Session Nine - Into the Crypts

The team awakens, and in their morning meet. Virgil explains to them, they have been hired by their fey contact, Savvo to find an Ice Sword, in an abandoned Mathai fortress, it should be either within or near a crypt. They gather supplies and make arrangements to travel with the Japeth Knights, as they have patrols going out daily to ensure the forest is safe. Their primary rule, this is the fey forest, so while the magical buggers may be annoying they are the rulers of the forest.

The forest is quite deep, and the patrols stick to the well-traveled roads. On the first day they encounter a hunting trio of ogres that the Paladins easily handle. On the second the team meets a group of dwarven traders, with many small, specialized kegs of alcohol; their comrade believes these dwarves have invisible protectors, which is why they are very carefree in this fey-filled forest. On the last day of their travel, the Knights run into a group of other-worldly creatures, red-scaly-skinned humanoid hunters with sharp black claws and horns called schir demons. This battle lasts far longer, and while the knights do emerge victorious, they took substantial losses. The cleric steps up to heal the injured knights, who is given 90 silver as tribute. It isn't long on their fourth day of travel that they encounter the fortress, that looks quite like a small church; Allfray tells the Knights their mission is inside, the Soldiers of Japeth retort that their teams pass by here every 2 or 3 days, they will make sure that others groups check on them.

The group scans the large two story building, it has two completed towers, and a third either incomplete or half destroyed. Virgil is determined to climb up the half finished tower. Before he gets to the top, realizes there are a few windows near the half-way mark and tries to go inside the nearest one to him. As he tries to open the window, Allfray and Bahlgrimm the Dwarf warrior spot a green skinned winged humanoid crawling towards him. The cleric responds with a thrown hammer at the creature - but misses. The rogue realizes something is wrong when he is cut by a claw, as he sees two more of these green skinned creatures crawling towards him, He immediately starts drops down, trying to get away from these goyle like beasts. The cleric casts spiritual weapon, hammering one of the creatures as the rogue dodges any other attacks. While difficult to spot, the group sees at least half a dozen of these creatures crawling over the roof. These are a gargoyle cross-breed, but more than this the group is unaware.

They decide to change their tactics, and approach the front doorway. The gates have long since been ripped away and they see patches of blue and green grass, on the far left an excellently maintained well, and on the other side, to Allfray's dismay, a destroyed obelisk. As the cleric approaches the stone monument, he notices that none of the debris is around, everything broken off is gone. As he steps closer to the betrayed he starts to feel his divine magic empty from him, his own symbol of light drain of energy. Shaken, he stays more than twenty feet away, far enough for the magic to slowly refill him; he is torn, he wants to know what happened to the obelisk, but is afraid of going too near again. What happened to the obelisk guardian - the angelic figure that protects the holy site? The well, unlike everything else here is full, and in good condition. The large wooden front doors are in terrible condition, and they can easily make their way through.

Going into the large open room, it has huge pillars on the sides, a large rectangular pool filled with abysmally dirty water and half-decayed corpses, and six cages, one filled with Carcass Undead and three with skeletal ones. The upper ceiling has beautiful art, but now much it is in very poor condition, some of it still stands out, showing the beauty of the forest and the many creatures within it. Allfray states that this was a place of worship, but probably not a temple.

Allfray the cleric bashes one of the undead in a cage, and after a moment it slowly regrows. This is what the cleric was afraid of, the undead would regenerate...they could release them from the cages, but it was better for now to keep them inside. Virgil knows the stories of pools often being the primary receptacle of offerings, where coins and gems often dropped in, payment to the spirits. He throws small marbles into the pool, as they land in the water, a large grey coloured tentacle breaks the surface, and sway along the top. The size of the tentacle betrays the pool size, it looks too large to be here, Virgil steps back.

Towards the back of the room, a large ripped curtain still barely holds up, with two doors near the back corners. They take one of the doors, which has a small hallway heading towards half a dozen, tiny private rooms, similar to the priestly rooms Allfray lived in at his complex. All of them were stripped of anything personal, but everything was carefully removed, remarkably clean. It strikes the team, that the entire area is very clean, no dust, no debris a very sterile environment. Some of the other items found was a set of stairs heading down, another set heading up along with a Knight-like statue holding a purple sword and shield (purple is associated with Casna, god of Order.)

