Ardana's Journal
From Rathe
Ardana keeps a journal, which she writes on parchment and keeps in her backpack.
Contents |
Fall Semester 2005
Posted 10/4/2005 to the Metagamers boards
I have been speaking with Shard and Evan about returning to the Mizeri family crypt. My nerves have been rattled in regards to that place, especially after seeing my fellow adventurers wounded and unable to heal. I was myself fortunate enough to have only sustained minor wounds. I believe Zarod may know more about what is going on, but it has been a few days since last we spoke. What sort of power lies beneath that crypt? I believe it must have something to do with the Bonegnasher clan, who all had believed nearly extinct. I would like to do further research into the history of this clan, as I believe it to be relevant to what is going on now.
Shard has also inquired about items with magical properties. Perhaps I can contact my father in New Doarg. Although his shop is rather small and never regularly dealt with magical items, he has trade connections with others in the town. Ah, but such things should wait, I suppose. We shall take swift action in this endeavor.
So let it be written that (barring further objections) Ardana, Moby, Evan, Renedo, Petrov and Shard will in these coming days venture beneath the Mizeri family crypt to abolish whatever evils lie beneath, for Heildregch and for our fallen comrades.
Later that day...
Posted 10/6/2005 to the Metagamers boards
I am writing this as a warning to anyone who ventures this way again. If I should live out the rest of my existence as a mindless corpse, I wish at the very least to warn others. It is not at this moment that I fear for my life, but all is very uncertain. Our companion Shard was slain in battle. We attempted to bring him back to Heildregch, but he was first infected by the smoke from Philip Mizeri's censer. He awoke, but I immediately sensed that he was not truly alive. He is somewhere between life and death, but he is completely unaware of this fact. We first brought him to Zarad, who did not know what to make of it. Ever since that time Sylvia, one of Mizeri's zombie children, has been accompanying us. She turned the others. We have found what in my estimation is a portal of sorts, deep underground. We ascended a staircase to find ourselves at the top of a tower. There we were attacked by large lizard creatures. Evan was slain in battle.
The undead child brought him back, in the same form as Shard. Our comrade Petrov became angered, and attempted to slay the child himself, something we who previously ventured into the crypt have already tried, with no substantial results. He was downed in battle. I did what I could to stabilize him but Evan and Shard, under some sort of charm no doubt, finished him off. Their intentions were good, but their minds are clouded. Now Petrov has become that which he detests the most: an undead, an abomination. Moby and myself remain, but we do not know what course of action to take next. He wishes desperately to return to Heildregch. It may be our best move, but I do not see what good may come of it.
There is a powerful force at work here. Our past enemies have come back in the same form and have been working with Philip Mizeri to guard whatever comes from the crypt. Things are not as they seem. Do they not pose the greatest threat to us at this point in time? Philip Mizeri may not have left his family's crypt in many a year, but some greater force assists him (or perhaps controls him?) in what he has been doing. We must figure out what this is quickly.
I bid any future adventurers, please, if you should encounter Ardana Seregon as a mere servant of the undead, you would do me honor to slay what remains of my body.
Posted 10/27/2005 to the Metagamers boards
After much exploration into a world where danger (and most likely a malicious suit of clothing) lurks around every tree and bush, we have finally reached a safe haven.
Our newest comrade Spheresword caused a bit of trouble yesterday, as we traveled down into what we have dubbed "the hole." It is the tunnel that leads from the crypt of Philip Mizeri into the mysterious underground world. We encountered several sets of clothing that we have seen before. Somehow... they are... alive. They attack and strangle until they become a part of the person. We have learned from earlier experience not to attack many creatures unless they seem to be malevolent towards us. We urged Spheresword to let them be, but he did not listen and attempted to set one aflame. A battle of course ensued, with more negative consequences for Evan than anyone else, as it took over his mind and body. We were fortunantly able to finally defeat it without causing Evan too much harm.
That night I was awoken by Sylvia, a truly frightening experience if I do say so myself. She seemed terrified and genuinely concerned for Evan, who had apparantly run off to investigate a humanoid figure that had been headed in our general direction. Apparantly she had much right to be concerned, as the Medusa (as it is commonly called) turned our ranger into a statue.
I'm not really sure what to think of that odd little girl anymore. She has powers greater than what I would normally have perceived even an undead creature to have. She somehow led our party through the forest to a great cave. There we crossed a mighty stone bridge which stretched over a mile long across a raging stream of molten rock and lava. Upon crossing, we were asked to sign our names on a visitors log of sorts. Then we were allowed to enter a great dwarven city. I do not know too much of the dwarves or their different races (after all, we elves often do not concern ourselves much with their kind these days), but these were dwarves with beards of fire.
We spoke to the head cleric at a temple, who was able to break the enchantment that had turned Evan to stone. We found out much information regarding the history of the land into which we have ventured, as well as what may be going on in various lands around Heildregch. Some of what we now know is so frightening, I dare not print it. However, we know where our journey now lies. There is a great evil across the land on the other side of that bridge, and we must venture to find and vanquish what causes it.
Now we rest comfortably in the homes of kind nobles of this majestic city. We are drained of some supplies, but we are all alive.
Spheresword is contemplating leaving us in the morning. I urged him not to do so. We were lucky to have made it this far as a group. I fear what may happen to him alone in this land. But he is the solitary figure in our group. He has his own mind about things, which he will follow wherever it leads him, even if that means journeying far and alone. I know not why he leaves or where he goes, but I pray for his good health.
Posted 11/4/05 to the Metagamers boards
Well, we've really done it this time. We rushed in behind that paladin, and now we are trapped. Our horses are gone, along with many supplies. We are resting on a rooftop, in clear view of anyone and anything that may fly overhead.
We left the city of the Azer this morning. We opted to travel along the outskirts of this land, to help in avoiding danger. We also chose to travel past the "third eye" rather than attempt to ford the river. The plan was to scout about the area near the eye, then return to Heildregch. However, upon seeing a hydra within the walls of the structure, Siegfried led us into battle. I think we all became a bit overconfident, not realizing that we were walking into a large structure with no plan other than to make quick work of a single creature. In that we succeeded, but shortly thereafter, we found ourselves trapped within the gates. From fire of arrows, to a harpie, to some sort of mindless knight-guards, we were left with little. We rest now atop the roof of the structure. Not long ago, I saw a blue dwarf with a mustache (very odd, in my opinion) lead our horses off into the structure.
From what I know about these dwarves, they were long ago stricken with madness. They take pleasure in torture. Right now I fear more for the life and health of Scout than of the supplies he carried. Anything I carried on my mount can be replaced, but Scout has been with me for a long time. I swear that I will retrieve him.
Tomorrow I suppose we shall travel down the stairs to face whatever dangers and evils await. We have been extremely conspicuous thus far. They will likely be more than ready for us. But we have nowhere else to go but inside.
Posted 11/18/2005 to the Metagamers boards
Sylvia is looking at me. Staring. I know. She knows I know. She doesn't want me to tell the others. I suppose there is no reason for them to find out. It finally occured to me after that last horrendous battle. You should have seen her. She had at least 4 umber hulks attacking her, and not a one of them could hit her consistently. She paralyzed them, cast spells at them. It all makes sense now. But I shall not be sharing my revelation with the others, especially not the Paladin. It might kill him. The information, that is. They already know how special Sylvia is. There is no need to put a name to it.
But while she shall not suffer from the loss of the censer, our companion Shard will, along with Philip Mizeri. Thanks to Sylvia, we found him near the tower from which we ventured from Heildregch. He was badly battered, and becomes closer to death by the day.
We were told that we needed to go to a specific temple to find a key to get back into the Prison Complex from which we recently escaped. I wish never to venture into that place again, save to retrieve my mount Scout. Though the way things appear, we may not even retrieve the key. The temple from which we needed to retrieve it lies within the city which has been taken over by Naogi and their spawn.
We were joined by our old friend, Tomas Pylis, and his new companions the Shining Lions. They have previously attempted to breach the city, but have thus far been unsuccessful. We thought that perhaps by joining forces, we could make it this time.
We planned to venture into the city, but before we even arrived there, were surrounded by 8 Naogi and their Umber Hulk slaves. The battle raged fierce, and many came close to death. We lost Evan to them. We shall take what is left of his body back to the Zetari Citadel to be resurrected. Fortunantly, we came upon much treasure in a small villa nearby. Half shall be used for resurrecting Evan. Finally shall he return to the world of the living.
We must make haste, however, to get back on our feet and figure out a plan. Philip Mizeri only has a week, and Shard does not have much longer than that.
Spring Semester 2006
Posted 1/23/2006 to the Metagamers boards
At long last we have returned to Heildregch. Alive. All of us, truly alive. So much has happened, I hardly know where to begin. I suppose I shall tell all of what happened since my last entry. With the help of the Shining Lions, we again stormed the Naogi city. Sylvia ran off, and we made it inside successfully. Inside the temple of Bulgoth, we found a sarcophagus, which seemed impossible to open. Shard and I went off to find Sylvia, who apparantly had her own plan for opening the sarcophagus. She killed many umber hulks and Naogi spawn, using them in a ritual which enhanced her strength to epic proportions. Upon opening it we found inside a long-deceased Dwarven follower of Yseallyra. On his body we found the key. We returned his body to the Zetari Citadel for a proper burial.
