Vaeru's Journal 2

23 September 2011

Once outside we decided it would be best to find a place to rest. As we searched I heard rumor of a place near where we were. It was a run down inn called the "Slag n Ore" in the slums. With Vyse's condition being as it was we thought it best if we looked elsewhere. We continued up into the city where I found "The Hips" an inn made from the pelvis bone of a giant. We found the innkeep, Gosh Pelsturn, tired and drunk but still able to communicate the rate for rooms. We went on but the innkeep said "Hey, what about that other one?" at first I didn't realize what he was talking about. It became clear he meant the invalid Dravon that I was carrying. Vyse expertly flipped him another coin and we found our rooms and promptly went to sleep. We notice that no one is up and about and we hear kind of a bang. When we awake, Alexi notices that the tattoo on the Dravon I've been hauling around is a symbol for the cult of Syrian. Arranis and I go out to find a healer to help the Dravon while Alexi and Vyse head out to do something else. As we exit I the sound of the clanging hammers of the massive temple to Pardacia central to the area grows clearer. We headed down back into the slums where we heard of a run-down alchemy shop. On our way, we kept hearing complaints against the Dravon and Arranis heard mention of a strange suicide. Arranis asked one person we passed what happened. He told us that genasi and dravon had commited suicide around a grand stone and that the navy had cordoned the area off.

Eventually we found the alchemy shop I'd heard tell of. It's proprietor, an old pale dravon with worn spines, looked up when we came in. "Our friend has some sort of disease, can you help him?" The dravon pulled down strange purple concoction and said "well, this is a miracle potion". I thought he was trying to sell us poison but Arranis told me it would help with curing a disease although it certainly wouldn't ensure a miraculous recovery. When the dravon named his price of 150 gold, it was too much for the both of us, I told him we might come back later. I hoped we might be able to get Vyse to pay for it but in the mean time we headed for the grandstone where the suicides had occurred.

When we got there Arranis tried to get us a closer look by talking to a guard. The guard did not oblige and Arranis' further prodding got him a glimpse of steel. We moved off where I saw a building I might get a better look from. I told Arranis to watch the cultist and my armor as I took it off to better climb the building. On my first try, I slipped off of a moldy part of the building but on my second I was able to pull myself to a window and from there to the roof. From the roof I could see that the guards had set a large perimeter around the grandstone. I also saw that weird symbol we kept finding with the five rays, at the corners of which were white sheets covering lumps and around each lump were groups of guards. There were also tents and shacks around the grandstone which I assumed the dravon navy had taken over. I climbed down and told Arranis who decided he wanted a better look. He thought the best way would be to try and distract the guards, which he quickly tried but the guards after jumping a couple times, got used to. Then he started making those same loud cracks in the middle of the crowd. The crowd, lacking the discipline of the guards began to push against them. It moved the dravon perimeter back but we still couldn't see any better because of the disturbances in the crowd. I decided that this wasn't getting us anywhere and told Arranis as much but he insisted that it would work. I told him if he continued he would be the cause of these people's suffering when the dravon cracked down on the refugees but he ignored me and kept up those loud cracks in the crowd. I'd had enough so I started heading to the stairs with dravon over my shoulder hoping Arranis would give up his fool plan and follow. Crazy wizards. After getting almost halfway to the stairs I hear screams and turn around to find that Arranis' sounds have pushed people hard enough into the guards that they'd drawn their weapons and had started cutting them down. I couldn't see Arranis, so I decided I'd head back and try to find him before he got himself killed. Suddenly, the mob charged the dravon and it turned into a full fledged riot. I couldn't find Arranis anywhere when I saw him on the other side of the grandstone and began pushing my way towards him. As I got closer I saw that he was dragging a human behind him. The human was bleeding and he had a nasty burn. Then I noticed the strangest thing of all. He had no shadow. We began making our way to the stairs while I spewed curses at the idiot wizard for causing all this trouble when suddenly there was a loud rumble that began to get louder.

