, the rest of us took the opportunity to unwind for a couple days, and nurse our bruises. 

*Flamerule 14th* - Braddoc and his uncle finally finished smelting the ore down into ingots today, which were then divided out. We then took it upon ourselves to purchase some of the potions that the temples of Kelemvor & Chauntea could provide us with. I bought two just so I have some means of saving my own life. 

*Flamerule 16th* - Finally!! Something to do, Alfgeir (now fully healed), has to investigate why the tax collectors caravan is more than a tenday late in arriving in Clearwater. The group eagerly leaped on this chance to explore, investigate, get gold, and hopefully have a good fight or two. We gathered our stuff and set off with the sheriff to explore south of the village. After the better part of a days trek we have yet to find anything out of the ordinary whatsoever. I stayed up for first watch alongside Alfgeir who I feel has accepted my presence more readily than my actual adventuring comrades, nothing happened though. Edrahil meditated for a while and then set off into the forest to forage for food to supplement his rations. Honestly, always thinking with his stomach that one. 

*Flamerule 17th* - When morning came, we woke up to a distinct absence of Edrahil. After a brief search of the surrounding woodland we found his body, and it looked nearly torn apart. Can't say I'm sorry to see him dead because I'm not. One less elf in the world, the rest of them can't join him soon enough for my liking. We gave him a perfunctory burial in his (shredded) armour and holding his bloodied (all his own) sword at one side of the road, just inside the tree line. After dealing with this sudden loss, we sat down and ate breakfast; trail rations never tasted so good, and then headed on our way. A while later near a bend in the road, I heard snarling sounds from up ahead and signalled the rest of the group to warn them of the imminent threat, so that they might make ready to face it down. 

Coming around the corner we saw a wagon on its side, and a small group of brutish humanoids who it seemed had spotted a traveller further down the road and were moving to ambush him. We then sprang out ambush from behind them to catch them in a pincer. Combined with the stranger down the road, our numbers were more or less equal with theirs. The battle was fierce with no quarter asked or given by either side and we took some wounds as a group (though none personally), and I felt I gave a good account of myself dispatching two of the hobgoblins with relative ease, though this was offset by an embarrassing slip while trying to kill the leader of the group, who then went on to make a clean getaway. Curse him. 

Afterwards Alfgeir and myself were able to determine from the tracks that the hobgoblins did not loot the taxman’s carriage, as it seems a larger group had done that the day before. These then were just opportunists seeking to scavenge anything of worth left taking. Their bad luck to have us run into them it seems. The larger group would appear to be bandits by their tracks, and it is clear that they took the tax chest and the collector’s entourage too, possibly to hold them for ransom. Far worse than that though was finding out the identity of the stranger on the road, whose life we (and more specifically me) saved. It turns out that his name is Taeghen, an elven priest of Larethian, the cursed god who banished my kin to the sunless world below the surface. Damn the fates for this development. 

After a length debate we decided to pursue the bandits, as heading back to town to get reinforcements would only let them gain more ground on us, as they are already a day ahead of us, though encumbered with the chest and prisoners. We reckon from their tracks that the bandits are roughly twenty strong, it is unknown how many of these might be their prisoners though. I had no trouble tracing the route that the bandits took, and we set off after them at best speed, alternating jogging and running, to do our best to close the distance they already had on us. It worked well, as by nightfall we could hear the sounds of their camp in the distance. We decided to camp down a safe distance from their campsite, keeping no fire that might alert them to our presence. I slept in my armour anyway, as it would be just my luck to be attacked by bandits in my sleep, and have to fight them half-naked. I believe a dawn raid on their camp is planned. 

*Flamerule 18th* - I am told that during the night the camp was attacked by a pair of dire weasels, however I slept through the entire thing. We set out an ambush using Rand and Stedd as bait to lure some of the bandits around a bend in the road away from their campsite, where the rest of us were waiting in the forested edges of the road to spring our trap. Alas things did not go to plan, as we had reckoned without Braddoc’s battle-lust. Upon sighting the Orc that was chasing our baiters, he charged out of his hiding space too soon, and a ferocious melee broke out. I did well, moving about the battle, taking out one of the bandits (a hobgoblin) and wounding another two, taking a nasty sword blow in return. Alfgeir was nearly dropped, taking three arrows before stumbling off into the brush at the side of the road. After the fight was done, I used one of my potions to help him, and another (looted from Edrahil's body, he wasn't gonna be using it) to aid me. The bandits made their getaway though, and with their prisoners too, though not before we took down nine of their number. Searching their camp, we found the tracks of another group who it seems must have arrived while the fight was going on and taken the captives, the bandits then withdrawing from our melee and joining up with this other group, slavers perhaps? They have headed west towards the mountains. The bandits we slew turned out to be a motley (though well equipped) bunch of hobgoblins, half-orcs and humans, with one orc tossed in for good measure. I didn't get a good look at the leader, but Braddoc (who he nearly killed) tells me that he was human, or at least looked it. And he was amongst those who managed to escape. We have recovered the tax collector’s chest, as well as numerous items of interest that were found in the abandoned tents and on the bodies of the slain bandits.


----------



## Eccles (Nov 25, 2002)

Jared Blackspawn’s Journal

Part 3

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

*Flamerule 18th (cont'd)* - We piled the bodies up with the remains of the bandits camp and burned all of it that we could not take with us, in order to deny any other would be raiders in this area any of their armour, weapons or tents. We decided then to head back to our camp of last night and rest up for the remainder of today. Taeghan and Alfgeir used their healing skills to tend to the various wounds of the group. During the course of the day at various times were we aware of a humanoid figure watching us from the woods. He kept his distance and moved away whenever one of us went to investigate, only to reappear later. 

Towards dusk as we settled down for the night (I had agreed to take third watch, as I realised I have never seen a sunrise, something the surface dwellers regard with awe and beauty), an arrow shot out of the surrounding forest gloom and hit Gorin. Sadly it didn't kill the fool, but it did serve as a sufficient warning. Soon after we grabbed up weapons and made ready to deal with our attacker, a voice shouted out of the darkness warning us that we were surrounded and for us to return the chest we had stolen. I shouted back a denial that we had stolen anything, and was shot by an arrow for my troubles. I should have known better, silence is my weapon, not noise. The brashness of Gorin and Braddoc I fear is rubbing off on me. I must be more careful.

We then it seems were of one mind, and we attacked in all directions, deciding death was preferable to dishonour. Death was very nearly what we got, and during a long fight with the boss of the group, Gorin was sent to the Fugue Plane this night, after he dispatched the raiders’ second in command right in front of the boss. I always said he was an idiot, but at least he died well. Still a combination of some cunning and an astounding amount of luck carried the fight for us, and we won, with not a single bandit making their escape to bedevil us again. Speaking of luck Braddoc even regaled me with how he took out one bandit using his blanket. I'm not entirely sure I believe his tale, and have refused to be taken to see the body. We tended to our wounds, though I declined Taeghen’s offer of magical healing, acceptance may be what I crave... but not his!

*Flamerule 19th* - We set off back to Clearwater carrying Gorin's body on a crude litter for a proper burial at the town. Nothing much happened today, which after the bloodshed of yesterday is a blessing. Praise be to Vhaeruan for not troubling your servant this day with ambushes. 

*Flamerule 20th* - We arrived back in Clearwater bearing Gorin’s body with us. It was late evening when we got back into the village. We informed the Mayor of what had happened to the taxman’s retinue and our own escapades of the last few days. While we were doing this Gorin's drunkard uncle burst into the Inn, and seeing that his nephew was dead, demanded his worldly possessions... no doubt so he could sell them to buy alcohol. I choose that moment to avail myself of the pleasures my room, falling asleep easily on the soft bed and dreaming of Akordia and that night in the woods near Mistledale. 

*Flamerule 30th* - We finished up our training late in the day and retired to our various homes in the village. Tomorrow I am told is a traditional festival day in the Dalelands, so it seems we shall stall our pursuit of the bandits for yet another day. 

*Midsummer Day* - A traditional annual festival in the village. We could hear the Monastery bell ringing clearly in celebration. Apparently the monks celebrate this day by taking a ritual break from their martial lifestyles, I guess everyone needs a holiday once in a while, even monks. Nothing important happened today, apart from the whole village getting roaring drunk, and many of the younger men and women disappearing into the forest edge to spend time in each other’s arms. I sat and drank in the corner of the Inn, no-one bothered me, and I stayed out of everyone else’s way and let them enjoy their celebration of life. 

*Eleasis 1st* - Woke up a little hung over from the drinking of yesterday. The group met up in the Inn early and we decided to head back to the bandit campsite we ransacked, and see if we can pick up the trail of the other bandits from there. We know that they headed towards the Desertmouth Mountains, so that’s a help. Alfgeir in his official capacity as a Daggerdale Sheriff is accompanying us. I am glad to have him along. 

*Eleasis 2nd* - Spent the day trekking along the woodland road south of Clearwater, retracing our steps. We passed the wrecked taxman's carriage in the later afternoon, and decided to camp soon after. Thankfully nothing troubled us today. 

*Eleasis 3rd* - Arrived back at what was the bandits’ camp in the late afternoon. After a process of elimination, Alfgeir and I managed to single out the trail left by the bandits and headed off after them knowing they have better than fifteen days lead on us. They have taken an old game trail through the woods. We decided to spend the night back at our old campsite before pursuing tomorrow. 

*Eleasis 4th* - Woke up early and headed off in a very belated pursuit of the remaining bandits. The woods rapidly became thicker and darker, giving way to true forest. The darkness seemed to perturb Braddoc but I assured him that this was normal beneath the canopy. I am in my element here. Not long after we spotted a large body lying on the ground up ahead, creeping closer we saw it move and then we looked again. The body did not move, it was covered in Stirges that immediately attacked seeking a fresh meal. The annoying pests descended on us in a swarm. We hacked left and right, dispatching the vermin with ease, but not fast enough as they managed to get past our guard and begin attaching themselves to us, two of them latching on to me as I desperately hacked at them with my blades, feeling my limbs growing heavier as they sucked my blood. Although I slaughtered both of mine, they took a severe toll, drinking Stedd and me both to the brink of death. I confess I passed out then due to the lack of blood. 

I came around briefly later on as Taeghen healed me, I didn't have the strength or the inclination at that point to refuse him. According to his knowledge of healing, it will take several days of rest for Stedd and I to fully recover from our ordeal. Braddoc too suffered almost as bad as we did but seems to be weathering the effects easier. Damn dwarves. We settled down for the night to sleep while Braddoc and Rand set off to forage. Guess they didn't learn from what happened to Edrahil, fools. 

They came back later with a minor wizard who they had rescued from some phantom wolves. It seems Cebo (for that is his name) had annoyed the local druid, who had set the strange wolves on him. He seems harmless enough and since he has lost his spectacles and is as blind as a bat as a result, he didn't even notice I was part Drow. He seems to be enraptured by just about everything. 

*Eleasis 5th* - A strange morning this, as it seems during the night Cebo laid a spell on Rand while he was on watch, and then helped himself to the group’s magical items before making good his escape. I have lost the dagger I gained I gained from my share of the bandits loot. To be honest I am angry at having been robbed, but the loss of the dagger does not overly trouble me. I still have my potion, which I viewed as far more useful. Rand and Braddoc however are furious at the deception. Alfgeir managed to track him as far as a stream a few hundred feet away, but from there onwards his tracks disappear entirely. Braddoc is marching about the campsite muttering dire threats about what he will do to Cebo with his flail... honestly Dwarves have no imagination when it comes to revenge. I did try to educate him, but got glared at for my troubles, so much for that cultural exchange. We remained camped here for the day while we recover from the Stirge attack. The woods here on the western edge of Daggerdale are lovely, but a far cry from those in Cormanthyr. 

During the night a bear decided to intrude on our campsite. It took the combined efforts of all of us to fell the beast. Taeghen was nearly slain, and Alfgeir’s wounds were fatal. I blame myself for his loss, as I delayed joining the fight. I feel my natural instinct for self preservation which has served me well enough in growing up amidst my brutal people, hampered me in this regard and Alfgeir, who kindly taught me some of his skills and always aided me in tracking, when he could easily have let his skills overshadow my own, paid for my hesitation. 

*Eleasis 6th* - We spent the day resting in the woods, thankfully without any further encounters with the local wildlife. We laid Alfgeir to rest in a grave amidst the trees; I think its what he would have wanted. He never spoke of having any family.


----------



## Eccles (Nov 25, 2002)

Jared Blackspawn’s Journal

Part 4

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

*Eleasis 7th* - Waking up this morning I was relived that my wound had finally healed up sufficient for me to go on. Stedd also was fit for travel, and the ever resilient Braddoc was likewise. We were then ready to continue our pursuit of the bandits, though I fear that from now on, the tracking falls solely to my expertise, which led to a small argument with Taeghan. As though he could follow a two tenday old trail any better than me. The arrogance of the man! 

After a day’s trek I spotted a triangular clearcutting at the base of the mountains, abutting a small cliff. We decided to camp out of sight of this and investigate tomorrow. I got in a good nights sleep, no doubt because they want me fresh to do the scouting.

*Eleasis 8th* - As I had surmised, I got volunteered to go and scout out the clearcutting I spotted yesterday. The clearcutting turned out to be forest that had been cut back from the entrance to a cave. I will hand it to the guards posted on the caves mouth, they were certainly alert and I was spotted and chased by three of them. I had to use my potion of stealth to enhance my hiding skills in order to elude them. From what I saw, the cave appears to be the entrance to a small mine of some sort, as I could clearly make out a mine cart on rails in the centre of the cave's entrance. The guards who chased me were hobgoblins. 

I reported my findings back to the rest of the group, and after a lengthy debate on tactics, myself and Stedd devised a plan of attack. Our plan was to use Braddoc and Taeghan as a frontal assault to draw on the hobgoblins joint hatreds of dwarves and elves, and hopefully prompt them to do something rash. Myself and Stedd would then launch our attack from the other side of the clearcutting and use our speed to best advantage to close the hobgoblins in a pincer movement. Rand was to stay at the edge of the clearing opposite the cave mouth, and direct his spells as he saw fit, to cause maximum disruption. 

For once one of our plans actually worked as we intended, and the fight was very one sided in our favour. I failed to have much effect on the outcome though, and I continue to live only because of Taeghan's timely intervention, after a hobgoblin felled me with a lucky strike. Braddoc nearly won the day singlehanded, wading through his foes, clearly revelling in the battle. 

We rescued the tax collector and his retinue of guards, who had been forced to work as slaves enlarging the cave and hacking out a vein of silver, though it looks all but exhausted. The former slaves alerted us to a camp of hobgoblins not far away, where the silver ore was taken to. We set off down the trail towards this camp, joined by two of the captives; a human soldier called Tannas, and an orc barbarian with a thirst for revenge. Half a mile or so away, the trail ended abruptly at a large cleared area at the base of low cliffs. The camp turned out in fact to be a fort, complete with 20' high walls, and twin 30' watchtowers flanking the gate. We retreated back into the forest to plan a strategy and recover from the few wounds we had taken earlier. 

*Eleasis 9th* - During the night some large kind of bat apparently tried to eat Rand's owl familiar. I care not. None of our group, who stayed up on watch saw any traffic on the trail between the fort and the mine. With the combination of a good nights rest and another of Taeghan's spells, I am back to fighting fitness. We spent today camped halfway between the mine and the fort in the vain hope that the hobgoblins might check on the mine... they didn't. When the others went to sleep, I decided to go and recon the fort. I was able to sneak over the walls and sketch out a map of the fort's interior before I was discovered. I made good my escape as arrows were fired at me in the dark, evading them all. 

*Eleasis 10th* - Woke up and presented the party with my map of the fort. They were a bit shocked, and Taeghan was appalled, that I left the group sleeping without anyone on guard. when I pointed out that the Orc was awake and in their area, they did not thank me. Honestly, if they trust a drow to watch over them as they sleep, I wouldn't have thought they would be so picky. The quiet of the day was broken as Stedd came running back from the trail (where he had been keeping watch), shouting "They are coming!!" We then began to see what the noise was all about, as we could just make out shapes moving off the trail and into the trees, heading after Stedd en masse... many shapes! 

I immediately took action, and sought cover in the nearest tree, scrambling halfway up the trunk and hiding there as the rest of the group backed up and formed battle lines to receive the hobgoblins onslaught. I remained where I was as around two dozen hobgoblins surged past the tree I was in to engage my comrades. The Orc fell in seconds, and the full fury of the humanoid assault smashed into Braddoc and Taeghan. Stedd and Tannas joined in as a ferocious melee broke out across the far side of the clearing. I couldn't get a good look, but from what I could make out, it looked like the hobgoblins were throwing much of their murderous efforts at Taeghan. Picking my moment carefully, making sure that the entire horde had passed my hiding place and were engaged, I slipped down from the tree and circled about, drawing my blades and went to work, picking off the stragglers of the force, moving swiftly amongst the trees and bushes, and assassinating the rearguard of the horde, as I sliced my way towards the cleric who commanded them. To my immense annoyance, as myself, Rand (who had been zipping about the battlefield using that speed spell of his to stay out of the reach of his pursuers while blasting them with those orb things he conjures up) and Braddoc (who had literally hacked his way towards the cleric) closed in on him, the slippery bastard quaffed a potion and flew off! Still he was the only escapee, as the rest of his attack force we had reduced to bloody ruin, their bodies covering a great deal of the clearing. 

Once we had tidied up, patched any nearly fatal wounds (such as those sported by Braddoc), and stripped the corpses of anything of interest, including an enchanted javelin and suit of chainmail, and also much needed coinage (I mean for when we get back to Clearwater, obviously its not needed right now), we set off back to the mine as it was a dry, and semi-defensible position. Rand set us up with a fire, and Taeghan built a ramshackle wall of rocks and corpses across the entrance to the cave. I sat near Braddoc as he drifted in and out of consciousness, his fierce rage having waned once the fighting was done. His capacity to take wounds and survive them is frightening. I need to recover from my own wounds, as does most everyone else. Despite half the hobgoblin horde throwing themsleves at Taeghan, he has nary a scratch on him, truly his god stood with him this day, and much as I might loathe Larethian and his children, I envy Taeghan right now for the feeling he must have had in the battle, knowing the love of his god upon him as he fought. 

I was woken up by Rand a little later after night had fallen, as wolves were scavenging the bodies of the dead hobgoblins from the wall across the cave mouth. We both waved fire to drive the wolves back, and then dragged the bodies clear of the cave and into the forest edge, where the scavengers can feast without disturbing us. 

*Eleasis 11th* - Stedd, Rand, Tannas and myself went off to scout out the fort early this morning, to ascertain how many we still had to deal with. It would seem the pests were busy yesterday after their attack failed, as Tannas and I fell into a newly dug pit trap, and were then confronted by two of the vile humanoids attempting to push a boulder from the top of the cliff into the pit, some 30' below them. While I easily climbed up out of the pit, Tannas found himself trapped. Myself and Rand did our best to keep their heads down, while Stedd looked for a branch he could lower down to help haul Tannas out, but to no avail. The hobgoblins succeeded in dropping the boulder, along with a small landslide into the pit, both killing and burying Tannas. The others of us deciding that he could not possibly have survived, left him in the pit. Rand was reluctant to do so, but Stedd and I reasoned with him. We headed back to the mine, the others having determined that at least half a dozen, if not more hobgoblins were still guarding the fort. I noticed that Braddoc seems to have started work on something, but didn't think to pry as to what it was. 

*Eleasis 12th* - We remained at the mine today, trying to decide on a strategy to tackle the fort. All we got through was more of our depleted rations, and a lot of arguments. 

*Eleasis 13th* - Braddoc presented us with the results of his work these past couple days, a wooden tower shield, well crafted too. Quite why he has made this is beyond me, and after asking him about it, it is beyond him too. I guess he did it to keep busy while his wounds healed, lest his thoughts dwell on his own mortality. After sketching out a map of the fort on the floor of the cave, we continued to plot strategy... with just as much arguing as yesterday. For my part I gave up fairly soon, and left the arguing to Rand, Taeghan and Stedd, while I sharpened my swords. My own plan of using the last miner (a crazed fellow who despite being freed continues to feebly hack away at the silver vein down the far end of the cave), as bait to get the hobgoblins to open the forts gates (assuming they don't just shoot him on sight) was turned down. 

In the mid afternoon we sprang to alert upon hearing an incoming traveller. I opened fire upon sighting the shambling figure of Tannas, as it appeared that fiend cleric had raised him from his rocky grave and sent him to bedevil us. I missed, and it turned out that he wasn't undead after all. During the past two days, by some incredible feat of willpower and strength, Tannas had survived the rockfall and had dug himself out of his own grave, having been buried alive. I got shot some dirty looks from the others as it was my voice that was strongest for leaving him in there. Like I was meant to know he was still alive! 

*Eleasis 14th* - We decided to smoke out the hobgoblins. Our plan is to fire as many fire arrows as possible into the fort, and hopefully set alight the roofs of the interior buildings, creating more fires than their cleric can douse with his magic. We took up positions in the forest edge opposite the forts gate, and opened fire with the others aiming for the fort, while I sniped at any hobgoblin who stuck their head up over the parapets. the assault had the desired effect, and the cleric led a force of the remaining hobgoblins out to fight us. We engaged and handily beat this force, though the cleric himself proved a canny foe, utilising numerous potions and scrolls, including at one point levitating and showering us with crossbow bolts from above. 

The fires did their work, but before the fort burnt down we managed to drag out five heavy chests filled with silver ingots from the mine, thousands of coins worth! We spent the rest of the day patching up wounds and searching bodies and making sure we had gotten all we could from the ruin of the fort. Deciding that we could not possibly bring all five chests back to Clearwater between the six of us, we marked out a spot and buried two of them in the forest where we can go back to retrieve them soon. 

*Eleasis 15th-20th* - Travelling back to Clearwater lugging 3 heavy chests of silver ingots. Thankfully our journey back home was without any incident as I think all of us, including Braddoc, would have been far too tired from carrying the chests to have much effect in a fight.


----------



## Eccles (Nov 25, 2002)

Jared Blackspawn’s Journal

Part 5

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

*Eleasis 21st* - We have arrived back in Clearwater at last, nearly a month after our departure. We got back to see a few changes have taken place in our extended absence. An earthen rampart now surrounds much of the town, with a wooden palisade fence atop it, and work is proceeding on fortifying the rest of the settlement. Too, the Temple to Chauntea has been expanded, rising upwards by another storey. Rand spotted a new flagpole flying a flag with the initials VC on it, and his expression went dark. There are also several other new buildings in town, and all of this renovation we quickly found out is due to the money that the Van Cei family have brought into the area. 

We entered the town walked past Jake Morgan's rundown old house, where the crooked bastard was sat outside on his porch. I noticed him eyeballing the chests we were carrying (or more accurately dragging). I shall be sure to keep an eye on him, I just got wealthy and I have plans for my share of the silver, none of which involve him getting his hands on it. We got back to the Inn, greeted the Mayor and also White Wolf the local bard, and stored the chests below the Inn in the old vault I used to sleep in. I got myself a room for a tenday and a drink. I even bought Taeghen a drink (though he didn't drink it).

The town is experiencing a boom thanks to the Van Cei family’s money, as it seems the youngest son of the household has been sent to this backwater to see what he can make of himself. The change troubles me. I was getting to be accepted, or at the least ignored in the town. These newcomers are clearly influential and I do not know them or their motives. The head of the family here in Clearwater, the youngest son I mentioned, styles himself as "The Commander". To my mind pompous titles do nothing but bode ill. Rand has his own reason for hating the Van Cei, they caused the ruination of his family in years past while Daggerdale was under Zhent occupation. There are two other groups of "adventurers" in town now. One group works for the Commander, a professional looking assortment who I believe to be mercenaries, albeit formidable ones. The other group is staying with Jake Morgan... Things go from bad to worse I fear.

At 6pm a town meeting was held in the Inn and everyone was there, both old and new faces in the village... and they have never looked more divided. Jake Morgan, the Commander, farmers, traders, both priests. Everyone of importance and everyone else who wanted to just listen in were there. It turns out that this was the first town meeting since Clearwater was founded three years ago. As it happens the meeting was so that the Mayor could present several issues needing resolving to the assembled adventurers present. the tasks were as follows:

- Investigate the ruined tower to the north of town, as it is rumoured to again by occupied, and the Mayor wishes to know by whom if the rumour is true. 

- Investigate the old dwarfhold in the Desertsmouth Mountains to the west that is besieged by Ogres and other fell beings. Not sure why the Mayor wanted this done, I wasn't paying attention at that point as Tannas had distracted me with something or other. 

- Some personal matter of special delicacy. (The Mayor looked directly at our group when he said this, talk about a hint). 

- I'm sure there was a fourth task, but I've forgotten what it is, I've had a few to drink today. And as I relate below, it has hardly been the sanest of days! [DM - This was to go and check out the rumours of undead appearing in a cemetary just out of town. The consequences of ignoring this task 2 in-game months ago have yet to be felt!)

We opted to check out the tower and the special matter. Morgan’s thugs left without offering any help at all, and the Commander’s posse of minions elected to do all the tasks, but have decided to tackle the Ogres first. Good riddance to them, should keep them busy for ages.

The Mayor took us into the back room of the Inn and told us that the special matter was recovering the ring by which he was to wed Rand's mentor the elven wizardess Alliandre. He then urged us to drink a vial of a strange concoction each, which we trustingly did. His bride to be then came in, cast a spell and shrunk us down to roughly half the height of a human thumb! Bastard didn't even warn us. It turns out his ring was taken by a rat or some such other vermin, and is no doubt in the creatures lair, somewhere in the walls of the Inn. The thing was going to be huge to us. We set off eager to get this strange task over with and return to our proper size, whereupon myself and Braddoc intended to have words with the Mayor that involved much hitting him with sharp and blunt objects alike!

Setting off through a hole in a skirting board of the back room, we entered the space between the Inn's walls and headed off after a faint trail. We soon encountered out first critter a huge (to us anyway) Stag Beetle. The others battled it but I saw no need to get involved in the melee at first, but then seeing Taeghen fall in its mandibles I charged it, though only succeeded in scratching its carapace. I think Stedd killed it though and Taeghen was restored to health.

The beetle vanquished, we proceeded upwards through the wall and entered a spider’s lair. I've never liked spiders; despite how ingrained the images of drow and spiders are in most surface dwellers minds. Three large and huge spiders later and I was covered in ichor and liking spiders no more. The world cannot be rid of them and their wretched goddess soon enough for my tastes. Our next encounter was with a very small (though still larger than us) Dust Mephit, which we destroyed easily enough, though I continue to suffer from the poison that one of the spiders injected into me earlier.

Not long after we entered the lair of the rats that had stolen the ring. We noticed that they were distracted, defending their lair from some invading wasps. Using the fight as a distraction, Braddoc, Stedd & I rushed in and grabbed the ring, dragging it away between us, while Rand, Taeghen and Tannas held off the couple rats who tried to interfere in the retrieval. It then took us a couple hours to get back the way we had come, fortunately without further incident, and return to the Mayor, whereupon we were restored to full size. The Mayor was stunned when confronted with what he had done, not having considered the dangers to us in our reduced forms. While annoyed about being shrunk, I noticed that the ire of my companions had faded, and so I no longer had a mandate to kill the irritating fool, so I just slunk off to my room to make a record of the strangest day in my life thus farm and then to bed.

*Eleasis 22nd* - Nothing much really happened today, those of us with wounds from yesterdays bizarre excursion got them seen to, Braddoc spent time with his uncle Gort in the smithy, I sat in my usual corner of the Inn watching the comings and goings. Of interest was the departure of the Commanders minions heading west to the mountains and the old dwarfhold to deal with the Ogres there.

*Eleasis 23rd to Eleint 2nd* - Spent the tenday training and honing our skills. Should this tower indeed be occupied then we might well be in for a fierce battle, as none of us have fought a real wizard before. I devoted much of the time to further improving my stealthy skills, which I hope will prove useful in any upcoming combats.

*Eleint 3rd* - Having spent the last tenday honing our skills, we were eager to set out from the town. We had opted to tackle the tower to the north of town, which after years of being vacant and derelict following the Zhent occupation is apparently occupied again and the Mayor is worried about this (and everything else, Mayor Butterstone worries a lot). From my surveillance of the other groups, I have determined that Jake Morgan’s posse of thugs have barely left his house and seem to spend all their time getting roaring drunk and smashing up the place, fitting company for him indeed. There has been no sign of the Commanders minions, but that is to be expected, as dealing with that many ogres will take some doing. We set off early for the tower, it being a three-day trek to the north of Clearwater. The tower it is said used to belong to a wizardess called Traya the Forsaken, though she was slain by the Zhentarim.

Towards the latter part of the day as were we travelling along the road, we were challenged by a bandit with the quaint threat of "Stand & Deliver". He mentioned that crossbows were aimed at us, no doubt from cowardly compatriots in the tree line to either side of the road. Rand then must have done something behind us to alarm him, as he shouted for his men to fire, as he ran into the trees screaming about Warlocks. We handily defeated the bandits who numbered four in all, the last of their number surrendering to us rather than joining his larcenous companions in death. Taeghen prevented me from ridding us of the burden of dealing with him, offering instead to ride back to Clearwater and deposit him with the Mayor. The elf is the only one of us on horseback, mainly due to the heavy full plate armour he is wearing as else he would slow us all down. We split the bandits’ haul of coinage between us, it seems banditry has been good of late, as there was plenty of gold to divide amongst us. Taeghen returned around midnight, finding our camp easily enough. He has deposited the bandit in the Mayor's custody... yet another thing for him to worry about.


----------



## Eccles (Nov 25, 2002)

Jared Blackspawn’s Journal

Part 6

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

*Eleasis 4th* - In the very early hours of this morning the group’s sleep was disturbed by an enraged dire boar, a truly frightening monstrous porcine creature around 9' in length from its tail to the wickedly curved tusks it tried goring us with. We succeeded in defeating the beast swiftly, but not before it had grievously wounded Stedd. Taeghan's spells luckily were up to the task of pulling our monastic companion back from the brink of death. I think I fought well, moving about the beast, my blades slashing it several times. While the rest of the group went back to sleep or on watch, Braddoc carved several large juicy steaks from the corpse. We ate the best breakfast any of us have eaten in months as a result. The gods do not dine on bacon as divine as this tasted! We headed on after breakfast, turning off the road in the mid afternoon and heading across country. The day passed without incident and as we made camp this evening, I could just make out the tower in the distance. 

*Eleint 5th* - Thankfully the night passed quietly and everyone got a good nights rest. We set off towards the tower just after first light, it lying in forested hills against the base of the Desertsmouth Mountains that mark the western extremity of Daggerdale. As we got close, Stedd alerted us to something big moving in the trees up ahead. And I thought my hearing was sharp, I hadn't heard a thing! Upon getting a bit closer we saw what we believed was a bear shaking a tree. The wind must then have shifted, because it suddenly turned and charged us. It was indeed a bear... an Owlbear! It put up a good fight, but it had picked on the wrong group of adventurers. We are no rookies now, and we easily surrounded and bludgeoned the beast, the killing blow though was mine, as I sunk both my blades in it to the hilt. It collapsed on Braddoc, most amusing. 

The fight done, we left the body for scavengers and continued towards the tower. The tower was built to impressive proportions, and standing on guard outside it was a huge (about 9-10' tall) greenskinned creature in heavy armour and carrying the largest axe I have ever seen. I had never seen such a creature before, indeed it perplexed all of us as to what its nature might be. Rand turned himself invisible (evidently a new enchantment he has learned and one I shall have to be wary about), and went to investigate. Despite his precautions, the Troll (for that is what is was, as we found out) sniffed him out and made a few attempts to attack him. It then must have seen Tanus, and charged towards us, throwing the corpse it was gnawing on at him as it advanced. 

We moved in at it thundered into Tanus, and surrounded it, attacking as a group. To no avail, its armour turned aside most of our blows and those that did defeat the metal plates it wore had little effect, the creature regenerating its wounds almost instantly. It then picked a target and swung felling me in one blow. I dropped like a stone, and lay there on the ground perceiving my companions trying to wrestle the creature through a red haze as my lifeblood pumped out to stain the earth beneath me. Then I passed out. 

I was woken by Rand slapping me, he having dragged me to safety. Hearing the din of battle nearby and seeing Tanus' bloodied body lying beside me, I got to my feet and ran into the forest as fast as I could, using the training Alfgeir gave me to blend into the trees and vanish. Better to live and run away, than pointlessly die here today I reasoned. My comrades be damned, I care not for their lives. The others managed to get away though, as when the Troll tried to pursue them into the forest, some force of magic stopped him and he headed back to the tower. Clearly the new resident has an ingenious way of "leashing" his bodyguard. I rejoined the group, and we backed off and made camp some distance away, where we will lick our wounds and decide what to do. 

*Eleint 6th* - In the early morning Braddoc woke me from my rest, as something was approaching the camp. I readied myself to die, my wounds from yesterday still considerable. I could clearly see in the distance that what was headed our way was a minotaur. He charged at us, and Braddoc readied his spear to receive him, the minotaur running himself onto it and impaling himself, though also viciously goring the dwarf in the process. Rand and I then leapt to the attack, attacking with spells and blades, felling the beast almost instantly. Rand recovered a pair of gloves from the corpse that he says are magical. I went back to sleep. In the morning after we had eaten, we decided to leave the tower alone for the time being and go and retrieve our silver from its burial place. 

*Eleint 7th to Eleint 13th* - Trekking along the edge of the Desertsmouth Mountains heading southwest towards the hobgoblin fort that we burnt down. No encounters with anything remotely dangerous. When we are not busy travelling, we are hunting to supplement our rations, I believe I am getting better at this. 

*Eleint 14th* - After a lengthy and uneventful journey, we arrived at the ruined fort and proceeded from there to the location where we had buried the remaining two chests of silver ingots. We found them untampered with. After exhuming them, Braddoc set to work to rig up a sled, which we tied to Taeghan's horse. We then loaded up the sled with the chests (much simpler than us hauling them back this time), and we set off back towards Clearwater. 

*Eleint 15th to Eleint 18th* - Travelling back to Clearwater, again no significant encounters with anything dangerous and the few travellers we passed on the road were definitely of the non-threatening kind. I am itching for a good fight. 

*Eleint 19th* - We arrived back in Clearwater to find the Inn under siege (Vhaeruan be praised, a good fight awaited me!). It turns out the thugs staying at Jake Morgan's house attacked the place a few days ago and have been surrounded and besieged in there by the village folk ever since. They are holding the Mayor hostage and there are six of them in all. Why is it always the Mayor who needs help? If this were a drow run community such a disorganised and hapless official would have been assassinated long ago, to the betterment of the community I feel. 

A new sheriff had arrived in the area a couple days back; Alfgeir's replacement is a man by the name of Marley. He has already tried to negotiate with the thugs, and been shot twice for his troubles. He looked quite concerned by my presence (Another new face who does not know me, Clearwater becomes more alien and hostile to me by the day I feel. How long before others who know me, like the Mayor, start to feel the antipathy that these newcomers direct my way and respond to it, or even support it... and things were going so well). Marley informed us that there is a bounty of the heads of these villains, indeed he was eager for the Clearwater posting as he had heard they had headed this way and was pursuing them. The bounty is 10 gold each for them dead, 25 gold for them alive. Looks like it will be 10 gold apiece then. 

We decided for a four pronged assault with myself and Stedd climbing up to enter through two different upstairs windows while Braddoc and Taeghan storm the front doors and Tanus and Rand rush the kitchen doors on the ground floor. Things did not go to plan. We were spotted approaching the Inn and they were waiting for us. Tanus and Rand did not go in through the kitchen door, instead trying to hack their way futilely through the wooden wall from the servants quarters upstairs, a plan I thought it had been made clear not to go with earlier on. Braddoc and Taeghan took their time in getting through the front doors, and as they tried to do so an archer looked out of an upstairs window and spotted me climbing up, putting two arrows into me before I had even gotten into the building. My assault was then stopped short by a sword as I was quickly cut down in the common room upstairs, my assailant then running off to deal with Braddoc and Taeghan who had finally broken into the ground floor. 

I was brought around by Taeghan's magic some time later, after all the fighting was done and to my great amazement not all of the bandits were dead, despite Braddoc flying into one of his famous battle rages. Indeed of the six bandits, only two had been slain, the other four having been beaten unconscious. We handed them over to the new sheriff for the princely sum of 120 gold coins. We also stripped them of any coins they were carrying and belongings of interest, many of which under Rand's arcane investigation registered magical auras. We then all chipped in money to pay for his mentor to identify the items for us, but we lacked the funds to get them all seen to. As a result I have procured for myself a moderately strong healing potion and also an amulet said to protect the wearer against being hit. I don't feel any more protected wearing it I must admit. 

As we need to head to Dagger Falls to get our silver ingots stamped with an official seal so that we can spend them, we have agreed to travel with Marley as an escort for the prisoners, to see them to the magistrates in the capital of Daggerdale. From what little I know of Dagger Falls it is a grim town filled with surly and unsavoury folk. I can't wait to get there!


----------



## Eccles (Nov 25, 2002)

Jared Blackspawn’s Journal

Part 7

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

*Eleasis 20th* - We set off early, having rented a wagon and horses to take our chests and the prisoners to Dagger Falls in. Before we left town I spent 40 gold, and invested in a couple of minor healing potions from Chauntea's temple, I have a feeling I might need them. We are accompanied by Sheriff Marley, who needs to be present at the trials of the prisoners as a witness for the prosecution. I say save the trouble and just string them up; we know they are guilty, a lot less waste of time and effort involved. Marley was not interested in my opinion however. 

*Eleint 21st* - Nothing much really happened today, we continued heading north towards Dagger Falls without incident. 

*Eleint 22nd* - Not long after setting off this morning we were ambushed by a hungry pair of Ankhegs who grievously injured Taeghan, him then riding off and the other attacked me, clamping its mandibles into my right leg and dragging me underground. I would have died if not for Stedd diving into the tunnel after me and rescuing me, killing the Ankheg with his bare fists underground and forcing one of my new bought healing potions down my throat to restore me to health. I knew they would come in useful, glad I invested in them. So much for the usefulness of this protection amulet, I nearly got killed while wearing it. Taeghan repaired some more of my wounds, a good nights sleep should see me back to health. 

*Eleint 23rd* - This morning while Taeghan was on third watch, the camp came under attack as a vial of incendiary fire was hurled at him setting him alight. I came round from my sleep to the sound of him screaming and the sight of him ablaze. Not a sight I'll soon forget, more mornings should start with elves being torched. His fires were soon put out with only minor harm having been done to him (though all of his hair burnt off, leaving him looking rather odd to say the least). While Taeghan and Stedd headed off into the woods to hunt down our attacker, the rest of us came under attack by ravenous wolves. We handily defeated them and Taeghan rejoined us, followed a short while later by Stedd who had run into a werewolf. Looking around I found that Marley had been knocked out with a rock, and our prisoners have escaped, no doubt the doing of the werewolf, or (and this is what I fear) other werewolves. I managed to follow their tracks to the nearby road (we had pulled off it to make camp last night), but after that it became impossible to determine which direction they had gone in. Taeghan rode south back towards Clearwater for a few miles, while we carried on north. He rejoined us after an hour or so, neither group having spotted any sign of our escapees. 

The day went without further incident, yet as we travelled we saw lupine forms in the trees to either side of the road, stalking us. We made camp but our rest was disturbed early on by a burly humanoid figure who shot an arrow into the camp missing us by a mile. Rand took off after him, closely followed by Stedd as I moved to guard Braddoc while he put his armour on. Taeghan then hearing the sounds of battle, cast a spell on one of my blades imbuing it temporarily with magical strength and the ability to deal lasting wounds to lycanthropes as he deduced that this is what was attacking Stedd and Rand. Rand had already succumbed to some sort of attack, as blood was pouring from a gash in his side. I charged through the forest undergrowth to help my comrades who had indeed been ambushed by werewolves, a trio of them no less, the leader of which I saw before he transformed. It was the hobgoblin chieftain who had escaped death at my hands on the road at the overturned taxman's wagon all those tendays ago. He escaped again with severe wounds, curse him, but his two allies had no such luck as they fell to my blades, I moving like death incarnate amongst them, beheading the first in one stroke, and then eviscerating the other with a backslash, nearly cutting the spine from him. I have got to get me a proper magical sword soon, I was unstoppable. Praise be to Vhaeruan for delivering me this glorious victory. 

We looted the bodies of some coin and jewels, tied a bandage around Rand's wounds (he confidently stated that the gash was from a sword-slash, and that there was no need for concern) and headed back to the wagon, where Braddoc was still not yet in his armour. For once his star does not shine brightest after a fight, the glory today is all mine! 

*Eleint 24th* - Again a quiet day, with nothing much happening. Passed a few other wagons and entourages of people, and that's about it really. Still after the lycanthropic high jinks of yesterday and especially last night, a peaceful day was a welcome respite. 

*Eleint 25th* - We finally arrived at Dagger Falls in the late afternoon. Dagger Falls is a stone built town, walled and dirty. For many years it was little more than a fortified caravan stop for the Zhentarim, the first and last stop for caravans crossing Anauroch, the great desert that lies to the west, beyond the mountains. The town is experiencing a boom under Randal Morn's renewed lordship; this man fought the Zhents for better than two decades in a fierce guerrilla war, not a man to be underestimated. Before entering the town I used the makeup in my disguise kit to alter my appearance to that of a normal half-elf, dying my hair blonde rather than its usual silvery colour. While I despise having to make myself look other than what I am, I feel it is best to take no chances in a town known for its rough and ready reputation, it is no secret that the folk of Dagger Falls openly carry weapons, and most know how to use them. I have no interest in being torn to pieces by a crowd of peasants fearful of a "drow". 

Rand headed off to get his ancient family seal renewed it having been lost during the Zhent occupation as his family were driven from their lands and influence, mostly by the actions of the Van Cei who were allies of the Zhentarim. Quite why they continue to exist in Daggerdale now that it is run by Morn, who despises the Zhents and their lackeys troubles me. could it be that the Van Cei have enough influence to make purging them from the province more trouble than it is worth? 

The rest of us settled into an Inn by the name of The Teshford Arms and waited for him to get back to us. He failed, it turns out that the Zhent's did a grand job of burning the past when they left, spitefully destroying as many records as they could. Perhaps this explains the continued presence of the Van Cei, without any of the old records, there is no proof to incriminate them, merely the word of discredited families like Rand's, and wild accusations are no basis for justice. Intriguing, this bears further investigation. We are now left with three choices when it comes to getting our silver stamped, they are: 

- The Van Cei family. Not really an option. 

- The nearby dwarfholds. Possible, Braddoc is going to investigate this option for us. 

- Lord Randal Morn himself. 

Naturally we favour the dwarfholds as our best bet, so Braddoc is going to do his best to make some contacts and see what he can do about this. Needless to say this will involve him getting roaring drunk, I'm sure he'll enjoy himself. There is much to see and learn about here, including a Red Wizard enclave no less. Once I have my share of the silver I shall have to investigate the enclave and see what they have for sale, I doubt my companions will join me in this shopping excursion though, they seemed quite shocked to learn of the Thayan's presence here. 

Marley got back from reporting to his superiors and shocked us all by saying that we are well known in these parts as the Clearwater Crusaders (not the name I would have picked, but it does have a certain ring to it), and also that having learned of our presence in his town, Lord Randal Morn has invited us to a dinner in our honour tomorrow night. As we were discussing this a salesman dressed like a wizard stepped up to our table and offered to sell us a magical longsword. None of us were interested though. He had made the approach after hearing Stedd blurt out that we had silver... in the Inn's common room! Now we have to assign one of our number to guard the chests at all times, so I have volunteered to take that duty tomorrow night, formal dinners are not really my scene anyway, and I doubt my disguise would be that effective under the scrutiny of a Lord's court. A shame as I would have liked a chance to meet Randal Morn in person. We hauled the chests up to our rooms and went to sleep for the night.


----------



## Eccles (Nov 25, 2002)

Jared Blackspawn’s Journal

Part 8

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

*Eleasis 26th* - Woke up this morning and while we enjoyed a hearty breakfast downstairs in the Inn, Tanus burst in, having travelled to Dagger Falls alone on the road, setting off the day after we did. My respect for him increased a measure hearing this, as I recalled our own troubles on the same trip. He arrived carrying a large sack of silver coins, and apparently was attacked by large rats and goblins on the journey. There is no justice, we get mauled by ankhegs and werewolves, he gets rats and goblins! Clearly Tymora smiled on him during the past few days. 

Since the group (minus myself) are off to a party in their honour tonight, I urged them to consider investing in some new garments suitable to be seen in at Lord Morn's court. We have just gotten a group reputation; I did not want them ruining it so soon. Having said this, they are bound to mess this up, the only one of them with the slightest sense of etiquette is Taeghan, and that isn't saying much. I will be spending the night in the Inn guarding our wealth and updating this journal, so as to be a better record of our endeavours to present to my superiors, should anyone ever turn up to collect it. 

As the others set off to the dinner, I bought myself a fine Aglarondian wine dated 1362, and took my evening meal up to my room to guard the chests and bag of silver we have accumulated. My disguise as a regular half-elf seems to be fooling people well enough. As the evening drew on, and I made notes clarifying past entries in this journal, I was visited in my room by an elf of incredible skill. He took me completely unawares in my room, me not having seen or heard him make his entrance, no easy task. He warned me that I was under observation and would remain so for the foreseeable future at the behest of the committee, a group of powerful individuals headed by Lord Morn who really run Daggerdale. A clever way to run a regime, it is hard to kill off a government if only one person in it is publicly known. 

I take the elf to be an assassin in the service of the realm and he mentioned assigning me a task to prove my worthiness. Should I pass this test then he offered to train me to make better use of my dark nature. I was left in no doubt though, that should I do anything suspicious whilst in this place my life would be forfeit. He left as gracefully and silently as he arrived, pivoting out my window and into the alleyway... a three storey drop. In the couple seconds it took me to recover from having had his blade at my throat and look out into the alley, he had vanished. I poured myself a full glass of the wine, I needed a drink after that! 

The others came back as I was getting ready for bed, and it turns out they had no luck in getting the silver stamped, as there has been a recent glut of silver flooding the local economy. Lord Morn would have taken a 75% cut for exchanging it, as he is buying up silver stocks to avoid an economic meltdown. The groups account of Randal Morn shocked me, apparently old age is catching up to him fast, and from what I was able to glean, he is halfway senile and quite frail. The group have however, picked up a contract from a wizard who they are to meet tomorrow. A wizard with red robes and a tattooed head... great! 

*Eleint 27th* - We hauled the silver to the Temple of Lathander. It is a very grandiose building named Lathander's Light, rebuilt after the Zhent's burnt it down during their occupation. We paid to keep the chests in one of their vaults, as the temple is used to acting as a bank also (though in larger settlements, this would normally be the provision of a Waukeener temple). We then set off across town to see what this Red Wizard wants with us. 

We entered the Thayan enclave, small but functional, and the signs of industry were clearly apparent. Our contact was a mage by the name of Darius Sandford (evidently a name assumed to help him fit into the Dalelands, Thayan names are quite different). He wants us to make a journey to the mountains on an errand he says he is incapable of making himself. Great... the mountains. I thought by not taking on Mayor Butterstone's mission to the old dwarfhold and the ogres occupying it, that we had avoided going to the mountains. Curse Beshaba for this development! 

He created a scrying bowl and showed us a scene of a small (about 10' long) Red Dragon sleeping on a pile of coins in a cave. He wants us to kill this dragon and bring back to him its brain and spinal cord. We can take whatever of its hoard we can carry too. The lair is about three days away to the north-west of Dagger Falls in the very northern end of the Desertsmouth range. The dragon is living with it's father, who goes by the name of Gran'Rath Tendathaloth, a ferocious beast of a wyrm, who in known for his cunning and knowledge of the area. However, over the years, the dragon has lapsed into a predictable routine, hunting for two hours at around noon each day. This gives us a window to get into the lair, kill the offspring and do the messy deed, gather what we can and get out of there, as confrontation with the parent dragon would certainly be fatal for all of us. Darius provided us with a scent proof bag to carry back the body parts in, as well as 4 scrolls of spells designed to clean us of the blood and smell of our work, so as to not leave a trail for the father to follow, which would lead him to us, and thence onto to Dagger Falls itself to enact revenge. 

Darius offered to enchant two items as the reward for doing this deed for him, but as I have no suitable item and due to not being able to change our silver cannot afford to buy such I will gain nothing from this endeavour save for whatever may be found in the dragon's lair. We returned to the Inn and gathered our things, getting in a meal before heading off. I was able to pick up some scraps of information from those who know the area and its legends. Apparently this male killed his mate once she had given birth and raises this infant himself, most unlike red wyrms from all accounts. It is said that he makes magical weapons and armour for a pastime, though I am not sure how much credence to give to that rumour, I think the fellow I got it from must have seen my desires for such items too plainly on my face, I must take better care to guard my expressions. I gathered the following tit bits of information about him: 

- He's known for his immense cunning and knowledge. He makes certain enchanted items for a hobby. 

- His lair is rumoured to be filled with nasty tricks and traps. 

- He's been known to make armour and weapons in the past. 

- He has acted as a knowledge broker. 

- He'll sell information for the right price and knows the area of the mountains like the back of his hand. 

- He's a ferocious red monstrosity. Most of the time he's immensely cunning and hard to read. He has a large repertoire of magics and uses them well. 

- When angered, his fury has been known to make the mountains shake. 

- In all his years he has never been known to use verbal trickery, illusions or to change his form. 

- He mated with the mother of the smaller dragon in his cave, waited until the baby was born, and then smashed her into little tiny bits a few years later when she tried to steal from his horde. He's decided to bring up Junior in his own image. Apparently he tore her head from her shoulders with his teeth in a frenzy. After he'd killed her. 

All in all this does not bode well! I am sure somewhere Beshaba is laughing herself sick at my misfortune. We set off immediately after lunch, wasting no time in the town. I am unsure if my late night visitor will be pleased that I am in the employ of a Red Wizard. Hardly my ideal assignment, as taking on a dragon in its lair at the request of an evil mage is not conducive to a long life. What is worse is that Tanus had caught a disease on his journey to town (probably from the rats, though I wouldn't rule out goblins being infected with something). In any event it was not contagious, and I believe he got it cured by Lathander's priests before leaving the town, he certainly slipped off early during lunch and rejoined us as we were leaving the town. 

Since we expect to be away for a few days we paid up on the vault, and I paid to retain my room in the Inn, as if I get back I have a feeling I'm going to want a bath and good nights sleep in a comfortable bed. We had made good progress through the forested foothills by the time we made camp tonight. 

*Eleint 28th* - We headed on our way, though the weather was terrible today with icy rain driving down, overcast skies and chill wind. Braddoc couldn't have been happier; the rest of us trudged on in silence, our spirits quashed somewhat. In the mid afternoon I heard something stalking us from my place at the front of the group, though I could not make out what it was in the gloomy forest to either side of the crude trail we were following. It revealed itself seconds later as the group stopped on my warning signals, charging into Stedd. A Displacer Beast by nature, it obviously viewed us as an easy meal picking on the monk, who was our rearguard. It reckoned without Braddoc who swiftly dealt a grievous blow to the strange creature. It's bizarre blurring ability however, kept us fighting it for some time, it injuring several of the party, as we scored minor hits here and there, until Tanus finally finished it off. Rand then slit the beast open and from its guts pulled a wooden rod, which he believes to be a wand of some sort. Rather him than me having to handle that. 

*Eleint 29th* - Nothing much happened today, though the trail got steadily steeper. Around noon, we caught a sighting of the father dragon... the local rumours do not do this beast justice. It is the largest creature I have ever seen, and I think none of the others had seen its like before either. We are now more than ever convinced of the necessity to avoid a confrontation with this creature, as it would result in all of our deaths. 

*Eleint 30th* - We set off at dawn, and not long after we were attacked by a minotaur, it crashed out of the forest into Tanus and badly goring him. We then surrounded it and attacked, it slicing into Braddoc with its axe before Stedd dropped it with a well-placed punch to a rather delicate part of its anatomy, and I finished it off. We found a sack of its loot nearby that it had clearly dropped as it ran towards us. The haul was mostly copper coins; a couple of gems and a bastard sword that is apparently enchanted... why oh why is there never anything I can use on these beasts? By the end of the day we had gotten close enough to the lair so that tomorrow, we strike... it is an irony that tomorrow is a holiday, Highharvestide, and that while most other people of Faerun will be feasting and celebrating autumn, we will be battling for our lives against a dragon of all things.


----------



## Eccles (Nov 25, 2002)

Phew! Glad I've copied all that across now...

Anyway, let me know what you think of Jared's player's work. He's thinking about discontinuing the Journal, which I think would be a great shame (as I'd probably have to take over!)

Coming soon - The Clearwater Crusaders ally themselves with the forces of nature for a fatal assault on the dragon's lair!


----------



## Eccles (Nov 25, 2002)

Ah yes. And I neglected to include the character histories for Rand Stormseeker and Braddoc, the last fighting dwarf of the Rudenheim clan:

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

The Story of Rand Stormseeker 

*Family History:*
The family Rand was one of the richest in all of Merrydale for almost a century. From Clearwater to Merry Falls they owned over three-dozen farms and employed some two hundred people. All that ended when a Vampire infestation laid waste to the entire region and changed the Dalelands forever. Over the coming years the folk of the newly renamed Daggerdale left he region in droves forcing the Rand's to move or even sell many of their farms. Enter the Van Cei Family. 

The Van Cei's were also wealthy farmers but where the Rand's became wealthy by treating their workers fairly and paying them an honest wage, the Van Cei's become wealthy through dishonesty and murder. Crop burning, bribery, false clams of necromancy (The Rands have had a long relationship with Sorcery) and many more where used to undermine and weaken the Rand family. By the time of the Zentarim invasion the Rand family only owned two farms both of which where captured by Zentarim troops and used to fuel the war effort along with the Van Cei's who aided and helped the Zent's by feeding their troops and betraying any folk who showed signs of descent. When the revolution came the Van Cei's fled the region spoiling the soil and poisoning the wells on their way leaving the common folk to try and rebuild their lives. 

*Personal History:*
The last Rand, Stormseeker was always a little bit strange. When other children where out playing in the fields Stormseeker (Or Firstson as he was called until his sixteenth birthday) was busy exploring his growing arcane powers or zapping the village cat. He took his adult name after being struck by lightning during the worst storm in living memory and walking away without a mark on him.

*Friends: *
The people of Clearwater

*Enemies: *
The Van Cei family

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

The Life and Times of Braddoc Rüdenheim 

Braddoc Rüdenheim is a young Shield dwarf, just 55 years of age.  He lives with his grandfather in a small flat above the blacksmith’s Smithy in the town of Clearwater His clan has been unintentionally un-rooted, for reasons that will become clear later 

*1. Relatives, Trainers, Friends*
Braddoc Rüdenheim has family and associates as described in the following sections. 

*1.1. Relatives*
Braddoc Rüdenheim has two surviving family members, although one is missing. His grandfather, Rengaard is an ancient, taciturn old dwarf who regales Braddoc with tales of yore. Braddoc’s elder brother, Delgaard, is the missing member of the family, having left to search for surviving members of the clan. More later

The rest of Braddoc’s immediate family (mother, father and younger sister) were all either killed during the disaster where the clan stronghold was lost, or died of injuries soon after

*1.2. Trainers*
Braddoc has a trainer in the town of Clearwater, who has been teaching him the art of war. Gort Caranras, a grizzled dwarven Fighter veteran and Clearwater’s Smith has been instructing Braddoc in the techniques of organised war, and the proper use of hammer and tongs! 

*1.3. Friends*
Braddoc counts Gort amongst his friends. However, he also has a friend in Whitewolf, a human Bard of a barbarian tribe from the far North-West. In addition, the Rüdenheim clan has traded with the people of Clearwater for many decades (they breed sheep). 

*2. Likes, Dislikes, Fears and Foes*
Likes: Few. The rest… In a word, many. Examples follow. 

*2.1. Likes and Dislikes*
Braddoc likes the following: Gold and gems, especially crafted into jewelry. He also likes: Ale, dwarf spirits, harmonic dwarven bardic singing (think: Welsh choir), architecture (especially anything on a grand scale: temples and the like), and well-crafted arms and armour. 

Braddoc dislikes: Wine (and wine drinkers), elven choirs (all eunuchs!!) forged or simulated jewelry (would offend any dwarf) and any arms or armour enhanced by magic (lazy, and usually showy to the point of unusable). 

*2.2. Fears*
Like many dwarves, Braddoc has a distinct dislike of magic. However, in Braddoc’s case this may well be slightly pathological when it comes to possession enchantments. Loss of voluntary control due to charm-type spells will almost certainly trigger a ‘rage’ if possession is unsuccessful; or a ‘rage’ as soon as possession ends, if it is successful. It is believed that this reaction is due to Braddoc being forced to murder old and infirm dwarves during the disaster at Rüdenheim stronghold. Braddoc will not discus this matter, so further confirmation is not possible

*2.3. Foes: Traditional*
Dwarves have many traditional foes; the Rüdenheim clan is a very traditional dwarven clan. Braddoc has been known to join up with raiding parties hunting goblins, hobgoblins and orcs. He’s also offered to join in the hunting of bugbears and trolls, amongst others, but has yet to be accepted.

*2.4. Foes: Specific*
However much Braddoc hates other races, he reserves his most cold-blooded fury for ogres, as it was an army of ogres lead by an ogre mage, who committed the atrocity at the Rüdenheim clan stronghold. However, Braddoc has since discovered (from Rengaard) that it was likely that the ogres were under instruction from a greater evil. That source was known only to come from the Underdark, and Braddoc has sworn to uncover the truth, when he has the wherewithal to survive a journey to the ‘Dark Pits.’ 

*3. Last Word*
The attack directed from the Underdark on Rüdenheim stronghold may have been aimed at eliminating an elite cadre of dwarves that were suspected of being resistant to magic. It was believed, by surviving members of Rüdenheim, that all these dwarves were killed in the attack. However, in conversation with Whitewolf, Delgaard discovered that some of the older human barbarians had similar abilities (Whitewolf called them ‘Forsakers’). Delgaard promptly set off in search of the missing dwarves, who he believed must have taught the humans. No news of Delgaard has been heard for five years, and it is Braddoc’s wish to search for him as soon as he has either the skills to survive alone, or a group to join up with who is heading in the right direction (north, south, east or west from Clearwater…).


----------



## Eccles (Nov 25, 2002)

Taeghen Calaudra of Moonrise Hill 

*Born:* 150 years ago 

Being the younger son of one of the town elders of Moonrise Hill left Taeghen with education and some of the conceits of a privileged upbringing. Perhaps unfortunately the education also included some exposure to cultures beyond that of the Moonrise elves, and perhaps more tragically, to the romantic ideals of Cormyr. 

While still young and impressionable Taeghen served with a Deepingdale militia company in the Thunderpeaks, where they came across a company of Purple Dragon Knights in the process of defeating a Dragon (be it ever so small). 

Assisting the badly injured Knights back to Cormyr gave Taeghen many opportunities to converse with the knights and to listen to outrageous tales of noble and mighty deeds. 

With such inspiration as a guide, the reclusive nature of Moonrise Hill began to chafe. 

With foolish notions of; bringing the elves closer to other societies in the region and acting as a force for Good, to lead armies in to Semberholme to take back old cities from the Drow, and many another noble (and idiotic) scheme, it wasn't long before Taeghen was causing offence. 

In an attempt to divert the young elf, and to place him somewhere where heretical ideas can do no harm, a career in the priesthood was chosen. 

Under the guidance of Vestele Eveningfall some small place was found for the teachings of the church of Corellan Lorethian but it seems likely that his desire to do great deeds in the service of good may soon lead to the ways of Paladinhood. 

*Father:* Fraelar Calaudra, of the town council of Moonrise Hill, a dull and unexciting elf, and a strong supporter of the isolationist faction of that town. 

*Sister:* Talindra Calaudra, eldest sibling. A ranger of some small renown in the local region, her scouting party having defeated several bands of adventurers (well they might have been in league with the Drow after all) 

*Brother:* Saevel Calaudra, elder brother, an elf without distinction. 

*Teacher:* Vestele Eveningfall (crazy name, crazy gal) High priestess of the church of Corellan in Moonrise Hill, renowned for tolerant nature and sense of humour. 

*Enemies:* Drow (what's to like?) and Taeghen also dreams of one day fighting a Dragon. 

*Likes:* Good food and good company, tales of mighty deeds, tales involving Dragons 

*Dislikes:* Cowards and backstabbers, Drow (see previous dislike), Going hungry 

*Worst Fear:* That his courage will fail him when there is a mighty deed to be done, and he will run screaming like a big Drow's blouse.


----------



## Eccles (Dec 2, 2002)

Jared Blackspawn’s Journal

Part 9

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

*Highharvestide* - We had camped last night a few hours travel from the lair, so that with an early start we could reach the lair just after Gran'rath had left it. As we were about to set off, our camp was entered by a dirty woman and her hulking bear companion. She introduced herself as Angharad Bearfriend, and after introduction were over she announced that she shares our interest in slaying the young dragon, though her motivation is different. She claims (probably rightly so), that the local ecosystem cannot support two such active and powerful predators. 

She cast a few spells designed to lessen the severity of fire upon several of us and Taeghan offered to do similar but had just one spell to use for this, and it could go to either Stedd or myself. I felt ill at ease with the idea of Corellon Larethian protecting me, so I let Stedd receive the dubious blessing. 

We set off and climbed up the rocky slope towards the lair. Gran'rath Tendathaloth then launched himself out to hunt and a wave of cold terror swept over me, dropping me to my knees in fright. I was far from the worst affected though, I could hear one of the others whimpering behind me. Of all of us only Rand seemed completely unaffected by the dragon fear, perhaps in part due to the rumours that sorcerors carry the taint of draconic blood in their veins. Once we had recovered our wits we climbed up the rest of the way to the lair entrance. Braddoc noticed that the entrance had been weakened so that it could be easily collapsed. Noting this, we headed into a vast tunnel leading into the interior of the mountain, coming across an area of tunnel where the floor was covered in metal that had been melted to form a layer, though it was now cold and set hard. Braddoc tried to investigate this feature with the aid of a heavy rock, rolling it before him, and fell into a cunning pit trap in the midst of it. We then hauled him out with a rope and the aid of the bear to pull it. 

Making our way around the edge of the pit we heard an ominous voice boom out (a magical enchantment it turned out), warning us to leave or die. We ignored it and a great bolt of lightning fired at us. Stedd and I avoided it easily but it blasted Braddoc and Tanus, both then needing substantial healing from Angharad. I take her to be a local druid given her spells and general appearance. The bolt done, we found ourselves in a large cave, with two tunnel leading from it, though one was completely blocked by a massive wall of fire. Rand detected numerous magic sources in the cave, and then Braddoc spotted a dwarven corpse that had been used for flame breath target practice, no doubt by the infant dragon. He went to investigate, finding a mithril helmet that belonged to his brother (who presumably is the extra crispy dwarf), and we were then set upon by three fire creatures of some sort, presumably elemental in nature that burst out of the wall of fire. We made short work of these, I finished off two of them myself. Tanus took the wand that was embedded in a cave wall, which the lightning bolt had shot from, and there was a suit of studded leather armour on the dwarf corpse that had somehow survived the roasting, possibly magical in nature to withstand such heat. 

We next had to negotiate an area of the tunnel affected by and Evard's Black Tentacles spell which grabbed me and then Tanus as he and Stedd did their best to free me. We resolved the problem by Rand annihilating the area with the use of one of his globes from his necklace of missiles. Proceeding hastily along the tunnel, we then came across two large runes, one on each opposite wall of the tunnel, facing each other. Stedd tumbled straight through and the runes flashed with black lightning, the tunnel floor between them erupting as skeletons and zombies burst forth from the earth, forming a wall of the undead separating us from our monk. I barrelled into them in a concerted effort to cut my way through to my usual fighting partner. The others then joined me. Across the tunnel I could just make out the undead surround Stedd. Angharad and Braddoc fought to either side of me as we desperately battled to reach Stedd before the press of numbers overwhelmed him. And then from behind me Taeghan chanted holy words and the undead just exploded, the skeletons detonating into bony shards, the zombies stumbling off, driven back by the fervour of his piety. Though I loathe his god, I find myself envying the elf's closeness to his deity. 

Chasing after the zombies we encountered the thick webbing they had stumbled into. Stedd promptly set fire to the webbing, burning it and the zombies both, revealing an ingenious trap that the webing would have activated if we had gotten stuck in it. We went past this now toothless trap and entered a sizeable cavern. Something then fired off a magical attack on Braddoc and since I couldn't see what, I decided to level the playing field (a quaint human expression, having something to do with a concept of theirs called sportsmanship) and slipped into the shadows, moving further into the cave, whereupon my superior nightvision allowed me to see the infant dragon, clinging to a wall of the cave some 30' up, at the far end of the cavern. 

I watched as my companions too moved into the cave, spreading out to lessen the effects of the monsters formidable breath weapon. I saw the dragon drop down to the cave floor, its youthful impetuosity causing it to give up its height advantage, and then it inhaled... and exhaled molten fire at most of the party missing only Stedd, Rand, myself and Angharad's bear companion. While Braddoc took little damage and Tanus nimbly avoided the fire entirely, both Taeghan and Angharad were greviously burned, though neither dropped from their wounds. Rand launched volleys of his electrical orbs as both Braddoc and myself charged it. My strike had no effect, my blade clattering off the creatures thick scales, but Braddoc's axe ripped open a gaping wound, parting the scales across the infant's forequarters, the dragon roaring in pain. We all piled into it, surrounding the great reptile and keeping it pinned against the cave wall, denying it the effective use of its tail as a weapon. Though I had little overall effect I claim the glory, as mine was the blow that felled the beast, my blade sinking deep into its body to steal away its young life. I am a dragonslayer! 

We then hurriedly grabbed what we could of the hoard, gold coins, some gems and a couple items, and butrchered the body for the parts that Darius needs and then we ran. As we reached the treeline halfway down the mountain slope, and just after Rand had cast the spells to cleanse us of the smell of our deeds, Gran'rath returned to the lair, and we ran like hell further into the forest canopy. We heard the parent dragons roars of anguish and and anger as he discovered what we had done and began heading back out of his lair to seek our doom. Rand then flung his remaining two missile globes from his necklace and detonated them on the weakened cave entrance, collapsing it on the wyrm as he emerged, bringing hundreds of tonnes of rock crashing down to seal him inside his lair. We continued heading away as fast as we could, Angharad left our company in the mid afternoon to head off on her own route, doubtless she knows of many good places to hide in this area. I have had better Highharvestide festivals that is for sure! 

*Marpenoth 1st-3rd* - We continued heading back towards Dagger Falls at the best speed we could manage, we did not stop to hunt or eat, relying on trail rations that we ate on the move. We stopped only to sleep and then for just five or six hours a night. We saw no sign of Gran'rath during this time, and for that we are extremely thankful. Similarly nothing else bothered our hurried trek either. 

*Marpenoth 4th* - We arrived back in Dagger Falls in the mid morning and made straight for the Thayan enclave. We handed over the bag of draconic body parts to Darius and recieved our enchanted items as payment. We then paid for numerous items that we were carrying to be identified that we might know what to do with them. Darius fearfully created another scrying bowl to check on Gran'rath. the great beast lives and detected us watching him, roaring out a promise to exact revenge upon us... not what I needed in my life. 

Leaving the enclave we headed across town back to our Inn where we divvied up the magical loot. for once I did well out of this, claiming the enchanted studded leather and a potion of healing as my share. And then Tanus opened his mouth and mentioned us having killed a dragon... right in the middle of the Inn's common room at lunchtime! Great, we are so dead. His idiocy knows no bounds. That rumour will be all over town by morning and we are known in this area. The dragon will have no problem tracking us down once he has broken out of his lair, and then exacting his promised revenge upon us all. Also when the local thieves learn that we knocked off a dragon, they will suppose it was Gran'rath, as the infant was not general knowledge and the big dragon's daily routine has stopped for the past few days as he is trapped in his lair, and his absence from the noon skies, combined with the rumour of us having slain a dragon will draw every cutpurse and burglar in this grimy town down upon us, eager to claim the loot we must have taken from the dragon's hoard. In truth we grabbed about a thousand gold coins worth, and spent a good chunk of that paying Darius to use his spells on the magical items we have. I paid for a bath to be brought up to my room, as I badly needed to wash the scent of the trail and dragons blood also from my body. I go now to bed, as I am sorely in need of a nights rest in a warm soft bed.


----------



## Eccles (Dec 2, 2002)

Jared Blackspawn’s Journal

Part 10

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

*Marpenoth 5th* - Braddoc set off to find out who the dead dwarf from the lair was, asking around the various dwarven residences in the area. After asking around for several hours the identity of the body was confirmed as Delgard Rudenheim, Braddoc's brother. 

I headed to an alchemist and refreshed my stocks of make up to maintain my disguise for a few days longer. with that done I returned to the Inn. This evening, along with most of the group, I headed across town to the Ancient Unicorn Tavern, where tonight they were hosting a series of games of skill and might. Certainly seemed a more interesting way to spend the night than sitting around at the Inn getting drunk. 

I beat two humans and an elf at dagger throwing, leaving with a few more coins to pad my purse than I arrived with. Meanwhile Braddoc and Tanus challenged a large fellow by the name of Thrud to a drinking and arm wrestling contest. He handily beat Braddoc, but Tanus proved to be more than a match for him, beating him several times until Thrud was too drunk to continue and had to be carried away by his friends. We stayed for a while longer watching games at other tables, before heading back to the Inn. 

On the way back we heard a woman scream and hurried into an alleyway, whereupon we were ambushed by a mob of common thugs, the woman one of their number. they sprang their ambush upon hearing Braddoc call out that we were the Clearwater Crusaders. Honestly, does no-one in this group understand the need for discretion but me? Anonymity is a friend. We ploughed through the thugs, though Braddoc was badly hurt by them, and I found myself missing the company of Stedd who had declined to come out to the tavern, preferring quiet meditation in his room at the Inn. They were well equipped with very good quality armour and weapons, namely shortswords, which I appropriated for myself to replace my old swords, and also a few to trade on for much needed coin. Each was also carrying an identical amount of coins, suggesting that someone, somewhere has a private army and does not want us around. We then headed back to the Inn and I am about to crash into bed, a little weary and just a bit drunk on wine and adrenaline. 

*Marpenoth 6th* - I got up early and along with Braddoc and Stedd headed out to check on the strange blue-grey metal that those superior quality shortswords I took are made of. We made our way to a backstreet dwarven smithy and unfortunately I had been lax in applying my makeup this morning and the dwarf master smith noticed, attacking me with an axe screaming "Death to all drow!!" I sliced him with both swords in my own defense and then Braddoc and Stedd intervened, imposing themselves between us and stopping the fight. I backed out of the smithy, followed by the other two who had been told to leave. They then dragged me into an alleyway, where I fixed my disguise until they were satisfied. A shame... I could have taken that dwarf! 

We then headed to another smithy where we learned that the shortswords were made at Gullivers smithy. I sold one of my spare shortswords to the smith here for 200 gold coins! More money than I have had in quite some time (not counting the approximately 400 gold worth of silver I have sat in a vault under Lathander's church that I can't do anything with). We headed to Gullivers then, where we learnt that he had sold a very large number of these weapons and armour too of a similar excellent quality to an anonymous buyer recently. Whoever this person is they must be insanely wealthy to afford such an outlay. Braddoc and myself both consider the Zhentarim as a likely suspect, as they have great wealth, and a vested interest in reclaiming this region (and the Dalelands entire if they get their way). We then headed back to the Inn for the rest of the day. I have no idea what Taeghan and Tanus have gotten up to today. As for Rand, I have not seen him in days, since we arrived back in Dagger Falls to be precise. I know he left the Thayan enclave with us, and I think he came with us back to the Inn, but I am fairly sure I have not seen sign of him since. 

As I was writing this journal tonight, the window creaked open and the elf nimbly leapt through to land in my room. He has appointed me a task, as he said he would. I am to go to a house across town and assassinate the merchant who resides within, his bodyguard also. It seems that the merchant is considered to be a risk to Daggerdales security owing to some dealings he is engaged in. The elf did not tell me more, and his tone left me in no doubt that I am to go now to do this. I feel a great anxiety for some reason, this elf has made it plain to me that he would prefer me dead, as indeed do all elves, even Teaghan I would imagine. Further this is a task for which I have little skill, I have never been trained to pick a lock or break into a building. Still, the challenge has been placed before me, I will prove myself equal to it, or I will perish in the attempt. If all goes well, I will write of my exploits in the morning, if not, this will be my final entry... 

*Note Added by Miles Killian O'Kayne (Marpenoth 10th)* - There has been no sighting of Jared since his last entry in this book. I can only conclude that he has died in his attempt to rob this merchant's house. As to who this elf he purports to speak to is, I have no idea, I find the idea that an elf would contract a drow to carry out a killing of a respectable member of the Dagger Falls middle classes ludicrous. Doubtless this was a story concocted by Jared to cover his tracks. He speaks of his desire for wealth on many occasions in this journal, I believe his lust for currency drove him to theft and he has perished in the attempt. A fitting end I think.


----------



## Eccles (Feb 6, 2003)

Miles' Journal

Part 1

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

*Marpenoth 7th (1372 DR) *- It didn't prove to be that difficult to join the Clearwater Crusaders, as they found Jared's room empty this morning, with his journal lying on the bed. Since the half-drow wrote the book in undercommon script, none of them could read it, and so being versed in the language I offered my skills as a translator. I do not think that they trust me; such will take time to earn. For the moment however, they are in need of my knowledge and skills. 

In the afternoon, following up on a lead that Rand had found this morning, we went to Jameson's Stevedores, a haulage company linked to the blue-grey weapons that the group are investigating, given that they were attacked by a number of thugs using such recently. After some initial reluctance to divulge their shipping information, the desk clerk relented when Taeghan bribed him. It seems they were paid a considerable sum to take goods from Gulliver’s Smithy (where the weapons were made), to Warehouse 16 on Houllier Street. We headed off, and Stedd regaled us on the way with how he had to sleep outside in a blizzard once as part of his training. Strange man, though the ability to withstand such is impressive. 

I led the way to the warehouse, a building of prodigious size. We decided to split into two groups with Stedd, Rand and myself entering via a side door, while the others made their way through the front door. We headed inside and started to make our way around the buildings interior from the side door, when five sinister figures emerged from the pitch-blackness and attacked us. Four of the five vanished into nothingness with but a single hit, vile magic playing with our senses. The fifth proved a far trickier opponent, and fled from the fight into the vast dark interior of the warehouse, beyond the reach of our lights. By this time Taeghan and Tanus had joined us, having run around the outside of the warehouse. I could hear the hammering sounds of Braddoc trying to bash his way through the front doors, eventually succeeding in this. 

The mysterious villain played cat and mouse with us around the warehouse, ambushing Stedd and dropping him, and then springing a similar surprise on Rand. Things then went crazy as Rand howled in pain from his wounds, and he shifted shape into that of a wolf man. A werewolf no less, and one that could use magic too! We then had two foes to fight in the dark. We did eventually fell the strange dark skinned man who had been using magic, and his body curiously dissolved into shadows. Could it be a Shade that we had been fighting? Stedd and I stripped his body of a few interesting items, while the others stood guard in case Rand launched another lightning attack (he was affected by his spell of quick movement when he shifted form). We then as a group headed to the Temple of Lathander while Rand had headed off elsewhere, probably seeking easier prey. We were not welcomed at the temple however, the acolyte we met cleaning the steps outside fled indoors and barred us out at the mention of a werewolf running loose. Se we headed back to the Inn and locked ourselves inside. 

*Marpenoth 8th *- We went to Lathander's temple at dawn, where we learned that Jared's body has been found. I of course already knew the circumstances of his death. Braddoc and several others of the group cursed his name as a traitor. Good, that suits my purposes nicely. We are going to try and catch Rand and then cage him, as the temple priests believe they can cure him at the next full moon. We have worked out that Rand contracted lycanthropy during an attack by werewolves on the group, during their initial travel to Dagger Falls. This also explains his curious absence of the past few days, since those were the full moon. He choose to hide the nature of his wounds and what he was from the party, so I reasoned that he has chosen to be what he now is. My opinion is that he should be killed, but the others will not hear of it. Fools. I know I will not be holding back for fear of killing him when we meet. 

Taeghan found him however, and talked to him. Aowyn the high priest of Lathander volunteered a necklace to suppress Rand's lycanthropic changes. Rand has donned this of his own free will and has as such rejoined us in the Inn. I am very uneasy in his presence, but the others seem to accept him. Thinking about it, they likely feel the same way about me. The necklace is on loan until the next full moon when Rand has promised to go to the temple then, that they can try to cure him of his affliction. 

Once things were settled down, we headed to Gulliver's Smithy, since the dark assassin in the warehouse last night was forewarned of us going there. He gave us information that sent us back to Lathander’s temple to find out if they knew who had delivered Gulliver’s payment to his vault under the temple (which acts like a deposit bank). We went to the temple, but the sun had gone down and the doors were closed, and as such we trooped back to the Inn. 

*Marpenoth 9th *- At dawn (I really hate this temple), we again headed across town to the temple of Lathander, then to the Stevedores and then we split up. The others went to search Warehouse 16, while I headed to lord Morn's keep to learn who has recently been renting the warehouse. It turns out that the Van Cei family have been in possession of the building for a very long time. The others founds a hidden smithy beneath the warehouse which was run as a coin printing operation, by the Van Cei, but abandoned now for some time. Rand has taken the seal that was used to stamp the silver bars used to pay Gulliver. We took the seal and our findings to my mentor Respen Moondown, who has "asked" us to investigate the Van Cei family to determine their guilt in this matter, As payment he will turn a blind eye to the existence of the seal for a short while, allowing this group to stamp the considerable hoard of silver bars they have in storage under the temple. I only wish I had a share in such wealth. 

*Marpenoth 10th to 20th *- Braddoc and the party spent these days smelting silver and stamping the bars into legal tender. I spent my time with an associate of Respen's who trained me in some of the common fighting techniques of soldiers. I feel such will improve my effectiveness in a fight. 

*Marpenoth 21st to 25th *- As a gift for the temple of Lathander, Braddoc put his smithing skills to work to create a splendid silver candelabra... he ended up making a silver plated suit of platemail armour. I have absolutely no explanation for this; some things defy rationale entirely. This is one of them. 

*Marpenoth 26th to 29th *- Braddoc again set his smithing skills to work, to forge himself a new flail, plating it also with silver. No doubt he anticipates a re-match with the werewolves who harried the parties travel to Dagger Falls when they eventually set off back to Clearwater. Rand meanwhile submitted himself to the temple for the duration of the full moon to let them attempt to heal him. The first night was a failure, but the curse was lifted from our sorceror on the second night and the necklace returned now that it was no longer needed. 

*Marpenoth 30th *- We raided the Van Cei estate tonight. I won't go into the details as I'm still pumped from the experience. We battled undead, guards, dogs, a summoned ape beast, and a priest of Shar in all. A conman dressed as a priest ripped off several of the party by selling fake potions after we emerged from the estates grounds. We headed across town to Lord Morn's keep, racing a Van Cei carriage through the streets to get there. They soundly beat us of course. Respen met us instead and we explain what we found to him, he will doubtless relay such information to Randal Morn when Elizabeth Van Cei has left. She talked with us before leaving, settling her old family score with Rand's family, of whom he is the last. 

We were then taken in to see Lord Morn, who is much less impressive in person than by reputation. He is concerned that we are becoming too big a presence in Dagger Falls and produced the body of a dark clad man who was caught ransacking our rooms at the Inn tonight. He then mentioned that nothing has been heard from Clearwater in at least two tendays, and he has tasked us to find out why. I must admit I am curious to visit the town that spawned this group. We have decided to head out of town tomorrow, after Rand has visited the temple.


----------



## Eccles (Feb 6, 2003)

Miles' Journal

Part 2

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

*Uktar 1st *- We took Rand to the Lathander temple at dawn where he was fully restored to health having been left on death's door by the attacks of a shadow in the estate last night, and also a poison bolt from a trap he sprung. Some of the others got spells cast on them in return for donations. I did not require healing. 

After lunch at the Inn, we packed up our things and set out on the road south. This month is popularly known as The Rotting. It is aptly named so, as leaves, which had fallen from the trees in the past month, have turned into thick squelchy mulch underfoot. Night fell; we lit our torches and carried on... 

And then we found ourselves in a forested valley, surrounded by a thick bank of mist. Furthermore it appeared to be spring or summer here, the trees are in bloom, but stranger still is that the sun is up, it appeared to be mid afternoon. We proceeded towards a dilapidated village we could see, across fields of cabbages. We found there the body of a man which makes no sense, as it appears he killed himself within the last day, yet his robes are encrusted in old blood. As we explored the village we came upon a trio of feral humans feasting on a fresh dog corpse, we fled at the sight of us shouting "Fresh Sacrifice". Very unnerving. 

We made our way to the only decent looking building, and were let inside to find about a dozen people hiding within. They informed us that we were in the village of Holborn in Merrydale! This cannot be! Daggerdale was called Merrydale many years ago, we must somehow have travelled backwards through time, though that does not explain the ring of mist around this place, or the monk from Stedd's order who has been waiting for us for 37 years here. He says that the dead walk in Clearwater and that he was sent to fetch us... about a month ago. Apparently anything that dies here is reborn the next morning. The old monk tried to hit me, and I ran him through. He'll be back tomorrow anyway. It seems some creature plagues this place, the villagers call it the Bringer of Veils and that is comes in the mist, as at night the mist rolls in to engulf the whole village, retreating at dawn. 

We tried collapsing the well, figuring that this creature came from down there (there certainly wasn’t anywhere else it could have been hiding), but night came quickly and with it the mists! We holed up in the Inn and after what seemed like an eternity the Bringer arrived, breaking into the Inn and battling us. In appearance it looked like a cloud of mist itself, save for dozen or so writhing white tentacles that lashed out from wherever its body was amidst all the whiteness. It overpowered nearly all of us; killing Rand in the process but Taeghan slew the strange beast and revived those of us not yet dead. The rest of the night passed quickly. 

*Uktar 2nd (Holborn) *- Personal Note: I am continuing to date days as if we were still on Faerun, though I am certain we are not. Such helps me to remain calm and think my way through things, rather than abandon hope as these pathetic villagers have done. 

Woke up this morning and the beast's body was gone, meaning it too is again alive and not the cause of this malady as we had thought. Something else is at the root of this problem it seems. Rand rejoined us, and we can now look forward to another battle with the creature tonight. 

We decided to investigate the well, lowering Stedd down it. He fell, but survived... for a while anyway. He shouted up that there was a chamber down there and that he was going to investigate it. Then we heard screaming, and then silence. Rand was the next to go down, and again we heard screaming from the bottom of the well as he landed there. Tanus was halfway down at the time and quickly scrambled back up the rope and out. 

We decided to try and kill the Bringer tonight and then go down the well afterwards, reasoning that it is probably what is down there that killed Rand and Stedd. Sure enough come nightfall it came for us (I love predictable opponents), and we again slew it using a plan I devised. While Taeghan and Braddoc charged it and kept it busy, Tanus and myself shot it from range. 

I then went down into the well and found Rand & Stedd's bodies floating in the shallow grimy water of the chamber. In the centre of the chamber was a crystal on a pedestal, with an inscription carved into the pedestal that read: 

*"To all Holborn,
Life eternal, but be warned.
Live forever, all you yearn,
Break the crystal, time returns.
Age aplenty, life turns not,
People crumble, bodies rot." *

I realised that if I broke the crystal then, both Rand and Stedd would remain dead. So we waited until dawn, and in the meantime hauled their bodies and stuff up out of the well. When they returned to life, my companions shouted down to me and before the thing could return to life I broke the crystal. Unfortunately this then triggered a minor earthquake. I fled the cave as it collapsed around me, and was hailed up out of the well in time to watch hundreds of years of age affect the village folk who decayed to dust, except a few who remained standing and began to move towards us with hunger in their eyes. Ghouls! They surged towards us and I moved to protect Taeghan, to no avail as he swiftly went down under their claws and one of the foul creatures scored a hit on me, scratching my flesh and inflicting me with paralysis. I could only watch as my companions battled on against these undead monsters, which they did superbly. 

We decided to collapse a few of the remaining village buildings into the well shaft to seal that chamber forever. Quite who or what put the crystal (and its curse) there in the first place and why is a mystery we will likely never solve. We made camp and exhausted dropped to sleep. 