With Philip's time running short, and Shard growing weaker by the day, we needed to make haste to the Temple-Prison. We agreed to meet the Shining Lions in two days' time to launch an attack. Despite our urgent situation, Siegfried began to insist that we venture into new territory in this strange world, to seek out what is rumored to be a zoo of sorts (he sought a Hippogriff). It seems to me that when the lives of others are at stake, especially the life of one of our companions, it would be selfish for a Paladin to take the time to seek a new mount for himself.
Rather, we sought out the Orcs whom we had previously assisted in overthrowing their leader. The new leader asked for our help in a matter involving the very same zoo. It seemed their Hippogriffs had been stolen away, and we were to help retrieve them in exchange for their help with our problems. I would not have gone along were it not for the promise of their help in attacking the Temple. It was no such time to be worrying about fanciful things like flying mounts and dinosaurs. So we went, and upon our arrival, we were spotted by a very, very large man. He escorted us to the zoo, where we expressed interest in purchasing animals. The zoo was run by several nymphs, so it seemed. We took a gander at the horses, where I noticed something interesting. A few of the horses looked strangely familiar. One in particular... it was Scout! I was overjoyed to see him, a fact that I tried to hide (so as not to arouse suspicion). We made plans to stay in a nearby inn that night. At dawn, we engaged 3 nymphs and a stone giant in battle. The battle concluded in our favor, though not for long. Another giant man began throwing boulders at us from quite a distance. We were able to free all of the animals except for the Gryffons.
So in the end, Siegfried got his Hippogriff and Evan got a Deinonychus (a dinosaur). We made camp near the Orcs that night, but something went wrong. In the night we were captured into a large, dark container and deposited in what seemed to be an entirely different world. We were as rats in a maze. We overcame several obstacles. Our first attempt to escape was thwarted by a giant creature. It looked humanoid, but was larger than anything I have ever seen. We finally were able to escape by going down a steep cliff. We camped in another section of the area. The next morning we returned to retrieve our horses. Scout was injured, but no one was killed. We made a dash for the exit, but were spotted by another large humanoid. We ran until we found another large door, which turned out to be a portal. We escaped.
Finally, and only somewhat late, we made our way to our meeting point with the Shining Lions. A cleric named Shake Smallfoot found us, with a message from the Shining Lions and an army of about 30 dwarves. So we prepared for battle. I returned with Siegfried to the Orcs to enlist their help. We got their aid, including that of several Hippogriff riders. The battle was to take place at dawn, so we formulated a plan of attack and camped for the night. It was around this time that we found Sylvia... sort of. My owl spotted her running along a cliff wall, heading in a rage towards the Temple/Prison. She donned full plate armor, and her eyes glowed red. I finally got her attention and asked her not to attack until the morning. She agreed.
The next morning, we headed towards the Temple. The battles were fierce. We were told that there were three leaders we had to worry about; the heavy infantry leader, the light infantry leader, and the leader of the archers. We took the leader of the heavy infantry. We made it through our battles with many injuries. Our party and the Shining Lions suffered no casualties. Unfortunantly the same could not be said for the dwarves.
In any case, we had just broken combat, and finally we found the door. It was the one from Evan's dream, and we had the key. Sylvia was wildly beating a corpse against the door, trying with all her might to get in. We should have struck then. Our enchantments would have lasted long enough to give whatever was behind that door a good fight. Maybe we could have gotten a glimpse of who was wreaking such havoc on the world as of late. But we didn't. Siegfried chose that exact moment to take his armor off. I know he is not the most intelligent of men, but surely this went against the most basic common sense! He replaced his armor for some that we found with MINOR magical properties. He is constantly doing things like that. He would wait until I (and the rest of the party) were completely free of enchantments (causing me to be very vulnerable) in order to attain an extra bit of help for himself. Not only that, but we gave our enemy enough time to plot and execute his escape. Suddenly, the door opened. A green dragon emerged, it's gaseous breath preceding it. Upon his back (though invisible) was a man. After spraying us with poisonous gas, it flew off. We ran down the tunnel into the chamber. The one we had sought. The one that would bring Philip, Shard, and Sylvia back. But something was missing. Whoever it was that had just escaped took with him an object, of which I do not know the significance. We used the magical object in the chamber, a coffin of sorts, to restore Sylvia, Philip, and Shard to their former selves.
After this, we began the journey back to Heildregch. Siegfried went off with his Hippogriff to purchase some magical items for the party from the Zetari Citadel. While he was gone, we fought what we identified as a Shambling Mound. Badly injured and limited in resources from the morning's battle, we defeated it, but with serious injuries. Siegfried caught up with us by the time we reached the tower. The journey up was dangerous. We were attacked by a Xorn. It caused severe disruption in our party, and nearly killed almost everyone. Philip was able to use one of our healing wands on Siegfried, who then would only use the wand to bring the others to consciousness. It is my opinion that he should not have the authority to dictate who receives healing and who does not. I was badly wounded, and I paid for at least 1 charge of that wand (though I have yet to receive one). The party pooled together money to purchase that wand, and it doesn't seem as though the healing is distributed fairly.
Anyways, we finally made it back to Heildregch. For now, things have settled down. I do not know where we venture next, but I am glad to be back in Heildregch for the time being.
Posted 2/7/06 to the Metagamers boards
Travel through the mountains has been harsh and slow. The air grows thinner by the day, and all the while I feel... tired. We have met a new addition to our party. His name is Foyle, and he is a man of nature, a druid. He prefers to sleep outside, and even refused our offer of housing (magical of course) until we were exposed to a great blizzard.
After a few days of travel, we came upon a great elven city, hidden inside a mountain. It felt nice to be among my own kind, if only for a night. Our weapons were peacebound upon entry. We spoke with the king, a highly intelligent, impressive man. I doubt the others could truly appreciate his eloquence and expansive vocabulary. Truly, he is an enlightened ruler. He gave us the way to the dwarven city. From there we can seek out the gnomes.
That night I spent my time sipping warm tea and scribing a new spell into my book. My companions, so I'm told, treated themselves to a great feast, followed by an evening of carousing about the town. I would have been glad to join them, but a sense of humility resigned me to my studies for the time. Elven society will do that to you.
Refreshed, but with a heavy heart, I departed the city with my companions the following morning, heading eastwards towards the dwarves. We traveled a day and made camp that night with the aid of my magical huts. The next morning, before we could break camp, we were attacked by a horrid, shadowy undead creature. It drained the strength of several of us, including Siegfried, Foyle, Moby and myself. We eventually defeated the creature. Unfortunantly, it left no treasure to seize as a reward for our struggle.
The next creature we encountered was one we've seen before. It burns like fire, and has jaws large enough to swallow a man. In fact, that's what it did. Evan was swallowed whole by this thing. Always couragous in battle, he continued to fight. Petrov too was nearly eaten by this monster before we slew it. After cutting open the belly of the beast, we discovered that someone else had already become a meal for this creature. He appeared to be a dwarven warrior and nobleman. He carried a few magical possessions that had remained unscathed by the fire.
After a few more hours of travel, we reached the dwarven city. We spoke with their king, who apparantly is related to our own Petrov. We relayed the unfortunate news of his kinsmans death (the dwarf we found, not Petrov). We also told him about the current situation, and he agreed to show us how to find the gnomes. I will not disclose such information here, in the case that this journal should fall into the wrong hands.
A funeral is to be held. All will be in attendance. I bid the deceased farewell, and pray that he find peace, whatever realm his soul travels onto.
Posted 2/12/06 to the Metagamers boards
Those bastards. The so-called "Enemies of the State." We were traveling towards the gnomish city, when we got an interesting visit from a friendly lantern archon. He unfortunantly had bad news. Jack Wheatfield is dead. He described a party with a half-orc fighter (one whom I've met before, by the name of Rog), a weasely-looking wizard (our former cohort Sphere), and some other adventurers with whom I am not familiar. In any case, Jack was found, decapitated, and one of them bore his cloak. When the archon asked one of them about it (one called Laurthen) he LIED and said that he knew nothing about it.
We will get our revenge, in good time. These men are all fugitives; I doubt anyone would miss them. Still, it would almost be more satisfying to bring them back to town in chains and let justice be dealt that way. The gods see much. When the time is right, we will find these men and will have justice. For now, however, we must continue on our own journey. I have much to say, but for now, we rest. I will continue my account of our adventures tomorrow night.
Posted 2/15/06 to the Metagamers boards
We finally reached the gnomish city. For a while, Evan and I lead the way there. We reached an open area, when I was attacked from behind by a hideous undead creature! It held onto me, preventing me from casting any spells in my defense. Luckily Evan stepped in, tackling the creature and pinning him to the ground. I was able to wriggle my way out, but Evan became paralyzed when the thing lashed its hideous tongue out at him. I fired several forceful orbs at the thing, but it unfortunantly got the better of me as well, and I too became paralyzed. Our party was too far behind at the time to be of any assistance, so it was up to Vincent. He spoke with Foyle's giant eagle, who then spoke with Sera. All three closed in on the monster. It was a terrific battle; they fought so valiantly and slew the beast. When Evan and I were able to move again, I thanked Vincent with some special food I had sent for.
We continued on, and the party caught up. Further, we encountered the corpse of a gnome who was ridden with holes, as if he'd been eaten alive by some great pestilence. Unfortunantly, we too were about to become the targets of such a fate. A fiery hellswarm decended upon Siegfried, eating away at his flesh, and poisoning his blood. A strong and resilient man though he is, the poison eventually overtook him. Targeting individual pests was not working, and I had already used the few spells that caused damage to the whole swarm. As a group, we had no choice but to wait for the disgusting insectoids to burrow into Siegfried's body. As soon as they did, we attacked with all our force until he was freed.