Portals were opening around the grandstone and dravon wizards were coming out and started launching fireballs at the crowd. Then I heard snorts come from the human Arranis was dragging and noticed that Arranis couldn't pull the man any further as if some great unseen hand was holding. A giant shadow bull appeared from the human, it had thousands of eyes and great wings rose from its back. It turned and stared at a fierce tiefling woman riding a Nightmare that had just appeared behind the Dravon. Pointing her sword she led a charge of...things. I do not know what to call them. (DM note: they were kruthiks.) The human regained consciousness and both of us bolted for the stairs while Arranis stayed and stared. We got back to the level with Pardacia's temple and stopped to regain our breath. Arranis arrived and told how the tiefling had driven back the dravon with a wall of flame and that the refugees had followed her into a cliff.

Arranis and I questioned what was going on, especially since we had seen a similar shadow beast with Vyse. When the human heard mention of that he asked what was going on, how could someone have no shadow? I told him to turn around and look for his. Shocked that he didn't have a shadow, Arranis asked him what he remembered. He told us he only remembered waking up to a massacre and running for his life and that his name was Amasa.

With all of us exhausted we headed back to "The Hips" and rented rooms. Amasa collapsed, while Arranis told me how he had used the riot to sneak behind the guards and confirm that the symbol was the one that we had seen before and Alexi and Vyse said they had seen thrice before. He also said that the people under the sheets had been people we knew. Ki-amar was under the first sheet, Octavian under another, and Tommon under another. The fourth was a female dravon and the fifth was empty with a trail of blood to where he had found Amasa. He said that all the dead had been bloodless and the veins in their eyes were gold.

Alexi and Vyse soon returned and we were about to retire for the night when Alexi heard loud Dravic and Dwarven voices. As we all listened closer we heard the raucous laughter and cheering of what must have been the dravon purchasing a round of drinks for the dwarves. Alexi decided to head down and listen for information while the rest of us decided to rest.

30 September 2011

Upon waking the next morning we gathered to determine what we would do in the city. We agreed that we should continue our search for a healer and so we split up. Vyse and Arranis would search one area while Alexi and I would see if we could find anyone in the upper class area of the city. Before we headed up though; we first visited the temple to see if there were any interesting weapons or other items that we could buy, there were not and we began our trek up to the noble quarters.

It was then that we noticed below us a commotion and we began heading back down to find out what it was. When we got there, all traces of what had occurred were gone so we kept heading down. Then, I heard a disembodied voice greet me. I looked around but there was no body to go with the voice until Arranis released whatever magic was making him invisible. He told us that he and Vyse had been the cause of the disturbance.

Some guards had asked about the dravon with the tattoos of Syrien that Vyse, he, and Amassa had been carrying around while looking for a healer. Arranis had flat out refused him and when pressed he had attacked the guard in order to try and keep the dravon so we could gather information from him when he finally woke up. Things went very bad from there.

Arranis told us how as soon as the fight broke out Amassa made a run for it and that thought Vyse and he had wounded a guard they overwhelmed them and captured Vyse while Arranis turned invisible and ran away. While I was upset at Arranis for once again causing unnecessary trouble I was more worried about Vyse and after a quick discussion we thought we might get some from the Genassi that had broken out of prison with us. We decided to go look for them in the slums.

When we got there it was completely empty. There wasn’t a soul to be seen except for guards forming a kind of barrier around the place. Alexi went to speak with one of them and ask what happened. The guard replied “There was a riot, know anything?”

“I know nothing, good luck in finding who started it though”

We gave up and returned to the inn where we found Amassa, who cursed Arranis for starting the fight. It was then I noticed that Amassa wasn’t exactly human, like I thought he was. Now that I took the time to look he was too pale, and his eyes were somehow off from what I was used to seeing in my reflection. Alexi told me later that Amassa is a Shadar Kai, a race I was unfamiliar with. I also noticed that he seemed to have found a massive sword from somewhere and that he had a new cloak and other items that he must have stolen on his way back from Arranis insanities.

The earth quaked and I barely kept my balance as everything began to rattle. Then there was this massive thud as if mountain had fallen into the sea. Alexi looked out and shouted that the temple was gone. We rushed out and saw the miners in a panic. We headed to the mines where Alexi got a foreman to explain that part of the mines had collapsed and there were miners trapped inside. Asking how we could help he directed us to a building where we were asked if were a rescue crew we confirmed and were quickly shown to a room where we were teleported deep inside the mine. Arranis made his orb glow with light and we saw some dead dravon miners and mine carts. I wondered what dravon miners were doing in here, since I had only seen dwarves going in and out of the mines. With the light from Arranis’ orb I found a small black rod with only a button on the bottom still functional. I stowed it in my pack and we began our long walk down the tracks.