They eventually find a fresco, a carpet painting, with a background of an obelisk with many wonderous creatures on it, behind it is a blue metal door, but no apparent key-hole or other opening latch. Virgil tries to open it, but as he does a vaguely humanoid face appears within it, asking him what he wants. No answer he gives placates the door guardian but it is more receptive to Allfray the cleric's request to open. The door opens and the group sees a small room with a two foot tall obelisk, a small pool and a hooded humanoid - who grabs a weapon at their sudden appearance.

The two sides speak, tersely at first, as the lone figure is unsure of them. After a moment he removes the hood to show her jackal headed face, she is a Jackalla, a figure renown for keeping ritualistic burials in the city within the mortuaries known as the Towers of Silence. In wilder areas they are respected for their undead hunts, for destroying the vile beasts. She explains that she like others of her kin are waiting for the presence of the Aspect of Unliving, to destroy. Others of her kin are nearby, and will help. When asked what they are doing in the Burial Crypts, Virgil tells her they are seeking a Sword of Ice. The Jackalla explains they are far from the first group to seek it, but they like the others will probably fail, as it is hidden within the crypts, but even her kin are unable to find it. When asked what will happen, she explains that this is the warning that many of her kin believe will release the Aspect into this world, and when that happens, she will take it down.

The cleric vows that they won't provide the Ice Sword to Savvo their patron, but they still want to find the item. When asked if the has any proof that could implicate Savvo, with the Japethian Knights, she doubts it, as she doesn't have enough proof for a legal court but the Anubian Knights generally don't bother with courts, as they simply find and execute their quarry. But if they could get him arrested, her kin would be very happy as they have long suspected him of dark dealings. So too the Casnian Knights of Order, but they are strict disciples of law, great allies of both the Quannian and Anubian Knights. When asked why the fey would work with such a figure, the undead hunter laughs, the fickle fey care little about honour or law, while not evil, they are chaotic and self-centered, useful allies but only for a task or two, they have their own intentions.

Allfray asks if she can go with them, to find the Ice Sword. She agrees, introducing herself as Voshimma, Guardian of the Zare.  Since nighttime is approaching, she recommends them staying in her room, as the more powerful spirits are active at night, but the physical ones are roaming all day long.  She leads them to the set of stairs which goes down into a series of crypts and mass burials. Periodically she explains some will have undead emerge, while her people are unsure of which, some of the crypts have tunnels that lead out of the building. 

They first make a circle around the lower area, Voshimma explains that this was originally a crypt for animals, but it was eventually changed to a humanoid burial due to ongoing battles. None of the crypts are permanent, as the bodies as per custom are laid to rest for twenty-five to fifty years, then sealed within a longer internment spot. Her people didn't begin the process, but are maintaining it, as custom is so important. Virgil mentions about the subtle temperature changes, which Voshimma is unsure about, he takes the team back to the stairs heading down, poking around, finding a false panel...opening up into a small, tight passageway. (after I had prepped the dungeon maps, grrr.)

Opening the area up, they go through, the Jackalla is quite surprised, all of the secret areas should have been sealed. In a few moments they find a ladder tree, and make their way down. Even before getting down, they see the movement of soldiers, four skeletal figures heading towards them. The cleric shows their holy symbol calling upon his faith to return the undead to eternal sleep, as the bright light emerges, two of the skeletons are held at bay. Voshimma runs forward, their black scimitar already out, smashing the two other undead abominations, this was her people's calling, this was what they lived for, this was what she had trained for and there were no one better at this task than her kin. Once there are no other active undead mobile, the cleric relaxes, and concentrates, and takes back the turning energy, regaining the used turning. At the same time, the rest of the party demolishes the two previously turned undead.