We decided to bring the gnome's body with us to the city, that he might have a proper burial. This is becoming something of a trend with us. It is nonetheless devastating to report the death of a father, husband, brother, son, to his family. This time, we learned that this particular gnome had been out searching for a lost little girl, a family member who had wandered off a few days back. It was bad enough that we had to deliver a dead kinsman to these people; we were not going to let his death have been in vain. We set off into the mountains, tracking the little girl. When the tracks ended, I sent Vincent out through the air to look for the nests of flying creatures. He returned shortly thereafter, and we followed him to the edge of a cliff. About 200 feet down, we spotted a tiny gnomish girl in the nest of a birdlike creature. Certain members of our party declared the creature "evil" and suggested that we destroy the nest along with the young. Fortunantly, I had some knowledge of this species and know that it is in no way evil. In fact, its intent with taking the girl was probably more out of maternal instinct than malice. Reason was eventually seen, and Evan retrieved the girl. There was nearly an incident with the mother returning to the nest, and the young sending out sonic blasts, but Evan used magic and his natural affinity for animals to calm mother and children down.
We returned the girl to her most-grateful family, who offered us housing for the night. In the morning, we have an audience with the ruler of this city; Our journey is not yet complete, but we are well on our way to completing our mission.
Posted 2/19/06 to the Metagamers boards
I had an interesting experience today that opened my eyes to a couple of things. Although I am growing as a wizard, I feel as though my spells are sometimes not enough to help my party, or even to save my own life. Earlier, I was engaged in close combat with a large creature made of stone. In two swift blows, it swept past my mage armor and killed me. Almost. If not for Petrov's prayer, I would have met my end. Luckily, my companions came to my aid. They healed me, and I continued to fight. I threw what was supposed to be a powerful orb of force in the direction of one creature, only to find that the damage was very little. I have heard stories of wizards that have harnessed force beyond what normal spellcasters can manage. I will seek out such a person, and attempt to learn the ways of the Argent Savant. I have heard of their extraordinary abilities, and I want such abilities for my own.
Posted 2/20/06 to the Metagamers boards
Our mission is complete. We met with the captain, and he agreed to help us. It was not without some convincing, however, as well as some assistance in their current affairs. In the middle of our meeting, a great alarm was sounded within the structure, as an earth elemental apparantly was let loose from a hole in the ground. We rushed into battle, eventually forcing the creature to retreat back underground. We were informed that the security of their underground outposts had been lessened as of late. We explored the area, fighting creatures of fire and earth the whole way down. During one of the battles, Foyle quenched two of the fire creatures with a great blast of water.
Eventually, we came to a place where some unknown creatures called out to us in an unfamiliar tongue. Luckily, Shard knew the language, and he was able to translate for us. Apparantly these beings felt that the gnomes had invaded their territory. We returned to the surface to discuss the possibility of a treaty with the captain. A noble but stubborn fellow, he felt that the fire creatures were invading his territory. We returned back down with a gnomish translator. After many unfamiliar but clearly angry words were exchanged, they came to an agreement. However, the peace could not be reached until they were repaid for the offense that they felt Foyle had committed against them. The agreement was that he would wear the "beads of shame" and be scorched. He agreed to undergo this treatment for the sake of peace. The beads of shame... looked familiar... they were of a magical nature. Theoretically they should have exploded upon burning, but instead dropped to the ground. I wonder if this was just a trick, to see if one of ours would readily take that pain. Foyle is proving to be very brave and an asset to our party.
With an agreement reached between the fire creatures and the gnomes, the captain agreed to send forces to New Doarg. We are now traveling back to the dwarven city. From there we will visit the elves once more, and then we will return to New Doarg to assist in any way possible.
With the gnomes and soon the dwarves on our side, our forces grow stronger. My companions and I, too, grow stronger by the day. We will defeat whatever evil is brewing in this world. A great evil it may be, but our greater good shall triumph. Sides will be drawn, and if the Enemies of the State fall on the other side of the line, we will do what we must do.
I still worry about Sylvia. We know nothing of her whereabouts. The time we spent traveling with her alongside was a constant adventure. My initial weariness of her has of course faded. I hope for her health, not only because I have grown very attached to her, but also because I have the distinct feeling that she plays a greater part in all of this than any of us know.
Posted 3/11/06 to the Metagamers boards
Sylvia has been found. I can breathe a sigh of relief at this, if only for a moment. I used magic to discern her whereabouts, and teleported to her location along with Evan and Petrov. She was hard at work devising a plan to retrieve the body of Jack Wheatfield. We made an agreement with the ghost of a former cleric. One that I have met before, who went by the name of Glim Rimshaw. He helped us to retrieve the body, and we returned to Heildregch. We promised to dig up his body and have him resurrected. Sylvia says that he was once a good man, but was driven insane by the torture that none were able to save him from. We do not know his true motives in helping us, or what he will do once returned to his body. But he once was good, and I believe that he can be once more. In any case, we needed to retrieve Jack's body regardless of the cost. My companions and I traveled down into the underground once again, to seek out the crystal that would help us locate the soul of Venn Barr. We were attacked by shadows. But these were no ordinary undead. They were more powerful than we have encountered before, and many were drained of their strength. We found asylum at the Temple Prison, where our friends the Shining Lions are keeping guard. After spending a few days recuperating, I parted ways with my companions and returned to Heildregch, where I spent time conferring with Zarod.
I eventually decided to seek out the Enemies of the State and hear their side of what happened to Jack. I watched them as they spoke to an evil dwarf who apparantly worked for this "Mountain Crag." He wanted them to seek out and retrieve a body. He gave the level and cell number, but not the location of the building. I had my ideas about where he meant though. After he left, I appeared before them, and spoke with Gene Ferkas. I explained the situation, and they agreed to return to Heildregch. There, Gene took a vow to oppose the Bonegnasher, and his crime was repaid. We decided to travel to the Prison Temple, since this was most likely where the body was located.
Continued...
Posted 3/13/06 to the Metagamers boards
On the way, we were approached by a being of Law. Since the other Enemies of the State had not yet atoned for their crimes, they were also made to take an oath, the same one that Gene had to make. Symbols were made on their foreheads in order to ensure that they kept these promises.
We reached the Temple, and met up with Shard and the Shining Lions. We devised a plan to retrieve the crystal and attune it to the key into the prison. The Shining Lions went ahead to the Naogi city to cause a distraction, so that we might more easily seek out the crystal. We came to a cottage that was completely enshrouded by a giant vine. As we approached closer, it became clear that this vine was itself a malevolent creature. It attacked, and we had no choice but to chop it into bits. Once inside the cottage, Valtros retrieved the crystal. It was not unguarded however, and we were faced with three hound archons. After attempts to convince them that we were on the side of good failed, we had to fight them. It did not feel right to kill creatures of good, however, our purpose of finding the key supersedes our unwillingness to fight other good beings.
We returned the crystal to the temple, and Alexander set to work on the crystal. When we retired for the evening, something strange happened. We awoke in a world similar to the one in which we awoke once before. Last time it was of a round shape, and we fought a large statue of the Bonegnasher. This time the area was not round, and we reached the mansion easily. Inside were large, hideous spiders. We reached the top of the stairs, and entered another room. It was almost identical to the one we saw in our last dream. This time, however, the statue was missing. Also missing was an unknown object which looked about the size of a deck of cards. Eventually, we all fell back asleep and awoke again in the temple. The next day we used the crystal to determine the location of the key. Unfortunantly, we discovered it to be inside the prison itself! The lock to the entrance is guarded with a powerful and deadly trap which would normally be impossible for one of us to disarm.
I teleported Sphere, Laurthen, Gene, and myself to New Doarg, where I hoped to gather more information. I visited my Alma Mater, New Doarg's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I met an old friend of the family, Darius Rathmore. I have not seen him in quite a long time, and as it were, he owed my family some favor. He gave me a scroll containing the powerful spell Moment of Prescience. It could imbue our rogue with great power for a single task. We would use it to pick the lock into the prison. There was still the matter, however, of the trap. Surely we would not lead Valtros to his certain death. Of course not. Petrov, as a cleric of Death, was able to ward him from the trap whilst he picked the lock.
When all this was done, we were able to enter the prison.
This underground prison, it seems, operates using a system of pulleys and moving platforms, with the cells lining the differently-colored walls of each level. I had but a basic understanding of the system. We were attacked on the first level by foul undead spirits. They drained the life and power right out of me. It was a dreadful experience. We prevailed, however, and made our way down to the bottom of the first level using knotted rope. At the bottom, we found yet another keyhole. We used the crystal again in an attempt to locate the key. Apparently, we’d gone the wrong way. The key was on the ceiling. Vincent flew up and located the key. I feared that he would, in retrieving it, set off another trap of some kind. Shard climbed up and fortunately retrieved it without incident, and we were able to pass to the second level.
After examining the key, it became clear that this prison contained five levels. The runes inscribed on the keys roughly translated to the terms of the prisoners held in that level. The first level was for short-term criminals. The second for those with slightly longer sentences, the third for long-term sentences, the fourth for those sentenced to life in this prison and the fifth level… well, the translation roughly read “Execution.” Another thing to note about these levels was the color of the walls. The first level had grey walls, as one might expect in any prison. The walls of the second level had dark blue walls. As we descended further, we discovered that the third level had violet-shaded walls. This was the level we had come to seek.