*Uktar 2nd (Daggerdale)* - We woke up this morning on the trail south of Dagger Falls, the past day or so's events seemingly taken place in the space of one night. Very bizarre. When the others went to eat breakfast they discovered that during our time in Holborn, the crazed villagers had eaten their rations (well after several hundred years of eating cabbages, the village dog and each other I imagine they wanted a change), with only Taeghan and myself having any remaining in our packs. After foraging for food without much success we headed on our way. I spotted shapes stalking us in the woods to either side of the road, and as we rounded a bend we saw a hobgoblin in the middle of the road ahead. Taeghan recognised him and charged, the rest of the group did likewise and our target fled into the forest leaving a message behind that read: 

*"Giv uz da dwarf barbariun and yoo ovvers can liv" *

Needless to say we discarded it. We then decided to head back to Dagger Falls to reprovision before again setting out to Clearwater tomorrow. We half ran, half walked back to Dagger Falls where the others stuffed their packs to bursting with food. We spent the night in our usual Inn. 

*Uktar 3rd *- Headed out of Dagger Falls early today, once more heading south towards Clearwater to see what has become of this groups hometown. No doubt the werewolves are waiting for us to attempt the journey again. The day went by without incident though, and we made camp soon after dark. Since I have little need for sleep, I took second and third watches with Taeghan. The werewolves played with us some during the night, one stealing Braddoc’s backpack away. 

*Uktar 4th *- We headed further towards Clearwater and were no doubt trailed the whole way by the werewolves, but we saw no sign of them. At dusk we made camp and readied ourselves for another night of their cat and mouse games. Sure enough they didn't disappoint and we found ourselves in a pitched battle with five of them before long. Braddoc managed to kill one of their number, who turned out to be the female bandit who escaped this group on their journey to Dagger Falls from Clearwater. The rest of the lycanthropes fled with her death, retreating into the night.


----------



## Eccles (Feb 6, 2003)

Miles' Journal

Part 3

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

*Uktar 5th to 6th *- Despite remaining on our guard during our travel south, we saw no more sign of the werewolves, though the hobgoblin that leads them clearly carries a grudge against this group and will try to attack us again at some point in the not too distant future. We made good progress, and the nights were quiet. 

*Uktar 7th *- We arrived in Clearwater in the early afternoon to find the town fortified, the church of Kelemvor ransacked and burnt out, with the corpse of Sister Patricia nailed to the doors. From reading Jared's journal the towns defences were far less complete when he left. A 14’ rampart and palisade fence, with sturdy gates, now surrounds Clearwater. There are also elevated walkways behind the fence for archers. The hills around the town are littered with slaughtered sheep, which were the town’s primary economy. 

A strange bell was ringing loudly, and many monks were standing guard, arms linked, around the town. It turns out that while the bell rings, nothing can harm the monks in their trance state. After hearing this I pointed out the sheer stupidity that not one of the monks is not in the trance so as to explain matters. Stedd did not look kindly on me at this observation, but could offer no counter argument as to the lunacy of what his fellow monks were doing. We talked to Mayor Butterstone (Jared's comments ring true, this man should not be running a pig sty let alone a town). We learned that a bronze clad dwarf-sized figure and a pair of fire beings (most likely elementals from the description), arrived here about 15 days ago and killed Patricia, raised the dead from Kelemvor's cemetery and attacked the town. They were driven back and then headed to the Monastery. A day later the monks arrived with their bell, having deserted the Monastery to defend the town. The monks have been instrumental in defending Clearwater from subsequent attacks by these beings and their undead troops. 

Stedd, Rand and Taeghen then headed off to the Monastery to find out what these creatures might want with the area. They returned after nightfall in the early hours of the morning. I had already slept as much as I need to. I am staying in the only Inn in this provincial backwater. I've been here less than a day and I hate the place already. 

*Uktar 8th *- We met up at the Inn and exchanged information this morning. It turns out that a powerful vampire lord is staked and buried under the Monastery’s cemetery and this dwarf-sized thing (possibly a derro, there’s rumours he uses magic, after all something had to raise the dead from the Kelemvor cemetery), might well be trying to unearth him as there are zombies stationed all around the cemetery. 

Since the initial attack on Kelemvor’s church came from the north we have decided to investigate Traya the Forsaker's tower (which this group got slaughtered at by a Troll, the last time they went there), as it may well be where this dwarf-thing came from. Equally disturbing is the possibility the Gran'Rath Tendathaloth (who is still alive, I've discovered after reading the half-drow’s journal, the party just pissed him off by killing his son), might well be behind this as some sort of revenge on the group, directed at their hometown, possibly in an effort to lure us into the open. We set off right away as it is a long journey through hostile terrain to the tower, especially since we are following the trail left by the undead as they left the area. 

*Uktar 9th *- Around noon we caught up with the army’s vanguard, a large group of skeletons led by one of the giant fire beings. We charged forwards, with them charging towards us too. Taeghen all but annihilated the undead single-handed. I was of little effect in this fight; I am not equipped to fight magical foes as my blades are useless against such creatures. The elemental was a tough foe, inflicting severe burn wounds on both Rand and Braddoc, yet the dwarf, tenacious as ever brought him down in the end. I found a shelter for us in the lee of a fallen tree, and we decided to make camp and tend to our wounded. We were lucky to avoid any further confrontations during the day. I grabbed my usual two hours of sleep and then went on watch. 

*Uktar 10th *- The night was uneventful, I spent most of it on watch with Taeghen who also needs little sleep, he being an elf. We set off towards the tower once more at first light, and by the time the daylight was fading we reached the approximate area where this group fought an owl bear, the last time they came this way. Some strange plant creature then attacked us, its tendrils lashing out at Rand as he passed it. The creature, whatever it was, damn near killed Rand and also Taeghen's horse, but Braddoc finished it off, pulping it with his flail. While Taeghen saw to Rand's wounds, I looted the creature’s strange leafy body and recovered a few items, along with some money and gems. We set camp some distance away from the corpse, and the night went without incident. 

*Uktar 11th *- I hate winter! This morning started with frost and then we got rain, driving icy rain that gets everywhere, and soaked us all to the skin. Five lone, very wet hours of trudging later and we reached the vicinity of the tower and approached cautiously due to the group’s previous disastrous encounter with the Troll who guarded the place. Myself and Stedd went to scout out the tower and discovered that the Troll is still there, and its magical restraint which prevented it from chasing the party last time has been removed as it sniffed me out and uprooted the tree I was hiding in, giving chase after me for a while before I guess it got bored and loped off back to the tower. We made camp and while Stedd and Teaghen claimed to see a giant bat-like creature flying overhead several times during their watch, I saw no sign of anything like that as I sat wrapped in my damp blanket and shivering during my watches. I really hate winter! 

*Uktar 12th *- We scouted around the tower and discovered that the undead army was indeed here, and has since left, heading northwards into the mountains, or in other words on a direct course for Gran'Rath's lair! We decided to deal with the tower and its Troll guard, determined to find out what is inside that might give us a clue as to whatever the dragon has planned. Using Rand's lightning wand, we enraged the Troll and then handily defeated it, my blades bringing the beast low, Rand then bathing it in fire to ensure that it could not regenerate and would stay dead. A spell then caught all us of off guard, cast from the top of the tower, and it turned Stedd into a rat! 

We looted the Troll's body and headed into the tower whereupon we found a pile of packs, taken from the bodies of other travellers who encountered the Troll. Braddoc also found his backpack, taken by the werewolves on our travel to Clearwater. It would seem that they are no longer a random foe, but are allied in some way with the master of the tower, who in turn has ties with the dragon. Our foes not only multiply, they also conspire together against us it seems. 

Heading up through the tower we encountered the wizard who dwells here and battle was joined on two floors of the tower simultaneously as the wizard had changed his familiar into a small dragon and summoned a vargouille to his aid also. As if this was not enough he encased Braddoc in a force bubble, thus preventing him from taking part in the battle, much to his consternation. Though none of us were unwounded at the end of it, we defeated the wizard, sending him and his familiar fleeing, and slaying the vargouille. We took from the tower what we thought we could use and then set the place alight and headed back towards Clearwater. 

*Uktar 13th *- During the night we heard what we assumed to be the towers utter collapse, but on checking in the daylight of this morning only one wall had fallen in. Still, as Rand says, time & weather will do for the rest of it. Nothing else of note happened today, even the weather held off and we made reasonable progress back towards the town. 

*Uktar 14th *- A bizarre giant bird ambushed us with an antlered stags head around mid afternoon today as we marched along. None of us knew what the beast was and it took a fair amount of beating before it went down. Still, on cutting it open we found a tidy sum of gold in its belly. Not an experience I'll soon forget. 

*Uktar 15th *- Nothing important happened today, apart from it rained pretty much non-stop the whole day long. I am writing this in a brief break in the weather under moonlight, as there was no dry wood anywhere for us to make a fire from.


----------



## Eccles (Feb 6, 2003)

*The History of Miles Killian O'Kayne*

Miles Killian O'Kayne was born to Richard and Tessele O'Kayne in the year 1351 DR. 

The youngest of six siblings, I was fortunate enough that my family was wealthy from their holdings and that I was able to receive education by a private tutor. Daggerdale at the time was occupied by the Zhentarim and their Zhentilar soldiers and had been for a decade. My family home and the farmland that surrounded it were located to the southeast of the town, about two days journey and on the very border between Daggerdale and its free neighbour Shadowdale. 

As a child I will admit that I was doted upon as the youngest, and I grew up spoiled and greedy as a result. My mind was honed by my tutor’s lessons in which I excelled to the extent that one night I overheard my tutor recommending to my father that I be offered to a local wizard as an apprentice. Father would hear nothing of it though, having never trusted wizards, after all the great Elminster lived not two days away and did nothing to remove the Zhents from this land despite his high and mighty powers. Richard O'Kayne would not see any of his children become passive through study. Distantly related to the Morn family (and the records proving such were burned early on in the occupation lest the Zhents find them), Richard used his wealth to funnel supplies to the guerilla rebels led by Randal Morn, who were a thorn in the occupying forces side. The family kept up the pretense of being law abiding, paying more than their due in already heavy taxes to ensure that their lands remained theirs, not wishing to suffer the same fate as other families like the Rand's. 

All that changed in 1365, only days after my 14th birthday, when a group of Morn's forces were spotted crossing the O'Kayne family lands by a Zhentilar patrol. It was all the excuse the Zhentarim needed to move to seize the rich lands. Forewarned by the rebels, my family fled to Shadowdale, all but me that is. I was curious to see these oppressors I had been taught to hate. So I stayed behind, my absence was not noticed in the blind hurry with which the rest of my family packed their things into a couple wagons and headed off to safety. Lurking behind in the old manor house, I watched through an upstairs window as a column of soldiers approached, a couple figures in robes escorted by the fierce black metal clad men. As the troops entered the house, I felt a hand close over his mouth and voice beside my right ear whisper "Come, you and I have no more place here child". 

Whoever this person was they threw me over their shoulder, and I was carried from the house into the night, too scared to make a sound. I was taken to a cave, hidden by thick undergrowth elsewhere on the estate and secreted inside by this stranger who then stepped back and regarded him in the gloom. After a minute the stranger pulled back the hood of his cloak. Though I was unable to make out much of his details, I gasped at seeing the pointed ears of this fellow; he was an elf! Living a secluded life, I had never before seen a creature from any race save his own. I had heard tales of his father and the farmhands dealing with goblins on the fringes of their lands before, and many stories in the histories I had heard related to dwarves and elves and all manner of monsters. Never before had I seen proof that such were more than stories. 

"My name is Respen Moondown, I am an associate of Randal Morn and a friend of your father. It is good I spotted you, had the Zhents found you boy I shudder to think what would have been done with you. Still I admire your bravery and also your curiosity, that you would remain alone in a darkened house to confront an army is foolhardy, but for one so young very impressive" the elf said all this in a serious tone, no trace of emotion on his face. 

"What are you going to do with me?" I asked hesitantly, doing my best to show no fear. 

"Return you to your family, it will not be hard to catch up to them" 

"NO! I want to help, I saw their soldiers, and I want to stop them" 

"No?" the elf paused and stepped forward that I might see him better "Very well then, I see some determination in you. I will send word to your family that you are safe. I think you could be useful, but only if you obey me, agreed?" 

There was no hesitation I agreed instantly and we set off together through the fields and orchards of my family estate. I spent the next two years training beside him, learning from him how to move without sound and without being seen. He was strict, and my lessons were never easy. More times than I can remember I wanted to give up, but I never did. My father was a proud man, if I had come back to him it would have been in shame as a failure, I could not bear to see him look upon me as such. I joined him on missions from when I was sixteen, striking at the hated Zhents; his training in their ways having shown me the best ways to fight and kill them. For some reason despite being raised in the countryside, I was most at ease amongst the grimy buildings of Dagger Falls, and here is where I worked. Operating from safe houses in the town (such as the Red Rock tavern and Dulwar's Tannery) and its surroundings, picking off soldiers, setting fires to warehouses of Zhent goods, picking the shackles that bound coffles of slaves, poisoning the barrels of water in the Zhentilar barracks and a hundred other such tasks. I delighted in hurting these people, though Respen became distanced from me somewhat, our views on how to achieve our mutual goal differing somewhat. 

The foe I most wanted to deal with was Tren Noemfor, the "Constable" of Dagger Falls, a man sent from Zhentil Keep to run the town for the Zhentarim. Respen however forbade me from dealing with him, his argument being that were the Zhents leader in this part to be eliminated, they would only send another, one crueler, and more powerful than the man currently running the place. Day in and day out I had to witness this mans callous use of force and brutality to keep Dagger Falls under his control, as myself and fellow rebels strove by almost any means to drive him from the place. 

In 1369 I could stand it no more, we were close to driving the Zhents from Daggerdale altogether, everyone on our side knew it, we just needed something to break their morale for good. They already controlled nothing outside of Dagger Falls itself, even the caravans that came to and from the town were now coming less and less often, not willing to risk running the gauntlet of our attacks. The soldiers inside the town, humans and orcish mercenaries lost a dozen a night to our blades and missiles, the end was near. I decided to finish it, and equipping myself I set out into the town at night to end Tren's life, and break the back of the Zhents by killing their leader, hoping to send the rest into a panic that our forces could exploit. 

Making my way through the back alleys and streets was too easy, the soldiers guarded little more than their barracks and the town walls these days, and I was able to make my way to the Constable's Tower without any difficulty. I slipped past the door guards in the gloom, Respen's training paying great dividends and moved into the courtyard and thence into the broad squat tower itself. The opulence inside this place contrasted greatly with the squalid dirty town I knew and loved outside it, and my resolve was strengthened still further when I looked at the plush carpet that covered the stairs leading upwards. It had been taken from my family’s home. 

I moved through the tower, dispatching two guards that I came across, the first by garrote, the second a blade through his back. Concealing the bodies I continued to search for my target, glad that he now had two less of his usual six strong bodyguard to call upon. After encountering a guard in the corridor, I dealt with him too, though took a wound to my left arm in the process. Binding it as best I could, I noticed a tapestry moving as though in a draft and grinned. Pulling it from the wall, I quickly made out the outline of a hidden door behind it and after a short while found the catch to release it, pulling the door open a crack and listening for what may lie beyond it. I heard nothing and slipped through the door, closing it as best as I could behind me, leaving it only slightly ajar, not wishing to cut off my only avenue of escape. I was stood in a narrow staircase, coiling upwards. It was designed well; the sword arm of any attacker would be against the wall as they ascended, leaving them at a disadvantage. Such did not bother me, I had trained to use two swords and so this small discomfort was easily overcome. 

Edging up the circular staircase, I began to hear murmuring, voices in the near distance, probably in a room at the top of the stairs. I paused and listened and when I could not make out enough, I eased up a few more stairs. I could then hear three separate voices in the room just above where I waited, two for sure were human; Zhents no doubt, the third was guttural and brute like in his talk, probably an orc of some rank. Now I like to think I know my capabilities in a fight, and there was no way I was going to come out on top in a straight fight with three opponents. I decided to wait; after all, they couldn't stay there all night. I climbed up the stairwell wall and positioned myself against the ceiling, looking down from above on the stairs and the doorway. My patience was soon rewarded when sure enough an orc emerged from the room, and one I recognised too. It was Grassh, the commander of the mercenary regiment (or what was left of it) that the Zhents had in their employ here. He had long been a target for those of our side to pick off, but was a wily opponent and had sent several would-be assassins to their graves. Though a tempting choice I remained very still as he trooped down the stairwell, his hobnailed boots making a racket as he stomped down and through the door that hid this place. I assume he thought nothing of the ripped down tapestry that I had left lying in the hallway, as I never saw him again. I hear he died during the retaking of the town a couple days later. 

This still left two in there, a difficult but not impossible fight, still I thought it prudent to wait a little longer, even though my muscles were starting to ache, just in case the number I would have to face might reduce itself still further in my favour. Such, however, was not to be the case, and after a while the ache in my arms and legs from maintaining my position became such that I was forced to lower myself back down to the stairs. I rubbed my arms to get the feeling back into them and again pressed my ear to the crack in the doorframe, listening for sounds from the chamber beyond. Nothing, not a sound could I make out and this concerned me. I pushed open the door a crack, allowing me to get the slightest view of the room. What I could make out through my limited viewpoint was a lushly appointed residence, the furnishings no doubt looted from the many estates and noble houses of Daggerdale that the Zhentilar had overrun during their occupation. What troubled me was the pale hand I could see lying on the floor, peeking out of the end of a robe. I pushed the door open still further, one sword in hand ready, and was stunned to see the scene laid out before me. Amidst the splendour of the Constables tower room was a female robed body lying face down on the floor in a spreading pool of her own blood. Knelt beside her, a sword blade at his throat was Tren, his skin ashen, yet his dark eyes full of defiance. What really surprised me was Respen stood behind Tren, a hand twisted in a vice like grip on the Constables hair, his blade at the throat of the man I despised. 

"You're late" was my mentor’s only response to what must have been a classic look on my face; poker never was my forte. 

"Why is he still alive? Do us all a favour and kill him, you know that’s why I am here" I retorted, trying to regain some ground. 

"He is not mine to kill, he is yours." At this Respen stepped back and away from Tren, leaving the man there on his knees. It was only then I noticed that his hands were bound behind him. He looked at me with hatred then, a proud man reduced to this. 

"Come on, get it over with!" he snarled, spitting a gob of phlegm and blood to the floor before my boots. 

My sword was drawn, I stepped forward and paused and looked to Respen. His gaze back was severe, and yet there was a question there I thought, I realised then I was still being tested. "How do I pass this one?" 

The elf smiled crookedly "There is no correct answer to that, but then you did not expect me to simply tell you. You want him dead, he is at your mercy, kill him if you wish, but you'll do so in cold blood". 

"Give him a sword" I replied, but was answered only by my mentors head shaking slowly. I grimaced a little; I'd killed dozens of men and orcs, but not like this. I looked back down at Tren, sighed and ran him through, his body heavy on my short sword, his only sound a gurgle as his breath died in his throat. 

"If you wish me to be an assassin, then your assassin I am", I spat on the man’s body as it slumped to the floor, and wiped his blood off my blade on his shirt before re-sheathing it. At the side of the room Respen merely nodded, I thought somewhat sadly, and when I looked again he was gone. I stared around the room, helped myself to a few minor valuables, mostly coins and a few small gems, and headed back out of the tower the way I came in, taking care not to be seen. 

The next few days were insane, the town fell into anarchy with the notice of Tren's death the next morning, and there was panic in the streets as Zhents and orcs clashed with our forces and each other in the confusion to withdraw. I shudder to think of how many died in the crossfire. But we won, after many hours of constant street to street, and even house to house fighting we retook our capital from its conquerors and for the first time in over two decades Randal Morn was once more ruler of Daggerdale. 

The next three years flew by in a haze; I was kept on retainer by Lord Morn's government, though I was rarely called upon to perform the duties to which I was suited. I barely saw Respen during this time, he was instrumental in helping to re-establish government and had little time for me. Still the salary I was provided with kept me in ale and whores well enough, and I even saved up enough to buy myself better weapons and armour. I even heard that my family had moved back from Shadowdale to reclaim their ancestral lands, though I did not go to visit them, and avoided them when I knew they were in town. I do not think my father would approve of the man the war made me into, and I can think of nothing I fear more than his look of disappointment. I know that my father has inquired with Respen as to my whereabouts on a few occasions, and has gotten nothing as a response save the assurance that I am alive and well. 

My sleepy lifestyle was brought to an abrupt end in 1372 Dr, Eleint 25th to be precise when I got a visit from Respen. He informed me that an adventuring group of some renown in the southern parts of the country had just entered Daggerdale, and that one of their members was a half-drow by the name of Jared Blackspawn. I asked if he wished this person slain, and was told to hold off for a while, but to instead stay as close to the group as was possible during their time in the town to study them. When I asked as to the half-drow, I was simply told that my mentor would deal with him, though my curiosity as to how was rebuffed with Respen's usual cold silence. I spent the next two days in town tailing various members of the group as they went about the town, though avoiding the half-drow for the most part. When I did see him, I had to admit I was impressed with his skills in make-up; his half-elf disguise damn near fooled me till I heard the monk refer to him by name. The group left town three days after they had arrived, oddly enough setting off to the northwest and the mountains there. 

I waited in my Inn room (having moved to the same Inn as the adventurers who call themselves the Clearwater Crusaders), and sure enough a few hours later Respen appeared. I reported back to him what I had learned which is to say not much beyond the group’s names and general makeup. He told me that he had made an offer to Jared to join us, and would be setting him a difficult task to prove his worth when he was next in the town. I voiced my concern as the half-breed had no reason to be loyal to the state, but I got no answer other than to be ready should I be needed. I asked for what, and my only reply was "To replace him". 

Sure enough seven days later on Marpenoth 4th the Crusaders arrived back in town. They took their time getting back to the Inn, but no sooner had they settled down with some drinks then Tanus announces to the place that they just killed a Dragon! From the direction they took when leaving here, they can only be referring to Gran'Rath Tendathaloth., a red dragon known to live in the mountains who is spotted frequently in the skies over these parts. I spent the rest of that day and all of the next two tracking the group, though oddly the sorceror Rand seemed to vanish during this time. Then came Respen again on the night of the 6th, to tell me that the half-drow had failed in the task set before him, a simple house break-in and assassination of a merchant. I was told to do my best to ingratiate myself into the group, and thus give Daggerdale's government a voice in how this powerful group conducted its activities. I slept well that night, and on the morrow headed downstairs to make myself known to the Crusaders... 

*Miles Killian O'Kayne's Family*

Richard O'Kayne - Father
Tessele O'Kayne - Mother 

Derrus O'Kayne - Eldest Brother (27) Married
Kiya Honor O'Kayne - Sister in law, mother to 3. 

Matthew and Brask O'Kayne - Twin Brothers (25) 

Claudia Emma Derala - Eldest Sister (24) Married, mother to 2.
Charles Derala - Brother in law 

Tentia O'Kayne - Sister (22) 

Miles Killian O'Kayne (21)


----------



## Stone Angel (Feb 8, 2003)

I just wanted to say that I enjoy this story hour. Whoever does this journal should get some extra xp for this.

Just wondered if you could post the new charactrers when they come into play it is hard to tell who is an NPC and a PC sometimes.


----------



## Badger (Feb 8, 2003)

*Praise as well...*

I'd just like to throw my two coppers in on how well the SH is being written. While I was saddened to see Jared pass, his replacement seems every bit as interesting to follow. 

Can't wait to see the Rogues Gallery on the cast..

Badger


----------



## Eccles (Feb 10, 2003)

1. Yes, he does get an XP reward for the Journal, and all players get a reward for preparing a character background (as it helps them get more attached to the character).

2. I've started a Rogue's Gallery at http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=688218#post688218 for your delight and delectation...


----------



## LuYangShih (Feb 12, 2003)

1.  Good story, I really enjoyed reading it.  I'm looking forward to more.

2.  Shouldn't you be restricting Braddocs leadership role a bit more?  And shouldn't every NPC they meet generally hate him?  I hate to see Charisma being used as a dump stat, especially that badly, with no drawbacks.  

3.  Shouldn't that Red Dragon have killed them all by now?  
   I can't see a CE character drawing it out much, if he knows who they are.  


4.  Introduce a Paladin player or NPC just so a good civil war will happen between him and Miles.  


Regardless, I really like the story, and I look forward to reading more.  I'm actually surprised more people haven't commented so far.


----------



## Eccles (Feb 13, 2003)

LuYangShih said:
			
		

> *1.  Good story, I really enjoyed reading it.  I'm looking forward to more.
> 
> 2.  Shouldn't you be restricting Braddocs leadership role a bit more?  And shouldn't every NPC they meet generally hate him?  I hate to see Charisma being used as a dump stat, especially that badly, with no drawbacks.  *





1. Thank you very much. We're not playing this week, but when I next see the player I'll pass it on!

2. I accept the point, but I tend to go on what the players say rather than the PC's stats for charisma. And Braddoc's player is one of the more talkative ones - a few of the others are just in if for the hack'n'slash. Besides, in Braddoc's backstory it says that his only friend in the village was a bard. As a result, everything they did for their first adventures was sung about. Only problem is that the bard didn't bother getting everyone else's names. So all the ballads refer to "Braddoc and the Clearwater Crusaders".

Oh, and the player does a darn good job of playing Braddoc as an objectionable dwarfen rager when I put him in the right social situations, so he's not really getting the benefit of the doubt!



			
				LuYangShih said:
			
		

> *3.  Shouldn't that Red Dragon have killed them all by now?
> I can't see a CE character drawing it out much, if he knows who they are.  *




3. Yeah. The dragon's part of the long-term plans. He spent a lot of time digging himself out from under the mountain. Pretty soon you'll be reading about what happens when he escapes. And the players are *not* happy about that one!



			
				LuYangShih said:
			
		

> *4.  Introduce a Paladin player or NPC just so a good civil war will happen between him and Miles.
> 
> 
> Regardless, I really like the story, and I look forward to reading more.  I'm actually surprised more people haven't commented so far. *




4. You delightful poster, you!

The paladin idea is worth a thought, actually. I might have a paladin Dragon Slayer later on to provide them with another opportunity to avoid Gran'Rath Tendathaloth. However in 4 years of playing with this group, I've only seen 1 paladin. Given the group's general slide towards Chaos and Neutrality, I think I'm unlikely to see another!

Thanks for the comments!


----------



## LuYangShih (Feb 20, 2003)

You're welcome.  This campaign looks like it would be very enjoyable to play in.  The reason I mentioned the Dwarves Charisma is it seems to me the player is overriding his characters Charisma with his own, which I've seen happen too many times. 

I view a low Charisma as making a character very forgettable, repugnant, shy and weak willed in social situations.  The way I would've worked it is the Bard remembered everyone _except_ the Dwarf.  I view a character with low Charisma becoming a leader and a memorable hero the same as I would view a character with low Intelligence coming up with a brilliant plan to save the world, or a character with low Strength picking up a 300 pound boulder.

Still, that's just my opinion, and if everyone is having fun, no big deal.  I greatly look forward to reading more of this excellent Story Hour.


----------



## Eccles (Feb 25, 2003)

Just a quick update to let you know what actually happened to Jared Blackspawn during the course of a solo mission to qualify as an assassin...

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

*The Ballad of Jared Blackspawn*
By Glimmer, bard to the court of Randal Morn.

(With thanks to the Court Mage for assistance with scrying magicks) 

Lo! Harken ye and listen,
To the tale as yet unsaid,
A story that will let you know,
How Jared became dead.

A mission once he undertook,
A man he had to slay.
A merchant-spy in Dagger Falls,
Most evil and depraved.

The price for this foul murder,
Was training and a home.
A princely sum for the Blackspawn,
A Half-Drow on his own.

So Jared took his weapons up,
Twin blades both shining bright.
Fasten’d his best armour on,
Then slid into the night.

The challenge that beset him first;
The leaving of his room.
Not wishing to descend below,
Where skin-tone spelt his doom.

With mighty slash, our hero
Cut his sheets up into lines,
And fasten’d them atop his bed,
Instead of some good twine.

Then swinging out of the window,
He scrambled down the wall.
At least that was his cunning plan;
His knots weren’t good at all.

A goodly way he plummeted,
And hard he struck the ground.
He fled the cobbles as they were,
Bloody linen all around.

Limping hard, he then set off,
His target’s home he knew.
He travelled ‘cross the unknown town,
And arrived afore the dew.

‘Twas there that mighty Blackspawn,
Met challenge number two,
As he beheld a mighty wall,
Which blocked the house from view.

All in the night, and stealthy-like,
The half-drow man did climb,
His fingers found no purchase,
He hit the road and whined.

He clutched his skull in darkened hands,
And moaned out loud in pain.
Then swiftly quaffed a potion,
So he could walk again.

Now the doughty warrior,
A grimace on his face,
Walked backwards thirty paces,
Turned, and began to race.

His running form closed on the wall,
Our hero failed to leap,
And with a crash, he fell to earth,
All crumpled in a heap.

He tried once more, he tried again,
Our hero tried and failed,
After three collisions with the wall, 
The half-drow’s spirits quailed.

So now he walked around the place,
A-spying at the doors.
Just checking out the building,
And counting its two floors.

All strengthened in his knowledge,
He turned back to the wall.
Then taking out his grappling-hook,
Climbed up, and did not fall.

All nimble-like, the subtle drow
The garden he didst scout.
Selected where he would descend,
Climbed down, and heard no shouts.

Avoiding hazards, cross the grass.
He listened, at the door,
His plan was then to slip inside,
And climb to the top floor.

Alas! For mighty Jared,
The door, at night, was locked.
The half-drow had no skill with picks,
And thus this way was blocked.

So thus, our Prince-Assassin,
Climbed back atop the wall.
Scrambling, silent, o’er the roof,
Was careful not to fall.

Tremendous find! That moment,
The stealthy one did pass,
A mighty window in the roof,
All made of brittle glass.

All subtlety, our hero,
Didst wield his mighty swords.
And breaking silence broke the glass,
Which fell in noisy shards.

Cat-like, the noble warrior,
Down to the landing leapt,
And nimbly dodging broken glass, 
Around the corner crept.

He now saw he was in a hall,
With four doors and a stair,
He heard a cry come from the north,
There was an armed man there.

The fight began, as Jared drew
His swords against his mark.
And slashing wide, began to fight
The butler in the dark.

A second cry, and then a third,
Feet on the stairs, and then,
Quite shortly, brave Sir Jared,
Was duelling 4 grown men.

A slash, a stab, and then two foes
Had fallen to the floor.
To tell the truth they fell downstairs,
Some twenty steps or more.

However, in the dark combat,
Brave Jared lost his way
And could not tell which foeman was
The one he had to slay.

Backing down the corridor,
The eager warrior fled,
And swiftly drank a second draught,
To heal his fractured head.

The two remaining enemies
Fought bravely in the dark.
And narry one of Jared’s blows
Could close upon its mark.

The self-same problems did not hold
For Blackspawn’s doughty foes.
A merchant and his butler
Rained down their deadly blows.

Not once, not twice, but fifteen times,
The brave young drow was struck,
He backed away once more and
Quaffed his potions without luck.

For not a one of Jared’s drinks,
Held great healing draughts inside,
And then, alack, one shining blade,
Was thrown off to the side.

Then Jared knew the game was up,
As sword and axe both fell,
The murderous assassin drow
Fell down the stairs as well.

Although not highly in our hearts,
This dark-skinned elf is bound,
Like this we should remember him; 
Naked as he was found.

And in his death, at last he met
The task that was laid down,
As early the next morning,
The merchant fled the town.


----------



## LuYangShih (Feb 25, 2003)

Not a good way to go.  A lot of blown use rope and climb checks, it seems.  Not to mention a general lack of use of other Rogue type skills.  A Barbarian could've taken the same approach.


----------



## Eccles (Mar 3, 2003)

It's strange, really. He knew he didn't have any ranks in pick locks or use rope, and not a lot in climb. Jared was designed with disguises and stealth in mind. He could sneak and backstab with the best of 'em. 

He was designed purely with the Assassin prestige class in mind.

But the second he came to doing an assassination, it all abandoned him. I don't think he rolled higher than 7 all evening, and kept trying to do things he had no real aptitude for.

I'd have been more than happy for him to put on a disguise and try to bluff his way into the house.

He could have waited and tried to kill the merchant during the day.

He could quite easily have waited until the house was emptier and then sneaked in and hidden in the master bedroom.

There were a huge number of possibilities which he didn't try. He blames the NPC who briefed him. The NPC remains convinced that Jared looked very confident. I thought the player had a plan, too!

Oh well. You live and you learn.

(His replacement character, Miles, is very much more rounded, skill-wise!)


----------



## LuYangShih (Mar 4, 2003)

Yeah.  Perhaps he simply expected to succeed with little difficulty, and didn't really think it through.  What I'm really surprised about is the fact he didn't at least case the place before setting off.  I guess, judging from the journal, he felt that his employer wanted it done ASAP?  Regardless, it just goes to show Drow are crappy Assassins.  Now, if he had been a Halfling...


----------



## Eccles (Mar 7, 2003)

Miles' Journal

Part 4

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

*Uktar 16th* - We got back to Clearwater at about midday. Not long after that we saw what could only be Gran'Rath Tendathaloth himself fly low over Clearwater, terrifying everything on the ground, myself included. I have only ever glimpsed this dragon from great distance in the past; being this close to him was an incredible experience, one I do not care to repeat. No creature should grow that large, its just not right. He headed towards the Monastery and we gave chase (reluctantly in my case I might add). We arrived to see him attacking the Monastery to no avail, as the monks’ bell was chiming and thus the place was protected from him somehow. Magic no doubt. We went to the Monastery once the dragon had flown off, and were able to find out from the library that the Monastery was built to protect a source of great evil, a vampire lord no less, buried in the nearby cemetery. We headed to the cemetery, and there did battle with the dragon’s undead minions that were guarding the place. The battle was fought along the tops of the cemetery walls, a precarious fight to say the least, and I had a supernatural encounter as a female spirit of some kind possessed my body, though this later fled me. We were able to deduce that the anti-magic area over the cemetery is fading, and that by morning it should have gone entirely. We decided to make camp back at the Monastery and return at dawn. 

*Uktar 17th* - We got up early and went to battle the Vampire in the crypt he is entombed in. We didn't want to open the tomb last night lest we had to fight him without the backup of our spell casters. I borrowed Braddoc's magical axe, as my swords would be of no use against the creature. The Vampire, however, was not there, only an animated skeleton, which we easily dispatched. We then returned to Clearwater, gathered supplies and set out towards Dagger Falls as we have been hired by the monks to find a mage capable of creating a portal. With the vampire loose, and the dragon wanting to tear the Monastery apart, they have decided to flee and rebuild elsewhere. Sensible, if somewhat cowardly. 

*Uktar 18th* - During the night we were joined by Morgaine, Taeghan's cousin who has sought him out to learn from him. We now have two priests of Corellon Larethian with us, so with any luck we should be better able to recover from the wounds we keep suffering battling the long list of enemies we have. She seems a fairly nervous sort, but her presence is welcome. During the day we regaled her with tales of all the enemies our group has and the few we have managed to defeat. Come nighttime, right on cue, the familiar pack of werewolves who have harried us time and again in the past attacked us as we camped. This time however we were ready for them, and quickly got the upper edge. They paid for their arrogance with their lives, as all four of them fell to our blades and spells. 

*Uktar 19th to 20th* - Travelling to Dagger Falls, no significant encounters beyond other travellers on the road. 

*Uktar 21st* - We arrive at Dagger Falls having made better time than normal, due to not having to worry about the pack of werewolves stalking us in the tree line. Rand, Tanus & Teaghan headed to Lathander’s temple get themselves cured of the lycanthropic taint, having been wounded by the creatures during the battle a few nights back. The rest of us headed to the Thayan enclave to find a wizard to create a portal that the monks can flee the area. We instead found a wizard capable of contacting the man we need, but he has to spend a day or so preparing to cast the spell, so we have to come back on the 23rd. Retired to the Inn for the duration.. 

*Uktar 22nd* - We stay at the Inn, the Red Wizard I presume is meditating or some other such thing. One of these days I will have to spend some time and learn some of this magic that I understand it better, at the moment it does nothing but confuse me. 

*Uktar 23rd* - We returned to the Thayan enclave in late morning having had a leisurely breakfast, and some of the others slept in late. I barely slept as usual, and though I do not need to eat, I enjoyed a repast of hot bacon rolls. The Red Wizard was indeed able to contact the portal mage we needed who promptly teleported to our location, surprising more than a few of us. He introduced himself as Klatus Indictus, and we escorted him back to our Inn, as he must wait until tomorrow to teleport us all back to Clearwater, having run low on spells doing something or other, I must admit I was more interested in looking around the Thayan's room rather than paying attention to what was going on the in the scrying window he opened up to contact Klatus through. Klatus retired to his room and then a bizarre creature appeared in the Inn common room that seemed to be after him. We battled it. And took it apart in short order. Klatus later identified it as a Yochlol, a demonic servant of Lolth. I wonder what the spider queen could want with him? 

*Uktar 24th* - Klaatus teleported us all to the Old Order's Monastery (and I never want to be teleported anywhere ever again, It felt horrible). As he made preparations to build a suitable portal for the monks to flee through, the dragon’s undead army arrived complete with fire elemental and that strange bronze dwarf-sized golem thing we had heard about. They attempted to storm the Monastery, as it seems that the Monks bell can only protect against so much at one time, and while all its power was being used to fend off Gran'Rath, his minions could have slaughtered the monks in their trance while they were helpless. The vast bulk of his force was skeletons, which Taeghan almost singlehandly wiped out with the strength of his faith, them shattering into shards at his words. The golem and elemental took longer to deal with, but under our combined assault, we took them down, the dragon circling angrily high overhead, unable to assist his forces in any way. During the night, we again came under assault, this time by the Vampire lord and a Ghost (his bride perhaps from ancient days?) who again possessed me for a while. We drove them off too, and the pack of wolves that accompanied them, though this was ironically a much tougher fight then the army had been. 

*Uktar 25th* - Klaatus had finished his work by early morning, and the monks abandoned the monastery, taking with them no more than a handful of their wealth each, leaving behind even the great bell. After they had fled through, we followed, jumping into the portal... and arriving on a jungle beach, or more specifically about twenty or so feet above the beach and them smacking down into it. None of us have any idea where we are, I can only surmise that we are a very long way from Daggerdale, and the general consensus seems to be that we are no longer on Toril, and instead in some other place or even time. Quite why Klaatus has sent us here I do not know, though I guess it could have been a mistake. For the duration of our stay here, I will record the days as though we were still on Toril. 

We headed down the beach and after encountering some strange worm-like creatures in the sand we edged closer to the jungle. We were then immediately attacked by four massive green centipedes, their mandibles laden with poison that afflicted myself and Tanus, slowing us, and making Tanus very unsteady indeed. 

We continued on, searching for a source of fresh water and encountered a massive lizard beast, roughly twenty feet long, its head adorned with a bony crest from which pointed three horns. The beast charged us, tearing through us, and it took an unbelievable amount of punishment before it went down, nearly killing Taeghan, Rand and Braddoc in the process. We cut steaks from it and filled waterskins at the shallow river it had been drinking from. We then sought shelter, crossing the shallow river and setting up camp in a rocky outcropping. 

*Uktar 13th* - During the night we heard what we assumed to be the towers utter collapse, but on checking in the daylight of this morning only one wall had fallen in. Still, as Rand says, time & weather will do for the rest of it. Nothing else of note happened today, even the weather held off and we made reasonable progress back towards the town. 

*Uktar 26th* - We spent the day in our camp, while our priests saw to the group’s considerable wounds. It seems that the water here cannot be trusted, I having caught a disease from drinking it. From now on I will stick to relying on my ring to provide for me. Towards evening we noticed some savage looking carnivores ripping at the corpse of the lizard beast we slew yesterday, as well as a gargantuan herbivore with a very long neck that emerged from the sea, and knocked down a tree to eat! I now doubt that we will see much in the way of civilisation in this savage land.


----------



## Eccles (Mar 7, 2003)

Miles' Journal

Part 5

----------

*Uktar 27th* - Early this morning as myself, Taeghan and Morgaine were on watch, the camp was attacked by those very same carnivores that we saw yesterday. Vicious bipeds, with sharp claws and teeth, and one large hooked claw on each foot. We made short work of them, dragging the bodies away some distance then into the undergrowth. We set off soon after, the fight having woken everyone up, and our wounds were not so severe as to stop us continuing our exploration of this strange land. the beach eventually sloped up onto a grassy plateau of sorts, which was dominated by a colossal insect hive, the large creatures buzzing about it. We did our best to skirt around the edge of the plateau, but nevertheless encountered a group of five giant hornets, which we handily disposed of. 

A few hours later, we were unfortunate enough to cross paths with a much larger version of the bipedal predators that ambushed our campsite this morning. It was chasing some small porcine lizard creatures, but charged us upon sighting us, no doubt reckoning us as a better meal. It clawed up Rand pretty bad, but we soon surrounded and slew it. Tanus finishing it off with a graceful thrust of his rapier, straight to the monsters heart. We headed along a worn trail and after half an hour or so arrived in an area of plants laden with some form of fruit. What was important about this find was that the plants were arranged in rows. We then heard a deafening roar, and much screaming coming from close by and raced towards the source of the noise, running into a large clearing amidst the jungle where fortified wooden settlement was being terrorised by a giant bipedal carnivore more than twice the size of the one we had just fought! 

We charged in, though not quickly enough to stop it from biting a couple villagers who were trying to fend it off with crude spears. It bit the head off one and chopped the other clean in two! We hit the thing with everything we had, Rand's lightning, Stedd's fists, my blades, Taeghan even charged the thing on horseback with his lance as Braddoc and Tanus shot it with arrows. I am immensely proud to say that I slew this monster, climbing up its left flank, stabbing deep into its flesh with my swords as I went, then back flipping off it as it collapsed under its own weight to the ground. 

We were then mobbed by the villagers in gratitude of having slain this creature that had been plaguing them for some time. A feast was thrown in our honour. Rand cast a spell from a scroll allowing him to understand and speak their language for a short time. They called the creature I slew a Tyrannosaur. I assume this is one of the dragons of their world. We learned that this is the only settlement in this part of the world, other people living atop a very tall cliff some days away, which this tribe’s legends say they originally came from. We decided to stay here for a few days to heal up (both myself and Taeghan took grievous wounds from the Tyrannosaur's dagger-like teeth), identify some magic items we have been carrying for a while without knowing their properties and generally acclimatise a bit better to the sweltering heat of this place. 

*Uktar 28th to 30th* - I have spent the past few days in the bed of a young lovely from the tribe, enjoying her hospitality. They think we are gods, who am I to deny myself some the pleasures that come from their delusion? It has been a while since I could relax and enjoy the pleasures of a woman anyway. I am happy that for my share of the party’s magical treasures I managed to procure a necklace of fireballs, and three potions. One each of healing, invisibility and thought detection. Not a bad haul at all, and I am sure to be able to put them to good use. 

*Feast of the Moon* - We got ready to leave and had just finished packing our things when we heard screaming coming from the direction of the beach near to the village. We rushed forth to see what new terror was harassing these villagers who revere us as though we were gods. What we found was a large ship that was raiding the village fisher folk and taking captives. Slavers! I despise slavers with a passion. A ferocious melee broke out, Stedd using his jump ring to leap the forty feet to the prow of their ship and engaging the slaver pirates single-handed, as the rest of us launched arrows and lightning from the shoreline. Some of us (including me) made our way through the water (with varying degrees of success), to the ship and after a lengthy and difficult struggle we triumphed with no fatalities though both Stedd & Rand were on deaths door. I think we will be resting here a while longer to recover. I'm not complaining, I get to spend more time with that native woman. 

*Nightal 1st to 2nd* - We spend two more days at the village, recovering from our new injuries. I spent some time training the locals in how to use the metal weapons we took from the pirates. I also procured myself a nice suit of leather armour made from the hide of one of the great lizards that roam this world. Apparently it is magical and should offer me better protection than my old studded leather does. It certainly looks more unique, and when we get back to Toril, who will know that it is not dragon hide! 

*Nightal 3rd to 5th* - We finally bade goodbye to the natives and set off on the ship we captured from the pirates, with six of the natives helping us to sail it. They learn fast it seems, and are eager for adventure. We headed along the coastline, staying within sight of it at all times, sailing in the direction of the cliffs, in the hope that the people who live atop them might provide us with more answers in our search for a way home. 

*Nightal 6th* - We arrived at the watery base of the massive cliffs in the early morning. We are a short distance from their mainland, a couple miles at most. As we looked up at the awesome cliffs, ten gigantic pale pink tentacles erupted from the water to either side of the ship. After a very short fight, the tentacles wrapped around Tanus and dragged him to a watery grave. The rest of us were then faced with the problem of our ship sinking as whatever the creature was, it had holed us beneath the waterline. We hurriedly threw our stuff into the bag of holding, and everyone headed overboard, swimming towards the cliffs through the inky waters. While I made it without incident (it would seem that my new armour assists me in the water, I certainly felt lighter than I should have been), Rand and Taeghan were less fortunate. Rand swallowed too much water and nearly drowned, saved only by Morgaine. Taeghan took too long to make the crossing to the safety of a ledge that the rest of us hauled ourselves onto, and his paddling attracted the creature back (a giant squid no less), which wrapped its tentacles about him. He put up a fierce struggle as we threw rocks down from the ledge, but to no avail as he too was dragged to his death below the surface, though Braddoc did manage an astounding throw which slew the squid, too late though to save our priest. Devastated, Morgaine began swimming back towards the natives’ mainland, taking with her Taeghan's body. Women! Now we are without any priests. 

Though it took us a while to achieve it, we eventually ascended the cliff to a large flat grassy plain which gradually slopes up in the distance to wooded hills that seems to surround a truly colossal mountain. Since this is the only landmark in sight, we have decided to head towards it and we set off through the waist high grass. Night came quickly and we cut down an area of the grass to make camp in. There was a small altercation in the night with a strange green crystalline scorpion thing, but we eventually got the better of it. It killed one of the natives, five remain with us now. A shame the squid did not eat them instead of Taeghan and Tanus; they are far less useful than our fallen comrades. 

*Nightal 7th* - After several hours of trekking we were surprised when a figure appeared out of nowhere a little distance away and then turned invisible before our eyes. Stedd gave chase, and then stopped, running back towards us as a hydra reared up out of the grass and surged after him. We swiftly dealt with the seven-headed beast, Rand blasting it to oblivion with a brace of lightning bolts. At this point the wizard who had turned himself invisible introduced himself as Pharaxes of Chessenta, another traveller stranded here from our world. We requested permission to join our group and we agreed, needing all the help we can get. Towards evening as we entered the hills we were surrounded by tiger-like cat people who bade us go with them. We travelled down to their campsite and they put us in a stockade as night came down.


----------



## Eccles (Mar 7, 2003)

The History of Pharaxes the Mage 

*Age:* 24 

A Chessenta street kid, life has not been kind to Pharaxes. Orphaned at an early age, Pharaxes early education was at the Primary School of Hard Knocks as a beggar and petty thief. A natural talent for the arcane set him apart from others of his kind (even in Chessenta) and Childhood was a lonely time. 

The next stage of his education began with a bungled pick-pocket attempt. Cutting the purses of Mages is a risky enterprise at best, and for Pharaxes it was probably only his latent magical gifts that saved him from obliteration. Only a few days in the service of Thersos Morieth, the Mage whose purse he had attempted to lighten, may have given Pharaxes cause to wonder if to be obliterated was to be more truly saved. Thersos, quite apart from making little distinction between his apprentices and his slaves, was also a Demonologist and Necromancer. Pharaxes doesn't sleep much. 

Pharaxes endured 15 years of apprenticeship to Thersos before finally discovering what he hopes is a way of escaping his master and the pet demons. The portal that he used to escape is one of many that his Thersos has created to reach across the planes. From time to time a slave or an apprentice will attempt to flee in much the same way, but until now have only contrived to select themselves as sacrifice in the next demon summoning. Pharaxes' escape has been given more chance of success, he hopes, by the magical artifact that he took with him... 

*Enemies:* Thersos 

*Friends:* None 

*Likes/Dislikes/Motivation:* Has very little time or energy to waste on determining personal preferences for anything. True freedom will only come from the destruction of Thersos and that will take power. He needs to gain in power quickly and will quite readily use anything and anyone within reach. 

*Fear:* There is clearly only one fear that dominates his mind - getting caught.


----------



## Eccles (Mar 7, 2003)

Miles' Journal

Part 6

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

*Nightal 8th *- We were informed early this morning that because we had trespassed on these cat people’s lands, one of us had to fight their champion, unarmed. Stedd took this task upon himself (as frankly none of the rest of us would have had a chance), and beat the crap out of him in less time than it takes to tell. Unfortunately, this then meant that the tribe proclaimed him as their Lord of the Morning, and refused to let him leave with the rest of us. To make matters worse, the tribe’s shaman, the only one who can understand our language just happens to be a Rakshasa! 

We went aside to talk to him, and at that point a strange portal opened up. The Rakshasa fled, and the portal vanished, depositing a dwarf warrior who it seems used an item to find Braddoc. He calls himself Khondar Axewielder. He carries with him a very effective looking pair of large axes. A man who lives up to his name it seems. I paid little attention to his conversation with Braddoc, suffice to say that Khondar is here to help his lord get home and win back their clan hold, or something to that effect. Dwarven matters have never overly interested me, they put too many obstacles in their way towards achieving a goal I find, burdening themselves with honour and grudges and the like. 

Talking with the Rakshasa (who returned a little while later after he was sure it was safe), I attempted to make a bargain with it as our only other option to leaving and brining Stedd with us, is for him to throw a fight which he is not keen on doing. Seems dwarves are not the only ones who load themselves up with the burden of honour. The Rakshasa said that in return to us getting him back to his home world, a place called Oerth, that he would pose as Stedd while we were gone thus allowing us to head towards the mountain. He also said that the way home could be found at the summit, something about a tree of some sort. Stedd has sworn to do so, making a solemn oath, in effect giving the Rakshasa his word. 

We set off from the camp without being seen (the Rakshasa caused a distraction over the other side of the camp), and proceeded towards the mountain. Up in the hills around its base, the hills are densely forested, and it took Braddoc and Khondar to hack us a path through the thick undergrowth. Unfortunately this attracted a massive serpent that wrapped me in its coils, and I could only watch as my companions battled to free me, while I was slowly, and very painfully, crushed by its constriction. Khondar slaughtered the creature, and Stedd freed me from its coils. 

We made camp soon after and during the night the camp was attacked by a pair of tigers. Khondar annihilated both of them. I have never before seen such a brutal display of prowess in all my experience of killing. As I write this I am still splattered in the blood of the cats. Truly Braddoc has himself a very impressive clansman. 

*Nightal 9th *- A few hours after dealing with pair of tigers, our campsite was again invaded, this time by a true monster of the species. A tiger nearly thirty feet in length! I never even laid an attack on it, the creature being felled by the combined actions of Rand, Khondar and Stedd, with our monk finally breaking its back. I am worried as many of us are wounded and with no priests we are in trouble. We moved the campsite a short distance away from the corpse in the morning, and then rested for the day, thankfully without any further interruptions. Some of us are still in very grave condition especially Khondar who was badly mauled by the various cats last night. 

Tonight our camp was harassed by some small strange lizardmen creatures, with bright red crests. I got shot several times with envenomed darts before Braddoc appeased them by throwing food to them. I must now add myself to the list of the party’s severely injured members. 

*Nightal 10th *- We decided to continue on our way today, going hell bent for leather to get out of this thick forest as fast as possible. The lizardmen returned again tonight, and again we fed them. 

*Nightal 11th *- We continued our exhausting trek through the forest, heading up towards the mountain slope. At one point we came upon a village of the lizardmen, built up in the treetops above us as we passed far beneath it, listening to their chittering talk. We went around most of it though, rather than appear to antagonise them by invading their territory still further. Later on as we travelled through the undergrowth the plants around us came to life, attacking and grabbing at us all. I don't remember what happened next, but I am told that a vine nearly hanged me; certainly my neck aches. I was brought back from the brink of death by Stedd's generosity, donating his last healing potion. I am now the most injured member of this group. The irony of my commenting on our state a few days back is not lost on me. 

*Nightal 12th *- We reached the foot of the mountain today and we had very little luck in foraging for food. I am now very thankful that I do not need to eat or drink as my companions now face the very real threat of starvation. 

*Nightal 13th *- We spent the day camped at the forest edge, while the others tried to secure a decent amount of food with only marginal success. I spent the day resting as I am still recovering from the venom on the lizardmen’s darts. I have noticed that Pharaxes almost never sleeps and seems a bit... well jittery. His first tactic in our fights thus far has been total self-preservation with spells for invisibility and fast movement being his favourites. I wonder what he is afraid of; he arrived through a portal of some kind, could it be he is fleeing someone? 

As I was grudgingly on watch this evening the forest seemed to come alive, vines and tendrils lashing out to attack us. Whatever it was it beat the hell out of us, at one point engulfing Khondar, but eventually a combination of melee and Rand's fire spell stopped it in its tracks. 

*Nightal 14th *- We spent the day climbing the mountain without any encounters. There was some debate this morning whether or not to go ahead and ascend, but having been attacked almost non-stop in that forest, the argument was short as none of us are in any shape to continue to fight against the creatures that inhabit that place. The climb was tough going, and we ended the day about two-thirds of the way up the slope, camping out on a rocky ledge that is only marginally sheltered from the cold wind up here. I have rarely been so glad I carry a thick blanket with me. 

*Nightal 15th *- We finished the climb to the summit of the mountain by approximately midday, from where we could see over all the lands we have travelled through to reach this place. The summit was flat and oddly had a rope bridge leading from it to the summit of another mountain that was invisible to us until we reached this summit. The others supplies are exhausted, and this area appears to be guarded by some skin-winged flying creatures, roughly humanoid in shape. The rope bridge was clearly enchanted, appearing no more than a couple hundred feet in length, and yet stretching a distance of several miles between the two peaks. Needless to say the notion of crossing such a flimsy bridge whilst most likely being attacked by creatures who are very at home at this altitude was daunting. Stedd was the first to attempt to cross and was then swiftly put down by an earth elemental that merged up out of the ground before our end of the bridge, evidently some kind of guardian. Seeing that the way was blocked, I decided to try out my new magical power, casting my spider climbing spell and slipping down around the edge of the summit, and started climbing across the chasm, hanging underneath the bridge, using it to conceal myself from the winged creatures circling above. 

I made it safely to the other side of the bridge, only to then be ambushed by a hungry wyvern that had already felled Rand who had raced across invisibly, at one point running across the planks above where I was holding on. The damn wyvern took me down with its tail stinger, though its poison had less effect than folklore would credit it with. Still I got to use one of my necklace fireballs on it first, and Pharaxes finished the beast off. I don't know what happened next as I lost consciousness about then.


----------



## Eccles (Mar 10, 2003)

Miles' Journal

Part 7

-----------

*Nightal 16th *- I was actually surprised to wake up this morning, but grateful to do so, though my wounds remain grievous. We are camped in a giant nest in the caldera of this second mountain, a dormant volcano by the looks of things. In the bottom of the caldera is a large lake with an island in the middle of it that has a tall tower upon it. The entire shore of the lake is taken up by a ramshackle village, which looks to be inhabited by a very eclectic mix of creatures, including a thirty-foot giant! We put it to a vote, and then decided to stay here for a day more, before we approach the village. 

*Nightal 17th *- I spotted a man trying to look through our packs this morning as I was on watch, who I stopped and who then introduced himself as Paul Goldson. He seemed interested in barter, it seems that this is the villages currency. The village is simply called The Edge, and Titan Lord Dane rules it, the gigantic figure we spied yesterday. Furthermore it would seem that death and injury are at best temporary here, though I suspect that effect is not immediate upon arrival. We learned that the tree we are seeking lies in the tower on the island, but it would seem that no one has ever gone there, and certainly never returned. I bartered away a few gold pieces and my detect thoughts potion for a roof over my head for several days should I need it, and three potions of healing. I headed to Corliss Maltine’s tent to rest and continue my recovery from the wounds I have suffered of late. 

When I woke up a few hours later, Rand presented me with a shortsword made from a giant tooth. It had been taken from the wyvern nest and he had identified it as magical, for which I am grateful. It also talks! Its name (or at least what it calls itself) is: The magnificent Slayer of Beasts, tooth of the dragon. We agreed on Slayer as a good name for it. Rand used his magic to enlarge and flavour the fish a strange tiefling fisherman had caught on the lake to entice him to row us across to the island on his raft, which he duly did. 

The tower had a large door at the base, and a spiral staircase around the outside leading up to the roof, where many gargoyles were flapping about. The doors were warded by a numeric puzzle that I soon solved, with a bit of help from Stedd & Pharaxes, the doors then opening into a large blue room. This room had a single door leading elsewhere, which was warded by a shape puzzle that we solved between us. This produced a scroll with a riddle on it; I got a shock from a trap for a poorly though out wrong answer. 

We proceeded onwards, and again another puzzle. To cut a long story short each room presented us with a shape puzzle, placing the correct object into the puzzle (which involved battling the islands gargoyles) produced a scroll, solving the riddle on the scroll would then open the door and we could continue onwards, every room followed this same pattern. We got stuck on the third riddle though and decided to rest and sleep on the problem as it baffled all of us. 

*Nightal 18th *- The tower’s puzzles reset in the night, we were easily able to get through them to reach the point at which we were stumped yesterday. We decided to head to The Edge and do some trading (and get some healing), before continuing. Myself and Rand paid a fair sum (they use money as food here, or at least some of the residents do, including the earth genasi priest we went to), to get my wound patched back up, as I have been in a lot of pain from my numerous injuries these past few days, and been considerably less useful to the group than I might otherwise have been. 

We then headed back to the tower and made further headway through the many puzzles and riddles until eventually we arrived in a large underground cavern, dominated by a huge tree in the centre of it. Much of this turned out to be an illusion though, as Stedd found out. The elaborate set of illusions disguised a marble stepped dais amidst a vast pool of boiling mud. We made our way across the only safe path through the mud, helping each other, but when a pair of salamanders ambushed us, I concerned myself with my own survival and dropped Khondar, running headlong for the tree (which turned out to be another illusion, it was really a crystal on a pedestal, seems I keep running into those!), and upon touching the crystal I was granted a wish. I made my choice to go home and vanished from the chamber, arriving back at my family’s estate in the hills southwest of Dagger Falls. 

I am home, back on Toril at long last. There is no sign of my companions, I do not know if they made it out of that chamber alive or not, but I assume if they chose as I did, then they will end up back at their old homes too, many days travel away from me. I immediately pulled up my scarf and my hood and headed back towards Dagger Falls. The estate I arrived at has not been my home in many years, and I have no wish to linger there. I am needed elsewhere I think. 

Not long after I started walking I became aware of a humanoid winged figure shape following me at speed. Figuring whatever it was to be hostile, and unable to outrun it on the ground, I took advantage of a nearby copse of trees, ducking into the cover they provided and slipping into the shadows under the canopy. The creature then landed and stomped into the undergrowth after me, growling boasts about how it would take my head to its slumbering master. So nice to have to deal with foes with loose tongues. I repaid him for his helpful information with a swift death, stepping out of the shadows in a blind spot to his left and running him through twice with Slayer before he even got a chance to put so much as a scratch on me. Searching the body I took a wand of some sort from his corpse and rolled him over so I could get a good look at my foe. Seems he was some sort of dragon-man. I've never seen the like before, possibly some servant created by Gran'rath in his own image. with that business attended to I continued on my way, eschewing resting for the night, intent on reaching Dagger Falls as soon as possible. 

*Nightal 19th *- Arrived back in Dagger Falls late this evening and reported to Respen who handed over a small sack of my back pay for the past couple months. I explained where we had been and that I returned alone. Both of us agreed that it is unlikely that the others did not also find a way home, and I expect they will show up in short order, this town being a likely rallying point for them. That done I headed to our usual tavern and paid for the works, a good room with clean sheets on the bed, a bath, and the best food and wine, served by the prettiest barmaid in the building. Since I’ve just been through all kinds of hell short of going to the nine hells themselves, I figured that since I could afford the good life, I'd live it for a few days at least. 

*Nightal 20th to 22nd *- Stayed at the tavern, while I waited patiently for the rest of the Crusaders to turn up, as I am quite confident that they will appear sooner or later, and my money is firmly on sooner. Assuming that the crystal returned them also to their homes, they would have appeared elsewhere in Daggerdale or nearby... well all except Pharaxes who might well have ended up back in Chessenta for all I know. 

*Nightal 23rd *- Sure enough, just after lunch, Rand and Stedd walked into the tavern. It seems that they did indeed arrive back at their homes in Clearwater and the Monastery, or rather what is left of them after Gran'rath took out his rage at us (and the monks) escaping him. The Monastery is nothing more than a ruin now, and while it took some damage, the village of Clearwater survived for the most part, only is now under the thrall of the vampire lord that escaped from the monks graveyard a while ago. In late evening we were joined by Khondar and surprisingly Pharaxes who had arrived back in the mountains at some old dwarf hold (doubtless the lost Rudenheim clanhold) and had journeyed back through the wilderness. Khondar regaled us with the brutal (and thankfully short) account of him slaying an Ettin single-handed whose campsite he encountered on the way back to Dagger Falls. Not long after we were approached by a monk/priest of Ilmater, who asked to join our group. After some discussion it was decided to allow him into our ranks. His name is Yvgeny and he hails originally from far off (and very cold) Damara. 

Once he had bathed, Khondar related that Braddoc chose to stay in that other realm, and he tasked Khondar to reclaim the clan’s old stronghold, appointing him as his heir. This surprised me, I had no idea Braddoc was the Rudenheim king in exile, I have been travelling with royalty it seems. I wish him well; Khondar’s last sight of him was him charging back into the cavern to battle the salamanders, screaming blue murder as only a psychotic dwarf can. I will miss him in any battles I should have to fight. We are far from being the same group that arrived in that savage land, it has taken a heavy toll on our membership. Indeed of those Jared wrote about at the start of this groups history, only Stedd & Rand remain now. A humbling thought.


----------



## Eccles (Mar 10, 2003)

*The Number Puzzle*

Place the digits 1 to 9 in the circles so the numbers within the two circles touching each square add to the total in that square.







*The Water Puzzle*

Once I was water, full of scaly fish;
But, by a new decision, Fate has changed
My nature: having suffered fiery pangs,
I now gleam white, like ashes or bright snow. What am I?

(When answered, this provides a small quantity of Ice in the shape of three numbers, for ‘ICE’. 18, 12, 3)

*The Air Puzzle*

I cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
I lie behind star and under hill,
And empty holes are what I fill.
I came first and follow after,
Have no life, and swallow laughter.
Make me here and you shan’t see,
What it is that lies past me. 

(When answered, this provides three blue glowing letters in the sky; for ‘AIR’ – 6, 18, 22). 

*The Earth Puzzle*

I have a golden head
I have a golden tail
I haven't got a body. 
What am I? 

(When answered, the earth ground gets damp and spells 3 letters – ‘MUD’ – 13, 19, 17)

*The Fire Puzzle*

My life can be measured in hours,
I serve by being devoured.
Thin, I am quick
Fat, I am slow
Wind is my foe. 

(When answered, letters of fire spring up in numbers for ‘FIRE’ – 5, 18, 22, 3)

*The Last Door Puzzle 1*
16-8-19-12-1-18-9-11 8-9-3, 26-19-16 1-8-4-17-18-9-11 16-21-8,
18-16 18-25 6 8-9-3 4-18-9-20 12-1-6-18-9
26-18-9-17-18-9-11 16-1-8-25-3 21-1-8 20-3-3-14 21-8-22-17-25 16-22-19-3,
’16-18-4 17-3-6-16-1 22-3-9-16 18-16 18-9 16-21-6-18-9. 

*The Last Door Puzzle 2*
19-14-8-9 16-1-3 25-1-8-22-3 21-1-3-22-3 18 21-6-25 25-18-16-16-18-9-11,
18 25-6-21 16-1-3 17-3-6-17 12-6-22-22-10 16-1-3 4-18-2-18-9-11.
21-1-6-16 17-18-17 18 25-3-3?

*The Floor Grid Puzzle*

THE CAPTURE OF YOUR ENEMY IS WELL WITHIN SIGHT OR MAKING SURE THAT YOUR SPOUSE IS ALL RIGHT

D	E	S	Y
E	T	G	L
T	U	A	N
T	M	R	E
I	E	K	L
P	M	L	C
R	M	E	A
E	I	H	R
P	T	A	C

(This takes the form of the floor puzzle in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", where the puzzlee has to walk across the right stones, in this case from bottom to top).


----------



## Eccles (Mar 11, 2003)

I've just had an email from 'Richards', who has successfully solved the 'Floor Grid' Puzzle.

Of course, as he wrote it in the first place, he probably found it pretty easy!

Therefore I'd like to add a note here saying that that puzzle was originally published in "White Queen's Gambit" in Dungeon Adventures, written by Richards.


----------



## Richards (Mar 11, 2003)

And I'd just like to modify the above statement somewhat: while "White Queen's Gambit" was originally written as a submission to _Dungeon_, it was rejected, and thus never saw publication.  I sent a copy of the adventure to Dr. Midnight, who modified it somewhat to fit his (at the time) 13th-level party and included it in his own "Knights of Spellforge Keep" story hour, and that's the only place it's ever been "published."

It's mighty cool to see the Floor Grid Puzzle being put to good use elsewhere, though!  

Johnathan


----------



## Eccles (Mar 13, 2003)

I think I've already put his stats in the other page, but here's the background provided by Yvgeny's player. I understand that he's intending to play Yvgeny as a sort of monkish James Bond, which should be very entertaining!
(And much credit to the player for such an excellent background!)
-------------

*The spy who came in from the cold:
Yvgeny Del’Ansk*

Yvgeny Del’Ansk was born in the town of Valls, a nondescript place in the southwest of the kingdom of Damara, about twenty-three years ago (1349DR) in the month of Eleint. In 1357DR, the fell forces of Zhengyi invaded Damara and overran Valls, killing some and taking others as slaves. Yvgeny, blessed with some quickness of hand and foot, and wit also, managed to escape. When the war with Vaasa was over, Yvgeny (now an orphan) was sent to the Monastery of the Yellow Rose. It was here that he learnt much of the skills of the monk and made his first friends. 

However, the life of the monk at the Citadel of the White Worm was not to be for Yvgeny: He could not content himself with the studies and quiet contemplation of the lower-order monks whilst deprivation and disease was about the land. It was for this reason that he left the Order of Saint Sollars to travel to Heliogabalus, where he offered his skills to the Temple of Ilmater. 

The Archpriest (Pietr Orik, LG male Human, Clr 12 of Ilmater) of the temple quickly saw that Yvgeny had a natural skill with the simple divine spells, but also surmised that his temperament would tend to lead towards an active role in promoting the ideals of the Ilmateri faith. Pietr therefore sent for his old friend, Ama (Ama Pashar, LG female Human, Mnk 5/Clr 4 of Ilmater). She, seeing the opportunity for a prodigal student, grabbed the chance and hence Yvgeny was swiftly inducted into the Order of the Broken Ones, as a student of the Twin Path. 

Promotion came quickly, with Yvgeny showing particular skills in finding information. It was at this time that Yvgeny was involved in discovering the power behind the bandit raids in the north of the kingdom (the wizard Knellict). One of the lieutenants of these bandit raiders (Igor Tomsk, NE male Human, Ftr 3/Rog 3) has sworn revenge for an ambush that saw Tomsk kill some of his own men to prevent their capture. 

With this in mind, it was decided that Yvgeny should change his theatre of operations. King Drangonsbane, ever mindful of the expansionist tendency the Zhentarim, decided that it would be a good idea it forge an alliance with the Dalelands. With this in mind, Yvgeny was directed to travel to the Dalelands region, to get a feel for the levels of power each faction had. This would probably be a dangerous job, so he was granted the use of powerful magics and given special dispensation to “Extract the Pledge” from anyone likely to cause harm. 

So, Yvgeny joined a party of Clerics and Paladins of Torm that were making a pilgrimage to the town of Tantras in The Vast. During this journey, the group managed to get on the wrong side of at least one Hobgoblin clan and several Orc clans whilst passing through the Earthspur Mountains. On arriving in Tantras, Yvgeny stayed a short time for the Shieldmeet festival, then left to take ship for The Dalelands. 

Yvgeny arrived in Scardale Town a couple of days later, which was a baptism of fire to say the least. In just a few months he sent missives back to Damara that indicated just how deep the Zhentarim and the Thayans were involved in the politics of the Dales. However, in persuading the many brigands skulking around Scardale Town that a man with no obvious weapons was still armed, Yvgeny came to the attention of the Monks of the Long Death. He was lucky to escape with his life, and now has the enmity of one Mektar Wazim (LE male Tiefling, Mnk 5/Asn 2). Eventually, Yvgeny managed to pay for passage out of the city, signing on as a guard for a commercial wagon train passing through Cormanthor. 

Again, fate would ensure life was interesting! Drow had appeared in the forests that once belonged to the Sun Elves and Moon Elves, and the caravans were attacked not once but twice on the way through. Less than half the original group got out alive: Fortunately, one of them was Yvgeny. Having used healing spells to keep the wagon-master alive, Yvgeny was rewarded with a brand new Wand of Cure Light Wounds on arrival in Shadowdale. Again, taking up the post of wagon guard, Yvgeny travelled to Daggerdale, and then on to Dagger Falls. 

Yvgeny spent some time in Dagger Falls, sending back messages to Heliogabalus detailing the extent of outside influences on the Dalelands in general, and Daggerdale in particular. However, as usual, the need to act overcame the need to watch, and Yvgeny once again became involved in working against the dark plots of the Zhents that were slowly worming their way into the society of Daggerdale. His cover was eventually blown: The Monks of the Long Death had passed certain information to Zhent forces in Scardale Town and this information had finally made it’s way across the Dales. 

It was at this time that he heard of a group of adventurers going by the name of the Clearwater Crusaders. Judging that the need to make himself scarce had become paramount, Yvgeny ensured that his superior in the Temple of Ilmater (Helm Dundragon, LG Human male, Pal 8 of Ilmater) got the information. Sure enough, only too glad to be rid of him, Helm gave the order and Yvgeny managed to inveigle his way into the group of demi-heroes… 

*1. Relatives, Trainers, Friends*
Yvgeny Del’Ansk has family and associates as described in the following sections: 

*1.1. Relatives*
The only known living relative of Yvgeny’s was his sister, Olma. She was taken in the raids on Damara, when Valls was overrun. Scrying has turned up the fact that she is alive and somewhere in Thay. Someday, Yvgeny hopes to rescue her.

*1.2. Trainers*
As mentioned above, Ama Pashar is Yvgeny’s ‘sensei.’ 

*1.3. Friends*
Yvgeny has a friend in the Saint Sollars. This Monk of the Yellow Rose (Alethra Manov, LN female Human, Mnk 5/Rgr 2 of Ilmater) is currently leading search and destroy missions in Vaasa. 

Yvgeny also has a friend in the city of Heliogabalus, by the name of Pavel del Praka. This ex-gadabout Bard (CG male Human, Brd 4/Exp 3) now makes musical instruments for a living, but has much useful information to impart on virtually any topic, including Yvgeny’s genealogy. 

Yvgeny made a ‘friend’ in Scardale Town, a ‘Dancer’ by the name of Wen Cricklewood (CN female Lightfoot Halfling, Ftr 3/Rog 3). It was not obvious whether Wen took to the shine in his eye or in his purse, but she did help smuggle him out of Scardale Town for quite a modest fee, all told. However, she also extracted a promise of quid pro quo that Yvgeny will probably be honour-bound to uphold… 

Finally, after making it into Dagger Falls, Yvgeny managed to team up with a Paladin of Lathander. This Paladin (Ravel Burrdeep, LG male Human, Pal 7 of Lathander) was a ‘partner in crime’ with Yvgeny in many escapades in and around Dagger Falls, to the extent that Yvgeny has now achieved some notoriety amongst the underworld in that town. 

*2. Likes, Dislikes, Fears and Foes*
Presented here are some examples of what makes Yvgeny Del’Ansk tick. 

*2.1. Likes and Dislikes*
Yvgeny likes: Challenges; any test of skill, marshal or otherwise, is likely to be accepted. Honesty; Yvgeny prefers an honest enemy to a dishonest acquaintance. He has no dishonest friends. Music; Yvgeny is a great appreciator of all kinds of music, though he claims no natural musical skill himself. 

Yvgeny dislikes: Tyrannical behaviour; Thayans in general; ostentatious shows of wealth; meat. 

*2.2. Fears*
Yvgeny is particularly fearful of capture and/or incarceration. Being helpless (bound up, entangled, etc.) is anathema to him. There is a good chance that Yvgeny suffers from some form of claustrophobia too.

*2.3. Foes: General*
This section covers foes in the The Dalelands region only. 

Foes that know Yvgeny by sight are: - 
The Monks of the Long Death, Scardale Town. 

Foes that know Yvgeny by reputation are: - 
Zhent agents in both Scardale Town and Daggerdale. 
Daggerdale/Dagger Falls underworld. 

Other foes: - 
Drow of House Jaelre, Cormanthor. 

*2.4. Foes: Specific*
A list of foes can be found in Yvgeny’s biography, above. 

Specifically, these are: - 
Igor Tomsk, NE male Human, Ftr 3/Rog 3. 
Mektar Wazim, LE male Tiefling, Mnk 5/Asn 2. 

Additionally, though he isn’t aware of it, the Zhentarim has marked Yvgeny as a spy and have sent an agent into Daggerdale specifically to work against him, and to assassinate him if possible. The agent, using the pseudonym Randal Tallstag (NE male Human, Rog 6/Rgr 1/Sha 1), has currently tracked Yvgeny to Dagger Falls and is closing in… 

*3. 3. General Notes on the Genealogy of Yvgeny Del’Ansk (as provided by Pavel del Praka)*
Yvgeny Del’Ansk’s family does not originate in Damara, but is very likely Mulhorandi. This is clear to me for three reasons: 1. He does not have the pale coloration normally seen in northern peoples; his skin is olive, betraying the mixture of dark skin with the paler northern. 2. His surname is not Damaran. Despite some Damaran influences, it seems likely to me that Yvgeny’s original surname was in all probability Anskuld, a fairly typical Mulhorandi surname. 3. Yvgeny is not Human. I am an artisan: a creator of fine musical instruments, and a merchant too. As such, I have had Yvgeny in my shop to purchase diverse items for King Dragonsbane’s court. Having attempted to bluff a higher price from him once, I can vouch that the strangest feeling of being watched forced me to a more honest (indeed, positively ruinous!) price, with no prompting from Yvgeny, excepting a straight ‘Look.’ It was at this juncture that I decided: This man is no Man, he has the blood of Celestials in him! The more I thought the more I realised the likelihood. Most scholars know of the fact that the Mulhorandi gods lived amongst their people for a large part of the history of Mulhorand; the entire place hardly has a pureblooded Human to call it’s own. Perhaps I exaggerate. But it is known that a goodly portion of the population can claim a divinity, or at least a divinity’s minion, for an ancestor. To round off my deductions, I will add the only item I consider conjecture: Yvgeny’s family were probably escaped Thayan slaves, who were taken in that country’s raids on Mulhorand in 1279-1280DR. I hereby rest my case.


----------



## Eccles (Mar 13, 2003)

As if that wasn't enough, Yvgeny's player has also provided me with an excellent "debriefing report" style of letter, as his client sends information on his mission to date back home...

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

To His Eminence Pietr Orik,
Temple of Ilmater,
King’s Palace Square,
Heliogabalus. 

Your Grace, 

First, apologies for the tardiness of this missive: I have been indisposed as of late with some pressing business, namely attempting to extricate myself from some trouble involving the local Thieves’ Guild. I will not bore you with details… 

Now, to cases. The Zhent problem has not yet become overt. They are making moves in other Dales, as I have already said, but I believe my previous warning was a false alarm. Maybe another month or two will prove me prescient; who knows! I now believe the biggest threat to be the Drow. Information I have managed to gather suggests that there are spies in the pay of the black elves in Dagger Falls itself. I will obviously keep you posted. 

More on the Dragon situation: It appears to have decided not to destroy the town, which is obviously a good thing. However, a dragon gone quiet is more to be feared that a raucous one as I’m sure you’ll agree. You can at least hear a noisy Dragon before it arrives! Incidentally, on the Monks who were receiving the brunt of the Dragon’s ire: They appear to have been driven mad! By all accounts, these Monks were of the Old Order, and therefore trustworthy. This is now, apparently, not the case as they have allegedly taken to murdering innocents. I hasten to add that I have yet to examine the scene of a crime perpetrated by one of these Monks, so cannot vouch for the validity of the above accusations; I may have to question one of these Monks myself. 

Ah! Here is some news! It appears the group of adventurers known as the Clearwater Crusaders have returned from parts unknown. I have managed to pass this information indirectly to my superior here. I know he considers me more trouble than I’m worth, so it’s safe to believe that he’ll use this as the excuse he needs to remove me from Dagger Falls. Ah! He calls me right now. 

Yes, indeed, Sir Dundragon is nothing if not a model of constancy. He sent me straightway to the inn where the Clearwater Crusaders were staying, with the command: ‘Join up!’ Triad save me if they didn’t need a Cleric in the party: Fortunately, they did. For the record, I will describe them here: The first I laid eyes on was none other than a Monk of the Old Order. Needless to say, I challenged him on the behaviour of his brother monks, but he seemed genuinely perplexed. I believed his story that he had been out of the country for a month or more, and therefore did not press further. The only other member that was immediately in view was skulking in the shadows of his hood, in the shadows of the shadows of the darkened corner of the inn. I was a little apprehensive as I could sense the ill intents that this person was capable of. However, after engaging him in conversation I detected a certain manner of the professional killer. Clearly, anyone without a licence for such a job would not make his vocation so plainly obvious, so I baited him by (verbally) attacking the Thayans. Indeed, he was quick to put me in my place, so I think it safe to assume that he is a government enforcer. 

As for the remaining members of the Crusaders: One was buried under a mound of female flesh, the other was soaking up equal amounts of bathwater and ale. The buried victim turned out to be a Sorcerer of some skill, while the soaker became a dwarf, and probably a barbarian dwarf at that. There was one other member of the group, but he was either invisible, too small to see, or scarce. Ilmater help me if he’s a halfling! 

So, I asked if I could join. Most agreed almost on the instant, except for the enforcer. This gave another clue as to his identity: He probably knew me already, and decided I was a troublemaker! Whatever his reason, realising the rest of the party were unanimous he grudgingly threw his hat in too, with the proviso that if I were to heal him, I don’t preach whilst doing it. I agreed, with the quid pro quo that if he kills, he kills mercifully. Ilmater forgive me if he uses poison. 

And with that, I was thrown right into the thick of things! In a matter of hours I was in the presence of none other than Randal Morn… And then the lights went out! We were surrounded by a well-organised band of killers who did their level best to slice us up, fighting as pairs to cause most damage. Even Lord Morn received a nasty stab wound. Fortunately, my friends have clearly spent many months battling all kinds of creatures: Whilst I was trying to un-rust my fists, the rest were laying about with spell, axe, sword and fists of their own, until the enemy realised they would be bested. The remainder of these dark rogues then spoke an incantation and vanished. I prayed for the dead: One look at the chopped meat left by the dwarf Condar and his huge axe was enough to persuade me that Extracting the Pledge was going to be a little difficult in this scuffle! Triad help me, if I didn’t go into town to sell the weapons and armour of these poor souls just hours after as well. Clearly, I could not keep the proceeds that were due me for my share in the battle: 600 gold pieces! I give all of it to the Temple, which should make Sir Dundragon a little more pleased to see me, I would hope! Then I prayed for my own soul. 

Anyway, I must now sign off. The Clearwater Crusaders have been tasked with clearing out a nest of vampires, so this is definitely my chance to shine, so to speak! Hopefully, Ilmater will consider this atonement. 

Until next time, your grace.
Yvgeny. 

Ilmater save the King.


----------



## Eccles (Mar 19, 2003)

Miles' Journal

Part 8

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

*Nightal 24th *- Spent the day in Dagger Falls. We divided up the various treasures our group had accumulated of late, and flush with coin, some of us took a trip to the Thayan enclave to see what could be had for our money. After much consideration I invested in a ring that should help me to avoid being hit as often as I have been of late, cost me a tidy sum though, two thousand gold coins, nearly wiped me out, sure hope it is as effective as it was made out to be. 

Having heard that we were back in town, Lord Morn invited the Crusaders to his mansion for a dinner this evening. While I serve Lord Morn, I am less than impressed with the man himself, age has caught up with him, and the man is far past his prime, mumbling his words almost to the point of incoherency at times, plus he drools. I think he is bordering on senility, and I imagine that much of the actual governing of Daggerdale is done without his direct involvement. I care not how my country is ruled, so long as the ruler answers to no foreign power, especially the Zhents, and that the people of Daggerdale do not suffer. 

I had to endure a very long-winded conversation between Rand and Lord Morn. It seems he was unaware of the vampiric infestation in Clearwater, and news of this rightly alarmed him. We learned that while we were away, Gran'rath tried to attack Dagger Falls in a continuation of his attacks on places that we frequented, probably trying to provoke us into coming out of hiding (as the dragon had no way of knowing where we had gone via the portal I guess). He was beaten off however by none other than Elminster of Shadowdale in a prolonged duel that resulted in the dragon sustaining several injuries and eventually fleeing to rest in his lair. This would tally with what the dragon-man thing that attacked me a few days back said, that his master was sleeping. 

Then everything went dark as a spell went off, and we were suddenly under attack by a group of well-armed and equipped assassins. I have to assume that they came for Lord Morn as they were certainly no match for us, Khondar in particular massacred his way through four of their number, I managed to finish one off and was advancing on two others that had beset Yvgeny, when they fled, teleporting away somehow. We later found out that they had looted the mansions vaults while we fought some of them, taking all the silver that was being stored down there in an effort to control the economy, several tonnes of it in all. Interestingly the raiders weapons and armour were made of the same blue-grey metal that this group were investigating when I joined them. What was really odd about them though, was that throughout the fight with us, one of them issued orders in my voice, no doubt to sow confusion amongst our ranks. The ploy was achieved through some form of magic I presume, but did not work owing to the fact that I am not known for shouting out commands in the heat of battle, so my companions immediately recognised this copycat voice as being that of an impostor. 

Quite who these raiders were is a mystery, yet another foe to add to our depressing array of those who want us dead, that or an old foe with a lot of new minions. They were well equipped and backed by magic. The obvious suspects are of course the Van Cei family, which to my mind rules them out, this is too blatant for them. Unfortunately the number of groups with the capacity to pull off such an audacious heist is fairly long, and there are powerful names amongst their number, such as the Red Wizards, Zhentarim, the Red Plumes of Hillsfar, even the Shades. Finding out who did this is an unlikely event I fear. 

*Nightal 25th *- We sold off the equipment we looted from the raiders corpses last night for a good sum, and divided up the profits amongst our number. I am glad of the coins as my share did much to replenish my finances after the expense of buying that ring. Still I was struck but twice in the whole battle last night, so perhaps my investment was a sound one. 

*Nightal 26th *- After the group bought supplies (and were rejoined by Pharaxes who has been quite absent these past few days, his first time in Dagger Falls I gather), we set out to return to Clearwater, with the aim of wiping out the vampire population. I am uneasy at the thought of facing these creatures as I have no desire to again be possessed by the lady ghost who accompanies the vampire lord and who has stolen control of my body from me twice before. 

I feel it important that I list the party as it is now composed. The Clearwater Crusaders are as follows: 

*Rand Stormseeker *- Sorceror supreme of the group, commands an impressive amount of magical force, which is often dispensed in the form of electrical orbs and lightning bolts. A survivor, he also has a goodly array of magics to aid in his defence and escape. 

*Stedd of the Old Order *- My usual fighting partner, we work well as a team to get around into creatures blind spots. He keeps a foe occupied with his flashy combat skills, while I get into a position to do the most harm with a well-placed strike. Quiet, except in the face of danger where he has a surprisingly strong fatalistic streak to his personality, seemingly always convinced that he (and everyone else) is going to die, and yet he fights till he can fight no more to try and avert this doom. 

*Khondar Axewielder *- Now heir to the Rudenheim throne (assuming he can get the clanhold back from the ogres that occupy it), this dwarf warrior is horribly lethal, by horribly I refer to the splatter-zone that surrounds him as he fights, his axes sending blood and entrails flying in all directions. A stalwart companion, just one I try to avoid being near in any battle. 

*Pharaxes *- A strange one this, he appeared from nowhere, never talks about where he came from other than to say it was Chessenta, and does his level best to avoid sleeping if at all possible. He seems to be perpetually on edge, as though expecting an attack at any moment. I think he considers himself to be hunted. He commands a reasonable amount of sorcerous skill, but is by far Rand's inferior, plus all his magics seem concerned with nothing beyond his own self-preservation. He spends as much time as possible invisible and is rarely talkative on any subject. Definitely an oddity. 