The tunnels are rough, and cut out of the natural stone, very unlike the crypt they came from. The passageway heads in both directions, they choose to go east and head towards a curve in the passage. As the rogue and jackalla head thru, they must immediately dodge as sharp, rock-like beings are dropping down, trying to pin them. They get through, and see the upper corner is filled with these rock beasts. Though injured, they can smash the piercer rocks to ensure safe passageway. They go around and see what is on the other side of the corridor, except they pay more attention to the sides, and walk slowly, carefully along the walls to not disturb the natural rock beasts that are again at the top of the roof. As they move past they see the passageway loops around, and on the other side, a large red pool, both the rogue and Jackalla realize this is a pool of blood, thirty feet across, about ten feet wide.

Along the city path; Adventure six (sorta)

The party sees the oncoming group, and look around and are unsure of what to do next and perhaps even more important, where to go. The cleric hears a feminine whisper in his ears, "Get to a doorway. Quickly." The party begins to increase their pace, Solauder, casts mirror image on himself for protection, as the cleric, wanting to increase the elves pace, picks him up to carry him along. The group reaches the first door they find, they realize there is a number of fairies among them.

Four small blue smurflings hanging on the dwarf, three smaller insect-legged grig on the elf, and a two-foot tall, green skinned winged fairy flying just off the cleric. Looking for assurance, Allfray tries to gauge the fae, and he gets no suspision or worries, so he opens the door and they go through. The room is occupied with two lovers on the bed in midst action, one of the fae casts a spell which changes the doorway, they look out and see a different alleyway than the brothel they came from, all step through. Now they are in that alleyway, a few hundred feet from where they once were, and already the doorway changes back into a door.

The fairy starts berating the group, explaining the urgency of their mission but Soulader turns it around and is showing considerable mistrust, he doesn't understand the mission as they usually have a simple task to complete. The green fairy tells them that the faeries were the ones who had started "hiring" the group, they were the benefactors, because the group did missions for both reward and honour.

Allfray inquires how could they have known, and the fairy explains that it was on the city map provided to them, and they had the messenger deliver it to them and it was written in Dral. Soulauder explains that Dral is an above ground, good-aligned dark skinned fey of Nyssa, this world. He may appear as one, but he is actually from another world, as his people are the Drow, very distinct in personality and outlook, he does not know the language. The fairy now identified as Abyssinia expresses her surprise and embarrassment, and agrees to help them interpret the city map. They take out the map, and places the papyrus holy symbol underneath, as the shows and incites fairy explains what must be touched and spoken to show the magic, as they follow the instructions, a different detail emerges. Allfray, a native of the city recognizes most of the spots identified, as he thinks about the areas, and touches the map, it changes, showing a more detailed view of each location.

Their mission consists of fixing something from each of these four sites:

The Sky Bridge, a little used, and very well maintained bridge over a now non-existent river.
The Shallow Well, a near empty and shallow well.
The third location, Allfray is unsure of
Finally, Sevel Aviary, created from an abandoned Seed Tower.

Since it is late, the group decides to take these missions up tomorrow morning. The Dwarf, has already started resting at a Tenderfoot pub with 17 smurflings as it seems every time one of them laughs, another one seems to come around. The Drow heads back to the pub where their drover allies congregate, joining in their ale and conversation.  The cleric returns to his residence at the small monastery for vespers, but he notices a small crowd already there. He feels uncomfortable as many of the eyes glaring at him. While they are welcome, he believes he is being watched.

Tomorrow, the adventure continues at the four sites.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

We started late, and some of us had been imbibing for far too long, so we cut the game short. Very useful session though.

Path to Suuvren; Adventure Five

The adventurers are sent to a far off spire city of Suuvren - a trader city, among the league of Quooven. Like many of the other spire towns, this one has a high road, that crawls up the side. As they reach the top, the realize the town is much farther away from the edge as many other places they have been to - and another major difference, no standing army. Most towns have units of archers, horseman and spearmen or other specialists at the ready, but this one, there was at least no obvious groups of soldiers anywhere that they can see. Plenty of citizens, and a multitude of races, all scurrying about doing their business, none seemingly at least aware of the new group of traders coming into the city, and fewer caring in the slightest. Like a few other places in the spirelands, phaetox and minotaurs, have a significant number - but neither were likely to be rulers or sitting on the high counsel. Phaetox, like elves were usually archers; Minotaurs were soldiers, they liked to go on long, enduring hunts.