Vincent was able to manipulate a series of pulleys that moved us on a platform in front of cell 267. Within, we saw a small figure displaying no signs of life. Vincent was also able to find the mechanism to open the cell door. When we entered the cell, I gasped at the sight before me. Philip Mizeri III lie dead (this time, truly dead) in the cell, a knife in his back attached to a piece of parchment. I never knew Philip as well as Sylvia, but he was well intentioned and always very sweet towards my companions and I. It was truly horrifying to find him deceased. Gene carried his body along, and finding nothing else in the cell, we departed. Several members of the party could not sate their curiosity long enough to go back to Zarod with this news and the parchment. They insisted on looking, at least briefly, into the fourth level. After much persistence on their part, the rest of us relented. Tired and still bloody from the things that yet lurked about the prison, we descended further into the fourth level. The walls were a deep red. True to their word, we stayed only briefly before ascending back up to the entrance of the prison.
We exited the prison nearly without incident. Nearly. A low, evil laughter escaped the prison. Its origins were unknown, but to each of us, it sounded as though Venn Barr himself were standing right behind our backs, laughing as we exited his eternal tomb. Yes, eternal. There are forces working to change this, but we will do all in our power to ensure that his demise remains that way.
Summer 2006
Posted 6/20/06 to the Metagamers boards
We awoke the next morning and experienced a great ruckus. Trampling a large path that neared but did not intersect with the temple were what our dwarven friends called the Forgotten Tribes. I've heard them spoken of before, when we assisted the orc tribe in overthrowing their leader, who was said to have followed the Old Ways. After a few of my companions scouted the area, they determined that the tribes were heading southeast. A few of them went to follow the fast-moving tribes, while I and a couple of others paid a visit to the orcs. Unfortunately, they could not tell us much. However, I left Scout in their care for the moment so that Rog, Thor, and myself could teleport to the lake, which is where we supposed the tribes were headed. It is also the site of the zoo that the Swiss Ninjas had previously dismantled. Upon arriving, we managed to sneak across the bridge that stood across the lake. On the other side was a cave, in which we hid for the time being. I sent Vincent out to find the others and lead them to our location. Once reunited, we again took on the proprietors of this zoo, a couple of hags and giants made of stone. Unfortunately, one of them rode atop a T-Rex and caused much trouble for our party. We were eventually able to defeat them, and we dismantled the bridge. Several of the party members worked together to tame three griffons in the zoo. We rode them back to Heildregch, where we recovered from the recent battle.
We returned the next day to find that the bridge had been repaired. We had caused only a minor setback for the tribes, and they were once again headed quickly towards their destination. Zarod informed us that many had begun to gather around the Avatar of Venn. Not sure what this was or how to stop them, we returned to our previous mission. We returned to the temple prison and delved down into the fifth level; the Execution level. We defeated the fiends that guarded the area, but we could not prevent what happened next. I manipulated the buttons and levers in a tiny room near the top of the level. The party found the area where we suspected the Bonegnasher was kept, and I opened the cell door. Just then, we were attacked again by Nagas. Sphere made quick work of them, but then...
Within the cell of the Bonegnasher lie a tiny pyramid. It suddenly sprouted limbs and began speedily escaping from the area. We attempted to stop it, but it became invisible. I teleported myself to the entrance of the prison, sounding alarm and quickly closing the door to the prison. In time, I returned within to ascertain what had happened to the rest of the party. They had not found the pyramid, but indeed, something much less promising. Somehow, as thoroughly as we had searched the cell of Philip Mizeri III, we had failed to miss a medium-sized ring which formed a gate to another area. It was too small for any of us to fit within, but it was clear that the pyramid, and likely the Bonegnasher, had eluded us.
When we returned to Heildregch, it was only to more bad news. Zarod had been slain during the night by a pair of cowardly orcs and a creature who devoured his body. We also received word that more tribes had been heading south, perhaps in the direction of Xaister. Gene was eager to head out that way, since he hails from the area. We went to Xaister in haste, to warn the people of the town and beseech the authorities for their assistance. Unfortunately, they nearly laughed in our faces at the idea of such a gathering of evil forces. We offered a few of their soldiers a decent sum of money if they would only accompany us and verify the information for their leaders.
This journey met us with many casualties. First, several lizard-like creatures ganged up on Sphere. We later found the area where the masses had gathered by the thousands. The guards nearly wet their pants, and quickly retreated back to Xaister. The masses began to chant and a ritual began. We were able to destroy many of the followers as well as the pyramid being used in the ritual.
Fall Semester 2006
Posted 9/1/06 to the Metagamers boards
Some time has passed since last I wrote. Much has happened. Zarod was fortunately resurrected by the same power that brought back Sylvia and Philip Mizeri. On the subject of Sylvia, a week or so ago, we waited in Heildregch in anticipation of her arrival. When she did not return, we began to worry. Rumors reached us of a small child being locked up in Lumcrox. It would seem all too absurd, even for Lumcrox, for an ordinary child to be held prisoner. I magically viewed Sylvia's location, and Thor, Vician, and a strange fellow named Eloric (whom we've recently come in contact with) teleported to her location. After freeing Sylvia, we were forced to fight our way out of the prison. We encountered some strange and terrible creatures which we could not see when light shone upon them. When we reached the exit of that level, Vician used his knowledge and connection to the void to discover what lie ahead of us. We ascended a staircase, and Thor broke down the door to the second level. Unfortunately, the prison guards were prepared for us, and though we were flying and invisible, they set fire to the entire floor. We had but seconds to make our escape. We all flew down the hall at top speed, and Thor again broke down the door. All of this caused a great ruckus, as we flew out of the Castle of Lumcrox, and back towards Heildregch.
More recently, we made a journey to the town of Monosa. With Sylvia by our side, myself, Thor, Baldric, Rog, and Vician traveled on horseback. Word has been that Rubich, joined by Skye and Quarion, would be invading the town in several days' time, and attempting to seize control of the tower. Our mission was to capture the three of them, return them to the Prison Temple, and have them resurrected. The three of them surely have much information on the Bonegnasher's plans or whereabouts. Monosa is a very poetic and intellectual town. We found their leader studying diligently in the spacious library. Such a dream it would be to me to be able to attend to such studies whenever I wished. One day when my adventures have ceased, and I have retired. In any case, we were given permission to use the tower, which had long remained unused by the town.
Upon exploring the tower, we discovered that secret passages led us deep underground. Most terrible of our encounters were two disgusting chaotic beings. Vician was afflicted by some sort of curse, and he began to resemble a shapeless mass. He was able to will himself back to his normal form, but lasted a short while. We traveled further down into the underground tower, and were met with some strange sights. Several eerie but benign ghosts attended to their studies amongst the shelves of books. We discovered Quarion in one of the rooms. The plan was for Sylvia to use magic to control the three undead. We accidentally killed Quarion before she could do so, which was incredibly unfortunate. However, with two of the three still remaining to be found, we pressed on. Eventually, Vician's condition became more dire. Rog escorted him back to the town, and the rest of us continued.
We came into a room with the symbol of a moon on the ground. Ignoring it for the time being, we proceeded into the next room, where we met with Skye. The battle was a delicate balance of protecting Thor while trying not to send him into a frenzy and trying to get Skye under control without killing him. In the end, we were able to control Skye, and we escaped Thor's wrath. Back in the room with the moon symbol, we deduced that there was a secret passageway under the area. Using our knowledge of the goddess Farawien, we discovered the word needed to open the door. Underneath it were stairs that lead further down. We came to a room, where Rubich was waiting for us with a fierce bolt of lightning. Somehow, we all managed to survive it. The battle against Rubich was the toughest, as his powers are great, and he was difficult to bring under control. Thor pinned him to the ground while I used magical rope to bind him. At this time, I teleported Sylvia, Rubich, Skye, and myself to the prison temple. There was still the matter of finding precious gems to sacrifice for their resurrection. These, we were told, could be found on the ceiling of the underground. However, I first had to return and retrieve my companions. The next morning, I teleported to Monosa and met up with them. Our attempt to return, however, did not go as planned. It seems I have bad luck when it comes to teleporting. However minute the chances of something going wrong, something always does.
We ended up in a completely foreign underground area. With no hope of finding our way back, we made camp for the day. The next day I fortunately teleported us to our proper destination. Sylvia had done us the favor of retrieving the gems for the ritual, along with some beautiful gems for our own keeping. Now we wait, and hopefully when Rubich and Skye awaken, they can tell us more about what is going on.
Posted 9/15/06 to the Metagamers boards
Rubich reported that the Bonegnasher has already taken a city to the east. I have heard of settlements beyond the sea, but the details are unknown to me. Unfortunately, the day brought us other things to worry about. Somehow, two creatures were able to make it past the dwarven temple guards. They stole the keys to the prison and set off the trap that guards the entrance. Whilst we descended each level of the prison, they were able to keep ahead of us. We also encountered several creatures on the way down. Their mere gaze was horrifying and damaging. When we reached the Execution level, someone had taken control of the levers and was releasing prisoners. They kept us engaged in combat long enough for the large creature at the bottom to teleport out of the prison. Thor unfortunately fell victim to one of the creatures at the bottom, and was slain by their look alone. Having lost a party member to one of these creatures previously, we know that it's only a matter of time before he becomes one of them. We have but a day's time to resurrect him, and this means finding another large gem for sacrifice.