As we were walking Alexi told us what he’d heard last night. First, Lord Illica had declared seven days of feasting. Then a dravon related a tale of his brother who’d served with the Lord.

[insert story here]

We eventually came upon a tunnel that curved off the main path; we went down it only to find a massive crevasse. I pressed the button on the rod to see if it would make a difference as there was a mine cart track along the wall, we waited, but nothing happened so we moved on. Back along the main track we saw a fork where we decided to keep following where the track was connected. We soon came upon where tracks made a jump above us and soon after came upon a small circular room where the track turned on itself. It was there we found more dead miners who had been mining marmaron judging from the scattered pieces of it and its characteristic color in the rock walls. I heard a “uuuuhhhhhh...” and I quickly turned, drawing my sword, to cut it down. The zombie started exuding a cold mist but with Amassa’s help it was soon dead.

14 October 2011

It appeared as though this room had been one of the mines more active sites. It was clear from the walls that there had been mining very recently. While we were looking around, Alexi noticed another control rod. There was a dial on the bottom marked with the numbers 0, 6, 12, and 24. We debated on what the dial was for, it was suggested it might be a timer for how long miners were to work but it was decided the only real way to find out was to use it and see. We went back to the fork that had led us to this room where Alexi used the rod. We heard a kind of ringing from the rails which got louder. The sound continued to grow incrementally louder until a minecart rolled in along the tracks. Alexi hit the button again to see what would happen which caused the minecart to vanish. Next Alexi set the knob on the bottom to twelve and we waited. This time, the noise was louder and when the minecart reached us it was going as fast as I could at a dead sprint without my armor. Alexi continued to toy with the rod until he felt familiar with the controls.

Alexi summoned another minecart and we all got in and he set it to twelve. We then came back to the jump we'd seen earlier and Alexi stopped the cart before we got there. We climbed out to test at what speed the cart would make it. At twelve, sparks flew as the wheels left the rail and then the cart smashed into the wall below the other side of the jump. Alexi sent another minecart at 24 and that one made it. Alexi summoned another one that we got into, he set the speed to 24 and we held on tight as we went for the jump.

As soon as the cart crashed down on the other side it began to speed up as we rushed headlong down a massive incline. We peered ahead into the darkness but we missed an upcoming bump and were almost launched from the cart. I did my best to keep the cart steady through the turns and bumps while Amassa looked ahead for any way to slow us down and keep us on the track. We raced forward going impossibly fast, my eyes teared up from the wind as we felt a jerk from behind. I looked to see Amassa fighting off some sort of giant bat. Amassa continued to use the control rod to try and slow us down when we suddenly launch off a jump. Alexi yelled at Amassa to quick put the speed at zero as the jump ends in tight turn and a wall. Just in time, we landed with our speed under control so we don't smash into the wall; as I looked forward I noticed a strange light.

"Wraiths!", I yelled as the first one came into view. Amassa quickly switched the rod to twelve but it took a while to get the cart going. Once we were clear of the wraiths we came upon a final room as our cart bumped against the end of the track. We looked around to find another control rod but Alexi noticed that this one had a reverse button on it and some sort of ladder. After toying with it Amassa attempted to get a cart back to us. On the first attempt a loud boom echoed up from tunnel. With more experimenting Amassa managed to get a minecart to arrive with a crunch as it bounced off of the stop and a dead wight fell off the front of the cart.

We got in and headed back the way we came eventually getting to the area we had given up on before as being impossible to cross. With the minecart at top speed we crossed it and continued down the track as descended and curved to the left ever so slightly. Ahead, we could just make out a light and I was hoping not to come across more wraiths but the closer we got the clearer it became the light was natural. Then the minecart entered a room that looked to have been carved out of the rock, littered with dead bodies. At the end of the room was a large door slightly ajar, with the seal of the House of Illica. We took a closer look at the bodies lying about to find they all appeared strangled and they were all facing towards the door. Amassa told us that the whoever or whatever had done this had used powers similar to his own as the shadows were ripped.