Just like every city, a few destinations helped defined the community - the Towers and obelisks. The Towers were places of learning and gathering - not just arcane spells, but music, and maps and other wondrous things that helped shape the cityscape. And obelisks - were the places of faith. A few were dedicated to a specific godly figure; like Japeth or Casna, some to an idea - like freedom of expression. Every obelisk was the meeting area for groups of followers, some came together on a daily or weekly basis to make their required sacrifices for heavenly approval. In larger cities, many obelisks were the center of official churches, that had the control of the land around the obelisk - but in the spirelands and smaller towns,  no group usually had domination for long.

The party had been sent to various places in the spirelands over the last two hundred days, making contacts and doing tasks, many of the activities much more dangerous than they had thought at the outset. This time, they had a contact, Allfray - Curate of the Lady, by the designation they assumed the follower was most likely a priest, and they were asked to meet him at the obelisk of Quanna. They separated from their regular travel colleagues and made their way towards the obelisk, at least none of the preachers on the side of the streets seemed to be their quest. They started to ask around, looking for their contact, and in a few minutes, they find a rather typical human, male, tunic, and a necklace with the bright symbol of his goddess, though not out in a prominent way.

Allfray looked unassuming, but ready for his task. He had heard their names called to him in his dreams in the last few nights, and he knew that he needed to find these drovers, these men who were dedicated to the road. Yet neither looked like a typical member of this group. The black skinned elf, didn't seem typical of his kin, the studious dral, who were incredibly dedicated to studying songs and poems of the past. The dwarf wore non-typical and banged up armor, it didn't seem suited to his people's usually dour and hardy bearing. They all greeted each other - Bahlgrimm the a Dwarf warrior and Solauder, the Drow Sorcerer.  None were sure what they are to do next, as if one of them was supposed to know the next steps.

Bahlgrim though is the first to notice a small purple owl that seems to be interested in the group and starts to frighten it away. The cleric, tries another approach - reaches out to the avian, and his presence puts it at ease, as the avian lands on his arm. (Some colours particularly show the influence of the heavens, just as Yellow is associated with Quanna, Purple is connected with Casna, the LN Lord of Order.) The cleric sees the owl carry a scroll case, opening it he sees two sheets of vellum, one is a symbol of the Lady of Light, but is energized with power. The second is a overview map of the city. Allfray sees some of the prominent locations in the map, but is there a trend, what does this map mean? Why were they given it?

Knowing they may need more time and discretion to determine the meaning of the map, the group decides to find a more quiet place, perhaps a room at one of the nearby taverns. Allfray reaches out to the owl figure, and it collapses becoming a tattoo on his fore-arm.

The head for the Furroud Bull, a local tavern. They grab a table upstairs and bring out the map once again, trying to determine its meaning. They are stumped, mostly because none of them are scholars of arcana...they hesitate whether they should reach out.

On the upper level of the tavern, they look for patterns in the map, and why it's cribbed with the symbol of Quanna. The individuals look out, trying to find anything to help. Allfray sees someone at the far end of the bar area, a tall horned grey minotaur keenly watching them, the cleric slowly heads towards the observing minotaur but the horned one turns away, heading out the front door. Allfray wants to know who was paying so much attention to them, and follows the mysterious figure, first out the door and then down into a passageway. Having to keep up, Allfray uses his tricks to stay at the same pace as the other, watching him enter another building. He turns back and heads back to the others. He tells them he knows where the minotaur watcher went to - and they agree to investigate.

The cleric goes back to his residence at the small monastery, heads into his unadorned room. He hesitates a moment opening his storage chest, where his heavy armor has been laying dormant. His gear, the items he had tried to promise himself he would try to avoid, left where he (almost) promised he would not touch them again . A voice, a familiar voice reminding him that this is not his work, not his duty. Knowing he could not win the debate, especially with himself, he said no words, said no familar promises, but donned his armor. He was doing what needed to be done, even if he had no words for it.