I wonder, who or what were they retrieving from the cells? I suspect that they were more followers of the Bonegnasher; many of the evil forces in this region follow that path. I feel entirely foolish that such rogues were able to walk straight into the temple, take the keys to the prison and fulfill their mission with such little resistance. I thought the temple better protected than that. In the future, we should make better efforts to fortify the area. Perhaps we need to set guards down in the prison itself, especially since these fiends have the keys to the prison now. But that is a matter to consider later. For now, our immediate attention must be turned to saving Thor.
Posted 10/25/06 to the Metagamers boards
Our attempt to find the money to bring Thor back lead us on an interesting path. Since time was limited, we put together the treasure we had already to have him resurrected. Sylvia knows of a dwarf named Logos who is a keeper of many great gems, and it so happened that he owed her a favor. We set off to find this druid, who lives high up, near the ceiling of the underground. We had to fight off a vicious harpy when we got close to his home, and when we arrived inside, we discovered that his house had been ransacked. It appeared to be the work of Delvers, and Logos himself was nowhere to be seen. We found an interesting item, the signet ring of a noble Azer family, which set us in the direction of the Zetari Citadel. Along the way, I asked Sylvia if she had any items belonging to Logos, so that my magic could be better honed in discerning his location. She sheepishly produced a crude likeness of Logos, apparantly created from toenails, hair clippings, and other... organic substances. It seems that she has similar dolls of each of us. However, my astonishment at this was brief, as I have come to trust Sylvia and have ceased trying to fully understand her methods.
On our way to the Zetari Citadel, we were confronted by two delvers, the same (presumably) that helped ransack Logos' house. We killed one of them, and the other retreated. Unfortunately, he returned at a most inopportune time. We were about halfway across the bridge into the city, and the delver appeared and destroyed the end of the bridge from which we came. I summoned magical beasts, who were able to save anyone who could not fly. They also saved all but one of the horses. When we finally arrived, Baldric decided to cause even more trouble for us by refusing to sign the stone tablet at the city entrance. He instead became invisible and entered illegally, much to my dismay.
I went to Ciera's house and found that she was not home, but arrangements were made by her servants for us to spend the night. We learned that the signet ring we had found belonged to a family who had lost some of their status as nobles, but still held some influence in the town. We went to return it to the last remaining member of this family, a man named Ullan Borgshaft. When we arrived, however, he seemed disinterested in the ring, and could not answer any questions for us. Malthus and Dahn pointed out to us afterwards that the doll of Logos had slipped through the doorway on its own, and Sylvia after it. The nature of these dolls lead us to believe that Logos was being held against his will, perhaps inside the house.
I went to the temple, hoping they could address my concerns. Unfortunately, bureaucracy makes it very difficult to get much done through the law in any timely fashion. We loitered around the front of Borgshaft's house for a while more, when we were approached by some guards. We informed them of our situation, and one in particular seemed interested in helping us. It seemed like he had a score of some sort to settle with the owner of this house, and making an inquiry on our behalf was the result. He got a search warrant for the house, and along with a few other guards, began to search. Baldric slipped into the house as well (unnoticed, or so he thought), and the rest of us were not allowed inside. Baldric was discovered when he accidentally brushed against one of the guards. A cleric was brought in, and Baldric was arrested. For once, he complied with the law and was taken away.
That evening, we were at a loss for what to do. The guards had found nothing inside the house, but we were certain that there had to be a secret area in the house. After all, Borgshaft himself was not even home when they knocked on his door. Only his butler answered. We eventually decided to wait until Baldric's hearing the next morning, then we would teleport into the place where Sylvia was. Baldric was released on bail, and his trial set for three days from then. I scryed on Sylvia, and attempted to teleport to her location. Unfortunately, what I saw was an illusion of some sort, and we ended up back in Ciera's house, who by this time was at home.
I do not wish to incriminate myself, so I will not disclose all the details of the events that followed. Suffice to say that Borgshaft's butler allowed us into the house, and we found a secret passage. Sylvia's dolls had approached us, lead by a doll of Sylvia herself. They are the ones who lead us to the passage, and when we went inside, they lead us through a labyrinth and into a room with bronze doors. In the center of the room was a hole into a pit of lava. In the middle of it was a platform, underneath which hung a cage. On top of the platform was a Salamander, an evil lizard-like creature. We were able to defeat it, and within the cage were Sylvia and Logos. The next room over contained some treasure worth a fairly decent sum (again, I'm not saying that we took the treasure, but that is the allegation). There was also a large stone archway that we later identified as one of the ancient dwarven Shadow gates. Accordingly, these gates allowed travel between great distances, but each only led to one location. The gate was inactive, and we took our leave. Amongst the things we found was a statue of a man. I had seen this man before, in one of the towers, a long time ago. He had a magical aura about him, and we later broke the enchantment that had him turned to stone.
This man, as it turned out, was one of the "Last Wardens," a group of people who sought out all the escaped prisoners of the Prison temple. This man had apparantly been a statue for the past 2500 years. We tried to explain this to him, but he naturally did not believe us. We took him back to the prison temple to show him, and the Shining Lions suggested that we bring him to see Zarod, who had returned to Heildregch. We first returned to the tower where I had previously seen his statue. He sought the statue of the wizard he had been battling, in hopes that he might destroy it. Unfortunately, there was evidence that the wizard, a servant of the Bonegnasher, had been freed and had left the area.
When we returned to Heildregch, a funeral was taking place. Philip Mizeri had passed away, this time of natural causes. We mourned his death, and poor Sylvia did not take the news well at all. We spent the night in the mansion that she had inherited from him. The man spoke with Zarod, and the next day, we returned underground. We parted ways with him, and returned to the Zetari Citadel for Baldric's trial.
That day, Thor ventured out into the town and was approached by a human female. He didn't give many details, but the lipstick still smudged on his face was a tell-tale sign. Anyhow, she put him under some sort of charm effect (along with the surrounding townspeople), and a brawl ensued. Or should I say, a massacre? Thor killed about six people before we arrived on the scene. I was able to use magic to stop him from killing more, but it was too late. The town guards arrived and put us all under arrest. Thor was charged with the killings, and apparantly, word had gotten out about our venture into Borgshaft's home (and the alleged theft of his treasure). We were all tried in court right after Baldric. The trial seemed to be going poorly, but in the end, we recieved no jail time. Baldric was set free. We were ordered to pay 20,000 gold pieces to Borgshaft (the approximate value of his treasure). Logos paid 10,000 for us, to show his gratitude. Thor was tried for the killing of the six townspeople, but we were able to prove that he had been under the effect of a spell. He had to pay a large sum, and was deemed a menace to the town, never allowed to roam the streets unsupervised.
After all of our legal issues had been solved, Ciera came to us with an interesting proposition. She wanted us to venture under Borgshaft's house again and find out what exactly what was going on. She had clearance from the city, so we would not be in any trouble for this. This time, we teleported directly into the labyrinth. We found another room that looked very similar to the one we had come upon the first time. In this room, we were ambushed by three Ifriti. We defeated them, and attempted to rescue a dwarf who was cowering in a cage in the center of the room. Upon closer examination, we realized that he was just an illusion. In the room next door, rather than a treasury, we found more foes. This time, there was a human warrior, a construct known as a shield guard, and a noble with a strange hat. I did not recognize him. Apparantly, there was also a wizard, but we were unable to see him. We were able to defeat all but the noble, who escaped into the gate, which had become active. After the battle, we were contemplating resting in the room. However, a chorus of tiny voices rang out from outside the door. Our dolls were being conducted by Sylvia in an eerie choir of sorts. We returned to Ciera's house, where we were informed that Borgshaft had fled the city, and his house now belonged to her.
Still curious about the human female who had caused Thor to kill those townspeople, I wandered around town and inquired further. I was told about a halfling in town who might be able to help. I paid her fee, and she revealed that this person had been hired by Borgshaft to cause trouble for us. I suppose I probably should have been able to deduce that on my own, but I wanted to know for sure. When I told Sylvia about this woman, she insisted that we go see her. We returned to her house, and Sylvia demanded to know what had happened to Philip Mizeri III. We were told to return the following day. When we did, the halfling was joined by a couple of others, more halflings in disguise. It is said that the halflings are keepers of great secrets. They disclosed the whole story of Philip III. I do not recall all of the details, but in short, Philip III was not brought back to life by the censer, but by some other way (what actually happened is the subject of some dispute). He is the one who brought the censer to Philip Mizeri. He was eventually captured by servants of the Bonegasher. He gave them information about the ring gates (one end of which we discovered in the prison cell where his body was found). I believe he was murdered by a Derro called Sycophant, though I don't really remember, and his body left in the cell where we found him.
When we returned to Ciera's house, Sylvia told us that she had an item that would allow us to use the Shadow Gate to travel to the Shadow Plane. There, we can find a man who may be able to tell us more about what happened to Auzmator and Methanus. After all, he was the last to see the heroes before they disappeared. We returned to the shadow gate, and passed through, arriving on the shadow plane. Sylvia communed with a deity to point us in the direction of the tower we sought. The shadow plane is a very strange (and of course, very dark) place. It is more difficult to use fire, as I found out during our last battle. Also, space and distance seem different here. What looks like a few feet may stretch on for hundreds, and what looks miles away may only be fifty feet. Sylvia shared some mushrooms with us that made our minds a bit clearer. We are resting for the evening, and tomorrow, we will reach the tower. I don't know what awaits us, but I hope we can find some answers.