21 October 2011

Amassa silently creeped up to the door and listened for any signs of life, apparently hearing none he cracked the door to look in. Then he motioned us in where I saw a small well lit room with plush blue carpet, a luxurient desk, and dead Dravon at the desk. The Dravon was unsurprising given the site outside and closer look let us know that he was likely just a clerk for the House of Illica. Arranis pulled up the rug to reveal a solid stone floor, I suppose he was looking for trap doors.

We then ventured down a short hallway to find a short corridor attached to it. We cautiously listened to each door before opening them but there were no surprises waiting for us. One room was a bathroom, another was a storage room with a cask of neverending ale. It really would have been nice to cart that away but impractical. Amassa discovered the final room was an office. Inside we found a folder and quill on the desk and at the back a large window looked out on a bright purple star. The folder contained a few hastily scrawled notes some of which were ripped, and a map. All of it was in Dravic so Alexi read off dates and times that had been written next to specific locations in the city. As Alexi read the map, Amassa checked a large cabinet in the corner. There he found a several nice outfits and a large black blade which he handed to Arranis to examine. I then asked to see the blade and as I held it I knew its name to be Vinoss and I its wielder.

We then passed into another hallway longer than the first that divided itself. The left side was blocked by a magical barrier but the right side led to a room with a crevasse. Across the chasm was what appeared to be a vault with the symbol of Banikon. I left my armor on the one side and lept over. Amassa then picked up my armor and collapsed into shadows to suddenly appear beside me with my armor, which I put back on. Alexi soon joined while Amassa and Arranis went back to the see if they could enter the other corridor. I amused myself by further examining the door, I noticed that it had been blasted open from the inside, which seemed odd until I noticed the circle for a teleportation ritual further in. It was then that Amassa and Arranis returned. I noticed some alchemical apparatus sticking out of Amassa's pack which I assumed he had found along the other corridor.

The further we went in the more I noticed the curious nature of the lighting. There were no bright points, it was as if everything was lit by the shadow just behind the flame, except there was no flame. Soon we came into a giant room, which, judging from the buildings, must have been part of a city. The buildings circled around a central area which had trees, although not trees in the conventional sense for whatever they were made of they were giving off pure white light. As I continued to look around the room I noticed flowers that hummingbirds buzzing around them although these hummingbirds were more anti-hummingbirds than anything else as they appeared as pure shadow. Farther back I noticed a ruined viaduct and Alexi said that the building were titled Temple, Apothecary, Bath, and Library.

That was when Arranis tried to pick a flower. Suddenly, a shadow raked its claws at Arranis, and then all of us were surrounded. With a wide swing of my sword I destroyed many of the shadows only for them to reform from several strange floating lights. I continued to fight with Arranis mage-light on my sword and eventually with Alexi's holy circle glowing around me, but every time they vanished in a slash of my sword, they reappeared an instant later. I suspect that as candle extracts a moth, so the light around me attracted these shadow creatures as in the quick moments I was able to glance away I saw only I had this many around me. With time and the intermittent screech of Arranis' winter blasts the shadows began to lessen and then seemed to be driven away as the white lights that seemed to empower them were destroyed one by one.

While we were licking our wounds Arranis went and examined the flower that he'd been trying to look at before. He exclaimed that it looked just like the ones we had seen in prison, just without the purple veins. As Arranis sat down and read a ritual he had picked up somewhere I realized why the miners had been Dravon. This part of the mine must have been just a cover for this vault which led me to wonder who else was down here.

That question was quickly answered as Amassa quietly listened at the door where he reported seeing a tall dravon with a large sword and someone say "No! Let's make a break for it!" followed shortly by a "Dammit!" loud enough that all of us could hear it. Alexi then knocked on the door.

"Who's there" "It's just me, Alexi." "Alexi? Where are you from?" "From Fallcrest"

The door opened to reveal our friend from Fallcrest, Gallen "get in quick before those creatures come back!". "I think we dealt with those," said Alexi as we all stepped through the door. Inside I observed a young elf maiden, who I later learned was name Tenni, and the Dravon Amassa had described who was named Victon. Gallen looked like he had a broken arm which Alexi had noticed and was healing it before I could mention it to him. From the look Victon's face it was clear he and Gallen had been arguing. From the ensuing conversation we learned that Tenni was a survivor of Fallcrest and Gallen had taken her in and that Gallen and company had been teleported down here to by the governor to study the place. Gallen continued on that the temple and apothecary held nothing of interest and that the books were trapped. We decided to head to the temple but Arranis wanted to see the bath house for some reason.