*Yvgeny *- A priest of Ilmater, and one who turned up at exactly the moment we were needing a priest, so my suspicions are raised and I'll be keeping an eye on this one. Still, he promises healing without preaching. I grew very tired of Taeghan's sermons; I'm not an elf, so quite why he kept trying to get me to say prayers to his pointy-eared god I don't know. When I'm injured I need healing, not redemption. 

*Myself (Miles Killian O'Kayne) *- Appointed by the government of Daggerdale to keep an eye on this group and steer it in the direction of threats to the realm, something I've found to be considerably harder than it sounded. In the past I've always worked alone, so trying to work with this group can be difficult at times. Still I have learned a lot in their company, and when the time does come to return to my solo work, I will be all the better trained as a result of the time spent with these people. Of late I have picked up some small magical skill, and I continue to hone my skills with my twin swords. I believe I make a significant contribution to the groups success, time will tell if I continue to do so though. 

The day passed without any incident of any kind, the road south was quiet again, seems every time we clear this road of danger, something else happens to make it dangerous again, first werewolves, now vampires.


----------



## Eccles (Apr 7, 2003)

Miles' Journal - Part Nine

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

*Nightal 27th to 29th* - Well despite my earlier comment about this road always getting dangerous again every time we clear it of such, we have thus far had an uneventful trip heading south towards Clearwater. The weather is wet and unspeakably foul, my hatred for winter endures still.

*Nightal 30th* - We continued our trudge through the snow and ice on the ground, until around midday when Pharaxes suddenly looked up to the east, and then hurriedly uttered some arcane words and vanished from sight (no doubt turning invisible). Scant seconds later we were beset by a group of the dragonkin (of which I slew one not long back0. However, one of the four that attacked us was able to breathe fire. While I nimbly avoided the torrent of flames that the creature belched forth upon us, my companions were not so fortunate, and Rand was felled almost instantly, denying us his usual awesome support. Luckily we have a priest to aid us now, and while the rest of us battled these flying creatures, Yvgeny restored Rand who promptly blasted the dragonkin from the skies. To his credit Pharaxes did eventually help out a little, though a warning would have been far more useful, as I bluntly reminded him. None of the dragonkin survived, we looted what we could from their bodies and headed on our way.

We slowed our travel a little, and while the day got more miserable still with this foul winter weather, nothing else tried to injure us apart from a small stone that made its way into my left boot and irritated me until we made camp.

*Hammer 1st (1373 DR)* - The first day of a new year, and rather than celebrating in a nice warm tavern (or a nice warm woman), I'm trudging through snow and mud on a mission to free a dirty little town from vampires. There are times when being me stinks!

Our campsite was observed tonight by some shadowy figure but we paid it little heed and it did nothing beyond watch. Rand set off early to go and scout out Clearwater using his magic to stay invisible and move quickly, he was certain he would avoid detection from the townsfolk (as the vampires themselves should be torpid during the daytime). He took Bisley (his owl familiar) with him also, to aloow him to scout from the air as well. By lunchtime he had not returned, though we had moved our campsite, trusting to Rand's good tracking skills to find us again. A couple hours later bisley, screeching like a banshee arrived at our new campsite and we followed him back to what looked like Rand's bloodied corpse. Our sorceror still clung tenaciously to life though, and Yvgeny was able to return him to consciousness. It turned out a dragonkin caught him, but left him just barely alive, though it stole away his magical crossbow (which he almost never used anyway).

Our campsite was again observed tonight, and then I was under fire, taking two crossbow bolts in my back in quick succession, and then another in my left leg. Stedd chased away my would-be assassin, who fled towards Clearwater.

*Hammer 2nd* - After listening to Rand's report on the state of the village and studying the crude map he drew in the dirt (plus the recollections of those of us who have been to Clearwater before), we decided on a course of action. Every day a forage cart was sent out of the village gates to fetch hay and straw for the villages livestock from a barn some distancxe from the walls. We decided upon ambushing the cart inside the barn, and driving it back ourselves, me using my change self spell to take on the role of the driver, the rest hiding in the back of the cart and Rand and Pharaxes following it on foot invisible. We were going to attack the village in early morning, so as to have the benefit of sunlight, and thus greatly reduce the vampires mobility.

Things went extremely well, and for once exactly as planned, we easily overcame the old man on the cart, and left him tied up in the barn, taking the cart and heading back towards the village. Passing through the gates, we waited until they were shut behind us before Rand blasted them to shards with a lightning bolt so as to ensure that we would have a viable escape route if it came to that. We then had to battle through a mob of dominated villagers to get to Alliandre's (Rand's mentors) house, where Rand knew there to be at least two coffins (having seen them there when he appeared back in that house returning from the savage plane we journeyed to). While the others pulled their punches and controlled their blows, limiting their effectiveness in the fight, I resolved not to do so and attacked the villagers as though they were any other foe. My duty is to rid Daggerdale of threats, vampirically controlled peasants qualify in my book. As I hacked my way through the mob, Yvgeny did his level best to ensure that none I felled succumbed to their wounds. The mob then pulled back to Alliandre's house (and as we could see elsewhere in the village, several other buildings, though mainly the Inn). We battled our way through them and to the two vampires they were shielding, eventually defeating the vile creatures, though Stedd was drained at least twice in the process, looking quite pale from the experience by the time we were done. We dragged their coffins out into the sunlit street and hacked them to splinters, denying the vampires a place to recover and thus sending them to their eternal rest.

Next up was the Inn, an altogether tougher prospect as fully half the village was packed within, all determined to stop us reaching any vampires that might be inside. Not only were there the peasants to conted with but Wights too, the vampire commanding the villagers to sacrifice themselves to the wights, to create more undead soldiers to fight us. At this point Slayer granted me an ability I did not know he had, and I found myself able to jump to great height, using this to smash in through a window on the upper floor of the Inn, launching a second front along with Stedd (whose ring allows him to do the same thing). We soundly defeated the wights, Yvgeny turning them to prevent them making more of themselves after only a couple villagers had been afflicted, and Khondar hacking the vile things to pieces in his usual gory way of fighting. Again, there was the mob of villagers in thrall to deal with and gain I refused to hamper myself, dropping many, several of which Yvgeny was not able to save. I regret their deaths, but I term them acceptable losses.

I led the way down into the Inn's cellar as having searched the ground and upper floor, we had yet to find any vampires. Khondar followed me down the steps, Slayer lighting the way. A vampire then dropped down off the ceiling (which I had forgotten to check), charming my dull-witted dwarven companion into protecting him. We quickly dealt with the vampire though. and then hacked up the barrel he was using as a coffin, and I beheaded him to finish him off forever, then taking the head and tossing it outside into the street where it was consumed in flames.

We assaulted the Van Cei manor then, battling darkness and web spells just to get in, plus the vampire lord, his ghostly wife (in Alliandre's body) and a pack of wolves he summoned from the nearby forests who got into the village via the gaping hole Rand had blasted in the gate as our escape route. The fight was vicious and spread over much of the great house. Rand drove the ghost from Alliandre's body, but slew his mentor in the process, still Yvgeny was on hand to hurriedly save her baby from its mothers fate. Furious then, Rand tore into the vampire lord (whom Khondar had been battling for some time, and steadily losing too), blasting great holes through the building with his spells to bring the daylight inside, finally vanquiching him in the dining hall. I proceeded through the building, hunting coffins, decapitating any corpses I came across to prevent them being used against us as undead minions. I was again briefly possessed by the ghost as I tried to enter the cellar, but the others easily knocked me unconscious, and then dealt with her soon after (I know not how, I was out for the count, I came round and was told they had finished off the ghost, I was happy to leave it at that). We dragged anything that could possibly be a coffin out into the sunlight, smashing them to splinters to make sure that these foes would never return to bedevil us again.

We then had to hurriedly clear the area as a bizarre flying contraption crashed out of the sky (apparently shot down by one of the spells Rand unleashed to open up holes in the manor that has hit it as it was flying over) and smacked stright into the Van Cei manor, levelling it. the pilot of this craft floated to the ground by means of some enchantment, and introduced himself as Halbrinn, a gnome who holds the job of Daggerdale's Cartographer.

With Clearwater's population freed from mind thrall to the vampire lord, they were keen to aid us in finishing our sweep of the village, giving us what information they had as to the whereabouts of the rest of the vampires, who we learned included Mayor Butterstone and the Sheriff. We proceeded to search the houses, starting with the smithy where we easily dealt with the elder Rudenheim, who had been turned into a wight. We sent his spirit to the Morndinsamman to pass judgement on his deeds in this life. It took us the rest of the day but we did it, finally finishing off the Mayor in Jake Morgans old house (the old man had become a wight, albeit a feeble one). The loss of the sheriff troubles me, as I've worked with them before, good men all of them. the loss of Mayor Butterstone on the other hand gives me some small hope that Clearwater might have capable leadership from now on. Indeed the townsfolk seem to want Rand to take up the post. With the vampires defeated, and Clearwater free of its nightmare, we celebrated the night away.


----------



## Eccles (Apr 7, 2003)

An explanation:

It really doesn't come through in Miles' journal about exactly why he got shot three times in the middle of the night.

They were being stalked by a massively well trained assassin with a huge 'Hide' bonus. When Miles got very lucky and glimpsed him, the assassin revealed his Shadowdancer training by _Hiding in Plain Sight_, throwing his cloak around him and then disappearing.

Miles got all affronted and threw abuse into the night air, telling the assassin in no uncertain terms that he (Miles) wasn't impressed, that he'd seen better, and that he would take the assassin out any day of the week.

So the assassin shot him. (Out of a party of 6, 4 people then rolled '1' on a listen roll and failed to wake up!)

Miles' response? He again shouted that he wasn't impressed and that the assassin was crummy.

So the assassin shot him again. 

And again. 

Only a few superb rolls by the Monk meant that they could hear him, and he was chased off before his fourth shot polished off the abusive Miles...


----------



## Eccles (Apr 8, 2003)

Miles' Journal Part 10

-----------

*Hammer 3rd to 4th* - Helped the people of Clearwater to rebuild some of the village (most notably the gate that Rand blasted apart), in the wake of the village’s liberation. The folk wasted no time in scavenging stone from the collapsed Van Cei mansion to do repair work on their houses and property, as such routine maintenance had been ignored for some time. Oddly enough Pharaxes has not been sighted in days. The last I knew he was in the mansion, but he has always been solely concerned with saving his own skin so I refuse to believe that he was in there when it collapsed as the gnome's airship hit it. Perhaps he has decided that he had lingered in this place too long, it was clear from his demeanour to me that he was hunted, or at least considered himself to be such. I've seen that look in the eyes of the people who have been my quarry before. 

*Hammer 5th* - We set off for Dagger Falls early, as Rand wishes to take Alliandre's body to the Temple of Lathander to try and get her resurrected. I am uneasy with the idea of this, but I know Rand well enough to know that nothing I say will dissuade him from this course of action, so I am staying silent on the matter. For my part, I will be glad to get back to my hometown and get out of the wilderness... at least for a while. 

*Hammer 6th* - Barely any encounters today, save a few wagons on the road. Ohh yes, we did spot a small troop of kobolds, perhaps half a dozen of them not far from the road, in hiding from us, but possibly plotting an ambush on some travellers less suited to deal with them. I went to string my bow to pick them off, only to watch as Halbrinn sent a spark their way, which exploded out into a vast fireball, engulfing and utterly annihilating the hapless creatures. Clearly the gnomish hatred of kobolds is not understated! 

*Hammer 7th* - A quiet day on the road, our only significant encounter was as we made camp this evening when the trees came alive around us. It would seem that the fireball Halbrinn unleashed yesterday severely pissed off at least one Treant, as it told us in no uncertain terms to get out of its woods. We camped in the road instead, and were very glad that traffic between Dagger Falls and Clearwater is as yet not fully re-established, as we were not run over in our sleep. 

*Hammer 8th* - Nothing at all happened during our trek north today, though I daresay Alliandre's body is starting to smell a little. Corpses do that I know. I've not mentioned anything, and neither has anyone else, but from the look on a few faces, I can tell it's not just me who has noticed. 

Tonight, not long after we made camp, our rest was disturbed by a pack of Dire Boars who came crashing through the undergrowth, several of them wounded. While the young stayed away, both adults charged into our campsite, enraged with pain and a savage fight broke out. I was viciously gored by the male boar, the pain causing me to lose my grip on my swords and with a flip of its tusked head I was sent sprawling in the mud, scrabbling around for Slayer's handle. The fight was then joined by a Phase Spider no less, the creature that had been preying on the boars, now turned its attentions to us, so we got caught in a vice. Stedd broke the back of the male boar, and then, finally finding Slayer (honestly for a talking sword he can be annoyingly quiet at the exact moments I need him to talk), I got up and finished off the female boar, leaving the spider for Halbrinn and Rand to blast apart with their spells. 

*Hammer 9th* - We arrived back at Dagger Falls in the late afternoon and I immediately headed to report the recent events to Respen, relating that Clearwater was now free of the vampires, the entire infestation having been wiped out. He commended me on a good job, and chided me for not learning more magic, relying too much on my martial skills. He might well have a point. He agreed that Rand would make a fine Mayor for Clearwater should he take up the post. 

Rand of course headed to the temple, and then onto the merchants quarters and Thayan enclave to sell some of our groups excess magical treasures and trinkets we have picked up of late, as well as to secure a diamond for use in raising his mentor from the grave. 

After seeing Respen I headed to the Inn and paid for the works, clean bed, bath, good food and drink. Khondar has decided that our next mission is to liberate the Rudenheim Clanhold from the Ogre army that is occupying it. I guess that certainly qualifies as a threat to Daggerdale as those Ogres are not going to just stay in their (stolen) fortress forever. Still... assaulting a castle filled with Ogres does not to me sound very conducive to a long life at all. 

*Hammer 10th* - Alliandre was successfully raised back to life at a dawn ceremony, at considerable cost to Rand, who then announced his decision to retire from the group and take up the position of mayor that the people of Clearwater clearly want him to assume. I wish him the best of luck. That part of the country is wild and often lawless, strong leadership is needed and during the past few days, Rand's determination to set right the wrongs done to Clearwater’s people has impressed me. He is as much a patriot as I am, in his own way. Should he ever have need of me, I would not hesitate to answer his call. 

This leaves Stedd as the only remaining original member of the Crusaders, and oddly enough makes me the second longest lasting of the team. We have accomplished much, but there is still much more to do to ensure Daggerdale’s safety. The Ogres are next to be dealt with, and I still have a burning desire to repay the Zhents for the ruin they inflicted on my people during decades of occupation. I will have a reckoning for what they did.


----------



## Eccles (Apr 28, 2003)

Yvgeny's second letter home:

To His Eminence Pietr Orik,
Temple of Ilmater,
King’s Palace Square,
Heliogabalus. 

Your Grace, 

Hoping this finds you in good health. Health has been playing on my mind as of late, probably due to close encounters with the accursed living dead. Ilmater! I've never had such dealings since my days clearing the last remnants of Zhengyi's army from our borderlands. No pleasant reminiscences, I can safely assure you! But I get ahead of myself; let me return to where I left off my last missive. I shall regale you with an unabridged version of events, as most of my previous adventures pale in comparison with this. Please forgive my complete lack of brevity and modesty in any of the following. I am not perfect! 

Our journey to the village of Clearwater was eventful to say the least. According to my good friends, several trips up and down the road between Clearwater and Dagger Falls had been made in the last few months, but adventures and battles occur every time they make the journey. Portals to other lands (common enough in these parts I suppose, I've seen some myself) and werewolves (glad I missed those!) have now been joined by some hybrid man-dragon abominations! We were merrily tramping through the rain (Miles, poor thing, complaining all the while - he should try northern Damara at this time of year) when a flock of these half-dragons decided we were fair game. I can't help thinking these things were summoned in some way by the troublesome Gran'rath: One of them at least could breathe fire! I realised that we would need to shoot these creatures from the sky, so immediately leapt to the defence of Rand, who had been laid low by the flames. Indeed, on being revived Rand threw his usual bolts of electricity at those beasts who refused to fight on the ground, and eventually the rest were bested, although Khondar came close to death too. I think the saving graces of Ilmater were much appreciated, especially after I further salved the wounds of my comrades when we made camp that night. 

The remainder of the journey to Clearwater was dogged by a shadowy figure. I will refer to him as he, but this is by no means certain. He followed us for some time but I was unable to observe him for long enough to note any methodology to his behaviour. On arrival in the vicinity of Clearwater, Rand offered to scout forwards into the village, as he knew the locations we would need to visit (the Van Cei mansion) better than the others. He took longer than expected though, but we waited until his owl familiar raised the alarm, then we went left the camp en masse to locate him. He was laid out unconscious, and in another few minutes may have been dead. Ilmater be praised, I was again able to prove my worth by bringing him round with a prayer of wound closure. Apparently, another of the half-dragons we encountered earlier had beset him: It took diverse magical items, but not his life it seems. Thank Ilmater the greed of these beasts outweighs their cruelty. 

Our persistent shadower decided to show his mettle on the night before we were to enter the village. Appearances suggest the shadow was some form of guard for the village. However, it did not simply observe us: When challenged by Miles it promptly filled him full of crossbow bolts. Judging by the skill with which they were fired, I knew on the instant we were dealing with an accomplished sniper, not just a scout. Now, what would a deadly sniper with the ability to mingle with shadows so utterly that even my night vision could not pick him out be doing in the backwaters of Daggerdale? The only deduction I can make from this is that the Clearwater Crusaders have made some more enemies in high places. Our previous encounter with the dark rogues in Lord Morn's demesne might have been construed as a failed attack on that great personage. That opinion may have to change; I suspect the Clearwater Crusaders themselves were the target. Thank the Triad I have joined them, as if any of the politics of the Dales are to come to the attention of the King, I am sure they will occur in the presence of this group! 

I digress! Speeding up the narrative a little, we made a plan to enter the village involving as little collateral damage as possible. Specifically: we hid in a cart until we were inside the walls. Naturally, this was totally against type for me! Rand however provided the greater wisdom: Many of the villagers were dominated by the incumbent vampires and therefore innocent. Indeed, he was very forthright about the protection of the villagers, proving that not all sorcerers are evil and uncaring demon-spawn. 

So, we entered the village. Stedd and I set about us with our fists and Khondar used the butt of his great axe to subdue the villagers. Rand took no damaging action at all, and Pharaxes was absent as usual. The villagers eventually massed at certain buildings, indicating the places where the vampires were hiding: The first building was fairly close and turned out to have two vampire spawn hiding within. We let light into the house, disabling one of the vile creatures and allowing us to smash its coffin. The other fled upstairs and I was the first to pursue. I then got my first taste of the draining ability of these foul things. It felt as if my soul had turned to smoke, and was leaking through a hole where the accursed thing had touched me: An awful, awful feeling. I returned the touch with a good sprinkling of holy water and I hope the scum felt the same way I did! Certainly, I swung the aspergillum so hard it connected with the beast, so now it has a dent to prove that it has seen use! Finally, Stedd, Rand and I eventually bested the spawn, and with its coffin already destroyed this spawn and the previous one was no more. 

The next stop was the Inn, which was populated with wights and villagers. The villagers immediately began approaching the wights, offering themselves up (under the command of the vampires) and thence becoming wights themselves. Clearly the choices were stark: Destroy the wights (villagers were in the way), kill the villagers (Triad forefend!) or attempt to turn the wights. I preyed with all my will, begging Imater to favour me and He did! Though I am but lowly in the eyes of the Crying God, He saw the need and I forced the two wights to flee from my god's aura! Only a few of the villagers had been drained, and these were quickly dispatched before they had a chance to rise up as wights and affect more villagers. This left the remainder of the villagers in the tavern to act as 'human shields' for the two turned wights, but they were swiftly knocked down. Only Miles spoiled the show. He and Stedd had gone through an upstairs window with a view to forming a pincer. As it was, one of the wights and its associated crew of villagers had fled upstairs. The problem with fighting with short swords is that there is very little that can be used to subdue the innocent. This is Miles' excuse. Personally, I find the attitude to human life Miles has to be wholly abhorrent, but I was true to my word, and did not waste breath beseeching him to avoid bloodshed. As it was, one of the villagers died upstairs, but Stedd did assure me that Miles did not actively seek to kill him, and called for me as soon as was practicable. Fortunately, I arrived in time to promise the villager that Ilmater would ensure he suffered no torment on his way to Kelemvor, and he willingly accepted Ilmater's blessing before he died. Scant comfort for me, but some for a soul that had been twisted by the foul touch of the wilfully evil vampires. This brought me back to my duty: To rid this village of the rest of it's unwelcome guests. 

The cellar of the Inn proved to be the place where the next spawn would crop up. Although we descended with all due care, the foul creature still surprised us, managing to charm Khondar into not laying axe on it. The rest of us, boiling down the cellar steps with a vengeance, immediately surrounded it. I brought my wand of curing to bear; knowing as I did that a simple touch would suffice to damage the vampire's connection with the plane of negative energy. After a short melee it was dropped and became a cloud of noxious fumes, which disappeared into one of the casks. We promptly broke open the cask, and proved the wiliness of these creatures: It was indeed using the barrel as a coffin, which we would probably not have guessed had we not seen the vampire enter it with our own eyes. The cask was dragged upstairs and out into the sunlight and destroyed, the vampire with it. 

So, our battle continued, mostly with the charmed villagers, until we reached the Van Cei manor. Being now wary of traps, I followed Rand and Stedd over the rooftop to the far side of the house (via a potion of spider climbing), leaving the rest (by which I mean Khondar and Miles, Pharaxes being invisible as usual) to battle their way in from the front door. On making our entry, Stedd returned to the other two, initially to aid Miles, who had navigated the traps in the entrance and was now beset by a well-armed and armoured fighter, now doubt the vampire lord himself. I decided to aid Rand, as it appeared that a ghost had possessed his mentor, the elven lady Alliandre, and the best way to ensure her survival was to cast the ghost out. Unfortunately, the ghost was exceptionally stubborn, using the lady's magic against us and laughing at my attempts at exorcism. Eventually Rand, who was using spells to weaken Alliandre, cast one more spell. In typically perverse fashion, knowing it would be bested, the ghost threw its possessee face-first into the volley of electrical orbs, killing her on the instant. It then promptly left the body and departed our presence through the ceiling. Rand and I rushed to Alliandre: We both knew it was too late to save her, but both sharing the thought that her child might be saved if we were very quick. With Ilmaters forsight, I had prepared a curing spell to use against the negative energy of the ghost. I could now use this for a better purpose, which was to heal the child the instant after I performed the caesarean. Clearly Ilmater was guiding my hand: Between us, Rand and I saved the child, which Rand named Braddoc after a member of the Clearwater Crusaders who had been lost in a previous adventure. 

There was barely enough time for swaddling, however: I wrapped the babe in my winter blanket, as Rand strode through the door into the room where we could hear sounds of combat. I left the babe on the table and went to a defensible position, only to see the vampire fall into the room, shoving Rand aside as it came. My first thought was: Use your holy symbol. I took this as a message from Ilmater, for I knew I could not hope to turn this damned thing, so strong was its evil. I presented the symbol of the Bound Hands to the accursed beast and lo! he cowered down. This was exactly the opportunity Rand needed. He loosed lightning bolts at the ceiling, blowing a large hole all the way to the roof and letting the scant sunlight in. Fortunately, it was enough. Once again the light trapped the vampire lord, and this time it was destroyed before it could move away. Again, we searched the manor to find the vampire's coffin. In the search, the ghost possessed first Khondar, then Miles. In both cases, it attempted to keep the rest of us at bay by threatening the life of the person it possessed. Both times Stedd and I were too quick, and leapt at our possessed friend, knocking him unconscious before the ghost could carry out its threat. Bereft of easily possessed foes, the ghost was vanquished before it could cause more trouble. Hopefully, with its reason for return also vanquished (the vampire lord) the Clearwater Crusaders will not see it again. 

Then, just as it seemed that most of the work was done, and I was enjoying visions of a joint church of Ilmater and hospital, a large object appeared out of the clouds. It was clearly heading straight for the mansion, so we vacated very rapidly, and just in time. The balloon (for such it was) promptly reduced my vision to a cloud of dust: Such is the will of Ilmater. The balloon had been punctured by pieces of debris from the roof of the mansion when it had been opened up by Rand spells, but the flier of the balloon (a gnome, as you may have guessed) was not killed in the blast. He was saved by a parachute, which is like a single wing that you dangle beneath by ropes (?!). I must try and enlist this gnome in creating some designs for our secret service. I'm sure they would be useful, although putting your faith in technology and not the Triad would be a little tricky (especially after having a look at the abovementioned parachute!) The gnome's name is Halbrinn, and his job is cartographer, currently working (or not: he's lost his vantage point!) on a map of Daggerdale. 

Anyway, back to the tale. With the worst of the vampires slain, the lady Alliandre's body to preserve, a baby to care for and Khondar to return more fully to the land of the living, it was decided that the rest of the Crusaders would finish the vampire-hunting job, whilst I would set up a makeshift hospital in the Inn. There I tended Khondar, his amazing dwarven constitution shrugging off the shroud of death with very little prompting from myself. I then tended to the villagers who were suffering the most. Some time spent in the thrall of such despicable evil does more damage to the mind and soul than to the body, but I helped as much as I can. This village could certainly use a church of Ilmater, and I will suggest as much to Sir Dundragon on our return to Dagger Falls. 

My friends have returned, and have described the battle to clear the remaining undead from the rest of the village. Apparently, the smith and one other villager had been turned into wights, and the mayor and the sheriff had become vampire spawn (now full vampires, with their master killed). Halbrinn had joined Miles, Rand and Stedd in battling these creatures, which says a lot for a cartographer (could any doubt his bravery, given that he flies a large sac of explosive gas about the skies!) I congratulated them and healed their wounds, then we settled down for some well-earned rest, safe in the knowledge that the night would not bring horrors, other than our own dreams. 

Only one final thing of note: Pharaxes has disappeared. He never seemed comfortable in our presence. To be honest, I don't think he liked the idea of mixing it with a well-known group: He certainly did prefer to keep a low profile. He did seem to have a furtive, hunted look. I wish him well, but currently have many other things that now require my attention, so cannot spare extra consideration for another lost soul. Ilmater! I can't save them all! 

This concludes the Saving of Clearwater, with the loss of two souls. I hope Ilmater judges this a success. 

I will write anon, your grace.
*Yvgeny. *

Ilmater save the King.


----------



## Eccles (Apr 28, 2003)

Yvgeny's third letter home:

To His Eminence Pietr Orik,
Temple of Ilmater,
King’s Palace Square,
Heliogabalus. 

Your Grace, 

A lull in the hectic activities of the Clearwater Crusaders has allowed me to bring you up to date on events that occurred after the reclamation of Clearwater from the vampires. This missive should be more succinct than my previous effort! 

The party stayed for a few days in the village after we had banished the nightspawn, mainly on rebuilding duties (houses and souls). Then, with the defences complete, we left to return to Dagger Falls. 

Our trip back was notable for three occurrences. One: Halbrinn has a loathing for Kobolds, evidenced by his annihilation (by fireball) of a group of dog-men that tried to hide from us, just off the road. He excused this on the grounds that a merchant caravan would probably be their target after we had moved on. I have to admit there was little suffering involved, it being mere seconds between the spell being cast and half a dozen charred corpses being created! I am not sure what Halbrinn’s reaction would have been if, say, humans were amongst the kobolds; I’m hoping it wouldn’t have been the same… Apparently, the enmity between gnomes and kobolds goes back centuries. I clearly have much to learn about gnomish history, as I thought they were a peace-loving race… 

The second notable occurrence should ensure that Halbrinn thinks twice in future before igniting fires in a forest: Our camp was disrupted by a Tree-man (Miles called him a ‘Treant’) when we stopped the following evening. By the Triad, this creature could have crushed us without a seconds thought! As it was, he told us in simple words that fire starters were not welcome in his woods, allowing us the use of the road, and the road only. Needless to say, for a traveller who lives by the good graces of Silvanus, I went decidedly hungry for a day or so. Additionally, without access to the herbs I was using to belay the odour from Alliandre’s body, there was many a wrinkled nose on the road that day following, too! 

The third notable occurrence happened that evening (the day after our visitation from the Treant). This appeared in the form of a family of dire boars, and the family’s attacker: a phase spider. The boars were enraged, and attacked us on sight, the phase spider now taking the side of the creatures of the wild. I’m sure Silvanus was punishing us for causing such carnage in this particular stretch of wilderness: I think a trip to somewhere entirely different is long overdue! I did not play a large part in the battle, as I was protecting Alliandre’s baby son, and the mother herself (alright, her body, but Rand was quite determined to see her returned to life, so this was actually an important task). However, I was on hand to patch up wounds afterwards. Just taking one look at the why-me face Miles was pulling was sufficient recompense for all his misdemeanours in Clearwater: He certainly suffered his fill, being tossed like a rag-doll on the male boar’s tusks! 

The following day we returned to Dagger Falls. Naturally, my first task was to report to the temple for a debriefing with Sir Dundragon. He certainly seemed reasonably pleased with my conduct, giving me an almost neck-dislocating clap on the back when I told him a vampire had drained me. I believe this was actually an expression of camaraderie—truly the man has a perverse sense of heroics! I informed him of the need for a presence in Clearwater, and that it was likely that Rand would be returning, probably as mayor. He agreed to offer a unit of the temple knights as protection to Rand, Braddoc and Alliandre (who had been returned from the dead by the Lathanderian clerics). Additionally, he sent Jory Trueman (2nd Head Cleric here in Dagger Falls) to take up the post of Cleric of Clearwater, so I believe we can safely conclude that at Clearwater: All’s well that ends well. I’m happy for Rand; he, Alliandre and Braddoc make an excellent family. For all Clearwater’s losses, it will certainly gain an excellent–and fiercely protective–new mayor. Praise Ilmater for that! 

Next, it behove me to discover what had occurred in Dagger Falls in the tenday I had been away. Apparently, a well-known underworld snout had been asking about for a ‘man with foreign features and accent, and who wears grey monk’s robes’. This snout had been caught and questioned, but had little to give up except that his employer ‘hid amongst the shadows like they were his friends’. I’m sure I don’t need to point out the correlations: This sounds somewhat like the shadow-friend we encountered on the road south to Clearwater. A little more investigation may be required, but it’s possible I may have a new secret admirer… 

No further information had come forth regarding the monks of the Old Order and the related slayings, or more news of Gran’rath the dragon. Apparently, the Dagger Falls watch are making progress, so I will allow them to conduct their business in peace for now. 

Finally, the information I divulged some months ago now regarding the sighting of the Purple Cloak appears to have proven false. I’m sure she was here to get a look at the dragon, but it appears Gran’rath did not excite her interest, as I’ve heard nothing more concerning her since the end of Uktar. This is a shame, as I would greatly like to visit the righteous anger of Ilmater upon the scum of Toril that are members of the Dragon Cult (and a cleric of Talona to boot!). Oh! For the chance! 

Ah! A possible way out of the predicament of being too well known has just been presented. Khondar has suggested that the perfect way to top our performance with the Clearwater vampires is a trip to his mountain stronghold. Apparently, the Rudenheim dwarf clan lost this stronghold many years ago to a gang of ogres and giants, who used some kind of dark magic to convert many of the clan members into undead. Clearly, this is a task where I could prove useful, and additionally make myself scarce from Dagger Falls for a while. Ilmater! I don’t like to skulk away, but my semblance has become known to more than just the Dagger Falls underworld, now. Include the powers that have taken an interest in the Clearwater Crusaders, too, and I can see that interesting times are ahead! 

Through it all, though, you can be sure, your Eminence, that everything I achieve I dedicate to my Church, my King and my country. Ilmater save all three! 

I’ll sign off for now, your Grace, but I’m sure more will follow soon. 

Yours,
*Yvgeny. *

Ilmater save the King.


----------



## Eccles (Apr 28, 2003)

Yvgeny's fourth letter home:

To His Eminence Pietr Orik,
Temple of Ilmater,
King’s Palace Square,
Heliogabalus. 

Your Grace, 

I am writing this in the evening after the first day’s assault on the erstwhile Rudenheim clan’s stronghold. The Crusader’s were rebuffed, to say the least. Whilst we lick our wounds, Halbrinn has teleported back to Dagger Falls with the body of Khondar, who fell to the tree-sized club of a maddened Hill Giant. A good day’s rest will be required after Halbrinn returns with the resurrected Khondar, before we venture on again. By the Triad, this will be a battle of attrition! 

Let me bring you back in time to when we left Dagger Falls (Ilmater! My prose is becoming that of a romance writer! How Pavel would laugh at my prolix meanderings… There I go again!! Please, your eminence, have patience). I must return here to recount how we gained a mage to replace our trusty sorcerer. As I have previously described, Rand left for Clearwater with his new family and a retinue of Ilmataran knights, leaving us a man short. Halbrinn had certainly proved his usefulness, but his skills were firmly in the Illusion school of magic (barring the odd fireball of course!): We were likely to need someone who could back him up. Fortunately, we didn’t have to stoop to a mercenary (ugh! the very thought of employing a Thayan mage…), as someone dropped on us literally out of the blue. I’m not sure how he managed to get to Toril, but apparently he is a conjuror from the Prime Material sphere of ‘Earth.’ (No, I do not contradict myself; Earth isn’t only one of the inner planes. Apparently, the denizens of this area in the Prime declare it is a globe, like Abeir-Toril, made up of not only ‘Earth,’ but Air, Water and Fire too.) They don’t seem to be aware that their pet name is peculiarly odd, but as the ‘intelligent’ race populating this sphere is entirely made up of humans (a distinctly land-oriented group) I guess they are only conforming to type. Adamo (for such is the name of the mage) claimed to have somehow opened a planar rift (gate?) and had been sucked through, to appear in this vicinity. His story bore credence; I could detect none of the usual liar’s tics. However, the more I monitored him, the more I noticed a slightly distracted look. It was almost as if there was an invisible imp sitting on his shoulder and whispering in his ear. Then I remembered: He was a mage. There was a very good chance that there was an invisible imp, sitting on his shoulder and whispering in his ear! Still the niggle did not leave me, and later events would prove my senses worth listening to… 

Two days in, on the trip into the Desertsmouth Mountains and the Rudenheim clan stronghold, beasts beset us. I cannot be more specific, as neither my companions nor I could name them. All I can do is describe them: Ugly, with odd-shaped heads incorporating a large proboscis. They used this proboscis to spit acid, which hit several of the Crusaders before we could act. I was splashed with this slime, which did my monks’ toga no good at all. Fortunately, it took several seconds before it began burning into my skin in earnest: Enough time for me to scrape a good deal off (the benefits of my heritage helping here, I suppose). Anyway, before the beasts had a chance to press their advantage, Adamo had summoned what I first took to be some kind of fiendish octopus. Before I had a chance to think ‘Cursed demon-spawn sorcerer!’ the thing had laid into our assailants and merrily ripped them to shreds. We mopped up the remainder of our foes in short order, and then questioned Adamo closely on just what his affiliations were. He assured us that he did not summon creatures from the lower planes, but ‘from beyond.’ There was definitely a glint of mania as he discussed this, but I put this down to a mage dabbling in the outer fringes of what is good for him, not to an evil bent, per se. Still, I would think it remiss of me not to keep an eye on this character, for we barely know him. 

Further proof of the usefulness of our new mage came only a short while later when we blundered into the path of a foraging wyvern. Whilst the rest of us attempted to shoot the thing down with arrows, bolts and sling-stones, Adamo summoned a flying… thing. Apparently, he intended an owl, but the curse he is under (beyond my ken, this curse is otherworldly and I don’t comprehend it) brought what we saw. I will simply describe it as a wyvern-bane, for that was the result: The wyvern was torn in half, leaving us little to do except to clean ourselves up and continue. 

Our next foe was on a slightly different scale, however. Ilmater only knows what depraved magicks managed to infuse a 130’ (that’s one-hundred and thirty foot!) tall humanoid skeleton with false life, but that is what we were faced with. I reached for my holy symbol, but the emanations of negative energy told me that I could not hope to disrupt this thing’s contact with that plane: We would simply have to bring it down with weapons. Stedd helped by jumping to its pelvis (truly his ring of jumping has it’s uses!) and attacking the giant skeleton’s backbone at that point. Khondar, given enough space to swing his axe in massive arcs, just hewed at the things ankles (ankle-biter jokes may have been amusing: getting in the way of Khondar’s axe certainly wasn’t!) until it could stand no more. Finally, I hit the thing in the shinbone with an empowered fist, and a crack appeared… which spread up the bone to the knee. At this point, the negative energy fizzled, and I warned the rest to jump clear. On the instant, the remainder of the skeleton began to crack, and in a matter of seconds the whole thing collapsed. Fortunately, no one was buried. I dedicated the destruction with a short prayer to the Triad, but got no particular joy in my achievement. Such a skeleton could only have come from something as mighty as a race of long-lost super-Titans. What mighty personage deserved such a sacrilegious end, and who would perpetrate the crime of animating his remains? There would be answers… 

Anyway, those answers would have to wait, as we were still travelling through dangerous terrain, and focus had to be maintained. So it was that we were ready when a pair bulettes (land-sharks, if you will) thrust up through the ground whilst we were travelling the next day. This fight was short, bloody and inglorious, so I will leave the description to those with more lurid memoirs… 

The evening of this day brought us to within a few hours’ march of the stronghold, so we camped that evening under an escarpment that hid us from direct view of the stronghold, and made ourselves ready for the following day. 

Looking back on our first attempt at forcing entry to the stronghold, I can see that our previous successes had imbued us with a little arrogance. We should have questioned Khondar as to possible secret entrances, for the main gate was well defended. First, we had to navigate a narrow winding gorge, protected by crossbow-firing dwarven skeletons, well hidden behind arrow slits, and the ogre guards set to protect the approaches. These we dealt with in short order, the skeletons being weak enough to scatter with a well-timed thrust of my holy symbol. However, the aura generated seemed weak, being barely enough to turn the undead. This, with hindsight, was a warning: There would be death ahead; this was not the best way. Khondar was to find this out, to my shame. 

By the time we got to the main doors, they were barred against us. It took repeated should charges by Khondar to break open the doors (by the Triad, this is one strong dwarf!) but by that time, we were confronted by a chasm cleared of its rope bridge, with diverse enemies on the far side. The ogres launched javelins, mostly at the dwarf, whilst the giant did the same with several head-sized rocks. Halbrinn set up a distracting illusion to try to draw the enemies’ fire, whilst I formed up a spiritual fist of Ilmater, to try to dismantle the stack of rocks that the giant was using as ammunition. 

After various exchanges of magic and huge projectiles, Halbrinn enspelled Khondar so that he could fly, and he and Stedd jumped the chasm to take the battle directly to the enemy. They took down some of the ogres, but the battle turned when Khondar attacked the giant. It shook with rage and then promptly unfurled a huge club and swung it at Khondar as if to bang in a tent peg. Despite the stoutness of the dwarf, he lasted mere seconds under the onslaught, being bashed to the ground, and then bashed again for good measure. There was quite literally nothing the rest of us could do; Stedd was forced to jump back to prevent the ire of the giant being directed at him. As it was, he managed to finish the last ogre before he jumped, receiving a blow with a rock by the giant for his troubles. He managed to get back, the last vestiges of consciousness leaving him as he landed, and allowing me to stabilise his ebbing life force with a minor prayer. 

We were thus again obliged to use ranged weapons to kill the last giant. With a final concerted effort, the giant keeled over: As his rage left him, so the giant slumped and died, leaving the entrance hall devoid of living foes. We took this opportunity to rescue Khondar’s body then retired, swiftest, to heal, before reinforcements could arrive. I could hardly argue, although I had received little in the way of injury. It was plain to see that a number of the Crusaders had suffered greatly, so I dealt out healing as we went. 

So this brings me to the current point in time. We have found a defensible position, the better to resist the search parties that will no-doubt be sent out to scout for us. Halbrinn has gone, using Khondar’s ring of teleportation (these were found on the bodies of the dark rogues encountered at Lord Morn’s mansion). He has taken Khondar’s body with him, with the idea of resurrecting him. The rest of us have completed work on the defences of our camp, and now rest (uneasily) with the expectation of discovery uppermost in our minds. Fortunately, no signs of pursuit have been discovered so far, which is fortuitous, as we now number only four with Halbrinn and Khondar not yet returned. 

One last thing. Before I put this scroll in our teleporting case, I got a night’s sleep. During this period of slumber, I experienced one of those unusual dreams I get periodically. This, like the ones before, was accompanied by visions of an ancient, dust-enshrouded city. However, this time I walked amongst it’s narrow streets, accompanied by the winged celestial I’ve mentioned previously. The city had strange geometric buildings, multi-storeyed in terrace-like fashion and when the people talked, their language, though foreign, seemed almost comprehensible to me. Finally, the celestial brought me before a temple, which had a white conical crown, a crook and a flail as the symbol of the God it represented. Here, the dream began to fade, leaving just the temple’s symbol in sharp focus, until that too disappeared, and I found myself awake with cold drizzle chilling my neck and arm. 

It appears Imater did not take my dreams as a sign of apostasy, however, for in morning prayers I felt invigorated. I was able to exceed the normal amount of Ilmater’s power I could accept into myself, so was able to prepare more spells than my usual allotment. Ilmater has blessed me with visions of my past, and with the ability to better shape my future! All-the-better to fight those forces occupying the dwarven stronghold of our friend Khondar, who has been returned to us hale and hearty, if a little lighter in gold! 

I will write more anon, your grace, with Ilmater’s will. For now, I will sign off. 

Yours,
*Yvgeny. *

P.S. Due to the rapid changes in membership, I thought it useful to list the new line-up of the Clearwater Crusaders. 

*Stedd of the Old Order*. The only original member of the Crusaders, and a useful friend. His monkish skills are greater than mine, but he appreciates my healing powers all the same. Raison d’etre: Returning his monastery to its former glory and clearing their name. 

*Miles O’Kane*. A professional killer, and probable enforcer in the employ of the government of Daggerdale. Has some small (but useful) skill in magic, scouting and fighting with two swords. The damage he can dish out, in the right circumstances, with these swords (each barely larger than a good-sized dagger) is appalling, but effective. Raison d’etre: The protection of Daggerdale and the destruction of the Zhents. 

*Khondar Axewielder*. A barbarian dwarf, with awesome ability to wield a greataxe. Never approach within five feet when he is in battle, as the flying blood and gore may make you fear for your own life. Raison d’etre: The recovery of his clan stronghold and discovery of more Rudenheim dwarves. 

*Halbrinn*. A gnomish technomancer, good with illusions and the odd fireball. Knows his technology, which should prove useful against traps and snares on our journey into the stronghold. Raison d’etre: The discovery of manuals of magical creation and mechanical engineering. Additionally, building his own ‘constructs.’ (?) 

*Adamo*. Conjurer extraordinaire. Don’t know where he summons his beasts from (and don’t want to!) but proved his usefulness in several fights already. Raison d’etre: Unknown. I must rectify this, as he is truly an unknown quantity, himself. 

*Myself*. Good at filling in all the gaps that my heroic friends don’t cover (namely: the ability to heal wounds and confound undead). Additionally, good with a stunning and empowered fist when a monster needs quieting quickly. Raison d’etre: Advancing the cause of Ilmater and Damara. 

Hope that leaves you suitable enlightened, your eminence? 

Ilmater save the King.


----------



## Eccles (May 27, 2003)

*Yvgeny's 5th Letter*

To His Eminence Pietr Orik,
Temple of Ilmater,
King’s Palace Square,
Heliogabalus. 

Your Grace, 

I am writing this during a lay-up that has been forced upon us by the battering we have received this past couple of days. Although only that length of time has passed, half-a-lifetime’s suffering has been endured it seems, in trying to progress into this stronghold. Please excuse the poor quality of my script; my main writing hand is in no condition to hold a quill! I will relate the events in their entirety, but I will hold back on the details of our battles, excepting the important confrontations: To relive the slaughter of strong but stupid foes does no justice to my god, my country, or myself. 

From my last debrief, the Clearwater Crusaders had set-up a defensive camp to await the return of Halbrinn and the dwarf, Khondar. Our enemy was indeed out in force to find us, but it was not until the morning that they discovered our trail, and by that time all six of us were ready for them. They were defeated, and though we took some injury ourselves, it was not deemed severe enough to prevent our immediate return to the stronghold. 

However, the way was now trapped, as Stedd found out when he was first to approach the main doors (sealed again, after Khondar’s ‘shouldering’ of the previous day). Fortunately, Stedd has the reactions of a cat, and the fall of boulders that should have did for him purely dusted his sandaled feet as he jumped aside. No more traps prevented our approach, except the entrance way… 

The main doors were no contest this time. Halbrinn used his magic on the doors to unbar them (interesting trick; magic is far more subtle than it first appears!) However, he could do nothing to prevent the little surprise on the other side: As soon as Khondar attempted an entrance, he was again met by a volley of javelins. So then it was my turn to attempt some subtlety. I moved up to the door, and took a quick scan to check no javelins were primed, then completed the spell of calming emotions I had memorised, which succeeded in pacifying the two ogres across the chasm from us. We took this opportunity to burst forth from the door, with a view to closing with the now quiescent ogres. However, they were still thinking rationally as one of them opened the door on the far side of the chasm and stepped through, calling out something in it’s guttural patois as it went. Our baited breath then became sharply intaken: The accursed thing had only called a thrice-damned chimera! With a green dragon’s head no less!! Expecting a dose of dragon’s breath, we were not disappointed: Most of us were out of the way when a cloud of noxious gasses was blasted at us. We all survived, but the newly repaired rope bridge did not. Fortunately, the chimera did not have the battle-nous of its keepers; it flew to our side of the chasm, which gave us the advantage of surrounding it. It did, however, charge at Khondar with it’s goat-head delivering a butt of such savagery that Khondar was knocked down. The good dwarf got straight back up, however, and joined the rest of us in returning the foul beast to the breast of whichever Power represents such things. We then turned our attention to the chasm that was blocking us from our goal… 

Here is where our glorious ingression foundered, becoming farce. In his haste to cross the chasm, Miles lost his footing and plunged into the hole. We heard a distant splash from below; Adamo flew down to see if Miles could be saved whilst Stedd jumped the chasm with ease, carrying a magical rope. This thing tied itself to the bridge supports that were still left, giving us a method of crossing, whilst Stedd took on the remaining becalmed ogre. 

Here is where I disgraced myself. Partway across I looked down, only to see a huge version of Adamo (a spell, I learned later, had enhanced his size and strength) hurtling towards me, carrying Miles! This momentary loss of concentration was enough for me to lose my foothold on the rope, and I tumbled past Adamo to fall with a breath-dislocating splutt! into the shallows of the same pool that had claimed Miles. Fortunately, I remembered my training and deliberately forced my body to go limp: I’m sure I would have broken every bone I had otherwise. The chasm was at least two hundred foot deep, and I was surrounded by a fog bank for some reason, which just added to my complete dazedness! I shortly found the reason for the fogginess: There was a gaggle of bowmen waiting on the banks, so it was fortunate for me that Adamo had laid the fog cloud, as it gave me an opportunity to use my wand to cure myself of some of the falling injury. As it was I was being carried along by a current in the water, and thus did not have the ability to prevent myself from being impelled from the cloud. The bowmen shot at me the moment I emerged, so I dragged myself from the water to deal with them. They were more of these dark rogues that the Clearwater Crusaders have been dogged by for some time now, from well before the time I saw them at Lord Morn’s, apparently. Like a punch-drunk kick-boxer from Kara-Tur, I just waded into these creatures, screaming profanities and not calling on my god, uncaring as to whether they dropped me or not. Finally, I felt a hand grasping at my toga, and just prevented myself from throwing a punch at Adamo, who had returned to rescue me from my predicament. I am afraid that I have disgraced Ama’s teachings in that moment; I must walk the Hard Path a little longer before Ama would judge me at journey’s end. To say nothing of the Gentle Path, your eminence! I have much more to learn there, too, of that you can be sure. 

On returning to the stronghold entrance, we resolved that we would go no further. Both Miles and I were severely concussed, and diverse others had taken serious wounds. We set about using the little time we had to facilitate an easier ingress into the entrance area, but were surprised when a flying blue ogre suddenly appeared. I have not seen an ogre mage before, but knew exactly what it was as soon as I laid eyes on it—they are quite considerably different from their lesser kin. Its first action was to blast us with a maelstrom of frigid air, laying several of our members out on the instant. I quickly swallowed a potion of invisibility, the better to revive my fallen companions before more magic could be used to kill them. However, it seems the ogre mage was purely interested in who had invaded its citadel, for it did not press its advantage after we had returned fire with our own abilities, simply disappearing so completely we were unable to locate it. 

We took this opportunity to make our escape, before more conventional forces returned to finish us off. Thus ended our second attempt at invasion of the Rudenheim clan stronghold, with the ignominious record of not getting any farther than the entrance for the second time! Damn these dwarves for creating such an eminently defensible front door! 

We then spent the rest of that day recovering. As mentioned previously, Miles and I were mostly concussed, so recovered without the aid of Ilmater. I was obliged to use some prayers on the others, but it was not so much that I was completely devoid of the protection of my god. We then returned under cover of darkness, to see if we could surprise the occupiers. 

With the Triad’s blessing, we were able to get past the doors into the stronghold with no battle required, as the guards were asleep. Those who could easily cross the chasm finished off these guards in short order. The rest of then crossed the chasm with considerably more care than last time, blessed as we were with the luck to have got thus far without a great deal of noise. 

We moved stealthily past the doors on the far side of the chasm, and then Miles scouted ahead, searching the caverns that were immediately behind the doors. He returned, telling us that there were a group of sleeping ogres on one side of the cavern and an ogre and giant on the other, and that many stalagmites and stalactites, with a large central column that we could use to hide our progress, divided the cavern. I blessed the Crusaders with Ilmater’s favour for this impending battle, and then we all progressed as stealthily as possible towards our sleeping enemy. So it was that we were able to make a commendable ambush of our foes. I tackled the giant with Khondar; Stedd took an ogre to himself, while Miles, Halbrinn and Adamo battled the remainder of the other ogres. This fight went in a fairly straightforward manner, notable only for the fact that I managed to stun a hill giant. Ilmater! But the tools I have been provided with are most useful! 

When we had finished, we listened for signs that our approach had been discovered. There were sounds of our enemies from two directions, one from a large room attached by an umbilical tunnel from our current location, and protected by a portcullis. The other sounds were coming from a corridor on the east side of the cavern. The sounds from this direction seemed to indicate that a large war party was approaching, from the south, up this corridor. We resolved to go north, checking the first room we came to. Before we had a chance to move, however, a small shiny object was seen to fly, north to south, along the corridor. Before it could escape from sight, Halbrinn flashed a fireball at it, blowing it from the air before it could report our existence. Halbrinn had good presence of mind, here, as it turned out to be a silver raven, which he quickly pocketed. He explained its usefulness as we swiftly sped north: It was a ‘figurine of wondrous power,’ a generic catchall for an animated object that appears as some form of beast, any one of which having diverse powers. Apparently, a silver raven is a common minor form of such an object. My heart still skipped a beat, however: I have spent too long in Scardale Town not to see Silver Ravens (q.v. letters sent circa Elesias 23rd - Eleint 9th, 1372 DR), or symbols thereof, as something entirely different! 

Enough of the conspiracy theories! On opening the door we were in front of, we found ourselves before an oversized desk, with an ogre behind. This ogre clerk was quickly dispatched, without excessive noise alerting the group to the south. No pause for thought was allowed, however, as we still needed to find a place to hide from that pack of ogres, so when we came to two doors, I quickly listened at one while Halbrinn went to the other. Halbrinn was unfortunate to trigger a trap, enveloping himself in a cloud of gas, which attacked his respiratory system (at least I judged it so from the hacking cough that emitted from the poor gnome!). There was little I could do to prevent the progression of the gas in his lungs, but fortunately his own body forced his recovery better than my healing skills. He then got up off the floor and disabled the trap: Truly impressive! 

However, our perils were not over, for the door refused to budge when we tried to open it. Khondar charged at the door, shifting it a little, but before he could bash the door again, it was jerked open and he charged headlong into set halberds, impaling himself horribly. The ogres simply kicked his body from their weapons, then reset them. We were now faced with a doorway full of bristling blades, with a steady stump-thump pounding echoing up the corridor to the south. Soon, we were going to be trapped like rats in a barrel, as the corridor we were in ended with a blank wall, just around the corner from us. We had no choice but to get into the room; it was the only defensible position and the other door was closer to the southern pack. I dragged Khondar out of the way, reviving him as I pulled him clear. So close to death, he could not help in this fight, so went with Halbrinn to guard our rear. 

Adamo then summoned one of his otherworldly creatures (a ‘snake’), to deal with the commander of the ogres, who was standing well into the room and out of our reach. Miles, who was better trained in house-to-house warfare, had taken up a position where he could stab the ogres when they lunged out of the doorway, using the walls to either side of the opening itself to provide cover against the longer and less wieldy weapons. Fair credit must go to him, for he braved many stabs before he fell. I then forced myself amongst the halberds, in order to drag his body from the fray, and got skewered quite badly in the process. By this time, the snake had crushed the leader to death, which demoralised the ogres. With the beast behind them now turning its attention to them, the ogres in the doorway were bested in the ensuing pincer. 

With the ogres out of the way, we pushed into the room; using the furniture the ogres had piled up against the door to again barricade it. Halbrinn had apparently used some form of illusion to delay our pursuers to the south, and we used this respite to block-up the door properly. It did not stop the invisible ogre mage however, which had apparently entered the room unbeknownst to us (probably by teleportation, or some gaseous form). It demanded we drop our weapons and our valuables, assuring us we would be allowed to depart if we did. Not one of us obeyed: All still standing attacked on the instant as if we were all one creature. Stedd leapt at the blue-skinned ogre, which had manifested near the ceiling behind us. The creature then dropped to the floor, standing in a corner to prevent flank attacks. Adamo, assessing the situation with a speed rarely found in those not militarily trained, launched a swarm spell at the creature, then advised us to rush the beast to prevent its escape from the mass of vermin (bats, in this instance) thence created. Blocked into the corner and unable to cast spells due to the battering of numerous bats, it looked like the ogre mage would be swiftly destroyed. However, it had one last surprise for us: It lashed out at Adamo with foot and fist, knocking him flat. Clearly, the sly beast had had some training in the Art! However, that was its last attack; with a final concerted effort we dropped it before it could escape the swarm and teleport away again. Dropped it, but didn’t kill it: Fortunately, Stedd and Miles noticed that its wounds were not leaking blood: It was regenerating like a troll! We quickly applied some fire to its wounds, searing them enough to ensure that they could not close up. At last, the ogre mage was dead. 

Miles had brought Adamo around, which was fortunate! The ogres were by now beginning to break through our barricades, one getting into the room in a vain attempt to get to his leader. This one managed to put Adamo down again, but we finished him off before he could do more damage. I then brought Adamo round, and just in time. Halbrinn had slowed down the first few ogres through the door with a spell that threw a wave of colours at the ogres, causing some of them to pause as if stunned. Adamo then shored up the defences by creating a mass of black tentacles in the doorway and corridor. The few ogres who managed to get themselves in a position to trouble us were dealt with, and the rest ran away, demoralised by seeing their leader in a pool of blood with a whole nest of writhing tentacles blocking their way. 

Adamo said the spell he had cast would prevent ingress or egress for several hours, so we used that time to rest up. We examined the corpse of the ogre mage for valuables, and anything useful to illuminate the M.O. of these beasts. One of the objects in the possession of the ogre mage was a staff, which paused to speak as I was putting the thing in our magical bag of holding. I felt the thing use a spell to affect my mind; momentarily, I was moved to listen to it. However, the spell was broken as soon as I asked it whether it knew of Ilmater; it said no, and I was able to move freely again. I promptly dropped the staff into the bag before it had another chance to attempt an enchantment. 

Come the morn, and we were ready to fight on. I prayed for my spells as usual, and used the great majority of them in straightway healing my injured comrades and curing Halbrinn’s lack of breath (caused by the gas trap from the previous day) with a restoration spell. I reserved a few prayers for emergency, then declared myself ready. 

Adamo’s tentacle spell had dissipated, and so we were free to leave the room we were in. We explored the corridors off the eastern end of the cavern, and the cavern itself, finding nothing of interest save for several chests containing a goodly amount of Rudenheim mithril. We therefore went back to the umbilical-like corridor off the southeastern end of the cavern, and followed this tunnel to the abovementioned portcullis. This was raised in short order, and we entered what was a large room, with a door at either end, and with a large section of floor dug up. We checked the doors, but found them nothing more than elaborate traps: Both were protected by magical fire, and both hid nothing but a blank stone wall, when opened. There was nothing for it but to hope the hole in the floor could lead us somewhere. The hole had steps cut into it, which we followed down, arriving shortly at a narrow walkway. 

We followed the walkway for a little distance, before coming upon a small river. Well trained in the peccadilloes of this place by now, we were expecting a little je ne sais quoi, and that is what we got. A water ogre wielding a huge spear suddenly burst from the river, as we were about to cross, forcing us to hurry. Miles, Stedd, Khondar and I all tumbled or jumped past the thing. However, there was little room on the far side, and Stedd and I were forced to tumble from the path we were on, fortunately falling just a couple of dozen foot or so, to land safely on a flat stone floor below. Before we had a chance to help the magic users, we were forced to reassess. We heard the guttural speech of perhaps a couple of ogres and a giant, and suspected it was going to be mere seconds before we were discovered. Trusting Halbrinn and Adamo to deal with the merrow, we arranged ourselves to rush the other group. We crept as close as possible, and then charged in a surprise attack. 

Stedd went for an ogre, while Miles and Khondar went for the giant. I went for the giant, too, hurdling the stream that the giant was standing by with a ten foot flying kick. I delivered the kick to the giant, but fell awkwardly in the stream, slipping down the bank and into the water. Clearly this giant was smarter than the rest, for he ignored his more immediate foes (Khondar and Miles) to finish off the one that had just disadvantaged himself (namely: me!). I then learnt what is meant by a ‘crushing defeat’. I will not describe it any further than that, other than to say that when I woke up I was in possession of several broken ribs, a dislocated arm and severe bruising over most of my body: The rest of the day was one of the ‘holiest’ I’ve ever experienced! Ilmater, have mercy, that hurt! I cannot describe the rest of the battle, but it appears Adamo had managed to charm the water ogre into aiding the rest of the Crusaders, and this swung the battle in our favour. After being brought round, I heard that Miles had scouted a bit further into the cavern we were in, discovering a mixed group of six foes. At this point we decided that it may be wise to adjourn to the surface again, and camped this time in the entrance to the stronghold, the better to spy for any foes that approached. Fortunately, none did. 

It is now the evening after the day mentioned above. I have spent the afternoon resting, and searching for food, which is scarce in this part of the wilderness. I have also communed with Ilmater, for I am planning a confrontation with the ogre mage’s staff. I know that this may not be wise, but we need an insight into our foes methodology. If the ogre mage is just the edge of the glacier, we must have warning as to what we will face next, or more may die. For now, I’ll just lie still and pray to Ilmater for guidance. Ouch, these aching ribs! 

Yours,
Yvgeny. 

Ilmater save the King.


----------



## Eccles (May 27, 2003)

*Yvgeny's letter concerning conversations with a Staff of Power*

Your eminence, 

The following is a transcript of my discussions with the ogre mage’s staff. I have included this so that you may gain an insight into its behaviour; its M.O. was mostly inscrutable to me. Additionally, I have written the entire dialogue from the point of view of the third person. Please forgive this conceit; I do not write it thus to absolve myself of any sin for speaking to such an instrument. Rather, it is purely in the interests of a more documentary approach. Yes, yes, I’m playing to the gallery, and I simply wish to conceal it! Just ask Pavel to look it over, I’m sure he’ll burst my bubble! 

In the first instance that Yvgeny touched the staff, the green gem at the tip glowed, and a feeling of well-being and confidence suffused him. Then it spoke in a soft, almost feminine voice, saying: 

Staff (voice): “You're not human after all, are you?” 

Yvgeny: “No, not human, although I'll thank you if you'll keep that to your self. If you show me that you can be trusted I'll tell you more, because I think we can make a good partnership. Suffice it to say (for now) that my friends and I are working for the greater good, and number one on our list is clearing this dungeon of the minions of your ex-master. Incidentally, did you notice how easily we dealt with him? I think you picked the wrong side, so I hope you'll be helpful. Exactly how helpful can you be, by the way? It is my particular wish that you dedicate yourself to helping further the cause of Ilmater, my god. He likes to ease the suffering of the needy, what do you say to that? 

“Speak.” 

The gem on the staff then flickered, subsiding to a dimmer glow for a few moments. Suddenly, the staff spoke again: 

Staff (voice): “Speak, it orders me.” 

A second, more powerful voice then suddenly entered Yvgeny’s head, without passing through his conscious hearing. The voice was harsh and male. 

Staff (telepath): Orders US. 

Then the voice and telepathic entities within the staff conversed with Yvgeny, in turns: 

Staff (voice): “Servant of this Ilmater, god of things not dwarven.” 
Staff (telepath): This is good. 
Staff (voice): “This pleases me.” 
Staff (telepath): Pleases US. 
Staff (voice): “We can help much.” 
Staff (telepath): We can offer you the hearts and minds of those who oppose you. We can assist you in the tasks that lie before you. We can help you subdue and outwit any foe that stands in your way. You are more powerful than the last master. 
Staff (voice): “Master of many years.” 
Staff (telepath): Speak now in turn, thing that is not dwarf, yet is not man. 
Staff (voice): “Yes, speak... Aasimar.” 
Staff (telepath): What powers have you? 
Staff (voice): “What powers do you have?” 
Staff (telepath): What bring you to bargain? 
Staff (voice): “What have you to trade?” 

Yvgeny: “Speak not of bargains, if you will spend time out of the pocket dimension you were incarcerated in: Bargains are for devils and their addle-minded petitioners. I will not petition you to help me. 

“Now, you know me as an aasimar, and you see truly. That should be sufficient to tell you some measure of my power. Additionally, I am a priest of Ilmater. This is a god of healing, who eases the suffering of others. I am inclined to act the same way, so if you consider this a weakness you will not share my path. I can heal, bless, enhance my strength and durability and protect myself and others from evil. I can destroy undead, or make them run in fear from my faith. I am also a monk, as your previous master was, with the ability to stun a foe with a single punch, using the power of my god to enhance the blow. 

“It is my desire to aid the cause of my adopted homeland, the nation of Damara, which is across the Moonsea from these Desertsmouth Mountains. As such, I aid in any effort which diminishes the strength of Damara's foes, or who threaten those countries that Damara would enlist as allies. As such, the rabble of your ex-master did threaten the peace of Daggerdale and had also performed heinous acts against the dwarves of this stronghold. What know you of the modus operandi of your ex-master? Was he acting on his own, or did some greater power drive him to attack this place? 

“Now, tell me of your own desires, and I will tell you whether I, or one of my allies, can fulfill them. 

“Speak, please.” 

Staff (voice): “Incarcerated?” 

The green gem sparkled when the staff said this, as if amused at Yvgeny’s conceit concerning the bag of holding. 

Staff (voice): “What means a moment in a bag to a creation of wood and stone? The ages of nature have been endured.” 
Staff (telepath): And have been found wanting. 
Staff (voice): “Your powers are interesting, although barely sufficient when laid up against our previous walking servant.” 
Staff (telepath): Truly that was a creature with power and potential. 
Staff (voice): “Speak of your foes. What creatures are you charged to destroy?” 
Staff (telepath): And your question of the last walker's goals is not answerable. We were kept within a glove and used only in battle. 
Staff (voice): “We demand that we not be incarcerated outside the flows of time once again. Our hearts are things of earth and nature.” 
Staff (telepath): We know only that he was charged with furthering the Entraat Phineal. 

Staff (voice): “We shall not assist you further until our needs have been met.” 
Staff (telepath): Agreed. 

Yvgeny: “Your ‘previous walking servant’ was soundly beaten by a few bats, as I recall. As for my power: What use is power if it is used purely to lord it over a rabble whose greatest achievement was to destroy a small outpost of dwarves? My ambition is to complete the cycle begun by my celestial ancestor: I would ascend to the upper planes, the better to serve my god. What thinkest thou of that? As for my foes: You wish for specifics? I think we can start with the Zhentarim and the Thayans. These use slaves as if they were chattels, which frankly disgusts me. The Zhentarim, additionally, are bullies and ruled by representatives of the worst of gods: those who exploit the weak. It cannot be borne! I also have issues with the Drow, for the same reasons. What is your stance? 

“You must also give me more insight into your own abilities, if you wish to avoid incarceration. You indicate that you have the ability to reduce your size, but surely a great work of wood and stone such as yourself would have far greater powers? This information will also provide me with a better guide as to which of my companions would better suit your demeanour. I have chosen myself as a temporary intermediary, for your powers are unknown and could be dangerous. Incidentally, would you name yourselves? I would style you ‘Legion’ if that is appropriate and does not affend. 

“I thank you for the information concerning the ‘Entraat Phineal.’ I admit this has little meaning to me at present, although diverse of my companions may prove more knowledgeable. 

Yvgeny then walked off a goodly distance from the camp, to ensure no magic could affect his companions. He then cast a spell of protection from evil, and removed the staff from the bag. 

Yvgeny: “Now: Please speak of your own abilities and whether we have a common path.” 

Both voices then spoke simultaneously (via audible sound and telepathically) as the staff was lifted from the bag: 

Staff (telepath): We have no interest in your ambitions. 
Staff (voice): “We have no interest in your ambitions.” 
Staff (telepath): We have no interest in your foes. 
Staff (voice): “We have no interest in your foes.” 
Staff (telepath): We shall speak no further until our needs have been met. 
Staff (voice): “We shall speak no further until our needs have been met.” 
Staff (telepath): We are in an unpleasant state. We are to be cleaned in purest snow-melt water and then dried. 
Staff (voice): “In the beard of a Dwarf.” 
Staff (telepath): In the beard of a Dwarf. Yes. This is satisfactory. Then we shall speak further. 

The gem abruptly stopped shining. 

Yvgeny shook his head sadly, and then made to put the staff back in the bag. Clearly, he could not oblige the staff to discuss its reticence, and he was not prepared to take any risks without proof the staff was not evil. As Yvgeny moved to put the staff back in the bag, however, he felt a tingling. Some of the day’s injuries suddenly melted away! The staff very nearly fell from Yvgeny’s surprised fingers, but he managed to keep a hold on it. 

Staff (telepath): We sense that you are unwilling to aid us. 
Staff (voice): “We are not so ungracious.” 
Staff (telepath): We shall see you in another age. 
Staff (voice): “You can place us into your sack now.” 

Yvgeny then felt a pressure within his mind, but threw off the spell. 

Yvgeny: “Oh, you are still speaking to me then? I had supposed you were sulking, but I thank you for easing the tightness in my chest. Now, I'm sure there's snow-melt water around here, as we are in the mountains, although it will require some rather trecherous climbing to reach the snow-line. Additionally, at that point I will not be in the vicinity of a dwarf. Are you sure you want to be dried with a dwarf's beard? They're notoriously testy about their facial hair and the only dwarf available in the vicinity is my companion. He's a barbarian with an axe. Now, how about I bless some of this lovely clean spring water to clean you with, and then dry you in my tabard?” 

Staff (voice): “At no stage have we pretended to stop speaking to you.” 
Staff (telepath): At least so far as is possible. However if you wish to act in partnership, you will need us willing. 
Staff (voice): “We shall need to compromise. We shall compromise on the water.” 
Staff (telepath): We shall not compromise with the beard of the dwarf; the Petter Shaal must be obeyed. 
Staff (voice): “Without respect and trade, we are reluctant to assist you further.” 

Yvgeny at this point was presented with a choice: To throw away the chance that the staff could aid in the current quest, and any further tasks that could prove useful to his cause, or to risk angering the dwarf. Quite simply, it was not in his nature to avoid risks, so Yvgeny chose to risk the dwarf… 

Yvgeny: “Khondar. Khondar!” 

Yvgeny shakes the dwarf. 

Yvgeny: “Wake up. I have a request of some delicacy, and I need your help.” 

The sleepy dwarf rolls over and blinks at Yvgeny before asking: 

Khondar: “What's wrong?” 

Yvgeny: “I have... Talked to the staff we picked up after kicking the magic ogre's head in. It's agreed to help us in getting your stronghold back, but first it insists on being cleaned in pure water and then dried... In the beard of a dwarf. I realise this is slightly beneath your dignity, but could you indulge it? I shall make sure it renders every aid in your quest. It heals, you know.” 

To Yvgeny’s great surprise, Khondar agreed almost on the instant. Blessing Khondar’s undwarvishly unpredictable nature, Yvgeny washed the staff in some holy water, and then dried it in Khondar’s beard. 

The rest of the story concerning the staff is yet to unfold, but the following has been noted concerning its powers and personality: - 

The staff can act as a powerful weapon (in the conventional sense). It is very well balanced, allowing it to be wielded in either the main weapon hand or off-hand without difficulty. Its magical enchantment also increases the wielder’s accuracy, allowing a greater number of strikes on target, and also does greater damage per hit. 
It can cure simple wounds. 
It can communicate, both vocally and telepathically. 
It dislikes dwarves. 
It likes to be perfectly clean. This borders on obsessive. 
It has powers of suggestion (as per the spell). 
It has either a personality, or several personalities, of its own.
This has manifested in attempting to force its will upon Yvgeny on more than one occasion, with Yvgeny being subordinated on one occasion. 

I hope this document provides some enlightenment, your eminence. I will of course keep you informed of any further discoveries I make concerning this staff, but I will not compromise my mission in doing this. Please have faith, your eminence, and trust me. 

Yvgeny. 

Ilmater save the King.


----------



## Eccles (May 27, 2003)

*Yvgeny's 6th Letter*

To His Eminence Pietr Orik,
Temple of Ilmater,
King’s Palace Square,
Heliogabalus. 

Your Grace, 

I will continue straight on with the account of our travails in the stronghold of the Rudenheim’s as it ended in the previous letter. I will apologise in advance for lapses in grammar and narrative, for our enemies have sorely tested me—mentally as well as physically. I must count amongst these the staff I have attempted to mind-wrestle; this battle has proved the most tiring of all. I have a transcription of my tête-à-tête with this device, which I have included elsewhere in this report for your information. For now, I will restart my account with our taking a rest in the entrance of the stronghold… 

After getting an agreement with Khondar to appease the staff (I still cannot believe Khondar accepted this request; truly his behaviour is not as predictable as most dwarves!) it did condescend to offer limited help. We then continued with our watch until the sun’s rays lit the sky and it was time for prayers. We got a late start, allowing us some time to recover from the previous day’s hardships, then we returned to the room with the hole in the floor. Then, with a prayer to Ilmater, I joined the others in descending again into the hole; taking the steps back to the underground caverns. 

On arrival at the little river previously containing the merrow, we stopped. The cavern was dark; the ensconced torches having gone out some time before. We heard no sound, so I lit the end of the staff to facilitate vision for those not able to see in the dark. We waited on the path just beyond the river whilst Halbrinn, using the form of a bat, scouted the cavern. He returned to us to tell us that several ‘large living objects’ were waiting in the cavern below us; I instantly put out the light illuminating our position. (The green stone atop the staff continued to glow, however, and with hindsight, it was probably this that triggered the trap that was to come. I will discuss this later.) I also realised that we were in a vulnerable position: The cavern floor was rocky and the giant may be able to see in the dark too! We would be skittled off our narrow ledge in short order, if we didn’t move quickly. Indeed, as we were making decisions the giant threw rocks our way, fortunately none hit us. 

We therefore left the path, Miles and Stedd dropping to the floor of the cavern and following the rough edge of a wall for guidance, stepping quietly all the while. Khondar and I (both being blessed with night vision) continued along the path, which dropped at an angle to meet the cavern floor a small distance ahead. Adamo and Halbrinn opted to remain on the path, using as much of the ledge as possible as cover from the projectiles of the ogres and the giant. 

Our planned attack all came apart, however, when we were ambushed ourselves! Two ogres suddenly popped out of hiding, each lobbing a container of some burning, sticky material (pitch, as it turned out). The reason for this was not to burn us (although it did) but to describe our position to our enemies, which four ogres made use of immediately. All attacked Khondar, forming up in two ranks to fully exploit the reach of their huge halberds. Khondar went down very quickly, but the rest of the Crusaders were also swift to react, tumbling in around the ogres to make the job of finishing off the dwarf more difficult. I managed to stabilise Khondar with a simple healing spell, then demanded of the staff that it help me. It silently queried me why it should! I managed to get some aid from the thing, after promising that I would clean and polish it. Incredible! It gave me more minor healing and a suggestion: “Whack the thing,” referring to the giant. Doing so proved quite effective, delivering damage to the beast of some note. 

However, not enough: The giant returned the blow, which at this point in the battle was enough to plunge me into unconsciousness again! However, I was not the only one. All of our front-line fighters did not complete this fight standing: Khondar, Miles, Stedd and I all finished the battle on the floor, leaving it to Halbrinn and Adamo to complete the vanquishing of our foes. Halbrinn had uncovered a new weapon, apparently. He now has the ability to kill foes with a mere thought. I asked him how he achieves this: Apparently, he can create phantoms in the enemy’s mind, that makes it appear that his worst enemy is about to set on him. This can scare him so completely, that he simply dies on the spot! There is definitely more to the school of Illusion than meets the eye (pun intended, if you’ll forgive me, your eminence!) 

Anyway, this time it was decided that we would take an extended break. After revival, Khondar, Miles, Stedd and I were in such a state that we determined to take two whole days to recover, so we returned to the entrance yet again. There was hope that we had now broken the back of the ogre force inside the stronghold, having destroyed its leader and several of its most powerful minions… Not all, however, as our return was to reveal. 

On re-entering the cavern we had been stymied in twice, now, we discovered no living foes. Halbrinn again took the form of a bat, so as to scout the tunnel Miles had checked on our first incursion here, and returned with information regarding a many-headed beast, a huge be-chained giant and what appeared to be the rest of the Rudenheim clan. The many-headed beast was probably a hydra, we decided, but could make little of why a giant would be chained up. Either consideration was nothing compared to the information that there were still living dwarves here. Clearly, it was behoven of us to hurry to the rescue of the said dwarves, for it was certain they would be in poor health and delay would only bring additional deaths. 

We therefore straightway approached the caverns that the dwarves had been stationed in. Between the Rudenheims and us were the huge giant and it’s cronies, however, so we were obliged to deal with them first. The cave that this group were in was connected to the tunnels we were occupying by a narrow passageway. It was difficult to see how we could all approach, so we decided to send in a decoy to try and tempt them out. Miles chose this task himself, as he was clearly the best of the Crusaders at approaching unnoticed. 

His skill was such that he managed to get to within a dozen feet or so of a group of ogres, when one particularly eagle-eyed specimen managed to spot one of our group! It charged out, followed by diverse of its companions, leaving Miles stranded between the ogre commander and the ogre grunts, with us on the far side. The ogre grunts had not spotted Adamo, however, so he used this opportunity to enclose the rushing ogres in a mass of sticky webbing. Unfortunately, some loose strands managed to catch hold of me too. Whilst my friends prevaricated, I gave them permission to set fire to the webs, even though I was still stuck: Better a little injury through fire than to be held fast while foes beat you with impunity. With the webbing out the way, and just a little singeing to contend with, we joined battle with the ogres that were still alive. Miles had surprised the leader by now, and once he was dead, the other ogres soon capitulated without his guidance. 

None of us had taken much notice of the huge giant all this time. This was to change when we heard a dreadful clanging sound, and saw lengths of chain being catapulted across the floor: The giant had wrenched his bonds free of the hard stone cavern walls! We were now faced with a huge giant with two long, heavy chains for weapons, which was not an appetising thought by any means! Fortunately this giant, although even stronger than the others, was as stupid as a stump, and we managed to best it without anyone falling. 

The way was now free to help the Rudenheim dwarves. The dwarves had indeed rarely been fed, probably just enough to allow them to continue working the mines as slaves to the ogres. Halbrinn immediately offered to return to Dagger Falls via teleport to pick up food supplies, and requested the use of my ring of teleportation. Naturally, I agreed on the instant; seeing the poor state of these dwarves, there was no need to consider. However, the staff feellllt 

Damn, the staff has extennddddd INTERDICTION 

POLISH ME POLISHME POLISHMEPOLISHMEPOLISHMEP 

I cannot write or speak of it, not POLISHright now. I believe the staff is PPPOLIREVENTING ME. 

Today, I have control. Just looking at the preceding paragraph, it is obvious now that it was preventing me from describing events involving the dwarves, but it was not obvious at the time! The staff was gloaaattn GLOATING as I looked on the Rudenheim dwarves. It is now clear to me that this staff is a bane versus dwarves, and I have jeopardised our mission in clearing the ogres from the stronghold by removing it from our bag of holding. Still, it may yet prove useful in uncovering the power behind these ogres. I clearly have apologies to make to Khondar and his clan, once this is all over. 

We aided the Rudenheim dwarves, although the staff prevented me from entering the cavern to heal any of them. Halbrinn offered to teleport back to Dagger Falls to pick up some food for the obviously famished Rudenheims, and requested that I offer my ring of teleportation to facilitate this. Naturally, I proffered it on the instant, which I think helped to assuage the gnome’s opinion that I had been completely taken over by the staff: It would appear that the gnome overheard my conversation with the thing. Not to worry; Halbrinn is certainly trustworthy, as indicated by his rapid offer of help to the dwarves. I further offered reassurances by providing some of the gold required for the purchase of victuals appreciable to dwarves, as did all the others, to their credit. 

So, within a matter of hours the dwarves had food and ale, and we were able to turn our attention to the last remaining beast in these caverns preventing us from further exploration. The first item on the agenda was to discover whether we were truly facing a hydra. To this end, we approached the lair of the beast with due caution, until we were faced with a ledge of some twenty foot or so. This appeared to be the demarcation point for which area belonged to ogres, and which area belonged to the beast: Probably, the beast could not climb this ledge easily. 

Adamo scouted into the cavern, protected by the requisite spells to ensure he was not easily uncovered. When he returned he gave us the news: It was indeed a hydra, with seven heads. However, it was also orange in colour, marking it out as a non-standard member of its species. Recalling old legends, more than one of us voiced our concerns: This was probably a fire-breathing specimen, a pyrohydra! Immediately, we adjusted our battle plan: We would need a weapon with a cold edge, and we would have to avoid using fire in any spells. Fortunately, Khondar had just the weapon, an axe wreathed in cold flames. So, we planned to attack the hydra with ranged weapons, weakening it as much as possible, before unleashing Khondar and his axe on it. We had not stopped to fully mull over all the legends on pyrohydras, however, as we were to find out! 

Our first mistake was to approach without enough caution, attracting the hydra’s attention before we were in position. Therefore, we only got a few projectiles launched before it was upon us. It used one group of heads to breathe in one direction along the ledge, and the other group to breathe in the other, thus negating our ruse of spreading out to fill the cavern opening. I was quick enough to dodge the fire, but not every one was so lucky. Additionally, my sharp eye had spotted something the others appeared not to have noticed: The wounds from our sling stones and arrows had already gone in the mere seconds it took to reach the ledge! Worrying that it could heal faster than we could injure it, I immediately called for a retreat. But the rest of the Crusaders had entered gung-ho mode now, and ignored me. 

Khondar gave out a battle cry then jumped from the ledge, axe trailing cold blue fire as he swung it in a massive overhand arc to connect with the beast. And connect it did, and how! A massive chunk of flesh should have been gouged from the beast’s breast… But the meat did not fall away: The wound had healed on the instant the blade passed through it, leaving no discernable damage in its wake! At this point, I started to worry. Already the battle had turned against the Crusaders who had jumped from the ledge: Miles had followed Khondar to the floor of the hydra’s cavern, and had been flattened by the beast for his audacity. My first thought was to ensure that my comrades could return, so I went to Stedd’s pack for the magical rope that was there. Before I had a chance to remove it, however, Stedd had jumped down to the cavern floor, to circle around the hydra and punish it in a pincer. Adamo also returned to the fray at this point (having been severely burned in the hydra’s first flame attack) and conjured one of his strange beasts to do battle with the hydra. Halbrinn too was attempting to weaken the creature with spells, but it was not obvious whether any of the damage was having a permanent effect. 

Finally, with enough distractions, Khondar was able to scoop Miles up and attempt to climb the ledge. From all the growling and grunting, I would opine that he had forced himself into a towering anger, the better to charge up the twenty foot wall, and, by Ilmater, he achieved both! In a matter of seconds, the dwarf had scaled the distance, fully laden with two sets of equipment and Miles, too! 

With the stricken Miles now out of the mauling range of the beast, we chose to gracefully retreat at this point, Stedd quickly extricating himself from battle, leaving Adamo’s summoned thing to suffer the brunt of the hydra’s ire. Thence, we adjourned to the cavern of the dwarves, the better for me to treat the burns and wounds of the group, and for us to plan a better strategy. 

At this point I feel I should mention the usefulness of formian workers, as they are creatures I am sure we have overlooked in terms of their ability to heal. Apparently, if it is possible to gather a crew of eight together, you can get them to heal wounds of a serious nature. This applies to the summoned formians of the alternate planes, too, as I saw when Adamo called on some to help heal Miles. Triad be praised, Adamo’s spell did not go awry this time, although it does require at least two castings of the summoning spell to bring enough formian workers to perform the curing. It is useful to know that spell casters can provide healing, if they have the wisdom to memorise the right conjurations. Perhaps I will enlist the help of Adamo, the next time we visit a deprived area! 

We discussed with the dwarves whether the hydra had any weaknesses. Between them and ourselves, we managed to recall some details that would help us. The dwarves, with the wisdom of older minds, remembered that certain types of hydra could not be injured excepting the removal of all their heads. However, they added a warning to this: The heads would grow back in mere seconds if the stump were not seared by fire or withered with acid. However, we knew that this hydra was resistant to fire, so only acid would be any use! 

Halbrinn and Adamo were of the opinion that certain types of magic could also be used, but only potent types that kill instantly, so luck would be required as not many of those types of spells were available to us. We took stock: The dwarves were in no condition to fight, and Khondar was the only one of our group who typically wielded a weapon large enough to sever heads in a single blow. Miles was of the opinion that if he could catch the thing off guard, he could deal a blow of such severity with one of his swords that he could drop the thing on the instant. Quite how he could perform such a miracle with a blade of about a foot and a half in length versus a hydra standing twenty-odd foot tall was beyond my ken. Clearly, he has some mystical slaying ability (I just hope he only puts it to ‘good’ use!) Stedd and myself were best with our fists, and bludgeoning weapons would not remove heads easily. I voiced the opinion that perhaps this battle was not to be won, and we should attempt subterfuge to circumvent the beast entirely. This was decided as the best plan, with slaying spells to be used as a last resort. Miles was still not happy, however. It seems the beast had kindled his fighting spirit more than the ogres had: I certainly detected none of the reticence that had been in evidence since our arrival at the stronghold. Still, considering the hydra had flattened him swiftest in our previous battle, I guess he felt some payback was in order! 

So, after taking some time to rest and then to sleep, we made our preparations and then returned to the hydra’s lair. We had decided to use illusions and silence. I would provide a focal point for a silence spell to cover any noise as we crept about the cavern, while Halbrinn would set up a distracting illusion to draw the hydra away from our path. We approached to the ledge and then crept down, circling the cavern by following the wall with our left hands (it appeared this cavern was roughly circular—information from the dwarves). The hydra was attracted by our approach, using scent I assume. Our scent was quickly covered by Halbrinn, however, as he set up an illusion, with all the requisite olfactory components, of dire boars on the ledge behind us. 

Arriving at a door in the wall of the cavern, we quickly ducked inside, only to realise that Miles had dropped back to stay in a short, blind side tunnel that we had passed. Determining that he had a purpose, we left him to it, and explored the room we had entered. Luck was not with us, however. There was little in the way of anything of interest, this being nothing but a storage area for mining equipment. We now had to quickly decide what to do, as the hydra would soon be finishing its boar snack, and would be sniffing us out. 

Glad of the opportunity to escape the confines of the storage cave, I took a quick peek back out into the hydra’s lair, using the remains of my silence spell to cover the noise. Indeed, the hydra had given up on the boars: The spell had already dissipated. It could certainly sniff us out, however, although it appeared to be taking most interest in the tunnel that Miles had hid in. We had to act fast, or the beast would incinerate Miles where he hid (unless it already had; the sniffing would indicate otherwise though). We quickly formulated a plan to try and distract the hydra again, whilst simultaneously crossing the cavern to the only other exit we knew of. 