Posted 12/2/06 to the Metagamers boards
It has been over a month since my last entry. The next day, we reached the tower. The archduke insisted that we go through a series of challenges before gaining an audience with him. We endured several types of large worms, and insidious traps. When we reached our final challenge, we armed ourselves heavily with enchantments and such. Little did we know that the second we stepped out of the protective circle, we would release a trap that would render not only our enchantments, but our equipment itself, entirely useless. It was a very vulnerable time, but we overcame the enemy that we then faced. Furious that all of my magical equipment had been destroyed, I had half a mind to battle the archduke himself when we met face to face. However, he made amends and rewarded us handsomely. In addition, he offered me a wondrous gift; specially prepared materials with which I was able to construct a robe. A lovely and powerful thing known as the Robe of the Archmagi. It took a month of labor to complete this thing, and upon completion, I discovered that my robe was aware. She possesses special abilities, including the ability to communicate with me. I called her Veronica.
After a month had passed, working and staying with the Archduke in his tower, we set off on another mission. The Archduke has told us of the Bonegnasher's plan. He seeks the well of the world, and if he find it, the entire world will be in peril. We began our quest to find the keys that would help one gain access to the well. Our journey lies on a distant world, another place on our plane. There is also a chance that Auzmator and Methanus have been there. A planet consisting entirely of forest. We were able to manipulate a shadow gate to get to this world. The floor of the forest is extremely dangerous, and we fought many fearsome foes there. We made our way up to the canopy, and continued our journey. Along the way, we found the corpse of a Sylvan elf. We later encountered more of his kinsmen, and they took us to their village. Their temple happened to be housed in the large tree towards which we had been headed. We spoke with a celestial being named Elsherd. She did not reveal to us much information, but she did tell us of another matter. It seems that in this world, a battle is raging between a dragon named Zahv, the elves, and a werewolf named Krenshier. We agreed to help the elves to destroy these two. The journey to the dragon's lair was full of dangers, including beastly trees and traps. When we finally reached the lair entrance, it was underneath a body of water. Thanks to Sylvia, we were able to breathe under the water. I have no talent in swimming, and in fact, much of our time underwater I had to be dragged along by Thor.
We encountered the dragon, along with more of his minions. The battle was fierce, and several times, we came close to death. The dragon retreated more than once, but we pursued him. In the end, we won out. Now we sit, in a cavern, in a place above the water, on a mound of treasure. Great were the stakes, but great have been our rewards. We must return to the elves with proof of our victory, and then, we must prepare for the next battle with the werewolf. Perhaps then, Elsherd will help us to find what we came for.
Spring Semester 2007
Posted 1/19/2007 to the Metagamers boards
Upon our return to the city, we begun making plans to kill the werewolf lord. However, after we begun rest for the night, we found out that he had his own plans for the city. One of the city's guard towers had been set aflame by a fiery explosion. I rushed inside to retrieve any survivors but found none. I returned with two bodies, but both were already dead. We discovered that they had been wounded and killed before the fire consumed them. We also received word from treant allies that the werewolf lord was launching an attack on the city. His army of 700 wolfkind would be here by midnight. We gathered every able-bodied man and woman, and our numbers reached nearly 700. We girded ourselves for battle, and set up troops in the direction from which the army was marching.
They were coming for the temple, to kill Elsherd and seize control of the city. My troops quivered in fear as they saw a terrible warrior they'd seen before. I had seen him before as well. It was Quarion. Shortly after the battle began, We received word from our scouts that the werewolf and some of his lieutenants had led troops into the city from another side. Thor took some of our men and several treants to lead the attack in that direction. Baldric and I remained with our men and fought on the frontlines. Many fell as the battle raged on. Then, at once, I felt my telepathic connection with Thor dissipate and I knew he had been killed. I made my way over the wall and back towards the temple. I ran on until I could see the werewolf lord and another werewolf that appeared to be healing him still left alive. I threw two orbs of force at them as they killed the last of the treants. They headed for the temple, but before they could enter, I teleported inside. It appeared empty, and so I waited next to the door. When they entered, the cleric cast a spell that revealed Elsherd standing within the temple. The werewolf lord charged at her and attacked. I ran up behind him and released a mighty burst of flames. He fell to the ground, dying. Before the cleric could run up and heal his master, Elsherd created a wall between them. I finished off the cleric and returned outside to the battle.
There, Baldric and the remaining elves had been holding off the attacking forces. They had breached a gate but were being killed as they tried to enter the city. Eventually, the hundred or so wolves that were left retreated. We had won out, and Elsherd retained control of the city. Still, losses had been heavy. Only 300 or so elves remained alive. We were able to resurrect Thor, which is most fortunate. The city must rebuild, but I believe Elsherd can now help us find that which we came for.
It occured to us shortly thereafter that we had not seen Sylvia since we arrived in town. Just then, an elf arrived and told us that a little girl wanted to see us. We met with her, and found that she too had been rather busy. There, bound and gagged, was Quarion. Finally. Now, we can have him restored to his true form, and he can hopefully help us learn even more about the Bonegnasher's current whereabouts.
Posted 2/2/2007 to the Metagamers boards
With Krenshin defeated, Elsherd agreed to help us with what we had come seeking. We rested for the day and returned to her the following morn. It was there in the temple that she opened the passageway below. She was the guardian of the first level, and was not allowed passage any further below. We began our journey downward. The first of several two-sided doors we came upon had inscriptions on it that indicated two different elements. We entered to find a huge construct running the same worn-in path in the ground over and over. He attacked with his breath, but was quickly destroyed. Our first task seeming simple enough, we moved onward. When we opened the door to the next level, the door through which we had entered resealed itself. Our next foe proved to be much more problematic. In spite of the strongwilled nature of the wizard, I succumbed to domination by a vampire. With Thor under my direction, disaster was imminent. However, Thor had a moment of clarity and was able to break my hold on him. Evidently, this vampire was also a monk, making him quite evasive (and difficult to be harmed). After I had broken my domination, the vampire turned his sights back on Thor. We were able to force a retreat from the fiend, but since he remained alive, Thor remained under his control. We discerned that the vampire, in his gaseous form, had fled behind one of the tapestries that adorned the walls.
I teleported myself behind the tapestry so that Thor would not know where I was. One of our newfound allies, Aellellea, used magic to travel behind the tapestry with one of the elves that had joined us for this task. We moved into the passageway and made our way to the next door. Baldric kept Thor distracted until we could kill the vampire. Unfortunately, when we came to the room that contained him, there stood a large demon. He attempted to negotiate a trade with us wherein we would free him and sacrifice one of our own, but we do not negotiate with such vile creatures of the underworld. The three of us fought and killed him while Baldric and Thor played cat-and-mouse in the previous room. With the demon slain, we approached the vampire's coffin. All at once, we pierced his heart with our weapons.
Beneath the coffin was a secret passage. Once Baldric and Thor joined us, we ventured down into the passage. Thor and the elven paladin led the way, and I followed close behind. Through the last double-sided door was a terrible creature, a type of Inevitable. He informed us confidently that our death was imminent. He attacked Thor, who frenzied and made short work of him. I fled the scene, so as not to be killed by Thor myself. Baldric distracted Thor once again, who in a minute or so regained his senses. We both approached an idol at the opposite end of the room. It contained a box, and a timer that made it's final *click* just as we viewed it. I swiftly grabbed the box as the thing snapped shut. At that moment, the ceiling began to collapse. I would not have made it to the door fast enough, but Thor carried me with a mighty charge towards the exit. Everyone made it back to the previous room alive. However, with all previous doors sealed, and the room below still rumbling, we had few options. We attempted to teleport our way out, but there seemed to be some sort of magical seal that prevented it. I opened the box, and a spell was unleashed. We allowed ourselves to be affected by it, and we were teleported out of the dungeon.
Within the box was a scroll. After studying it carefully, all I could figure out was that it had records of dates from hundreds of thousands of years ago, up to the present day. It seemed to be a map that told of the numbers and locations of keys. Elsherd summoned a very old, wise man to interpret the scroll in much greater detail. When he had finished, we were still left with a very cryptic message. Something about the moon turning to blood, a dark channel, and doom. Lots of doom, apparantly. There are evidently also three keys currently. The first was supposed to be in possession of a covey of hags. We were joined by a man named Belroar, who is related to Elsherd. He communed with his deity so that we may ask questions. We discerned that the hags were on the Areopagus, and we narrowed the area down to about 20 miles, in the inland peak of a bay in the West. We had a few more questions that needed answering after also learning that the hags themselves did not have the key, so Sylvia communed with her... er, deity. We learned that the hags knew where the key was, and that it was still within 10 miles of them. With that, we thanked Elsherd and teleported back to Rathe. I wanted to go back to Heildregch briefly, if only to speak with Zarod about our current progress. We told him the story of what had happened thus far. He also provided us with a map of Ha'ghast, the closest town to the place we needed to go. We rested for the night and the next day, teleported to the area.
We trekked to Ha'ghast to possibly learn more information about the whereabouts of the hags. We gained an audience with the town council and informed them of our intentions (omitting information about the key that we sought). They said that the hags had been a danger to the town for some time, and that there was a hefty reward on their heads. We took a boat down the river, closer to the area where the hags had been seen before. We were approached by a large group of giants. They were not difficult to defeat, and we continued on. We entered a cave, and were confronted by the three hags within, as well as a huge, much more powerful giant. We destroyed the hags fairly quickly, but not before they trapped Thor in a forcecage. Unfortunately, I could not get rid of it, and he remained trapped for the entire battle. This giant was extremely powerful, able to dispel all of our magical effects at will. He was also protected from most of my spells, so we couldn't do a whole lot. I died, but Sylvia was able to bring me back. We eventually defeated him. The next day, the forcecage around Thor wore off.