Allfray returns to the back-alley and to his allies, then to the back-lot building. They carefully review it, looking for an easy way in. This indiscriminate building, a warehouse did not advertise and one could pass it without being brought to attention. Yet, both the Drow and Cleric found traps, if they tried to go through either the windows or hop up to the second floor, there were too high a chance of setting off traps.

Instead the team approached directly, and knocks on the door, and a set of eyes appear at the slot but nothing else - they seem to be looking for a password as they ask no questions. The cleric again steps around the problem, casting command, action word - open. The watching eyes, opens the door and steps aside, as the guards come over, the female attendant steps aside and puts up her hands to shake the guards away...the team has earned her honour.

They find themselves in a very busy room, 40 or more people of all different races, all seemingly focused on consuming something. There are humans, grey elves, dwarves, golden horned jahlen and even grey skinned minotaurs, many of them either consuming alcohol or other drinks, oblivious to everyone except those female green skinned, plant-like servers. Many of the men standing aside, eyes glazed in conversations with images of smoke or dream. Each of the party members, like the rest of the consumers, are drawn into their personal realms of dream, for a few minutes. No one, neither server or drinker pay them little attention; the party realizes there are shum dreams, and little of consequences...as they are lost to their own illusions and dreams. They gather their resolve and determine it's best to move ahead.

They head up the long grand stairs and realize, at least right away, that few of the others at the base level are aware of them. Most are still in the dreaming haze. Is it the room they wonder, but then determine they had walked past a large fountain in the middle of the base room without any of them
realizing it.

As they go up, the staircase separates, and they head towards the larger and more fanciful door heading at the western side. Even before they reach the top, they see three rat-humanoids running towards them with long bladed weapons out. The cleric wins initiative, slamming down with his hammer on one of the ratlings, at the same time, their spears came hurtling towards Allfray and Solauder, but only the cleric was nicked. The drow released a sleep effect, causing each of them to drop.

The fighter stops running, assessing their situation - in utter calm confidence. The cleric, looks towards the door, then towards his dral elf comrade, who is busy going through their pouches. Soulader pockets a few coin purses and a small highly decorated fob.

The group has little time to re-organize themselves, as they see the grey horned minotaur, who was first observing them, gathering a crowd, made up of dwarves, elves, humans and other minotaur-kin. They have just a few rounds before they are overwhelmed, as the group of the warriors call out to them, and are making their way up the stairs in a careful manner.

Finding Unlost Items - Third Game Session

Sent by their team to accompany a caravan wagon in their standard routine both unpacking the goods and handling town security in a long, monotonous route, spending days in the wagon travelling between the barren towns. The communities in the far north are mostly on high island spires, more than a mile above the frozen tundra.  After three weeks of travel the group is taken aside, asked if they want to take on a mission, to help a Master-Smith locate a missing tool. They agree and the caravan turns off their course to go to a spire out of their way.

Once reaching the spire the team departs, told they have ten days to complete their mission. Before they even reach the path going up, a group of soldiers greets them and informs the team they are going to accompany them to the town above. The team hesitates, unsure if they want this to happen but they relent. The trip up is long but free from distractions.

At the top, they see a small city in pristine condition, the roads & gates into the city heavily covered by soldiers, but what they find odd is that they are all in very different uniforms and designs. They realize there is not one army but multiple units from various cities. They learn the city of Fonnashi, has been hit repeatedly by a plague, that causes sickness, rapid aging and death. They have received help from its various neighbours in trying to defeat whatever has been infecting the town. While it has been put down, the plague always returns.

The team wants to learn about this plague so they seek out the nearest obelisk (church) to find a cleric and find the largest nearby one is dedicated to Casna, Lord of Laws. They inquire about the city, its history and the plague and find out the plague is not continuous, but something that has hit the city repeatedly. Nobody is sure why or how it spreads. Magic can detect it, but only after it has infected a carrier, most often rats or other vermin. While it hasn't killed a huge number the fear has driven most inhabitants away.