The silence spell had now faded, so we simply left the cave we were in at full speed, knowing that we were unlikely to remain undetected for long, anyway. Sure enough, the hydra took immediate interest, catching Adamo with several bites, even though he was invisible. Fortunately, I had been watching Adamo as he faded from sight, and invisibility doesn’t hide sprays of blood, or the thump of a body hitting the ground. Calling on Ilmater for strength, and deliverance from fire and tooth, I charged from the cavern and scooped up Adamo even as I ran. A maw knocked me sideways as I passed the beast, but it was insufficient to check my momentum, and I continued until I was well clear of the threat range of the hydra. There, I jabbed the wand of curing into Adamo back as he rested over my shoulder, and muttered the phrase of spell release. Setting Adamo down, I slapped at where I guessed his face to be, hitting him hard on the nose. That woke him up! 

In the meantime, Halbrinn had taken to the air in the form of a pixie! Dancing on air, out of reach of the hydra, he swooped in to deliver his ‘visions of death’ spell. We all held our breath, as the hydra began acting strangely… Then it keeled over! I hesitate to name the horrors that a regenerating pyrohydra would see in its mind’s eye, but whatever it was, the spell drew them forth, and the hydra died. 

With the beast vanquished, we all took a well earned breather, then explored the cavern of the hydra, finding many things of interest in the process, as well as the usual treasure. I then took the opportunity to complete my report, which is the missive that I have just completed and you are reading! 

So, we have one more exit from this cavern to explore, and then we can declare the second level of the Rudenheim stronghold secured. However, I do not count my vegetables before they are dug, as many a late frost has shown the wisdom of! So, I will ensure that the Clearwater Crusaders proceed with caution, your eminence, as I am sure you would be disappointed if the tale ended here! 

Yours, as ever,
Yvgeny. 

P.S. I hear you are taking a tour of the provinces, so I will direct future missives to the Temple in Trailsend. Your eminence, once you arrive there, I would beg a boon of you. If you could retrieve any information from the Trailsend secret service concerning one Yuri Grigorsson I would be grateful indeed. He is deep throat as a slave in Thay, and I would fervently wish to hear anything he has found regarding my sister. 

Thanking you with the highest regards, your eminence. And look out for orcs when you travel to Ironspur; they favour this time of year for ambushes! 

Ilmater save the King.


----------



## Eccles (Jun 3, 2003)

*Yvgeny's Seventh Letter*

F.A.O. His Eminence Pietr Orik,
C/o the Temple of Ilmater,
The Triad’s Road,
Temple District,
Trailsend. 

Your Grace, 

A strange and wonderful thing has happened! Only a little time has passed since I last sent word to you regarding the vanquishing of the dread Pyrohydra (a Lernaean variety, I have since learned, that being the type that regenerates wounds) by the Crusaders. However, I have undertaken a spiritual journey of a length incommensurate to that short time period, and hence wish to share my experiences now! 

Recalling the details related in my last letter, you would remember that we had a single exit from the hydra’s lair. However, a second, hidden egress was also uncovered, this being two huge iron doors, hidden from plain sight by incantations of misdirection. Despite finding this second door, we chose to leave by the conventional exit, if only because there were likely to be greater challenges in the rooms protected by the hidden door, and we preferred to venture in that direction only when we had removed the chance of attacks from behind us. 

The conventional door opened upon a spiral stair, leading down. This we descended in careful fashion, until some way down we came upon a portcullis, with the opening mechanism on the far side from us. Some shape-changing spellcraft from Halbrinn followed by some deft lock picking allowed us to pass without too much trouble. We paused a little way down the stair after the portcullis to listen, and sundry of the group opined that there was talking from below. Therefore, we rearranged our marching order to allow the fighters to the fore, with Khondar taking the lead as we emerged into the chamber at the bottom of the steps. I had just enough time to notice that the cavern was the very one that I had unceremoniously dumped myself into when I fell from the rope in the stronghold entranceway chasm… Before I noticed that it still contained its complement of bowmen! This time, however, I had not left my wits behind, and called to my friends that the life of one of these fellows should be preserved, that we may extract information from him. 

Khondar was in the firing line again, receiving several arrows in tender locations! The doughty dwarf shrugged off the pain, however, to charge at the now unconcealed rogues… The rogues were crouching on boards laid across the fast-flowing stream mentioned previously in my reports concerning this cavern. We soon proved to the rogues that balancing on boards was not the wisest of choices: One was killed very quickly by Khondar, whilst another was knocked into the fast flowing stream and out through the tunnel in the cavern wall. The last one fell under a savage blow to the neck from Miles, but I managed to bind a tight tourniquet about the wound before too much of the fellows lifeblood spurted out; we had our prisoner. Miles then went to follow the rogue who had fallen into the stream, as his screams could still be heard from the tunnel: That noise had to be quelled. 

Suddenly, a strange mist started filling the cavern through a door in the far wall from the stream. Thinking it could be toxic, I lifted the fallen prisoner and laid him on the winding stair, above the level of the mist. Adamo then summoned an air elemental, which sucked up the fogginess by way of a wind vortex, and revealed the source of the obscuring cloud. One of the rogues had escaped us while we dealt with those by the stream, and had alerted some friends. They had then caused steam to be emitted from some braziers in the room beyond the doors (a steam room for the easing of the muscles of dwarven miners, it appears!) Our creeping foes, left without their cover, were forced into sudden retreat when we poured forth through the door into the steam room. 

Stedd was first into the next room, and reported some kind of magical darkening triggered by one of the rogues. Something clicked inside my head: ‘thieves that use darkness spells… Tieflings!’ I thought! I was through the door and into the steam room quicker than you can say nemeses! 

The battle then became a series of skirmishes, as our assailants sought to maintain their distance from us, allowing them to pepper us with projectiles with impunity. There were no obvious demon-spawn; just rogues with some sorcerous ability, it would seem. These sorcerer-rogues fell back through the steam room to a further room, forcing us to follow; said room degenerating into a shambles as previously hidden foes re-entered the fray from areas beyond it. Spells were let fly into the melee from both sides, and sword, axe and fist flashed about with very little room for manoeuvre. 

I was not to be the champion in this fight. Although I did manage to force ‘Slayer’ from the hands of one of our assailants (recovered, by our enemies, from the pool that Miles had fallen into) by stunning its new owner, I was swiftly set upon by two or three others, all using my vitals for pincushions. I was downed very shortly thereafter, and was only awakened by Adamo’s Formian Workers some time later. 

However, this is not the end of my report. During the time my spirit was considering the journey to the House of the Triad, I was visited by my Celestial Guide. This time, there was no expedition to the lands above ground, neither to Mulhorand, Thay nor to Damara. Instead, the entire dream, if dream it was, was spent in the dark. 

I visited underground realms, grim and evil, where no light was permitted. Dark elves—I recognised them as Drow—visited all manner of tortures upon others, not just upon those not of their race, but also upon other Drow. I saw creatures strange to my eyes, but with obvious cunning, and with exotic powers that went beyond magic. These creatures, too, had slaves, although often treating them as food, or in other equally degenerate ways. 

My Guide took me to these places, flashing horror after horror before my eyes until I thought that I had been mistaken, and some demon in angelic form had brought me on this journey. At one point I felt as if I was being immolated, and was not sure if this was a bodily or spiritual sensation… 

Then, my guide said: ‘Choose.’ 

It seemed to me, then, that the choice was this: Die, be martyred and live in Ilmater’s House. I had already done enough to expect this reward. 

Or, continue my quest. A new mission was being set before me: To transcend the simple work of my past two years I would need to undertake a perilous quest into the Underdark. There, my duty would be to free as many of the forsaken slaves of those dark lands as could be managed. 

My Guide then conversed with me at some length, outlining my lack of humility and lust for power as additional factors that would be absolved in such a self-sacrificing quest. Thus chastened, I requested a little time to consider, and spent some minutes in prayer. And then I agreed. Your eminence, I understand that your blessing would be required in this new endeavour; there is little I could monitor of the Dales as my travails underground would likely take me some distance from those lands. However, I am sure you would agree that this new quest, taken as it is with the blessing of Ilmater, would justly supplant the needs of Damara regarding the politics of the Dales, which I have mostly fulfilled in any case. Please consider this just a short leave of absence, as I intend to return to the fold as soon as I have judged my quest into the Underdark completed. Finally, I will of course keep you informed as to my progress. You may even consider this more a change of mission for the secret services, as I believe there are only a few agents in place in the Underdark? 

In accepting my Guide’s proposal, I was invited to receive the blessing of Ilmater. I was brought before a man of middle years, bent over with the number of his wounds and injuries. He appeared so unprepossessing that it took me several moments before I realised that this was an image of my God! 

I knelt before Him, and received His touch. All the pain and uncertainty I was then suffering melted away and I knew my own mind more clearly than I ever had before; I knew I had chosen the right path, even though I may (or may not!) live through more pain and darkness as a result. Not only were my hurts healed, but also I felt an energy suffuse my blood, as if my earth-bound flesh had become nothing but light. I then saw in my minds eye what I would become if I continued down the path I had chosen for my future: I could indeed become a full celestial! 

And then my reverie was over. I woke with a start to find myself back in the caverns of the Rudenheims, with all the hurts (and some additional singes!) to contend with. But I was not downhearted, for now I had some inkling of my destiny! 

So, that is how it stands, your eminence. I will continue to write, of course, but I think you can now expect some variation to my reports! Finally, now that I am back in the lands of the living, I have also noticed some additional favours that Ilmater has granted me: Knowledge of a whole host of new spells! Now I cannot wait to begin prayers to test some of them! 

More will follow, your eminence, but for now I must proceed again with my comrades. 

*Yvgeny.*

Ilmater save the king. 

P.S. I have added this at the last moment, more through wonder than anything else! It appears I have already begun the journey to the upper planes, as I have started to manifest powers normally only belonging to true celestials! Along with my ability to create light, I now also appear to have the ability to use Ilmater’s blessing, and to protect myself from evildoers several times in one day. I seem to be able to do this spontaneously, without having to store the spell’s power within myself beforehand. I am amazed at the generosity of Ilmater! Clearly, this quest I have chosen to undertake is close to the heart of our God. 

Hence, I must not fail. 

Ilmater save the king.


----------



## Eccles (Jun 16, 2003)

*Yvgeny's 8th letter*

F.A.O. His Eminence Pietr Orik,
C/o the Temple of Ilmater,
The Triad’s Road,
Temple District,
Trailsend. 

Your Grace, 

I will start with a departure: Apparently, Khondar Axewielder’s soul refuses the return to the flesh. He died at the same time as I was close to death, after the attack on the spellcasting thieves detailed in my last missive. I therefore can safely say that I owe this dwarf my life, as he was the one that prevented the killing blow by the rogue who had recovered the talking sword, ‘Slayer.’ So I am now indebted to the Rudenheims: I will not rest until I discover who, ultimately, was behind the invasion by the ogres on the Rudenheim stronghold. I owe Khondar and the other dwarves that much, at least. 

Now, onwards with the description of our movements to date. I will resist the urge to rush to new disclosures on Shades (yes, Shades; I am certain the Crusaders have come across some!), but will maintain the chronological order of our progress. Hence, after some time spent recuperating, we continued our exploration of the corridors, rooms and tunnels surrounding the hydra’s cavern. No more two-legged foes were to be found, here, but worse was to follow… 

We were proceeding along a fairly straight tunnel, searching for traps, so eyes were to the floor. Unfortunately, it was for this reason that we totally missed a writhing mass of tentacles that shot through the air from some dark ledge, ahead of us, across a stream to our right. It wasn’t until these tendrils had attached themselves to Stedd and Miles that I could make out a form shaped like a stalagmite from which these tendrils were emanating. Not having any idea what it could be (I must do something about my lack of education!) I cast a shatter spell at it, which it ignored. Halbrinn then tried his ‘Visions of Death’ spell, which appeared to take hold for a moment… Until a technicolour spark grounded itself from the creature to the wall of the cavern. Symptomatic of a magic-resistant creature, I later learned from my more learnéd colleagues! 

Now, the two of my friends that had become entangled were being dragged to the maw of the creature, slowly but surely. By now, Miles had stopped struggling and I heard someone say, ‘the strands sap your strength.’ Filled with revulsion at the thought of someone being eaten alive while helpless, I knew I had to try and prevent Miles’ fate. I therefore picked up his sword that he had dropped, knowing that it had the ability to transfer a jump spell to the wielder. What I didn’t know was that I would waste precious seconds whilst the staff I had strapped to my back had an argument with the sword! Finally, I managed to overcome the reticence of the staff by promising to drop the sword as soon as I had completed the jump. 

So I jumped to the ledge, dropped the sword by Miles and, mostly to appease it, used the staff against the beast before me, damaging the creature but once or twice, so thick was it’s hide. By this time, Adamo had arrived on the scene cursing his magic’s lack of effectiveness, but trying several ingenious tricks in an effort to put the creature off munching into Miles. Finally, having pushed my luck for some time, the creature managed to strike me with too many blows for my constitution to cope with, and I felt myself weakening. I managed to get some strength enhancing magic back upon me, but knew it was just a matter of time… And so it proved, as I was hit again, and felt my muscles turn to water. I fell, watching with utter helplessness as it dragged me towards it… Ilmater! Now I know what Halbrinn’s fear spell is like. This was probably the nightmare scenario uber ales, for this little orphan: Helpless and bound, and shortly to be eaten! Adamo helped matters somewhat by binding the creature and myself in magical webs. This did nothing for my equilibrium, but somewhere in my panicking mind a cool space appeared: The webbing had fouled the beast’s tentacles, so I would not be hit by more of the things! 

Then, a hill giant appeared and began tackling the creature (a Roper, as you may have guessed, your grace). This hill giant was Halbrinn in disguise, I heard shouted to me. I was picked up bodily by the giant-Halbrinn and lobbed to the far side of the stream, where Miles, Stedd and Adamo were already safe. However, now Halbrinn had to extricate himself, and unfortunately he could not. Again, I was frustrated: Totally helpless, with only my voice able to make an impression on the outside world… My voice would have to suffice, then. I heard talk, directed at the beast, concerning an exchange: We bring it food; it releases Halbrinn. Remembering that there were diverse bodies of the rogues of our previous battle, I added that there was considerably more flesh available, if the thing was prepared to parley with us, rather than eat Halbrinn. Incredibly, it seemed quite intelligent; although very likely evil, it’s overriding imperative was to eat, not kill. It held Halbrinn hostage until Stedd brought back sufficient rogue carrion to placate it, then it released the gnome (still in giant’s form), and took to snacking on the meat. We made our excuses and left; although the way was now clear to pass the roper, we felt disinclined to continue past it, in case it double-crossed us. 

Litters were created for Miles and myself, and then we returned to where Khondar lay. We applied a little more preparation to the body, and then returned with him to the Rundenheim dwarves that we had recently saved. Additionally, we had two prisoners that had been taken in our recent battles with the sorcerer-rogues. The one I had saved had died of his injuries, but we also had a cook and an alchemist. 

The Rudenheims were all cold fury when we brought Khondar’s body and the two prisoners before them. They insisted that at least one of the prisoners would be theirs to do with as they would, so we had to choose which prisoner would survive. However, the survival would be short-lived, as our prisoner would be marched back to Daggerdale for trial, and then likely hanging. Clearly, no one would be a winner here, excepting harsh justice. I, as a citizen of another country, could hardly interfere, although I pleaded as hard as I could for clemency for both our captives, from the dwarves. They were having none of it; twenty years of slavery at the hands of the ogres and their allies had quite removed their empathy. Which, to be honest, your eminence, I quite understood. Hence, although he was unlikely to have much information of use, we chose to ‘free’ the cook. It was more likely that I would have a chance of persuading Daggerdale’s law enforcement that this misbegotten chef was of little consequence. 

However, the chance was removed from my grasp before my hand had even closed. Adamo, tired after a long day’s exertions, chose poorly in his entrapment spell to ensure the chef did not depart by stealth. He shut the unfortunate in an unused room, newly filled with the black tentacles from the spell I have described previously… But he ‘forgot the footnotes,’ so to speak. On opening the door in the morning, we were greeted by a charnel house, as the tentacles had ripped the chef limb from limb. Oh dear, Ilmater, what can we do for magicians who forget their own power? What we certainly can’t do is ask their victims questions that may narrow down our areas of investigation. Ay, me! So, I preyed a prayer for the unfortunate cook, and for forgiveness for my complete lack of ability in preventing the deaths of two prisoners in my care. Then, we set about preparing properly for the things to come by taking two days out to fully recuperate: restoring strength lost to the Roper tentacles and allowing the wizards to exchange spells. 

Choosing an alternative route to the Roper, we came upon a corridor that took us to a door, with no other deviation. The door held no surprises, opening fairly easily into an octagonal room, perhaps 30 foot across. The room contained two statues (of famous Rudenheim dwarves, judging by the nameplates on the pedestals) and, additionally, two doors. 

Halbrinn checked each door in turn, finding no traps of the first one, which opened onto a blank wall of stone (again!) The second door was also untrapped (apparently) and it also was phoney… However, on opening the door, we heard a grinding of stone from behind us. The door was trapped in an unconventional manner; awakening both the stone dwarf statues, which (naturally) moved to attack us! No one died in the ensuing battle, but I thanked Ilmater that I could prey for a small measure of his might—I never have considered breaking stone with bare fists a particularly edifying skill (as Stedd and his bloodied knuckles were finding out!) Fortunately, Adamo’s earth elemental made life considerably easier, and allowing Adamo to redeem himself for the fiasco with the chef! 

After the battle was concluded, a little more exacting search turned up a secret door, which, after more exhaustive searching by Halbrinn, turned up no traps. A short staircase was discovered on the other side of the door, which was promptly traversed, bringing us up to yet another door. Halbrinn searched again: No traps. 

Feeling a slight prickling feeling, I offered to check what was on the other side of the door. My sixth sense was definitely warning me of danger though: I told the rest to cover or extinguish any light sources. No light could be seen from beneath the door we were in front of, so I chose subterfuge, and opened the door a little, taking a quick look into the dark. 

In the moment I had, I saw a humanoid person performing some strange, archaic kata. This creature had sharp ears and quick reactions: In mere moments it had flipped away from the doors out of the range of my sight, shouting a warning to others in the room that I could not see. Its easy grace in that movement indicated to me that this person had his own night vision, but I resisted the urge to conclude that this was a demon-spawn thief, or even one of those Monks I had met in Scardale (Ilmater, preserve me). Its shadow-kicking display reminded me of no combat style I recognised at all… 

I closed the door and warned the others that we were about to battle monks who could see in the dark, so light spells would be useful. I lit a bullet-stone, myself, with my own in-born light ability. Then, with Stedd and I in the lead and Miles just behind, we charged through the door and into the room. I threw the bullet I had at where I guessed was the room’s centre, such that it landed just beyond the range of my night vision. What should have been either a bright glow, or no light at all resolved to become a mystery: The light just dimmed until it became as a candle flame seen from afar. This was not what normally happened, even in magical darkness! I had no time for pondering, however. The variable light was confusing my darkvision, so I chose to skirt around the borders of the room, leaving Stedd and Miles to charge, without care, into its centre. 

By Ilmater’s grace, I bumped into a form hanging on the wall on the instant I turned away from the room’s centre. I felt chains binding the creature, so assumed from this that this being was a prisoner of the other monkish occupants. Unbelievably, the chained person (one Vorin, a monk of some variety) was still conscious and was able to direct me to the locks on his chains. I attempted to grab a chain, with the intention of breaking it, but succeeded only in injuring myself slightly. Knowing Halbrinn to be skilled in the area of picking locks, I called for the diminutive but useful gnome, that he might free the captive. Additionally, I called for Adamo to locate an enemy who had escaped, in order to prevent reinforcements from making our position worse. This he succeeded to do, filling the corridor the escapee had used with webs by pinpointing the sounds of the fleeing creature. 

I cast a healing spell on Vorin, which he supplemented with some healing power of his own, while I went to the edge of the webs and cast a spell to create obscuring mists. This I hoped would cover the webbing (these creatures may see in the dark; they can’t see through thick fog!) and us, in case any of the monks were using poisoned weapons, like those of the Long Death tend to. I then went back to the wall to supported Vorin, while Halbrinn (once again in pixie form) unlocked one of the chains. Halbrinn had trouble with the second lock, so I bashed the chain it was attached to, using divine might to enhance the blow, and succeeding in shattering a link. Halbrinn then cast knock on the remaining lock, allowing Vorin to fall free. The human was wearing very little to cover his modesty, but he did indeed have some skills as a monk, so required only his battle sense for armour. However, I gave him some additional help in the form of a faith-shield spell. 

I then moved off to start fighting—I was itching for combat by now—when I came face to face with a hound archon, as summoned by Adamo. The celestial was mostly unchanged, so I saluted it, then felt my way through the mists to the wall of the cavern. By now, I could just make out the form of Miles. Miles appeared to be holding his own: He was wearing Khondar’s boots (trust Miles!), and the boost in speed had made him a veritable hazy spectre in the gloom; the monks surrounding him could barely touch him! 

I could not see Stedd, but I could hear him; he appeared to be addressing one of our enemies as if he knew him. Stedd confirmed this later; the leader was apparently someone by the name of Vorkan, erstwhile minor monk in the Old Order school that Stedd had belonged to (until it disappeared, that is!) With a snatch of insight, I connected this with the crimes supposedly perpetrated by the Old Order exiles: Clearly this group of monks had infiltrated that previously trustworthy cadre, and clearly these monks were not averse to killing if necessary. Ha! I shall take some delight in informing the Daggerdale watch that the Clearwater Crusaders have solved their little murder mystery, and, additionally, clear the Old Order’s name into the bargain. Olé! But that was not the end of the revelations… 

I heard a noise from my right, and then someone called: ‘They don’t stay down, they have some form of regeneration!’ On the instant, I preyed for a curse. These creatures were in no way natural: They could see in the dark, they could naturally suppress light and they regenerated… Demon-spawn of some sort, surely! In moving in the direction of the call, I saw Vorin struggling with a multitude of enemies (all looking the same, which is normally a wizards spell). On quizzing him later, he swore that the person either had the natural ability to duplicate his form, or cast the spell so rapidly that Vorin did not hear an incantation, or see the hands move in any gesture larger than an opening of the hand and spreading of the fingers. 

My curse was no good against multiple targets, so I simply resorted to the bound-hand stratagem, and released a volley of jab-kicks, sweeps and spin-kicks, allowing me to keep the spell. Vorin matched my kicks with punches and kicks of his own, and eventually, with all the images dissipated, we put the creature back down again. I was all for releasing my spell at that moment, but Vorin forbade it, saying a prisoner would be more useful. Marvelling at his pacifism (and his force of will!), I directed him to my backpack, telling him that he would find rope in there. I then rushed off to find more targets, only to hear an oath sworn from behind me: Apparently, the creature had returned to life and disappeared before Vorin’s eyes, taking my 50 foot of silk rope with it! By the Triad, I will get that rope back! 

The battle was over shortly after this, with most of the creatures simply disappearing before our eyes. Stedd managed to kill his enemy, Vorkan, describing the death as like watching the smoke rise from green wood when it has just been set alight: More evidence that these creatures were in no way natural. Your grace, it is my conjecture that these creatures are infiltrators from the lands of Anauroch: Shades! Clearly, I have no expertise in such matters, so I will present the evidence for your own digestion. These creatures: - 

Suppress light, rather than negate it by powerful darkness spells. The more of these creatures there are in any one place, the greater the suppression of the light. Killing the creatures lessens the suppression of the light. 
Can see in the dark. These creatures appear to be mostly humanoid. They have dusky skin, though, much like the peoples of the southern lands: Chult for example. They do not have any visible anomalies to their form that would indicate some form of cursed blood (i.e. they do not appear to be tieflings). 
Can regenerate, or have a form of heightened natural healing, which allows them to return from unconsciousness. They do not survive death however: Once killed, they disappear in wisps of a sooty-black miasma. 
Appear to have some form of natural magical ability. This manifests as the facility to create multiple images of themselves, and to teleport (even when bound, proving that it is a natural ability, not a spell). 
Can become invisible. Miles ‘saw’ this power manifested, although I did not, so cannot vouchsafe its authenticity. It may be that this was simply a spell, although Miles would certainly know the difference between spells and inborn abilities. 
As an addendum to the above list, I can add a natural affinity for murder and torture, judging by the testimony of Stedd, and our finding Vorin chained to a wall. Apparently, Vorin is not only a monk, but also a paladin of Torm. He had suffered weeks of pain, being brought close to death, only to use his own healing powers to restore himself, then to endure further torture. It is evident from this that these creatures are depraved and evil, and therefore, I must look further into their activities. 

This list of abilities matches some of those described for Shades in the Service’s Rogues Gallery, your eminence; I even believe there is a Shade on the last Public Enemy list I looked at. If these creatures are Shades, it behoves me to find out as much as possible, for Damara’s sake; it may be that my new quest fits perfectly with my continuing work for the motherland. Which, I pray, is a sign from our god that our work is running true to his Path for us. 

I will write again promptly, your eminence. With Ilmater’s resolve, I will uncover the truth about this new evil on Daggerdale’s border. 

Yvgeny. 

Ilmater save the king.


----------



## Eccles (Jun 16, 2003)

*A notice seen in Dagger Falls*

I came up with this for my players. In a high-magic world like the Realms, this sort of service _must_ exist!

*Tobias Mench & Sons*
Thanks to an arrangement recently brokered with the Temple of Shaundakul, Mench & Sons are proud to announce that they are now able to provide a superior service for the recovery and reconstitution of the deceased, but very much still vital, adventuring community. 

With the payment of a modest sum of gold, the adventurer receives a “Mench Medallion” (now also available as a pin, or a host of other attractive designs – see our brochure), a unique item keyed to our permanently manned Headquarters in Waterdeep. 

In the event that the wearer of the Medallion’s spirit ever leaves this realm, the Medallion signals our Headquarters, and one of our trained operatives will then hasten to locate, and then recover, the deceased’s body, and such of their equipment as can be located. Recovery can be achieved in less than half a minute at optimum performance! Once recovered, the body will be brought to the temple, where a trained priest will cast the resurrection and/or healing spells of your choice upon the departed. 


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

Memorial Package:
For years, Tobias Mench has been acting as undertaker and legal guardian for the estates of the Adventurers of Waterdeep. With the help of his sons, Tobias has been able to branch out, and now offers his services as legal Executor to you, the adventurer at large, ensuring that your wishes are complied with after you have gone to your final rest.
Memorial Service (at the temple of your choice): 50-500gp
Preparation of Will: 100gp
Handling of Estate: 200gp plus your specific instructions.
(Clients wishing items to be recovered are advised to look towards our excellent “Adventurer” series of products) 


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

Adventurer Series “Orchunter” package:

A basic, yet personal service. Within moments of your heart stopping, Mench and Sons will be aware, thanks to their unique "Mench Medallions". Agents will scry for the medalion and your remains, and once they have been located a trained recovery team will be dispatched by teleport to obtain the remains. These will then be taken immediately to our project-sponsored temple in Waterdeep where you will be brought back to life in a tasteful, yet discrete, ceremony. Necklace of Contingent Alarm: 8,250gp 
Scrying (process takes 1 hour): 280gp 
Teleport (to location of body): 450gp 
Teleport (to temple): 450gp 
Raise Dead: 950gp 
TOTAL DOWNPAYMENT
(including 8.4% maintenance fee): 11,250gp 
Upgrades: 
Heal spell: +660gp (payable upon resurrection) 
Change to Pin of Contingent Alarm: +7,425gp (includes a 10% maintenance fee) 
Teleportation effect to return to location of recovery: +450gp (payable upon resurrection) 

(Owing to scrying times required, full recovery of items and extremities cannot be guaranteed). 


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

Adventurer Series “Giantbane” Package:

A progression from the "Orchunter" Package, this scheme provides a faster service. The scrying process is effected by one of our senior partners, resulting in your location (and hopeful recovery) within seconds of your vital signs stopping. The resurrection spells used are likewise more powerful, bringing you to a full level of health before you have even had a chance to cool down! Necklace of Contingent Alarm: 8,250gp  
Greater Scrying: 910gp 
Teleport (to location of body): 450gp 
Teleport (to temple): 450gp 
Resurrection: 1,410gp 
TOTAL DOWNPAYMENT
(including 9% maintenance fee): 12,500gp 
Upgrades: 
Change Teleport to Teleport without Error: +506gp each (includes a 10% maintenance fee) 
Change to Pin of Contingent Alarm: +7,425gp (includes a 10% maintenance fee) 
Teleportation effect to return to location of recovery: +450gp for Teleport, or 910gp for Teleport without Error (payable upon resurrection) 

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

Adventurer Series “Wyrmslayer” Deluxe Package:

A package for the most discerning adventurer at the very pinnacle of his profession, this excellent selection sees the very highest of priorities been placed upon your corporeal form's recovery. The very instant that the signal is received, a specially trained magical recovery team will be hasted and despatched to your side. The adventurer who chooses the "Wyrmslayer" package will be located and brought without error directly before the High Priest of Shaundakul herself, and the very greatest of re-embodying magics will be employed to return him to his physical form within 15 minutes of the body hitting the floor. Necklace of Contingent Alarm: 8,250gp 
Greater Scrying: 910gp 
Teleport without Error (to location of body): 910gp 
Teleport without Error (to temple): 910gp 
True Resurrection: 6,530gp 
TOTAL DOWNPAYMENT
(including 5.66% maintenance fee): 18,500gp 
Upgrades: 
Change to Pin of Contingent Alarm: +7,425gp (includes a 10% maintenance fee) 
Teleportation without Error effect to return to location of recovery: 910gp (payable upon resurrection) 

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

Gambler Series “Glove” Package:

This package is available for the adventurer who does not wish to receive a personal service. The hand-made and enchanted glove or gauntlet will activate as soon as the wearer dies, returning him or her to our Waterdeep headquarters. The target will then be re-animated as soon as the next qualified priest or priestess is available. Leaping Glove (94% effective): 8,250gp 
Raise Dead: 950gp 
TOTAL DOWNPAYMENT
(including 10% maintenance fee): 10,120gp 
Upgrades: (including 10% maintenance fee) 
Upgrade Raise Dead to Resurrection: +506gp 
Upgrade Raise Dead to True Resurrection: +6,138gp 

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

Necklace of Contingent Alarm
(Warranty void if worn outside the Prime Material Plane or beyond normal limits of Scrying)
Upon your death, this unique items sends the message of your choice to our recovery agents, and its shape, colouration and pattern permit our agents to locate and recover you as swiftly as your chosen package allows. (Wearing this item counts as the only contingency spell that can be cast on the wearer. If a second contingency spell is cast on the wearer, the magics of the Necklace are rendered inactive for the duration of the later spell’s effect).
Caster Level: 15th; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, contingency, sending; Market Price: 8,250 gp; Weight: -. 


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

Leaping Glove
(Warning: Will not work outside the Prime Material Plane. May be affected by teleportation restrictions. Removal will invalidate sorceries).
Upon your death, this unique gauntlet or glove is designed to trigger, teleporting your body and equipment (to a maximum of 450lbs) back to our Headquarters, at which point your chosen package of pre-paid restoration magics will be cast. (Wearing this item counts as the only contingency spell that can be cast on the wearer. If a second contingency spell is cast on the wearer, the magics of the Glove are rendered inactive for the duration of the later spell’s effect).
Caster Level: 15th; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, contingency, teleport; Market Price: 8,250 gp; Weight: -. 


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

Full recovery of items not guaranteed, although our agents will use their best endeavours to recover any items.
Destruction, loss or deformity of the Medallion (or glove, pin, or other design) will result in the policy becoming void, in which case, the downpayment will be forfeit.
Recovery of disintegrated, discorporate, or otherwise non-locatable (by means of magical scrying) body not guaranteed.
The casting of a “Contingency” spell upon the policyholder invalidates the policy so long as that later spell remains in effect.
Recovered adventurers who do not wish to return from the Beyond will forfeit their downpayment in full.
Any additional Teleport spells required owing to operator error will be charged upon recovery. Non-payment will result in the forfeiture of gold or items to the value of the spells expended.
Teleportation and recovery from active combat carries a 75% hazard gratuity on the cost of the Teleportation effect. (388gp for Teleport, 785gp for Teleport without Error).


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

Accept no substitutes! Only Mench & Sons products come with the Mench guarantee of authenticity and reliability. 


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

And remember. If it isn’t Mench, it isn’t worth mentioning!


----------



## Kayne (Jul 16, 2003)

Takes up the story...

*Miles' Journal - Part Eleven*

*Hammer 10th continued* - Later, after we had bid Rand a fond farewell, no sooner had he passed out of Dagger Falls gates, than a strange thing happened. A nearby man suddenly erupted in a sickly greenish light, which when it dissipated revealed another man standing there, spouting utter gibberish. within a few minutes though, he seemed to develop the ability to speak and understand our tongue, indeed within quarter of an hour he spoke it as well as I!

He introduced himself as Adamo, who apparently is from another world, one where many of the things we take for granted do not exist, like Orcs. He says the world he comes from is called Earth. At any rate he is clearly a wizard of some kill, and as we were now in need of such we have enlisted him to help us. We spent the evening in the tavern dividing out our spoils from recent battles, and with a view towards the coming fight against the ogres, I mamaged to secure an enchanted chain shirt and a greatsword (though this is a secondary weapon only). I also filled my potion belt with vials of healing fluid and one that promises faster movement and co-ordination. That done, we retired to our rooms for the night.

*Hammer 11th* - We got up and set off early, and thankfully met with no encounters during our travels, well apart from the rotting corpse of an Ettin, which Khondar proudly declared that he had slain some time back, indeed I do recall him mentioning such. While he boasted however, I think the rest of us were more keen on controlling our urge to vomit, so badly did the body smell. We got past it as quick as possible, and the night was uneventful.

*Hammer 12th* - We woke up to a vicious frost this morning, which did not abate, the sun remaining behind the clouds the whole day long. The temperature got lower still as we started trekking up into the mountains. Though the day was quiet, tonight, not long after we set camp, we came under attack by a pair of strange bipedal creatures that sprayed acid from their long mouths. during the fight, Adamo shocked us all by summoning a creature to our aid that was hideous. He swears that the thing was actually a lion, and that his magic is cursed to always make abominations out of the creatures he summons. I do not like this development at all.

*Hammer 13th* - Very little to write about today, we continued trekking into the mountains, the day started off cold and got colder. I am very glad of my wool cloak right about now. Aside from the occassional bird in the sky, and mountain goat we encountered nothing.

*Hammer 14th* - Well after a quiet day yesterday, we had to have a day where all hell broke loose didn't we? As we were walking aong around noon a wyvern spotted us and evidently decided that we'd make a nice snack, diving down to attack. Adamo summoned one of his monstrosities (he claims it was just an owl... the thing had bat wings and tentacles... lots of tentacles!), to keep it occupied while myself and Khondar shot it with arrows. Once we had taken it down, we searched the area, easily finding its lair and took a few items from it, though nothing (besides some coins) that took my interest.

We camped in a large crater tonight, an ancient battleground it seems. Not long into first watch (when I was sound asleep), the campsite was attacked by a skeleton that defied belief. No fewer than 130' in height, it pounded us, our wizards taking their time to get into the fight. It was up to Yvgeny, Stedd, Khondar and myself, we like ants around its ankles, to bring it low. Thankfully Khondar is an awesome ally in a fight, his axes chipping great chunks of bone from the creature, and eventually it could stand no longer, toppling over and shattering in a storm of shards.

*Hammer 15th* - Not quite as cold today, which came as a relief to all of us. We continued on our way, Khondar leading us, as he is the only one who has been to the Rudenheim clanhold before and thus knows the way there. Dwarves being dwarves, if it were not for him knowing the way, we could likely search these mountains for an eon and not find the place. As we sat down to grab a bite to eat for lunch (well everyone else did, my ring ensures I do not need to bother with eating or drinking and thus relieves me of the burden of carrying provisions), I became aware of at least one creature approaching fast... from underground. As I looked for the source of the rumbling, my eyes went wide as the dorsal fin of a Bulette burst out of the ground. shouting to my companions to move, I started sprinting, only for a second Bulette to burst from the ground, lunging right into me! Stedd desperatly battled the creature, as I was quickly overcome by my wounds, slipping into blackness. From asking the others after I was revived, I learned that Khondar made a bloody mess out of both landsharks and that Halbrinn had saved me from Mask's kingdom this day.

*Hammer 16th* - We got up early and resolved to attack the hold, with a view to getting inside and securing a foothold. Things did not go quite to plan! We arrived at mountian pass at what we guessed to be roughly 11am and were immediately spotted by an ogre guard. Naturally we charged and atttacked the ogre before he could sound off an alarm. Halbrinn went invisible and set off to secure the main door to prevent it being closed, and us being locked outside. We swiftly killed the ogre guard, and then some party members were sniped at by skeletons using Heavy Crossbows, firing through arrow slits to either side of the main doors. Adamo summoned a creature that he swears blind was a gorilla, into the corridor beyond the slits, and  it destroyed some of the skeletons before he lost control over it and it rampaged off through the clanhold. The rest of the skeletons were dealt with by Yevgeny, who turned them.

At this point we saw a second ogre, and we contuined foward to attack him. Halbrinn reached the door, but found that it was already barred. Finishing off the second ogre, myself and Khondar spent 5 minutes bashing at the door before it finally gave way (which was good, because frankly my shoulder couldn't have taken much more!). We opened the door into the entrance chamber of the clanhold, and met the "welcoming committee", namely a Hill giant and 3 ogres who begun to throw rocks and javalins at us. Of course we returned fire back at them (as charging wasn't an option, the room being divided by a deep chasm), but their missiles were considerably more effective than ours!

Halbrinn then used an illusion spell and tried to fool the monsters into thinking we had created a magical bridge over the chasm, but it didnt work and they waited for us to break our cover and then pounded us with more missile fire when we did. I took a nasty hit and pulled back to the mountain pass, as I was no longer in any shape to fight on. Yev conjured up a magic hammer to knock the boulder pile into the chasm, thus denying the giant his ammunition. Frustrated by this the hill giant used his club to smash off some loose rock from the walls to throw at us and it almost broke his club.

Both partys fired at the others for awile with no real effect, even to the extent that Halbrinn cast a fireball at them but failed to kill any of them! However, this did spur one of the ogres to head though a door at the back of the chamber, doubtless to summon reinforcements. Seeing this Adamo webbed the monsters, and the party took the oppurtunity to move foward to the chasm's edge. The Ogres and Giant begun to slowly move through the web to the back of the chamber... where the missing ogre was waiting with a basket of ammo for them.At this, Stedd threw a flaming torch into the web to clear a path for Khondar, and Halbrinn cast a fly spell on the crazed dwarf, who flew over the chasm to do battle with his axes. Adamo tried to keep the monsters contained at the rear of the room by summoning more of his twisted creatures, vipers and a lion.

Stedd then jumped over the chasm to join Khondar, while Yvgeny and Halbrinn continued to fire in support. The giant though, made short work of the vipers and closed to deal with Khondar. Seeing this, Hal and Adamo blasted spells into him, Magic Missiles and Acid Bolts showered the lumbering behemoth, but did not slow him by much. From outside, I could hear the battlecry and roar of pain, as Khondar raged and took a huge chunk out of the giant with his axes. The giant didnt like that and he raged too! By now Stedd had killed one ogre whilst  another was felled by the constant missile fire from Yevgeny. The giant swung his club at Khondar knocking him unconscious and almost destroying the stone pillar he was using as cover. In his next blow the giant then almost killed Stedd who realised he could not kill the giant alone so jumped back across the chasm, only to be knocked out by a stone thrown by the giant as he landed. The giant took one last bellow as his rage wore off and Adamo's acid arrows killed him, though by this time Khondar had succumbed to his wounds and died. We retrieved his body, and retreated back down the mountain. In all our great and doomed assault had lasted just over an hour! We retreated a long way from the clanhold, fearing a retaliatory strike by those inside, and then Halbrinn used Khondar's Teleport ring to return to Dagger Falls and get him resurrected. The rest of us, hung our heads in our hands and waited for their return as night came down.


P.S. For the record I play Miles, who is writing this journal.


----------



## Kayne (Jul 16, 2003)

*Miles' Journal - Part Twelve*

*Hammer 17th* - We spent the day camped out in a cave, waiting for Halbrinn to return with an alive Khondar. We also tended to our wounds as best we can, We are not even in the clanhold yet and I've already gone through more than half of my potion belts supplies. I ache everywhere!

*Hammer 18th* - This morning, Halbrinn and Khondar teleported back to join us, having had to sell several of Khondar's items to pay the cost of returning him to life (still something I am uneasy about, but I cannot deny we need Khondar, this is afterall his clanhold, and against foes like giants and ogres, his axes are extremely useful), as well as buying a scroll of teleport to return them to our camp. We decided to spend the day resting up, but this was interrupted in the late afternoon when a patrol of five ogres and a giant (doubtless sent out to seek us out), discovered us. Despite our wounds, and the fearsome nature of our foes, we dispatched them all with only Stedd suffering anything like serious wounds. Yevgeny quickly patched him up, and we then decided to counter-attack the stronghold, while we were in good shape and before they were expecting their patrol back.

We used magic to force our way past the front gates this time, the guard ogres then pacified by one of Yevgeny's spells. However, we then had a Chimera to deal with! It seems that it was a pet of the ogres who rule this place. It tore into Khondar, damn near killing him (again!). I saw an opening though, and tumbled under it, through its legs, and stabbing it through its hindquarters, slaying the beast, and getting coated in its foul smelling blood in the process! Slayer was pleased, and then suggested that we leap the chasm to deal with the ogres on the other side, imbuing me with his jumping power (which was new to me, didn't know my sword could do that). However, the power he granted me was not strong enough and my leap was woefully short, as I plunged into the chasm, falling down through the darkness into the river at the bottom of it. I blacked out then, the impact knocking me unconscious. When I was later revived, I learned that Rand had flown down the chasm to recover me (and Yvgeny too, as he fell down as well), from the chamber I had fallen into, in which were several of the bandits that had assaulted Lord Morn's keep in Dagger Falls not so long ago. A very curious development!

Having taken the entrance to the hold, we then retreated to outside, as continuing was not an option owning to our injuries. while we were resting up, we came under a sudden attack by an Ogre Mage, who took some wounds from us (and dealt some back), but who managed to escape before we could really get our act together, and bring him low. I imagine we'll encounter him again soon enough.

*Hammer 19th* - Too tired from our wounds, we spent today resting and recovering ourselves for the next stage of the attack. Thankfully we were not attacked again, so the mage must have been more injured than I had thought, and is likely licking his wounds, just as we are.

*Hammer 20th* - We marched back into the clanhold very early this morning and attacked again, surprising the two ogres on gate duty who we caught napping. We then swept onwards into the upper level of the clanhold, slaughtering all before us, as after repelling us twice, I think they thought they had seen the last of us, their mistake. In short order we wiped out half a dozen ogres, a giant and the ogre mage, not stopping, just continually pressing forward our assault before any of them had a chance to really get organised. We have essentially secured the entire upper level of the clanhold, and we then camped in what was the ogre mages room, the corridor outside guarded by a casting of a spell called Evard's Black Tentacles. No idea who Evard was, but his spell sure is aptly named.

Once we had rested up for a few hours, and the spell guarding us had worn off (actually more the latter, we were ready to go some time before it wore off, at which point Adamo remembered that he couldn't actually dismiss it, and we had to sit around and twiddle our thumbs for a bit). We went and checked to make sure that we had cleared the upper floor of the hold, and after we had assured ourselves that we were not going to get caught in a pincer attack, we proceeded down the stairs to a lower level.

Adamo dealt with the Merrow we encountered on the way down, he lurking in a river that the stairs passed over, charming it into leaving us alone. We then entered a vast cavern and battled another giant and ogre, easily taking them out. I took off, at the others urging and scouted down one of the tunnels leading from the room, spying a patrol of ogres and another giant (will they never end?), heading our way. I ran back to the group and we decided to retreat to outside the clanhold to rest up for what was left of the day and night, as we were still in a bad way from all the combat earlier on.

*Hammer 21st* - We decided on a late start, resting till lunchtime and then headed back into the clanhold and down the stairs again... straight into an ambush! A large group of ogres (about half a dozen of them) and a giant, were ready and waiting for us. They had spread pitch on the cavern floor, but to little effect, the smell giving its presence away and we easily escaped a roasting. Khondar though, had the misfortune to dodge the wrong way, and ran right into them, they taking him down before he laid a blow on any of them. all of us were dealt grevious wounds, apart from Halbrinn and Adamo. Stedd and I fought well, my blade claiming three ogres, before a mighty blow from the giant felled me. I was woken later (with a ringing headache, those fists hurt!), to find the battle done. One ogre had fled when Halbrinn had used a spell to scare the ogre's leader to death, his heart simply stopping! I had not seen the gnome use this spell before, truly an impressive addition to his arsenal!. The remaining ogres and the giant had been brought down by Halbrinn and Adamo, all the usual melee fighters of the party having been taken down!


----------



## Kayne (Jul 16, 2003)

*Miles' Journal - Part Thirteen*

*Hammer 22nd* - We rested up till noon, and then went exploring around the seond level, finding a cavern that was being used as a prison and defeating the guard ogres. Inside we found the remnants of the Rudenheim clan, some thirty very dirty and undernourished dwarves, clad in chains and rags (thankfully their beards covered their modesty). It would seem they have been kept as slave labour, and their number whittled down over the decade they have been prisoners by the ogres dining on them also! Halbrinn used two of the groups remaining teleport rings to go to Dagger Falls and purchase a vast stock of food, and then return with it, and we distributed this amongst the survivors. Angry at how these proud people have been treated, we redoubled our efforts to clear the clanhold. Halbrinn shifted shape into a bat and flew off around the caverns, locating the last pocket of ogres and we vengefully attacked them, wiping them out and their remaining giant also. 

We then headed to fight a hydra which he had spotted on his travels. The beast proved nigh on indestrucitble!, healing any wound it suffered instantly, regardless of the source of the damage. spells, my blade, Khondar's axe and Stedd's fists all proved useless against the seven-headed, fire breathing monstrosity, and it swiftly felled me. Khondar managed to get me away from it, and saved my life. We retreated for a while and found another way into its cavern, evading the beast. While the others scouted out a nearby cave that they later informed me was being used as an arsenal and tool store, I tried studying the beast, seeking a weak spot through which I could thrust a blade. Alas, I found none such, and it kept spotting me, a definate problem in trying to hide from a creature that has seven sets of eyes! While I danced around it, Halbrinn used his fright spell to scare the great beast to death, dropping it instantly. I have never felt so useless in my entire life.

*Hammer 23rd* - We spent the day with the dwarves, resting up, as we have discovered a set of stairs leading yet further down, possibly to wherever those raiders from Lord Morn's mansion are lairing, and we felt it best to recover from the wounds that the hydra inflicted before facing whatever peril awaits us below.

*Hammer 24th* - We made an early start, and headed down the stairs to the third level, and entered straight into a battle with the raiders as they were waiting for us. We dealt with the four of them easily enough, but two managed to get away, one returning shortly after to try and surprise attack Halbrinn, but he botched his attempt and I had been lying in wait for him and cut him down savagely before he could try again. While I headed off down a side tunnel to ensure that we wouldn't be flanked, the others followed the second raider into a pitched battle with a large group of the bandits. I returned in time to see both Yvgeny and Khondar downed with a sword poised over them. I leapt into the fray, and helped Stedd out, giving the would be murderer of my fallen comapnions a new threat to worry about. The two of us quickly finished off the last couple opponents and saved the cleric and dwarf from an untimely death.

As we were then evaluating what of their stuff we wanted (I recovered Slayer and my greatsword from their bodies, having lost both when I fell down the chasm a few days back), a fireball went off, killing Khondar in his wounded state, though the rest of us escaped any serious injury. Stedd set off after the wizard who had cast it, though one of Adamo's weird creatures got him (supposedly a snake, I'll admit this one did look vaguely snakelike for a change). As he wasn't going to need them anymore, I helped myself to Khondar's boots of speed (as we decided against raising him back to life again), while everyone else chased down a couple more of the bandits trying to flee the caves, taking them captive. I also found and captured their cook, so we had a few prisoners to question (Stedd broyght back an alchemist and a soldier, though both are wounded).

Tying them up, we set off down a side tunnel and ran headlong into a hungry Roper that nearly wiped us out. Only a lot of luck, some canny negoatiating and many spells from Admo got us out of the situation. As for me, I was grabbed and rendered unconscious in mere seconds, caught totally offguard like a novice. Respen would not be impressed.

I was woken later, when we had retreated, after feeding the creature with the bodies of the dead bandits, in exchange for letting those of us it had grabbed go. The dwarves wanted our prisoners, after years of slavery they wanted revenge. As we are on dwarven soil, their law applies and I had no problem with this, though others amongst the group certainly did. In the end we kept the cook, they got the alchemist (the soldier had died from his wounds while we fought the Roper). They took the alchemist and from the screams, tortured him to death. Admoa then casualy murdered the cook, shoving him in a room and casting his tentacle spell into there, closing the door and leaving the man to be ripped apart. He claims that he didn't know that the tentacles would kill him... despite having seen them attack the ogres only a few days back. Still, the man deserved death, and death is what he got.

*Hammer 25th to 26th* - We spent a couple days resting up, after the beating we took from that Roper, to ready ourselves for another foray into the clanholds depths. The dwarves held a solemn funeral and internemtn in the holds vaults for their fallen would-be king, and I can't help but get the feeling that we are not as welcome here anymore as we were, now that we no longer have one of their clan amongst our number. Still we have a task to do, and we shall see it done before we take our leave.


----------



## Kayne (Jul 16, 2003)

*Miles' Journal - Part Fourteen*

*Hammer 27th* - We made our way through an illusionary door that we had found in the pyrohydra's cave, its huge corpse now starting to smell bad... actually make that smell worse, it smelt bad when it was alive. Heading through the door, we found a small chamber with a couple doors and three statues of old Rudenheim kings. Both doors turned out to be false and trapped too, and while Halbrinn was able to disarm the first door, the second trap was triggered when he tried to switch it off, and the statues animated and attacked. We quickly reduced them to rubble though, with the aid of one of Adamo's twisted summoned creatures (he didn't say what it was meant to be and I've given up asking). them subdued, we searched the room finding a hidden door. After determining that it was trap free, our gnome opened it and revealed a short staircase leading up to a stone door. Opening that door revealed... well nothing really , except for darkness, that was seeimgly magical in nature, dimming any light taken into it, even Slayer's glow, which normally provides me with a good 20' of brightness about me, was extinguished in the gloom.

What happened next was total confusion, We entered the room, and found ourselves under attack from foes unknown, though from the feel of the blows I was dealt, they fought without weapons. We all fought as best we could against foes we could not see, and that further seemed to have no such difficulty in seeing us. Thankfully Yvgeny was able to see somehow (possibly he is not as human as he appears, this bears investigation). As we felled the attackers, who Stedd recognised from their voices as being monks of his order, the light in the room increased, their presence suppressing it somehow. We came to the inevitable conclusion that they are shades, though the how and why of their transformation is unknown to us as yet. This is truly a disturbing revelation, with possibly dire consequences for Daggerdale. We also rescued a paladin of Torm by the name of Vorinn, who the monks had kept chained up on one wall as a living decoration, torturing himn for their sick amusement. I am not averse to torture if it serves a purpose, but sadism is not in my nature and it appalled me to see how low these monks have sunk.

Once we had secured the hall we headed into a large side chamber, evidently a forge, with many hearths and there followed a brief (they ran away), fight against a trio of duergar, one of them felled by Stedd, the other two leaping to their presumed deaths into another chasm that leads still further into the depths of the mountain. In this chamber we rescued another dozen or so Rudenheim dwarves, being used as slave labour to manufacture monkish weapons. Indeed, we found piles of shuriken and like weapons around the room, enough to equip an army. By my count, there are about 45 Rudenheim dwarves left now, and as we escorted these new ones up to join the rest of the clan, the mist spell that had been cast to baffle the monks (because while they could see in the dark, they couldn't see in the mist, thus it levelled the playing field) vanished, revealing two basilisks!! The gaze from these dread beasts had no effect on the dwarves at all, but poor Halbrinn was immediately turned to stone... a true garden ornament! We ran past the basilisks, and got away taking Halbrinn with us (thankfully he was shifted into pixie form, so very small when they petrified him), we'll deal with them in a couple days time, after we have our gnome back to normal.

*Hammer 28th to 30th* - Adamo took a ring, a teleported back to Dagger Falls with the petrified Halbrinn and had him restored to flesh and blood and then the pair of them teleported back. Whilst there they sold a large amount of the surplus loot we had acquired of late and so came back with a goodly amount of gold and gems to divvy up amongst us. Everyones thoughts are now firmly on what they plan to buy once we return to Dagger Falls. With any luck, I should be able to afford another enchanted shortsword to partner Slayer. While they were gone, the rest of us took the time to relax and unwind in the upper levels of the hold, and patch up our many bruises from the past couple weeks.

*Midwinter* - Keeping with our tradition of fighting major battles on holidays, today was no different. While the dwarves upstairs indulged in some hastily brewed liqour of a truly horrid smelling nature, we returned to the lower level where we had fought the monks, and quickly polished off the Basilisks, Yvgeny's spells, blinding them and they were then easy prey for our weapons. That done, we set off exploring the various chambers off the main hall, finding a large temple to Moraddin that had been desecrated and was being used as a mess hall and kitchen. the entire level seems to have been abandoned, and the monks we fought the other day must have been a rearguard I believe. We opened many doors, finding nothing but empty rooms (though one housed the spirit of a dwarf, but he was too depressing for me to bother listening to and I carried on searching the level as my comrades talked to him, learning nothing useful for their time spent).

It was while searching a room containing crates though that we found something more interesting, a Clay Golem, that burst out of its packing crate and attacked us. Thankfully it didn't lay a finger on me, but Halbrinn and Stedd were beaten badly by it, until Adamo summoned another of his altered snakes and it crushed the golem to powder in its coils.

With that out of the way, we set to exploring the chasm at the end of the smithy that the Duergar had jumped into, and discovered a ladder bolted to one wall of it, leading down into the pitch darkness below. Adamo & Halbrinn flew down to investigate, followed by the rest of us as we painstakingly descended the ladder. We discovered a series of caverns at the base of the chasm that the monks have been using as a training ground, with obstacles and an assault course. Very similar to what they had back at the monestary near Clearwater.

While exploring this level of the clanhold, we came upon a vast underground lake, apparently where all the streams we have encountered on the upper levels, flow down to. It was while we were checking along a shore of the lake that we suddenly came under attack from none other than a Black Dragon, a big one too! We initially fled into a tunnel, and when it followed us into the confines of the rock, we turned on it, trapping it there where its wings were useless, and engaging the beast in melee. I am ashamed to say that it took me down just after I had ripped a couple rents in its scaly hide, as I forgot to dodge one of its myriad limbs, and was dealt a glancing blow by its tail. Adamo claimed the killing blow (I didn't have to ask, he was practically glowing when I woke up), nearly severing its head clean off with his enchanted sword. I took a tooth from its body as a trophy, and we made use of an elemental that Adamo summoned to fetch its hoard. We gained quite a haul of gold and treasures, including some magical items. After determining that this was the last guardian of the clanhold to deal with (apart from the Roper which we are adamant we are not tangling with again), we headed back to the dwarves, who were stunned to learn of this extra layer to the hold, it not having been there when they built the place. They were happy to learn of a dragon corpse though, I heard much muttering about the various uses of dragonhide amongst them.


----------



## Kayne (Jul 16, 2003)

*Miles' Journal - Part Fifteen*

*Alturiak 1st* - After a nights rest, we decided to check over the items, especially the strange wooden box with a skull on it, that we had recovered from the dragons hoard. Adamo volunteered to open it, and went into a room by himself so only he would be at risk, which was good, because he says his spells determine that the box is cursed. Nothing among the items that were identified really grabbed my attention though, I was more interested in my share of the money gained as I plan on a visit to the Thayan enclave when I get back to Dagger Falls.

*Alturiak 2nd to 6th* - Travelling back to Dagger Falls, having liberated the Rundeheim dwarves. Our payment from the clan was one third of their mithril stockpile, which amounts to several thousand gold pieces worth! We have given them our assurances that we will pass on that they are looking for a cleric and help from other dwarf clans in the area to help rebuild and fortify once we reach the town.

We have had no combats, and no encounters at all worth writing about save one, and that was when Vorinn's bonded mount joined us, bounding out of the wilderness and scaring us half the death. The man rides a Dire Wolf for gods sake!

*Alturiak 7th* - We arrived back in Dagger Falls (ohh how I'd missed the grime, and soot and alleyways of my home town), in the early afternoon. After invading and occupying our usual Inn (an thankfully bloodless process, the barman was happy to see us back, as it seems the presence of a well know group of adventurers keeps troublemakers out of the place, and attracts those curious to hear of our exploits, and those drawn to the place spend money, not that the tightwad ever gives us a discount!), I headed to Lord Morn's keep (he still hasn't sorted out his old tower, apparently magic has gone haywire there and annihilates anyone who enters. Thats one mission I shan't be accepting), and gave a report of my recent endeavours to Randal Morn and Respen Moondown. Both were alarmed by my report of the shade monks, to the extent that Lord Morn suddenly was his old self again, confident, powerful, imposing, and no longer slurring his words. I congratulated him on a brilliant facade of weakness.

He called in a wizard to scry on the monks of the Old Order, and oddly though we saw that they were settled in a new monastery far to the north, where they had always said they were going, not a trace of shadow about them. What then were the shades we fought? Duplicates perhaps? All very mysterious, and threatening. I promised to stay with the group for the forseeable future, as my lord and my mentor both consider the Crusaders to be an effective weapon against Daggerdales enemies. I informed them of where we were staying (though they probably already knew), and made my departure.

*Alturiak 8th to Ches 2nd* - We have spent 3 tendays now, resting up in Dagger Falls, while we equip ourselves for whatever lies ahead. However, we have lost Stedd. I believe the battle against the shade monks has unhinged him somewhat, and he made his excuses not long after arriving back in the town and set off for this new monastery, probably to try and determine for himself just what has become of his order. I wish him well, but am concerned, as he was my fighting partner, and his loss impairs my combat effectiveness. too, I am now the longest surving member of the group, and with Stedd's departure, there is not a single original member of the Crusaders left amongst us.

I have comissioned a new magical shortsword from the enclaves smiths which was delivered only a couple days ago. It feels good in my grip. In contrast to slayer (who sheds 20' nimbus of light whether I want it or not), this new sword which I have named Scourge, has no glow about it. I have also notified the local dwarves as we promised to do of the nature of the Rudenheim clans needs, and left the matter with them, as I got some very surly looks from some of them for even being involved in a dwarven matter. No manners at all that race! I took the liberty to refill my potion belt also, and have purchased a wand of minor healing (though it is not finished being made yet), as the recent battle with the ogres showed me how woefully short I left myself, in relying on just 9 potions to see me through a series of major fights. I won't make that mistake again!

*Ches 3rd* - We received an early summons to Lord Morns keep on an urgent matter of state. He and Respen met us (his usual facade being played for all its worth for the benefit of my companions, they not privvy to such national secrets), and we were informed of drow attacks on farmsteads several miles south-west of Dagger Falls. I was also reintroduced to Pavel Greycastle, a shapeshifting wizard who aided the Daggerdale guerillas in the past, when we fought the Zhentish occupation. He has been absent for some time though. Respen does not trust him, and has placed him under my command! We have been given five thousand gold with which to purchase supplies (we spent this on healing wands and raise dead scrolls), and ordered to eliminate this threat by any means necessary. Music to my ears! We have decided to set off tomorrow, to give time for a wand we ordered to be finished. Halbrinn has volunteered to collect them and follow us.


----------



## Eccles (Aug 10, 2003)

F.A.O. His Eminence Pietr Orik,
C/o the Temple of Ilmater,
The Triad’s Road,
Temple District,
Trailsend. 

Your Grace, 

We are currently at ease in the court of Lord Morn, having just been given a mission by that said personage! It is none other than to investigate a group of drow, that have appeared out of nowhere in a maze of crypts some distance to the south and a little west of Dagger Falls. There is a possibility that these drow have direct access to the Underdark, for they are not of any of the Houses that have set themselves up in Cormanthor (q.v. letters: Marpenoth 16th and 20th, 1372 DR (re. House Jaelre); Marpenoth 29th, 1372 DR (re. House Auzkovyn)), according to Lord Morn’s intelligence. I will provide further information to you as I uncover it, your Grace, but for now I will continue with my narrative as I left off previously. 

We rested after the battle with the Shades, and then went back to the throne room. After some brief searching of the robing room behind the throne’s dais, we chose one amongst the various unblocked exits from the throne room and tried our luck with what lay beyond. This turned out to be a group of scruffy grey dwarves, lording it over an emaciated and vacant-eyed group of Rudenheims, who were chained to their workbenches, and slaving over forges, creating the silvery weapons, which had now become familiar to us. The grey dwarves then proved themselves to be duergar by turning invisible before our eyes. However, their typical dwarven footwear gave their positions away, and in less time than it takes to say, Stedd had leapt upon the nearest and had borne him down. The other two managed to escape—in a manner of speaking—by muttering some graceless nonsense and then throwing themselves from a nearby precipice. Looking down, I could see no method of survival, and they had disappeared at a much faster rate than that allowed by the various floating spells. 

I stabilised the duergar prisoner, for later questioning, then we turned our attentions to the enslaved Rudenheims. We released them, and Stedd and Halbrinn offered to escort them to the upper levels, and their brethren. Unfortunately, the mist spell I had previously cast in the throne room had by now dissipated, only to reveal something nasty stuck in Adamo’s webs: Two basilisks! Stedd and the dwarves survived, and raised the alarm, but Halbrinn was turned to stone on the instant. The rest of us, hearing the cries of alarm, rushed back to the throne room. We picked up Halbrinn (currently a stone pixie!) and ran from the room, before the basilisks could respond (they are slow and cumbersome, thank Ilmater!). It was then decided that we would take a break, resting to regain spells, whilst Adamo teleported back to Dagger Falls with Halbrinn, to restore the rocky gnome to fleshiness. 

We took this opportunity to question the duergar, as the Rudenheims were looking at him very darkly, and muttering darkly, too! He could tell us little, other than to say his master (the ‘One Below’) could be found somewhere in the depths of the chasm into which his fellow duergar had jumped. This at least gave us a little forewarning, although we had no clue as to what this ‘One Below’ could be, of course. I then furnished the duergar with a little anaesthetic balm, and allowed the Rudenheims to take him away. The duergar was entirely stoical about this, and made no attempt at escape. I offered a prayer to Ilmater on his behalf, although I did not waste my breath inviting the grey dwarf to prey with me: I could see the sneer already, even as I offered him the comfort of the balm. Some just cannot be helped. 

Hearing that basilisks use gaze to turn creatures to stone, I had the idea that they could not do this if they were blind. I therefore used my spells to shift several prayers into cause blindness, in the hope that this strategy would prove fruitful. Then, with the doors between the basilisks and us firmly barred, the Clearwater Crusaders, in our various locations, slept to replenish ourselves. 

Come the morn (a figure of speech I cannot escape, your grace, please forgive it’s incongruity) and we were ready, once again, for battle with foul creatures. A short while after prayers Adamo reappeared with Halbrinn, now looking a good deal less stony! We informed them of our plan to use blindness spells, which Adamo endorsed with the addendum that basilisks gaze attacks are short range: a few dozen feet at best. This would be considerably shorter in range than my blindness spells, so if the others could occupy the basilisks physically, it should be a simple matter for me to curtail their magical gaze. 

As it turned out, the plan had a good measure of success. On opening the door I was faced with the two basilisks, set well apart, in an ambush. Despite my attempts to glance only from the corner of my eyes, one managed to catch my fleeting gaze, and I felt the force of magic surge around me as a metamorphosis attempted to take me. I resisted, and with the grace of Ilmater, threw off the petrifying force. Then, I took my chance and preyed, summoning the stored energies to empower my words as I threw the blinding magics at the basilisk that had attempted to turn me to stone… And saw its eyes dim. Plainly, as its head shifted left and right, it was obvious that it could see no more, and the power in its gaze had been negated. The plan was then put into action, and the remainder of the Crusaders surged forwards to disrupt the remaining basilisk and put an end to the blind one. I used a second blindness spell to affect the second basilisk, and offered a prayer of thanks to Ilmater as that spell also worked, without the creature resisting the blindness. 

With the blindness spells both having been successful, the battle was all but won, and no more need be said. 

We were now free to search the remaining rooms off the throne room, finding little of interest, excepting some of Vorin’s gear, in a locked storeroom, and a dwarven ghost. This ghost, it was quickly surmised, was not of the sinister variety, being purely the spirit of a Rudenheim, murdered by ogres. The poor shade, who’s appellation was Korgan Axegrider during his living years, could not leave his chamber, conveying to us that he would turn to mist on attempting this. We could do little for him, though we were quick to offer to inform the living Rudenheims of him predicament, that they might help him. 

Further exploration turned up nothing except empty storerooms and sleeping quarters. We were just about to give up, when we happened upon a room with crates. Boredom having superseded his normal good sense, Halbrinn bashed open one of the crates without pausing for thought (I blame this lack of good sense on the osmosis of stupidity from his metamorphic form—currently he was masquerading as a hill giant—to his natural form. Whatever the explanation, the result was the same: A huge golem burst forth from the crates and promptly attacked us! This particular variety was a clay golem, and we were quick to learn that it had a rather horrid array of abilities, the worst of which was the ability to cause wounds that could not be healed by any normal means: a direct affront, if ever there was one! We managed to best the device with some good old heavy-handed smiting, although diverse of us were left with painful ailments, which I could not salve. We learned later that powerful magics could be used to heal the hurts, but those hurts had to be borne until we returned to Dagger Falls, which was no small misery, of that I can vouch! 

Returning to the throne room once more, we took the one last exit we had not explored. This only uncovered a shrine to Moraddin, which had been desecrated. Knowing that the Rudenheims would soon be by to clear the mess up, we left well alone and returned to the throne room again, to take stock. 

There were only two routes left that we had not taken: The route past the roper, and the duergar-swallowing chasm. We chose the chasm, not feeling any need to meet the roper again. So we returned to the chasm’s edge, which provided us with a particularly unedifying scenario. We could neither see far into the dark, nor hear anything above the amplified splash of the stream that tumbled into the darkness from the lip of the crevasse. 

Adamo, taking the initiative, lit a sunrod and used a spell of flying to explore the upper reaches, where a ladder was illuminated. Halbrinn, still in giant form, whispered some words of magic and became invisible. We heard him move over to the ladder, and then the noise of his movements was lost above the racket of tumbling water. Some time later, two bobbing lights indicated that Halbrinn had found an alternative route to get to the ladder (a secret door had been placed beside the ladder, partway down, with a passage leading back to where we were standing, or thereabouts. This we used, grateful for the chance to bypass the leap of faith we would otherwise need to reach the ladder, which began partway around the chasm from us, and some way below our feet! 

On reaching the bottom of the ladder, we were confronted by a body of water, and an assault course, probably used by the Shade monks. We followed the bank of the water until we got to a small bridge, which we began, gingerly, to cross. Most of us had crossed, when suddenly a projection of viscous, green-black fluid sprayed across Halbrinn and I. I reacted with enough speed to dodge the ichor, but Halbrinn was less lucky, and we heard the unmistakable sizzle of acid, as Halbrinn yelped in pain. I looked across and saw the shape of our assailant flap out of the darkness: By the Triad, it was a large black dragon! 

Without pause we all turned tail and fled, even Vorin! Not all were affected by the dragonfear, but we might as well have. The bridge had been set as a trap; there was nowhere to go once it had been traversed. I used mists to try to cover our escape, by which time all except Vorin and I had removed themselves from the death trap set for us. The dragon laughed off my attempt at cover, chillingly calling to us that we were still plainly visible to it. It confirmed that by jumping across and landing on the strand behind Vorin and I, but we took this opportunity to escape, as it had not closed off the route between our friends and us. 

All had become dark, however, a magical darkness that my eyes could not penetrate. Vorin launched himself over the bridge using the last directions I could provide to guide his way, whilst I took the opportunity to use my ring of water walking to escape across the water. I used a hand on the wall to guide myself around the corner from the dragon, before its lethal breath or claws or teeth could make a mess of me. 

Fortunately Ilmater granted us a boon, and Vorin and I were able to join the rest of the Crusaders. We were also favoured by the confines of the cavern we were in, which prevented the dragon taking flight. However, it had enhanced its movement, so there was little chance of our escaping up the ladder; it would be after us too quick! Therefore, with all other options removed, it was left for us to don the mantle of heroes, and become dragonslayers (or die trying!) 

Our first feint was to get Miles and a selection of Adamo’s monsters on the far side of the dragon, that we might flank it. Miles got his usual sneaky stabs in, but was repeatedly tail slapped and bitten for his trouble, and fell to the ground. However, Stedd, who kept up the distracting barrage, quickly replaced him. Hence, with the pincer maintained, and with a third angle of attack provided by myself standing on the water to the beasts left, we provided enough damage to send the beast back to Tiamat, with none of us dying in the battle. A remarkable feat! 

That left us with the dragon’s treasure to sort through; I must admit even I was intrigued as to what the dragon might be in possession of. The treasure was buried in the water, but Adamo called forth a water elemental to dredge the lake for all items within. 

Other than the usual treasure (of which there was plenty your eminence, be sure the church will share!) there were diverse minor items, and one unusual one: a small black wooden box with a white skull upon the lid and no lock. On using a spell of magic detection, Adamo was amazed to discover that auras from all eight schools of magic were emanating from the box. The following morning, Halbrinn checked for traps on the box, and found none. Even more intrigued, we enspelled Adamo with various protections, then he went into a room on his own to find out what was in the box. On emergence, a white-faced Adamo suggested that we not use what was in the box except as a last resort. This I took to be good advice; having seen some of the things that Adamo experiences on a day-to-day basis, if he says leave something alone, you can surely consider my interest un-piqued! 

We took our leave of the dwarves soon after this, laden as we were with the spoils of dragon-hoard. The dwarves did not even seem particularly avaricious towards the dragon hoard, a sure sign that they consider themselves lucky: They may not admit it, but I think we have impressed the Rudenheims by what we have achieved. A shame that Khondar did not live to see his stronghold liberated, but it was his own choice not to return from the Halls of Moraddin, or the forges of Dumathoin, or wherever he has chosen to abide. I wish him well. And that, as Ilmater knows, is the choice a martyr may make, to ensure his name is written in illuminations for future generations to remark over. Who would be remembered as the lord of a small outpost, when history may remember you as a glorious liberator of downtrodden dwarves? 

On the journey back to Dagger Falls, a large white wolf joined us. This turned out to be Vorin’s mount, which is unusual to say the least. Still, the beast is loyal to its master, and we have no horses, or other creatures that would take umbrage at it, so no harm will likely come of it. And I must say, it is a daunting beast, to say naught of its fighting and tracking ability. 

When we got back to Dagger Falls, we each went our separate ways to complete personal business and the commissioning of items of magic that our not insubstantial capital could purchase. I reported to the watch that the mystery involving the murderous monks of the Old Order (q.v. letters sent in the second-third week of Nightal, 1372 DR) was actually the work of Shades posing as said monks. This went pretty much over the head of the sergeant I was speaking to, but I had to try to explain. I then went to the church to explain the same to Sir Dundragon, who seemed similarly confused, but hid it better. I have a simple equation for measuring Sir Helm’s comprehension: The lower the level of understanding, the higher the loudness and heartiness. Still, he is a good and stout defender of the church; if only he was a bit less roundhouse with his backslaps! 

Finally, as I mentioned at the top of my report, the Crusaders were summoned before Lord Morn, and a small group of what I took to be his intelligence service. There, the government man (F.Y.I., your grace, he is in fact an elf by the name of Respen Moondown) described the nest of drow we are to extract the pledge from. I’m sure he knows more than he is letting on, and I believe I noticed some virtually imperceptible interaction between this elf and Miles, but that really only confirms what I have already sus


----------



## Eccles (Aug 10, 2003)

F.A.O. His Eminence Pietr Orik,
C/o the Temple of Ilmater,
The Triad’s Road,
Temple District,
Trailsend. 

Your Grace, 

We are currently at ease in the court of Lord Morn, having just been given a mission by that said personage! It is none other than to investigate a group of drow, that have appeared out of nowhere in a maze of crypts some distance to the south and a little west of Dagger Falls. There is a possibility that these drow have direct access to the Underdark, for they are not of any of the Houses that have set themselves up in Cormanthor (q.v. letters: Marpenoth 16th and 20th, 1372 DR (re. House Jaelre); Marpenoth 29th, 1372 DR (re. House Auzkovyn)), according to Lord Morn’s intelligence. I will provide further information to you as I uncover it, your Grace, but for now I will continue with my narrative as I left off previously. 

We rested after the battle with the Shades, and then went back to the throne room. After some brief searching of the robing room behind the throne’s dais, we chose one amongst the various unblocked exits from the throne room and tried our luck with what lay beyond. This turned out to be a group of scruffy grey dwarves, lording it over an emaciated and vacant-eyed group of Rudenheims, who were chained to their workbenches, and slaving over forges, creating the silvery weapons, which had now become familiar to us. The grey dwarves then proved themselves to be duergar by turning invisible before our eyes. However, their typical dwarven footwear gave their positions away, and in less time than it takes to say, Stedd had leapt upon the nearest and had borne him down. The other two managed to escape—in a manner of speaking—by muttering some graceless nonsense and then throwing themselves from a nearby precipice. Looking down, I could see no method of survival, and they had disappeared at a much faster rate than that allowed by the various floating spells. 

I stabilised the duergar prisoner, for later questioning, then we turned our attentions to the enslaved Rudenheims. We released them, and Stedd and Halbrinn offered to escort them to the upper levels, and their brethren. Unfortunately, the mist spell I had previously cast in the throne room had by now dissipated, only to reveal something nasty stuck in Adamo’s webs: Two basilisks! Stedd and the dwarves survived, and raised the alarm, but Halbrinn was turned to stone on the instant. The rest of us, hearing the cries of alarm, rushed back to the throne room. We picked up Halbrinn (currently a stone pixie!) and ran from the room, before the basilisks could respond (they are slow and cumbersome, thank Ilmater!). It was then decided that we would take a break, resting to regain spells, whilst Adamo teleported back to Dagger Falls with Halbrinn, to restore the rocky gnome to fleshiness. 

We took this opportunity to question the duergar, as the Rudenheims were looking at him very darkly, and muttering darkly, too! He could tell us little, other than to say his master (the ‘One Below’) could be found somewhere in the depths of the chasm into which his fellow duergar had jumped. This at least gave us a little forewarning, although we had no clue as to what this ‘One Below’ could be, of course. I then furnished the duergar with a little anaesthetic balm, and allowed the Rudenheims to take him away. The duergar was entirely stoical about this, and made no attempt at escape. I offered a prayer to Ilmater on his behalf, although I did not waste my breath inviting the grey dwarf to prey with me: I could see the sneer already, even as I offered him the comfort of the balm. Some just cannot be helped. 

Hearing that basilisks use gaze to turn creatures to stone, I had the idea that they could not do this if they were blind. I therefore used my spells to shift several prayers into cause blindness, in the hope that this strategy would prove fruitful. Then, with the doors between the basilisks and us firmly barred, the Clearwater Crusaders, in our various locations, slept to replenish ourselves. 

Come the morn (a figure of speech I cannot escape, your grace, please forgive it’s incongruity) and we were ready, once again, for battle with foul creatures. A short while after prayers Adamo reappeared with Halbrinn, now looking a good deal less stony! We informed them of our plan to use blindness spells, which Adamo endorsed with the addendum that basilisks gaze attacks are short range: a few dozen feet at best. This would be considerably shorter in range than my blindness spells, so if the others could occupy the basilisks physically, it should be a simple matter for me to curtail their magical gaze. 

As it turned out, the plan had a good measure of success. On opening the door I was faced with the two basilisks, set well apart, in an ambush. Despite my attempts to glance only from the corner of my eyes, one managed to catch my fleeting gaze, and I felt the force of magic surge around me as a metamorphosis attempted to take me. I resisted, and with the grace of Ilmater, threw off the petrifying force. Then, I took my chance and preyed, summoning the stored energies to empower my words as I threw the blinding magics at the basilisk that had attempted to turn me to stone… And saw its eyes dim. Plainly, as its head shifted left and right, it was obvious that it could see no more, and the power in its gaze had been negated. The plan was then put into action, and the remainder of the Crusaders surged forwards to disrupt the remaining basilisk and put an end to the blind one. I used a second blindness spell to affect the second basilisk, and offered a prayer of thanks to Ilmater as that spell also worked, without the creature resisting the blindness. 

With the blindness spells both having been successful, the battle was all but won, and no more need be said. 

We were now free to search the remaining rooms off the throne room, finding little of interest, excepting some of Vorin’s gear, in a locked storeroom, and a dwarven ghost. This ghost, it was quickly surmised, was not of the sinister variety, being purely the spirit of a Rudenheim, murdered by ogres. The poor shade, who’s appellation was Korgan Axegrider during his living years, could not leave his chamber, conveying to us that he would turn to mist on attempting this. We could do little for him, though we were quick to offer to inform the living Rudenheims of him predicament, that they might help him. 

Further exploration turned up nothing except empty storerooms and sleeping quarters. We were just about to give up, when we happened upon a room with crates. Boredom having superseded his normal good sense, Halbrinn bashed open one of the crates without pausing for thought (I blame this lack of good sense on the osmosis of stupidity from his metamorphic form—currently he was masquerading as a hill giant—to his natural form. Whatever the explanation, the result was the same: A huge golem burst forth from the crates and promptly attacked us! This particular variety was a clay golem, and we were quick to learn that it had a rather horrid array of abilities, the worst of which was the ability to cause wounds that could not be healed by any normal means: a direct affront, if ever there was one! We managed to best the device with some good old heavy-handed smiting, although diverse of us were left with painful ailments, which I could not salve. We learned later that powerful magics could be used to heal the hurts, but those hurts had to be borne until we returned to Dagger Falls, which was no small misery, of that I can vouch! 

Returning to the throne room once more, we took the one last exit we had not explored. This only uncovered a shrine to Moraddin, which had been desecrated. Knowing that the Rudenheims would soon be by to clear the mess up, we left well alone and returned to the throne room again, to take stock. 

There were only two routes left that we had not taken: The route past the roper, and the duergar-swallowing chasm. We chose the chasm, not feeling any need to meet the roper again. So we returned to the chasm’s edge, which provided us with a particularly unedifying scenario. We could neither see far into the dark, nor hear anything above the amplified splash of the stream that tumbled into the darkness from the lip of the crevasse. 

Adamo, taking the initiative, lit a sunrod and used a spell of flying to explore the upper reaches, where a ladder was illuminated. Halbrinn, still in giant form, whispered some words of magic and became invisible. We heard him move over to the ladder, and then the noise of his movements was lost above the racket of tumbling water. Some time later, two bobbing lights indicated that Halbrinn had found an alternative route to get to the ladder (a secret door had been placed beside the ladder, partway down, with a passage leading back to where we were standing, or thereabouts. This we used, grateful for the chance to bypass the leap of faith we would otherwise need to reach the ladder, which began partway around the chasm from us, and some way below our feet! 

On reaching the bottom of the ladder, we were confronted by a body of water, and an assault course, probably used by the Shade monks. We followed the bank of the water until we got to a small bridge, which we began, gingerly, to cross. Most of us had crossed, when suddenly a projection of viscous, green-black fluid sprayed across Halbrinn and I. I reacted with enough speed to dodge the ichor, but Halbrinn was less lucky, and we heard the unmistakable sizzle of acid, as Halbrinn yelped in pain. I looked across and saw the shape of our assailant flap out of the darkness: By the Triad, it was a large black dragon! 

Without pause we all turned tail and fled, even Vorin! Not all were affected by the dragonfear, but we might as well have. The bridge had been set as a trap; there was nowhere to go once it had been traversed. I used mists to try to cover our escape, by which time all except Vorin and I had removed themselves from the death trap set for us. The dragon laughed off my attempt at cover, chillingly calling to us that we were still plainly visible to it. It confirmed that by jumping across and landing on the strand behind Vorin and I, but we took this opportunity to escape, as it had not closed off the route between our friends and us. 

All had become dark, however, a magical darkness that my eyes could not penetrate. Vorin launched himself over the bridge using the last directions I could provide to guide his way, whilst I took the opportunity to use my ring of water walking to escape across the water. I used a hand on the wall to guide myself around the corner from the dragon, before its lethal breath or claws or teeth could make a mess of me. 

Fortunately Ilmater granted us a boon, and Vorin and I were able to join the rest of the Crusaders. We were also favoured by the confines of the cavern we were in, which prevented the dragon taking flight. However, it had enhanced its movement, so there was little chance of our escaping up the ladder; it would be after us too quick! Therefore, with all other options removed, it was left for us to don the mantle of heroes, and become dragonslayers (or die trying!) 

Our first feint was to get Miles and a selection of Adamo’s monsters on the far side of the dragon, that we might flank it. Miles got his usual sneaky stabs in, but was repeatedly tail slapped and bitten for his trouble, and fell to the ground. However, Stedd, who kept up the distracting barrage, quickly replaced him. Hence, with the pincer maintained, and with a third angle of attack provided by myself standing on the water to the beasts left, we provided enough damage to send the beast back to Tiamat, with none of us dying in the battle. A remarkable feat! 

That left us with the dragon’s treasure to sort through; I must admit even I was intrigued as to what the dragon might be in possession of. The treasure was buried in the water, but Adamo called forth a water elemental to dredge the lake for all items within. 

Other than the usual treasure (of which there was plenty your eminence, be sure the church will share!) there were diverse minor items, and one unusual one: a small black wooden box with a white skull upon the lid and no lock. On using a spell of magic detection, Adamo was amazed to discover that auras from all eight schools of magic were emanating from the box. The following morning, Halbrinn checked for traps on the box, and found none. Even more intrigued, we enspelled Adamo with various protections, then he went into a room on his own to find out what was in the box. On emergence, a white-faced Adamo suggested that we not use what was in the box except as a last resort. This I took to be good advice; having seen some of the things that Adamo experiences on a day-to-day basis, if he says leave something alone, you can surely consider my interest un-piqued! 

We took our leave of the dwarves soon after this, laden as we were with the spoils of dragon-hoard. The dwarves did not even seem particularly avaricious towards the dragon hoard, a sure sign that they consider themselves lucky: They may not admit it, but I think we have impressed the Rudenheims by what we have achieved. A shame that Khondar did not live to see his stronghold liberated, but it was his own choice not to return from the Halls of Moraddin, or the forges of Dumathoin, or wherever he has chosen to abide. I wish him well. And that, as Ilmater knows, is the choice a martyr may make, to ensure his name is written in illuminations for future generations to remark over. Who would be remembered as the lord of a small outpost, when history may remember you as a glorious liberator of downtrodden dwarves? 

On the journey back to Dagger Falls, a large white wolf joined us. This turned out to be Vorin’s mount, which is unusual to say the least. Still, the beast is loyal to its master, and we have no horses, or other creatures that would take umbrage at it, so no harm will likely come of it. And I must say, it is a daunting beast, to say naught of its fighting and tracking ability. 

When we got back to Dagger Falls, we each went our separate ways to complete personal business and the commissioning of items of magic that our not insubstantial capital could purchase. I reported to the watch that the mystery involving the murderous monks of the Old Order (q.v. letters sent in the second-third week of Nightal, 1372 DR) was actually the work of Shades posing as said monks. This went pretty much over the head of the sergeant I was speaking to, but I had to try to explain. I then went to the church to explain the same to Sir Dundragon, who seemed similarly confused, but hid it better. I have a simple equation for measuring Sir Helm’s comprehension: The lower the level of understanding, the higher the loudness and heartiness. Still, he is a good and stout defender of the church; if only he was a bit less roundhouse with his backslaps! 

Finally, as I mentioned at the top of my report, the Crusaders were summoned before Lord Morn, and a small group of what I took to be his intelligence service. There, the government man (F.Y.I., your grace, he is in fact an elf by the name of Respen Moondown) described the nest of drow we are to extract the pledge from. I’m sure he knows more than he is letting on, and I believe I noticed some virtually imperceptible interaction between this elf and Miles, but that really only confirms what I have already suspected. The quest seems genuine enough to me, so I have accepted it. It does seem to tie in quite nicely with the path I have already chosen, so will take it as a further sign that all is well with my own private quest. 

So, until next time, your Grace, I will sign off. For now, I go to hunt the dark elves of the Underdark! 

Yvgeny. 

Ilmater save the king.