There was a body of water in the cave as well. We explored it, and at first, saw a disgusting, fishlike creature swimming around in the area. I realized that it was an illusion. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, we encountered one that was not an illusion. However, we defeated it and left its hideous corpse floating on the water. We found a box that contained a scroll. It was inscribed with words of power. We have found the first key. It will hopefully lead us to the second.
Posted 3/30/2007 to the Metagamers boards
The clue from the first key lead us to our next location; the Prison-Temple of Markof. We went into the chamber which has resurrected many a fallen comrade, and brought Sylvia and Philip Mizeri back from the undead. After careful searching, we discovered that the sarcophagus could be moved to reveal a platinum ladder leading down into a room. In this room was another sarcophagus which was guarded by an angelic figure. We tried to explain our presence, but it seemed that a battle was inevitable. After all, he was the guardian of the tomb, and we had to gain what was within it. I was very hesitant to fight a being of good, but this problem was soon solved as the guardian revealed his darker side. He quickly transformed into a large horned devil. Unfortunately, his hideous form caused a couple of my comrades to flee in terror. Most of us were able to stand our ground, however. Just when the fiend had been defeated, he split into six smaller devils that proceeded to wrestle each of us. I called upon a divine favor to free myself the devil's grasp and shot a ray of green light that reduced it to nothingness. When the last devil had been defeated, the sarcophagus cracked open.
Inside the tomb we had come seeking was a metal box. Unfortunately, as I reached for it, a shrieking like that of a horrible banshee threatened our lives. Fortunately, we all withstood its cry. We then teleported back to the chamber upstairs. As we did so, Aellellea noticed one of the dolls leap from Sylvia's bag. She returned to investigate, and reported back that it was a doll of the guardian, rebuilding the sarcophagus that had been broken open. There was some talk from my companions about stealing the platinum ladder. I tried to dismiss these notions, and left the area. Eventually, they must have decided against the idea, for they too returned to the main part of the temple. The third key told us that we needed to find the sign of Maust, and that it would be found in a monument to Calvus. A little thought on this reminded me that we had once visited Monosa, and that the main library is indeed a monument to Calvus. We ventured to Monosa shortly thereafter, and spoke with their leader, who we found studying in the library, as she had been before.
She again gave us permission to use the archives. We ventured down, and came to the place where Thor had wrestled with Rubich while we tied him up. The bookshelves were massive, and they were many. Sylvia found a depiction of a door on one of the walls. It held some sort of magical properties that allowed us to walk onto the wall as if we were part of the picture. We came to another area of the archives. There was an extremely creepy ghostly figure that followed me around, perhaps because I was the only one who could see him. We also came upon a circle of many doors. We walked through several of them and were brought to seemingly random locations. Among these locations were crypts, archives, and opera houses. We deduced that we were, in fact, being taken to random locations when we went through these doors (each time, we were able to find our way to a doorway that lead us back to our starting location). Apparently, specific words would bring one to specific areas of the archives. We unfortunately did not know these words, and after battling our way through several areas, we decided to rest for the night. During the night, we were attacked by devils, the same type we had fought previously. It is clear that someone is after us, for it seems highly unlikely that this encounter was purely random. I’m sure the Bonegnasher has gotten wind of what we are doing. Perhaps these were allies of his.
The next day, we proceeded through the doors once again. Eventually, we came to an opera house where a hideous shrieking could be heard. A banshee wailed her horrid song, and Thor and I were slain. The next thing I remember is waking up in the same area, but the creature had gone. I came to the realization that the third key was in the banshee’s song. Amongst the incoherent babbling of her song were the words we needed to complete the trinity that would give us access to the well of the world. Sylvia enchanted us to give us protection from the effects of the banshee’s song. While the others held her off, I transcribed the song. As I finished the song, the banshee began to fade away. When the final words were written, she disappeared. The final key led us to a ship manned by a goblin pirate. Apparently, we had to speak the words unto a figure inside his quarters. When we read the words of the keys, the woman on the front of the ship changed her form, and the ship is now moving on its own. We appear to be heading towards the maelstrom in the middle of the ocean. Since it is going to take a total of 15-20 days, the captain demanded payment for our time on the ship.
After a day or two had passed, we received word that the man with the yellow hat had returned to the Zetari Citadel. However, since the shadow gate through which he came was not longer under Borgshaft’s control, he was captured. We traveled there, since we had a lot of time to spare. He apparently is part of some faction of organized evil, whose ranks are indicated by the color of their hats. He had tried to gain power, but was foiled by a man he referred to as the Yellow Hat of Power. He told us that his standing was over in their group, and that he wanted us to ruin the yellow hat of Power. He gave us a fairly good description of the yellow hat’s castle. Our reward was to be anything we found in the treasury. I was fairly hesitant to become involved in the affairs of a group like this, but my companions were already seduced by the idea of vast wealth, and I can’t say this didn’t tempt me as well. We teleported in, and found ourselves in the basement level of the tower. We were almost immediately attacked by umber hulks, some of them even more powerful that one would normally expect. We were also attacked by creatures that I could only see as wisps of vapor flying around the ceiling. However, the others could not see them at all, so the burden of killing them was upon me. Belroar was kept fairly busy just trying to keep all of us alive. Eventually, we defeated them. Some men came down the stairs, but Thor made quick work of them. Some were cut in half, and others fled for their lives.
We headed up the stairs, where panic had broken out at the umber hulks’ release. We continued to travel up the stairs. On one level, I spotted two men who had become invisible. They were watching us. We approached, and one of them retreated. We continued up the stairs and came face to face with another devil, this one unlike those we had faced over the last week. However, he disappeared after a short while, and a wizard with a yellow hat stood behind him. We attacked, but he hid around the corner. Thor went after him, but suddenly disappeared, trapped far beneath the earth. The wizard returned and blinded me with a powerful spell. However, I pointed at him and struck him down where he stood. The victory was short-lived when his corpse disappeared, a teleporting spell apparently contingent on his death. Our top priority was to bring Thor back, but I unfortunately had not yet learned the spell to bring him back. Belroar and I returned to the Zetari Citadel. We bought a scroll for that spell, and returned to the castle the next day. The captured yellow hat told us that we would have found the treasure in the basement. We returned to the spot where Thor had been imprisoned, and freed him. We went down to the basement level again and found a secret passage beneath the floor. The treasury held a very large amount of wealth. Amongst the riches was a very large and very powerful artifact, a maul. Even my powers as a loremaster would not reveal its secrets. What we did figure out, however, was that being in its vicinity prevented us from teleporting anywhere. Luckily, Belroar provided the solution to this problem. Though it took all day, we were able to turn into a vaporous form and travel back to the Zetari Citadel with our treasure and the artifact.
Ever since that day, I have been having horrible nightmares. On one occasion, I temporarily lost my ability to regain my spells. These nightmares are not natural; they are the result of a hex being cast on me by someone. I suspect it is the Yellow Hat of Power, seeking revenge.
I asked the Halfling that lived in the Zetari Citadel if she could tell us anything more about this artifact. I gave her some money, and returned the next day. She unfortunately had not found any significant information except that it had once been connected to one of the Last Wardens, Jerome, and that it had been referred to as the Stagnant Heart. Fortunately, we had freed him from stone some time ago, and he is currently residing at the Prison Temple. We ventured there to speak with him. He could not remember anything important about it, but we were able to cast a spell that retrieved his lost memory. He recalled that the last time they had fought the Bonegnasher, they had lost. However, when he tried to activate the Well of the Worlds, something went wrong. Apparantly, the Well is designed with some sort of teleporting energy. Like I mentioned earlier, the Stagnant Heart prevented us from teleporting because it held strong anchoring powers. When the two artifacts of such opposing powers were activated near each other, the results were catastrophic. All who were present were scattered all over the world, and the Bonegnasher was temporarily foiled. I wondered, if the Stagnant Heart could not be teleported, how they got it there. Jerome said that they had used the keys. With this information, we decided to bring the maul with us, as a kind of fail-safe. Should we fail to protect the Well, and the Bonegnasher tries to activate it, having the Stagnant Heart with us could delay his plans again.
After all this, we returned to the ship. Aellellea received word that an old friend was scouting out a lair on the world of forest, requesting our assistance. We rested that day, and headed there the next. Aellellea’s friend had been watching that lair for quite some time. He knew that there were hydras beneath the water, and possibly something else. After Sylvia gave us the ability to breathe underwater, I summoned a large celestial whale, and we submerged. We encountered three hydras, each with many heads. I dominated one of them, the one with the ability to breathe fire, and made him attack the others. The battle was a short one, and we continued on. We found a platform that rose above the water, and there were several more hydras. The one I had control over helped us fight, and we were again victorious. There was a lot of treasure, much of which was unfortunately in the smallest denominations.
Our plans for now are uncertain, besides that we need to exchange our wealth for goods and that we will eventually return to the ship. I am concerned right now with those who may be watching us. We have made powerful enemies, and I worry that they will be coming for us.