Not sure how to help the city, the group refocuses on their primary mission - and head towards the large, impressive Forge Tower. They enter to find a busy workplace, inside are a dozen dwarves in the midst of their duties slowly building devices and shaping the furnace fires. The Dwarven workers slow as they watch the group come in and look around. All but one of the dwarves look very old and frail, far more feeble than they would have expected. The team asks questions about the ongoing curse but also about their jobs at the forge and why the difference between the dwarves. One of them speaks up and says that the others are near obsessed with production, very rarely leaving the furnaces. When asked about the city, the same younger dwarf says that people get in a fit when a new case is found, but the population had long left in patches over the last 20 years.

They ask about Kossail, the Master-Smith who they were asked to assist, and the dwarves point to a large double door, quite elegant as opposed to the bare and simple decorations and furnishings in the rest of the area. They tell the party that he is an ally but a distant one, mostly concerned with his own efforts. Those who hire him, do so if they have the coin and the materials, many are people from away, not just from the spirelands but many coming to this place just to speak with him. He is distant but dutiful, every month he pays his shares to the Furnace.

Going through the doors they are impressed with decor of a higher substance, intricate detailing showing craftsman of different regions and processors. They immediate see a substantial supply of weapons laid out on racks, various styles and makes. In the center of the room is an intense covered furnace of a completely different style than the dwarves. Solauder, the Drow Sorcerer feels a connection to the warmth here, one unlike he's found anywhere else in the world. Upon concentration, his hands once again covered in holy flame, as it once was. He feels the power, and energy and connection with his magic unlike anywhere else. Near the heat, there are two small grotesque figures, one with angelic wings and markings of peace, the other with cloven hooves, demonic horns and pitchfork. Their eyes seem to turn to watch any who approach too closely.

Kossail, the older man in his full furnace apron and gloves greets them, he is human but something about him looks off. He is quite formal and asks if they need his abilities as a builder. They explain that they have been hired to help him, and ask what it is he needs. The artisan tells them he has misplaced a hammering tool, one that is quite important as he is unable to get proper replacements here. His friends have been looking for it, but even with their spells, they are unable to find it. The only thing he is certain is that it's not far away...it has to be somewhere in the city, as he would know if it was taken farther away.

The drow believes that something is not exactly right, he goes toward the furnace, it is more than what he initially thought, is this an actual connection to the plane of flames? Here in this world, this world. Approaching the flames he feels the burning warmth, then his eyes open and realizes the room as being separate from the realm, the statues are in fact living figures, and Kossail is not a man, but a figure of light, something not of this mortal world, nothing here in this room is.

When asked what he is, where they are, Kossail tells him he is exactly what he appears to be - a builder, just not one from this world. He finds it highly useful for him to be here, on a mortal world. He needs the missing tool, someone has taken it, and he believes it is someone that knows what he is and is trying to hurt him.

The team asks if he can assist them in their task, and he believes so. He gives them a charged arrow amulet, and tells them they can seek out what they need. Stepping back, the drow concentrates on the carving horn. He gets no images. Something is missing, something isn't right. They are not sure what it is. Concentrating again about the plague, he is given directions in his mind, a path heading away.

They leave right away, going towards a much poorer section of the city. They head through an unholy area, supported by a small obelisk to Keran, the dark Lord. No worshipers or other dark features, just menacing. Going into low society housing, where many of the poorer folk reside, they go to a tenement building. Mostly abandoned, just like the rest of the city.

Some of the locals see them, and come out to assist. The tenets open the door and give directions to things in the area that might be helpful. Like the dwarves, they all seem older than they should be.  Making their way through the house, the go through the near abandoned house reaching
stairs heading down...as they do they enter the dark basement, and in a few minutes face three large translucent rats, with a dark greenish smudge on them. Taking defensive stances they move forward, but the rats, jump towards them. Using their spells, they take one out right away as the dwarven fighter blasts forward, smashing another one down. The last rat scratches but misses his aim, as the spells and blade of the dwarf  take it out. They gather up some of the droppings into a glass vial, then doing as they always do use Holy Sand to eradicate the scrappings of the dead rats. They head back to Kossail with a few more questions.