----------



## Eccles (Aug 27, 2003)

*Yvgeny's 10th Letter home*

F.A.O. His Eminence Pietr Orik,
C/o the Temple of Ilmater,
The Triad’s Road,
Temple District,
Trailsend. 

Your Grace, 

Many portentous events have occurred to the Clearwater Crusaders since I last wrote. We have fought drow and their related creatures, and not all of us live to tell the tale. Now, as we are once again back in Dagger Falls, and some of my friends have returned as if from the dead, I once again have the energy to set quill to parchment, to further enlighten you on what my comrades and I have been up to. 

I will start with a change of personnel. It seems that Stedd has left the Crusaders, to attempt to further clear the name of his fellow brethren in the Old Order School. First he has to find them, of course! However, he is a resourceful fellow, so I wish him all the best. His place in the Crusaders has been filled by a mysterious mage (another; by Ilmater does no-one believe that the best access to magic is through the gods?) This mage, one Pavel Greycastle (not a fellow countryman, despite the appellation) apparently works for the government of Daggerdale, as Respen introduced him to us, and Miles seemed to know him, too. He is a shapeshifter by specialty, which should provide some useful variation to our attacking ability, I suppose. 

A day or so later, we began our journey to the crypts, and the drow. We tooled up with some scrolls and the odd wand and went on our way. I took possession of some interesting ‘pastries’ and a headband of intellect, from the ‘bakery’ we have here in Dagger Falls. This headband speeded up my understanding of Celestial no end, and I found myself better able to concentrate on my studies of the Twin Path, your grace. Thank Ilmater for such useful magics! I was now able to join the Crusaders on their journey to deal with this drow enclave with the hope that I could make a greater contribution. 

The journey to the crypts was mostly uneventful, save for the uncovering of evidence of drow predations in the area south of Dagger Falls. We passed a homestead that had been ravaged; a baby’s corpse had been hung in the charred branches of a tree like an icon of drow hatred. We took the baby down and placed it in the nearest building, along with as many other bodies as we could find, then collapsed the building to protect the dead from predators. The ground was still hard from winter frost, and we lacked the tools to create quality graves in such circumstances. What we did not lack was a renewed desire to visit some justice upon the perpetrators of this crime scene. So I offered up a prayer to Ilmater that the souls of these simple country people would be soothed by our dedication, and then we continued post haste to our destination. 

Just a few hours later, we arrived at the group of mausolea, which were hidden from the road by a hill. The largest crypt was set into the hillside itself, the sturdy main doors flanked by two armoured skeletons. Tools of some sort had been used on the doors, which had left them damaged, but had not reduced their integrity: We could not open them with a simple push, nor could Adamo, with whatever strange creatures he conjured on the far side of the door. We were reduced to announcing our presence by going through the door in our typical ‘understated’ style. For which, read: we bruted our way in! 

On entering the crypt, we found ourselves in a corridor that was strewn with the bodies of dead drow. Confirming that these corpses were not going to rise up, we took a closer look, finding a variety of weapons and the fact that they were all facing in different directions, suggesting they were ambushed. They had also been dead nearly a tenday, which boded well for us, as it suggested that we were unlikely to be met by a patrol here. Or, that drow have absolutely no respect for their dead… 

The bodies surrounded a door, which we promptly checked. No traps were detected so we risked a look inside, discovering a dusty crypt but nothing else. We then continued with caution up the corridor, until we discovered another door, which after another pause for trap-discovery, I opened. On entering the room, I found it filled with a number of sarcophagi… Then I triggered the protective trap, which was just inside the door. Two celestial dire lions appeared and pounced before I had moved even one inch further. I was raked and mauled close to death in a matter of seconds, my learning of the celestial idiom being insufficient to deter the lions from their pre-programmed path. 

When I came to, I found myself shielded from a wall of stone, but the roaring of the beasts on the other side told me that the lions were still keen to rend me in twain. We therefore left the room as swiftly as possible, continuing up the corridor after I had repaired my wounds somewhat! By the Triad, no wonder the dark elves didn’t appear to wonder these particular catacombs! 

This thought was borne out almost on the instant, when Miles checked the next door. A black figure suddenly sprang from the surface of the door, engulfing the agent for a few seconds, before dissipating. The blanched face Miles wore for almost an hour afterwards attests to the fact that he almost succumbed to a powerful death spell. I almost felt sorry for him! Needless to say, the door from which this spell was triggered was left well alone by the rest of us, and we gingerly continued. 

We then went down some steps cut into the stone of the crypt, and found ourselves in a natural cave. Light from our various light sources illuminated bodies stacked along the walls of the cavern, and also a statue of Jergal in the centre of the open space. Not wanting to anger the Pitiless One by encroaching further into the crypt without acknowledgment, both Adamo and I made offerings of gold and gems to the statue, and then we continued on our way. 

We continued on through Jergal’s cave and were about to exit it into a corridor on the far side of the cavern when—curses—we walked headlong into another roper! Ilmater knows how we never see or hear these beasts as we approach, but yet again we were dodging incredibly sticky strands before we knew what hit us. I was weakened, again, but the rest were luckier. Knowing what we were dealing with this time, the rest rapidly charged the beast, and belayed it before it could snag them. Miles, in particular, made the thing suffer. Guess he must have studied the peculiar anatomy of ropers whilst we were in Dagger Falls. There’s nothing Miles hates more than being confronted with a creature and not knowing where to stick his blades to do the most damage; it is his raison d’étre, after all! 

After searching the roper’s environs, we continued on into the corridor, leaving the cave behind us, and quickly uncovered a second corridor off to our left as we progressed. Examining this new corridor led us to an open area strewn with piles of gear. This seems custom-made as a trap, as there was no other exit from this area other than back the way we came, so I stood guard in the connecting tunnel, whilst our more avaricious party members plundered the goods on offer. By Ilmater, as sure as every knight needs a healer, a trap was sprung as soon as the nearest pack was rifled. Some strange creature—a gnoll was my first thought—appeared from nowhere and attacked the group. The mask slipped after it burst amongst my comrades, however: It was actually a demon (a Maurezhi, by the Triad!) I do admit, your grace, that at that moment the red mists descended, and I foully cursed my ill luck at being at the back of the party for this fight, and weakened also! However, I was to have scant chance to intervene in this battle: Pavel suddenly took on the shape of a troll, and made this conversion pay by taking a huge chunk out of the foul beast. Grabbing the demon with both claws, he rent the creature in twain before I, or any of my comrades, could lay a weapon to it. I commended Pavel for his quick reactions, but silently cursed him for depriving me of any sport. Ilmater, I beg forgiveness for my bloodthirstiness, but I can’t deny my heritage! 

On completing the rummage of the gear found in this open space, we turned up some items of magic, which we stowed. We then continued back the way we had come, this time with Pavel in the lead, but it appears we had alerted some guards. On rounding a curve in the corridor, we came upon a narrow opening in the tunnel ahead, which was guarded by some drow. Arrows came sailing down the corridor towards us, but Pavel ignored these, and the rest used Pavel as cover to close with the drow as quickly as possible. The drow had a pet spider with them, but little else, so were quickly overcome. This was the first living drow I had killed since Cormanthor, and I dedicated the death to the unnamed child in the homestead we had passed. No remorse: I’m certain the drow died more quickly. 

It was at this point that we decided to call a hiatus to our advances into the crypts. A drop shaft was discovered in the room guarded by the drow, which we decided would only be explored after we had had a nights rest. Therefore, with yours truly in a weakened state, the rest of the Crusader’s decided that the level we were on would be explored thoroughly, whilst I got some rest. With that in mind, Adamo stayed with me, so that he could spend some time identifying the specific magics of some items he had and to ensure no harm came to me. The rest headed off, finding an as yet undiscovered part of the crypts hidden by an illusionary wall. I have not yet enquired into the details of this particular adventure, so cannot describe it to you, your grace. However, it seems mostly incidental, so I think we can leave it. 

Anyway, Adamo and I were not beset, and I had managed to rest and regain some strength. However, we were still on our own when Adamo and I heard the sound of someone following us. Fearing we would be ambushed whilst we were short numbered, Adamo struck before we had even had a good look at our would-be attackers. Sighting a huge dire lion, Adamo summoned some form of abominated dire ape to deal with it. I could see nothing of the battle at this point, so energised a Searing Light spell for use on the nearest target that showed itself. I advanced to where Adamo was standing, thinking his position safe. It was not, however; we were immersed in a column of fire, roaring down from some source in the tunnel roof. This turned out to be some lay line running underground, a surmise I have made due to the source of the spell: Judging from the voice proclaiming the pre-eminence of nature, a druid had just bombarded us. Now, as I am sure you know, your eminence, the vast majority of druids are reasonable people (providing you abide by their rules, of course!). Calculating that this druid was most likely hunting the drow that had burned out the homestead, I decided I would attempt to discover the answer. Unfortunately, I was roasted a second time for my trouble, by a fireball from a mage ally of the druid. When we finally saw eye to eye, the druid’s pet lion had been slain (not out fault, actually, the fireball had done for it), Adamo was almost dead and I was badly singed to say the least. Ilmater! If only people would talk first, instead of glorying in their ability to kill and maim in the shortest possible time! Incidentally, the druid’s name is Deirdre, and the mage’s name is Bob. Odd names. Still, I wasn’t saying so! 

Another wizard then appeared out of nowhere, perpetuating the confusion. He spoke shortly to the druid about some items that had been removed from a client’s person, who was shortly to be resurrected. This wizard was working for an ‘insurer’ by the name of ‘Mench.’ By the Triad, your eminence, by this time my head was totally in a spin, so I did not have the savvy to stop him and ask some questions before he was gone again! I settled myself by offering all and sundry the benefit of some healing; at least I knew where I was, there! 

Soon after this, the rest of the Crusaders turned up. Miles had apparently been laid low, so I followed Pavel to where Miles had been hidden, and healed the stricken agent. On bringing Miles round, we headed back to join the others. Things were made considerably clearer when Miles saw the druid and the mage: He recognised them as employees of the Daggerdale government, and finally we saw the irony of our situation. They had been specifically sent to help us; instead, we had begun a battle with them. Ilmater, this was not one of our better days! 

We headed back to the drop shaft, Adamo taking the lead. He was most unhappy that the Daggerdale contingent had not issued a warning, given that they were informed of who they were looking for (were they not given specific descriptions?) and this appeared to have affected his judgment. He charged down the drop shaft, with the rest of us struggling to keep up. We traversed a short corridor, and then found ourselves before another drop shaft, where Adamo actually paused. 

I took a cautious look over the edge of the shaft, my vision delineating a small cage set into the wall of the vertical tunnel, some thirty feet or so down. The rest of the shaft continued down until I could see no more, which suggested that this shaft was more than sixty feet deep. A bottleneck, if ever there was one! I reported my findings to the rest, and we sat down to decide a plan of action. 

Adamo, tired of the cautious indecision of the rest of us, enchanted a stone with a light spell and dropped it into the shaft. The reason there was a cage set in the shaft then became obvious: It contained a bat, which began flapping around noisily in the cage, squeaking an almost inaudible warning. My slightly sharper ears picked it up quite clearly; as I’m sure the drows’ did too. 

At this time, a fey mood took Adamo. He cast a spell, then jumped into the shaft and began floating downwards… Below, the sounds of battle were joined seconds later. Light from the stone Adamo had dropped illuminated dark figures, at least three, attacking the mage, who then slumped to the ground as though in a swoon. I dropped one of our special pastries in the hope of delaying the figures from doing their worst (the detonation, your eminence, was quite painful on my ears even though I was standing at least seventy feet from the explosion!) However, when I looked back I saw that all three had ignored the blast from the flash-bang, and were continuing to ravage the fallen mage. 

Deirdre then summoned a swarm of flying insects to try and distract the figures, whilst Halbrinn and I used spells and prayers and empower Miles (invisibility and protection from evil). He, being the best climber, and now strengthened by magic gloves, was the best man to rescue Adamo, so we dropped a rope down the shaft, that he might climb down. Miles also had the last teleporting ring in the party, which could be used if all else failed. Deirdre decided she would help too; some guilt seemed to be manifesting itself, here, I suppose, so she also followed Miles down the rope. Here is where Vorin’s heroism overcame good sense. Deciding that he, also, could contribute to saving Adamo, he ran to the rope and began climbing down before any of the rest of us could prevent him. Clearly, it had not occurred to him that Miles had the teleportation ring, and now he was already halfway down. Curses! Worse, the drop shaft had once again become pitch black: Clearly, a spellcaster had enshrouded proceedings with a darkness spell. Knowing that my simple light spell could not penetrate the darkness, I strained my ears to discover what was going on, and repeatedly called to discover whether help was required. All I could hear was a peculiar hissing noise, the source of which became clear when I pulled up the rope after a minute or so. The last ten foot had been eaten through by acid. Fearing that floods of acid had done for our comrades, those at the top of the shaft were forced to conclude that a horrible evil was beneath us, and we should retreat now, before we were all consumed. 

I cursed my inability to save any of my friends, and my unwillingness to follow them into death. However, to delay longer would almost certainly spell our deaths, so Bob, Pavel, Halbrinn and I headed back to Dagger Falls. There we explained to Respen how abject our failure was, and that at half the Crusaders were dead. Fortunately, we were in error. Two days after we arrived in Dagger Falls, who should turn up at the inn but Miles and Adamo! They told tales of how Miles’ ring malfunctioned and dropped them unceremoniously in the realm of the Shield Dwarves, in the Rift Valley, Tethyr. This is, naturally, the short form of their tale, which, verily, was almost as perilous as any of the battles we had survived thus far! The dwarves of the Rift do not take kindly to strangers, apparently, and were mostly in favour of doing the two humans in! But they survived, and after some wrangling (involving virtually all the mithril we had stored in the bag of holding) they were set free, and returned to Dagger Falls via another teleport spell. By the Triad, they were mostly none the worse for their experience! 

There explanations also covered just what had gone on at the bottom of the drop shaft. Apparently, so form of ghastly drow undead had surrounded Adamo, but it was the sleep arrow of the living drow archer that did for him so quickly. Additionally, the acid used to attack the rope came from one of these undead dark elves, not from a dread acid spell, or monster, or anything else of that variety. Needless to say, I felt slightly foolish. But then, where was this information in our mission report, given by Respen? I thank the Triad my own secret service is better informed, of that you can be certain, your grace. 

So my roster of failures is just a little shorter, as I prey this evening. I feel the greatest pang that Vorin has not survived, as he was one of the best of men, being a cleric of Torm and a good fighter. He sacrificed his life, and two of his comrades survived because of it. I shall not forget that fact. 

Finally, as discussed, there have been some personnel changes. To keep you up to date, your eminence, I will now list who has come and who has gone. 

Stedd of the Old Order. Stedd has left the Crusaders to pursue the secrets of the disappearance of his school, and to get his school pardoned for crimes perpetrated by Shades. 

Miles O’Kane. As ever, still looking after his own and Daggerdale’s interests (in that order). 

Halbrinn. Halbrinn is still occasionally a gnome, although also a pixie and an ogre, though not at the same time. He has indeed proved useful in searching out traps, but has also shown much skill in creating magic items. 

Adamo. Still an amazing conjuror, although I’m beginning to doubt he has a firm grip on his sanity. Time will tell… 

Vorin. A cleric of Torm, with some ability in the way of the open hand. Unfortunately killed trying to aid in the rescue of Adamo from a group of drow undead, archers and mages. 

Pavel Greycastle. A shapeshifter specialist mage. Uses the strengths of any beast that is most pertinent to the current situation by changing his form to suit. Favours the form of the troll, which is disconcerting in the middle of an all-out mêlée, to say the least! Also an employee of the Daggerdale government, like Miles. 

Myself. Still here, your grace, and still making a contribution, in my own way. 

Yvgeny. 

Ilmater save the king.


----------



## Kayne (Sep 14, 2003)

*Miles' Journal - Part Sixteen*

*Ches 4th* - We set off early after collecting our purchases from the Temple of Lathander (good thing about temples devoted to the morning lord is that they open early), leaving Halbrinn behind to fetch our purchases from the Thayans (bad thing about Thayans is that they are lazy good for nothings who sleep in late). After a couple hours we reached a hamlet that I had passed through a few times as the road to Clearwater runs through it. The settlement has been utterly destroyed, with everyone slain, some in appalling fashion, we found a baby nailed to a wall! The drow will pay in blood for this atrocity.

Following the raiders trail we traced them back to an ancient set of crypts set against a cliff face in the foothills of the Desertsmouth Mountains. There are two old crypts and a huge set of stone double doors leading into the cliff face. Seeing no reason to disturb the crypts as we could find no evidence that the drow had either, we left those well alone and investigated the doors finding them to be barred. Adamo, Yvgeny and Vorin took it upon themselves to open the door. I sat back and watched as they shoulder charged the door over and over, eventually getting it open (and no doubt bruising themselves nastily in the process).

Beyond the doors a corridor led away into the darkness and we headed inside cautiously, and then VERY cautiously as the first thing we spotted were the bodies of five drow arranged around a doorway. On inspecting the corpses we noticed that some had been killed by bludgenoing weapons, the rest by quarrels. Investigating beyond the door that that had died at we discovered a completely empty five chambered crypt. Very bizarre.

Continuing on our way down the corridor it turned to the right and we then had another door to deal with on the left wall. Adamo opened the door and stepped into the room, only for a brace of golden lions to appear from nowhere and tear into him! Yvgeny acted fast and dragged him out of there, with our conjurer throwing up a wall of stone to seal off the room and prevent the lions from continuing their assault. While Yvgeny tended to the wizards wounds I checked another door a little further down the corridor to the right and nearly died as a black cloaked figure with a hideous skeletal visage passed out of the door (or through it) and leapt into me. I could feel my blood running cold, but I summoned every ounce of strength I could to fight the effect and emerged thankfully unscathed. Having seen this, the group were unanimous in leaving that door well alone!

We headed down a long set of steps and emerged into a roughly hewn cavern, the walls of which were lined with niches filled with bones. Intent on investigating these Adamo nearly got ifected with yellow mold for his troubles, and we hurried onward into another cavern. this one though was empty save for a large and very strangely insectile statue in the middle of it. Yvgeny recognised the figure as a depiction of Jergal, an ancient God of the Dead! Needless to say I don't think there was one of us who did not leave an offering at the statues base in appeasement as we passed... right into a Roper! The damn thing had sited itself squarely in the middle of the tunnel leading out of the statues cave, and it easily grabbed Yvgeny and Vorin as they marched right into its tentacled clutches. Thankfully I had gotten very close to one of these in our last encounter with one, and I had seen a few flaws in its impressive chitinous armour. I ran at the beast and somersaulted over it. landing behind it and with the benefit of the burst of speed given me by my boots tore it to bloody ribbons with a few well placed sword strikes in its back.

Picking up our priest and paladin out of the mess that had been the Roper, we headed on through a large and surprisingly empty cavern and then we spotted a side cave littered with piles of equipment. Greed getting the better of our common sense, we headed in and got ambushed by a demon of some sort (Yvgeny knowing all about fiends and such later told me it was a Maurezhi, a vile form of Tanar'ri). It's ambush did not do it much good though as it didn't pick its target very well, its attacks having little effect on me, and my swords doing considerable damage to it. Before it got another chance to try and wound me, Pavel (shapechanged into Troll form) walked up behind it and tore it limb from limb as though it were a ragdoll.

That done, we searched through the equipment piles, finding many magical items that we placed in the groups bag of holding to sort out later on, and continued down the corridor into a large room with a hole leading downwards. Here we fought two drow (finally some sight of them) and their pet, a giant spider. While the rest seemed to be intimidated by taking on the darkelves, Pavel and I were extremely efficient in exterminating them all. It was at this point that Halbrinn arrived having finally caught up to us, and he had the wands we had ordered with him. We headed back to the large empty cavern and decided to rest up, right up until Pavel noticed that one wall of this cavern was illusionary, at which point we decided to split up. Adamo would use his magic to identify the equipment we had taken thus far from the demon and the drow corpses, and Yvgeny would remain on guard with him, while the rest of us explored this new section of the crypts.

Once the wall had been proved to be illusionary, it was easy to disbelieve in it and we headed down a short corridor into a cave with two massive demonic spiders (called Bebiliths apparently). Halbrinn immediately unleashed his scare spell, thankfully killing one of the beasts straight away as the other proved to be a tough opponent to put down as its claws tore armour apart, ripping asunder my elven chainmail and vorins mithril shield and breastplate! Pavel and Vorin eventually killed it, but my lovely new suit of armour is lost. I am forced to rely on the heavier chain shirt I had been using before getting it, a good thing I didn't sell it on.

Pavel again spotted an illusionary wall and passing through that we did battle with a pair of strange creatures that shifted between drow and spider forms. Steeled for a tough battle after dealing with the bebiliths, these were no match and I finished off both of them.

It was then, as we were looting the bodies that Pavel spotted yet another illusionary wall! We passed through it... right into an ice storm spell and a group of four very well armed and armoured drow including a wizard and cleric. It was a tough fight and Pavel and myself were nearly killed during it, but in the end we killed all of them bar the wizard who managed to fly away. I got taken down by a lightning botl just before that though, and was later woken by Yvgeny and a woman called Deirdre.

It appears that whilst I was unconscious there was a collossal misunderstanding which led to the rest of the group fighting a pitched battle against Deirdre, her Dire Lion companion and a human sorceror she was travelling with called Geoff. It seems Lord Morn (or more likely Respen) had sent them here to aid us. In the ensuing fight her Lion was killed and Adamo very nearly was also, though he was thankfully saved by Yvgeny before he succumbed to his near fatal wounds. Once we had gotten acquainted with each other, we decided to press our attack down the hole to the next level of the crypts...


----------



## Kayne (Sep 14, 2003)

*Miles' Journal - Part Seventeen*

*Ches 4th  (continued)* - We got our asses handed to us to cut a long story short! Adamo, Vorin and Deirdre killed in the attack and Geoff fled from the carnage that a drow ambush, backed by a trio of strange skinless undead creatures inflicted upon us. To be sure a lot of the blame for the fiasco can be placed on Adamo's impatience (he went ahead without us having devised any kind of actual plan of attack), and also the confusion that Deirdres inset swarm spell caused to our side as it had no effect on the undead. When I realised the scale of the disaster that was unfolding I got spells cast on me to render me invisible and able to climb and headed down the shaft (the hole led down to a short corridor ending at a vertical shaft some 70' deep). Using my teleport ring I was able to retrieve Adamo's corpse, and I teleported away as Vorin was fighting a last stand, leaving him to die (which frankly he deserved for heading down into the fight against instructions not to). The only thing is that I didn't end up at the top of the shaft, or even outside the crypts where I had thought to teleport to... no, I ended up in a dwarfhold. In the pitch blackness I stumbled into a pair of guards, and was promptly arrested, questioned and imprisoned, then questioned again, then left for the night in a damp cold lightless cell, who knows where!

*Ches 5th* - The dwarves restored life to Adamo during the night as I had told them yesterday that he could verify my wild story about how I ended up in their halls. They subjected the both of us to a barrage of spells and instructed us that we could not lie and to recite our tale again. In actual fact I felt no such compulsion to tell the truth, their magic failed, but I felt my return to Daggerdale would be best expedited by indulging in a little honesty. In short order the two of us were kicked out of the dwarf hold and instructed that the nearest human city lay some distance away. On checking through our things which were returned to us, we noticed that all the mithril items we had in the bag of holding (which Adamo is usually entrusted with carrying) were gone... payment it seems for his restoration. We flew (thanks Adamo) along the rough directions that we had been given until we came to Darromar, the capital of Tethyr. My spell had indeed sent us astray, we were hundreds of miles from my homeland.

Darromar though astounded me. I had always thought that Dagger Falls was a big settlement, and not really understood the difference between a town and a city. I know now my error in thinking. A neighbourhood of this place could have swallowed my home town whole. Truly if Zhentil Keep, home of my sworn enemies, is built to such a scale, and I have little doubt but that it must be, then my self appointed mission to eradicate the Zhentarim and their minions seems nigh on impossible. I could see that Adamo was impressed with the place, but to a much lesser degree than I. I assume the sight of such a vast settlement isn't that new to him. We searched the city on foot until we found a shop selling scrolls and were able to purchase a teleport scroll powerful enough to transport the both of us. Adamo did the honours and we vanished, reappearing in the main square of Dagger Falls and making our way to the Inn the Crusaders generally stay at, startling our comrades who I assume had given us up for dead. I then set off to report to Respen who was impressed to see that Pavels information about my untimely demise was wrong. I think I have gone up a little in his esteem for this feat, especially once I informed him of what had actually happened. Having said that he was very unimpressed with our groups progress thus far, as the drow have continued their raids during the past couple days. I was summarily dismissed and told to get on with the job.

*Ches 6th* - After a group consensus we have realised that we need to upgrade our equipment to deal with threats below, as our initial foray pointed out more than a few shortcomings with the groups abilitys. We traded in our excess items to the Thayans and with the funds gained, I paid for a couple items to enhance my effectiveness. Nightvision Goggles as being blind in the underdark is the same as being useless, and Gauntlets of Ogre Power to enable me to carry more and hit harder. They will take several days to make. Respen was less than impressed with our group spending such vast sums in the Enclave but could provide no local wizard who could do the work instead. I would rather not have to give money to the Red Wizards cause, but I will not let that stand in the way of me doing my job which is to wipe out threats to my country.

*Ches 7th* - Nothing much happened today, spent a fair sum in the Inn on good food and drink. Paid for a bath also.

*Ches 8th* - The only notable thing that happened today was that Yvgeny got poisoned in an assassination attempt. We know that there is an assassin in town stalking him, sent by some people he annoyed ages back in Scardale apparently. However, with no more information than that we are unable to track him. Thankfully the poison was easily overcome.

*Ches 9th to 12th* - Resting up in Dagger Falls, the party is spread out to an extent, with Halbrinn owning a house and staying there, and Yvgeny despite the threat to his life, staying in his rooms above a bakery. On checking with Respen we learn of several people in town seeking us for fair means or foul, but none approach us.

*Ches 13th* - Went to the enclave and collected my items from the Thayans. Good workmanship, though it pains me to admit it, the wizards produce quality work. There has been another attempt on Yvgeny's life, as he was shot by several arrows in a street after dark. We still have no clues to his attackers identity to go on though. He has gained a bodyguard however, a Mystran cleric by the name of Aeron Corynian, aparently sent from Shadowdale to aid us in stopping the drow (our neighbours have had battles with the dark elves in the past and no doubt wish to send aid to our cause so that our struggle does not also become theirs).

*Ches 14th* - We set off early this morning, back to the crypts which we discover have been extensively trapped in the past tenday while we rested and re-equipped. We made very slow progress through the crypts, led by Halbrinn and myself and we systematically disarmed them, right up until we ran into a wall that wasn't there before, blocking the entrance to the cave with the hole in the floor. What is worse is that the wall then came alive, and grabbed hold of Halbrinn and I and proceded to beat the snot out of us. A mimic no less, and a very large one at that as it completely filled the corridor. We struggled for some time, Pavel assuming troll form and trying to aid us but to no avail and he ended up getting stuck himself. Adamo summoned a creature of some sort (I've given up trying to identify the monstrosities he conjures, but I no longer fear them, despite how bizarre they are), but that proved to be no help either. Finally a rope was thrown to us by Yvgeny and Aeron and with their help pulling on it, I and then Halbrinn were pulled from the creatures clutches. No such luck for Pavel though as he was absorbed and I presume devoured by the creature. So much for my first command, eaten by a wall! At least I am consoled somewhat that Respen didn't trust him, so I am unlikely to get too much said about his demise. Still it doesn't look good on my record.

We then retreated, leaving the mimic to its grisly feast and backed up to a better position, waiting for Aeron to re-memorise his spells as he claimed knowledge of a spell that could dismiss the creature to another plane of existence (Adamo having deduced that this particular mimic was fiendish in origin and thus not native to Faerun). That done we headed back to confront the creature only to find that it had gone. We entered the cavern it had been guarding, and noticed that the hole had been covered over with boards, which Halbrinn discovered to his cost had been trapped, as his clumsy attempt to determine if there was a trap triggered a fireball. At this the mimic sprung its trap, pouring off the ceiling of the corridor to seal us in the cavern. Adamo summoned lightning firing flying creatures to battle it, they seeming to have some effect while Aeron tried to dismiss it, finally succeeding on his third attempt, sending the infernal creature back to whatever hell it came from. Given that we had depleted a lot of our spells, we rested to prepare to attack down the hole at full strength.


----------



## Kayne (Sep 14, 2003)

*Miles' Journal - Part Eighteen*

*Ches 15th* - While we were preparing our attack strategy for dealing with those at the bottom of the shaft, Adamo went ahead (having rendered himself invisible and intangible, clearly his magic is becoming very impressive) and scouted out the cave below. It would seem that it is a large double chambered cave, facing onto a vast web filled chasm, and that the guard below is considerably less then we faced last time. As he was down there, we were joined above by a man called Grim, a professional hunter and killer of drow (most fortuitous!). He has been hired by Respen and sent to aid us, in much the same way that Deirdre and Geoff were. I can only hope he proves to be more useful than they were.

We launched our attack, flying down the hole (I used my alter self spell to give myself bat wings, which I have to admit I am rather fond of how they look on me, even though I find having them a little disconcerting, I value my humanity), and catching those below by complete surprise. In very short order we annihilated three drow, one undead spider and one of those skinless undead creatures that on closer inspection seems to have been made from an elf corpse. This was thanks in a large way to Adamo summoning one of his enormous snake monsters which crushed the life out of two of the drow.

No sooner had we looted the bodies though than we had to deal with a counter attack, as about a dozen drow swarmed up the webing in the chasm and assaulted us. The battle was fast and fierce and I regret that I was forced to flee from it to heal myself up, as else I would surely have succumbed to my dire wounds. We eventually prevailed however, only to have to confront another denizen of the web... a MASSIVE spider, easily 40' across which easily overran us, forcing us to gather up our wounded and beat a hasty retreat up the shaft and away. I dare say we didn't stop running till we got back to Dagger Falls!

Knowing that my sudden return would not go unnoticed by Respen I decided to make my report before I was summoned to do so. Alas my strength failed me, the spiders bite it seems carrying a virulent poison of some sort, and I was taken to a room in the guard barracks (which apprently I've been entitled to claim as mine for some time, being of officer rank) to rest. I used my healing wand to see to my open wounds, but sent for a cleric to deal with the poison coursing through my veins. I am told one will visit me tomorrow.

*Ches 16th* - Indeed in the early morning a cleric of Lathander was brought to my bedchamber, and for a tidy sum in donation to the Morninglord, my strength was fully restored. Making my way back to the others I learned that they had again ordered supplies that would take time to make, and also that Adamo and Hilbrinn were both busy scribing new spells into their books and would remain so for a few days. I returned to the barracks, and as I outranked the drill instructor, took over his lesson, putting a group of guards though a tougher than normal training session. though I got shot plenty of nasty looks for their added ordeal, there wasn't a man amongst them who didn't thank me for the additional training.

*Ches 17th to 23rd* - I spent these days training up Daggerdales guards in how to deal with assassins, including methods of hunting and searching for them. I was surprised in how well they took to the lessons and I think several of them could prove an effective unit if teamed together to ensure that agents of other powers cannot roam our town with impunity. I shall have to put the idea to Respen sometime.

*Ches 24th* - My comrades business in town finally concluded, we set off this morning back to the crypts. Once there we find that the drow have not wasted the time we gave them, and have retrapped the doors. I aided Halbrinn in getting them open, only to find that the ever resourceful drow had conjured up a stone wall across the corridor just beyond the front doors. Adamo sumoned an elemental (finally a creature that was more or less recognisable) to smash the wall, but it only made a hole, which then required a couple hours of work with a pickaxe to widen out to make an entrance large enough for us to pass through it.

Once we reached the traps, we decided against disarming them, instead flying across the caves and completely avoiding them this time around. When we reached the cavern with the hole, Halbrinn used a new spell to encase himself in an indestructible ball of energy and rolled himself down the tunnel to the shaft, setting off every trap along the way, to no effect to him. I have to admire our gnome at times like this, he is possessed of a certain mad genius that commands respect! However his idea didn't go entirely to plan as he set off a large trap that dropped a wall into the tunnel behind him, the impact of it sending him in his energy ball plummeting down the shaft to the cave below. Adamo summoned up a lava creature of some sort to get rid of the wall, by melting away the mechanism it was attached to. However it was unable to fly, so Yvgeny took hold of it and using his new spider climb slippers climbed up the wall to allow the creature to do its work, getting badly burnt in the process. With the wall dealt with, we headed down the shaft to provide aid to Halbrinn, only to find that he didn't need it, having used the ball around him to pin a skinless thing against one wall of the cave (the gnome had changed shape to an Ogre to give him the strength to do this, it is a form he has taken before). We quickly destroyed the undead, and then lured the giant spider in to attack us, which it did. We were ready for the beast this time though, and annihilated it over a protracted battle involving chasing it through the webs, in the process also dealing with another drow party who were moving up through the webs to attack us. Halbrinn who spotted them also dealt with the problem in timely fashion by fireballing them, destroying them utterly!

During the battle with the spider though I had been bitten a few times and we thus retreated back to the cavern on the chasm edge to rest until such time as Aeron could restore my strength. I spent about twelve hours lying helpless, barely able to to breathe such was my debilitated condition as my companions rested and stood guard over me.

*Ches 25th* - I was healed up by Aeron's spells early on and once Yvgeny had woken (he had stayed up all night on watch, only going to sleep once I was healed!), we readied ourselves to continue our assault downwards. Adamo used a spell to fortify our current position with a stone wall so that we have a more secure place from which to launch our forays and also to retreat to. He plans to further improve the defenses at this cave but does not want to exhaust his spell choices in doing so. I am once again fighting fit and very thankful to be so. Spending better than half a day lying utterly unable to move was maddening, thankfully my weakened state made it easy for me to sleep, indeed I could do little else!

We (meaning Yvgeny and myself) launched a sneak attack down at the cave that the drow keep attacking us from, but a sentry escaped our initial onslaught and a pitched battle broke out as we were joined by the other Crusaders and the escapising sentry alerted about a dozen drow including a skinless undead. The drow all wore white tabards emblazoned with a black skull design, probably some form of house heraldry and Yvgeny cannot recognise any religious significance about it, and he would know of these things.

The battle was fierce with Adamo using up a fair amount of his prepared spells (always a good gauge of how intense a fight was as our conjurer tends to be, how to word this, tactically conservative, in his use of magic). I took some serious wounds as the drow attacked in ranks using polearms. However, I was able to annihilate the drow comander using my boots to move swiftly behind him and slash him to ribbons with my blades.

We then set to exploring the nearby chambers docovering that this was a sentry post of a sort, carved into the side of the chasm. The only other dizen being a fire being that tore through us as it appeared when Helbrinn triggered a trapped door and it appeared in our midst with no warning. I give praise to Mask for having the fortune to travel with well prepared companions, as Aeron, having learnt from dealing with that mimic to expect extraplanar creatures on this quest had a dismissal spell in mind, and used it to great effect to send the creature away. I then collapsed to one knee, my wounds being very grevious, indeed I was fitging to remain conscious. however, with the creature gone, I took out my healing wand and had restored myself to full health in about a minute or so.

We decided to rest up before continuing onwards, and so after looting the many bodies of our fallen foes, and taking a lot of stuff that I'm sure we can put to better use than they did from them, we headed back up the web to our secured position.


----------



## Kayne (Sep 15, 2003)

*Miles' Journal - Part Nineteen*

*Ches 26th* - Our rest was interrupted near the end of second watch by a drow attack usiong a lot of spells to back their assault including a vast illusion that thoroughly fooled me into thinking that half of the area we were camped in was actually a think jungle! We were beset by a well co-ordinated, if overly eager group, comprising a drow blackguard no less, a large displacer beast and two of those skinless undead elf things, plus a cleric and a wizard (who remained invisible throughout the battle), both of whom managed to escape when we turned the tide. their companions were not so fortunate, though we were hard pressed to beat them and again I was nearly felled in battle. These attack on us are escalting in their ferocity it would seem.

I have to wonder, and I know I am not alone in the group in doing so, as to why the drow continue to hurl themselves at us again and again. there must be more to this than us stopping them raiding Daggerdale, as by my count they have now taken a few dozen losses thus far, which must weigh heavily on the mind of whoever is directing these assaults. Perhaps it is wounded pride that drives their continued onslaught now, but I do not believe so. clearly they feel that some objective will be fulfilled by dealing with us and freeing up the route back to the surface. Quite what they hope to gain from sacking villages and slaughtering peasants though is beyond me. I know only that I will not permit them to do so, the people of Daggerdale have suffered enough. If their continued peace and safetuy means I must slay every drow under this part of the world than that is what I shall do!

That done, we decided on a tactical withdrawal to Dagger Falls to rid ourselves of the bulk of the equipment we have taken from the drow we have slain in the past few days, in this ongoing tit for tat struggle. We took the liberty to destroy all of their traps on our way out, Halbrinn using his forceball to "hamster ball" himself through them all without any effect to himself. I have no idea what a hamster is, but Halbrinn claims they are a sort of rodent. He did not elaborate on what a ball has to do with one of these creatures and I'm not sure I want to know. the place made safe again, we headed out of the crypts, into the evening outside... and the icy rain which was bucketing it down as though some divine power for a joke had dropped the Moonsea itself on us! Halbrinn immediately teleported back to his house in Dagger Falls without so much as a seconds hesitation, and the rest of the group all seemed to have some means or other to stay dry (well apart from Yvgeny who didn't seem to mind the rain at all. By Mask these Damarans are a strange bunch, he was actually smiling and making comment about how mild the weather was!). I on the other hand got soaked to the skin and was thoroughly miserable by the time I got back to my room in the barracks.

*Ches 27th* - Adamo spent a large part of the morning and early afternoon casting a spell to identify the various items we had gathered and we then took the stuff we didn't want (which was a lot of it!) to the Thayans, getting a lot of money in return, most of which we then spent there on various improvements to our equipment. I paid a princely sum for the enchantments on my chain shirt and protection ring to be enhanced to better protect me in the frequent battles I am fighting, as I am sick and tired of being taken out a fight so quickly as has been happening increasingly often of late.

*Ches 28th to Tarsakh 7th* -  Rest up as my items are upgraded, and the rest of the party take the time to improive themselves or in Halbrinns case his house, adding a new room to it for the purpose of a dedicated room to teleport into he says. After ending up in thetyr on my only attempt at teleportation I can appreciate his foresight in building a place that will be easy to visualise. I made a customary report to Respen and there learned a couple interesting things. The skinless undead elves we have been fighting are named Quth Maren and are formed by a powerful ritual. I also learned that the drow wearing the white tabards are not servants of Lolth, but of a rival drow deity called Kiaransalee. Otherwise known as the Revenancer, this bitch goddess makes Lolth seem positively nice by comparison, and it seems her minions have designs on the surface for whatever foul reason. On informing the Crusaders of these details i can say that our resolve now is doubled, we will not stop until we have eradicated her followers and stymied whatever plan it is they are devising.

*Tarsakh 8th* - We trudged back to the crypts early this morning to continue in our quest, arriving at about noon to find that the doors had not been closed and locked this time. Perhaps the drow have realised the futility of trying to keep us out. they had filled in a stone wall though to try and block off the acess to the caves below, but we easily got past that. We made our way down to our usual campsite and found our way blocked by another stone wall. We then decided to rest up until tomorrow when Yvgeny can open a hole in the wall (as he did the one above) with one of his spells, he only having memorised the one of them today.

*Tarsakh 9th* - We woke up, readied ourselves and Yvgeny cast his spell to no effect! It was then that Grim and I noticed that the part of the wall that the drow had added (the rest having been put there by Adamo a while back to strengthen this position), wa sin fact an illusion. Yvgeny however was convinced that the wall was real and punched it to prove the point, his fist passing through and hitting the web that filled the space... and setting off the fireball trap attached to it, roasting himself and Grim, though the rest of us escaped unscathed, which is more than can be said for the small army of skeletons on the far side of the wall who were blasted to shards by the blast. No doubt they had been left there to slow us down in the event we dispelled our way through the illusion, web and trap so that drow from below could get up the webs to attack us while we were still occupied.

Halbrinn then set off to recon the webs in the chasm, discovering that the guard post we had cleared out not long back was still vacant and then he found a tunnel further down in the chasm. We headed down but lost track of Halbrinn on the way as he was invisible and we were travelling in a zone of silence (courtesy of Yvgeny) to mask the sounds of our armour clinking.

We entered the corridor in the side of the chasm and headed along it a short way until we saw a large octagonal room with black walls and a high ceiling. It was then that we saw Halbrinn as he unleashed a fireball at the other doorway leading out of the room, appearing as he did so, and we were stright into a battle with several spellcasters. The air was filled with the tang of unleashed sorcery as a half dozen of them faced off against four of us (Aeron and Adamo hanging back in case we got attacked from behind, as we are bear the bottom of the chasm and we really didn't want to end up getting surrounded in this corridor). Though powerful in magic, they were clearly inexperienced in combat, and we slaughtered them in short order. It was then, as we were about to behead the corpses (to prevent them being turned into Quth Maren, that a voice boomed out telling us to stop. So we stopped.

The source of the voice turned out to be a drow wizard, who introduced himself as the Archmage of Szith Morcane (a nearby drow town it seems and the likely point of origin of these attacks on the surface). He proposed a pact of sorts. If we ensure that we leave his home (this area of the caves) alone and stop others from interfering with him also, then he will withdraw his support for the cult of Kiaransalee who it seems are the power in the town. In effect this would remove arcane spellcasters (or most of them anyway) from the ranks of the cults defenders, making our job much easier. On behalf of Daggerdale I agreed to his terms and I will see to it that the Crusaders comply with them, even Grim who has a near fanatical hatred of the drow will leave this one alone. We were also unable to loot the fallen wizards, his apprentices it seems, though he wasn't that angry at their demise, referring to them as "having been lacking". Clearly schooling is vicious in drow society!

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

Right thats us brought bang up to date now, will teach me to get so far behind! Lets have some comments from our readers (if we have any)!!


----------



## Eccles (Sep 25, 2003)

*Yvgeny's 11th Letter*

F.A.O. His Eminence Pietr Orik,
C/o the Temple of Ilmater,
The Triad’s Road,
Temple District,
Trailsend.

Your Grace, 

It appears the drow problem in Daggerdale is more extensive than at first thought. It seems, your grace, that the Dagger Falls secret service has allowed a major entrance to the Underdark to go overlooked, as judging by the number of drow and their fiendish pets we have encountered, there is a major dark elf outpost less than half a day’s ride from Dagger Falls! 

We have taxed the magic output of the town to its limit, trying to get weapons built that can penetrate the hides of some of these foul beasts, and the drow themselves just brush off the most potent dweomers that Halbrinn and Adamo can throw at them. I had not realised just how inherently magical these dark elves are, to be able to resist the potent spells of the Crusaders’ two mages, that have until recently brought low all before them. Clearly, we will have to rely on more than just the Weave, if we are to continue pursuing this quest. 

Speaking of such, your grace, the Crusaders are now in possession of an additional cleric, a representative of the church of Mystra, who styles himself as Aeron. As you may have guessed, your eminence, his chief interest is in magic, but this does not preclude his ability to heal. Having but a single Path to follow, his abilities to ablate, cauterise and suture via prayers to Mystra are pre-eminent in our group, and very impressive! Additionally, he seems to be in possession of one of the most powerful Disruptive maces I have ever witnessed: With but a single blow he has felled at least three of these grisly, acid-dripping drow undead I have previously reported, and swiftly dealt with another. I do declare, I’m a little jealous! 

So, I will now return to the chronology of my previous reports, your grace, for your own interest in my discourse is obliging me to be less than brief. Ilmater help me, but I’m sure Pavel would describe me in sentences that include tiresome and windbag! 

When my dialogue last left the Crusaders, we were yet again ensconced in Dagger Falls, so that we might enjoy a small respite before returning to the Crypts to the south, and the drow. We were there some several days, allowing us Miles, Halbrinn and the rest time to requisition magic items, and upgrades to existing equipment. I spent some time at the ‘church’, your grace, developing a liking for the ‘delicious pastries’ that our wonderful alchemists have managed to cook up! 

However, it was during this time that I managed to get poisoned! Not by the pastries, you understand, but by the dark and mysterious stalker that has dogged the Crusaders for many tendays now. Not content with making my broth a thing of fear, this shadowy assassin then proceeded to ruin my morning devotions by shooting me full of bolts, as soon as I had recovered enough to venture outside. 

Quite literally, your eminence, I had just stepped outside my front door, when up popped this black-clad sniper and tagged me! He was rather more nimble than I, too, for before I could break down the door of the house on whose roof he had set up a nest, he had sprung across to the roof of my own dwelling. Needless to say that now he had a clear shot he tagged me again. At this point, your eminence, I feel no embarrassment when I say that I ran, fearing that the next snipe would hit me in a spot too tender for me to remain conscious. 

I hid in an alley some distance down the street, but had just completed a spell for some minor curing when, out of the shadows at the end of the cul-de-sac, the dark assassin appeared again, crossbow twanging and again hitting me in a sensitive area. At the time, my first thought was that this was a powerful mage-spy, and I was as good as by Ilmater’s side. With the benefit of hindsight, however, it occurs to me that he would surely have killed me with magic if that were the case. Additionally, I noticed that his form was coalescing, like he had stepped through a portal, I guess. Now, however, I think it was more like he had stepped out of the shadows, as if his medium of transportation was the shadow itself. Could this be, your eminence, one of those Shadowcloaks that we have heard legends tell? It is either this or, Ilmater forbid, one of those dread Nin-jaa from Kara-Tur! 

Whatever he was, he was also loading his crossbow for the coup-de-grace, and out of the darkness not more than ten foot from my side, a dusky shape was looming: a shadow familiar! At that point, I ran again, but this time towards the temple district, knowing that the temple of Lathander was nearby, and hoping that the shadow would know this. By the time I had reached Lathander’s temple, I was exhausted, although I had managed to lose my undead pursuer. Being very weak and fatigued, I had the Lathandrian clerics heal me to a point where I could heal myself, then, taking some of the heads of the crossbow bolts I had been shot with, I made my way to our own Ilmateran enclave. 

After talking to Miles about this shadowy rogue, we came to the conclusion that it was the same assassin that we had met on the outskirts of Clearwater, when we were undertaking our vampire-slaying mission. The pair of us went to Respen to get further advice, but the discussion went mostly nowhere. Getting an inkling that he was rather more familiar with me than even I expected, I informed Respen that I was a member of the Damaran secret service. Indeed, he then revealed that he was fully aware of this, and had been liasing with you regarding my mission for some time! It certainly was a relief to have this confirmed, your grace! 

Respen then offered to provide me with more information on the shadow rogue, but his quid pro quo was more than I was willing to pay. Your grace, I am convinced that Respen was attempting to recruit me, although there was certainly room for plausible deniability. After politely refusing, I was shown the door, but heard just enough from the waiting room to be certain that Miles was briefed. And that should be sufficient to ensure that we have the measure of this creature. 

I was obliged, for the remainder of the Crusaders’ stay in Dagger Falls, to request a bodyguard of Sir Dundragon. He could not spare a guardian from his knights, although I believe my request amused him highly! He did, however, manage to find a useful conventionally armoured cleric, which is how the Clearwater Crusaders managed to meet up with Aeron. 

Aeron Corynian, a priest of Mystra as I have previously mentioned, has been brought in from outside Daggerdale to bolster the domestic magic trade. I am sure this is a political and commercial decision: Respen has made no bones about the fact that he doesn’t trust the Thayans. He certainly doesn’t like the fact that the Crusaders have been pouring gold into the Thayan’s purses, that we might requisition items to aid us in our quest. Respen has even gone so far as to privately request that I make my disapproval of the Thayans more vocal, to curb Miles’ desire to trade his shirt to the Thayans for every more powerful enchantments for his swords. This did amuse me, your eminence, for obvious reasons! 

Finally, after all the new magical items had been completed, we loaded up with the usual victuals and water, and departed Dagger Falls for the drow crypts again. 

This time, the tunnels between the crypt entrance and the dropshafts into the Underdark were bristling with traps. I was one of the first to discover just how busy the drow had been whilst we were away: Leading the group past the locked doors of the crypts proper, I was suddenly confronted by a number of skeletons, who burst through diverse of the doors along the main crypt tunnel. Animated purely to set off fire traps, these lowly undead caused more than their fair share of mayhem! Fortunately, there were not a great deal of them, so, although a little singed, we all managed to progress past the doors and into Jergal’s cave once more. 

We traversed the cave, noting that the roper remained motionless, but passing the corpse with extreme care nonetheless. Our circumspection proved prescient: Although the roper had not been reanimated, Dierdre’s dire lion companion had been! I can safely assure you, your eminence, an undead dire lion is just as little fun to combat as a living one, but we destroyed the thing without too many problems, thank the Triad. 

Our next travail was versus more of the abovementioned traps: many darkness spells interspersed with arrow traps and other unkindnesses. Halbrinn, fortunately, was the equal of all of these. Indeed, he made such good progress that he did not pause until he was at a new door that had been positioned at the end of the tunnel leading to the first of the dropshafts… This was to be a fatal mistake! Although Halbrinn was in ogre form, he was helpless to stop a pseudopod from slamming out of the wall by the door and attaching itself to him; Miles was similarly afflicted. Then, woe! The ‘door’ and part of the ‘wall’ resolved itself… Into a huge mimic! 

Halbrinn and Miles were totally helpless, neither being able to remove themselves from the sticky arms of the fell creature, and were being beaten mercilessly by those arms to boot. Adamo, fearless of such otherworldly creatures as only he can be, set about hurting the creature with magic. However, even he blanched when a whirlpool of mana dissipated against the thing with scant effect. Muttering strange words, he tried again, this time conjuring more conventionally, if I can say such, an odd creature from beyond, to help wrench our fellow Crusaders from the beast's glue. 

I was certain this was not a creature native to the Home Plane, which Adamo confirmed almost on the instant: It was a hellish mimic, in all senses of the word! Straightway, I prayed for protection from evil, that I might get closer to the summoned creature without suffering an attack from it. However, I could not attack the thing myself, or I would break the spell; I saw little point anyway, as we had no strategy to defeat a beast like this. I was limited to throwing a rope to Halbrinn, and beseeching the others to help tug our stuck comrades free in that manner. I could see that Miles’ attempts at hewing the beast were having little effect at best, the wounds closing almost as soon as they were inflicted. 

Miles seemed to grasp that attack would not be an option; he, too, tried to wriggle free. Pavel changed his form to that of a troll, and strode forwards to aid his government colleague, throwing a punch at the mimic. Alas! His strength was not enough to drag his fist free, and in moments the creature had made good its advantage: Pavel, too, was stuck to the things adhesive hide. Finally, Aeron and I managed to combine to pull Halbrinn free; Miles, too, escaped mere moments later with the indirect aid of the creature summoned by Adamo (it distracted the mimic while Miles performed a miracle of contortion), which left Pavel-troll still mired. Try as we might, however, we could not free him, and the weaker he got, the more thoroughly glued he became, until it was useless. We watched with a sick horror as the body of the troll began to be absorbed into the mimic. We could watch no longer. We were not sure whether Pavel would continue regenerating his troll body or not, but there was nothing we could do to rescue him, so with a prayer for the mage, we retreated. 

As we found a safe place, Aeron settled down to pray. Knowing now that we were dealing with a creature from the Lower planes, and still having some grace left with Mystra, he set about praying for a Banishment spell. 

When we returned to the environs of the first dropshaft, however, the mimic had gone, and Pavel with it. Knowing that it had likely shifted its form, we decided to descend the dropshaft before it could react to us, Adamo telling us that it was quite slow moving so we had a little time. Unfortunately, the drow had covered the dropshaft entrance with boards, so we were forced to waste precious seconds whilst we dealt with traps. 

The need to hurry overcame Halbrinn’s natural steady-handedness, unfortunately. A fireball trap lit up the cavern, and we all ducked for cover… Just in time to see the mimic ooze like Faerun’s largest drop of molasses from the ceiling of the tunnel behind us! Now, we were trapped. Adamo sacrificed a couple of strange flying creatures to hold the mimic at bay. These ‘arrow hawks’ crackled with electricity, which the mimic didn’t like one bit, but they were not robust enough to survive for long… 

Fortunately, Aeron solved the problem with the last of his three banishments, returning the foul being to its own dimension in a clap of inrushing air. I do not hesitate to admit, your grace, that I offered a prayer to Mystra, as well as to the Triad, for this particular deliverance! 

At this point, we decided it behove us to rest, to regain our strength, physically, spiritually and magically. We posted double guards as we rested in the cavern by the still-covered dropshaft, and fortunately were not pestered as we slept (hardly surprising considering the ‘guard’ the drow had posted!) When we awoke, Aeron and I performed our devotions, and Halbrinn, Adamo and Miles all pored over their various texts. After eating a morsel, and drinking some water I declared myself ready, and the group returned attention to the dropshaft. 

With synapses refreshed, Halbrinn made short work of the remaining snares protecting the lid, and it was cautiously lifted. 

No further hindrances were encountered, save the existing traps that we once again bypassed, and we soon found ourselves in the vicinity of the second dropshaft. More circumspection was now required than last time we were here, and I made sure everyone stayed well back from the pit this time. The bat that was used as an early warning system was dealt with via a silence spell cast on its cage, allowing us to descend the shaft without triggering the alarm. However, at this point, Adamo took it upon himself to scout ahead; methinks he was of a mind to make up for his over-impatience last time we were here. Churlishness was all cast aside, however, when he returned with detailed information on the layout of the cavern before us, and the guards to be found there. Ilmater, but the greatest scout-spy could have done no better! 

Whilst Adamo was gone, another representative of the Daggerdale government, who had monitored us for some time to ensure we were who he was seeking, approached the rest of the Crusaders. This agent, again known by Miles (who doesn’t he know?), was a drow-hunting specialist. At last, Respen seems to be taking this drow incursion seriously! The drow-hunter is known as Grimm (let’s hope he lives up to his name, at least from a drow-perspective, anyway!) and he does indeed seem to have an uncanny nose for sniffing out drow. 

By now, Adamo was back. We made short introductions, Adamo explained what was before us, and we made a plan of attack. A swift lightning raid down the dropshaft resulted in all the guards being dealt with swiftly and ruthlessly: Several drow and a pet, and one of the drow undead, which Aeron blasted to dust with a couple of swings of his holy mace. However, there was cause for concern: A huge chasm ran along one edge of the cavern we now found ourselves in. The concern came from the fact that it was filled with webs the strands of which were as thick as my arm, which clearly hinted that this cave could prove to be the larder of the Spider from Hell… Can you guess what happened next, your eminence? Yes, we were attacked, first by a large group of drow, which we beat with some difficulty. Then, the piece de resistance! The Spider from Hell turned up. Your grace, it could easily have spanned the floor of the inner sanctum of the temple of our beloved God, there in Heliogabalus. It was the largest, most evil specimen of spider I have ever had the ill fortune of laying eyes on. Its very existence was an affront, but I was too weak from drow-battle to seriously challenge it. For which I may actually be thankful, for the weapons of my comrades, even as enchanted as they were, were unable to make a telling mark on the creatures hide. We can also thank the Triad that we had prepared ourselves for drow poison. Diverse of the Crusaders were protected from the worse ravages of the spider’s bite by delay poison spells that Aeron and myself had doled out before we attacked. Seeing that the battle was not moving in our favour, we beat a retreat before more drow could pour over the lip of the chasm and overrun us. 

We decided to protect our position at the top of the drop shaft, it being eminently defensible. Miles would start suffering the effects of spider venom a goodly number of hours after I would, Aeron’s delay poison spell being more powerful than mine. Therefore, it was decided that I would benefit from Aeron’s single spell of poison curing. I examined Miles wound, but was sure that the huge dose of venom delivered to him would quite overwhelm my healing skills. It was therefore decided that we would stay in place and get some rest, allowing Aeron to recast his poison neutralisation spell as soon as Mystra was ready to grant him more prayers. Then a nightmare came upon me, which quite altered our plans. 

The Crusaders were asleep, myself amongst them, with Miles on watch. Suddenly, an image forms in my mind of a house; in the bedroom a man and woman sleeps. The view of the bedroom then changes, showing the same house, but seen from outside at ground level. Smoke is pouring through the front door, and through the downstairs windows. The door swings open, and out of the flames a young child runs through, hair and clothes burning, skin scorched almost black. Then an arrow flies into his throat and he tumbles like a rag doll to the ground, eyes glazed. The scene switches, and we are back to the Crusaders… Who are now also corpses: bristling with the short, dark arrows, the likes of which we have seen many times too often in the past few months. At this point, the dark figures that had been only shadows on the edge of my vision resolved themselves along with an amorphous white head, which hovered over them, gloatingly it seemed. At the same time, a similar silver head formed over the bodies of the Crusaders, and a grating, hideous laughter, accompanying an overwhelming sense of triumphant evil, drowned out my thoughts. The soulless, taunting mirth became a swirl of white noise and I cried out, waking in that moment, and startling Miles, who was still on watch. 

With such an overwhelming sense of foreboding, I quickly woke all the Crusaders, and advocated an immediate return to Dagger Falls, informing them of what I had experienced. They took the warning at face value, and we left the crypts of the drow within the hour, and were back in the town by daybreak. 

Our time back in Dagger Falls has been spent much like the last: The requisitioning of magical aids that would help defeat a massive, evil spider, and other useful items that may stave off the raw number of dark elves that appear to have taken up residence so close to Dagger Falls. 

Fortunately for us, Halbrinn and Adamo have achieved a gradation in their ability to weave mana into dweomers, and have thus mastered some of the more difficult spells in the grimoires we had recovered on our journeys. I, too, have noticed an enhancement in my abilities, and those of Miles. Truly, his skill with the twin short swords is amazing. A shame that the blades are nearly always buried to the hilt in someone who certainly has no wish to appreciate his swordplay! 

Finally, I have also received another visitation from my Celestial spirit guide, although I do not recall much of the content of my dream. My Celestial friend called upon me during the night of Ches 20th and I remember two things from this meeting. One, that my guide’s name is Amenhotep, and that I have mastered the rudiments of the Celestial dialects. Two, that I have achieved another step along the path to entering the ranks of the Triad’s footsoldiers: My health is such that I am now immune to common diseases. Clearly, it behoves me to put this to good use: I have agreed to visit the Ilmateran mission in the slums, that I may help the clerics there to ease the suffering of those that are afflicted, but cannot afford the healers of the church of Lathander. 

I will write again soon, your eminence. Now I hear brother Shadwell knocking at the door. It is time I got back to doing things that the priests of Ilmater do best. 

At least, for a while. 

*Yvgeny.*


----------



## Eccles (Oct 10, 2003)

Yvgeny's Reports
Twelfth Letter

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

To His Eminence Pietr Orik,
Temple of Ilmater,
King’s Palace Square,
Heliogabalus.

Your Grace, 

Glad to hear you are back safe and sound in Heliogabalus! Hope your time spent visiting the provinces has proven that faith in Ilmater is still strong, and the Motherland is continuing to bounce back from the invasion. How goes the Bloodstone revival? To be honest, I’m missing the old homeland, but the Crusaders still have drow to deal with, and plenty of them, so my tour of duty is by no means over. 

In my last missive, we had just fought a battle with a fiendish giant spider, and had lost. After our trip back to Dagger Falls for improvements, we returned to the crypts for another try at the beast. First, of course, we had to beat the multitude of traps the drow had set. This time, the traps were defeated by our cunning mages, using magic instead of tools, for reasons of speed. 

Adamo suggested we use the bag of holding to ferry each member of the Crusaders over the traps, with a flying mage doing the carrying. First, of course, we had to part with our dimensional spaces, because, as Adamo pointed out, putting a dimensional space inside a bag of holding has ‘unforeseen circumstances!’ So, one slightly claustrophobic and disorienting (the bag felt both large and small at the same time, your eminence, I swear it!) trip later, and I had bypassed the drow traps. In a matter of minutes, all the Crusaders had made it past the traps and we found ourselves in the environs of the first dropshaft. 

On descending, however, we found that the drow had set additional traps in the short corridor between the first drop shaft and the next. Now it was Halbrinn’s turn for that little spark of mad genius that gnomes are especially famous for: Creating an impervious sphere of magical force around himself, and trundling it like a rodent in a wheel, he blithely rolled off down the corridor, triggering carefully crafted traps, left, right and centre! By the Triad, the gnome has a gift for the sublimely ridiculous, and no mistake! Our mirth came to an end very suddenly, however, when we saw that he had set off one trap too many. A hinged section of the ceiling swung down as Halbrinn rolled over a pressure plate in the floor, and it executed its purpose exactly as per spec: Halbrinn was pushed straight down the second dropshaft, and the rest of the Crusaders were separated from him. 

On the instant, I set about damaging the hinge mechanism, climbing to it via my new slippers of spider climbing. Adamo quickly summoned a magmin, however, to heat the hinge, so that it may break more easily. The magmin couldn’t reach the hinge, and I had no time to cast a spell for protection from fire, so I offered a prayer to Ilmater and lifted the beast with my bare hands unguarded. Which was painful, I have to say, and also set light to my judogi! Fortunately, the magmin melted the hinges on the block with some speed. The cube of stone dropped the last few inches to the floor of the tunnel leaving about an eighteen-inch gap between it and the tunnel roof, which was just enough for the rest of us to clamber over. I followed a few moments after the others, after smothering my flaming jacket and arrived just in time to see one of the skinless drow creatures get blasted to dust by Aeron’s mace. Halbrinn, now in ogre form, ended his resilient sphere spell and accused us of spoiling his fun by destroying his undead elf! Apparently, he had been bumping it around the cavern with great abandon! By the Triad, I’m glad this gnome is with us, as he lightens the tone of these grim proceedings without even trying! 

Still, we had a rematch with the Spider from Hell to look forward to so, girding our loins, we set about picking defensible positions, while Adamo attracted the attention of that fiendish abomination by hitting its webs with the flat of his sword. Sure enough, with an audible clacking of mandibles, the spider ventured forth, and battle commenced. 

This time, our weapons could touch the beast, although it was still difficult to make a serious impression on the thing, so huge was it. Again, many of the group were protected by spells that delayed the effects of poison, but the going was still hard, and by no means were the Crusaders sure that we would defeat the Hellish thing. Fortunately, the beast decided matters for us, scuttling back to the chasm edge and away over its webs before we could do for it utterly. However, we were not about to give up our advantage, so those that were able followed it, into the heart of its silken maze. I was the first to approach its nest, so, naturally, I was the one it chose to counterattack. I had just turned my head for a second to admire Halbrinn’s handiwork in fireballing a group of drow that were creeping up from below us, when the damned Spider from Hell decided it would go down fighting! By the Triad, it was touch-and-go whether I would survive, for it charged me twice as I retreated; once more would have finished me off. Fortunately, I just made it back to the cavern and my comrades distracted it before I received the telling blow. This time, it did not survive or escape the onslaught, but curled up and died right there on the edge of the webs where it first made its appearance. And good riddance; by the Triad, most definitely are the Crusaders well shot of that thing! 

We now chose to use the following hours to consolidate our position, and allow the fighters to rest. Adamo had a plan for reinforcing our position at the top of the dropshaft by creating magical walls of stone. This was done, permitting only a small opening in our enclosed area, so that enemies would not be able to swarm us. 

I had been suffering reoccurrences of the nightmare I had had on the previous occasion the Crusaders were here. To prevent current events from paralleling the dream, I chose to stay awake until all three watches had been completed, sheer willpower and constant prayers to Ilmater allowing this vigil to be completed without sleep overcoming me. Then I rested while my comrades made our little enclosure as safe as possible, Adamo casting his wall of stone spell, and the rest shoring up the gaps to make the wall look as solid as possible. I got the requisite amount of sleep required to allow me the energy to memorise my spells, then we set off again, with Adamo using his magic to scout ahead and uncover any drow guards that might want to halt or report our progress. 

When Adamo returned, he did indeed report drow guards, in a cavern some distance below the one we were in. The cavern was non-natural, which suggested the ingress of a more extensive complex that should be investigated. Deciding that now was the time to use our stealth abilities and magic, Miles and I decided we would pool our skills and see if we couldn’t take the guards by stealth. With this in mind, I cast a silence spell, and Miles used one of his own to give himself a pair of leathern wings, that he might glide down as I climbed, my spider slippers helping me avoid sticking to the webs and my elven cloak hiding me from sight, almost completely. Miles trumped me by casting an invisibility spell, which I thought might hamper communications. Miles proved me wrong, however, when we alighted in the vicinity of our target cave: Chalk writing suddenly appeared on the wall, which was Miles giving me instructions! If you don’t mind my saying, your eminence, sometimes he is just such a smart-arse! 

Our lightning strike attack was mostly successful, with Miles carving into one of the guards whilst I kept close proximity to quieten the screams, my silence spell still being in effect. However, it proved that Miles had struck just seconds too early, for I had not had time to circle round behind the pair and thus block the escape of the second, uninjured guard. As the first guard fell, the other ran screaming through a short corridor into a room just beyond, his shout of alarm coming sudden and loud as soon as he left the area my spell encompassed. 

Suspecting the worst, I took a quick look down the corridor, and was rewarded with a volley of bolts and arrows: The drow had a trap of their own! I spotted several snipers and a magic user of some sort, so I quickly whipped out a pastry, and lobbed it into the centre of the room. Within seconds, a good thick cloud of smoke had mostly obscured the vision of the archers, and I sent a prayer to Ilmater as I heard my comrades not too far away. So with the spells of Halbrinn, Adamo and Aeron, and the battle prowess of Miles, Grimm and myself, we beat our foes in this battle, although it did take some doing. I can safely say that Grimm did indeed live up to his name, as regards drow, in this battle. He carries a hand-and-a-half sword, but in this melee he swung it like it was no bigger than a short sword, carving into the dark elves like a man possessed! Apparently, his deity of choice is Hoar, which worries me, your eminence! Looking at the drow remains after he had finished with them worried me even more! Clearly this is a man with a major grudge, which I hope won’t jeopardise the continuing mission. I may try to sway him into reducing the bloodlust a little, but judging by the fact that he cut every drow’s throat after the fracas was over, I’m not sure I’ll have a lot of luck. 

After all the bodies had been checked for useful items and gold, we continued to search the locale for clues as to just what these drow were doing here. About all we could turn up was the fact that the drow we had just killed wore a uniform that suggested a common purpose: White tabards with a black grinning skull decorating the centre of the chest. I cannot shake the feeling that I should recognise this, but neither Aeron nor I could name any ecclesiastical significance. Still, I took a sample, that others on the surface may examine the image and enlighten us. 

After a short while further, the Crusaders came upon a group of cells with stout wooden doors. All were firmly locked, and either nothing or an obvious corpse occupied all but one. This possibly occupied cell held a covered shape, and it was not obvious whether the occupant was alive or dead. Deciding it behove me to at least check, I tasked Halbrinn with the opening of the lock, which turned out to be rather unfortunate. Before the door was opened, Halbrinn triggered an insidious conjuration trap, and brought forth some species of man-lizard, all wreathed in fire! This creature (Adamo describes it as a salamander) made short work of both Halbrinn and I, before being banished back to the plane of fire by Aeron’s well-timed spell. Ilmater’s Tears! What a vicious trap to have on the outside of a cell door! I sincerely hope that all drow do not consider it standard practice to ensure prisoners and slaves are warded so tightly: My work here may never be done, your grace! 

So, we returned to our redoubt, that we might recuperate after the salamander attack. However, our rest was not to be. During the latter part of the rest period, our enemy, literally under the cover of a complex illusion incorporating jungle flora (truly, your grace; I do not jest!) set about removing our presence from their caves once and for all. I was positioned somewhat to the rear of the point of attack, and seeing no clear path to the melee, chose the long way around by climbing the wall nearest me, and thence the ceiling. Hearing the shout that invisible spell casters were about to make life interesting, I quietly cast a spell for purging such enhancements, then put up the hood on my cloak and all but disappeared from sight myself. 

My carefully crafted plan came to an end whilst I was halfway across the ceiling. Somehow, a Blackguard had managed to get past our front rank, and was about to make life interesting for Adamo. I dropped from the ceiling, implementing a Catfall Twist to land on my feet as close to the evil knight as possible, that he may not be permitted a hefty swing of his sword as I fell. Drawing in my ki, I launched a power punch that connected solidly, but clearly this anti-paladin had plenty of favour from his dark god, for he shook himself like a hound and threw off the muscle-locking spasm. Then he growled, and launched his blade with all his spite behind it in riposte, and by the Triad that hurt! Fortunately Adamo had recovered, so before the hell-favoured knight could follow up the blow, he was weakened by an immaculately aimed spell of strength drain. Halbrinn wrapped up the Blackguard, quite literally, with one of his resilient spheres, effectively taking the anti-paladin out of the fight. The spellcasters left the scene soon after this, and the remaining creatures (the ubiquitous skinless undead and a displacer beast) did not last long under the onslaught, without magical back up. 

Now, the Crusaders decided it was time to leave. After again destroying diverse traps via Halbrinn’s sphere spell, we removed to Dagger Falls to report our current situation and to sell some of the plunder we had in our almost overflowing bag of holding. By the House of the Triad, I am beginning to sound as mercenary as the rest of the Crusaders! I think it may be time for penitence, your grace: Perhaps a contribution of a thousand gold pieces to the church and some flagellation might purge me somewhat! The journey back was wet, which Miles complained about bitterly, along with the never-ending supply of drow we seem to be wading through. This last point was well made your grace. It seems odd that so many Underdark drow are this close to the surface; even the all-seeing eyes in the Daggerdale government didn’t seem to be expecting so many. I personally think the Crusaders are on to something very big. Time will tell. 

As has become typical in the last few weeks, our return to Dagger Falls has become an excuse to go shopping in the marquees of the Thayans. I took an opportunity to check out the church, which now feels very much safer. The reason for this was explained to me: The church has now become hallowed ground. No wonder I get such a warm feeling when I go there; I thought it was just the contents of the pastries! 

However, our time in Dagger Falls was not entirely wasted, as we found out that the white tabard/black skull combination is typical of subjects of the dark elven goddess Kiaransalee. Now I am sure I do not need to elucidate for you, your eminence, the fact that this goddess is at least as bad as Llolth, even if not as powerful, having both vengeance and undeath in Her portfolio. This almost certainly answers the question of why the drow continually attack us: their dogma demands it! I think this is likely to be a long and bloody campaign, your grace, but it is one I am bound to, so I must keep my faith that I am doing the right thing. 

It is now several days into our sojourn in Dagger Falls and we are due to leave once again for the crypts and the drow. In the meantime, I have learnt that the actual name of the acid-dripping drow undead is quth maren. The process in which they are created is truly appalling, involving the flesh of a living drow being turned to acid whilst he or she still lives. I cannot begin to understand this race, your eminence, but rest assured that I will do everything in my power to impede this barbaric activity. It matters not that the crime is perpetrated against evil creatures; Ilmater, I am sure, would judge the prevention of the process more important than the moral bent of those who suffer such a crime against life. By the Triad, wouldst that I could lead a crusade against these degenerate Kiaransalee worshippers! Ay, me! But I have other tasks to hand. 

I will write anon, your grace. For now, I must return to my fellow Crusaders, that we might venture forth once again. Events, I sense, will come to a head soon, but I cannot foresee the path that the Crusaders will take. Oh, well. No time for auguries now, for I must depart. 

Yvgeny. 

Ilmater save the King.


----------



## Kayne (Oct 13, 2003)

*Miles' Journal - Part Twenty*

*Tarsakh 9th continued* - With this new pact in place, we left the archmages chambers and rejoined Adamo & Halbrinn. We headed back up the chasm to our secured area and rested up as several of us had taken some serious wounds from all the spells slung about in our battle with the apprentices. I am thankful for my healing wands, I was back to full fitness in under a minute. Definately worth the money I paid for them!

Whilst we were resting, Adamo scouted ahead further down the chasm after rendering himself both invisible and intangible. He returned having dicovered a large cave where it seemed a small market was being held. From his descriptions of the beings he saw there, we were able to determine that a trio of duergar were selling to a mixed group comprising drow, koa-toa and a tall hooded figure with tentacles hanging out of the hood. An Illithid no less, if the stories of these dread creatures are to be believed. The news of the presence of one of these creatures shook our morale a little I must admit, as I'm sure none of us wish to have our minds enslaved... or eaten!!

Still it was decided that it looked like the cavern was a truce area, and that we should seek to profit by trading for information about this part of the underdark. Making our way down the chasm we entered the cavern, getting a few glances from those there (though the Mind Flayer was nowhere to be seen by then, thankfully). Indeed the pair of drow that were present backed away and made for an exit out of the cave. We then got a few nasty glares sent our way from the duergar, who were obviously not keen that our arrival had scared away potential customers. As I speak the undertongue (picked it up when I was fighting the Zhents, helps if you can speak the language they use to trade slaves to the drow, especially since those slaves were more often than not Daggerfolk!) I had to convince the grey dwarves that we intended to put some money their way to assuage them. We bargained for information and found out that there is a temple devoted to Lolth at the bottom of the chasm, and that it has recently been overthrown. We also purchased a map of the lower caves that clearly marks the locations of Szith Morcane and this temple on it.

After a short debate, we decided to bypass Szith Morcane entirely and hit the temple instead as that seems to us to be the likely headquarters of these Kiaransalee fanatics who have been the cause of the attacks on Daggerdale. I feel we are closing in on victory and a resolution to this foray into the depths now.

We headed down the webs and arrived at the entrance to the temple whioch seems to be warded with a magical field of some sort. Aeron and Yvgeny refer to this as a "forbiddance effect". It took several attempts for all of us to get through it and we then found ourselves in a pitched battle with several Quth Maren and a pair of Vampires. Thenkfully with some quick thinking on the part of Aeron we used a spell of daylight to incapacitate one of the vampires (the other fleeing what to them must be a strange effect, I mean how likely is it that they have ever encountered sunlight before, living as they do in these deep caves and tunnels) which was destroyed when it could not escape the light. The Quth Maren we made short work of.

Pressing onwards we checked out a couple more chambers finding a trio of coffins (which we smashed to splinters to render them useless), and a chained up and barely alive drow female. I donated a healing potion and freed her as she might have proven useful. She said her name was Dessa'sik Morcane, and from what was left of her clothing it is clear she was a priestess of Lolth. When asked how the Kiaransalee cultists were able to take this place from Lolth's followers she said that Lolth had fallen silent. I do not know what this means, and neither Yvgeny nor Aeron had any inkling either, and Dessa'rik would not further elaborate beyond that she had no spells. She has been used as a food scource for a trio of vampires she says are lairing here, so one down two to go it seems! I hate vampires!

Leaving her to recover herself, we headed up a side tunnel and into a large chamber and a fierce battle with a pair of vampire drow and worse, a pair of vampire drider clerics!! We were unable to defeat these opponents, indeed it seems that the chamber we were battling them in was enchanted in some manner to thwart our efforts, as none of Adamo's summoned monstrosities could lay a blow on these villains. We had no option but to retreat after exhausting ourselves. Still none of us lost our lives, but annoyingly neither did any of them. We retreated all the way up the chasm to our secured cave to heal up and replenish our spells ready for a second crack at them. As we retreated I noticed that Dessa'rik had taken the opportunity afforded to her, and made good her escape. Still a badly wounded and weakened priestess with no spells is no threat to the surface or to anything in the depths for that matter. Still I am sure that Respen would chastise me for letting her get away.

*Tarsakh 10th* - We healed and tooled ourselves up fully, expecting a fierce battle when we returned to the temple, and made our way down to the entrance. We suffered a loss straigth away as try as he might, Halbrinn could not get through the forbiddance barrier and thus we were robbed of our ingenious gnome. As if that was not bad enough, seconds later a Blade Barrier spell was dropped on the group, scything through several of us (though I thankfully was able to throw myself clear of it), and as we recovered from that we were atttacked in a narrow corridor by a drow cleric in heavy armour, one of the remaining vampires and one of the vampiric drider clerics. Adamo bougth us a respite against any further reinforcements arriving by sealing the door at the far end of the corridor with a stone wall, neatly entombing the drow priestess in it (though not for long, as she was soon freed from the other side by her compariots). With her gone, we forced the drider to flee into mist, and dusted the vampire. Two down, one to go!. We grabbed a quick break for healing ourselves up, and then headed down a side corridor to head back to the cursed chamber we had fought the stalemate in yesterday (Yvgeny says the curse is an "unhallow effect". Honestly these priests have an effect for everything it seems. While possible to remove it, it would be a costly procedure to do so, so we will just have to fight at a disadvantage).

The drow were waiting for us, and a vicious battle broke out as we tried to storm our way into the room, and they hurled themselves at the doorway to prevent our entrance. Their numbers included a half dozen Quth Maren, a pair of drow priestesses in identical garb, the last remaining drow vampire, the two drider vampires and a drow Blackguard (the same one we had slain a while back resurrected and wanting revenge. Definately a vote in favour of destroying the bodies of the foes we fell to prevent them being returned to life or unlife and used against us in the future). The battle was intense to say the least, with us eventually prevailing in the doorway (killing the Blackguard, one of the priestesses and most of the Quth Maren in the process) and storming the room to finish off the vampire and one of the Driders. Adamo resorting to unusual tactics had contained the other Drider with an Evards Black Tentacles spell, and one of the priestesses managed to flee the carnage. Grim would have run her down, but was needed to help finish off the remanining Quth Maren as none of us were in a good way after such a fierce fight.

We stripped the bodies of anything of use, and tossed them into the still functioning Blade Barrier, which tore them to shreds, surely they cannot be restored from fragments? We also took the liberty to torch the two webbed nests of the Driders in the room, to deny them their "coffins" to rest in. That done, and us quickly healed up, we set off after the priestess before she healed herself up and returned with reinforcements. We headed down a corridor, finding several doors (one of which led into a bedchamber that can only be described as decadent), and then we found an octagonal room with four pillars and a fifteen foot tall flat-topped pillar in the rooms centre. Atop the pillar was a throne made from bones and skulls and a drow female sat in it. We were immediately attacked with a flamestrike directed at Aeron and Grim. I then activated Slayers jump power and leapt at her, but to no avail as I mistimed my charge and flew past, my blow having no effect, indeed she did not even move to fend it off!

Though I will swear to my dying day that she was as real as I am, Aeron shouted out that the woman was an illusion. Not convinced I launched myself at her again, while my comrades were similarly puzzled by his claim. Still we kept getting hit by spells launched from some unseen source as the woman was clearly making no moves or sound of any kind, she did not even acknowledge our presence. I decided to try and find where our real adversary was, but to no avil as my blades cut nought but air. then as Aeron was slammed down hard I was grabbed by Adamo as he summoned up a dimensional doorway and he pulled me and our fallen cleric to safety as the group broke and fled, we reappearing in the cave we usually rest in. There we awaited the others, and were soon joined by Halbrinn and Yvgeny. Grim, alas did not make it back, but I have some comfort in that he died fighting drow, it is how he would have wanted to go out... well not quite, I imagine in his ideal death there would have been a mountain of dead drow piled up under him before he was finally taken down. We decided on a full withdrawal back to Dagger Falls.

When we got back to town I tried to contact Respen but he wasn't ion and I got short shrift from his clerk, a new figure at the desk who did not know who I was. I retired to my room in the barracks to rest.

*Tarsakh 11th* - I made my report to Respen who was less than thrilled with our progress and Grim's demise. He was also not impressed with the pact we have made with the drow archmage, but I suspect that has more to do with his being an elf than any matter of state. Clearly it was to our advantage to make such an alliance of convinience. He told me to check out the Old Mans Drum, a new Inn on the east side of town to seek out a replacement for Grim to bolster our numbers, as the Crusaders are most effective a six man unit.

I made my way there directly and met up with Stedd! It seems he is back in town, having had no luck in trying to track down the members of his monestary. After catching up with his recent doings (which he has little memory of oddly, and he has gained a truly ugly scar down the right side of his face since last I saw him which he must have noticed me looking at, but he didn't tell and I didn't ask about it), I asked him to take up arms with the Crusaders again, given our need for his kind of skills in the group. To my delight he has agreed to rejoin the group. By Mask it will be good to have my old fighting partner back with me, and an original member of the group to boot.


----------



## Eccles (Oct 27, 2003)

Yvgeny's Reports
Thirteenth Letter

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

To His Eminence Pietr Orik,
Temple of Ilmater,
King’s Palace Square,
Heliogabalus.

Your Grace, 

Although it has been a while since my last letter, it seems the Clearwater Crusaders have made little progress in our quest. We have discovered our drow quarry are a cult of Kiaransalee, but new revelations have shown that drow loyal to Lolth are also embroiled in the morass of Underdark politics being enacted mere miles from Dagger Falls. I fear it will take months, if not years to get to the bottom of what is happening, but these are the tasks I have agreed to undertake, so undertake them I shall. 

Returning to the narrative that I finished (in Dagger Falls, as usual) at the end of my last report, I will begin again with our return journey to the Underdark. This time, walls of stone, a fairly typical spell that both wielders of magic and clerics alike can cast, blocked our way. Now, Adamo and Aeron were both still in Dagger Falls (cooking up some new magical item between the pair of them most probably), so it was down to me to get us past the walls. Not being of a mind to make a commotion whilst we were short two members short, I used my one and only memorised spell of stone shaping, which opened a hole large enough for Miles, Grim, Halbrinn and I to squeeze through. 

Halbrinn performed his usual sleight of hand on the traps, and we arrived in the vicinity of the first drop shaft without further ado. However, we were stymied again just short of our goal by another wall of stone. This was the one that Adamo had constructed, but further blockaded by the drow: They had filled in the opening we were using as a doorway, completing the enclosure. Suspecting that a trap of some sort could be waiting for us on the far side, the Crusaders decided that we would wait until I could recast my spell of stone shaping on the morrow, so we would not give advance warning to any concealed foe. 

After some hours spent resting, I tested the Weave, and again found the link provided by our God. I therefore prayed again for the stone-shaping spell, and went forth to break apart the sections of stone added by the drow to Adamo’s wall… Only to find that the spell had not affected the accursed rock! So bewildered was I that when Grim and Miles pointed out that the stone wasn’t real, I attempted to prove them wrong by punching the wall, before my normal good sense told me to trust their judgment. The trap, therefore, was hidden before our very eyes, for my fist triggered a fireball spell as soon as it passed through the illusory stone. My reactions were quick enough to respond to the bead of flame before it exploded, but those Triad-accursed drow had thought of that, and my defensive leap away was brought up short, literally, by the webs that had been spun across the opening to catch the unwary in the full blast. I guess that my general stupidity had at least prevented Halbrinn, say, from catching a face-full of fire, and only my arm received a roasting (another judogi ruined!) but it was mostly of scant recompense. 

Grimm had got caught in the blast of flames along with me, so I therefore used a curative spell to salve his burns and my own. The additional benefit of setting off the trap was that the fireball destroyed some badly positioned waiting skeletons on the far side of the wall. Thanking Ilmater for small mercies, we continued, once all the webs had burned away. 

We moved swiftly down the dropshaft, dodging any traps that had been reset, and made our way to the webs’-edge cavern, still unmolested. Halbrinn scouted ahead, under invisibility and fly spells, and reported back that the first cavern down from our current position had not been repopulated, and that there was another cave even further below. At this point Aeron and Adamo turned up, but unfortunately were spelled-out. It was decided that they would keep to the rear of the group, and provide what assistance they could through magical equipment. After we had agreed strategy, I cast my silence spell and Grimm, Miles and I descended after Halbrinn, who was still flying and invisible, followed a little after by Adamo and Aeron. 

We reached the chasm without incident, but as soon as we entered a tunnel cut into the wall a short distance from our point of ingress, a flash of fire told us Halbrinn was in trouble. Rushing into the room he occupied, we were confronted by several drow magic users. However, they had no muscle to back them up, so we used the tried-and-tested tactic of rushing them to spoil their spell-concentration: They were quickly bested, but a booming voice stopped us before we could perform any rituals to ensure these creatures would not be raised as undead. 