Posted 4/15/2007 to the Metagamers boards
The remaining days leading up to the 31st of December were rather uneventful, save for a deep sea encounter with some horrid creatures that we defeated near a sunken ship. I spent that last week or so in rather diligent study, preparing myself mentally and magically for whatever was to lie ahead. On the morn of the 31st, we saw arisen in the water a vast spout in the ocean, which we soon discovered was to be our final destination. The seas raged all around the ship which, guided by forces greater than nature, was unfazed. A calm bubble had taken hold of our vessel, and it led us safely through the massive wall of water formed the spout, spanning miles across the sea and higher than the unaided eye could tell.
After we breached this wall, the seas revealed to us its secret. Here was The Generator. This was the capital of the once great gnomish empire. The empire of old that had been ravaged by Venn Barr. The way the vast tower stood, I estimated that the area below the water's surface had to extend at least its aboveground height in order for the thing to be supported. It was a tremendous sight indeed, and it was within these walls that we would find the Well of the Worlds. At the tower's base stood a set of double doors, and on either side of the doorway stood Wilven, the Gatekeeper, and Anaxera, the Retriever. Well, their images stood there as guardians. There appeared no way to open these doors, and so we understood that we would have to read the key in order to gain passage. At this point, the solar eclipse had begun. The moon engulfed the sun. Then something extraordinary happened. The second moon of Rathe rose also, and also eclipsed the sun. This created the effect of red moon. At last the prophecy would come to pass. We could only hope to prevent its final words: "... and the world shall know the terror of HIS return."
High above the tower, Aellellea spotted a dark fortress soaring near the top. Though I could barely see it, I knew what it was. Though it has long since lost its name, this thing is a mobile dwarven shadow gate. I can only assume that Venn Barr had found it, for only someone as old as he could even have been able to find it.
We read the words of the trinity of keys unto the pair. Anaxera's image seemed to be reading along with the spoken words on her own long scroll. When the last word had been spoken, Wilven selected a key from his seemingly endless keyring and unlocked the way into the tower. For the first time since we had gained its possession, the Stagnant Heart became suppressed, and we were able to enter the gate, after which time it anchored us once again. We entered into a circular room that was marked by 12 different doors. In the center stood a pool of water that gave a heavenly glow. Two men greeted us, a paladin and a wizard. This was the Well of the Worlds, and these were its guardians, Auzmator and Methanus. The two heroes that I had sought since the beginning of my adventures stood before me, and I was awed by them. This was not, however, a time for pleasantries. A great feast had been prepared, for the pair informed us that we had around an hour before Venn Barr would arrive with his armies. The food was more than nourishing, but an unspoken tension settled across the group as we contemplated what was possibly our last meal. We were also told not to look into the Well, as its depths would shatter our very beings.
When our meal had ended, Auzmator approached us with a question. We were told that we would have aid in this fight, and that we could choose one group of allies whom we trusted absolutely. There were a few facetious remarks about a ragtag group of miscreants known as the Conscripts, but I knew that there was but one group alongside whom I would fight the final battle of our time. The Shining Lions were transported to our location, and we prepared for the coming havoc. We divided the room into thirds, with each party standing its ground in that area. The first attack wave met us with various types of devils. Ours were fewer in number, but greater in power. They stabbed with icy stingers, but were defeated quickly. Not far away, I saw Auzmator singlehandedly dispatch the herd of barbed devils in flurried bursts of light. The Shining Lions, too, had little trouble in defeating the first wave.
The next round of troops were of the powerful undead variety. We met up with a nightcrawler that swallowed Belroar whole. It soon realized its mistake when he sliced his way out from its belly, his sword glowing and covered in at least one of its vital organs. This fight took a little more out of us, but we stood strong. We shouted victoriously to the other groups, who jokingly placed wagers on which of we three groups would be worst off in terms of the next wave. Unfortunately, this beginning was but a warmup for the Bonegnasher as well. Our overconfidence was soon replaced by sheer terror as the third wave arrived. The Shining Lions were met with what is known as a pit fiend, one of the nastiest and most horrifying devils one could encounter. Before our group towered the largest black dragon I could ever have imagined. Without the protective magic with which we had been endowed, I have no doubt that any one of us would have run in fear. Finally, Auzmator and Methanus were faced with him. Venn Barr himself arrived with three of his lieutenants at his side. Two of them I did not recognize, but there was one particularly deranged, transparent-skinned dwarf that I recognized as Sycophant, the vile fiend that killed Philip Mizeri III. One of the other lieutenants attempted to cast the powerful disjunction spell that had struck us once, long ago when we first visited the Archduke Euphagris. However, Methanus stood holding what I recognized as the Tome of Farawien, and he was able to counter the spell.
The battle had begun, and the odds were heavily against us. Several of us had spells set to bring us back to life should we fall, courtesy of the Archduke. However, this was not nearly enough. Venn Barr held the Censer of Urmb, and his fallen undead rose up once more. Thor battled with the Nightcrawler, while Belroar and Seril took on the dragon. Aellellea and I split our efforts, first aiming for the Bonegnasher and his minions. Unfortunately, our efforts were almost wholly wasted, as they were well protected. Auzmator, Methanus, and Venn Barr all displayed a very interesting and unusual ability. When they moved, their images seemed to stretch out, so that when their actions were completed, they simply snapped back into their original place. It seemed this was used both to attack quickly and to dodge foes.
Seril was the first of our group to fall, for he had not gotten to prepare anything contingent on his death. Shortly thereafter, Methanus was disarmed by the Nightwalker, and the Tome of Farawien was flung backwards and caught by one of Venn Barr's men, who then used it to cast horribly painful magic on all of us. Shortly thereafter, Sylvia was killed. Then, Venn Barr ran up to Methanus and bashed him six times with the censer. Methanus was drained of twelve levels, and the damage he had taken up to that point was just too much. He fell to the ground, dead.
I didn't get to see much of the Shining Lions' combat, but they were also suffering heavy losses against the pit fiend. My longtime friend Tomas Pylis was slain. My heroes and closest friends dying all around, I felt helpless even in all the power I had gained up to this point. I focused my attacks on the dragon, who seemed to be the closest to being defeated at this point, especially once Thor had finished the nightcrawler and turned his wrath on it. We were eventually able to defeat the dragon, but it was unfortunately the least of our worries. Auzmator and the Bonegnasher were almost matching blows, but it seemed like Venn Barr, surrounded by his casters, was better protected. With the dragon slain, we tried to focus our energies on him. Auzmator valiantly rushed in and killed Venn Barr's cleric, doing a lot of secondary damage to the Bonegnasher himself as well as the other lieutenant. Auzmator must have known that the battle would be lost, though I think we all strongly suspected it at this point. He told us that if something were to happen, to gaze into the Well of the Worlds and to wish. This would activate it, and with the Stagnant Heart still nearby in Thor's possession, activate our fail-safe.
That horrible Sycophant should have been dead. We nearly killed him, but, like us, he had prepared a spell to revivify himself. He pulled out a skeletal hand with one finger raised, pointed it at Auzmator and said in the vilest of tones, "For the bones die..." I nearly cried out as Auzmator fell dead. At that point, we had lost all hope for victory in this battle. With all of the Shining Lions killed, the heroes slain, and our party either dead or close to it, anger swelled within me. I wanted with all my heart to keep fighting, but we all knew what had to be done. I had barely moved away from the Well the entire time we had been there, so I stepped up to it, gazed inside, and wished. Auzmator had said that it wasn't a verbal wish, that the Well would know what I most desired. I just wanted everyone to be okay, and I wanted to keep fighting. It looked into my soul and knew that what I wanted more than anything was to be a hero, to defeat evil and help those around me. The ground began to shake. The Stagnant Heart was drawn into the pool of water, and it began to beat rhythmically in waves of energy. I felt everything within me dissolve, and as I faded, I saw our enemies fade as well.
I don't really know how to fully describe what happened next. One minute, I thought I was flung thousands of feet into the air, soaring above the clouds over Rathe. I saw a gigantic ray of light bursting forth from the tower. It pointed at the double-eclipse. Then, things were dark again. I don't know what happened in that period, but in my mind, I saw St. Richard, extending his hand towards me, and I knew that right had been done. I awoke again in the tower, the enemies gone and my friends alive. We had somehow been returned to this place, even after being flung to the far-reaching ends of the world. The Well had not been so kind to the Bonegnasher and his followers, who had been scattered far and wide throughout the universe. We may not have defeated Venn Barr, but we did not allow Rathe to fall to him either. Unfortunately, in activating the Well at the same time as the Stagnant Heart, we have created disaster for some. A giant tidal wave has erupted and is headed to the shores of Rathe. Thousands may die, especially on the Areopagus, and we have not found a solution. The Stagnant Heart is nowhere to be found. It may be lost in some remote area of the world, but we are not sure.
We do know that the Well of the Worlds needs guardians. Auzmator and Methanus have stood here for the past fifteen years, and they have now offered us the chance to join them. This would mean little or no contact outside of this place, particularly because it was once so important to the gnomish empire. But we would of course be able to continue adventuring within the tower. From what they tell us, there are many adventures to be had just exploring its depths. Some of us have accepted the offer, while others need time to think. For me, and I'm sure for Tomas, nothing could be greater than standing side-by-side with our heroes, defending the Well just as they have for the past fifteen years. My hair has been turned bright white, but I do not mourn the loss of the color. It is a mark of honor.
I will miss my family, and I will miss all of the allies I have made along the way. I want to find some way to repay them. I have also decided to grant Scout sentience. I know some may not necessarily view this as a reward, but after everything I've been through with him, he deserves to be more than a beast of burden.
This chapter of my story ends, but I begin a new life as a guardian of the Well. There is much to be done before he comes again, but when he does, we will destroy him.