Out of the Pits (Pt B)

Starring
Atropa Belladonna, Elven Ranger
Bahlgrimm, a Dwarf warrior
Solauder, Drow Sorceror
Fuantos, Dwarf Soldier (NPC)
Vierna, Human Cleric of Darras (NPC)

The team starts where they left off, at the plant ensconced room. They consider going further in but the trees are so packed tightly in, they hesitate. They can tell it's a fairly small room, but are unsure of anything else within the room because of the heavy leafy presence.

They move ahead in the passageway, and see another locked padded door and leave it alone as it appears to be a locked funerary room. As they go forward, they see a side passageway, with plenty of tracks coming and going, since this is the only place with lots of movement they want to check it out.

As they head into the side passage, a heavy iron portcullis comes down and and they hear the screeching laughs, then see the small yellow eyes of goblins. Bahlgrimm pulls the gate up, just enough for the second dwarf warrior to roll underneath. He rushes forward to take on the pitiful, as Atropa pings away with her bow. Quick enough, they take down some of the goblins as the other ones dart away. Fuantos finds the lever to open the and the rest of the party goes through.

They slowly make their way ahead, being careful not to set off any similar traps. They find a deep pit that covers most of the cave passageway. At the bottom of the sixty foot pit, are sharp spikes and a multitude of snakes crawling around. The team takes quite a bit of time to attack the snakes with missile weapons. After much debate, they decide against going down. They tie ropes to each other to get past the narrow ledges on the side.

They don't have much time before the hear the clanging of boots onto the floor, a small contingent of skeletal soldiers, clad in breast-plate with shields and spears, all marching in formation. The Drow casts a spell of energy, as the two dwarves run in formation up to their foes, bashing them down. All the while the Elven ranger pierces the undead with her arrows. The cleric raises her holy symbol but cries out in pain, she is losing her connection to the divine here. Even with their perfect formation, the skeletons are quickly overpowered and brought down in a flash.

Going further ahead, they see several heavy wooden doors, all well established and enamoured door on the right, no obvious trap or lock., no sign any of them have been entered unlawfully. After the fourth door in a row, they see a heavy wooden bulwark, it covers the full passage width. As they investigate it, the see the tiny flickers of blood everywhere, Atropa believes this is where the skeletons came from, and even worse, where lots of people died trying to get through. But how...where. She goes into a deep trance, she sees in her mind the solution, she sees visions of her walking peacefully through the bushes. If she remains true to the path...she believes she can pass through them. But she hesitates, can it be so easy?

The cleric rips a shred from her bodice and covers her eyes, then simply walks calmly ahead, through the thorny bulwark. When she reaches the end, she hands back blindfold and she reminds them to stay calm, stay true; then, one by one each of her teammates does the same. But Bahlgrimm hesitates, he starts thinking about drowning in the thorns. As he does, the bulwark closes around him, piercing him a dozen times...he struggles to get out. His hesitancy (and rolling number one on the dice.) caused the bulwark to close in on him. Vierna immediately helps the injured dwarf out.

They see a vile pit of blackish bubbling putrescence just pass the bulwark. When they investigate
they see the small bits from previous sacrifices, plus small chairs all around the pit. They almost immediately pass the scene but they eventually look up, they see a three prong rack, used to drop the prisoners into the the black bile, and one body hanging above. Soulauder casts an energy spell, destroying the body. But just a few moments later the see three new, bodies in the rack, while weak they are obviously still alive. The group debates about on whether they should rescue, and come to the conclusion that they could not keep any of the freed prisoners safe, better to rescue them another way.