The voice belonged to the master of these mages, none other than an arch-mage of the local Underdark town. The appellation of the mage was that of the town itself: Szith Morcane. Apparently, we were a test for his students (a ‘test’ where failure results in death? Only the drow or the Thayans could be so callous!) He offered us a deal: That we cease our depredations versus his cadre of magicians in exchange for him withholding support for the clerics of Kiaransalee. I assumed that the support was grudging at best (the spellcasters being exclusively male, whilst the clerics are female-only; the battle of the sexes is fierce when drow are involved, your eminence!), but the advantage would be useful. The rest of the Crusaders agreed, although I didn’t like the look in Grimm’s eye. The drow mage also requested that we did not molest the people of the town, which the Crusaders happily accepted. The pax was therefore declared, and although I chafe at the thought, Miles was quite determined that we honour the agreement. Considering we are so close to Dagger Falls, I would say that I am not surprised at his zealousness and the contract is only binding if the drow honour their side as well. We did also attach the caveat that no further attacks would be expected on the peoples of the surface, to which the mage responded that none would come from ‘his people’. This tied up about as many bindings as we could connect to the agreement, so with that, we left the cavern and retreated back to our ‘haven’ to recuperate. After our period of rest, and then of prayers, Adamo sent himself out on a recce, using spells that made him almost undetectable. Apparently he has a ring that disrupts the energies given off by the body, rendering him invisible to the dark vision of the drow. I’m sure some technically minded gnome mage must have come up with this clever device, and I can certainly vouch for its effectiveness, your eminence, for he did disappear completely from my sight as soon as he put it on. I must ask him whether its effectiveness continues even after you have interacted with your enemy, for if it does, it could be a potent weapon against all denizens of the night that rely on darkness to cover their nefarious activities. 

When he returned, he reported the location of a populated area where barter was occurring. However, the buying and selling was being done by a number of denizens of the Underdark, and some of the more unsavoury judging by his descriptions: grey dwarves, drow, some amphibioids (‘Kua-Toa,’ supplied Miles) and some skinny humanoids in cloaks and hoods. Adamo seemed fairly unfazed, so he went to take a second look but when he came back he was less cheerful. He said that the cloaked figures had an aristocratic bearing compared to the others, and also seemed able to sense Adamo’s presence. 

When he described this last, with the rejoinder that ‘they appear to have tentacles for beards’ I was certain he was describing Illithids! Now as I’m sure you are aware, your grace, these unholy creatures can stun you with the power of their mind, and pick the thoughts from your head with but a moment’s concentration. Naturally, I was loath to get too close, and Grimm just looked like he was keen to meet the drow personally, so I argued that we should go around the marketplace, which won qualified agreement. However, as we descended to a different part of the web, the arguments of Miles and Adamo became more persuasive; we needed any information we could gather, despite the risk. 

Adamo did take pains to mention that the majority of sellers were duergar, and he gave a meaningful glance at the staff strapped across my back. Between us, we managed to wrestle the thing into the bag of holding, although it was certainly not happy to go. Finally, I managed to drop the thing in, promising to use it should we be waylaid by duergar or derro with the intention of doing us in. By the Triad, that is one bloodthirsty staff! It is such a shame that its creator couldn’t have put a similar amount of skill into creating a staff that reduces strife. We then changed direction, this time heading towards the marketplace. 

On entering the marketplace, we approached one likely group of duergar stallholders, only to be greeted by surly looks and non-committal grunts when Miles asked them for information: Apparently, we had scared away their drow customers. I’m not sure whether we scared away the Ilithids, too, but there were none to be seen when we arrived at the market, for which I offered a prayer of thanks to Ilmater, Torm and Tyr. I think I will need to do some research on ways to safeguard the mind against such creatures: I am certain aasimar and Illithids are not compatible species, and I certainly do not wish to be a mind-thrall to such a creature for the rest of my days! 

Offering the duergar hard currency mollified them somewhat, and we got various useful items of information and a map of the local environs. The information, your eminence, concerned the two drow factions that have emerged in Szith Morcane. The ‘new’ drow (the Temple and Faith of Kiaransalee, I assume) are more powerful than the ‘old’ (drow of the goddess Lolth) and there are fewer females around. Now both you and I know, your grace that Lolth is a major power, and that Kiaransalee is purely a demi-goddess. It behoves me to find out how the Church of Kiaransalee is usurping power from ancient and evil Lolth, (Kiaransalee’s superior, I believe), who has a presence on more than one Prime. Perhaps this is the reason: Her concentration has been diverted by politics away from Faerun. Whatever the cause, I am sure that you and I will not be complaining, your grace! 

As to the map, I could not read it (without the use of a spell, of course) but Miles seemed to be managing fine. He said most of the major landmarks were shown, including the town we were approaching (Szith Morcane) and a temple. Taking his word for it that the barter was not totally in the dwarves favour, we decided to head straight for the temple. 

On arriving at the temple, we were presented with another fairly typical cave mouth, well chiselled this time but otherwise apparently non-descript. I was standing on the wall of the shaft we had descended, just outside and to the left of the cave mouth when Halbrinn, who had crept in first, shouted that there were undead to fight. I swung like an acrobat from the side wall, but just as I entered the cave, dark bolts of energy seemed to fly out of thin air striking me in mid-flight. From the tang of ozone that I smelt as I flew backwards, I knew this was not a localised spell (i.e. one cast directly at me) but from an area spell, probably a Forbiddance. That was the limit of my thought on the matter, however, as I was now falling through the air on the way to very hard ground some distance below! 

I reached into my backpack and withdrew my silk rope (thank the Triad for these handy haversacks that bring your desired item to the top as soon as you reach your hand in!) that I might fling it against the webbing and arrest my fall. As it was, I fell amongst some stray strands of the web, which I grabbed at with my free hand, bringing me up short. Still, I was a goodly way from the battle, and had to attach my slippers of spider climbing to the web I was holding before I could unstick myself. Then, I clambered aboard the webs and raced back at top speed. 

The battle was fairly short, as we were well prepared. Facing a brace of the Quth Maren and some drow vampires, a daylight spell was already in effect when I arrived back on the scene, although some of my comrades had managed to get caught up in the same type of filament-fine strands that had arrested my fall. With the daylight doing for both vampires (one fleeing, the other exploding into a cloud of dust when it could not escape) the rest of the Crusaders swiftly destroyed our remaining foe. 

We then took the opportunity to make safe our immediate location, smashing a selection of coffins we found to render as many vampires homeless as possible. We also found a drow female, in chains, who had been used as a moveable feast for the vampires, it seems. 

With the help of Miles, who acted as translator, we found out that the name of this drow was Dessa-sik-Morcane. Not only this, but also she was able to provide enlightenment on how the Faith of Kiaransalee had seceded from the Church of Lolth. Being a cleric of the Spider Queen, she had first hand knowledge that the goddess had fallen silent, and was not answering prayers! By the Triad, I didn’t dare hope that Lolth had suffered deicide, but it did give me optimism that a major power in the Underdark would not now be able to stop the Crusaders from performing our allotted task. Moreover, any additional quests that we may execute as opportunity arises (such as freeing slaves) would now have a better chance of being undertaken. 

I thanked Ilmater for this blessing, but then it was back to the work at hand. After releasing her, the drow priestess provided information on our foes. Apparently, there was one more vampire to fight, as well as the one that got away in our initial skirmish. It was not long before we found these vampires, and more! A short journey down a corridor from the cell where the drow was chained, the Crusaders opened a door to be confronted by our quarry. I was first, and was sprung upon by the two vampires, who struck at me with speedy swords, then darted back out of range of my fists. I hurled a curse at them, and then converted one of my memorised spells to a curing spell. My fists thus charged with positive energy, I advanced upon one of the two vampires and hit it a glancing blow, but my curing spell attacked its link with the negative energy plane, as was my intention, and it was the vampires turn to shriek a curse at me in the glottal tongue of the Underdark! ‘Eye for an eye’ I called back, but then did a swift double-take as two driders descended from the ceiling! By the holy House of the Triad, these things are exceptionally ugly! Worse, we soon discovered that these driders were vampires, too, and additionally that the room had been unhallowed. This became clear when Aeron and I attempted a joint turning attempt, only to find the vampires laughing at the puny glow from our holy symbols, dimmed by the evil force that pervaded all around us. Adamo’s summonings were similarly defeated; their attacks striking against the dark shields of the vampires, who were clearly Protected by the unhallowing. 

The fight was not well set up. We had been ambushed right in the doorway, and were blocking the swing of each other’s weapons. I had taken some injuries, so extracted myself from the battle, and retreated back the way we had come (the drow priestess had already disappeared, but I had no time to consider this). Using my wand of curing at regular intervals, I managed to find a second corridor (the configuration of all temples are similar, your grace, even those of evil drow goddesses) and managed to locate, through sound and guesswork, a side door into the combat arena across from my comrades. I fired off a wand of searing light, but succeeded only in attracting the attention of a drider as the spell fizzled around it (note, your eminence: drow undead still keep their resistance to magic). Adamo, who was all out of mana, sounded the retreat, so I called to a dazed Miles, who had managed to get further into the room than the rest, that there was another exit available. He made good his escape, with me in close attendance, and drow and drider just behind. I received a painful slap as I slammed the door behind me, but I still managed to wrap my silk rope around the handles before our foe could punch the doors open, and it held them at bay whilst we made good our escape. Ilmater! Another rope lost. Oh well, at least this time it was sacrificed to save lives. 

When Miles and I met up with the Crusaders again, we all retreated the goodly distance back to our secured cave, that we might salve our wounds and our pride. Admitting the fact that his summoned creatures could not touch our enemy within the area of the unhallow, Adamo sat down to plan a spell list that could be used to our best advantage, with hindering spells to limit the movement of drow being top of his agenda. Halbrinn’s illusions would still be effective (within the confines of the drows’ resistance to magic) and Aeron’s spells would still work, as would his mace. I would concentrate on support spells and healing, allowing Grimm and Miles to do the wet work. 

With our strategy thus decided, we settled down to a fitful rest, I being thankful that my ring of Sustenance had by now energised, allowing me to take but a few hours sleep before being ready for action once again. It has also given me time to write this missive, your eminence. Now, we make our final preparations before trying again to destroy these vampires. 

Pray for Ilmater's grace, if you will your eminence, that I might strike a blow for the Triad, for Damara and for the King. I will write anon, if I live. 

Yvgeny. 

Ilmater save the King.


----------



## Eccles (Dec 19, 2003)

Miles' Journal - Part 21

*Tarsakh 12th to 13th *- Rested up back to full health to save wasting charges from my wands (which I bought another of, can't be too careful, and besides I had exhausted one of them), and then went out to try and find this assassin who has bedeviled Yvgeny on more than one occasion. 

*Tarsakh 14th *- My days of tracking and stalking finally paid off, though not in the manner in which I wanted as I got lured into a prepared ambush doubtless meant for Yvgeny. However, while I am not sure how he would have survived it, I was able to duck and roll out of a room that the assassin darted into and I followed him, only to find that he had vanished, and that the room was greased. It was then that a trio of demonic snakes appeared and tried to grab me, and a creature that looked like an insane burning child popped into being too, and set everything alight. Not wishing to end up as a charred husk, I rolled out of the room into the alleyway, which was then blocked off by a wall of ice!! Clearly this assassin is either a wizard, or has the services of one at his disposal. As my opponents closed in on me I darted past them with a burst of speed from my boots and cast my alter self spell to give me the bat wings I am fond of, soaring up and out of the ambush. I lost the assassin though and worse was to come. 

I flew across the town to try and get hold of Adamo, reckoning who better to combat a mage who can summon creatures than another mage who can do the same. In my haste to gather allies I neglected to consider the effect that seeing a bat-winged figure flying over the town would have on the people of Dagger Falls and a mass panic broke out. Nor was this helped when the Innkeeper at the Red Rock Tavern (where Adamo normally resides when in town) was terrified by my appearance and set his ogre bouncer on me. I swiftly dispatched the thuggish creature, and left money for his burial as I again took off to fly to the Old Man’s Drum, hoping that Stedd would be there. He was there, thank Mask, and we headed off (on foot this time) back towards where the ambush had been, as there was now a sizeable fire engulfing that part of the town (no doubt caused by the fire child thing). We met up with the rest of the Crusaders there (and Yvgeny's overly fanatical paladin superior, who was eager to carve up a demon that had been sighted. Thankfully I had dismissed my wings before entering the Old Man's Drum). 

Working together we did manage to contain the fire, though Halbrinn broke our Bag of Holding in the process as he tried to scoop up far too much water in it at once from the local river, and the thing burst. With that under control, I went to make a report to Respen about the unfortunate occurrences, but instead was confronted by Duke Braille, the erstwhile commander of Daggerdale’s army (what there is of it), who ranted and raged at me for some time, dropping the words "court martial" and "death sentence" into the tirade. He wants me transferred to his command, like the pigheaded idiot could even understand how I wage war. The man is a total irrelevance, given a title with no meaning and an army that couldn't stop a Zhent raiding force, let alone an army. For my part I followed protocol, saying "Yes Sir", and "No Sir" as and when needed. 

After a short argument with the Crusaders about whether we should go to fight the Drow, or stick around for judgment on my case, I retired to my room, the argument unresolved. 

*Tarsakh 15th *- I woke this morning to receive a puzzling package. On opening it I found that it contained a generous severance pay, a backpack and a confusing note. It seems that I have been removed from the official lists of government paid employees, in effect made redundant, yet I am to be retained on salary to be doing what I have always done. As an aside I have been transferred to Duke Braille’s command... so I guess I'll just carry on reporting to Respen then. 

I gathered the Crusaders together, and after trying (and failing) to buy a Portable Hole from the Thayans, we settled on a new Bag of Holding. We then headed off back to the Dordrien Crypts. The trip was uneventful, and the only thing of note was a skeleton surrounded by ash outside the crypt doors. We couldn't make anything out of it though, so we just ignored it. 

It took us several hours to get back down through the crypts and the chasm to the Temple, but that damn forbiddance effect meant that fully half our group was unable to enter this day, so we decided to explore Szith Morcane instead. We do so, finding out that rather than an actual town as such, Szith Morcane is actually a vast cavern, dotted with farmsteads and many, many huge fungi (probably grown as crops in the underdark). Our travel through this area was peaceful save for a short fight with a pair of Underdark Squid (at least I think that is what they were), as we walked along the shore of a lake. I managed to kill one, but the other escaped with severe wounds. After a bit more uneventful exploring, we headed back to our secured area and rested. 

*Tarsakh 16th *- Getting up early, we headed back down the chasm to the temple and Adamo opens up a new passage into the temple. It seems that the drow had anticipated this though, as they had used walls of stone to alter the corridors inside. Aeron dispelled the forbiddance, and also the Unhallow effects, in effect leveling the playing field. Making our way to the large chamber we had battled in before and been forced to flee from; we launched our attack on the remaining Kiaransalee cultists. Pitched against us this time was the drow vampiress, a drow priestess, a vampiric drider, a pair of Quth Maren and a nasty surprise as the drow had turned both Vorin and Grim into undead minions and used them against us. 

No quarter was asked or given as battle was joined, and the fighting was fierce. Thankfully none of the Crusaders fell in battle, and we saw to the destruction of all our foes save for the vampiress and priestess, both of whom fled. We set off after them through the temple, the place was littered with exploding skull traps and other deadly magics, but very little of this fell sorcery had much effect save to slow us, and even then not by much. After some searching, we located the vampiresses hidden sarcophagus and using sunlight spells, utterly annihilated her. The priestess escaped us again! 

On looting the complex and the numerous bodies we found many items of interest, in particular the equipment from both Grim and Vorin which their undead selves had for the most part retained. I won't easily forget Vorin, something of his soul lingered in the undead he had become, and he kept demanding to be destroyed even as he fought me. I was responsible for leaving him to die the first time, and I put him down this time also. We also found a very disturbing letter, pertaining to what the drow are up to. I feel it is vital to get this back to Respen as soon as possible. In the interests of having a copy of the letter, I have transcribed it into my journal below: 

_Daughter, 

Our Dark Lady favours my efforts, and my research proceeds well. Within five tendays, perhaps six, all will be ready for the Day of Great Vengeance. The Spider Queen is dead; we have already brought low the Spider-kissers and seized our rightful place in the realms of the dark. Now the Day draws near when we shall avenge ourselves upon those of the day-blasted lands, too, and achieve that ultimate triumph denied us so long ago. 

While I prepare my Great Revenance, it falls to you to make ready the way. Harry the surface-dwellers, hunt them in their woods and fields, and take the measure of their strength. Do not concern yourself with putting them on their guard; our Lady desires their blood, their fear, and their dreadful anticipation of our ultimate act of revenge. With each slaying we grow in her favour and sow the seeds of our coming victory. 

If they come against you in Szith Morcane in irresistible strength, slay as many as you can. Withdraw from the fight if you must, and bring Zedarr with you, but as for the rest - they are to stand and die for the glory of the White Banshee. The battle for Szith Morcane will come to nothing when our Great Revenance comes to pass. If anything, our final vengeance is made ever sweeter by each fleeting, false hope our enemies entertain before it falls upon them. 

Work great slaughter for our Lady's dark glory, my daughter. Soon I will come to you from Maerimydra with such dark and terrible might that all Faerun will tremble before us. 

Mother _

It would seem that the raids the drow launched upon Daggerdale are but the first stage of a much more insidious plan to do harm to the folk of Daggerdale (and indeed by the sounds of it, everywhere else!). With this in mind, we headed back to Dagger Falls to find a festival in progress as the town will be hosting a meeting of the Dales council in a few days. The guard I questioned on the gate we entered town by, said that the first few dignitaries had already arrived. The group split up upon entering the town, and myself and Stedd headed to the Old Man’s Drum, paid for our rooms and went to bed.


----------



## Eccles (Dec 19, 2003)

I think it worth mentioning that I had a great deal of fun running the session and a half where Miles dropped the ball in Dagger Falls, and the town nearly burned down, whilst the entire population became terrified by the idea that a demon was loose and flying above their heads.

The party summoner was arrested, the clerics were immediately hired to go demon hunting, and the whole party went firefighting.

To my immense disappointment, Miles immediately confessed all his sins to his superior, who was incredibly sarcastic at him. I'd had high hopes of running a couple of sessions of 'Hunt the demon', with Miles' player madly trying to hide the evidence!

The scene with the Bouncer was terrific. A huge number of failed spot checks, and the belief that a 12 foot wingspan could be hidden beneath his cloak meant that the entire conversation went something like this: 

"Aaargh! Demon!"
"Ug... Gronk Stop it!"
"Back off, you ugly stupid damn brute!"
"Gronk not stupid"
<hackslashslay>
"Aaargh! Murderous Demon!"

Pity the CR2 ogre bouncer (which the rest of the group was pretty fond of) up against a level 10 or 11 assassin dealing 40+ damage in a single blow...


----------



## Eccles (Jan 15, 2004)

Miles Journal part 22

Tarsakh 17th - Rested till late in the morning before getting up and making my way across town from the Inn to Lord Morn's manor to make my report to Respen. He was pleased for once, we have after all wiped out the Kiaransalee cultists that had been raiding Daggerdale, and though he dislikes us having made an alliance with that drow archmage, it will serve to prevent any future raids. He handed over a sack of money for us having completed our assignment. I handed over the letter we found, and his face turned grave again. I have suggested that he bring the letter to the attention of the Dales Council if he can fit it into their agenda for this gathering, he said he'd try but what with the drow raids from Cormanthyr, the Shades, Zhents and recent happenings in Cormyr to discuss he wasn't very optimistic. 

With that in mind, I bid him a good day, assuring him that the group intended to stay in town for a good few days to rest and re-equip. I made my way over to Halbrinn's house where he and Adamo are staying, and our summoner was already at work identifying the stuff we had gained recently. From the pile of items, I managed to do very well indeed, securing a better cloak than the one I had, Vorynn's old bracers which boosted her force of personality (not that he needed them he was boorish enough company already), and a suit of elven chainmail. We sold the items we had no use for at the enclave, and most of us paid for something or other to be made or improved upon. I have had the magics in my new chainmail enhanced. 

Tarsakh 18th to 22nd - Stayed at the Old Mans Drum whilst my chainmail was being upgraded. After the debacle last time, I decided not to go hunting for anyone wishing any of us harm in the city this time. They want us dead, they have to come into sight eventually. 

Tarsakh 23rd - Got a reply from Respen today. The Dales Council have decided that whatever this "Mother" from the letter is planning, it is none of their concern. He also let us know, that a wood on the Mistledale/Battledale border has started to disrupt magic in some manner, he wasn't too clear on the details. From comparing our map of the underdark to the surface map we believe that this wood lies roughly atop or very close to Maerimydra, where this Great Revenance is to take place, or may have already begun. We all agreed that this was no coincidence, and have decided to investigate the matter. 

Tarsakh 24th to 26th - Remain in Dagger Falls and the Thayans finally finish my armour upgrade, as well as our wizards complete scribing new spells into their spellbooks. I extended my stay in the Old Mans Drum, mostly keeping to myself. I find I am getting very good at nursing a pint of ale so that it takes me several hours to drink it, certainly saves me money, and there is something to be said in my line of work for being more sober than everyone else around you! 

Tarsakh 27th - Finally ready, we headed out of Dagger Falls early this morning, intent on scouting out this Maerimydra place, whatever it is. We quickly made our way back to Szith Morcane and passed through the vast cavern without incident reaching the gateway we found on our last visit here. Opening the gate, we proceeded down the tunnel beyond it towards who knows what, as the map we have is very scarce on details, all we know is that the tunnel leads to the shore of a large underground lake and leads off from another shore of that lake, towards Maerimydra. I'm not entirely sure how we plan to cross the lake, but I guess we will figure that out when we get there. We encountered nothing during the course of our travels today and eventually made camp. I think we have made good progress. 

Tarsakh 28th - Our night's rest was uninterrupted, and we have continued our descent today as this tunnel is surely sloping downwards. The days travel was uneventful and we made camp. Whilst on second watch we were attacked by a half dozen troglodytes backed up two troglodyte berserkers and a shaman. It did take us a while to defeat these raiders, as the half dozen regular trogs went down easily enough; it took an incredible amount of punishment dealt out to drop one of the berserkers, the shaman then plane shifting away with the other. We found many magical items on the berserker that I slew and hopefully some might prove useful. If nothing else they will provide coin. 

Tarsakh 29th - On our travel downward today we have encountered a stream of pure acid. Luckily it was but a foot across and we all easily jumped it. Just a little further on we heard loud guttural noises coming from a cavern up ahead. We approached cautiously only for Aeron to enlarge himself and run into the cave in full armour, narrowly dodging a thrown boulder from a stone giant. We rushed forwards to engage this giant in combat, and his companions too, as another three of the lumbering brutes joined the fray, one after another. No sooner did we knock one down than another seemed to arrive. We handily defeated them though not without myself and Yvgeny suffering heavy wounds (Aeron did also but quickly healed himself up). We then saw that this cavern was the one on our map, at the edge of the lake. 

Halbrinn returned then from a quick scout of nearby caves to report that another four giants and two massive bears were close by and apparently ready to defend themselves, or launch another attack against us. As he was off doing this, the rest of us noticed a series of cave paintings relating to the giants relations with fishmen (probably koa-toa) who dwell on an island in the lake in a crude building. The giants it turns out had a pair of large rafts, and after thoroughly sabotaging them, we used Halbrinns feather token to create a large swan boat and we boarded it. Trust the gnome to think of everything! 

No sooner had we set sail however, than we passed a cave on the shoreline used as a dump by the giants as it was filled with bones, shells and a monstrous creature with lobster claws and thick chitinous armour. The thing leapt onto the aft of our boat and promptly grabbed Adamo, the tentacles hanging from its mouth paralysing him. The rest of us moved to his defense, knowing that if the monster now retreated, our mage would undoubtedly be lost. It was then as I placed a blade between a couple plates that it grabbed me. Mask! The pain as this things pincer crushed me was incredible. Still, I struggled but to no avail until Stedd delivered a blow that stunned the creature; and its grip relaxed enough for me to escape. It dropped Adamo and Yvgeny pulled him to safety, seeing to his wounds, as the creature leapt from the boat the moment it came to its senses, bleeding from several wounds. Adamo when he came around, launched several lightning bolts into our boats wake in anger, but I do not think he got the creature. 

Continuing onwards across the inky lake, we were alerted by Stedd to the presence in the water nearby of a large fast moving creature. I think all of us at that point remembered another of the giants cave paintings, one depicting a vast tentacled creature in the lake. I had little desire to encounter a giant squid, as my last encounter with one of these beats did not go well. We lost two of the Crusaders to the squid that attacked us in the jungle realm. 

The creature showed itself a couple times as we continued on and from these sightings it was obvious that this creature was massive, far larger than the squid myself and Stedd remember from that savage land. At a rough guess I put the creature at about 100 to 130 feet in length from the tips of its longest tentacles to where I could see of the back end of its body. 

Then, as it approached menacingly, Adamo enlarged our boat to give us more maneuverability should it actually attack. Tentacles wrapped around the boat and it made an attempt to take Yvgeny. Adamo and I tried negotiating with it and when it did not release him, Adamo summoned a whale of all things to attack it while we sailed away. 

The Kraken (for surely that must be what it is)tore the whale apart and came after us, as we readied ourselves for an onslaught with the spellcasters enchanting everyone with fly spells (well apart from Yvgeny who jumped overboard when the whale attacked. Halbrinn surprised us all by summoning up a Sperm Whale (he later said that it was an illusion, but I swear it was as real as I am). We continued onwards as fast as we could and for a while the monster left us alone. 

It could not leave us alone forever though, and again approached us, only this time to demand tribute. Grudgingly we paid in fine quality weapons and armour which we had been intending to sell the next time we returned to Dagger Falls, as well as a few potions from my belt. It then left us alone, thoroughly irritated with our tactics. We finally reached the other shore and were joined a few hours later by Yvgeny who had climbed upside down along the cave lakes walls and ceiling for about ten miles! Truly the priest of Ilmater doesn't just preach about suffering, he endures it too. We camped some distance from the lakes edge, and burnt the boat to provide a fire (as it was going to vanish anyway, this way we got a ride and it warmed/dried us as well, leaving no trace of a fire as the debris vanished into thin air).


----------



## Kayne (Jan 15, 2004)

*Miles' Journal - Part Twenty Three*

*Tarsakh 30th* - We set off down the tunnel away from the lake towards a feature marked on out map as Glouroth's chasm. Quite who or what a Glouroth is I don't know, but we should reach there in a day or so, it is hard to tell exactly as there is only a very crude scale to the map. the day was utterly mundane, with a lot of trekking through tunnels and that was it, no encounters at all during the day or night.

*Greengrass Holiday* - We travelled all day with no incidents which is highly unusual as in the past we have always fought major battles on all of the festival days. We made camp and Halbrinn decided that from now on he is going to create an illusionary camp some distance away from us to distract any would be attackers.

However while the day was without incident the same cannot be said of the night as shortly into first watch, a monstrous acid oozing slug-like creature with large forelimbs dug its way into our campsite, seriously injuring Adamo and Aeron before Halbrinn fireballed it and Yvgeny, Stedd and myself surrounded it, my blades tearing it to shreds. That done, we went back to sleep.

*Mirtul 1st* - We continued travelling along and down the tunnel and after an hour or so it opened out into the base of an immense chasm, the top of which was far beyond our range of sight. A large chime and hammer were hung nearby. A tunnel continued onwards from the other side of the chasm, only from the top of it, and we only knew this from the air current that flowed down from somewhere up there. Changing form to that of a pixie and rendering himself invisible, Halbrinn flew up to investigate.

While he was gone, Aeron cast a spell and it seems that must have triggered an alarm as a deep howling noise started up. All of us then began casting as we anticipated an attack to be imminent, but we had no idea by what. then up above, we saw Halbrinn briefly illuminated as he fireballed a tunnel entrance about eighty feet up. I quickly cast spells to give myself wings and make me invisible and then hid along a chasm wall ready to surprise one of our oncoming attackers, whatever they might be.

As Halbrinn and Yvgeny fought them above, I waited until they came low enough for me to spot a likely leader amongst their number and then launched myself up at him, cathing the winged thing completely by surprise and tearing it to ribbons before it had a chance to react to my attack.

From below, Adamo had summoned an air elemental and several lightning firing bird-like creatures to aid us. The elemental caught several of our assailants in a whirlwind, battering them around against the chasm walls as they struggled to escape. the creature we battled appered to be some form of gargoyles, though they were larger and stronger than any gargoyles I have ever heard of. Halbrinn then encased on of them in a sphere of force, imprisoning him as we dealt with the others. the group speedily disposed of the remaining gargoyles and as the sphere wore off, we butchered the caged one also, can't leave a foe behind you. We began our ascent of the chasm then only to be met head on by a descending Shadow Dragon and several more of the gargoyles. The arrival of this overwhelming creature threw us into total disarray and the battle went completely against us. Aftyer a brief flurry of spells and strikes, including my attempt at a direct death strike on the dragin itself, we were forced into a near rout. Our only saving grace in this second battle being Halbrinn slaying a gargoyle that looked distinctly draconic with his parting spell, which enraged the dragon no end.

We continued to flee for several hours to put a safe distance between us and it, hoping that it could not pursue down the tunnels we took owing to its considerable size. This dragon is the biggest we have faced yet with the exception of Gran'Rath who, thankfully, we have never yet faced in direct combat. We made camp and intend to remain here for at least a day to enable Aeron and Adamo to recover from the effects of the dragons breath that engulfed them.

*Mirtul 2nd* - We were attacked in the night (if there is such a thing underground) by a pack of five strange cloak-like creatures which howled and moaned something terrible, literally scaring more than half the party into flight, leaving just Stedd and I to battle them. We fought well, destroying three of them in mere seconds, before my mind suddenly went hazy. I recall nothing of what happened then, but my companions told me that I stood drooling and apparently mindless for some time as they (the others having shaken off the fear effect and rushed back) fought the remaining two such creatures.

We spent the day resting up, as well as a couple of us locating the cloakers lair and emptying it of valuables. Halbrinn used a spell to identify some of the recent magical loot that we have been carrying, but were unsure of exactly what they did. None of the items Halbrinn identified really interested me, save for a potion of blurring, but I lost out at dice to Stedd for it. Aeron used a couple spells to partially restire himself and Adamo, but reckons he will need at least another day to fully restore our summoner.

As Halbrinn identified items, we were attacked by a group of zombies backed up by a trio of drow rangers (one of whom escaped) and a vicious drow priestess who caught me totally off guard and greviously wounded me with her greataxe. Thankfully Aeron was alert, and used a dispel to strip away her magical protections, and then Stedd and I double teamed her, my blades reducing her to a fine bloody pulp. Revenge was sweet. Looting the bodies, we found a nice haul of gold and magic on them, and settled back down on watch, and to patch ourselves up.

*Mirtul 3rd* - We spent another day resting up, with Aeron using his spells to help restore himself and Adamo, whilst Halbrinn identified the loot we took from the drow yesterday. Again as Halbrinn was occupied we were attacked, this time by a pack of four ghoulish creatures with a truly terrfying gaze. One of these things just looking at me, dredged up memories I had long supressed of some of the acts I have done in the carrying out of my duties. whilst the experience of reliving these past sins of mine was near overwhelming, I did not succumb to despair. Everything I have done I have done to ensure the safety of Daggerdale, and I rallied that on that strength, and fought back, badly wounding one of them.

Aeron to his credit turned all of them, and they did not come back once the effect of his repelling wore off. Alas the day was not without loss, as it seems the gaze of one of these dreads creatures proved to be too much for Adamo to bear, and he died instantly from it, A look of mixed horror and utmost sorrow on his face.

The last time we returned him to life after our first encounter with the Quth Maren, he made clear his feelings that he did not want such done again. In keeping with his wishes (and because his corpse bagan to change into one of the ghoul-like creatures), we destroyed his body after taking everything of worth from it. I asm not sure how looting the body of a fallen comrade sits with some of the idealistic members of the Crusaders, but I say we need everything we can get to give us an edge in this place. I managed to procure a headband to boost my intellect, which I hope will help me in our endeavours.

*Mirtul 4th* - Well just as we were packing up our camp to head back towards the chasm, with the aim of wiping out that dragon and his remaining gargoyles, we were witness to a most peculiar sight. A hellish portal opened in the middle of our camp and a man was flung through, closely followed by his things which he dragged through the planar opening with a spell of some sort before it snapped shut. This man was almost naked, covered in blood and filth and most oddly of all, had metal rings inserted into his flesh, each one looping around a rib bone, more than thirty of them in all.

After some healing, we were able to identify him as our old colleague Rand Stormseeker. Once he had woken up, he was able to explain that he had been trying to contact us, casting a spell to bring him to our location. He has no memory, or none that has returned yet, of where in the nine hells he has been, but appears from his relating of things to have lost about 4 days. He has sought us out to inform us that his scrying has determined that our old (and thankfully slumbering) foe Gran'Rath Tendathaloth is waking up, and in a season, or two at the most, he will be healed up after what Elminster did to him in their battle, and oince more out for our blood.

We swapped information about out current situations, and Rand has rejoined the group as he needs us to stop Gran'Rath, and we need him in the meantime to help us stop whatever it is that the drow have planned. but simply, the faster we are done with this mission, the faster we can go and help him stop that blasted dragon from wreaking havoc on the surface, and especially on Clearwater again. Given how injured Rand is, we have decided to abandon moving camp today and spend another day to ensure that he is fully healed up, especially as he is very intent on cutting the metal rings out of him. Can't say I blame him!


----------



## Eccles (Jan 23, 2004)

To His Eminence Pietr Orik,
Temple of Ilmater,
King’s Palace Square,
Heliogabalus.

	Your Grace,

I must apologise again for the long delay in the sending of these missives.  It is getting to be somewhat of a struggle to relay these messages, what with suspicious governments and bizarre Underdark effects (faerzress) conspiring to keep my teleporting scroll case in my backpack.  I think it safe to assume that Respen would take umbrage in my risking the transmission of sensitive information across the distance from here to Heliogabalus, and even I wouldn’t risk the chaotic fluctuations caused by teleportations in the realms of the Underdark.  Therefore, I beg you your grace, have patience.

Anyway, let us not dwell on my excuses, but jump straightway to the end of my previous narrative.  To recap: The Crusaders were resting to fight drow vampires.  (We have yet to adopt any appellation other than the Clearwater Crusaders, despite it being some time since the escapades in Clearwater.  I would have us adopt the moniker ‘Lightbringers’ but I think some of the Crusaders (Miles) would consider the tag a little too ‘evangelical missionary!’)  Anyway, having rested and readjusted our stored mana to suit the task ahead, we returned to the temple to complete the clear-up operation.

Again, we were forced to breach the forbiddance.  We were unsure as to what else we would have to face, so it was decided that we would bypass this barrier by force of will rather than reducing our spell choices by dispelling the effect.  As it was, only Halbrinn was blocked, but the barrier seemed total for him.  It was therefore decided that he would form our rearguard, raising the alarm should any of our foe attempt to flank us; the rest of us continued into the complex.

It was well for him that he did not continue, for a horrid blade-vortex spell was then brought into effect, a trap it seems that both Aeron and I got caught in.  Fortunately the rest escaped the maelstrom and I thanked Ilmater for both my fortitude and my slippers of spider climbing, allowing me to leap for the nearby chasm wall despite the fact that my legs had been lacerated to the bone in several places.  Through the mist of blood I saw that Aeron had collapsed, but fortunately was lying below the plane of the whirling blades, so hence was safe for now, providing he was not dying or dead already…  Ilmater was with him, though, as I saw him move slightly.  With agonising slowness, he managed to crawl from beneath the blades and after a pause for healing the pair of us rejoined our companions.  I now have a half-inch high scar mid-calf on both legs to prove the effectiveness of that spell, although it is far too indiscriminate for me to ever want to use.  I have to admit to a small grudging respect for our foe.  This was a worthy enemy: A priestess that had risen high enough in the eyes of her dark goddess to be granted a spell of such power would be one well worthy of smiting.

However, just as I was considering this, our quarry ambushed us: a Kiaransalee cleric with vampire support.  Adamo used a wall of stone spell to prevent these creatures from fleeing and trapped the cleric within its structure into the bargain.  The cleric was freed by its Quth Maren support, which then withdrew and so, using our superior weight of numbers, we vanquished the drow vampire and its drider compatriot.  We then proceeded to the door, which we knew led onto the sacred chamber/killing ground we got bogged down in the day previous.  Girding our loins, and summoning up suitable magics, we threw ourselves at the door.  Indeed, tactics were much as before, with our enemies determined to limit our access, that we might not be able to spread out into our usual attack formation.  I attempted to negate this scheme by climbing to the ceiling, my first plan being to weaken both vampire and drow with light spells.  These were quickly countered with darkness spells, and so I was reduced to casting support spells on my compatriots: blessings and similar effects.  With the entrapment spells of Adamo letting us concentrate on pockets of enemies at a time, we eventually worked our way through all of them, killing or destroying all save one drow cleric, who ran off.  All of the party survived this battle without falling (a miracle in itself!) but several of us were close to collapse, so we were forced to allow her to run.

Noting the fact that diverse of our foes had been faced before (the Blackguard made an unwelcome return, for instance!) we decided to destroy the remaining bodies.  Having done this, and set fire to the webbed living spaces of the drider vampires as well, we rested and partook of the graces of Mystra and Ilmater, for some healing.  Grimm then pressed us to chase down the cleric, which we knew to be sensible.  However, it became clear as we searched the remainder of the temple that either the foul creature had departed entirely, or else she had headed towards the central parts of the temple.  Now, we were short of magic due to the previous battle and it was self-evident to me that the central chambers would most likely be covered with traps, if not with more powerful enemies.  I voiced my concerns, and did sway some of the Crusaders, but Grimm’s tail was up, and he had opened the door that we had paused before, thus deciding proceedings before full discourse had chosen the best path.

Before us, without antechamber or other connecting room to hide our approach, was the inner sanctum of the temple, as expected.  Any representation of Lolth had been removed, of course: The central pedestal, fully fifteen feet high, was adorned with a throne of bones and little else…  Little else other than a lounging female drow that is.  Four other pillars, equally spaced around the chamber, held up the roof of this large open space that, as befitted a room dedicated to the spider queen, had the requisite eight sides.  Other than that, the room was bare.
We immediately set to spreading out, a fact that saved all but Aeron and Grim from the unholy fire of a flame strike.  The quickest of us rushed the central column, that we might shake the drow from her nonchalant spellcasting, Miles using his assassin’s magic (or his sword) to leap the tower of stone entirely aiming to take her out with a fly-by attack.  His aim was well off, however (his sword is a known enthusiast, and likely bounced him too hard!), and the drow ignored him completely, despite the hefty mace she had in her possession, which could have knocked him from the air, had it connected.  The reason for the drow’s blithe disregard for her own safely soon became evident when Aeron pointed out that she was an illusion.  After some confusion caused by those who still regarded the seated drow as a threat, we set about finding our real attacker, listening intently for the source of chanting we could just hear.

Finally, Aeron hit upon the cause: Buried within the central column was a secret chamber, whose occupant burst out as soon as she was discovered: yet another vampire cleric.  The foul creature was moving even quicker than vampires normally move; clearly it was in possession of a haste spell.  Using this burst of speed to its advantage, it set about Aeron, laying him out with a savage series of attacks with its mace that all struck home.  Miles was next to receive the beast’s attention, weakened by a bite that literally sucked all his remaining vitality from his body.  Adamo picked up the stricken Miles and promptly disappeared through a dimension door.  Aeron had dropped his mace of disruptive force, so while Halbrinn, in ogre form, scooped up the fallen cleric, I tumbled in to pick the weapon up from under the nose of the vampire.  It managed to get a swipe at me, but Aeron’s mage armour, cast on me that morning, managed to deflect virtually all of the force of the blow.

Its next attack was against Grimm, who had darted in to divert its attention from me.  This time the vampires blow connected with a horrid crunching sound, and Grimm fell to the floor, pole axed.  By this time, only I was left to save the drow hunter, as Halbrinn had also departed, but Grimm was still breathing so there was no choice in the matter.  Offering a prayer to the Triad, I drew forth my holy symbol, hoping its power would still affect a vampire that was also a cleric.  Fortunately, it did, though by no means did this vampire cower away, and I was only barely able to get to the doorway, dragging the dying Grimm with me as I went.

Unfortunately, I could not close the door and present my holy symbol at the same time, and the vampire was able to slam the door open as I withdrew my arm to close it.  Before I could hope to bring up my holy symbol again, I received a heavy blow from the creature’s mace that deadened my arm from shoulder to wrist.  However, I had to keep going: Grimm was still just breathing, although he had mere seconds to live.  However, I’m sure he would have preferred death to unlife at the hands of a drow, so I knew I could not yet give in and drop him.  I then called upon all my training to block each attack the vampire aimed at me while still dragging the now still form of Grimm.  The creature could barely touch me, and I had Aeron’s mace, so I attempted to ward it off with a blow.  However, my lack of training with conventional weapons told, and I was unable to land a solid disrupting hit on the vampire.  

Howling anguish inside, I was left with no alternative but to abandon Grimm, and make good my escape as fast as I could.  The parting shot of the vampire, who could not match my speed now its own haste spell had dissipated, was to cast a dispelling at me, almost bringing me to my knees as my enhanced health returned to normal, and wounds reopened. 

I managed to find the rest of my companions back in our little private sanctuary by the first drop shaft.  I gave them the bad news that Grimm had died before I could revive him (if only I could have got that door closed!  Damn these foul undead!!) and worse, was now in the possession of the vampire.  Given this, we decided to adjourn to Dagger Falls, before more undead overran our current position.

As soon as we arrived back, a party of militia approached us.  They required a word with Adamo regarding a strange creature that has appeared in the vicinity.  They were courteous, so we assumed it was just due to Adamo’s obvious expertise in this area.  Anyway, he is not available for now, so we had the opportunity to spend some time in Dagger Falls.

Anyway, after making my usual reports to Sir Dundragon and spending a night’s vigil praying for the soul of Grimm, I decided to bury myself in the activity of the mission in the poor quarter.  After a few days there, healing the sick and tending to other unfortunates, I felt a good deal better, but the politics of the Dales soon caught up with me (or, rather, Miles) again.  Apparently, he had been tracking the Zhent agent sent to Dagger Falls for my express ‘benefit,’ and had managed to discover a hidey-hole.  Unfortunately, this was an intentional trap, involving not just conventional mechanisms but magic too.  In the ruckus that followed, a fire was started, and if not for us Crusaders, Sir Dundragon and the braver parts of the militia, a large portion of Dagger Falls could have been burnt to the ground.

Unfortunately, in his haste to raise the alarm, Miles changed his form with magic, that he might have wings.  Naturally, this perturbed the general populace, to the extent that Miles appeared to become the culprit of the general hysteria concerning the sighting of demons.  Miles quickly owned up (to the Crusaders, and later to his superiors) to having made the mistake of being seen with the wings of a bat firmly attached to his back (and having to use ‘extreme prejudice’ on one of the bouncers of a local inn).  This all culminated in Miles being ‘transferred’ out of the Dagger Falls ‘civil service’ and into the military!  By Ilmater, I thought he would be angry, but it seems he has taken the change of role without rancour.  The thought of a desk job within a few years probably shaped his opinion!  On the other hand, he is a master of concealment, so perhaps I should be on my guard for a little while…

However, one plus point that did emerge from this fiasco was the re-discovery of Stedd of the Old Order!  Apparently, his search for his brothers and his monastery has proved fruitless; indeed, he has gained gravitas, several magical items and an interesting scar, but nought else for his travails.  Because of this, he has re-applied to join the Crusaders and Miles, being the nominal leader, has agreed.  Naturally, none of the rest of us took umbrage, so Stedd has once again become a Crusader, which is only right considering he was a founding member!

With the fire under control, I set about providing succour for the injured, along with the priests of Lathander (who were providing the bare minimum of salves, but demanding a visit by the injured to their temple by way of recompense.  Ilmater, I’m surprised they didn’t hand round the canister whilst they were at it:  Lathander saves—with the Bank of Waterdeep!  Ha!!).

However, that said, the Lathanderians did approach us a while later on an unrelated matter.  They sought out Aeron (who is apparently well known to them as something of a seer) to give him a scroll of communing, that he may aid in the hunt for the ‘demon.’  Naturally, he was in something of a quandary, as he knew full well where the ‘demon’ was  (sitting just across the table from him, supping mead!) so simply took the scroll with as much graciousness as he could simulate, and said of course he would help.  Hmmm…  Not the Crusader’s finest hour:  It seems Mask is enjoying all the false intrigue being caused, at Miles’ expense!  Ironic, methinks!

Given that we now had a scroll of communing, Aeron decided to put it to good use tracing the path of the agents that had so recently caused the fire.  After formulating a series of questions, Halbrinn and Aeron (both having some knowledge of logics), managed to use the commune to narrow down the location of my erstwhile assassin(s) to the river Tesh, possibly heading for Zhentil Keep.  This seemed to me not quite the use I would make of a commune spell, but it was done for my benefit, so it would have been churlish to stop them.

With the knowledge that the agents did not appear to be in the vicinity of Dagger Falls, we felt it was safe to return to the crypts, to see if we could complete our quest to neutralise the drow coming from there.  So, after a day spent re-equipping (we had managed to rupture our bag of holding while transporting water to the fire) and re-acquiring Adamo, we left for the crypts to the south once again.

We made quicker progress than normal through the upper reaches of the crypts, with Halbrinn using his resilient sphere spell to clear a path.  This leg of the journey was notable only for the fact that metal had disappeared from the remains that still lay about, but there was no time for ruminations on the cause of this so we continued.

	We arrived back at the temple a short while later, but found that large areas of stone had been used to all but block the entrance, leaving just gap of about two foot where before there was open space.  Aeron and I were not slow to notice that this was where the blade barrier trap had been set previously; if that spell were used again, there would be nowhere for the victim to run too…

	We therefore stopped to ponder safe circumvention of this area, when suddenly Halbrinn cried out: Adamo, bloody and convulsing, had been attacked by a bebelith, which in the blink of an eye had become ethereal and had disappeared into the nearest wall.  Deciding that we were not well placed to face such a creature, we vacated the location post haste.

	After we were securely away, Adamo summoned a Unicorn (variant?), to heal the wound the bebelith had inflicted on him, as it was well beyond my skill to treat.  The Unicorn successfully cured the poison, but we decided it might not be best to go back to the temple right then; we chose to explore a little first.

	In this exploration the Crusaders achieved little other than scaring off some drow mushroom farmers and fighting with a pair of giant squid (and I ‘achieved’ the despoliation of another judogi suit, via squid ink!) so we retreated back to our sanctuary and rested, ready for the morrow.  This time we gave ourselves a plan:  Aeron would choose spells of dispelling to give us a chance to bypass the forbiddance altogether, and all of the spellcasters would memorise more light-based spells.

After the usual night watches passed without incident, we awoke, broke our fast and performed our customary rituals for the gathering of mana.  Arriving back at the chasm entrance into the temple, Stedd, Aeron and I got past the forbiddance, and Aeron then used his dispel evil to clear the unhallow.  With that evil umbra dispersed by his spell, Aeron then set to work on the forbiddance, this time with a simple dispel magic.  By the grace of Mystra, Aeron’s spell proved more powerful, and hence the rest of the Crusaders were able to make it through the entrance and onto the narrow strip of rock that abutted the new rock that had been added by the drow.

Now we advanced very carefully, moving through the almost sealed entrance to the temple with utmost care.  Halbrinn scoured the area for traps, and it was not long before our circumspection proved judicious.  We were attacked, for want of a better word, by odious illusionary skulls, trailing black fire and keening most awfully before breathing fire and vanishing.  Clearly, these were spells (skull of secrets, I suspect) that were triggered by traps, and they proved more of a nuisance than a genuine threat.  These were not the only traps however; it soon became clear that these priests of Kiaransalee were aware of my heritage: A seemingly basic water-trap turned out to be far more potent.  Only my determination not to be blasé saved me from full immersion in a bath of unholy water; as it was, I screamed in agony after stepping into the pool, with the scars on my legs reopening on contact with that base fluid.  My friends did not wholly understand my pain, but I garnered some sympathy nonetheless.  After pausing to soak my legs in a spell of water creation, to dilute any remaining unholy water and clean my reopened wounds, the rest of the Crusaders and I continued.

	From there we gradually made our way back to the central chamber of the temple, checking for traps all the way.  This time, of course, we were better prepared, with our many castings of light-based spells at the ready.  These we deployed as soon as we stormed the room, giving us somewhat of an advantage versus the two vampires, the cleric and the minions.  We were taken aback by the fact that two of the undead were ex-members of the Crusaders; those abominated priestesses had reanimated Grimm and Vorin!  However, just looking at the faces of our old comrades, it was clear that internal struggles were going on, with Vorin, especially, vocalising his desire for a merciful release from his predicament.  Fortunately our determination to end this battle quickly was galvanised by seeing our friends so heinously used, and we laid low Grimm, Vorin and the Quth Maren minions in quick order.  Our sunlight spells were also too much for our other foes: the drider being destroyed, the other drow disappearing into mist-form and the priestess hurling abuse at us before she, too, made herself scarce.

Hunting for the two escapees led us into more defensive magic, but eventually we were able to locate the sanctuary of the drow vampire, which we expunged from the face of Toril with a conjoining of daylight spells.  Unfortunately, the drow priestess had vanished utterly, but with the Kiaransalee cult now irretrievably smashed in this location, we should hopefully not have to suffer her abominations any more.  To further prevent problems with undead, we destroyed all available corpses within the temple, except the body of Vorin.  This I put into the bag of holding, that his remains may be blessed and given a proper burial.  Unpleasant to carry around a corpse, I know (and my friends were also quick to point out), but a representative of Torm deserves at least a return to consecrated ground.

In our search we also managed to locate diverse items, one of which proved insidious to say the least.  This was a letter addressed to one of the priestesses here, it seems.  Miles has kept the actual letter itself, but with a spell of comprehend languages I have managed to extract the gist of what was written.  The letter was written from a ‘mother’ to her ‘daughter.’  This may have been literal or figurative, although my limited knowledge of drow forms of address suggests that ‘mother’ refers to a Matron Mother of a drow House.  It describes the fact that, within two months of the writing of the letter, some plan that the supporters of Kiaransalee have been concocting will come to fruition.  The plan appears to be in the form of a massive attack on lands above ground, and the attacks that have been perpetrated from this particular enclave of the Church of Kiaransalee is either nothing but a feint, or simply designed to inspire fear that will make the final assault all the sweeter for these evil scum.  It signs off with a promise from this ‘mother’ that, when her ‘Great Revenance’ (a return after a long absence or spiritual transcendence?  A revenant is a ghost, I believe, but that is too literal a translation, surely) is achieved, we can expect to be assailed with ‘such a dark and terrible might that all Faerun will shake (tremble?) before us.’  I hope that Kiaransalee has not made a pact with some other Force…

Names and details are: -

•	Zedarr is specifically mentioned by ‘mother’ as being a person/creature to be kept safe from any forces assailing the enclave in Szith Morcane.  ‘Daughter’ should withdraw with this Zedarr if the attacks become too fierce.  It is a safe assumption that we have not stopped the escape of Zedarr.
•	‘Mother’ comes from a place called Maerimydra.
•	There is no date on the letter, but given the sensitivity of the information it contains, it seems reasonable to assume that ‘daughter’ was still digesting the information when we attacked.  I would guess that it had been less than a few days in the possession of ‘daughter’ after our first assault on the temple.  It just depends on how long ‘daughter’ braved it out, before departing with Zedarr for Maerimydra.

This brings us up to date now, your eminence.  We have returned to Dagger Falls so that Miles can fully debrief the relevant authorities.  As luck would have it, it is also the meeting of the Dales’ Council in a matter of days, so the leaders of virtually all the Dales will be here in Dagger Falls.  They can all benefit from this information, and many may have guidance to offer on how the Crusaders best deal with this threat out of ‘Maerimydra.’

More will follow, your eminence.

Yvgeny.

Ilmater save the King.


----------



## Eccles (Jan 23, 2004)

To His Eminence Pietr Orik,
Temple of Ilmater,
King’s Palace Square,
Heliogabalus.

	Your Grace,

As usual, I left my previous letter with the Crusaders returned to Dagger Falls.  The last letter described how we returned just in time for the Dales’ Council, which was a welcome break for us; there being magic shows and fairs and all manner of joviality and light spirits.  However, we were not diverted for long, for the revelations we had to put before Respen were of too great an import to delay.

Our information proved grave enough for it to be set in front of diverse representatives of the other dales, who were in Dagger Falls for the meeting of the Council.  They were unable to provide knowledge on the location of Maerimydra, but they could provide a sinister correlation:  Many priests working in the southern dales had noted strange effects, such as difficulty in casting blessings and hallowings, and healing spells that were weakened to the point of ineffectuality.  Ground zero for this disruption was the woods linking Semberholme to Cormanthor, around thirty- to forty leagues south and east of Daggerdale, on the Mistledale/Battledale border.

It was therefore quickly decided that the Crusaders would further investigate these problems, in the hope that we would discover Maerimydra and stop ‘mother’s’ Great Revenance.  I proposed that we go overland to the forest in question, thereby arriving with the best possible speed. In further discussions, however, we were told that access to the Underdark was not possible in that location, this from Ilmeth’s delegate.  (For your information, your eminence, Ilmeth is the lord of the ‘town’ of Essembra, which is the ersatz capital of Battledale, even though it’s not within the borders of that dale!  Although there is no official form of government, Ilmeth does provide some rudimentary protection for the Battledarrans.)  Now I have information that would contradict the assertion that we would be unable to gain access to the Underdark from Battledale.  However, to reveal this, your eminence, would be to remind the governments, not only of Daggerdale, but a sizable contingent of the other dales as well, that there was a Damaran spy in their midst!  I kept quiet…  Therefore, it was decided that we would return to Szith Morcane and begin our search for Maerimydra from there.

I must take the opportunity to brake off from my narrative to cover two points.  The first is that I must correct my previous letter on the subject of the demon.  You will recall that I described Miles as being the unfortunate recipient of the ‘demon’ tag, due to his haste in reporting the fire, last time the Crusaders were in Dagger Falls.  Well, apparently there was a demon after all, and it has brought out the best (to say nothing of fighting spirit!) in Lord Morn!  Apparently, the lord threw off his mental shackles (if ever any existed, your eminence; one wonders at the obscure motives of virtually all members of the Daggerdale government) and slew the demon whilst the Crusaders were finishing off the remnants of the cult of Kiaransalee.  Thank goodness no one mentioned our embarrassing lack of nous in misusing the Lathanderian commune spell.  By the Triad, I normally have more insight than this!  All the clues we were given: Adamo (a famous summoner) arrested as soon as we arrived in Dagger Falls last time, along with half the population chattering about the ‘demon’ before any talk of Miles’ appearance would have had a chance to percolate through the populace.  Sink me, even Sir Dundragon mentioned a demon, barely half an hour after Miles did his flying trick.  It should have been obvious!  Aye, me!  A demon, perfectly fit for smiting, and I let it slip away.  So now the Red Rock has changed its name to the Demon’s Head, and a pair of bright blue wings, fully four paces long, have been attached to the wall as a trophy.  And I took no part in it.  Ah, such is life.

The second part of my interjection involves a very great thank you to the King for authorising the release of the bracers of St. Mikhail.  I cannot believe that he considers me worthy of such a relic, and that he thinks I should be inducted into the Emancipated Hand: Does he have a mission in mind for me?  Clearly, I have some training to undergo before I can pass the rigorous requirements for such a demanding school, but I certainly have the will, your grace.  I believe the Crusaders will have need of these skills before very much longer.

Anyway, back to the report.  We stayed in Dagger Falls for a day or two further, as some of the party wished to recover their upgraded magical equipment from the Thayans.  Then, on the cold, clear morning of Tarsakh 27th, we returned once again to the crypts.  The journey from the crypts to Szith Morcane was made in a mostly uneventful fashion, arriving at our furthest previous ingress within the day.  The journey afterwards, however, became more difficult: The tunnels became more uneven so the going for the non-fliers was slowed.

During our second sleep a new (to the Crusaders, at least) form of monster attacked us: troglodytes.  Although these creatures looked and sounded uncouth, they proved to be an able foe, one casting clerical spells whilst its two main bodyguards entered battlerage and, along with diverse other trog warrior types that made up the main body of the troupe, engaged the rest of the Crusaders.  However, we have now become a force of no little merit, and these creatures were dealt with in short order: Only two survivors managed to escape us.  Our most notable casualty was our sense of smell, which was virtually disabled for the rest of the day by the olfactory abuse perpetrated by the trogs’ stink!

We shifted camp to escape the miasma, and then settled down to rest for the remainder of our allotted sleep period.  We then performed our usual rituals, and went on our way.  Our next battle was against giants, several in fact, which was a testing fight as they gave no quarter.  These giants were stone giants, not the largest by any means but still able to throw huge boulders, giving me a good bashing for my trouble.  Miles managed to carve up one or two, before he too had to drop back, but the battle soon turned after Adamo summoned a huge dire bear.  This creature made a horrible mess of the remaining giants, who were finally finished off by a series of fireballs from Halbrinn, and the attacks of Aeron.

After a rest for healing, we ventured a little further into the giants’ cavern, noting a chilling of the air and strange echoes.  This, it turned out, was due to the fact that we had found a huge underground lake, the sizable one shown as the largest feature on our map.  Halbrinn performed his usual scouting duties, taking to the air to reconnoitre a shaft that could be seen at one end of the cavern, taking pixie form to make it nigh on impossible for any enemies to hit him.  He returned to inform us that several giants with some pet bears could be seen at the top of the shaft, and that it might be a good idea to leave them to it.  He then flew off to check out an island that could be seen just offshore.

Whilst the gnome searched, we did likewise, checking out various cave paintings that the giants appeared to have drawn in times past.  Despite the primitiveness of the images a battle scene could be made out, showing giants fighting a squid-shaped creature, drawn in red and black and several times larger than each giant-image!  I quick, unsettling thought entered my head: Was this a representation of (Ilmater forbid!) a kraken?  And the colouring: Where had I seen red and black before…?  On his return, Halbrinn described similar pictures on a stone building seen on the island, this time of fish and fish-men.  Given the precarious location of the island, we chose not to visit it, but to continue with our mission.

We found two rafts, clearly belonging to the giants, in the shallows by the shore, which we sabotaged to ensure we could not be followed.  We then dragged the corpses of our vanquished foes into the water, so that anything in the lake would be diverted to this carrion, not us.  Finally, Halbrinn conjured a boat using a magic item he had in his possession, and we all climbed in, with the intention of navigating the shallow borders of the lake to the far side, where the map showed an exit.  For my part, I checked the height of the cavern’s roof, and satisfied myself that anything that might be lurking in the depths would not be able to locate anyone who would choose to escape there…

We made some progress following the walls of the cavern for some time, keeping to barely thirty feet from that rough surface, and all seemed to be going well.  However, as we passed a cave that the giants’ appeared to be using as a midden, we were surprise attacked by a lobster-man, which grabbed Adamo before he could throw a spell in his defence.  Through some insidious bite Adamo was rendered paralysed and the bizarre creature made as if to jump with his prize, a fate that would have ensured death by drowning for our mage.  Queue a massive concerted effort by the remaining Crusaders to ensure that did not happen, with even Miles throwing caution to the wind (and getting nastily ‘pincered’ into the bargain).  Finally, Stedd managed to stun the beast, causing it to release both our compatriots.  It then made its escape whilst I took a chance to drag Adamo away from its claws, and provide some emergency aid.

Needless to say, your grace, that this fracas did little to help the intended silence of our passage across the lake, as almost immediately the boat was rocked by a large wave that had appeared from nowhere on the surface of the otherwise still lake.  Not long after this, Stedd quietly informed us that a huge form was following us.  This form resolved itself all too quickly into the last thing we wanted to see: a kraken!  Our last chance to avoid confrontation was to play possum but the kraken was having none of this, our bluff lasting just long enough for me to put on my ring of water walking and drag a potion of haste and a potion of jumping out of my haversack.  A whispered conversation proved what we all knew already; none of us had much mana in reserve so this was not going to be a fight we could win.  Running was the only option, if subterfuge failed…  Which it did in the next few seconds as the Kraken moved up to the boat and started toying with it!  Adamo enlarged the boat with a spell, to make it more stable and to give the rest of us more room to move.  Unfortunately, its response was to reach a tentacle over the stern, and I was the unlucky recipient of its attention!  In a flash of insight, as soon as I saw that black-on-red tentacle up close, I recalled where the colouring had been seen before: On the ‘door of death’, that being the disgusting fiendish mimic the Crusaders had encountered many tendays previous.  The conclusion: not only was this creature a kraken, it was also hellish.

Now it would be better for my conscience here, your eminence, if I said that I vacated the boat to save the lives of my companions.  Krakens are notorious for their malevolent intelligence, and it seemed to me it would soon sense an aasimar amongst the group, and would not rest until all were eradicated.  Therefore, I should make myself scarce, so that the rest could buy safe passage from the beast.  The simple truth is, your eminence, that I disgraced myself by merely running blindly in fear from the fell creature.  By the Triad, its tentacles were so long, I could not see the entirety of the beast, within the range of my darkvision, at any one moment!  Adamo summoned up a huge sea creature, a whale I believe, and as soon as the kraken released me to return the attack, I quaffed my potions and sped from the boat.

I used my ring of water walking, enhanced by the potions of jump and haste, to bounce for the nearby rock-face, which I sprinted up as fast as my slippers would allow.  I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the boat had been levitated, and was making at speed for our original destination, so I followed as fast as I could safely move.  I hid after every short burst and hoped the vision of the kraken could not penetrate all the way to the roof of the cavern, about a hundred foot above the surface of the lake.

Finally, after about six hours, I managed to get to the far side of the lake, having spent all that time upside down.  Thank the Triad for my monk’s training, and the endurance granted to me by Ilmater.  Thanks also go to my friends, who had lit the way sufficiently for me to find a path to the tunnel exiting the cavern.  When I managed to discover my comrades, who had stopped a short distance from the tunnel mouth to wait for me, I was so tired I could barely speak.  After doing a count of my comrades and finding all were present, I immediately slumped to the ground, and remember no more until my friends awakened me in time for my ‘morning’ devotions.  Even my ring of sustenance didn’t wake me after that journey!

The next day was uneventful, for which I was glad, as it gave me a chance to recover my sense of balance!  All three of the watches after we made camp passed without incident, and we set off on the following day with renewed vigour, having suffered no attacks and all being hale and hearty.  Miles even managed to summon up a joke, informing us that as the current day was a holiday (Greengrass), we should be on our guard, as we are always attacked on holidays.  His tongue was only half in his cheek, however, so whilst we smiled, we also double-checked our surroundings as we progressed towards Maerimydra.

That night, we were indeed attacked!  This time, a disgusting slimy creature burst through the wall of the cavern we had set up camp in and proceeded to attack Adamo and Aeron.  Aeron’s armour was melted from him as soon as he conjured it into being, which apparently saved his skin, as Adamo was proving.  Horribly, his flesh started to melt as soon as it came into contact with the secretions produced by this dread creature, and it continued to burn into his skin for a sufficient time afterwards that he fell from those lingering injures before casting a single spell!  With a well-aimed riposte, Halbrinn blasted the creature with fire, ensuring none of the Crusaders were caught in the blast.  Finally, Stedd and I flanked the creature, allowing Miles to use his swords to best effect.  In a frenzy of whirling blades that lasted no more than a few heartbeats, this creature was reduced to little more than a mound of quivering jelly.  Messy!  I revived Adamo, and then the Crusaders vacated this patch of corridor, leaving it to the still-twitching corpse of our would-be attacker.  Those that were still in need of rest went back to sleep, whilst the rest watched in case of further trouble.

When all were fit to continue, continue we did, further down the corridor towards our destination.  Soon, however, we came upon a cavern that was quite obviously a lair of some kind.  The roof of the cavern vaulted far above us, so Halbrinn became a pixie, turned invisible and flew up to investigate, whilst the rest of us ventured cautiously into the cavern itself.  Unfortunately, when Adamo cast a spell, an alarm was triggered.  Then Halbrinn cast a spell of his own, a fireball that illuminated the creatures that had responded to the alarm with such alacrity: gargoyles.

Quickly, the Crusaders chose battle positions, with myself choosing to climb a nearby wall in an attempt to ambush any that would fly down to engage us.  Unfortunately, the gargoyle-men (I believe these particular specimens were the godless ones, your eminence, a fact proven when I tried to perform the Turning on a dying specimen later) spotted me, and threw a packet of gluey substance at me.  At once my movement was restricted, and although I tried to force these creatures off with my wand of searing light, another tangling bag hit me.  Realising that shortly I would be rendered completely immobile, I dropped from the wall, my retreat fortunately covered by Adamo’s summoned creatures.  This time the conjurer had called an air elemental to him, which successfully broke up the dive-attacks of the gargoyles.  Additionally, two birds that breathed lightning were also attacking our foes, whilst Miles slaughtered one gargoyle and Halbrinn encased another in a globe of force.  I brought one that was hovering out of reach to the ground by casting a holding spell at it; Stedd put the creature out of its misery, once it had hit the floor.

Finally, the battle was over, with all the foes we could see accounted for.  It now just remained for us to climb the cavernous shaft above us.  This was not very enticing it has to be said: The tunnel ascended into shadows that could barely be penetrated with my darkvision.  Halbrinn commented on this, too: The shadows were almost tangible, he said, like we were close to the plane of shadow itself…  Then it became clear why this particular location was shown on the map as ‘Glouroth’s chasm’, when a large downdraft of air filled the shaft we were climbing, and an overweening sense of dread overcame me.  Halbrinn had obviously felt something first, for he cast an illusion of a dragon, and sent it up the tunnel.  Moments later, a grey-black dragon attacked it, closely followed by more of its gargoyle familiars!  As the crackle of negative energy played around the beast and the rest of the Crusaders cowered back, one thought crossed my mind: ‘Shadowdragon!!!’  After that, little else did, for all thoughts escaped me after the dragon fear took hold.  I was fortunate enough to be able to hide for precious seconds as various feints distracted the dragon.  Finally, with the beast mere feet from me, I jumped from the wall (I was fifty feet up at this point), and using all my monk’s training and a conveniently situated resilient sphere I tumbled and bounced to the floor and ran.  Stedd was already at the exit of the lair, and the rest of the Crusaders were not far behind.  ‘Discretion the better part of valour’ was our motto in those short seconds, although we did manage to take another one or two gargoyles out before beating our retreat.  Judging by the screams of rage and the rending of hard stone in our wake, one of the black gargoyles we killed was precious to the dragon, maybe a half-dragon son or daughter, methinks.  Oops!

So this is our current situation, your eminence.  We have paused here in the tunnels, around two hours from Glouroth’s lair.  Now, we will pause here, as Aeron and Adamo have suffered badly from the breath of the dragon.  The tales are true, your eminence: The miasma disgorged by shadow dragons causes the body to wilt, skill to desert and memories to fade.  In this, it is much like the touch of the undead, but shadow dragons are not of the undead.  They are living, breathing creatures, and this makes them susceptible to a skilful blade.  Miles believes he can strike this beast dead with a single blow, if he can time it right.  So, with this in mind, we will plan a strategy for the defeat of Glouroth, while Aeron rests.  A few spells of restoring should bring back the vitality of our cleric and our conjurer.  Then, we shall see…

I will write more, your grace, in time.  I’ll have to see if I can get hold of more parchment first, though!  Perhaps Adamo can spare some.

Yvgeny.

Ilmater save the King.


----------



## Eccles (Jan 23, 2004)

To His Eminence Pietr Orik,
Temple of Ilmater,
King’s Palace Square,
Heliogabalus.

	Your Grace,

I do not know when this letter will reach you, as the Crusaders have been in the Underdark for many days now.  But despite the fact that we have not seen the sun for too long, the Crusaders are content: We have defeated the shadow dragon!  Let me regale you with how we managed this.

As you may recall from my last report, your eminence, the Crusaders had just run from the dragon, and were resting so that we may better prepare ourselves.  I must admit, your Grace, that I was in two minds.  On the one hand, slaying a shadow dragon would rid the world of one of the greater evils.  On the other, it seemed very likely that a number of my compatriots (including myself) could suffer horribly in this battle.

However, it seemed clear to me as our discussions progressed that all of us wanted to tackle this dragon, for good reasons.  Miles wanted to tackle this dragon to remove of a very real threat from the dales, for personal glory and for monetary gain.  Stedd wanted to kill this dragon as a step on the path to self-perfection: What greater test of self than to best a dragon!  Aeron wanted to kill this dragon as proof of his goodness, and to see what magical items could be recovered, for the glory of Mystra.  Halbrinn’s outlook was probably much the same: No creature of this order of evil should be allowed to live, and just what would be found in this dragon’s hoard?  Adamo…  He probably wanted to kill this dragon for magic, too.  But maybe he, too, had something to prove to Someone, or some Power.  And probably for retribution, too, considering it had stole some of his lifeforce.  And me?  Well, your Grace, you know me.  This thing was evil, and of a kind of evil that directly contradicts the tenets of our faith:  Life is sacred, and it is anathema to me to see it stripped away like meat from a bone, as when this dragon uses its breath weapon.  So, we chose to kill the dragon.  We therefore meticulously planned its destruction, first by ensuring its scouts were decommissioned, then by ensuring its mobility was limited, then by occupying it while it was ruthlessly stabbed in its vitals.  Having decided this, we settled down to sleep.

The Crusaders spent the next two days recovering, with injury to be restored, and health and lifeforce to be recouped.  Despite our careful hiding, we were attacked thrice during this period.  The first time was by strange monsters that looked like large black cloaks.  With teeth.  These creatures were able to employ an insidious moaning, with the power to variously cause fear, or to stupefy.  Fortunately, they were not so powerful that they could disable all the Crusaders at once, and hence were beaten without loss of life on our part.

The second time we were attacked, it was by yet more Kiaransalee fanatics.  This time, a lone cleric with a pair of snipers was backed up by a group of zombies.  Virtually all of this I learnt second-hand, as I was neatly skewered by a poisoned bolt as soon as I leapt to the attack.  Apparently, I spent several precarious moments hanging from the roof of the cavern, just out of reach of the crowd of zombies (who were ‘baying for ‘BRAINS!’ in their usual inimitable style,’ apparently), and gradually slipping out of my spider climb slippers!  Fortunately, by the time I fell like a ripe fruit from a branch, my friends had already done for our living enemies, and I was rescued.  Phew!

The final time we were attacked, was the last for Adamo.  Miles heard quiet footpadding on the second day of our enforced rest, giving the us fair warning to prepare an ambush.  However, things did not turn out well, for we ambushed a group of bodaks!  Not being totally certain of the bodaks’ abilities (I knew only that its gaze held an evil power) the Crusaders were momentarily nonplussed.  However, meeting the gaze of one of these creatures soon galvanised us.  Let me describe it: Your eminence, you are immediately made aware of the worst moments of your life; all your worst fears are realised in that instant.  I’m sure most of the Crusaders were experiencing their own personal hells in meeting the gaze of any of these fell undead, but in my case it was simply the sensation of cowardice.  Fortunately, I threw off the claws of ice around my heart, and aided Aeron in an attempt to turn the beasts.

This turning worked, but not before Adamo succumbed to the evil eye of the leader.  By the Triad, I will not describe his features; suffice to say that it was not necessary for me to tell the other Crusaders that the body should be destroyed, as it would transform into a bodak if left.  Besides which, Adamo had left specific instructions in a will I found in his personal affects and Miles reminded us that he had made a request not to be returned to life, after the last time he had had to endure such an experience.  I only hope the Powers that he had clearly been in contact with are benign enough to grant him some measure of peace…  Ah, he died before I could perform the Turning and ease his passage.  I fear for his soul, your Grace, I really do.

That night we held a vigil for the spirit of Adamo, and then those that were sleeping retired, leaving the watchers to experience a strange event.  I was one of those on watch, and can vouch that the Crusaders are now becoming a party to some very odd phenomena: Out of nowhere a Gate opened in the roof of the tunnel we were hiding in depositing on the floor, with very little dignity, a near naked human.  This person proved to be a spellcaster of some note, as with his last gasp he muttered a spell, and a plethora of items whipped through the closing portal a moment before it winked out of existence.  Now given the Gate had opened on a chamber wreathed in fire, my first response would have been to execute the traveller with extreme prejudice, then ask questions later.  But, your eminence, two things stayed my hand.  First, the traveller had already fallen unconscious.  Second, he seemed strangely familiar…

I immediately cast a simple spell to stabilise the man, before examining him.  He had metal rings driven into his flesh, and bore numerous other injuries: Clearly, he had been tortured.  It was only then that I recognised the spellcaster: It was none other than Rand Stormseeker, the sometime mayor of Clearwater and one of the founding members of the Crusaders!  Naturally, I provided more healing, and Miles, who had been on watch with me, woke the rest of the group.  After we had given the mage some time to rest, and take some food and water, we began our questioning in earnest.

Apparently, Rand had cast one or more spells to contact us for help, but hadn’t succeeded.  Finally, he tried to jump to our location, but obviously he was not aware of the faerzress effect, and got shunted badly off-target.  I just hope that whichever diabolical personage decided to drive thirty or so rings through his bones, then dump him right on our heads, is not still taking an interest in his (or our) odyssey.  Still, thank Ilmater for small mercies; we now have an additional mage, to replace our fallen comrade, Adamo.  However, Rand has a request of his own:  We have another dragon to slay, after we have completed our quest in the Underdark.  You may recall, your Grace, that just before I joined the Crusaders, I was tracking down information concerning one Gran’rath Tendathaloth, a large red dragon that had been terrorising Daggerdale (before Elminster got bored with all the flashing lights at night and told it to go away).  Well, apparently Gran’rath is stirring in his sleep, and Rand has tasked us with helping him kill it, when we’re ready.  By the Triad, your Grace, one dragon at a time, I say!

We rested up for a day, to let Rand recuperate.  This gentleman is a good deal more focused than Adamo, more forthright.  He certainly doesn’t take to having metal rings embedded in him!  Ilmater, I’m sure if he had the strength he would have ripped them from his flesh without waiting for my curatives, but the rings encircle the bones of his ribs, so it cannot be done, but carefully.  Between Aeron, Rand and I, we managed to remove say half a dozen, but that is all Rand’s constitution will bear, for now.

With that done, we rested again, and were fortunate to get a full night’s sleep, unmolested.  On the morrow, we planned our spell selections with great care, with myself choosing a full range of enhancement spells, that the group may have the best chance of hitting the dragon, which—all dragons being similar here—will have a notoriously tough hide, and resistance to magic, besides.  We then began our cautious approach to Glouroth’s lair, but were distracted before we reached it.

Marching in our usual formation, I was first to suffer a magical attack, being in the lead.  Instantly, I charged up the walls of the tunnel, as those with the quickest and surest step ran directly at the source of the magic, though the perpetrator could not yet be seen.  When I arrived, I summoned the energies of our god to my fists, imbuing them with the white glow of divine might.  Miles had viciously attacked what had turned out to be an undead cleric, but his normally graceful movement had been reduced to a spasmodic jerking.  Clearly, some form of frost spell had severely injured him, and I saw how in the next attack, this time from Stedd.  A wreath of cold fire surrounded the cleric; whenever one of the Crusaders attacked they got bathed in it.

Knowing myself to be resistant to cold, I made ready to strike, waiting for our spellcasters to remove some of the magical defences this creature had built up.  However, my comrades did not seem to be able to get to grips with the abjurations and enhancements of this cleric, and it began to cast again.  I rushed in and smote it, receiving a blast of cold fire along my arms and chest for my trouble, but resisting the pain.  The blow was a telling one, but it did not distract the priest, who completed the spell and touched me.  Momentarily, I felt weak and nauseous, but, looking within, I spotted the contagion and told my body to throw off the infection.  It did, and I smiled grimly at the creature, spaking thus: ‘Ilmater protects me, your diseases cannot claim me,’ before striking the creature again.  This time, I heard a crack, and the body crumpled to the ground, all animating forces failing.  We then took the opportunity to destroy the corpse to ensure this body did not trouble us again, and some healing was doled out to those who needed it.

Much mana had been wasted in fighting this cleric, so the Crusaders decided to refocus.  With this in mind, we found a good spot to settle down, and rested there for the remainder of the day, with Rand beseeching Aeron and myself to aid in the removal of yet more rings.  This we did, and to give him his due, Rand showed great forbearance in the extraction process, to the extent that a goodly number were withdrawn before he called a halt.  Aeron healed him back to full health (although the remembered pain was not healed, judging by the grimaces!) and then we settled down for our sleep, with the usual watches doubled up this close to the dragon.

When all were ready after our sleep, we had a conference to decide our attack plan.  First we had to destroy Glouroth’s support.  Without gargoyles to hinder us, or help the dragon, our advantage would be that much greater.  Secondly, we had to decide how to stop the creature using its environment to its advantage.  We decided we could not rely on direct magical attack to disable the dragon: With its resistance to magic and naturally huge fortitude, reflexes and strength of mind, more often than not that attack would be wasted.  Stedd, checking the bag of holding, then came up with a solid gold plan: We were fortunate to have a goodly number of the tangle-glue bags, nine in all, which would serve very well in rendering the dragon helpless.  With luck, we would be able to disable it mid-flight.  The shaft in its lair was at least a hundred foot high, and possibly a lot higher.  If we could disable its wings at the top, the fall may do for it completely, or at least seriously injure it.  Rand had a spell that would be able to send eight of these bags at the dragon.  The ninth Stedd claimed, just in case.

Additional to this plan of disablement was rendering Miles as undetectable as possible.  If the tangling attack failed, we could use Miles to kill the creature with rapidity, if it could not detect him.  Casting improved invisibility on Miles, and cloaking him in a silence spell would render him almost undetectable.  Miles also had the ability to alter his form, so he could change into one of the gargoyles that had been with the dragon.  This should cover any olfactory evidence of who he was.  With that done, our assassin in residence would be able to attack the dragon with a good deal of impunity, stabbing its vitals to shorten the duration of the battle.  If the spellcasters cast enough blessings and other enhancements, this should allow Miles to strike through the tough hide of the dragon, allowing those sneak attacks of his to really tell.  All the rest of us would have to do would be to distract the dragon long enough for him to complete his task.

So the plan was put into effect.  We approached the lair with all due caution, and then I cast my enhancing spells: A bless for morale and two remove fear spells to stave off the dragon fear was good enough to all the Crusaders safe here, but my other spells were of shorter duration, so would have to be cast just before we entered combat.

Our skilful gnome then set to work taking out the gargoyles.  This he did with a distraction, creating an illusion of the Crusaders and then ambushing any would-be attackers with spells.  The pair of gargoyles that were left were completely duped, and were killed in short order.  Stage one was complete.  However, as in all things, you can only predict an enemy’s response to the best of your own ability.  Our assumption that the dragon would respond using its natural advantages, namely flight and height, turned out to be completely false.

With Halbrinn, Stedd and Miles climbing the shaft, and the illusion of our group virtually standing in the entrance to its abode (about two hundred foot above those still on the floor of the lair), suddenly a bright flash of light illuminated the tunnel entrance to the lair.  The dragon had completely outguessed us, and had ambushed the party from the rear, using a dimension door!  My job in this battle was the casting of enhancement spells, so I immediately jumped for the wall of the shaft, out of the creature’s line of sight.  Torm bless them, Aeron and Rand stood their ground, but it was in this moment that the flaw in our plan was exposed:  The thrice-damned dragon had conjured up some mirror images!  It was distinctly unnerving when all of these creatures breathed the dark roiling mass that is a shadow dragon’s breath, catching Rand and Aeron in its cursed dark fire.  Fortunately, coming through the dimension door had momentarily disorientated the dragon, and Rand was able to get his force projection spell off, sending a fusillade of glue-filled bags at the dragon before the breath hit.  Curse it, but when the gloom of the breath weapon cleared, Rand had clearly been affected, and the dragon, despite its legs being thoroughly bound, was still just moving.  And there was one image left…

Stedd then turned to attack the dragon with the last tangling bag, and I sent off a stone from my sling in the hope of removing the last image.  Unfortunately, I hit the dragon instead (typical!), which of course it barely felt.  Then, just as I was about to leap down, Aeron attacked the dragon, forcing the last image to disappear.  Stedd threw the bag, and as it arced to the dragon I was sure it would miss…  But it didn’t, catching the wing tip of the beast and bursting open, sticking that wing to the beasts flank.  This was all we required: The dragon could neither perambulate, nor fly with one wing alone, so, by the Triad, we had succeeded in stage two!  Now we had to overbear the foul beast before it could use its breath weapon once more.

However, the creature was having none of it, using its dimension door ability again to disappear before we could make good our intention to coup-de-grace it.  We heard a crash far above us, as its clumsy flailings indicated it had returned to its eyrie.  Thence began a hurried climb, as we made our way to the top of the shaft, with those who could fly getting there just in time to see it disappear again through another dimension door.

At this point, the Crusaders were spread out across the entirety of the dragon’s complex, so there were few places it could jump to that were not occupied.  As it was, Stedd and Miles cornered it in a cave that was driven into the shaft about a third of the way up from the bottom.  Glouroth, it appeared, had run out of doors to jump through and to his credit, Miles did not wait to hear it’s whine for clemency.  He simply took one of his blades, and drove it somewhere unpleasant, the beast dying on the instant.  I heard it gasp its final grumbling sigh, and sent a prayer of thanks to Ilmater.  Unbelievably, there were very few conventional injuries incurred during this battle.  All that remained was for Aeron to rest, as only he could cast the restoration spells that could return the life force in full to both Rand and himself.  We congratulated Rand on his steadfastness in the face of the dragon, which had allowed us to defeat the beast with a minimum of suffering.  Then, naturally, we set about finding things of interest amongst its hoard.  Indeed, the pickings were so rich that upwards of fourteen thousand silver pieces were discarded by the rest of the Crusaders, so I quickly piled these into a sack and placed them in my backpack.  This will go some way towards covering church expenses, as well as aiding in the repair of the houses burned out in the recent fire in the Dagger Falls.  Good.

Once we had completed the removal of the dragon’s cache, we stopped to rest.  Although meticulously planned and reasonably well executed, we were all tired by our mental and physical exertions.  Plus, of course, Rand and Aeron had been hit by the dragon’s breath, and hence needed spiritual restoration as the full effects took hold. Therefore, we rested for the remainder of the day before sleep in the dragon’s lair atop the dropshaft.  Our last action was to quarter the dragon, before dumping its remains from the cave in which it died.  We had suffered the reprise of too many foes (first as living enemies; then as undead) to allow this to happen with a dragon!

As I slept, your Grace, my celestial guide once again visited me in my dreams.  This time he took me to not only a strange place, but a strange time too, where I watched a giant battle between some primeval race of orcs and the humans I have seen before; those of the empire of Mulhorand.  In many of the skirmishes, groups of humans appeared to be led by some form of shining knight, who was almost certainly a celestial.  We stopped near one fracas in particular, and Amenhotep (the name of my celestial guide, if you remember, your Grace) then said:  ‘Behold, the father of your line,’ pointing to one of these knights, who was using a wickedly curved blade to behead an orc, all the while chanting a song in the peculiar Mulhorandi dialect.  With that, the celestial knight turned to me and grinned fiercely; light shining so brightly from his eyes that it took all my willpower to look at him.  This was quite clearly an eladrin, probably a ghaele, judging by the ocular projection.  And he was having a lot of fun!

‘Hail, son.  Hope that Crying God of yours is looking out for you,’ he said, in Celestial.

Then he turned to his puzzled followers, who had apparently seen neither me nor my guide, shouted a command, and charged a group of orcs that were about to flank some other Mulhorandi battalion.  Abruptly, the dream ended as I woke with a start.

Not only have I been graced with that particular revelation, described above, your eminence, but our god has also granted me further favour.  Ilmater has strengthened my Power, and I can now cast more spells.  Which can only be a good thing, considering where the Crusaders are heading!

Finally, your eminence, let me once again list the people that now make up the Clearwater Crusaders.

Miles O’Kane.  Miles is still with us, and is proving truly deadly with his pair of short swords.  He has also voiced his desire to learn the way of the open hand, but I believe that both Stedd’s training and mine is far too genteel for our assassin.  I have suggested he get Respen to discover a trainer who has knowledge of the way of the Nin-Ja.  This, I’m sure, will be more to Miles’ liking.

Stedd, of the Old Order.  Our second founding member has returned to the fold.  Apparently, Stedd has been brought back from the dead, which is truly remarkable considering the deity to which the Old Order is dedicated was long thought departed.  As you know, your Grace, those who die without a god to represent them in the afterlife usually end up as nothing but a brick in Kelemvor’s wall.  Perhaps the Old Order has some interesting secrets that I should eke out.

Rand Stormseeker.  Rand is back, and along with his usual array of electrical spells, he has begun to use force spells.  He is currently honing his abilities with telekinetics magic, which, I have to say, have some impressive utility uses.  Combine this with his use of haste spells, and he is a major force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, mixing high mobility with lethal rapid strikes.

Halbrinn Raulnor.  Halbrinn has continued to make contributions, doing a great deal of the scouting for the Crusaders and destroying traps with the novel implementation of his resilient sphere spell.  His illusions are now scarily realistic, and the power of his shadow magic is becoming quite remarkable.  Additionally, he proves useful in a straight fight, when he transmogrifies into an ogre and fights with a polearm.

Aeron Corynian.  Aeron has proved very useful to have around, due to his ability to cast high level clerical spells.  It would have been a great nuisance to have faced the shadow dragon without him, for only he could cast the restorative spells required to remove the negative energy effects.  He has also some oracular ability, which will serve us well in our progression towards Maerymidra.

Yvgeny del’Ansk.  My task, your eminence, is twofold.  The first is to enhance the Crusaders’ combat ability, via blessings and suchlike, and to heal any injuries that might occur during battle.  The second is to act as a flanker for Miles, so that he may get in a strike at an enemy’s vitals.  In this, I am aided by my ability to stun with a powerful blow: Should I succeed in stunning a foe, this gives Miles free reign to strike a sensitive area with impunity.  With Stedd helping too, we form a trinity of some note.  Finally, Aeron and I are the Crusaders front line versus undead. 

Yvgeny.

Ilmater save the King.


----------



## Jeremy (Jan 27, 2004)

Eccles said:
			
		

> and the belief that a 12 foot wingspan could be hidden beneath his cloak



Heh.



			
				Eccles said:
			
		

> meant that the entire conversation went something like this:
> 
> "Aaargh! Demon!"
> "Ug... Gronk Stop it!"
> ...



Ha!



			
				Eccles said:
			
		

> Pity the CR2 ogre bouncer (which the rest of the group was pretty fond of) up against a level 10 or 11 assassin dealing 40+ damage in a single blow...



LOL

Farewell Gronk.  Liking the retelling. I especially like Miles's colored retelling, though it is not quite as fun and spiteful as Jared's.  It's interesting trying to piece together what happened from the two different points of view.

Guys should have recruited Gronk, you boys really need a meatwall.  Too bad you've got such a high dwarf body count.  They likely aren't going to be too enthused about sending more axe swinging pain sponges with you.  Congrats to Stedd, and especially Miles and Ygevny for taking so much punishment.


----------



## Jeremy (Feb 4, 2004)

Question for the DM, where did you get ideas for all the early adventures before the super-adventure?


----------



## Eccles (Feb 4, 2004)

Jeremy said:
			
		

> Question for the DM, where did you get ideas for all the early adventures before the super-adventure?




Strewth! I've actually had to go back and read the first couple of session notes to remind myself!

Mostly from my head, or from re-workings of ENWorld Story Hours.

I think Lazybones' Travels Through the Wild West Story Hour was pretty influential on the hobgoblin camp idea. (Although I can't locate his early stuff).

I wanted to start from 1st level, so having them start in a hamlet and work up to larger towns made sense. So Clearwater was born. And Gran'Rath Tendathaloth (the huge Red Dragon which still wants to kill the Crusaders) was a railroading device. Since then, he's become something that the group just wants to kill - I think they think that killing him means they've "won" or something...   

Other than that, I just picked monsters out of the MM, and worked out something to fit it. No books or magazines. Although there's probably something from what I've been reading or watching which changes almost on a weekly basis!


----------



## Eccles (Feb 4, 2004)

Oh yes. I should probably announce that this campaign's going on a bit of a hiatus. (There are still one or two journal entries to come though, with a little luck).

I'm taking a few weeks off, and letting Miles' player run us through some Freeport stuff.

This is partly to allow me to be the good guy for a while, and partly to allow me to re-assess the direction of the campaign.

To help you work out what I mean by this, I'll re-post a prophecy which has been given to Aeron (as he wants to become a Divine Oracle).

.....

Weak, unwilling, *ALL SHALL RISE*
Old and ailed, *ALL SHALL RISE*
Strong, yet failed, *ALL SHALL RISE*
Bold, unwary, *ALL SHALL RISE*
It is coming, *ALL SHALL RISE*

The time is coming when the strings, steel and hearts of nations shall be found equal. And then shall be found again.

.....

A number of clerics in the Realms have also been complaining of a recurring dream in which a huge black skull spreads throughout the Dalelands, to the sound of marching feet and triumphal string music.


----------



## Eccles (Mar 12, 2004)

Miles' Journal
Part 24
-------

Mirtul 5th - After spending a day catching up with Rand and getting him healed up, as well as deciding upon a strategy, we set out this morning back towards Glouroth's Chasm to try again to slay the shadow dragon and clear us a path towards Maerimydra. 

However it would seem that Beshaba thought to send us some of her ill luck, and on the way we encountered a female drow cleric, the same one we had killed not long back, apparently returned to life, or unlife at any rate. She proved to be a fairly mindless for however, and despite her formidable array defensive magics, we easily overpowered her, though not before I had gotten seriously injured. 

Having gone only an hour into our trip to the chasm, we carried on for a couple more hours and then made camp as we needed to heal up and replenish spells. Rand took Adamo's old acid dripping dagger out of the storage bag and cut the rest of the metal rings from his flesh. 

Mirtul 6th - We set off again, with Aeron regaling us as we walked with a dream that he had recently, which he was pondering the meaning of. I couldn't decipher any meaning to it either, but then I care less about such ephemeral matters. My god has never seen fit to send me a message in a dream, because Mask knows that I have far less frivolous things to occupy my thoughts already. 

Thankfully apart from our clerics prattle, noting interrupted our journey to the chasm today. A few minutes walk before the tunnel opened into the base of it, we cast our various magics to shield ourselves. We then stormed into the chasm, quickly dealing with the dragons remaining gargoyles, which Yvgeny calls Kir-Lanan, or godless ones. I have not bothered to ask him why. 

We were then forced into a running battle with the dragon itself, as while our initial plan worked and we glued its wings to its body (Rand using telekinesis to blast a load of tanglefoot bags into the creature), we then discovered that the blasted thing could dimension door. We were forced into chasing it around numerous caves dotted around the chasm walls until it eventually ran out of spells. I am proud to say that it was my blade Slayer that ended the creature's life (and Slayer is so proud I've had to sheath him as I got tired of listening to round after round of "Who Da Man!!" He is still doing it now, as there is the sound of muffled talking from my scabbard). 

We have gained substantial riches from the dragon's hoard and the smaller hauls from the bodies of its minions, so we decided to spend a couple days to properly count and sort all the treasure, as well as restore Rand and Aeron who again took the brunt of the dragon's life draining darkness breath. Amazingly we cleared the entire chasm this time suffering only a slight scratch to Stedd as physical wounds. 

Mirtul 7th - We spent today resting and sorting treasure, as Halbrinn did his identifying magic on several items that had auras. In sheer coinage my cut came to approximately 3108 gold pieces! My fortunes are looking good, and I should be able to purchase something good from the enclave on our next trip back to Dagger Falls, assuming I survive that long. 

Whilst Halbrinn was busy, the rest of us got a fire started and relaxed, and we were then duly attacked by a quartet of Mind Flayers, they floating into our cave (the former dragons lair) and attacking with their mental powers, taking me out almost instantly. I have no recollection of what happened whilst I stood stunned, and I snapped out of the effect to see one dead illithid and my companions unharmed. I learned that after a brief battle, the other three flayers planeshifted away, they having taken quite a pounding from Aeron and Rand who unleashed a storm of lightning and fire at them. 

Once Halbrinn had finished, we decided to abandon resting for the remainder of the day and press on, lest the illithids return with reinforcements. Thankfully our continued voyage was free of any encounters, and after several hours we made camp. 

Mirtul 8th - A night free of attacks was pleasant indeed and we continued on our way this morning. With Glouroth's Chasm behind us, the map shows that the next named location between us and Maerimydra is Lich's Mire. Needless to say the implication of a confrontation with a Lich has dulled the party's spirits somewhat. Also our spellcasters say that something is wrong with the Weave, a disruption of some sort. After studying it for a while, Halbrinn was able to determine that the effect is wide reaching and it empowers negative energy spells and suppresses positive energy magic, making healing more difficult and bolstering the undead... including no doubt the Lich! This has to be due the Great Revenance, it certainly fits the bill as an effect that the necromantic priests of Kiaransalee would hope to create and profit from. We are running out of time. 

Around noon the tunnel split in two. After Rand and I checked tracks on the floor, we had reason to believe that the side tunnel could well lead to the surface and we have decided to pursue it as we could use a return to Dagger Falls to report our findings and progress, as well as resupply and upgrade our equipment. 

We encountered nothing during the rest of the day, and eventually made camp a few hours trek down the tunnel, planning for Aeron to commune tomorrow morning as to whether this tunnel does lead to the surface. 

Mirtul 9th - Yvgeny did an augury instead, and we learned that "Neither Weal nor Woe will assail us in the next 12 hours". With that in mind we continued down the side tunnel, though I am a little concerned that we are still not sure whether this route will return us to the surface or not. Nothing harassed us today though. Peace for two days in the underdark. It just isn't right! 

Mirtul 10th - We wandered all day without any encounters. When we made camp, I voiced the concern that had been gnawing at me that we could well be going off track, and that time was not on our side. Rand in his searching around found a long dead body, rotted away to mere bones, but we learned nothing from it. 

Mirtul 11th - Aeron communed and we learned that the tunnel does indeed lead to the surface, but not directly, so I imagine it meanders for a while longer yet and opens up somewhere in southern Daggerdale or possibly Shadowdale... just hopefully not in Spiderhaunt Woods! Asking other questions we learned (to our great relief) that the Lich in the Mire had been destroyed and that his destroyer was no longer present either. I am not thinking that the Mire will be without its guardians, but at least they won't be a lich. 

Mirtul 12th - Absolutely no encounters today as we carried on down this tunnel, intent on reaching the surface and spending our wealth. It has been half a tenday since our last battle; I know I am not the only member of the Crusaders who feels uneasy at the peace we have enjoyed these past days.


----------



## Eccles (Apr 21, 2004)

OK. We're back and playing, and neither of my two journalists are likely to be forthcoming for the immediate future.

So I might give it a pop.

Give me a few minutes to collect my thoughts, and I'll get on with it.


----------



## Eccles (Apr 21, 2004)

Disgruntled, the group continued its adventures through the Underdark. Even Stedd, the Monk was starting to worry about the lack of encounters down this latest tunnel.

After the better part of a day's travelling, the group finally settled on a convenient cavern to rest in. Just as Halbrinn was preparing to create an illusion of the party resting further up the tunnel, Miles heard something.

Back the way they had come, a skittering, clinking, clattering noise.

"What is it?"
"How should I know?"
"You're a divine oracle, you're supposed to be able to find these things out!"
"I keep telling you, I'm just a priest!"
"Yeah, but you want to be an Oracle. So get oracular!"

Shrugging, the arcane casters and Miles left the two clerics in their discussion, and began setting up an ambush on the creature which was coming towards them.

Halbrinn's _Persistent Image_ of the party was replaced by a pair of walls down the centre of the cavern, making it look like a continuation of the same meandering tunnel. Given the gnome's mastery of the illusory arts, even the group which stood watching him cast the spell had trouble persuading themselves that they weren't somehow caught in the walls!

Splitting up, the group waited tensely for whatever it was, and the clattering grew louder and closer. 

It paused some distance from the edge of their 'cavern', and a faint snuffling noise could be heard amidst the chitinous clatter. Then the movement continued, and the hideous entity floated into view.

A huge greyish rubbery ball of a body was surrounded by 10 long tentacles, each tipped with a claw and a strange fanged mouth. A large ill-shaped central eye darted in every direction, whilst the tentacles clattered off the floor and the 'walls'. Clearly, the aberation was following their trail. Then, in the centre of the cavern, and plainly fooled by the 'walls', the creature stopped and floated in mid-air.


----------



## Eccles (Apr 21, 2004)

"Beholder," muttered Stedd. "We're so dead."

The creature whipped around to face the source of the noise, and clawed tentacles shot to the illusory tunnel walls.

Where they stopped, feeling at the apparently solid surface. 

Then the group sprang their ambush.

---

An enormous ball of lightning leapt from Rand's fingers at the slightest flexing of his will.

Stedd's reflexes (buoyed enormously by his _Boots of Haste_ and his _Ring of Jumping_) were faster still, as he blurred across the room in one enormous leap, bringing his elbows down on the creature's side in a terrific Mantis Leap, causing the creature to sag inwardly.

An incantation, and smaller orbs of light leapt from Halbrinn's fingers to slam into the creature, whilst Yvgeny scuttled spider-like across the ceiling to get into a better position. Aeron's first spell caused him to glow with a shimmering nimbus, as his muscles grew with a divine might. 

Stunned, the eye-tyrant didn't even notice.

Miles, tumbling nimbly, flanked the orb with Stedd, and his twin blades Scourge and Slayer flashed briefly in the darkness. He cried out as electricity leapt up his swords, but by the time he had realised he was hurt, the beholder-kin was dead.

"Awww," said Yvgeny from the ceiling. Then his eyes bulged as the creature twisted, flexed, swelled, and suddenly exploded in a huge burst of electricity.

Thanks to their superb reflexes, hardly anyone in the group was injured by the electricity, other than Aeron and Rand.

What took them all by surprise, however, was the huge amount of gold and silver which burst from within it, scything through Halbrinn's much maligned tent, and forming piles against the walls of the cavern. Rand ducked, as a steel scroll-tube scythed through the air and slammed into the wall just below his head, and other small golden trinkets flew through the air, showering the adventurers with riches.

---

And thus was born the _Pinata of Evil_.


----------



## Jeremy (Apr 21, 2004)

LOL

*adds melodramatic tv music* 'Dum dum DUM!!'


----------



## Eccles (Apr 21, 2004)

As a result of the number of _Rings of Sustenance_ which they had bought some time ago, hardly any of the group needed any sleep. 

The group had long ago forgotten how to tell time, and now decided that morning was whenever Aeron and Yvgeny, the two priests, had finished their prayers. 

The morning rituals nearly completed, the Clearwater Crusaders paused only to scoop the last of the gold into various sacks and magical bags before casting their regular array of morning spells. Aeron in particular caused the group to delay for at least a minute in the mornings, as he withdrew 5 wands from a bandanna around his waist, using them to cast protection spells upon himself against every known form of energy. 

Invigorated, and healed the previous evening, they strapped on bags, and prepared to set out. 

And then it happened.

It felt as though something was crawling across their graves. In fact, as though that something were crawling _out_ of their graves entirely. A shudder passed each member of the group, as they felt something dark and shadowy cross their spirits.

And none of them registered it, except the two priests who felt as though something was being torn from them.

Regrettably, neither of them had the understanding of the magic involved to try to interpret it.

"But you're a priest of *Mystra*!" Yvgeny muttered at Aeron, who glared back at him.

It took all of Halbrinn's considerable knowledge, and several _Detect Magic_ orisons to figure out what had happened.

Something had just stripped away part of the positive energy plane's connection to the prime material, and that mystical space had been replaced with a strengthened negative plane. This would have the effect of bolstering the undead, and making healing or other positive spells extremely difficult for the two clerics. 

With no choice but to continue, the Clearwater crusaders hitched up their backpacks and carried on into the dark tunnels.


----------



## Eccles (Apr 21, 2004)

They trudged tirelessly on for many hours more, with Aeron discussing, but never actually casting another _Find the Path_ spell to ensure that they were on the right track. Lesser divination spells were used instead. By Yvgeny, who glared at Aeron all the while.

"You're the one who wants to be a Divine Oracle. Why am I doing this?"
"You're a cleric too, you can cast these spells!"
"Yeah, but I'm a _monk_ - it's not cool for me to ask God questions!"
"Whatever. Keep praying, monk boy."

And so time passed in the Underdark.

---

Over a day later, the tunnel opened out into a truly enormous cavern. The group couldn't see the ceiling without casting spells and flying up to it. They could also hear some sort of tearing squeal of a noise, which was loud enough to make their ears ache.

"Always take the left wall", Rand repeated to himself shepherding the group off in that direction as another squeal in the darkness echoed around the cavern.

---

The vibrations continued as the group edged carefully along the wall, passing strange rock formations and a 10 foot step up onto a higher plateau.

On this new level, the first thing that came into the range of their _Goggles of Night_ was a shaggy carcass, torn open as though smashed into the ground at speed.

"What could do _that_?" queried Stedd. "We're in so much trouble now. Whatever it is, I say that we should stay well clear of it."

They crept onwards, hugging the left wall, but in the darkness of the cavern, their movements had been detected, and wings flared as two titanic hunting animals leapt from their perches amongst the stalactites.

Moments later, the Crusaders were interrupted in their slow advance, as _something_ swooped briefly into their vision, and screamed at Miles, whose skin was lacerated by the sonic vibrations unleashed. Slayer quivered in his scabbard, and muffled obscenities at the beast through the thick leather.

The creature abruptly pulled up and flew out of sight.

Thinking fast, Yvgeny prayed and a globe of silence surrounded him, protecting him and his companions from any further sonic blasts.

"What are you doing?" Rand, Halbrinn, Miles and Aeron all mouthed at Yvgeny, and each of them paced swifty out of the globe of silence into the cavern beyond.

Which turned out to be a very poor idea, as two of the creatures dived this time. One screamed loudly, causing the adventurers' ears to bleed, whilst the other swooped down and grabbed Aeron in its claws, picking him up easily and disappearing into the darkness.

Looking at one another, the group didn't immediately react, beyond Stedd's preotestations of doom and gloom. Rand concentrated, and a glowing spear appeared suddenly in his hand, ready to impale another creature were it to dive upon him. 

Miles, meanwhile, muttered a spell under his breath and a huge pair of bat-wings sprouted from his shoulders. He leapt from the ground and headed off after the menace.

---

Aeron's fate was simple. He was taken up, way up by the creature, to the point that it was dodging in-and-out of the stalactites. Then it released him to fall and go splat on the ground below.

It confused the Yrthak no end that his fall was suddenly arrested by a pair of 3 inch wings which sprouted suddenly from his boot-heels, causing the cleric to hover in mid-air. So it and its brother both dived again, screaming at the hapless hovering cleric.

During this noisy, fast-moving melee, Miles swooped in on his huge dark wings. Stedd ran swiftly over the broken cavern floor, leaping up to attack the creatures when he could. And even Halbrinn, flying swiftly in the form of a pixie after some quick spellwork, flew to join them.

Rand and Yvgeny stood by the wall, wondering what was going to happen to their foolish colleagues.


----------



## Eccles (Apr 22, 2004)

Spells blast, and blades flash, and even the intervention of a second yrthak did not stop the group from slaying the one which had taken their comrade away from them.

The second creature fled in disarray, screaming its misery out to the cavern at large.

A scream which was answered by not one, but two booming echoing screams.

---

The group fled back to their comrades at the wall, and began to panic.

"What do we do? What can we do?"
"We're all dead, I tell you. No way out!"

Then, suddenly, a plan began to crystallise. 

Flee. 

Unwilling to face three flying, sonic-blasting, grabbing yrthaks, the group rapidly cast fly spells on one another, and Aeron intoned the words to a prayer of _Find the Path_, and the route to "the nearest way out" crystallised in his mind as a set of flashing lights trailing away into the darkness.

Clutching Rand in one hand, and with the effect of a _Divine Might_ still on him, he grabbed up Yvgeny and flew along the path at top speed; the little wings on his boots flailing away madly to keep him airborne. 

Halbrinn gave chase on tiny pixie wings, and Miles with his huge bat wings. Stedd simply ran, leapt, and gave chase, trying to keep the others in view and to stay ahead of the monstrous creatures which he knew were bearing down on them. 

"No way. There's no way we'll make it", he intoned over and over under his breath.

Aeron lurched, his two companions dangling from his arms beneath him swinging wildly to the side and they hurtled over the ground, around stalacmites, and over a huge rocky outcropping. 

They dipped suddenly, and shot towards a crumbling, half-fallen tower. In Aeron's eyes, the flashing lines led straight into the small tower, and ended at a wall there.

Pursued by his comrades, he dropped his two fellows, and tried to work out how a single mould-covered wall could possibly be their way out.

"Get out of the way", squeaked Halbrinn, wizard, locksmith, former cartographer and sometime archaeologist. "There's something under all this mould." His tiny hands scraped at the thick layer, revealing some words.

Outside, the first lance of sound smashed down onto the outside of the tower, shattering rock and sending jagged shards through the darkness. The group ducked reflexively to avoid the blast.

"There! Writing!" Halbrinn squinted at the words in an archaic version of magick. "Abraxis meo... Clean me? What the...?"

A second screaming noise smashed the wooden door into a million splinters.

Rand looked around, and reflexively cast a tiny spell which scoured the wall of all the mould and grime. Abruptly, the wall disappeared behind a shimmering surface of silver.

Another sonic lance smashed into the wall, blasting a hole straight through it.

The group leapt, as one, into the silver surface, and were _pulled_ across dimensions before being deposited, chilled to the bone, on the other side of the portal. Bright light poured down, half-blinding the group as they squinted around themselves.

"It's still active!" Miles shouted at the others and waving in the vague direction of the portal. "They'll be coming through any moment!"

As if to prove something, the silvery wall of the portal bulged as though something was trying to push through from beyond.

"Dirty it!!" Halbrinn (still in the form of a pixie) squeaked at the others, before Rand looked around and scooped up a handful of hot dry dust from the floor. 

"Water!", he bellowed at the others, and Yvgeny obliged with a well-timed spell, turning the dust in Rand's hands (and at his feet) into thick gelatinous mud.

With a splat, the mud sailed through the air and splattered against the sides of the portal, which abruptly shut off and turned silent.

The group turned examine their new surroundings...


----------



## Eccles (Apr 22, 2004)

The hot sun was beating down, as a wailing ululation echoed from the top of a tower that dragged their eyes skywards. The tower was topped with a strange curving structure, and from behind it flew… a carpet?

Then the people around them started to react, crying out in strange languages, animals brayed and squawked, coins changed hands, and a sea of faces stared at them from the surrounding marketplace and minarets.

"Well, Halbrinn? We ain't in Clearwater anymore," Rand muttered to his wizardly colleague.

---

After some time of confusion and mis-translations, the group eventually cast the right combination of spells, and found a hostelry where they could rest for a time, whilst they traded their enormous collection of goods and arranged for new items to be manufactured. 

Despite the recent bad dreams, auguries, prophecies, and the document lost at the bottom of a bag saying that the sinister "Great Revenance" would be taking place within a few days, the group decided that taking a tenday to rest, get to know Calimport, and shop was the right decision. Hearing this, Halbrinn immediately teleported back to Dagger Falls, so as to spend some time with his wife and use the resources in his study.

He was amazed to find that his wife had sold his house, and had moved his study (and the carefully constructed teleport chamber) to a newer, much larger, house. Her sudden largesse was brought on by her discovery of a mystical talking staff in one of the guest rooms, topped by a lump of green rock. This item (an incredibly powerful artifact which had been carried by both Yvgeny and Rand for a time), had attracted the interest of a traveling mage, who had paid her a fortune in silver and gems to buy it from her.

Halbrinn's reaction was initially concern, but the longer he mused over it, the more he thought that it was in improvement. The staff was now someone else's problem, not theirs. Soon thereafter, he forgot all about it.

In Calimport, and outside the area of dark magic, healing was easy, and the group made the most of their time in the rooms of The Sherbet Fountain, where their Landlord was most happy to feed them roasted camel, and pander to their other bizarre requests. (Abdul, their host, was most confused when Miles' first request was for a camel to eat. "But then" he mused, "these infidels are a funny sort. Maybe they eat camels where they come from…")

---

After the tenday had passed, Halbrinn teleported back to The Sherbet Fountain, and the group packed their bags and backpacks (frequently ensorcelled), oiled their weapons (usually enchanted), and heaved their heavy boots (mostly magical) back onto their feet.

Swinging heavy packs onto their backs, they turned for the door, when a brilliant golden light suddenly shone from Aeron's eyes and mouth, and he began to chant in a commanding female voice.

"Weak, unwilling, *ALL SHALL RISE*
Old and ailed, *ALL SHALL RISE*
Strong, yet failed, *ALL SHALL RISE*
Bold, unwary, *ALL SHALL RISE*
It is coming, *ALL SHALL RISE*

The time is coming when the strings, steel and hearts of nations shall be found equal. And then shall be found again."

Then, like a dancing doll with its strings suddenly cut, he dropped to the ground.


----------



## Eccles (Apr 23, 2004)

Aeron was very groggy when he came around, but was in fine health, and the group debated briefly what had happened.

"It can't have been Mystra," opined Aeron cynically. Then he frowned, as he felt something _diminish_ within himself. {DM's note - as a wannabe Divine Oracle, disbelieving his first ever true prophecy led to me punishing Aeron with the loss of his highest two level spells for the day. Harsh, but logical enough}

"I don't care where it came from," Miles stated loudly to the others. "It was only Mystra, and she doesn't matter." 

Aeron glanced up to see if Mystra would also punish Miles for his impertinence, and felt quite hurt when the black-clad assassin didn't seem to suffer for what he had said. Then it struck him that as one of Mystra's more powerful agents on earth, maybe it was his function to ensure her faith, rather then her own. Hmmm. He began to consider refusing Miles healing for the near future.

The rest of the group stared blankly at Miles, however. Slandering the gods seemed to be a very ill-omened way of beginning this stage of their adventure.

Miles looked around. "What? I don't believe in her. Well, obviously I know she exists." He waved generally at Aeron, "but just because something exists is no reason to go around believing in it."

It was not shaping up to be the most auspicious day on record for the Clearwater Crusaders.

---

They left The Sherbet Fountain, and headed back to the marketplace they had arrived in ten days ago, but had not been back to since. 

Making sure that they traveled only along the higher paths and walls, so as not to associate with vagabonds, thieves, slaves or other 'lower orders', they made good time across the teeming city, and soon stood before the dusty arch which had formed the portal from the Underdark.

"Right," said Halbrinn. "How do we get it open again?"

"Easy," Rand replied, casting a _prestidigitation_ spell to scour the arch free of dust.

Although the archway became cleaner instantly, nothing else happened at all. The group looked at one another nervously.

"Ah. Maybe it won't be that easy."

Closer investigation of the archway showed that there had once been some intricate carvings across the top and sides of the stones. Unable to decipher these writings themselves, the group looked around for paper and charcoal to trace them out onto.

"Here, use this." Miles reached into his backpack and pulled out a heavy spellbook, moving to tear half a dozen pages from the back.

Aeron and Halbrinn just stared at him in frank disbelief.

---

Paper and charcoal were found, and the group gathered quite an audience as they traced the symbols carefully from around the archway. 

Still not understanding what they had, they asked for, and received, instructions to a local temple of knowledge. There, they were met by a junior acolyte, and managed to fumble their request (using a large amount of sign language) to speak with the High Priest.

An aged Calimpanni in light robes approached after a few minutes, and gestured at them to speak.

They spoke.

He smiled toothlessly at them and jabbered something in his native tongue at them.

"Right! I've had enough. I'm leaving unless you bring me the HIGH PRIEST, savvy?" Miles erupted in a fury at the old man, who nodded, smiling back at him.

The old man stared at the group, who stared back at him. Finally, he beckoned to a pair of young boys, who brought forwards two flat silver dishes, one partially filled with water, and the other totally empty.

Staring at one another, the group shrugged. The did not have a clue what to do, before Halbrinn dropped a large number of coins in the empty dish. The old man smiled, and sent the buys running back into the depths of the temple whilst he concentrated on a brief prayer, then looked back at the group expectantly.

"Can you understand me now, then?" Miles asked, grumpily.

The man nodded.

"Excellent. So what does this say?" Miles grabbed the sheaf of parchments out of Halbrinn's hands and thrust them at the man.

He looked at the parchments, and then jabbered once again in Calimpanni at the group, smiling broadly.

Miles grasped his sword hilts tightly in frustration, but then watched as the man poured over the documents, calling for several books and scrolls to be brought to him by the boys. He compared scripts at length, boring the adventurers to distraction before he looked up once again and gabbled something at them.

"Have you worked it out?"
"Anjuwallhah ulliathnar!" The man nodded, then sketched on the back of a sheet of parchment an archway, and 6 stickmen. He gestured, as though opening a door, pointing at the arch.

"Yes," Miles responded grumpily. "We _know_ it opens a portal. We want to know _how_."

The old priest bent over the parchment and sketched in another figure; a four-legged creature which he drew in amongst the stones of the archway. Then he grinned back at the group and drew his thumb across his throat, making a wet tearing sound.

The old priest chuckled.


----------



## Eccles (Apr 23, 2004)

"Where are we going to find a goat to sacrifice then?" Miles asked, staring at the others.
"And what right do we have to take its life?" Yvgeny, priest of the God of mercy was already having difficulties with this idea.

The old Calimpanni priest again grinned toothlessly at the group, and tapped himself on the chest.

"You know?" Miles turned on the priest again. "Let me guess. You have a cousin who owns a goat." Miles was adjusting to the way that Calimport worked surprisingly quickly.

The old man nodded, grinning.

"Very well, old man. Send a runner for the goat, and have them meet us in the marketplace". Handing a few more coins to the priest, the group finally turned and left the temple, making their way through the teeming streets until they stood before the archway in the thronging marketplace. They looked at the crowds, which started to gather to see what the entertaining infidels would try to do this time. Then they looked at the market, with stalls selling parchment, and vegetables, and … _animals_.

"Oh well. We've already paid for a goat. Might as well wait until it arrives."
"We could buy some blood from someone."
"You guys, I'm really not happy about all this, you know."
"Nonsense. We've spent the money, and we're going to wait for our goat."
"So that we can kill it."
"Exactly."

The sight of infidels bickering served to keep the crowd amused, and the locals became even more curious when, twenty minutes later, a small boy came up to the foreigners, dragging a reluctant, tired, scraggy old goat behind him on a length of tatty rope. He handed the rope to Miles, and then fled back into the crowd to watch.

Miles dragged the unfortunate goat to the archway, and then drew his sword, Slayer.

"Wahey!" The blade cried out as it flew from the scabbard. "Here I am to save the day! What needs killing?"
"That." Miles pointed the sword at the goat.
"A Goat?"
"A Goat."
"Is it the dreaded three-headed goat of Yrrb?"
"Does it _look_ like a three headed goat to you?"
"Perhaps the fire-breathing goat of -"
"Look. We're killing the goat, alright?"
"I am the Slayer of _beasts_ I would remind you. It hardly befits…"

But Slayer was suddenly plunged into the poor animal's neck, and blood fountained across the marketplace. Miles held out the carcass like some obscene water-skin. 

"Quick. Everybody hold out your hands."
"I'm not sure that I should be-"
"Hold your hands out, you effeminate waste of a monk, if you ever want to get home!"

Yvgeny cupped his hands and filled them with the blood of the slain goat, and joined the rest of the group in smearing the blood across the sides of the archway, which immediately snapped into silvery light as the portal ignited.

Miles, not bothering to clean his hands, rammed them back into his _Gauntlets of Ogre Power_, and strode through the gateway, with the rest of the group at his heels.

{DM's note - it was a good job that Miles finally slew the goat and got on with it. Rand was about to use a _telekinesis_ spell to lift the goat over the archway and just tear it limb from limb. Which wouldn't have been very cool, really…}


----------



## Eccles (Apr 23, 2004)

Instantly back in the pich-black Underdark, the group adjusted their _Goggles of Night_, whilst Aeron and Yvgeny moaned softly at their re-insertion into the negative-energy strengthened area. Then, silence spells were cast.

The group had spent some time in Calimport bickering about what their best route was, and had decided that they would cast silence spells and fly to avoid the yrthaks and re-enter the tunnels. 

Unfortunately, they had forgotten how short a distance they could see underground, and could not locate the walls.

Aeron's _Find the Path_ spell was being refused him by an irritable Mystra, and they swiftly worked out that they didn't have enough _fly_ spells available to them. So they took their best guess, and started walking.

It took a long time, but they eventually located a tunnel out of the cave, and headed along it, figuring that it must be the right one. (Thankfully, it was).

---

Days of uneventful travel passed, as the group trudged back along a darkened tunnel, before they eventually reached the junction, and turned right, following the instructions on their map which led to the mysterious place named "Lich's Mire".

On one night, Aeron felt a strange tingling at the back of his neck, and directed the attention of his fellows at a point in space near the ceiling. He was confident that something was wrong, and after squinting at it for a few moments, Halbrinn agreed.

"So what do we do about it?" Someone asked.

The group looked at one another.

"Does anyone have a dispel magic ready?"
"No"
"No"
"No"
"Yes. Lots, actually."
"Should we use one?"
"What for? It's only a scrying sensor. What's the worst that could happen?"
"So it's agreed then? We ignore it?"

So they ignored it.

Aeron and Halbrinn unpacked their tents, and everyone else climbed into bedrolls, apart from the first two on watch.

A couple of hours later, most of the group were fully rested, thanks to their many _Rings of Sustenance_, and so the watchgroups increased dramatically. Only Halbrinn and Yvgeny were left resting.

However attentive the watchmen were, however, they were not able to watch through the solid rock of the walls, which is where they were suddenly assaulted from. Two titanic, slate grey armoured behemoths smashed into the tunnel, one chomping up through the floor and straight into Halbrinn's leg (which thoroughly broke the poor halfling's concentration), and a second which leapt out through the wall at head height, and slammed into Rand in a spate of biting, clawing, bestial savagery.

Rand almost fell beneath the creature's onslaught, and many of the adventurers were too slow to react to the bites and gouges from the beasts.

Miles and Stedd rained blows on the first armoured creature, hurting it, but far from driving it off.

The Halbrinn tried to cast a spell, but in doing so failed to move out from under the collapsed ruins of his tent. Casting spells whilst still practically in the maw of a feral beast, he learned, was a bad idea. It bit him heavily for his troubles, completely breaking his concentration and disrupting his complex spell.

The others looked at the tent, and could see that something was amiss, but were reluctant to do anything about it.

"Shall I _Flame Strike_ it?" Aeron asked his comrades.
"What's to strike? You might hit Halbrinn!"
"Noooooo!" came the faint wail from beneath the tent.

Bitten once again, Rand moved away from one creature, and flexed his will, causing Halbrinn's tent to be ripped up and thrown to the ceiling. Aeron and Yvgeny pounced in and bashed at the snout of the beast, whilst Stedd's powerful fists finally left a mark on the first land-shark, dazing it completely and leaving its hindquarters open for Miles' maddened sword-slashes. The creature, still stunned, slumped to the floor, dead.

The other beast began climbing back down its tunnel, pausing only to bite out at Halbrinn again as he tried to fling a death-spell at the creature. Halbrinn nearly fainted from the pain and surprise, but hung on just long enough to see the creature disappear behind falling rubble.

---

The group tidied up the remains of their campsite, and Aeron cast _Make Whole_ on the shattered tent for probably the third time. Then he turned to trying to repair the damage to the two arcane spellcasters. He began with a mighty _Heal_ spell which should have completely repaired all of Halbrinn's grievous injuries.

The prayer was deformed by the negative energies around them, and all Aeron's mystical understandings failed him, as he was unable to control the aether, and saw his spell fail completely.

He tried again with a lesser magic. This also failed. Again and again he poured healing magics into Halbrinn, exhausting himself in the process, but to hardly any avail. Some of his spells were successful, but many failed hopelessly, even some of the spells he had been casting since he first entered holy orders.

Yvgeny's efforts were no better.

"We're doomed," moaned Stedd, despondently.

---

{DM's note - in the negative energy area, positive spells must be accompanied by a Spellcraft roll. Neither Yvgeny (a priest/monk), or Aeron (a 12th level cleric of Mystra, the goddess of magic) have more than 4 ranks in spellcraft. Healing just became very, very precious…}

_Next: The Crusaders reach Lich's Mire, and fail miserably to prepare for the lich they expect to encounter there!_


----------



## Eccles (Apr 26, 2004)

"How long have we been traveling now?" 

Stedd was bored at crawling along at the pace of the rest of his party, and itched for some action. At least they were now traveling faster than they had been - these days Halbrinn changed his form into that of a pixie or an ogre so that his gnomish strides didn't slow the others down. Nonetheless, Stedd had been uncharacteristically ranging a little way ahead of the others, then moving back to rejoin them. It could be called scouting, but nobody was really paying much attention to what was going on around them.

"Four days" replied Halbrinn, glancing down at the map he held in one enormous ogrish hand. 

"And how long until we reach the next caverns?"
"It's hardly a perfect map. Another day or two?"
"So would you mind explaining why there's a petrified dark elf up ahead where the tunnel narrows?"
"Petrified?" Miles and Rand suddenly butted in simultaneously.
"Yeah. Petrified. Turned to stone. What does that? Medusa? Basilisk? Cockatrice? Certain sorts of demons? Beholders? Whatever it is, we're in way over our heads. It could kill us straight out. No fair!"

{DM's Note - the player in question actually trotted out this almost-alphabetical list of petrifying monsters at the table without batting an eye. Scary.}

After grouping near the statue and discussing things in hushed voices for a few minutes, the group began to settle on a plan. Miles led the discussion.

"So what we need is someone to go ahead and scou… why are you all looking at me?"

And so he crept into the cavern alone, _invisible_, and stealthy. Unheard by the inhabitants of the cave, he climbed along a narrow ledge over a stream which had gouged the tiny entrance to the cave. As he crept forwards, he saw a patch of mushrooms, very extensive, by the side of a small stagnant lake. Moving around and tending the mushrooms were two well-built drow women, wearing armour and with swords and shields strapped to their packs.

Miles, still unheard, crept back to the rest of the group and told them what awaited them.

"Nothing else?"
"Nothing I saw."
"There must be something. 2 drow mushroom farmers never turned someone to stone."
"Yeah, and why put a mushroom farm on the main route to Maermydra?"
"_I_ don't know. I just saw two women farming mushrooms."
"So we kill 'em?"
"I reckon so. Better do it quickly before they start turning us to stone somehow."

Miles crept back into the cavern and positioned himself by the wall, ready to activate his _Boots of Speed_ and leap to the attack. Stedd crept along the narrow ledge above the stream, and also moved, stealthily, into the cavern.

Then Aeron moved forwards, onto the narrow ledge. Slipped, and fell loudly into the stream-bed.

Miles and Stedd leapt forwards almost simultaneously, stunning and slaying one of the two well-built drow women before her sword had even left its sheath. The second cried out a warning and tore a light rapier from its scabbard. She turned, just in time to hear Aeron scrabble madly trying to get out of the stream-bed, and to hear a second awkward thump as Rand also fell into it. She also saw Stedd's rock-hard fist whistle through the air and smash into the side of her head, dazing her and causing the unbloodied rapier to fall from nerveless fingers. 

Back at the entrance, Yvgeny's well-worn _Slippers of Spider Climbing_ meant that the stream was no obstacle, whilst Halbrinn's massive ogrish fist reached down to lift Rand and deposit him on the other side of the gap.

Miles, standing over the body of one slain drow happened to look up, and moaned with fear at the sight above him. A brownish mottled orb, nearly 4 feet across, had descended from the ceiling, almost a dozen eyes on stalks protruding from the top. Eyes waved in his direction, and beams of varying colours shot from the pupils. 

Shaking off a variety of magical effects, Miles prepared to invoke Slayer's jumping ability, but then the huge frontal eye opened, and everything went dark for him as magic failed.

Stedd gaped at the huge floating eyeball, and dived for cover behind the nearest large item - which happened to be the drow he was fighting. He continued to hammer away at the elf's midriff, stunning her again and leaving her gasping for breath. Yvgeny was also blinded, as was Rand, who started moving through the darkness, arms outstretched trying to find a way out.

Halbrinn, with a panolply of spells which could reduce the beholder to paste, stuck one arm into the edge of the anti-magic area which the beholder was projecting down the narrow cavern entrance. His ogrish forearm atrophied suddenly, leaving a tiny gnome limb sticking oddly out from an ogre's elbow. Aeron, bereft of his enchanted strength, his flying boots, his magically lightened armour, and half a dozen other items which could have helped him out of the trench he was in, tried once again to climb out of a 5 foot deep hole, and failed once more.


----------



## Jeremy (Apr 26, 2004)

How humiliating.    I can't wait for the barbarian to show up.


----------



## Eccles (Apr 26, 2004)

Gliding to one side, the beholder blasted at Yvgeny with another rainbow of eye-rays, two of which missed, whilst a third ray which threatened to turn him to dust failed miserably to have any serious effect. Rand's fumbling push up one flank finally had some success as he came into an area where his _Goggles of Night_ took effect, and he cast a terrific fire spell, swallowing much of the cavern (and all of the beholder) in sheets of flame. Sagging slightly, the huge eyeball began to turn its attention towards Rand, but had barely completed its revolution when Yvgeny scrambled across the ceiling to drop down upon it, and Stedd leapt up, bringing his arms down in another of his trademark Mantis Leaps.

The remaining drow fighting woman was despatched more as an afterthought than anything else. 

---

The group scouted the cavern quickly, spotting where the beholder had come from as well as many mushrooms, and a second large cavern off to the South-West. They decided all to head up, and explore the beholder's nest.

The nest was small, and filled with strange stone sculptures of humanoids transfigured in pain, with peculiar holes drilled through them. The room was looted swiftly and efficiently, with the group taking particular interest in a tiger-skin rug which lay on the floor. 

As the small chamber was defensible (accessible only by climbing or flying straight up 60 feet), they decided to stay there for a period, allowing Halbrinn to cast his identifying magic, and then deciding to keep all the loot for later sale anyway.

As it was now late, the group rested.

When the group awoke, and as the mages and priests prepared their spells again, Aeron and Halbrinn once again felt a familiar tingling. The group was being scried by an unseen foe.

---

{Next - Miles goes linkdead, a new cohort, and for the first time in ages, the group is taxed in combat! Oh, and the DM pulls a nasty and ambushes the group!}


----------



## Eccles (Apr 27, 2004)

"We're being scried again." Halbrinn was aware of the sensor only moments after a slight pause in Aeron's prayers indicated something was up.

"Should we dispel it?" Rand was looking around, totally unaware of the sensor, which amused Halbrinn's gnomish sensibilities no end.

"Yeah. Get one of the priests to do it."
"Can't. They're still praying. No priestly backup for about another half hour."
"Oh. You want to do it?"
"Not really. I'll give it a shot though."

Rand's brow furrowed as he channelled the energies from within himself, and threw them in the direction indicated by Halbrinn.

"Still there?"
"Yep."
"Damn. What do we do about it then? I could cast another 20 or so dispels, but that would spoil me for the rest of the day."
"So we ignore it again?"
"Yeah. After all, what harm could it do? It's only a sensor."

So they left it.

---

Approximately 20 seconds later, a tiny red-orange pea hurtled up through the hole in the floor, exploding violently amongst the adventurers.

Only Rand and Aeron were actually hurt by this, as the other 4 in the group had such incredible reactions that they were able to hurl themselves behind cover and avoid the blast. Aeron's prayers never faltered, although Yvgeny broke off his supplications to his God as a safety precaution.

Halbrinn looked down over the lip of the small hole. A roaring wall of fire was springing up where the drop opened up into the cavern below.

"Uh, guys?"

An unarmoured form rocketed past him and plunged down the hole, arms and legs flailing as he skidded and bounced off the walls.

"Stedd?"

Halbrinn looked around, and was rather confused by what he saw. Miles, usually the first to be up and attacking the foe, was still wrapped tightly in his bedroll, fast asleep.

"Miles?"

Rand, meanwhile, was pulling a foot-tall stone statue out of his backpack, and sprinkling powder on it. Within moments, the statue took on colour and started to grow dramatically, finally starting to animate as the man it became drew its sword and looked around for the enemy.

Halbrinn shook his head and got back to casting spells on himself. Aeron never even looked up from his prayers.

---

Down below, Stedd dropped through the sheets of flame, and felt claws rake him as he fell to the ground. Looking around, he saw a enormous winged form clutching a whip and raking at him with huge claws and a long tail which dripped venom.

"Uh, guys? A little help here?"

As Stedd began to exchange blows with the devil, others in the group began to fly (Halbrinn), float (Rand's _Feather Fall_ power) or climb (Yvgeny) towards the wall of flame below them. Many of them were burned by the flames as they fell through, until Halbrinn, hovering in the tunnel, _dispelled_ the _Wall of Flame_ and moved down.

---

The devil lashed out with whip, claw, tail and tooth, and Stedd was hard pressed to match it. Falling back gradually, he was relieved when Rand's new cohort dropped out of the tunnel above him, and fell to the ground, leaping up and brandishing a rapier.

Stedd was grateful for the help, and for the reduction in blows that followed. However, he swiftly realised that his fists (and Rand's duellist cohort's rapier) could not effectively penetrate the creature's tough hide. Stedd swapped to his heavily enchanted nunchaku, and began to flail away with abandon. 

The devil, meanwhile, stunned and then poisoned Rand's cohort, before being flanked and beaten into oblivion by Yvgeny, Stedd and Rand's magic.

When the group climbed back to the cave above, they saw that Miles was still asleep, and that Aeron was still praying.

There were many complaints.

---

Next - the group goes back down that vertical tunnel, and gets into even more trouble! And Miles still doesn't wake up!


----------



## Eccles (Apr 28, 2004)

"So what do we do?" Only minutes after their battle with the cornugon devil, and Rand was itching to get out and confront the Underdark.

"We've got to wait for Aeron to finish praying. And what's up with Miles?" Yvgeny, the peace-maker, was looking out for the rest of his team.

"I'm not altogether sure," replied Halbrinn casting a quick spell to check Miles' magical auras. "If I had to take a guess, I'd say that his _Ring of Sustenance_ had malfunctioned. He might not wake up for days."

"Oh. So what should we do, then?"

Nobody really felt like staying around, and so they left as soon as Aeron had finished praying. 

Leaving Miles, fast asleep, on his own, in the Underdark.

---

"Ah!" 

Flying down the vertical tunnel once again, Rand felt a sharp stabbing pain in his left eye.

Wrenching off his _Goggles of Night_, he was astonished to find that he could still see in the dark, if he screwed up his right eye and squinted through the left. Without the goggles on, his visual range was vastly reduced, but the headaches subsided.

Shrugging, Rand passed his _Goggles_ over to his follower, who was struggling to see anything in the darkness. Then he carried on down the passage, not really paying this strange new development any attention.

---

The group climbed (or flew) back down to the cavern below, and looked around. The only route they had not explored was off to the West; the opening to a second large cavern. Forming up into a small knot, they moved out, seeing a second large patch of mushrooms in clusters and patches around a wide ox-bow lake.

Moving into the chamber to explore, the were taken completely by surprise when one large clump of mushrooms _bulged_, and then was thrown back, revealing an axe-wielding humanoid charging at them out of a pit. 

The muscular form hurtled at them, foaming at the lips and screaming obscenities in a language none of them understood. His face was blank; flesh covered where eyes should be, but still the axe whistled accurately in at Stedd, slamming into his side and carving into him. Stedd leapt back, but the creature pressured on, swinging the axe again and again, smashing and slicing into him, and Stedd's guard was not sufficient to stop several blows getting past. 

Before the rest of the group had really even noticed that they were under attack, the axe had carved a gaping wound across Stedd's abdomen, cracking ribs and slicing flesh so deeply and the bunched cords of his stomach (shrivelled away after so many months relying on his _Ring of Sustenance_ for food) were visible. 

Gasping from the agony of the blow, Stedd drew back further, only to be pressured still more by the axe-wielding cave-dweller.

Halbrinn threw one of his most lethally powerful spells at the barbarian, only to stand in amazement as the sightless creature simply ignored the terrifying abomination hurtling towards him. 

When Rand's cohort leapt into the fight, he was almost immediately smashed down with a terrific blow from the axe, which crashed into his hastily-guarding rapier, knocking it to one side before driving on into the duellist's leg. With a scream, the man fell to the ground, blood pouring from the ruined limb to feed the mushrooms.

Yvgeny dived in to drag the cohort out of the fight, before muttering in irritation as his lesser prayer of healing (one of the few remaining to him from the previous day) failed in the terrible negative magic aura.

Aeron, to the rear of the party, began to cast his regimen of spells. Already carrying many layers of protective enchantments from his wands, he began by _hasting_ himself, then invoking the favour of Mystra to allow him to wade into combat with his mace. He would not, however, be ready to enter combat for some time, as he still had several spells to cast before he was properly 'powered up'.

Rand's magic caused the mushroom patch to erupt in flame, doing terrible damage to the barbarian, who simply ignored his burns.

Stedd's hasted fists failed to stun the barbarian, who barely even grunted each time they connected. His return blows, however, were titanic in proportion, each of them with the potential to kill Stedd entirely. Stedd pulled back once more, and was again pressured by the raging humanoid.

Before things got truly out of hand, the group rallied. Halbrinn and Rand cast _magic missiles_ and _lightning orbs_ into the barbarian, whilst Stedd and Aeron (deigning to enter the combat 'early') attacked him with fist and mace. 

Despite inflicting further horrendous injuries, this barrage of blows and spells was too much, and his broken body fell to the ground, covered in gore and mushrooms.

"Loot him!" bellowed someone from the group.

It took some moments to decide who was going to be the one to approach the body, in case it was just faking…


----------



## Eccles (Apr 28, 2004)

Whilst Yvgeny and Rand stripped the shattered and blasted body of the barbarian, Stedd leaned heavily against the wall and concentrated hard. He forced himself to ignore his bruised and battered body, willing his muscles back into their shape. Only by dint of exteme concentration and knowing his own physique perfectly could he do this, but eventually the gaping wound in Stedd's torso was held closed by the tension in his own muscles, and healing was sped dramatically.

For Aeron, however, things were not so easy.

He had prayed that morning for a special enchantment which would dramatically increase his ability to concentrate on the spell he wanted, and to twist it in the manner he desired.

Casting this first, he was confident in his ability to heal the remainder of the group, yet still something evaded him. 

His first brash attempt to wipe away all of Rand's cohort's wounds in a single healing gesture went far adrift, and failed miserably. His second and third attempt, both using powerful spells of healing also failed. 

As the rest of the group fretted about whether they would be able to recover from the fight, Aeron finally managed to adjust to the negative energies, and healed the cohort and Stedd somewhat.  Recovered, the group decided to proceed with their exploration.

---

To the south lay an enormous body, turned entirely to stone. It nearly blocked the whole passage out. Looking more closely at it, Halbrinn realised that this was the body of a giant, turned entirely to stone!

Looping around to check the last of the cavern before leaving Lich's Mire, the group changed their order of march. The fighting Crusaders were still too badly wounded to continue at the front, and so the group swapped to a peculiar order of clerics, followed by spellcasters, followed in turn by the warriors.

This was something of a relief as, bickering amongst themselves, the group rounded a corner only to be blasted by the intense mental energies of the creature which had been hiding there half-expecting them to go away without discovering its ill-hidden lair.

The first mental blast was followed immediately by a second, which together put Rand's cohort and (ironically) both mages on the floor. The cleric, monk and cleric/monk were made of sterner stuff, and leapt to the attack. The unfortunate mind flayer (which had caused Stedd severe palpitations as they rounded the corner to come into view of it) was almost immediately stunned, and was never given a chance to _Plane Shift_ away from the adventurers before the butchered it resoundingly.

---

Various items were taken from the illithid's rubbery body, and several gems and items of jewellery were levitated out of a slimy, salty pool using Rand's _telekinesis_ spell. 

Halbrinn, meanwhile, became fascinated by a collection of sticks, stones and bones, all of which had been carved to form an intricate structure, and which was mildly enchanted in some way he could not fathom. Taking out a quill and some parchment, he drew several sketches of how the thing was put together, and then knocked it down, sweeping it into a bag for later study.

Then, the group tried to decide what to do next.

"We're pretty badly hurt. Should we go and rest for a while?" Stedd, as usual was the party pessimist, keen to ensure that they were not hurt.

"Nah." Halbrinn and Rand were both keen to move on and get closer to Maermydra, and so it was left to the clerics.

"We could go back and have a rest, you know." Yvgeny was trying to ensure that things didn't get out of hand.

"Nope." Rand suddenly sounded certain. "That cave's only got one way out."
"Which makes it defensible."
"And non-escapable. It's incredibly dangerous there."
"Dangerous? What about Miles?"
"Oh, he'll catch up. After he's woken up, anyway."

The group squeezed past the statue of the crawling giant, and headed down a fissure in the rock, continuing towards Maermydra.

{Next: Nearly caught up now! One more titanic struggle, and we'll let the heroes rest until Friday!}


----------



## Eccles (Apr 30, 2004)

Wounded, but still buoyant in victory, the Clearwater Crusaders pushed on down the tunnels, leaving Miles behind in the 'too dangerous' cavern. Although several of their number were quite badly hurt, they were relatively confident, as they had never encountered more than one or two sources of evil in a day.

So they marched on at a slightly slower pace so that their wounded could keep up, but still made good time through the miles of dry tunnel.

A couple of members of the group began to become thirsty, but that was swiftly rectified with a _create food and water_ spell, with several other spells serving to add flavour and texture to the mush which was produced by Yvgeny's initial prayer.

After an hour or more of walking, the group began to hear a strange rumbling noise, which seemed to come from the very rock around them. Looking around nervously, the adventurers began to consider making camp, and started looking for a convenient spot to stop marching. The grinding noise continued, however.

Suddenly, an enormous toothy maw burst through the tunnel wall, showering the party with rock. Fully 20 feet across, the circular mouth was lined in huge teeth which had been chewing through the rock of the Underdark. The enormous thing stretched out, revealing a massive purple body behind it, and the teeth closed around Aeron, biting him savagely.

The group was slow to react, but the enormous lumbering creature was slower still. Therefore, whilst Aeron tried unsuccessfully to free himself from the colossal mouth, Stedd tumbled in beside him to smack at the creature, and Rand and Halbrinn both cast devastating offensive spells at it.

Unfortunately, as Halbrinn began casting, an enormous tail whipped out of a side wall, throwing crushed rock all over the group before stabbing a long pointed barb into him. Halbrinn's spell was lost in the agony, but thanks to the ogrish skin he was wearing, he managed to shake off the ill-effects of the venom which had been injected into him.

Aeron's struggles were for naught, as the creature appeared to pause, then its mouth closed over the cleric's head, and with a shuddering muscular contraction, he disappeared from view.

"Don't worry!" came the muffled cry from inside the purple worm. "I'm protected from acid, remember? I can probably last a minute or two in here!"

There was another muscular contraction as the swallowing action simultaneously crushed Aeron and forced him further down the enormous gullet.

"Aaargh! Better make that 20 or 30 seconds!" came the even fainter shout.

Rand considered an enormous spell which would shear the creature's flesh off in a massive blast of lightning, but thought better of it.

{House Rule - lightning damage gets transferred as half damage to anything inside a swallowed creature which is blasted, with no save}

Instead, he concentrated, and a 20 foot long glowing spear formed in his hands, carving a groove along the tunnel roof before being lowered to stab at the titanic worm, which lashed its huge tail out at Rand's cohort, who succumbed to the venom and fell to the ground.

Blows, both from within and without began to show their mark on the creature, but it continued to lash out at the party, narrowly missing Stedd with a bite from that enormous toothy maw, whilst the long barbed tail again lashed out, striking Halbrinn once again, this time weakening him considerably due to the venom.

More spells lashed out, and Yvgeny and Stedd both punched at the giant worm for all that they were worth, before the monstrosity finally slumped, lifeless, to the floor. 

Aeron, screaming in pain as the weight of the creature slumped down upon him, continued to hack with a tiny dagger until he finally fell free with a wet slurping sound, acid draining onto the floor around him.

Pulling their comrade free, the group set to the monster with sharp blades, tearing open its stomach to find if there was any treasure within.

They were disgusted to find that, apart from digested meat and a terrible acidic stench, there were only a small handful of gems.

They pulled back to a nearby cavern, and prepared to rest.


{DM Note - 4 nasty combats in succession, and the group actually didn't notice a 5th walking almost directly past them. The toughest day they've had to day, and I can't help feeling that it's going to get tougher... Still, we're playing tonight, and I expect the party to reach Maermydra this session.}


----------



## Eccles (May 4, 2004)

Miles awoke in the pitch-dark cavern, and rubbed his eyes before putting on his _Goggles of Night_. His body ached after sleeping once again in his enchanted chain armour, but he stretched his muscles and looked around.

The cavern was empty, apart from the statues of frozen humanoids left by the beholder. His companions had all disappeared, and the walls and statues were covered in a fine layer of soot.

However, the loot had also disappeared along with his companions, and so Miles incanted a swift spell of climbing, and scrambled down the tube-like entrance.

At the foot of the tube, he washed the soot off himself, and headed out into the neighbouring cavern, trying to find some trace of where his companions had gone.

The cavern was spattered with blood, and a single stripped corpse lay face-down in the ox-bow lake surrounded by mushrooms. Miles looked closely at the body, but left it largely untouched before moving on to find the body of the Mind Flayer near its pool.

Squeezing past the enormous statue of a petrified fire giant, Miles headed out in the most likely direction for his comrades to have gone; towards Maermydra.

Several hours later, he marched straight through the first group's campsite he came to, and then walked on into the propert camp itself. {The group has a habit of casting illusory campsites to deflect attackers}.

He sat down heavily in front of the others, and glared at them.

"You ba***rds".

Miles had rejoined the group.

---

3 days of travelling later, and the environment had changed once again. The narrow tunnel had begun to open out into a wide network of caverns, most of which had signs of cultivation in them. Mushrooms of varying sizes had been torn up and removed, leaving only a few roots and dishevelled ground to indicate that they were ever there. Miles' best guess indicted that many of the mushrooms had been taken or devoured by a group of goblins and giants that they had met several days ago. The goblins and ogres had been almost negligently annihilated by Halbrinn and Rand, before others had leapt in to finish off the fire giant travelling with the creatures.

Suddenly, a tiny blossom of light shone in the darkness. Growing suddenly, the tiny dot of light hurtled towards the group, blossoming outwards in an enormous ball of fire, scorching a couple in the group, (although many in the group had some form of fire-proofing magics cast upon themselves which reduced the damage) but failing to touch the majority, whose reactions were near-superhuman in speed. 

{DM's note - how boring is it when 5 out of the 7 members of the group have evasion?}

Then, almost immediately, dark and greasy clouds began to materialise around the group. Twisting and dodging to their very best, many of them were nonetheless unable to avoid damage from the draining magics. Miles, strangely, was left completely untouched, whilst Rand and Aeron once again took the worst of the effects.

The group looked around for the source of these sorceries, but saw nothing. Drawing inwards, they prepared to repel an invisible assault, but almost immediately, an enormous ring of fire leapt up around them, almost touching the ceiling as it locked them into place.

Casting a _daylight_ spell on an old coin, Halbrinn began to fly for the top of the _Wall of Fire_, whilst Yvgeny sprouted wings from his new cloak and flew straight through the top of the Wall (taking some terrible burns in the process), and Miles simply leapt, wincing, through before turning invisible. Stedd turned and ran towards Rand, swirling his cloak over them both. Rand, not understanding what Stedd was trying to do, resisted, and then stood there in confusion when Stedd simply disappeared. 

Rand, his cohort, and Aeron were left inside the blazing wall. Aeron began to cast his preparatory 'suite' of combat spells, prompting Rand to shout at him to do something else.

Rand, hasted already, threw several _dispelling_ sorceries at the Wall, but all were totally ineffectual. Halbrinn also failed, before shooting over the top of the _Wall_ and gazing about him into the darkness; his keen gnomish eyes picking up sight of a pair of devils in the distance. He began to prepare one of his favourite spells, the _Phantasmal Killer_.

A second fireball streaked across the cavern, exploding within the circle of fire and adding further insult to injury for Aeron and Rand. Then, a stretch of the wall flexed, and a large elemental creature stepped forth, swinging flaming arms at Rand's cohort.

Rand and cohort tried unsuccessfully to tackle the elemental, but finally the heavily enspelled Aeron strode forwards and swung his mace _through_ the creature. He frowned at it, squinting. "Illusion", he sniffed.

Outside the blazing circle, Halbrinn's spell leapt towards the Cornugon devil, which bellowed in fear and surprise, before dropping dead to the stone floor. 

Encouraged, Stedd and Miles leapt on the Hamatula devil, smashing sword and fist into it until it fell to the ground seconds later.

Halbrinn's next spell caused the _Wall of Fire_ to disappear, and a second Hamatula could be seen beyond it. The devil squinted at the adventurers, muttered something in its own foul language, and then disappeared.

{Next! The Clearwater Crusaders finally reach Maermydra, and a furious fight with the creatures on the gate leaves 2 adventurers dead!}


----------



## Eccles (May 5, 2004)

After healing many of their wounds, the Clearwater Crusaders decided to carry on for a few miles more before finding somewhere to make camp. 

To pass the time, they mocked Stedd's suggestion that they camp in the centre of a large open area so that they could not be crept up on. Mocked him, that is, until the monk pointed out that many creatures could simply tunnel out of the cavern walls to attack them!

After walking for a few minutes, the group rounded a corner, and saw that the cavern narrowed rapidly to a point. Four large giants stood at the narrowest point, already turning to look at the heroes rounding the corner. 

Backlit by a number of large fires, the giants stood beside the mangled ruins of a pair of enormous gates, which had been torn from their hinges and thrown to one side. Since that point, the gateway had been blocked up with a massive pile of boulders, carefully stacked to let the giants see through to the other side, and leaving big enough gaps for the enormous longspears which stood nearby to be poked through at something on the other side.

Barely even pausing for breath, Stedd and Miles leapt forwards, Stedd immediately connecting with the closest giant in another signature Mantis Leap. The giant grunted, but largely ignored the blow. 

Yvgeny scrambled along the group's right flank, hoping to distract the giants. Rand and Halbrinn glared at the running backs of the rest of their group, muttering something about 'impetuous bloody psychopaths spoiling our aim', before moving into a better position for their spells. 

The giants began to counter-attack. Two flung huge boulders from the fires at Aeron, then grunted in amazement as the heavy rocks simply bounced off his lightly armoured form. 

The other two giants hefted massive iron greatswords, which they swung heavily at Stedd and Rand's cohort, who had also dashed up one flank, wounding each of them heavily. Halbrinn's illusory spell which usually caused the death of his opponents was fought off by one terrified giant, whilst Rand leapt to his right to fling lightning into the midst of his enemies, causing one of them intense pain.

Yvgeny leapt in to deliver a terrific nerve punch to one foe, whose tremendous sword dropped from his stunned fingers. Miles dashed in to slash at the stunned giant, but was unable to bring him down. Moments later, the remaining giants slashed around them with their heavy swords, causing Stedd severe palpitations of the heart, but only actually striking him once.

Rand's cohort, however, was smashed several times, and fell to the floor bleeding heavily from a number of terrible wounds.

Aeron, the party's cleric (and wannabe Divine Oracle, although he certainly hadn't seen this one coming) caste _Haste_ and then, to the others' disgust, moved 20 feet into the cavern despite their exhortations that he should ignore his usual panoply of spells and just "get stuck in". 

Rand moved forwards, again manoevering for a better place to cast his spells. Unfortunately, he got too close, and nearly lost his arm to a huge sword-swipe. Halbrinn's illusionary lightning bolts caused the giants considerable panic, as they could not distinguish between these and the real thing. Yvgeny's giant, however, recovered, and stepped back to fling a red-hot boulder scooped from one of the fire-pits at the hero, whilst a second giant flailed at him with an enormous sword. 

Before Yvgeny could attack his giant any further, Rand cast a tremendously empowered bolt of lightning at Yvgeny's foe, trusting in the monk's reflexes to dodge the blast. 

He didn't, and screamed as the electricity poured through his body. The giant fell dead, but it was no help to the unfortunate monk/cleric.

Grievously wounded, Yvgeny staggered back and started using his wand of _Searing Light_ instead.

Miles and Stedd continued their battle against the giants, but not before their counter attacks slashed straight through Rand's already battered body, dropping him to the floor in two separate pieces. 

Aeron continued casting spells on himself, although by this time the surviving group members was screaming at him to step into the combat, or to heal the poor duellist, who was at that very moment spilling the last of his life's blood onto the cavern floor. He choked, coughed, and was still.

Seven or eight seconds later, Aeron nimbly ran up to his side, and tried to pour healing energy into him, but he had no luck. Once again, the so-called "Oracle of Mystra" hadn't seen it coming.

_To be continued…_


----------



## Eccles (May 5, 2004)

Hacking, slashing and blasting in a fury, the surviving adventurers brought down the giants, who began to panic, but had no way to retreat. They fought bravely, but their best efforts were futile, especially after Stedd managed to stun one, and a second was viciously hacked down by Miles in a tremendous series of attacks.

Standing, covered in blood, over the bodies of enemy and ally alike, the group did what passed for mourning amongst them.

"What was he carrying then?" Stedd asked the others.

Yvgeny and Halbrinn at least had the decency to look embarrassed at this question, but Miles dived in merrily, and began looting the dead bodies of his fallen comrades before sparing the giants' corpses so much as a glance.

Soon enough, the cavern rang with cries of "dibs!", "mine", or "he had how much gold?" Even Halbrinn was swept along in the frenzied tide of looting, whilst Yvgeny alone wept for the suffering of Rand and his comrade. Even if nobody in the group could remember what his name was.

During the course of looting the unfortunate Rand, Miles heard a strange sucking, slurping noise coming from the sorceror's head.

Turning the body over (it had been face down to allow Miles to remove Rand's cloak), he was horrified to see that Rand's left eye was protruding slightly from the socket on a short stalk. As Miles fumbled for his shortsword, the eye pulled away from the inside of Rand's skull, and then simply faded from sight, leaving a fist-sized hole just inside the sorceror's head. Revolted, they rolled the body back over, and turned to looting the giants.

Miles decided to start by hacking the heads off the giants, just to be certain that they didn't rise again to challenge the party. Taking three mighty swipes with the intelligent blade Slayer, the head was removed, leaving a ghostly mist between head and body. This mist poured out of the ruined neck-stump, forming a large ghostly giant-like form, which wailed faintly as it was sucked away, through the mound of stones and into the chamber beyond. 

Suddenly, similar wraith-like forms were sucked from the other giants, as well as from the bodies of Rand and his cohort. Wailing, the group leapt into action to behead and then immolate all the bodies.

_{DM's Note - I feel very sorry for Mark, the player of Rand. His last character, Adamo the alienist, was also beheaded and burned after an encounter with a group of bodaks… I have a horrible feeling that there's a pattern emerging…}_

Halbrinn was curious. In the form of a pixie, he flitted through one of the spear-hole gaps in the rocky wall, and when he emerged on the other side, he gasped.

He was in a tremendous cavern, so large that he could barely make out the other side. Rather than being pitch dark like the rest of the Underdark, Almost all of the cavern was littered with tiny pinpricks of flame. Ruined buildings as far as the eye could see, and a thick miasma of smoke obscured the ceiling. 

A cloud of smoke rolled across the ruined city cavern, but parted just long enough for Halbrinn to see an enormous oval construct, surrounded by small fires. Across the cavern, a tall spire-like stalacmite stretched up towards the cavern's roof, whilst other buildings either stood proudly, or slumped in ruins.

His gaze was taken when a large wall several hundred feet away collapsed, as beyond it one armoured fire giant wrestled with a titanic zombie, fully as tall and broad as the giant itself. Ogres with flaming brands darted around the struggling figures, stabbing and bludgeoning at the huge zombie with swords, spears and cudgels.

Masked in the smoke, _something_ screamed.

Chilled to the bone, Halbrinn retreated back through the boulders, and rejoined the group.

_{And that's where we left it. Playing again on Friday. Ironically, the group's been more spurred to action by the wraith-like spirits being torn from the giants and Rand (a image I stole unashamedly from Wraithdritt's Story Hour), than all the prophecies and wotnot I've been force-feeding Aeron. These prophecies were recently related to the group to the near unanimous response of "huh?" - A DM's work is never done…}_


----------



## Eccles (May 5, 2004)

Having just mentioned those prophecies, I figure I ought to post them as well, so that you can get the benefit of them as well. 

Here's the first dream Aeron had, shortly after he announced his desire to take the _Divine Oracle_ prestige class. You have to remember that Aeron has been played for the last few levels as a combat obsessed cleric whose sole purpose in life is to cast a bunch of spells before wading into combat and twonking the undead over the head with an enchanted _Mace of Disruption_. All perfectly well and good, but hardly the purview of a Divine Oracle. 

---

As you settle down to sleep in the evening after the brutal fight with the Bodaks, your mind is filled with memories and regret for the demise of Adamo, perhaps the most powerful of all in your little group. The need to behead and then burn his body, as well as the utilitarian stripping of his corpse by your fellow adventurers gives you cause to wonder about their darker sides.

Eventually, you manage to drop off into a fitful doze, sinking deeper and deeper until you are finally fully asleep.

With a smooth motion, you feel yourself rising from the ground. You writhe around to see that you are indeed hovering above the campsite. You can see; illuminated in the light from Halbrinn's two torches; the man on watch, who doesn't seem to notice your floating form.

On the floor where you lay, you do not see your body; instead you can see an empty armoured husk, helmet and goggles where your head lay, and the dark shadowy female elf's armour curled up where you were asleep.

You continue to rise, panicking as you reach the ceiling, calling out for help as you feel your head brush the stone, but nobody seems to notice you.

With slight pressure, you rise up, through the rock. You can feel the stone brushing through your entire body for minutes on end, before you burst into evening sun in the world above.

Shading your eyes with your hand, you realise that you are naked except for a loincloth. And still you rise. Past birds and clouds you rise, until you eventually find the world laid out beneath you.

Your rise continues, until you find yourself in Mystara's own realm, seated at her right hand. You are warm and comfortable; sure in your position and you do not question your right to be there. You see Mystara turn to face you. She leans down and whispers into your ear,

"Find mortal insight before seeking the Divine".

Suddenly, the world is torn from beneath you and you plummet, screaming, towards and then through the earth, landing with a smack in the dimly lit campsite.

You sit up; bolt upright and awake, sweating coldly in the flickering green and red lights.


----------



## Eccles (May 5, 2004)

This one is rather more recent, dating shortly after the group re-entered the Underdark. I won't explain what it's about - it's up to the players to figure out this sort of nonsense. Mind you - if you want to take a guess about any of them, feel free. It's what the message board's here for, and I'm getting bored being the only poster!

---

You find it difficult to sleep, feeling rocks and stones through your bedroll no matter where you lie on the cavern floor.

Surrounded as you are by the gloom of negative-energy magics, you drift into an uneasy rest, and awake just as swiftly. You do not feel rested, but the movement of your fellow adventurers suggests that at least two hours have passed. 

Trying to remember what you have dreamed or thought over the last two hours (a habit which you are trying to get used to in case your deity should speak to you once again), you get only a series of fractured sounds and images. You realise that you have been having these for the last few nights, and assemble your thoughts into some form of a list.

- A hammer striking a red-hot sword blade in the darkness, throwing up sparks.

- The fevered chanting of a voice in a language you do not understand.

- A rotting form stirring a noxious liquid with a towering glass rod.

- The tramping of hundreds; of thousands of feet in the black.

- The metallic clatter of blades, and the thump of sword into flesh.

- An overpowering stench of decay.

- The shuffling step of the undead

You wrack your brain trying to understand what it is that you have seen.


----------



## Eccles (May 5, 2004)

This one came a couple of nights after the previous one. The group haven't worked out what the creature 'telling' the story is yet, but Aeron has decided that it shows that _someone_ is marching somewhere.

---

You flap your wings, in an effort to escape the mass of movement which comes from further up your tunnel. 

Your flock had grown fat on duergar fleeing up the tunnel in recent weeks, singing your song, and then wrapping your wings around them in a warming embrace; nestling your mouth into their necks, and then savouring the flow of warm, fresh blood and flesh in your mouth. 

Then the first arrived. They would not react to the songs of your flock. They would not stand like the dumb, dull duergar. They would not flee your shrieks and cries, as had so many creatures before them.

They continued to struggle, even when in your embrace, and they killed all the while.

Alone of your entire flock, you managed to break free and fly, a ragged tear in one wing.

Your efforts to escape the bipeds exhaust you, and soon you can only manage a short glide from outcrop to nesting site.

Until a small form, wiry and incredibly strong, leapt out from a niche in the rocks. One arm grasped at the tear in your wing, whilst the other clutched a rusty cleaver. One shrivelled eyeball hung from the hook nosed face, which screamed as it hacked at you, spittle and particles of rotting flesh flying from its mouth.

Unable to bear the weight, you crash to the ground in a tangle with the creature, and then all is black.


----------



## Eccles (May 5, 2004)

The very latest dream that Aeron had, I didn't bother recording. It went something like this:

"You dream, and feel your mind being swept up towards visions of a greater whole. Abruptly, however, some decision is taken, and your mind is restored, almost contemptuously, to your body."

---

Aeron ain't interpreted this one as anything much.


----------



## Eccles (May 5, 2004)

Miles' player has recently sent me his latest Journal for my website, and I reproduce that here. It takes us from just before the group was ambushed by the _pinata of evil_ until just after they re-entered the Underdark after a 16 day 'holiday' in Calimport, well outside the area covered by the 'Dark Tide' affecting positive energy.

---

*Miles' Journal
Part 25*

*Mirtul 13th *- After spending an uneventful night, I heard snuffling down a tunnel and it seemed to be heading towards us. Whatever it was first ravaged the illusionary camp that Halbrinn typically sets some distance away as a decoy. As it did that we took up position behind illusionary walls that our gnome conjured, making our small cavern appear to be simply a continuation of the tunnel. What appeared was a truly strange floating ball-like creature with many clawed tentacles, each with an eye imbedded inn it. None of us have the slightest idea what it was. It fell for our trap however, and we massacred it in seconds as it floated along between where four of us were stood. As it died however, it detonated, sprayings its contents (as well as a goodly amount of blood, guts, ichor and flesh for good measure) everywhere. The creature, to our amazement and delight was stuffed with gold and gems, more then twenty thousand pieces worth to be exact. The wealth went some way to compensate for being covered head to toe in monster gore. 

All of us are now very eager to get back to the surface to spend our wealth before we become too heavily burdened by our impressive haul of loot. We pressed on a bit later (once we had mutually scraped one another mostly clean), and the tunnel led us into a huge cavern, so vast it felt as if we were walking outside. What was truly odd though was the strange vibration in the air, sufficient enough to set my teeth on edge. 

We made our way through the cavern, dodging attacks by a pair of flying creatures with sonic screeches. One snatched Aeron, flying away with him and I gave chase, flying across after them and slaying one of them. The other beat a hasty retreat as Aeron called down a pillar of flame to engulf it, and we continued on our way, only for the wretched creature to return with what must have been its parents. We fled then, following Aeron who had cast a spell to show him the best route of escape. We flew with the creatures close behind to a ruined tower where we found and uncovered a portal. Reading the runes on it gave us the key to activate it, and we dived through to appear on a crowded street in a strange city. 

After sealing the portal behind us, we set off to explore our surroundings, quickly finding that the locals did not speak any language we knew. Getting up on top of a wall that the richer citizens of this place seem to use as pathways, presumably so they do not have to share the ground with the commoners, we gazed in awe across the never-ending sea of buildings. The city is incredibly vast, easily surpassing Darromar in Tethyr which I have briefly visited before. 

From a temple of Tyr we learned that this is the city of Calimport, fully half the Realms from Daggerdale. We were led to an Inn where I paid for the group to stay for a while as we plan on making the most of our time in such a place. Calimport is reputed to be a place where anything and everything can be found and bought, and we have much gold to spend. 

*Mirtul 14th to 30th *- Staying at the Foaming Sherbet tavern (very odd name I thought at first, but it turns out that sherbet is a weird drink served in this land, that I am growing quite fond of), in Calimport. The Crusaders (myself included) have spent a vast amount of funds in this place in a very short time, I having paid to have Slayer upgraded (much to his delight), so that now the smith/wizard who did the work ensures me that his edge is sharp enough to slice through anything. This is good. We have a red dragon that needs killing after all, and I would hate for his hard scales to slow down my strikes. I might get Scourge similarly enhanced when I have the gold to do so. I also bought an amulet to bolster my health with what coins I had left. 

Halbrinn during this rest time teleported to his house in Dagger Falls, to find that the Revenance effect has reached the town, and caused a panic in the temples, which I guess was to be expected. We are running out of time, if the effect is that widespread it means that virtually the entire of the Dales are now blanketed in it saving perhaps Scardale. Too it will have started to infringe on Sembia and Cormanthor. I fear it will result in a war, and my country is ill prepared to fight one. 

*Kythorn 1st *- As we were about to set out, Aeron was suddenly possessed and issued a warning in a dire voice, as light poured from his eyes, nose and mouth. The warning went as follows: 

Weak, unwilling, *ALL SHALL RISE*
Old and ailed, *ALL SHALL RISE*
Strong, yet failed, *ALL SHALL RISE*
Bold, unwary, *ALL SHALL RISE*
It is coming, *ALL SHALL RISE *

The time is coming when the strings, steel and hearts of nations shall be found equal. And then shall be found again. 

This prophecy uttered by Aeron, was pronounced by him to have been the words of his patron deity, Mystra. Which considering that this Revenance clearly seems to affect the Weave only makes sense. Still I'm suddenly glad that I'm not one of her priests, Aeron was in a bad way once the words ended and he collapsed to the floor. 

Taking this as a spur for us to get a move on, we set off back to the archway only to find that cleaning this side of it, didn't activate the portal. So we took a rubbing of the symbols off the archway and we headed to a temple of Oghma to get them deciphered. Whilst none of us could understand a word the priest said, he understood us after casting a spell and we learned that we would need blood to activate the gateway from this end. 

To that extent we bought a goat. I slit its throat (Slayer complaining all the while at being used for this), and we plastered the archway with bloodied handprints. The portal appeared, we cast fly and silence spells and headed through it, into the Yrthak's cavern (Rand had found out what the creatures were during the time we spent in Calimport). We crossed this while silent and moving quickly in the air and on feet, and headed back down the tunnel that leads eventually to Maerimydra. Thankfully today was without any encounters. 

It has been a while since I have listed my companions, so I feel it important as we set out on what I hope to be the final stage of this grand quest, to detail them, lest not all of them return. The Crusaders are: 

*Stedd *- A Monk of the Old Order and my usual fighting partner. A fatalist by nature, he seems determined to avoid the doom that he always sees ahead, fighting with fist and foot. The pair of us makes the most effective team in the party, though we rarely see eye to eye on anything. 

*Yvgeny Del'Ansk *- An agent of the Damaran government, sent to Daggerdale to study the zhents, he instead finds himself in a war under the earth, against a foe with the potential to threaten all life on Toril. A monk and a priest, Yvgeny is as equally useful in a fight as he is during its aftermath. He and I differ on many points though, due in the main part to his faith in Ilmater, a god I have little time for. 

*Rand Stormseeker *- A living engine of destruction, Rand commands a vast arsenal of magical firepower, and his magics have won the day more times than I care to count. He is also the mayor of Clearwater, and is rightly worried about the dragon Gran'Rath Tendathaloth who will be soon awakening and doubtless resuming his hostilities towards the Crusaders. Given that the last time we did battle with his minions the war was fought in and around Clearwater, he has every right to be concerned for the future. 

*Halbrinn *- Our eccentric gnome wizard (is there such a thing as a non-eccentric gnome I wonder), Halbrinn spends much of his time these days shifted into either Ogre or Pixie form so as not to slow the rest of the group down as we travel. A master of many different magics, Halbrinn always seems to have just the spell we need in a pinch. I will freely admit that despite his usefulness to the group I have little time for Halbrinn, he and I have so little in common to relate too besides this quest that most of the time we just don't bother. 

*Aeron Corynian *- Our indomitable priest of Mystra, Aeron relishes a good fight, wading into the thick of combat, mace flailing. He has a considerable store of spells at his disposal and arms himself each day with a wide selection of magics, though he is fond of those that bolster him, regularly boosting his size and strength to make him all the better at cracking heads. It would seem that he now has some oracular ability too, which might well come in useful. 

And lastly of course there is myself. 

*Miles Killian O'Kayne *- Assassin to the government of Daggerdale, I am the sword that waits in the shadows for any who think to harm the people of my country with impunity. I have overheard it said that I am not so much set to a task, as set loose upon it. I have never faced a larger threat to my people than I do now, I will see this through whatever the cost. Nothing less is expected of me. Once this is done though, I have a war to take to the Zhents.


----------



## Eccles (May 10, 2004)

Staring around them at the bodies of the dead giants and the beheaded, partially burned corpses of their two fallen comrades, the group wondered what to do. And then decided to sleep on the problem. 

They retreated from the corpses, and found a convenient cavern away from the main pathway in which to make camp, disguising their whereabouts by stacking several of the enormous mushrooms before them. 

Just as the group was settling down, Miles heard a faint grinding noise, as though two stones were being rubbed together. Nobody else could hear the scraping, which seemed to be coming from the general direction of the 'path'. 

Yvgeny was nominated to go and take a look, and he crept up to see an armoured human figure dragging a truly _massive_ stone hammer behind him. Eight feet long , and clearly immensely heavy, the maul was made by lashing one colossal piece of stone to a long piece of granite using leather straps. The human was simply dragging the thing along the ground behind him, throwing up sparks and making a grinding noise that echoed through the caverns.

Yvgeny fled back to the others.


----------



## Eccles (May 13, 2004)

Back at the camp, it had been decided that Halbrinn should settle down in a trance to identify some of the various items which had been taken from their foes recently. He was happy enough to do this, but it did mean that he missed much of the confusion which followed.

Miles muttered the words to a spell, and grew enormous wings, swooping off to look at the stranger himself. Yvgeny again took to his heels to help Miles if he got into any trouble. 

The strange human seemed oblivious to Miles' dark bat-like wings swooping over his head, but he turned sharply to stare at Yvgeny, creeping up through the darkness. Hefting the enormous hammer, the armoured man stared pointedly at him, although he completely failed to spot Miles swooping down to land softly behind him.

"Who are you?" The stranger whirled around, to see the bat-winged man standing behind him with both hands resting on his swords.

Both Miles and the hammer-wielding stranger stared at one another, both at struggling not to be the first to react, both determined not to look weak before a stranger.

Finally, it was Yvgeny who broke the tense silence. 

"Is that hammer your only weapon?"
"It sure is," drawled the stranger in a thick twanging accent.
"It's never… never a Maul of the Titans?" Miles asked in a slightly amazed voice.

The stranger blinked. He had no idea how this black-clad sneak had guessed what his weapon was so quickly. However, he had questions.

"It might be. Now. Are you one of the Clearwater Crusaders?" The stranger seemed to be staring particularly hard at Miles in asking this, and his grip tightened on the haft of the massive stone hammer.
"Yes. Now who are you, and why do you want to know?"
"My name is Jason. Jason Folinshire. And I ask because the rumour on the surface is that the Crusaders have turned to evil."
"Evil?" Yvgeny's voice echoed with conviction and righteousness through the cavern. 

The stranger nodded, as though he'd learned what he needed to know from that one word. 

"Yes. Evil. And they've not been seen in 2 months. Apart from their gnomish mage, Halbrinn, who recently came into a lot of money."

Miles frowned. "Well the group has not turned to evil. We're still heading to Maermydra." 

Again the man calling himself Jason nodded. Clearly he had just learned all he needed to know from Miles as well. He lowered the massive hammer to the ground, but his grip did not entirely relax.

"Well," said Yvgeny. "If you're headed to Maermydra, you might as well come and camp with us for the night, and we'll go in en masse in the morning.

Jason nodded once again, and followed the others, explaining as he walked that he had been hired by the powers that be of Dagger Falls to come into the Underdark to oppose the creators of the "Dark Tide" which was sweeping the surface. 

They reached camp, such as it was, and Jason expressed dismay at what he saw. There was no campfire, and nothing worth eating either.

After about an hour, he tried some of the stodgy grey-brown mess that the others were eating, and declared it to be probably one of the worst things he'd ever put in his mouth. Later, Miles showed him the collection of items which they party was carrying around, and Jason was allowed to help himself to a superb suit of _Fortified _Full Plate, as well as a handful of other magical weapons, boots and rings.

Obviously, Jason Folinshire had been accepted into the ranks of the Clearwater Crusaders. He considered this as he fell asleep, listening to the creak of leather as others in the group moved on watch, and to the soft whisper as the gnome concentrated over the pile of items lying on the ground in front of him.


----------



## Eccles (May 14, 2004)

The next morning, Halbrinn came out of his trance, and announced to the rest of the group what they had found in their adventures. He then told them that he was exhausted, and needed a rest. So he went to sleep leaving them all to trade magic amongst themselves.

When he awoke, the others decided that _they_ were all tired, and needed another night's rest before facing the rigours of Maermydra.

Jason, who was perfectly healthy, became extremely frustrated, and began smashing the heads off nearby mushrooms with his maul, until someone asked him to stop destroying the cover.

The group slept again, as Halbrinn's body clock adjusted back to resting with the others. (A task made much easier by his _Ring of Sustenance_, meaning he didn't really need to sleep much at all).

Finally, the next morning, the group announced to Jason that they were prepared to go adventuring that day. At least, as soon as they'd finished preparing their magic spells. Jason slumped back into the mushroom-chair he'd managed to carve roughly during the course of the previous day and a half, and waited.