Moving forward and reach a side door to a much smaller room. This door is open, with a set for three holy symbols. The top, showing the symbol for Lord of Laws (LN - Casna), and the bottom one showing , Lord of Destruction. (CN - Faval) The middle one has a symbol for the Earth Mother (N Holon) has all been torn out. The Ranger looks in and is confused...something about the room is disorienting. She walks out unsure of her next steps. Bahlgrimm steps in to find out on his own and is fascinated, he looks up, and sees a swirling mass of light, and energy and...power! His eyes open wider, as he scans around the small balcony he is on, is there anything that can get him up there. He sees the roots are hanging upside down, hanging up. He starts to climb, but he feels pressure, more pressure with each foot upward, so much so it slams him down to the balcony. He looks up again, thinking about how to get up there, but the calls from his colleagues catches him once again, and he goes back to his group as much as be is tempted to find out what the magical swirl is.

Going further in, they come to an elegant set of wide stairs, culminating in an impressive and very elaborately decorated door. The group approaches, with the ranger taking lead. With some scanning, Atropa notices there is a trap, a false floor. She sets it off, and the see the floor drops...meaning anyone that attempted to open the lock from the stair-top would be dropped into the deep pit. The cleric advises that she has no mana or spell energy left, something near-by is draining her, stopping her ability to cast spells. They carefully search the pit, and find a small control box, which opens the door.

As they go inside, they are surprised at the brightness of the large temple room. Five prisoners, chained to the left and right side. Four huge columns reaching sixty feet up. A large panoramic curtain with a symbol of Keran at the centre fore of the alter 100 feet ahead. Three large, well armed skeletal figures approaching with impressive spears. As the team spreads out, Vierna is walking slowly, painfully. She is in tremendous pain. Atropa spends some time to carefully scan the room, and she determines the curtain, with the evil unholy symbol is causing problems for their cleric. At the same time, in the centre of the room, there is something else, a large presence, an evil otherworldly, figure, stuck in a black pool of goo. It is struggling to get out, to get into this realm. Atropa yells out that she believes it is the curtain that is the source of danger.

The dwarves clash with the skeletal figures, bashing them back. The skeletons have the advantage with reach, but the two dwarves stay strong as rocks – cutting the undead down. Atropa starts to climb, wanting a better shot at getting the curtain. Soulader concentrates on the skeletons he launches some of his energy spells.

At the same time the Drow sees Vierna in a daze, she has dropped her holy symbol and weapon, and has started walking listlessly towards the evil, invisible presence. Wanting to protect their ally, Soulader casts sleep on her which brings the cleric down to the ground. (Player Gaining advantage for quick thinking, to be used at a later time.)

Atropa having reached the near top, fires an arrow at the curtain's binder. It connects, bringing two binding rings down. As it does, a bright light emerges from behind the curtain. The light hits the invisible figure which roars in pain, at the same moment a flash of energy emerges from the creature which rebinds one of the binders.

At almost the same moment, Fuantos drops from a massive blow inflected by the skeletons. Bahlgrimm stays planted, defending his team by making sure none of the skeletons came too close to the spell-casters. Atropa releases another arrow, which cuts down the last few bindings, causing the curtain to drop. (Player Advantage) As it does, everyone sees a huge mirror emanating a heavenly light that for a moment covers the room, blinding everything. It then quickly starts to fade. The light, sign of the Heavenly Queen, purifies everything, banishing the evil presence in the room, both the otherworldly figure and the skeletons.

The team awakens the cleric and they release the prisoners. They determine the cult was using the mirror's magic plus the blood of the prisoners to attempt to release the demonic creature... They needed the mirror to weaken his goo prison, but not the direct light. Once the cleric has her spells, she casts bless on the large curtain, enabling them to destroy it.

Returning to their employers they are rewarded with 250 crowns (gp) a piece for their efforts. The dwarven contingent are saddened at their comrade's loss but they will be welcomed as rock-brothers into their camp for mourning and nourishment.

Exp Points:
portcullis opening – 150 ex points
four goblins - 200 exp points
snake pit – 250 exp points
4 skeletons - 400 exp points
bulwark - 250 exp points
Stairs Trap – 250 exp points
3 skeletons - 300 exp points
Curtain & Unholy Symbol - 300 ex points
Mission Completion - 400 exp points
                                  =2500 ex points
                                   600 exp points per player       
                                         

+2 bump on dwarven etiquette rolls or tunnel / cave rolls