An hour later, the priests, assassin and wizard looked up expectantly. 

"We're ready. Let's - "

But Yvgeny was interrupted as the earth beneath him burst upwards, and an enormous mandibled creature smashed through the floor of their cavern, slashing out at him with tremendous claws.

Three other armoured, insectile creatures burst out in a shower of rock, one slashing at Jason on his mushroom stalk, and two others turning up on either side of Miles, who flailed around him with his swords to relatively little avail.

Jason smashed at the creature, cracking carapace and revealing the flesh beneath. He swung again, this time at the head, trying to smash those strange multi-faceted, beautiful dark eyes. 

He blinked. Something wasn't right. Here he was, in the dark, with his hammer. And something… big… What was it? Swirly. Crystals? Jason was sure he was close to something. That was it. Something swirly had happened. A big something. And… _it was trying to kill him_! That was it! A big swirly deep crystalline something was trying to kill him!

At that moment, things snapped back into focus. He could hear the shouts and screams of the women and children around him, as he stepped forward to save the day. 

Bang! Bang! Jason's massive hammer came down upon the head of the strange amphibian which had set his village alight. Bang! A third blow killed the creature, and Jason looked around. They were sneaky things, amphibians. Clear water one minute, clammy clawing hands the next. The women all looked to be safe. But was that an amphibian over there? And why could he still hear screaming? 

He turned abruptly to the direction of the screams. Or were they yells of rage? No. Screams. The world span, and he became dizzy. So dizzy. 

Jason suddenly snapped back to himself. The creatures were attacking his new friends! He had to save them. 

He leapt forwards to smash down the huge creature, as his hammer crashed down alongside the monk's fist blows. As it fell to the ground, he caught one glimpse of its eyes, and his head _swam_ as the world fell back out of focus.

He needed to sit down. So he sank onto the nearby big log. It felt slightly warm and slippery, but he'd just cut the tree down, so he was going to sit on it.

Nearby, a tittering dryad flitted across the clearing to bash at the side of a large brown ogre. He watched, waiting for the drugs to leave his system.

Then he saw it. As the goblins and dryads slashed at the ogres, he saw the evil pixie. It was behind the dryad he'd just saved. It was going to cast a spell! 

With a bellow, Jason leapt off the warm, bleeding log, and flew across the clearing. His 8 foot axe swept down in one blow, knocking the evil pixie to the floor, and he towered above it, filled with righteous anger.

Abruptly, his muscles froze. The ogre-trees fell to the floor, and he was helpless, watching them writhe as they changed into colossal snakes. One of the goblins, which he now saw clearly was some sort of a talking dog, moved to the evil pixie, and touched it. Treachery!


----------



## Eccles (May 14, 2004)

Having been brought around by Aeron's _Heal_ spell, Halbrinn was still dazed. He looked around. He was still lying on the floor, and Jason stood over him, his huge hammer raised over his head for a second attack. The first had nearly killed him...

Halbrinn squealed, and cast a quick spell, and Jason was immediately encased in a bubble of force.

Now. Time to look for the Umber Hulks. Excellent. They were all dead. 2 destroyed by Jason in his insane attacks, whilst Aeron, Yvgeny and Miles had managed to destroy the other two before they reduced Miles to a pulp.

He spent a few moments watching Jason to make sure that he wasn't going to do anything unexpected, and then got up. That had been too close for comfort. Still… 

He squinted down the Umber Hulk tunnels, and thought he could see the glint of gold…

Several minutes later, and with the use of a lot of rope, thousands of gold pieces and several gems had been brought to the surface from the lair of the umber hulks. These things had been rich!

---

Still later, and Jason was freed as the bubble collapsed. After close scrutiny, he was declared no longer to be under any sort of malign influence, and was allowed to get up and pick up his maul. He wasn't sure what had happened a little while ago, but had to suppress a shudder as, a few moments later, Halbrinn's chanted, and his gnomish form suddenly shifted, and he turned abruptly into a pixie.

Not waiting for the others to cast a host of other spells on themselves, Jason set out for the road. They would catch up eventually.

---

The rest of the group caught Jason very quickly, encumbered as he was by the heavy plate armour. They followed him in silence to the road, nobody wanting to talk about what had just happened to him. He led them, clanking all the way, to the pile of boulders which blocked the way into Maermydra.

Halbrinn, still in the form of a pixie, flew through one of the gaps between the stones, and stoof (or at least hovered) on guard, whilst Jason's massive hammer smashed down onto the boulders, reducing them to gravel and dust. 

Again and again, the noise was tremendous, as he smashed apart the boulder-wall. 

In Maermydra's cavern beyond, nothing stirred.


----------



## Eccles (May 14, 2004)

It's probably worth explaining what happened in the drug-addled update above.

As you've worked out, Jason went to hit the nearest Umber Hulk, and was instantly confused by it. In his confusion, he decided to smash apart the nearest thing, which did for that hulk. He then moved dangerously close to both Yvgeny and another hulk, before his senses returned to him. 

Finding himself standing next to a stunned (Yvgeny's Stunning Blow DC can rise up to about 28!), wounded Umber Hulk, he did the sensible thing, and destroyed it. Although he did get confused a bit more in the process.

Meanwhile, the fight with the other two was going on nicely. Miles was flanked, but as soon as Yvgeny left to flank one of them, then Sneak Attack dice meant it wasn't long for the world. The other one was just a matter of attrition.

Jason's next couple of actions were 'do nothing' ("I sit on the nearest thing", "What, the Umber Hulk?" "Yeah. I'll sit on that"). He remained dazed and confused, before leaping up and charging the nearest ally, the very unfortunate Halbrinn. 

Halbrinn is not built to take damage, and fell down immediately.

Jason was then _Held_, and caught in a _Resilient Sphere_ for the rest of the fight, whilst the confusion wore off.

---

Oh, and if I get around to doing the dialogue, it may help make sense later on if you understand that the Clearwater Crusaders have diagnosed the "Great Revenance" as being the negative plane effects on the magic around them.

This is likely to be addressed in a couple of updates time.


----------



## Jeremy (May 14, 2004)

There!  All caught up.  Heh.  Number of comments, I'll add --'s in front of them to seperate my thoughts from the words that spawned them.

Leaving Miles, fast asleep, on his own, in the Underdark.
--Damn.  Harsh.

Despite inflicting further horrendous injuries, this barrage of blows and spells was too much, and his broken body fell to the ground, covered in gore and mushrooms.
--Ah phooey!  What happened to Deathless Frenzy?  Or did it take that many rounds to drop him?  

"Oh, he'll catch up. After he's woken up, anyway."
--Sure.  Or after he's animated.

"You ba***rds".
--Indeed.  I might have snuck up on the party whilst they slept, gagged and kidnapped one, and placed him in an usafe cave to wake up alone.  'Halbrinn?  Nope.  Haven't seen him.  Gone when I caught up.'

...but failing to touch the majority, whose reactions were near-superhuman in speed. 
{DM's note - how boring is it when 5 out of the 7 members of the group have evasion?}
--Not boring at all!  Incoming!  Everyone dodges, backflips, dives aside, in an almost anime burst of movement then returns fire.  It's very cinematic.  Besides, what's the fun of having a high level party if you can't do super hero stunts?

Rand, his cohort, and Aeron were left inside the blazing wall. Aeron began to cast his preparatory 'suite' of combat spells, prompting Rand to shout at him to do something else.
--Sounds like Aeron needs to either invest in some spell phylacteries, get a metamagic rod of persistant spell, or get him a cohort that is a really good advance scout so that instead of getting ambushed thrice daily, they can have advanced knowledge of what's coming up and buff BEFORE half the party is being thrashed.  ;D  (As well as some serious ranks in Spellcraft.  Shame on you!)

'impetuous bloody psychopaths spoiling our aim'
--Hah.  Yeah.  Move!  WE want to kill the buggers!

Aeron, the party's cleric (and wannabe Divine Oracle, although he certainly hadn't seen this one coming) caste Haste and then, to the others' disgust, moved 20 feet into the cavern despite their exhortations that he should ignore his usual panoply of spells and just "get stuck in". 
--You'd think he'd predict and prebuff..  He fights less like an oracle and more like a warpriest.    And a follower of Tempus at that!  Shouldn't Mystran clerics use the occasional spell?    Or at least group buff instead of solo.

...slashed straight through Rand's already battered body, dropping him to the floor in two separate pieces. 
Aeron continued casting spells on himself...  the surviving group members was screaming at him to step into the combat, or to heal the poor duellist, who was at that very moment spilling the last of his life's blood onto the cavern floor. He choked, coughed, and was still.
--Uh.  Way to go.  At least he wasn't sitting in his room praying this time.  Egads man.

Miles heard a strange sucking, slurping noise coming from the sorceror's head.
Turning the body over (it had been face down to allow Miles to remove Rand's cloak), he was horrified to see that Rand's left eye was protruding slightly from the socket on a short stalk.
--OW!  Hey!  I can see in the dark now!  And that doesn't worry you?  Nah!

Later, Miles showed him the collection of items which they party was carrying around, and Jason was allowed to help himself to a superb suit of Fortified Full Plate, as well as a handful of other magical weapons, boots and rings.
--Ah yes.  The fun problem of a PC dying somewhere but the party still having his gear.  Instant economy surplus as a new PC shows up fully loaded but the old PC's stuff is still there.  

But Yvgeny was interrupted as the earth beneath him burst upwards, and an enormous mandibled creature smashed through the floor of their cavern, slashing out at him with tremendous claws.
--Good lord.  These people need the magnificent mansion spell so bad it hurts.  I've lost count of the number of melee range ambushes.


----------



## Eccles (May 14, 2004)

After it had become clear that nothing was going to investigate the tremendous pounding from the cave entrance, Halbrinn flew a little deeper into the cavern, marvelling at the size of it, and staring around over the mushroom fields at the burning, ruined city beyond.

He could see huge buildings which were still intact, and other obvious sources of magic around him. His gaze fell, however, on a tall castle in the distance, lit only by the fires around it. 

Then he saw them. 

Stood in the mushroom field, obvious from some distance but for the darkness around them, stood several ogres, totally still, around the tall form of a giant. As he closed, Halbrinn noticed a large number of goblins in the mushrooms around them. Then his breath was taken away by the realisation that the giant was dead. It did not breathe, or move a muscle other than its neck, which turned this way and that, scanning the mushroom fields for signs of movement. Arrayed around it, the undead forms of goblins and ogres awaited a foe they could attack.

As he flew back to the others, Halbrinn finally noticed that a handful of the goblins were still alive, squabbling amongst themselves; a pocket of nervous energy amongst the still, watchful dead.

Muttering to himself, Halbrinn made a decision. A huge ball of fire blossomed on top of the giant, damaging the ogres, and flinging the shattered bodies of goblins in every direction. The giant looked up, and the whole group moved forwards, blindly following Halbrinn.

---

Upon hearing the news that an undead giant was about to attack them, the others formulated their plan immediately. Jason hefted his hammer, content to let the zombies come to him. The others attacked, charging the zombies, and being smashed by heavy blows as they ran towards them. 

"No!" shouted Jason as he watched his comrades run towards the foe. "Let them come to us!"

It was to no avail, as Miles and Aeron found themselves in hot water. The undead ogres were tremendously strong, whilst the giant's strength was truly titanic. Aided in their attacks by the goblins, which hung onto the heroes legs, slowing them down, or smacked the zombies shouting "left, he's on your left!", the ogres' attacks were far more accurate than was expected. Aeron took tremendous damage, and Miles only fared a little better owing to his tremendous speed.

Halbrinn's spells blasted zombies and wounded the ogres, and Jason began to move up slowly, impeded by his heavy armour.

Miles layed about him, killing goblins with every stroke, whilst Aeron's heavily enchanted mace damaged, but failed to _disrupt_ the undead. 

It came down to blows. When Jason entered the fray, things became easier, but the heroes were hard pressed to finally fell the giant, after the fire-blasted ogres had all been dispatched. 

Yvgeny swooped and dived, making the most of his new magical cloak. He flapped down, grabbing up one of the living goblins, and stunning it before knocking it unconscious and dropping it on the floor. A second, undead, goblin was snatched up, and he then wielded it, screaming and flailing, as a weapon. Clutching the undead goblin by the leg, he flew in and _smashed_ it against the head of the undead giant. The goblin smashed to rotten bloody pieces, showering those below with putrid flesh. The giant didn't reach much.

Finally, Jason finished it; smashing its armour with one blow from his hammer, before caving in its chest and head with the following attacks. The thing lay dead, and the attentions of the Clearwater Crusaders turned to the unconscious goblin…


----------



## Jeremy (May 14, 2004)

Hoo boy.  You guys have needed a tank for so long.    Jason appears to be doing quite well.  Now if the rest would heed his tactical advice.  

I wonder, did Halbrinn report back first so Aeron could buff and everyone could lob spells until the first wave smashed itself on Aeron and Jason or was it more, fireball the mob, piss them off and lead them screaming down the rest of the party's throat?


----------



## Eccles (May 18, 2004)

Jeremy said:
			
		

> I wonder, did Halbrinn report back first so Aeron could buff and everyone could lob spells until the first wave smashed itself on Aeron and Jason or was it more, fireball the mob, piss them off and lead them screaming down the rest of the party's throat?




Definitely the second option.    

Although leading a party of zombies on a 300 yard dash meant that Aeron had stacks of time to prepare. Which he doesn't often get in the Underdark.

More play last friday, which led to a handful more divinations from the Divine Oracle, who might finally be allowed access to some of his special abilities shortly!


----------



## Eccles (May 19, 2004)

They slapped the goblin. It had no effect on its deeply unconscious form. Still amidst the bodies of the fallen zombies, in the middle of a colossal field of mushrooms, they finally decided to _create water_ over the creature's head. It awoke, gasping and spluttering. Then it saw the party, screamed, and nearly fainted again.

"Will you shut up?!" Miles' sword was drawn almost instantly, and placed along the bound goblin's neck.

"Eeep," whispered the goblin, staring down the 18 inches of razor sharp steel. "Kobold be good. Kobold be quiet. Kobold sorry."

"Kobold?" asked almost everybody, staring at the goblin in incredulity.

The goblin shook his head, lips firmly pressed together, eyes still crossed to focus on the glowing blade before him. He could have sworn it was muttering something to him, but he couldn't understand what any of the outlanders were saying. Silent tears began to roll down his face as he began trembling.

"Stop moving!" bellowed Miles at the creature in goblinoid. "And tell me what you're talking about. Kobold indeed."

"Kobold is Kobold's name, great Lord. Please let Kobold go. Kobold be good."

Miles flicked his sword at Halbrinn's gnomish figure. "He'd say the only good kobold was a dead kobold."

The goblin shrieked again, and then began jabbering. "Kobold not kobold. Kobold goblin. Kobold not be good. Kobold sorry. Please not kill Kobold. Kobold help carry your filth?"

The incredible offer hung in the air, whilst the goblin whimpered, totally confused by his need not to be seen as being good. The sword terrified him. 

The Crusaders stared at one another, and had a short discussion in common.

"Kill it," was Miles' instant suggestion.
"Not fair. Untie it and let it go," replied Yvgeny.
"Untie it?" Miles seemed outraged. "Leave it tied up with some water."
The group stared at him in silence. Kobold the goblin jabbered in his his own language in the background, seemingly determined not to be seen as being "good".

"Miles," said Halbrinn exhasperatedly. "That would kill it".
"Yep." Miles seemed pleased with his logic. "I tell you what. You all go away, and I'll deal with the goblin."
"You mean you'll kill it."
"Yes. Is that a problem?"
"YES!"
"It's never been a problem before. I mean; you turn your backs, and I remove the problem."
"Miles," Halbrinn explained. "First of all, that's never happened before and you know it. Secondly, it's just…" He waved his hands in the direction of the creature, trying to get across the right signals for 'tiny inoffensive harmless goblin'.
"Yeah. It's a goblin. So we should kill it."
"It's cure. Could we keep it as a pet?"
"Shut up Aeron," both Miles and Halbrinn said, without even looking around.

Halbrinn glanced at his companions, saw indifference on the face Jason, no actual help coming from any other quarters, and gave up.

"Perhaps if we just questioned it at let it go?"
"Question it? Excellent idea." Miles finally agreed with his comrade.

The blade darted back to the goblin's neck. Bound tightly, he shrank away, as a terrible penetrating stench surrounded them all.

"OK. I don't want it as a pet any more," announced Aeron.

Screeching and jabbering, the goblin explained to them firstly that Kobold was the name traditionally given to the runt of a goblin litter. Their second question, "Why were you serving the undead?" was met with the scornful look of a goblin down on its luck.

"Because they catch Kobold. Why else kobold help smelly undead? Kobold free, then drow catch Kobold. Then Kobold carry filth for drow. Then Kobold catched by Dread Lord, and Kobold carry filth for, until Kobold catched by undeads, and Kobold carry filth for them. Now Kobold catched by you. Where you want filth?"

"Hold on there, little stinky britches. What was that about a "Dread Lord?"

"Kobold proud to carry Dread Lord filth. Dread Lord smash up drow. Squish, squish, squish. Kobold like it when drow go squish. Dread Lord attack city, overthrow all drow, and all goblins and hobgoblins, and orcs, and ogres, and mephits, and creepers, and rocks, and plants, and mushrooms all turn on drow and all go squish! Squish! Squish!"

"So you served the Dread Lord? What did he look like? Big? Horns? Flames? Wings?" Miles demanded of the pitiful wretch.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes! And if he see you mistreat kobold, you all go squish squish too!" Wide goblin eyes stared around at the group.

"Nonsense. Nothing's going to squish us. Now tell us more about this Dread Lord."

"Kobold know nothing much. Kobold only saw Dread Lord once, squishing drow. Squish Squish. He mighty powerful and rules where no drow go. He has ogres and giants and an 'nellyphant."

"An elephant?"
"Yeah, an nellyphant".
"Anything else?"
"Not that kobold know of…"

Miles abruptly stabbed the goblin. The pitiful naked wretch quivered, and his legs shook, then all was still.

"Well that's all that goblin's going to tell us," announced Miles smugly to the rest of the group.


----------



## Eccles (May 19, 2004)

After staring at Miles for a while, and Aeron deciding that the pet-killer wasn't going to get any healing for the time being, the group started making plans. 

That lasted for several minutes, and got them nowhere, before Halbrinn decided to take things into his own tiny pixie-sized hands.

He took wing, and buzzed out into the cavern, looking at the buildings silhouetted in the tiny fires. 

Pretty swiftly, he became fixated upon a large castle-like structure to one side of the cavern. Composed of two massive stalagmites and dotted with windows, the huge building was completely intact, and towered into the roof of the cavern. 

He flew back to the others.

"I think I've found our target. Let's go," he squeaked in his tiny pixie voice. 

Fly spells were cast. Stedd was stuffed into a large _portable hole_ that someone happened to be carrying. Others in the party sprouted wings from their shoulders, from their cloaks, or even from their boots. Suitably equipped, the group took to the stale air of the cavern, soaring over their enemies, and gliding through banks of smoke towards the castle.

"There," announced Halbrinn. "I say we smash a hole in the top, and go in that way."

"Fine by me," replied Jason. Swinging his axe around, he connected once, and a massive hole was smashed into the ceiling of one corridor connecting the two stalagmites. Turning, he dived at the hole…

And bounced off an invisible wall between himself and the inside. 

Aeron and Halbrinn examined the effect, whilst Miles muttered about "Deus ex Machinae" and the like. Eventually, Halbrinn announced that they could easily get it, but only if they knew the password.

At that, there was a terrible screech. Abruptly, a demonic form materialised in their midst, and then plummeted out of sight away from them. Clearly it had a good look at them whilst doing so, as they had at it. A vrock. And judging by the sounds, there were others in the smoke around them.

"Fly, you fools!"

They flew, hurtling over the cavern back to their concealed base in the mushroom fields.


----------



## Eccles (May 19, 2004)

The next morning, the group debated their options. Determined that the 'Dread Lord' was some sort of demon, but probably not involved directly with the castle, they decided to put that to one side. 

Miles surprised nobody by suggesting that they ambush a group of drow, and slaughter them all, torturing the last for the knowledge.

Nobody was particularly taken by the idea.

Yvgeny suggested a stealthier option. The possibility of creeping up on the castle, and listening to someone as they used the password to get out was his suggestion, and it was unanimously accepted. Unanimous except for Miles, who was appointed to actually do the sneaking. 

He agreed, however, and fortified with magics and with spells of changing and stealth in his mind, he set out on his way.

---

Entering the city was no problem, made child's play for the assassin by the use of an invisibility spell, which meant that he could creep right across the cavern to the castle, and past the line of huge zombies which were posted a hundred feet from the castle walls. 

Examining the outside of the imposing building, he clung against the walls, waiting for someone to show up and give him the password. 

He was to have no success, despite a nerve-wracking three hour wait, nobody either left or entered the castle. 

Eventually, Miles decided to sneak back out. In doing so, however, he was heard by one of the drow who was organising the picquets around the castle. Almost immediately, half a dozen of the tremendous zombie giants were set to looking for him.

They never had a chance of finding the stealthy assassin, who crept in a different direction through the rest of the city. He passed one large bowl-like indentation in the ground, lined with glass and filled with small rounded lumps of pitted bone. A broken metre-long glass rod stood to one side.

Further into the city, the stench and buzzing of flies led him to the edge of a massive pit, fully 30 feet wide. Nearly full to the top with crawling maggots, which writhed and undulated over one another.

Miles continued to explore through the fallen city, sneaking carefully from the undead, he checked another plateau of fallen noble buildings, finding signs that giants had camped there, but were there no longer. 

He was intrigued by one building, with a ring of lights around the still-standing doorway, but a huge crater just inside the outer walls.

Frustrated by his lack of success at getting the password, he left.


----------



## Eccles (May 19, 2004)

Back at camp, Aeron began to get itchy feet. After some persuasion from his comrades, he began to feel that there was something more that he could do towards the 'war effort'. 

Bending his thoughts towards the great Demon in the city, Aeron cast his mind out to Mystra, imploring her for aid and information relating to the creature they thought to be the "Dread Lord".

His vision went thus:

---

Enormous wings crack as the huge flame-wreathed figure soars over the burning city.

Most of the time he is wreathed in smoke, but beneath him, the minions and undead scurry away from him in fear and terror.

His portly belly rumbles, and he dives towards the dark ground, flames and broken buildings rushing beneath him. 

A whip cracks, and a goblin is snared, and still the firey demon hurtles on, tearing the head off the goblin with his teeth as he continues his flight.

Another foe flies up on magical wings, and with a glare, the demon stares at it. Wailing, the drow spellcaster disappears into nothingness.

Soaring onwards, the massive demon flies into the window of a massive building. He lands on a long bench and bows.

“My Lord.”

_The vision fades…_


----------



## Eccles (May 19, 2004)

That last vision was made using a variant of a spell of Piratecat's (for which I am much obliged). The original is called _vision cascade_, and gives many more visions; but it's really ideal for an NPC. This one is lower level, and means I don't have to do quite as much preparatory work. 2 of the 3 visions he did that evening were done at the table.

I usually type these on my laptop, record them onto a Flash RAM chip and throw them to the player in question, whose flat we play at; he's sat next to a PC as well. That way I don't have to worry about paper!

---

*Holy Communion*
Divination
Level: Div 4
Components: V, S, DF, XP
Casting Time: 10 Minutes
Range: Personal
Target: The Caster
Duration: Variable 

Holy Communion allows the caster to focus on a person or issue confronting him, and then cast his enquiry in very general terms directly to the deity itself. An oracular vision will generally occur at any point in the following 24 hour period (as dictated by the DM) although usually they come almost directly after the casting of the spell. These visions may relate events that vary from seconds to minutes in length. 

The caster has no method for determining exactly what is viewed by the spell, although upon casting he can choose one target creature or event. There is a chance that this target creature or event is definitely included in that oracular vision. This spell works in spite of most scrying preventions, but is thwarted by mind blank and more powerful spells. Subjects shown by the oracular visions have no way to detect the spell’s observation, as there is no scrying sensor to detect. 

Note: This spell is primarily used in campaigns where the DM wishes an in-game method to impart information via “cut scenes.” The player is encouraged to occasionally remind the DM that the spell is active if no vision has occurred on any particular day.

*XP Cost*: 30 XP


----------



## Eccles (May 19, 2004)

Standing around their campsite, the group stared at one another. Some of them were feeling bored, others bloodthirsty. A few still felt regretful about the murder of Kobold the goblin.

"So, what are we going to do? We can't just stand here." Jason was obviously keen to go and hit something with his hammer. 

"We don't have the damn password. We can't get into the castle," was Miles' frustrated reply.

"OK," reasoned Jason. "Why don't we go somewhere else?"

Ever thoughtful, Halbrinn was concerned by this plan. 

"Look, if we go and kill things, the revenance effect takes over. Their souls go whoosh, and it powers up the dark magic thing even more. Do we want that on our conscience?"

Jason shrugged. "Don't have a lot of choice, do we? People're going to die anyway. I just want to go and do something." 

Miles piped up once again. "There was an area I saw which warranted exploring. Strange glowing lights, that sort of thing. But we'd have to be careful in getting there. Avoid the undead, and all that."

"No problem," replied Halbrinn. "I'll just make the big guy here fly, and one of the clerics can make him totally silent. We'll be there in no time."
"What about the demon?"
"What about him? We see him, we either run away, or we all die. No point worrying about it…"

Resigned to this attitude, the group cast many spells on one another, including turning Jason (in his enormous suit of plate armour) _invisible_, and then they flew across Maermydra cavern to the strange plateau Miles had discovered.

.oOo.

Approaching the low, broken walls of the building carefully, the group paused. A dead giant could clearly be seen lying near the massive crater inside, and small items of value poked form the rubble. They moved in and split up, the better to cover the 80 foot chamber.

.oOo.

As they moved, unseen by all, a few pebbles fell down the side of a rockface; as though a large hand was resting on the boulders.

.oOo.

Entering through the large glowing archway, Jason was amazed to see his hand again. 

He waved at Halbrinn.

"Is it supposed to do this?"

Halbrinn stared at him. 

"No it bloody well is not. You should be invisible for at least another half an hour." 

His mind swam as he considered the possibility of the glowing orbs being removed and carried around the cavern, revealing other invisible foes. He mentioned this to the others.

"Halbrinn, you daft berk. We might as well carry a huge glowing arrow which points to where we are all the … What the hell is that?"

Whilst they had been discussing matters, a pale wraithlike figure had risen from the floor on the other side of the building. It flowed effortlessly across the ground to behind Yvgeny, and reached out with one ominous hand, threatening to tear his very life force from his body.

And missed. A combination of enchantments and monkish reflexes meant that he ducked the ghostly hand just as it was stretching out towards him. 

The ghost mouthed something unpleasant and stretched out again.

"Turn it!" shouted Yvgeny to Aeron.
"Can't! The Revenance gets in the way. And besides, I'm buffing up!"

Everybody groaned.

And to make matters worse, a pestulant green-yellow cloud suddenly leapt into existence over and around Yvgeny, Jason and the spectre, causing lungs to ache and throats to become painfully sore.

Everybody scattered. 

Yvgeny's rapid casting of _Invisibility to undead_ had no effect on the Spectre, although Jason's hammer blow tore away some of its gossamer-like substance.

Flying above them, Halbrinn considered his options.

"Disintegrate? No. Nothing to get rid of. Aaah! Sorry!" Below, the ghost reached out, and tore away some of Jason's life energy. "Ummm… I know."

A lightning bolt burst from his hands, slamming into the spectre, which moaned vaguely as it faded from existence.

"Hah. Stupid undead. Can't even work out what's real and what's not."

Gloating, Halbrinn was therefore looking in the wrong direction, as a second spell tore from nowhere and battered vaguely at Aeron's formidable willpower.


----------



## Eccles (May 19, 2004)

Another, then another spell lashed out at Aeron, who was standing in the open in the centre of the site.

The group began to search for their assailant, without success. Aeron cast a _wieldskill_ spell upon himself, dramatically improving his ability to spot the foes, and was rewarded with a brief glimpse of a massive dark form gesturing at him, before it blinked back into invisibility. 

Seconds later, Aeron was surrounded by another thick cloud of green/yellow mist, which burned at his lungs as he tried to leave it.

.oOo.

Stedd, dashing from place to place to try to spot the spellcaster turned, and ran across the courtyard. Or at least tried to. 

"Ooof!"

He had smashed into some massive, hard form, which he could feel towering above him. He punched out, and definitely connected, but there was no sound from the thing he had punched.

Seeing Stedd lashing out at something, others ran in towards the combat. Yvgeny, Miles and Jason all ran towards the foe, slashing, pummelling and smashing at the invisible enemy, which suddenly appeared to them all as a huge dark form, eyes glowing strangely in the darkness as it lashed out at Miles again and again with terrible claws.

Many of the blows missed, but the group was taken over with fear of the thing, and Jason's terror was strongest off all. In his fear, some of his blows began to go astray.

Miles sheathed Scourge, and slashed away at the creature with Slayer, whose specially enchanted blade cut through any flesh. Yvgeny's bracers had a similar effect, allowing his titanic punches to damage the creature.

Jason's _Maul of the Titans_ was simply too strong for it, and a few huge hammer blows bashed into the undead abomination's chest.

Stedd was not so lucky. Bashing vainly at the hips and legs of the creature, his strong fists smashed into flesh again and again. They didn't leave a mark.

The Nightwalker began to step back from the magically enhanced onslaught of the group. When Aeron joined in, with his _Mace of Disruption_, the creature turned to try to flee over a wall.

Mace and Sword lashed out, and the huge undead tottered, then fell through the wall, unmoving.

Gleeful, the Crusaders bashed, pummelled, sliced and hacked at the form, until it was totally unrecogniseable.

.oOo.

Having looted the shell of the old building, they retreated to a nearby structure, and made camp, sheltering under the partial roof to avoid any chance discovery. 

It worked. They rested for their first night in Maermydra unharmed.


----------



## Eccles (May 19, 2004)

After awaking the next morning, the group discussed their options. 

They were stranded, and needed to get into the castle to have any chance at destroying what they were calling the "Revenance Effect". 

It was resolved that Aeron would call upon his formidable resources, and actually do some divining.

Yvgeny called this event miraculous in itself.

Settling down, Aeron cast out his mind in the form of a _Legend Lore_, asking for knowledge of "the Castle in Maermydra".

This is what he received:

_Chumavh fortress,
Safehouse no more
The matron still walks there,
Past the grey door.

Drow Lady of Hatred
Now lives there within,
And few of the living
Survive at her whim.

Seat of the Revenancer
House to the Dark Tide,
The matron’s ambitions
Will reach far and wide.

Beyond the castle,
The Dark Lady’s curse
Hatred and darkness,
Undeath and worse.

The doors they are guarded
By ally and foe,
And magic of power,
Beyond those below.

Seek ye the knowledge
Be precise and you’ll see,
That the right question
Will grant you the key.

Pity the lady,
Fear her the worse,
For soon all the Dalelands
Will fall under her curse._


----------



## Eccles (May 19, 2004)

Taking the hint from his goddess, Aeron again cast his requests up to her, this time on the much more direct subject of "The password to the castle referred to as "Chumavh Fortress". 

His vision faded: 

_
The temple had echoed with the moans of the sick and the dying.

A priest bends low over a sweaty-faced child whose bedclothes are thick with blood. Flies buzz away as the priest leans conspiratorially over the bed, to the parents who gaze at him expectantly. 

"We have tried all we can. Something… impedes our magic, and none of us have the skill to heal Laura's wound," he pauses awkwardly, as the mother's body is wracked with sobbing.

"Why priest?" Little Laura's father, a heavy-set farmer demands. "We have tithed, and made gifts to the church. When you asked for soldiers to fight the undead, you took my eldest boy away from us, and told us he had died. And still we prayed. Tom, my youngest, was healed at this very church when he hurt his leg with the scythe. And yet for Laura you have nothing?"

The priest looks up, his eyes meeting the father's for the first time. The farmer gasps, as the eyes which stare back at him are maddened with doubt and grief. 

"Yes," mutters the priest. "I have this last service to perform to help your daughter."

And he drives a bone-handled knife into Laura's chest.

The temple is silent for shocked seconds, and into that silence, the priest's voice whispers "Isstava Morthaum". He turns to face you precisely and whispers again, "Isstava Morthaum". His expression is one of sorrow clouded with joy. Revelation, clouded with... darkness.

Your vision fades…
_


----------



## Jeremy (May 19, 2004)

Creepy...


----------



## Eccles (May 19, 2004)

Jeremy said:
			
		

> Creepy...




You betcha'.

Aeron's prophecies are my main way of letting the group know what's going on in the outside world. That, and new characters joining the group after an extremely long trek down into the Underdark. They've been on the adventure for 90 days or so now, of course!

We had a conversation last week between several of the PCs, which went something like:

Stedd: Where is everybody?
Miles: Yeah. Not even any bodies. Wierd.
Yvgeny: That's like an army of the undead just missing...
Aeron: Errr... Army... Guys? I think it's already gone to war. We might have missed it.
Stedd: Surely we'd know if there was a war on the surface, wouldn't we? Jason, you've just come down here. War on the surface?
Jason: Oh yeah. There's a war.
Stedd: Who was the war between?
Jason: Feh. I didn't really listen. Who cares?
Miles, Stedd, Yvgeny, Aeron & Halbrinn: I do!
Jason: Sucks to be you, then...

And that was the end of it. Jason's a chaotic neutral character, and his player's decided that Jason simply wouldn't give two hoots about any wars, when he was headed off underground...


----------



## Jeremy (May 19, 2004)

<shhhed>


----------



## Eccles (May 20, 2004)

Shhh!

(And yeah, kinda).


----------



## Brakkart (May 21, 2004)

*Miles' Journal - Part Twenty Six*

*Kythorn 2nd* - After waking and doing the usual morning routine of meditation, prayer and study, we set off back down the tunnel. Our aim now is to reach Lich's Mire (that name still chills my spine) and deal with whatever may be found there, and then on to Maerimydra. Again the day was quiet. I thought we were being scryed while I was on watch tonight.

*Kythorn 3rd* - Halbrinn (who also felt the scrying attempt last night) cast a scry of his own this morning, spying on the drow priestess who escaped the temple at Szith Morcane. He did not learn much however, merely that she is alive and huddled in a cave somewhere. I think he may have scryed the priestess of Lolth we set free, rather than the one of Kiaransalee who fled the temple there, but I remained quiet on my thoughts. The gnome does not take criticism well. We made our way further back along the tunnel without any encounters today.

*Kythorn 4th* - Continuing on our trek we arrived early today at at the junction we had followed this side tunnel from, and this time we took the southern tunnel towards Lich's Mire which we estimate to be between two and four days travel away (the map is hardly that accurately drawn to scale alas). There were no encounters. This part of the underdark seems very quiet.

*Kythorn 5th* - We travelled onward, now heading south. all of us are uneasy at how easy our travel has been thus far. Which of course meant that we were bound to run into trouble in spades! We were alerted by the noise of their approach of a small horde of goblins and ogres, with an armoured fire giant and a vrock demon following them... all heading right for us! We set an ambush in the tunnel which we began with Halbrinn unleashing a fireball into the goblins at the head of the horde, annihilating half the oncoming group. 

 By Mask, the smell of burning flesh in the air was atrocious! I've seen Halbrinn use his fireball spell many times and smelt the aftermath, but never before has he had so densely packed a group of targets on which to use it. From the looks on the faces of the other Crusaders, they were as sickened from the stench as I was. He followed this with another fireball though, slaughtering the remaining ogres as they charged towards us, not one managing to land a blow. I swear there was a glint of pride in his work that bordered on cruelty. Seeing his followers massacred enraged the fire giant and he charged our line, bellowing vile curses... he was cut to ribbons in less time than it takes to tell by Stedd, Aeron and myself, without him managing to land a blow! That's what I call teamwork.

 The Crusaders then charged down the corridor towards the vrocks (because there were two of them by then), and most of the party were felled by the demons sonic screams, leaving just myself and my trusty partner Stedd to fight a brace of demons. They didn't stand a chance and we easily dispatched them, though oddly no bodies were left behind. We briefly paused to loot the various bodies and then continued on our way.

 Hours later we reached an area of passage riddled with side tunnels, the floor strewn with the dead bodies of goblins and ogres, most likely where the group nwe masacredc earlier today had passed through. We backed up and made camp, not wishing to walk into an ambush today.

*Kythorn 6th* - Very early this morning we were attacked by a pair of Bulettes as Aeron, Rand and I were on guard.One went for Rand which I swiftly butchered with his aid, while the other proved a far trickier opponent as it went for our sleeping gnome wizard, almost dragging him (and his tent) away before the others managed to dissuade it, and it fled, tunnelling away through the earth.

 We rested late so our spellcasters could recover the spells they had cast. Finally setting off we carried on our way towards Lich's Mire, the tunnel we are traversing soon being joined by a stream flowing alongside the pathway we are plodding along. As the tunnel opened out into caverns I scouted ahead to discover two drow females farming mushrooms, oddly both were armoured. I launched an attack, dazzling both with a daylight enchanted coin and massacring one before she knew what hit her. And then the beholder arrived! Dropping out of a hole in the ceiling it unleashed a volley of rays at me. thankfully I am well trained, and was able to avoid or resist all of them. As the others raced to suport me, I was again subjected to a barrage of attacks. Again, none worked and then I could see nothing. I remained blinded for only a few seconds really, felt like forever though, and I could hear and smell the battle all around me. And then suddenly my sight returned and the beholder was dead, killed by Yvgeny and Rand. It would appear that I got caught in the creatures famed central eye beam, it negating my equipment including the goggles that allow me to see in these sunless caverns.

 Checking out the hole that the beholder had emerged from, we found a large cave filled with broken statues, the petrified victims of the beholder, most of which had been broken or rearranged in some way to form a truly perverse art gallery. Then we got to looting, finding a considerable haul of magic and treasure, much of it needing identifying. We decided that this was a fairly defensible position and so made camp.

*Kythorn 7th* - Spent today asleep!! (This entry is written on Kythorn 8th for obvious reasons).

*Kythorn 8th* - Woke up to find myself utterly alone. I headed through the various caverns of Lich's Mire, discovering a trail of carnage left by my so called friends who clearly went off to battle and left me asleep, unguarded, alone, in the underdark! Ba***rds the lot of them!

 Still, they didn't go that far, and after an hour or so of following their trail as they camped near the corpse of a recently slain Purple Worm, I strolled into their camp. They were preparing to set off having fought the worm as well a Grimlock, a Mind Flayer and a devil of some sort yesterday and having needed to rest.

We headed off, still heading south towards Maerimydra with Aeron trying to explain what the Revenance effect entails and sounding thoroughly unconvincing in the process. What I do know is that certain powers in the region will most likely send armed forces to try and stop it (or take control of it) and they will not care who they have to trample or destroy in order to do so. Of the power groups that threaten the Dales, the one that bothers me the most with regard to the Revenance is not the Drow, but the Cult of the Dragon. I fear that the effect may well bolster their undead dragons and encourage them to increase their activities in the region.Daggerdale has had enough problems with a living dragon before and certainly will again before long, the last thing we need is having to deal with mad cultists as well.

*Kythorn 9th to 10th* - Travelling through the Underdark towards Maerimydra. there were no incidents or happenings of any note on either of these days.

*Kythorn 11th* - After travelling for quite a while today, the tunnel opened out ahead of us into a cave. what we could see of it had the floor covered torn up mushrooms, littered about the place. We advanced cautiously into the cavern and came under immediate attack as a fireball exploded amongst us which I thankfully dodged and then some other spells were cast which seemed to cause the others some discomfort but did not at all affect me. I turned myself invisible and headed towards a nearby wall when a wall of fire erupted in a ring around us.

 Our assailants turned out to be devils, a pair of them as it happened, though the larger winged one was quickly dispatched by a spell from Halbrinn which he calls Phantasmal Killer. I have seen him use it a few times before, and I am never less then impressed with its results. Stedd and I polished off the second, while the rest of the party dealt with a fire elemental inside the ring of fire, which turned out to be an illusion. Rand swears there was a third devil involved, but no-one else saw it, so I think he is just trying to save face.

 Having survived the ambush, we pressed onwards after some healing from Aeron. The cavern continued to widen out into a vast series of large broken chambers leading into larger chambers beyond. We searched for a likely campsite and settled down to rest for the night.


----------



## Brakkart (May 21, 2004)

For some reason EN World seems to have eaten my old account as Kayne, so I've made this new one. I play Miles Killian O'Kayne (I got the name from the old RED STEEL box set) in Eccles campaign, and before that played Jared Blackspawn.


----------



## Brakkart (May 21, 2004)

*Miles' Journal - Part Twenty Seven*

*Kythorn 12th* - Today we continued into the vaster expanse of the cavern network, only for it to narrow to a pass that would have ended at a set of gates but now there was a rock barricade blocking the way. In front of it was a quartet of fire giants in plate armour.

 Stedd, Yvgeny and myself rushed forwards to attack along with Rands cohort Bei. Things did not go our way, as Bei was quickly felled and then Rand too was smashed to a pulp. Damn fool got too close too combat, he always did fancy himself as being far better with that sword of his than he ever really was. We did eventually triumph, Halbrinn felling two of them with a well timed spell. The gnome then scouted behind the barricade as the rest of us licked our wounds. Invisible and in pixie form, he flew about, and then reported back that we had arrived at a vast cavern, filled with scattered fires and wreckage, with a ruined burning city at its heart. It would appear that we have reached Maerimydra to find a city at war.

 We decided to make camp as we had wounded to attend too (myself included) and as we camped Halbrinn identified our recent haul of equipment and some sharing out ensued. There was nothing I wanted though aside from coins. The bag is bulging with loot now and should fetch a goodly sum when its contents are sold.

 As we camped, we were joined by Jason, a big brute of a man with an odd accent that I can't quite place. He was dragging behind him a truly massive stone club that is in fact a legendary Maul of the Titans, a truly impressive weapon that I am keen to see the effectiveness of. We learned that he and his now dead band of companions had come seeking us as Respen is worried that we have turned evil or some such nonsense, he having not heard from us in some time now. I am amazed that this man came so far, mostly by himself through such a hostile environment. He was going to simply head back to report to my mentoir, but needing a strong arm to bolster our ranks with Rands demise, we persuaded him to stick around and help us take on a city!

 Jason was short of a few things, some of is equipment having been destroyed (or given to that blasted Kraken as a toll for crossing its lake) on his trek to find us, so we agreed to let him take a few things from the Bag of Holding which has cleared up some space in there for a while.

I'm going to miss Rand, with his death, Stedd is now the only remaining original member of the Crusaders. What alarms me is what we saw today. Every creature that dies, its lifeforce in the form of a wailing white apparition is torn from its body with the death blow and sucked towards the city, most likely further empowering the Revenance. We are going to make things worse for the world even as we battle to make them right. What a vicious irony!

*Kythorn 13th* - We set off late as Halbrinn meditated through the night with his identify spell and needed to rest for a couple hours early on. He briefly scouted out to where we fought the giants yesterday seeing no new guards there, and we then set out back towards the scene of the battle.

 Jason set about annihilating the barricade of rocks, which was very impressive to watch, each swing of his Maul powdering a boulder! Halbrinn scouted ahead and launched a solo assault on a large group of living and undead ogres and goblins, with an undead fire giant amongst their number. As the rest of us got through the barricade, the horde surged towards us, being peppered with missile attacks from us including the last bauble from my fireball necklace. We ploughed through their ranks, taking a beating in the process, but destroying them all apart from a single goblin we kept alive to question.

 We learned that Maerimydra is in the midst of a civil war between the drow (with undead soldiers) and the forces of a Dread Lord (who from the goblins description sounds much like a major demon or devil of some sort). The two forces are based in the only remaining intact structures in the city, a towering citadel, and a large oval structure.

 We decided to go after the drow, as it is Kiaransalee's followers after all who are responsible for this Revanance that we are trying to end. We flew to atttack the castle, aiming to smash our way into the upper floors and hopefully attack the heart of the problem right away, rather than wade through legions of minions. Unfortunately, we found out that the entire structure is covered by a forbiddance enchantment. Unable to force our way in, and having encountered such a thing before back at Szith Morcane, we fled before we could be attacked. We need a new strategy!!

*Kythorn 14th* - Nothing disturbed our rest during the night... oh no, we got attacked at rest this morning instead! As we were finishing up memorising spells for the day ahead, a quartet of Umber Hulks tunnelled up out of the cave floor where we had camped and laid into Jason, Yvgeny and myself.

 We battled them, a pair going for me which I fought single handed until Aeron and Halbrinn arrived to aid me and they were then quickly finished off by the priest and I. The strange effect that the Umber Hulks created had no effect on any of us save for Jason, driving him slightly mad and he nearly killed Halbrinn before Aeron slapped him with a holding spell (and then for good measure when he was healed and brought around, Halbrinn encased him in a force bubble too). While he was secured, the rest of us excavated the tunnels that the Hulks had burst from and found their nest, taking what gold and others treasures they had there to add to our considerable haul.

 With the fight done, it was proposed that someone should sneak into the city alone, to spy on the castle and try to discover the password to the forbiddance spell. I was about to ask who was going to be fool enough to do that when I noticed everyone looking at me. Being the sneaky guy really sucks sometimes!!

 I cast a few spells to render myself invisible and harder to scry and snuck into the city, making my way to the castle door. Sadly despite lying in wait hidden for hours, no-one entered or left, so I was unable to overhear the password being used. during my excursion I was nearly spotted by one of the many undead arranged around the castle's defensive perimeter, but was able to give the resulting search of the area the slip. I investigated some more of the city discovering a vast pool filled with maggots and a ruined temple to Lolth before I made my way back to the others to report my findings.

 After a while of debate and argument, we decided to try and clear out the area around the ruined temple at the side of Maerimydra's cavern, roughly opposite the castle, so we would have some place to make camp, closer to the action. We made our way stealthily through the city ruins to the old temples entrance, finding the place to be heavily ruined, and we almost immediatly came under attack by an unseen foe it sending a ghost of some kind to battle us and peppering us with numerous spells until Stedd realised its whereabouts (by running right into it!) and we went on the attack!

 The creature then dropped its shield of invisibility and to our horror we found ourselves fighting a giant with pitch black skin and glowing eyes. A Nightshade no less, a creature out of the worst of nightmares. We desprately battled the monstrosity, driving it backwards into a corner as we beat on it with fists, blades and bludgeons until it tried to flee, turning its back and I drove Slayer to the hilt into it, felling the monster! Needless to say I had to endure the usual round of self congratulatory rhetoric from my steel companion.

 We gathered what loot we could find in the temple and decided against making camp on unhallowed ground, moving to a nearby damaged mansion and  resting there instead.


----------



## Eccles (May 25, 2004)

Things were eerily quiet on the plateau, as the group settled in for their first night within Maermydra.  Halbrinn was keenly aware that they could be attacked at any moment, and so he erected a large globe around them to make things more comfortable. 

Unfortunately, the others were less reassured when they discovered that it was an illusion. Although the bright lights within didn't shine beyond the walls, Miles and Stedd noticed almost immediately that the outside walls were bright yellow. They were not amused.

In any event, the various creatures in the cavern left them alone through the night. They awoke, and prepared for an active day ahead, then waited for Aeron to cast some divinations [see above].

Then, with fly spells active on almost the whole party, Stedd handed his belt of strength to Aeron, so that he could be carried across the massive cavern to the castle. 

The group considered their options, and decided to alight on the lowest of the three bridges. Like a well-oiled gnomish construct, Yvgeny cast _silence_ on a small coin, and then Jason's maul smashed down onto the surface. The entire structure shook slightly, as chips of stone flaked away. The group stared in amazement at the wall, which should have been reduced to powder by a single mammoth blow.

Again and again Jason struck, but it took him over a minute to finally smash all the way through the wall, and then more time to widen the gap out to form a decent crawl-space to get onto the walkway.

The coin disappeared briefly into Yvgeny's magical haversack, to allow the group to whisper the password, and slip through the gap. To their immense relief, the divination had been proven correct. They were in!


----------



## Eccles (May 25, 2004)

After milling around briefly as they tried to decide which way to go, they headed into the larger of the two stalagmites which formed the castle. The door wasn't even locked, and led into a roomy chamber with a tremendously high ceiling. Doors led out through each of the four walls, and after a momentary gestured 'discussion', they settled on going through the door marked with a hydra pattern.

A small corridor lay beyond. The two nearest doors were checked and opened, revealing empty bedrooms. As Halbrinn and Miles began to ransack the first couple of chambers, the rest of the group, invisible and tremendously stealthy (owing to Yvgeny's coin once more) slipped around the corner into a well-appointed lounge area. With a single undead form clutching a sword and waiting for them.

Unfortunately for the undead, it neither saw, nor heard, what hit it. Aeron's first action was to whack the abomination on the head with his _Mace of Disruption_. All that remained after that was to wipe the dust off their hands and grin at one another at the ease with which they had dispatched their first opponent.

.oOo.

The next room was locked, and the still-invisible Jason was pushed to the front, as his hammed swung and reduced the door to splinters.

Immediately, two dark rays hurtled out of the room, one missing entirely (owing to the invisibility effect), and the other striking him high on the shoulder. 

Jason immediately began to feel weaker as some of his life energy was drained away.

.oOo.

The group leapt to the attack, hurtling towards the large number of stone-coloured mages at the other end of the room. Magic missiles flew, punches and blades lashed out, and the _Mirror Images_ were dispersed rapidly. 

Halbrinn's casting of a successful _Dispel Magic_ helped enormously, and within a few moments, one of the two drow fighter/wizards lay dead on the floor, and the other had been knocked unconscious by one of Yvgeny's punches.


----------



## Eccles (May 25, 2004)

As they waited for their captive to come around, the _Silence_ spell came to an end. Halbrinn left to ensure he hadn't missed any good magical books out in the other rooms, whilst the monk, cleric, assassin, cleric of Ilmater, and the disembodied voice that was the still-invisible Jason tried to decide what to do with the drow.

It surprised nobody that Miles was in favour of killing him outright. What did take them aback was that the drow could speak in an accented form of common, and was able to make his own case.

The drow was clearly afraid of Miles' repeated threats to stab him, but one look at his situation (bound, stripped of his magical equipment, and lying next to the dead body of his comrade), left him with the knowledge that he had nothing left to loose.

He was able to single out Yvgeny as the most sympathetic member in the group, and even managed to persuade the monk/cleric to protect him should Miles try to kill him.

Then, after the group had agreed to teleport him to Szith Morcane (as he was tremendously interested in the possibility of a realm led by a drow archmage, with no matron-mothers to interfere), he gave them considerable knowledge:

- As well as the drow and undead in the castle, there were other foes they might have to face, including some form of undead dragon, ghosts, beholders, and even an ambassador from the court of Shadovar!
- The 'matron mother's given name is Irae T'sarran
- The 'Dread Lord' in charge of the giants out in the cavern beyond was named 'Kurgoth Hellspawn'
- Although he did not know where the temple was these days, the old temple to Llolth was held at the top of the smaller stalagmite. 
- He had not seen Irae T'sarran in several tendays. She obviously left the castle to run itself.
- The 'Revenance' was in fact _not_ the same as the 'Dark Tide'. One was a spell to create a truly massive army of the undead, whilst the other bolstered their powers and allowed dark magics to work all the more effectively.

After learning this, Halbrinn cast his _teleport_ spell on the drow, aiming to leave him (still trussed up like a turkey) within Szith Morcane. He vanished with the sound of rushing air.


----------



## Eccles (May 25, 2004)

The Clearwater Crusaders considered their resources. So far, they had suffered very little, and at the cost of a _dispel_, a _silence_ had destroyed three powerful foes, and their bags were groaning with enchanted loot. 

Grinning to one another, they moved to another door, and Miles pulled it open.

Beyond lay a dusty library, with stairs winding up the side of the building towards the ceiling which lay so far above them than none of them could see it in the darkness.

Books lay torn and bloodied on the floor, amongst ripped up and bloody body parts. Amongst all of this stood several human-sized forms, squabbling amongst themselves over a particularly tasty morsel. As the door opened, they ceased their noise, and turned to face the Crusaders.

Seven inhuman snouts turned in Miles' direction. Seven sets of pointed claws flexed and grasped the air, as though testing their reach and strength. And seven long grey tongues lolled out of huge wide mouths, snaking around as though to taste the air. Each tongue protruded almost a foot from the mouth, before dissolving into smoke. 

The creatures' hands and feet consisted simply of two long toes, each tipped with an eight inch black spur. 

Without even looking at his companions, Miles drew his first sword, and leapt into the room, yelling a battle cry which was echoed by his glowing blade.

"Kill them all!"

.oOo.

His blade slashed down, glancing off toughened flesh. _Hasted_, he brought Slayer around again, poking into the creature's hide but causing only minimal damage. His left hand tore Scourge out of its scabbard, and plunged the blade unerringly towards the reeking creature's midriff, only to find that all his magically enhanced might yielded was another shallow slice across the thing's belly.

The abyssal ghoul licked its lips. This was going to be _fun_…


----------



## Eccles (May 25, 2004)

Stedd and Jason leapt into the room, flailing at the monsters, and dealing them terrific blows which should have sent most creatures back to the Abyss. But not these.

Five of the abominations, seemingly unphased by their wounds, leapt forwards and surrounded Jason, clawing and slashing at him with lethal accuracy, many claws gouging up inside existing wounds and trying to pluck at his internal organs with razor-sharp fingers. 

Staggering from the blows, Jason's response was deadly, and left his comrades aghast. Spinning on the spot, his hammer smashed into _every_ ghoul around him; and Jason's focused _Ki_ meant that every blow was as effective as it could have been.

Still the creatures did not fall.

Stedd tumbled nimble past the creatures on the right flank, teaming up with Miles in a familiar manner. Although Miles' blows were far less lethal on the undead flesh.

Halbrinn flittered up into the room, and with an incantation blasted lightning across the foes, who failed to struggle and curse. 

"OK," muttered Halbrinn to himself. "Immune to lightning."

Finally, Yvgeny dashed in to fill the line, whilst Aeron moved forwards; still preparing his magical defences with a _Haste_ spell.

.oOo.

Stedd twisted, dodged and weaved, avoiding most of the terrible slashing blows directed at him, but Jason was not as lucky. One of the creatures managed to hit him with both front claws, overbearing him and starting to grapple with him; all the while with its long grey tongue slathering and probing; before suddenly, without Jason being able to stop it, the tong forced its way into his mouth, and began to … suck.

Jason nearly vomited as, instead of sucking at his fortitude (or indeed his stomach contents), the thing seemed to tear away his memories; all the while stabbing and tearing at him with its two long clawed hands.  After a few moments, the blackness which overcame him was a relief.


----------



## Eccles (May 25, 2004)

Working in close concert, Miles and Stedd continued to hack away at one of the ghouls. But still it didn't fall.

"Damn it, why won't you die?" yelled Miles.

Halbrinn's tiny winged form hovered up a short distance, and then began to cast spell after spell at the foes, each time noting another immunity or resistance. His _fireball _spell ignited the books but didn't even phase the creatures. _Phantasmal Killer_ did nothing to the undead, and even his favourite _Resilient Sphere_ spell went awry, missing no fewer than three times, and leaving the back of the room crammed with massive globes, bobbing and bouncing whenever one of the fighters nudged them. Eventually, he was forced to resort to his 'lesser' spells; although he had very few, and still his luck failed him. _Magic Missiles_ were defeated by the ghouls' abyssal resistance to magic, and Halbrinn's luck continued to fail him, as both _Acid Arrows_ began to burn holes through the floor rather than his foes.

All in all, Halbrinn became very despondent.

.oOo.

Back in the melee, Aeron stepped forwards and laid his hands on Jason, simultaneously curing him of all of his wounds, as well as removing the disease that Jason had caught from one blackened claw. Jason flexed his magically enhanced muscles, and heaved the ghoul off him, before smacking it once again with his Maul. 

"Get OFF!"

And finally, one of the ghouls fell to the floor unmoving.

.oOo.

As if to counter-balance this small shred of success, the ghouls leapt to the attack once more, this time with ghouls managing to overbear both Miles and Aeron, bringing them both down in a tangle of limbs as the long grey tongues slurped hungrily towards their mouths.

Miles threw off the ghoul rapidly, but continued to suffer from an onslaught of blows. 

Aeron, however, struggled to the very best of his ability, but the ghoul was too strong. His head was pulled roughly back, and the long tongue slammed through the roof of his mouth, the smoky immaterial end reaching straight into his brain. His eyes began to roll back as the ghoul began to feed; and as it fed, he could feel his mental fortitude and his connection with his Goddess failing.

The adventurers rallied, almost all of them bashing at the ghoul on Aeron. Yvgeny's _prayer_ spell helped the Crusaders, but failed to have much of an effect on the creatures they were facing.

Finally, however, attrition began to show on the monsters as well. Two more dropped to the ground, and most of the others looked hurt. Still they came, however. Miles fled back to the corridor, leaving Stedd, Yvgeny and the newly invigorated Jason to fight off the monsters, whilst the assassin pulled out a wand and began to use it to restore his injuries.

The ghoul feeding on Aeron was finally dispatched, leaving him grievously wounded and unable to cast any but his very lowest magics. Unfortunately, however, one of the three remaining creatures showed incredible mobility, and tumbled around behind Jason, allowing the other two to stab viciously into both Jason and Aeron, who fell to the floor, bleeding heavily from a grievous wound to his throat.


----------



## Eccles (May 25, 2004)

Jason's Maul whistled around, crushing the skull of the creature behind him, before he stepped back towards the door.

Yvgeny rapidly intoned the words to a prayer, and touched Aeron's prone form, restoring his health somewhat before also stepping back towards the door.

Unfortunately, this left Aeron, prone and only just recovering, on the floor between the two creatures, which stepped up to either side of him, and unleashed a series of slashing attacks, tearing through Aeron's throat, killing him outright. 

Stedd and Jason managed to slay one of the two remaining ghouls, before they realized that the one remaining was entirely unhurt.

"Pull back!" Stedd yelled to the others. "We're never going to win!"

At this point, the creature pounced forwards, slashed once at Stedd, before leaping away through a set of double doors, and hurling itself into a glowing shaft of light, which sent it hurtling upwards.

"It's gone for reinforcements! Run!"

Pausing only to scoop most of the larger pieces of Aeron into a _Portable Hole_, the group turned on their heels and fled. A rapid _Fly_ spell ensured that Stedd wouldn't need to be carried, and then the group thanked their luck stars that they had been in the castle for such a short period of time that their flying abilities were still with them.

They retreated to the hole in the wall, before diving out into the blackness beyond. They briefly debated the possibility of going back to the building they had camped in the previous night, but decided to leave the city entirely as a _Scrying_ sensor opened up near them. Halbrinn was able to counter it by sacrificing his own _Scry_ spell, chanting the words in reverse to negate the magics.

They fled, hurtling out of the city to their previous campsite.


----------



## Eccles (May 25, 2004)

A darkened stealthy form left the shadows and strode across the marble floor before bowing to the pale figure before him.

"My lady, they have breached the castle walls," he rasped.

The white-skinned creature looked up, one eye staring fixedly at him, whilst red gems flashed dangerously across the other side of her face.

"I am well aware of this. They are too cunning by half for surface worlders. Destruction is too good for them."

"What will you do?"

"Impertinent fool!"

Fingers flashed, and dark energies wrapped themselves around the figure, who fell to the floor screaming.

Turning, the figure reached for a thin parchment scroll, picking up an ornate dagger in her other white hand. 

"I will, of course, take action," mused the drow. "It is time this band of surface scum learned the true meaning of vengeance."

Spinning gracefully, she drew the blade across the fallen drow's neck, before dipping two fingers in the blood and drawing a large pentagram…


----------



## Eccles (May 25, 2004)

Some distance away, the Clearwater Crusaders stood watching Yvgeny read from a precious scroll. Sweat beaded on his brow as he fought to control the magics which were somewhat beyond his abilities.

However, as he reached the end of the text, and as the scroll rotted and disappeared from his fingers, flesh partially re-knitted itself around Aeron's throat, and he twitched, before taking one long gasping breath as he returned to the living.

His thoughts were filled with his recent memories, and he struggled to comprehend why he felt so _diminished_, before he remembered… He had been taken to Mystra's side, and then torn away once again. He was left with regret, and memories. And a vision.

The group laid back in the familiar cavern, and began to consider what to do next.


----------



## Eccles (May 25, 2004)

Whilst Aeron was dead, his mind span in strange fever-dream. This is what he remembers: -

--

Your mind clears for a few moments, as if from a fevered dream, and you see a weary old man toying with a pipe. 

He stands in a clearing in a forest, surrounded by crisped bodies and shattered bones. Small fires remain in the undergrowth. Even in your vision, you can smell the reek of ozone and burned flesh. Elminster frowns, and looks abruptly straight at you. He smiles, clearly exhausted.

"Mistress", he bows in your direction. "Another necromancer. A Bone Lord this time. Had I been two minutes later, he would have succeeded in crossing the Pale. The damn evil clerics are the ones I can't stand. They've been pouring into the Dales for weeks now, taking advantage of the Dark Tide. I'm amazed there are still bodies to dig up."

He turns, and crosses the clearing, limping heavily. In two soft strides, you stand beside him and reach out one soft hand in his direction, offering healing.

Elminster looks down. "Ah yes. A Pale Master and two Bone Golems. The power which the Tide has is incredible. Storm was nearly overpowered by two hastened horrid wiltings, and I teleported just in time to save her. I don't suppose you could just take the Dark Tide away?" He shrugs as he stares irreverently into your face. You say nothing, but reach out and touch him on the cheek. Elminster is restored.

"I supposed not. I have warned the Harpers, but I just hope that your chosen are enough to deal with the cause. Blessed be to thee, Mystra."

You smile, and fade from the Prime. 

And your connection with a goddess is broken.


----------



## Eccles (May 25, 2004)

And there we go, all up to date.

Sorry for the huge number of updates at once, but I've had very poor access for the last day or two, and have been stockpiling updates.

As you might imagine, the group was *not* happy about the way this fight went. Ironically, when choosing spells that morning, Aeron had deliberately chosen *not* to carry the _Holy Word_ spell, which would have ended the entire fight in one round. 

You pays your money and you takes your chance, I suppose. Still, that's the first time they've used one of the 3 _Raise Dead_ scrolls they've been carrying around since 10th level!


----------



## DumbAnimal (May 25, 2004)

Let's hope Mystra's 'chosen' are more effective than us!   - Halbrinn


----------



## Eccles (May 26, 2004)

DumbAnimal said:
			
		

> Let's hope Mystra's 'chosen' are more effective than us!   - Halbrinn




Uh... You realise that... Uh...

Oh, never mind...   

After all, can you give any reason other than divine providence why someone new turns up every time you have a casualty?


----------



## DumbAnimal (May 26, 2004)

> After all, can you give any reason other than divine providence why someone new turns up every time you have a casualty?




Well I've been looking around this forum for a bit and have to conclude that the underdark sees more traffic than the M25...that and we don't exactly have a recruit selection process.


----------



## Brakkart (May 28, 2004)

DumbAnimal said:
			
		

> Well I've been looking around this forum for a bit and have to conclude that the underdark sees more traffic than the M25...that and we don't exactly have a recruit selection process.




Heh yes, our party refill procedure borders on conscription:

1. Is this person in the wrong place at the right time (ie here and now)? YES
2. Are they likely to kill us in our sleep? NO

Excellent, welcome to the Clearwater Crusaders! May you live long and prosper (even though neither is that likely).


----------



## Eccles (Jun 2, 2004)

The Clearwater Crusaders sheltered in the familiar cave in the mushroom fields beyond the city of Maermydra. Having slain the guards and smashed open the tunnel into the main cavern, before slaughtering the nearest group of guards within the city itself, several of the group were concerned that they would be easy to trace.

Others, meanwhile, were preoccupied with their injuries. 

It did not take long for Yvgeny to exhaust his healing powers on his fellows, whilst Miles retreated to the rear of the cavern and healed himself rapidly by exhausting almost a dozen charges out of his _Wand of Cure Light Wounds_.

After he had finished, he turned to the rest of the group.

"I can spare 9 charges from this wand. Who needs healing?"

The reaction this raised was something of a surprise to him, however.  Stedd took two paces forwards, raising his hand, before pausing, puzzled. Aeron could abrely move from the floor, but Jason leapt to his feet, snatched up his weapon, and bellowed "*doppelganger!*" at the top of his voice.

Several tense moments later, Miles managed to persuade the group that this uncharacteristically generous offer sprang from his need to have others in his team able to take damage for him, and not because he actually liked them or anything.

Slightly reassured by this, the other Crusaders relaxed again, and allowed Miles to use his wand.

.oOo.

Whilst this argument continued on the other side of their cavern, Halbrinn sank down onto the floor clutching the last of the group's black pearls. Crushing it into a small phial of wine, he concentrated, and began to identify the collection of magical items in front of him.

Yvgeny was left to stand guard, and was therefore away from the group when he heard a soft noise away in the cavern. 

_*bamf*_

Moving closer, he heard what could have been incredibly soft footsteps coming from the direction of the cavern wall to his south, but when he approached, he could see nothing.


----------



## Eccles (Jun 2, 2004)

The Crusaders rested, although the group never grew completely comfortable following Yvgeny's mention of the noise he had heard.

The next 'morning' (a time declared by the clerics as morning, anyway), the group arose, traded magical items a little more, and then began to prepare spells.

After Aeron had been _restored_ by Yvgeny, he then began to pray in more detail to Mystra, although not without bemoaning the sudden reduction in his spell-casting capacity.

Yvgeny then moved on to _curing_ and _restoring_ Jason as well, when it transpired that he had caught some terrible disease from the demonic ghouls of the previous day. 

Whilst Aeron spent a second hour praying to Mystra, and Miles (to everyone's astonishment) settled down to pray to his own darker god, Halbrinn pulled a large mirror out of his _Portable Hole_ (prompting looks of astonishment and envy from several other group members), and settled down to _scry_ the wizard he had teleported to Szith Morcane.

Ignoring the sneers and criticisms from his fellows, the gnomish wizard satisfied his own curiosity when the looking-glass cleared.

The drow wizard was no longer bound with ropes. Instead, he was chained to a large stone stool, whilst a purple disembodied hand whipped at his chest and back with a long thin switch.

Strangely, the wizard did not look quite as distraught as might have been expected. 

Halbrinn stopped _scrying_. At least the Wizard had got somewhere, and wasn’'t dead. He had learned something.


----------



## Eccles (Jun 2, 2004)

The group discussed matters between themselves. 

Miles and Stedd were terrified of the potential contained within the tower, and refused to go back at this stage.

Faced with this, the others talked things over, but they were unable to reach concensus; especially when Miles proposed going to the demon and giant alliance and giving them the password to the castle. Aeron was totally opposed to this plan, and refused to have any part in it. This didn't stop Miles from spending a lengthy period trying to persuade him away from his moral course, and to join him in betraying more or less everybody. 

Perhaps still more bizarrely, however, was Stedd's willingness to support Miles, when Stedd's whole upbringing and tradition was one of moral uprightness and propriety.

Once again, Jason began to loosen his hammer-arm, whilst muttering "doppelganger" under his breath.


----------



## Eccles (Jun 2, 2004)

Eventually, after over an hour of discussions, it was decided that the group would re-enter Maermydra, and would then head to the far side of the cavern. There, they would attempt to strike the two groups of undead that Miles had seen there on a previous scouting mission.

Variously flying, creeping, hiding and invisible, the group stealthily moved into the cavern. They met at the temple in which they had fought the Nightwalker.

Almost immediately, Miles and Halbrinn heard footsteps coming from the direction of the building in which they had slept. 

Halbrinn and Jason (both invisible) flew to take up flanking positions, whilst the others hid behind the walls of the ruined temple. Soon enough, a small party of undead moved towards them; two morhgs and two of the hideous acid-dripping skinless quth-maren led 4 large zombie ogres towards the group. And almost immediately, the undead spotted Aeron's shining armour and tabard, crouched inadequately behind a rock half his size.

Miles leapt out firing his bow, and the undead split their forces, sending half to attack Aeron, and the others moving towards Miles. 

Stedd, Jason, Halbrinn and Yvgeny leapt out of hiding, leaping, clubbing, slashing and smashing at the foes; Halbrinn's lightning bolt firing a bright strike through the enemy and illuminating the whole cavern very briefly.

.oOo.

Across the massive cavern, the bright strike of lightning made heads look up. Even the slow ungainly undead realised something was amiss.


----------



## Eccles (Jun 2, 2004)

Seeing that his comrades had this fight well in hand (as Aeron's _Mace of Disruption_ destroyed the powerful creatures opposing him quite effortlessly), Halbrinn took matters into his own hands.

He decided that the first of the two larger groups of undead should be attracted, and drawn down into the fight before Aeron's many spells of self-improvement began to wear out.

He flew, on tiny pixie wings, rapidly towards the undead giant encampment, and then raised a small wand. 

Lightning erupted from it, blasting into the goblins around the campsite. A cacophonous roar of thunder accompanied a terrifically bright flash of light, and goblins screamed and were flung asunder by the tremendous energies.

Backing away carefully, Halbrinn grinned, and readied his wand for another blast.

.oOo.

In the body of the cavern, more of the undead and giant forms turned to face the source of this second bolt of lightning.

Handlers whipped goblins towards the source of the light, whilst dozens of zombie giants and ogres turned and began to shamble towards the sound they had heard.

Up above, demons ceased circling the castle and dove towards the flashes, teleporting rapidly across the cavern until they were above the lightsource.

Giants, living and undead, began to close on the party.

And the tremendous form of the fire-wreathed balor came with them…

.oOo.

All the while, the watchers waited. Their orders as different as they were clear. One of them knew that the moment would soon come.


----------



## Brakkart (Jun 2, 2004)

Eccles said:
			
		

> In the body of the cavern, more of the undead and giant forms turned to face the source of this second bolt of lightning.
> 
> Handlers whipped goblins towards the source of the light, whilst dozens of zombie giants and ogres turned and began to shamble towards the sound they had heard.
> 
> ...




Heh heh, I love this. If they want to fight us, both sides are going to have to fight each other as well. If they want Armageddon, then we're about to give it to them!

There are times when I'm too devious. The party argued and bickered and no agreement could be reached on my idea of giving the password to the demons, so they and the drow/undead could annihilate one another while we sat back and watched, and then went in once both sides were weakened. Ohh no, the priest wasn't having any of that, no alliances with demons he says. So instead they fall for my second idea of "lets go up on a highly visible plateau at the side of a barely lit cavern and start a fight with the undead, pick them off in small groups". This after the gnome had already announced he had no fireballs for the day and me knowing he had a wand of lightning bolts. Plus he managed to achieve nothing in our fight with the ghouls, and knowing him, would be looking to prove his worth in this fight.

Lightning being fired off, in near total darkness. Bit like a strobe light at a disco really, even if you're not looking at it, you'll still see the flash. Bit like holding up a red rag to a bull! Sitting on their ass whilst the demons, drow and undead battle one another wasn't good enough for the Crusaders, so now we're gonna be in the thick of the fight instead. I still get what I want, just a different way of getting it.


----------



## Jeremy (Jun 3, 2004)

And besides, wouldn't want one side or the other to win.  This way you get plenty of say in who goes down when, and make sure everyone is down in the end.

And best of all...  Full shares of XP!


----------



## Brakkart (Jun 4, 2004)

Jeremy said:
			
		

> And besides, wouldn't want one side or the other to win.  This way you get plenty of say in who goes down when, and make sure everyone is down in the end.
> 
> And best of all...  Full shares of XP!




Exactly!!


----------



## Eccles (Jun 5, 2004)

Now that I’ve spoken to the others, I feel like I can say what I need to here.

There’s going to be no update for the time being, as our roleplaying ‘family’ has suffered a tragic bereavement. Rod Kick (who played Yvgeny) died this week, and we have all been far too stunned to do anything as normal as playing games. This may spill over for a few weeks, as we’re still all in a state of shock. We may use this message board to discuss our options and decide what we’re going to do over the next couple of days. As his DM, I feel it’s only really going to hit me when we next try to play, and this fellow of infinite patience, wit and talent won’t be there reacting to me.

I wish you could all have known Rod, who one of my other players and I described as in our understated English way as “a good bloke”; but he was much more than that. 

Rod was an incredibly generous, loyal man who has always stood by his friends. For as long as I have known him, he has never had a cross word for anybody. Imaginative, friendly and giving, as well as incredibly hard working, the longer I dwell on it the more qualities I can think of to describe him. I only knew Rod for a few years, but my life is richer for having met him.

In terms that will only really make sense in a place like these boards, he was an amazingly together guy, and he _always_ knew where his towel was.

God speed, Rod. Our thoughts go with you.


----------



## Eccles (Jun 17, 2004)

Last week we played a short "meanwhile, on the surface..." game.  The players rolled up level 10 characters, and I threw villains at them.  

Having escaped from the group of gnolls which was threatening to eat them (the group started tied up and surrounded, but a _stilled_ Mist Form followed by a fireball and 2 or 3 lightning bolts put paid to that), they group then took out the group of more powerful Zhentarim which was leading the gnolls.

Looting the slain for their cloths and armour, the group found a map with a meeting place clearly marked upon it, and decided to follow up on this clue.

They traced the 'X' on the map to the site known as "Traya the Forsaker's Tower" (where the Clearwater Crusaders defeated a possibly evil mage named Dyfed the Abjurer in times long past).

The tower was guarded by a pair of red-scaled dragon-kin, who eventually let the 'Zhentarim delegation' in. Inside the tower, which had been rebuilt, there was a large slab or iron, on which the group used a strange iron star they had found on the body of the Zhent cleric. The slab opened up into a large chamber, magically concealed within another dimension. Waiting for them was a towering draconic figure, flanked by a bronze dwarf and a dragon-kin. On one side of the table was a Shade, flanked by an ever-shifting silver statue and a human rogue. On the other side was a down-trodden looking human peasant woman, with a strange gleam in her eye. 

The half dragon introduced himself as 'Dyfed Dragonkine', now chief emissary of Gran'Rath Tendathaloth (the huge red Dragon which wants the Crusaders dead). The woman was named as Irae Tsarran, and the shade was named 'Rand Stormseeker'. 

This last caused a good degree of speculation from the group.

.oOo.

Finally, the last delegate arrived by means of a _gate_ spell. A Prince fo Shadovar arrived, and immediately threatened to blast 'Rand' into his component parts. 

The threat averted, a negotiation began as to 'how the Dalelands were to be divided after the Great Revenance'. 

Irae Tsarran's view was that there was no greater vengeance on the peaceful surface worlds than to have evil overrun them. 

Dyfed wished only to safeguard Gran'Rath's mountain range, but the Shadovari prince demanded Scardale Town from the Zhents. He offered to pay 100 million pieces of gold for the town.

When pressed as to why, he told the others that it was to be the site of a great conjunction in 3 years, where a powerful rite of magic could be effected by the Shadovar.

Which would plunge the world into darkness.

The party, trying to stir up dissent, accepted the offer. 

The Shade vanished, and Dyfed tore the head off the peasant woman, who suddenly came to her senses and screamed at the last moment, as Irae's spirit stopped dominating hers.

The session ended as the various paries separated and headed off their own ways; the heroes decided to find someone in suitable authority and tell them that the Great Revenance must be stopped, and the Dales saved so that the world would not end!


----------



## Eccles (Jun 17, 2004)

That's going to be the last update for a few weeks, as I'm off to Florida for a holiday, and 2 of my players are moving house. However, as I'm about to change jobs and will be moving away from the area in a few months, we're going to have to run a few extra sessions (and make a lot of progress!) when I get back, so we *might* just manage to finish a campaign for once!


----------



## Jeremy (Jun 17, 2004)

Very, very sorry to hear about Rod.  That's got to be rough.

I like the idea of the mission on the side as it gives an idea what is going on elsewhere, _and_ it reinforces that the main pc's aren't the only people in the world fighting to set things right.  Of course, secondary pc's are more fragile and expendable, so that's another fun dimension I might use.


----------



## Brakkart (Jun 30, 2004)

Jeremy said:
			
		

> Very, very sorry to hear about Rod.  That's got to be rough.
> 
> I like the idea of the mission on the side as it gives an idea what is going on elsewhere, _and_ it reinforces that the main pc's aren't the only people in the world fighting to set things right.  Of course, secondary pc's are more fragile and expendable, so that's another fun dimension I might use.




Thank you and yes, still coming to terms with it.

Yeah and it gave me a chance to try out the Mystic Theurge class (which Nik/Eccles) was very much against allowing in any campaign after he read the 3.5 DMG. As it happened it didn't prove to be game imbalancing at all really, but then this was a mostly RP and little combat session, and Nik hampered us by starting the group on half spells. Even so, Presmer Stamaraster was hardly a dominant force in the group.


----------



## Eccles (Jul 12, 2004)

Regrettably, I have to announce that you've had the last episode of the Clearwater Crusaders' Story Hour.

After 2 years and 13 levels of gaming (turns out WotC's maths were off in our case), we've had to decide to disband. My fault, unfortunately, as I'm about to take a new job in Southampton, and need to move house and life and everything.

A shame, really, as I'd just introduced all the backstory about what was going on in the meantime.  If anyone has any final questions of comments, please put 'em in here...

For those who are interested, I'll attach the .doc files which contain the character details of the revenant army ravaging the surface (in case the PCs ever had to fight 'em), as well as the 'Dark Order' of monks and PC copies. Should prove to be a nasty surprise to somebody!

My final tally: 4 PC Retirements, 15 PC deaths, and an NPC pile of the dead tall enough to qualify for grant-maintained status...


----------



## Brakkart (Sep 3, 2004)

Actually contrary to my ex-Dm's comments above, there is still one chapter of Miles' Journal left to post to bring the campaign to its final cliffhanger ending. I will post this just as soon as I get internet installed again at home (moved house also and ADSL companies are messing me around).

Also last week I began a new Forgotten Realms campaign, so watch for the storyhour of Rise of the Snakemen coming soon. The campaign features the same players as this storyhour (minus the obvious losses of Rod and Nik), plus a couple new players.


----------



## Darmanicus (Sep 3, 2004)

Brakkart said:
			
		

> Actually contrary to my ex-Dm's comments above, there is still one chapter of Miles' Journal left to post to bring the campaign to its final cliffhanger ending. I will post this just as soon as I get internet installed again at home (moved house also and ADSL companies are messing me around).
> 
> Also last week I began a new Forgotten Realms campaign, so watch for the storyhour of Rise of the Snakemen coming soon. The campaign features the same players as this storyhour (minus the obvious losses of Rod and Nik), plus a couple new players.




Brakkart, sorry to have stolen yer DM mate but we need him.


----------



## Jeremy (Sep 3, 2004)

*sniffle sniffle*

*Jeremy works even harder to make sure that his campaign reaches it's conclusion, despite losing more than half his players*


----------



## Brakkart (Sep 8, 2004)

*Miles' Journal - Part Twenty Eight*

*Kythorn 15th* - Today I woke up under a strange dome. Apparently Halbrinn had conjured it up over our campsite after I fell asleep, as he was worried about the roof of the ruined house we were camping in, collapsing on top of us. From what I could tell thoughthe dome was partially insubstantial and likely would not stop any debris from falling on us anyway. Still it made him feel better. I'll never understand gnomes!

Aeron cast a spell to divine the password to the forbiddance effect on the castle, and Mystra provided him with another of his (increasingly frequent) visions, that provided the phrase "Isztava Morthaum".

We flew immediately to the castle and landed on the lower of the three bridges between the twin towers. Jason smashed us a way inside with his maul in no time at all and we entered through the breach, heading into the larger tower. We worked our way through the structure, room by room, battling drow and undead. We took a prisoner of a drow wizard and questioned him. In return for teleporting him to Szith Morcane (he was thrilled to know of a drow outpost not under the rule of women, seeing as that town is ruled by the Archmage these days), he divulged that the giants and demons are led by one Kurgoth Hellspawn, to whom a Balor answers! 

The Kiaransalee drow are led by an albino drow priestess by the name of Irae T'sarran (she should be easy to identify at least, I mean how many albino drow can there be?). She is the one referred to in the note we found as Mother. He referred to the revenance effect as The Dark Tide. We also learned from him that a vast army of the walking dead has already departed Maerimydra, and is even now likely laying waste to the surface realms! Lastly we learned that an ambassador from the City of Shade is here. We have crossed swords with the Shadovar before, it would seem that before we are done, we shall have to match ourselves against their kind again.

Sending him on his way, we continued our exploration of the castle, opening a door into a trashed library in which were seven strange red ghouls with bizarre tongues. Leading our attack, we quickly found ourselves horribly out of our depth in battling these creatures, and they proved to be incredibly powerful foes. The melee was furious as we fought arguably the toughest battle of our careers. While we felled six of the seven, we lost Aeron in battle and the remaining ghoul fled to give warning to the rest of the castle of our intrusion. We grabbed Aeron's corpse and fled back to our old campsite outside of Maerimydra's cavern. We sensed scrying as we fled, but Halbrinn countered it quickly.

Back at the campsite, Yvgeny used one of the Raise Dead scrolls we bought back when we first began investigating the drow attacks on Daggerdale. He restored life to Aeron, as without our cleric we would have been in dire trouble, especially given how wounded most of us are after our failed assault on the castle.

I can't help but wish that this whole adventure could have ended at Szith Morcane. How many more Crusaders do I have to see die to save my country? Still, the stakes are higher this time. Aeron mentioned a vision when he regained consciousness of his goddess and Elminster. We fight to save the world it seems. Never thought I'd be a hero, strange the ways things turn out.

We rested and healed up. Halbrinn identified most of our recent haul of loot and the items that could be used were divided out. None of it really appealed to me though. Yvgeny alarmed us by relating that something (he presumes it to be demonic, and he is probably right), is speaking to him telepathically, taunting him that he will die if we attack the castle again.

*Kythorn 16th* - Yvgeny cast some spells to restore Aeron as well as healing up Stedd and Jason of their ailments. I used up a lot of charges from my remaining healing wand to restore myself to full health, but I fear I have maybe only enough charges left to do so once more, after that I will add to the burden of injuries that Yvgeny and Aeron have to deal with after each fight.

None of us are keen to launch another attack on the castle, yet it seems we have little choice. We have to stop the Dark Tide somehow before it engulfs the world entirely. Already Aeron is besieged by visions of the effects of this malign influence on the surface world. By now we estimate the Tide likely blankets the Dalelands completely and is already encroaching on the Moonsea, Cormyr and Sembia. There is already an undead army rampaging through the Dales, and it will be joined by other forces if this is not stopped and soon. For the first time in a long time, I spent some time in prayer this morning. I have rarely asked anything of Mask, but I feel that if there was ever a right time to ask a boon of my god, then it is now.

My prayers were answered with a flash of inspiration and I talked to the others, and persuaded them of a change in our tactics, to attack the forces located outside the castle. The undead platoons that guard the castles approaches from Kurgoth's army of demons, ogres and giants.

When we were ready, we headed back to the city with me scouting ahead of the group. We decided to clear the plateau's where we had camped a couple nights back first, as I had spied some groups of undead up there. By picking them off, we hope to thin the drow's defensive lines and stretch their resources. they are nigh impregnable in their castle, but if their front line of defense is weakened they will have to send forces out from their stronghold, or risk having the demonic army on their doorstep.

We staked out our position at the ruined temple of Lolth whish we battled the Nightshade at. No sooner had we got ourselves into position, than we were assaulted by a pack of eight various undead including two Quth Maren. We have clearly come far and learned much since our last encounter with these creations as we easily wiped out the group.

Halbrinn then went off invisible to attract other undead towards the waiting blades and spells of the rest of the group. While I might never understand the gnomish mind, I do like to think I know how a wizard thinks. They are proud and haughty, a common failing of their type, so convinced are they by their superiority because of the Art they command, that they hate to be stymied. In our battle against the red ghouls yesterday, Halbrinn was all but useless, his magics bounced off the undead. The hells have no fury like a wizard with something to prove! He attracted the undead all right, by using lightning bolts... in a dark cavern. The resulting flashes could likely be seen across the length and breadth of Maerimydra I would wager. We heard the undead coming for us, as Halbrinn retreated back towards our group, blasting their advancing forms with yet more lightning. Too from the ruined city all around we heard the sounds of roars, stomping feet, beating wings and more, as every force that could come to bear down on our position advanced to do so. The drow want armageddon? They can have it!


*Addendum:*

Sadly, that is the last of it, the campaign ended on that evil cliffhanger, with many many forces of evil closing in on the PC's position, to fight them and each other. Hope you've enjoyed reading about our exploits through Jared's & Miles' perpsectives. I know I've enjoyed writing the journal and will doubtless do something similiar again.

For now though, my turn to DM, so onwards to the Rise of the Snakemen!


----------