Arranis headed off to the baths as we made our way to the temple. Before long were heard Arranis' screams and I ran over to find him covered by a monster with webbed black tentacles. With a swipe of my sword I cut several of its tentacles off which seemed to convince it to flee. We then proceeded to the temple. As we entered shadowy flames ignited and ran down grooves until they had lit the altar. The shadow-flames revealed a large beast of some sort that had had its head blown completely off. On the altar there was a small black sphere with streams of water flowing in and out of it. Alexi told us that the statues were all of high ranking assassins of Banikon who had been tasked with killing immortals. It was then we saw the script behind the altar, it was in supernal so we asked Alexi to read it for us. It read:

All rivers flow to Asphaltitus All paths lead to Muericho Death will come for all of us But Haven lies below

Alexi then pulled out a worn and battered script, and I realized it was the transcription he had made from the wall behind the portal after we had defeated Kalarel. Alexi explained that the black sphere was Muericho and the streams of water represented the rivers of the world. We then moved toward a black door which opened of its own accord. In the room beyond there was a pedestal with a mannequinn who wore a golden circlet. Across the room from the mannequin laid a skeleton on a small fortune in gold. Gallen's gaze immediately fell on the skeleton as he exclaimed "this must be millenia old!" He then started to put the skeleton in his pack. Suddenly the room wend pitch black and the mannequin animated and told Amassa "come and see". Then shadowy wings and eyes began to appear on it as it offered us a vision of a black cloaked figure and of a tall white dravon. The cloaked figure pulled back his hood to reveal purple horns and the horrible visage of the torturer we had seen in the dungeon and began to speak. I could not hear that well but the torturer was reporting to Lord Illica that some sort of surgery had worked though the black queen had taken a knife before something could happen. He also reported that everything was going to plan, the Tiefling girl had been turned, and that everyone was still unaware of what was going on. Then I saw Dorial Illica in a well lit room with his shadow directly underneath him and the torturer walking away. I heard him say "that Strych is creepy" and then the vision ended.

Gallen then walked up and excitedly said "You found a way out!" and while we debate about whether not to tell Gallen about what we'd just seen he, Tenni, and Victon wandered down the passage out. Suddenly we heard Tenni scream in terror and we rushed down the hallway to find Gallen and Victon decapitated. I also noticed that this was the Tieflings' stable for their Kruthiks. I caught Tenni as she was running past me but then the Tieflings were on us and I had to let her go to defend myself and the party. We managed to fight our way out and Arranis had managed to hold on to Tenni for while but eventually she escaped him and I had to grab her as we escaped through the entrance the ants had made so long ago. We took a skiff back to the Thundermarl where we went back to hips to rest.

28 October 2011

The next day, we heard rumors that the dwarves were hiring mercenaries to go into the crashed temple to search for survivors and to defeat a monster that was preventing more from helping. Tenni wanted to help so we headed to a shop to get her a bow and then we searched out the dwarf. Another mercenary group was haggling for a higher reward but we took a lower one, recieved a device to stop "the guardian", and we went in. Inside we found lava monsters around forges generating them. The fight went badly as Arranis couldn't figure out how to turn the anvils off for the longest time as I and the others continued to fight them. Ultimately, Arranis was able to turn the forges off and we were able to defeat the monsters but not without takin a severe beating first.

12 November 2011

After a short rest to lick our wounds we went on to find a large room with more anvils and an especially large one in the center. There was a cauldron that had spilled some sort of white powder all over the room. There were a few full grown rust monsters as a group of babies eating the anvils but they seemed much more interested in the anvils than us. That was when the lava monster erupted from two pools near the central anvil. Arranis suddenly shouted that the white powder was niter and was highly explosive just as one of the lava monsters ignited the powder under Amassa. The flames reached the cauldron and there was a massive explosion that I was able to throw myself out of the way of at the last second but everybody else wasn't able to get out of the way. We attacked the rust monsters and with each attack they made my armor rusted almost to pieces as Arranis summoned a bizzard to deal with the lava monsters. Eventually, we defeated the rust monsters and began to look around. On the table we found a few magical throwing hammers as well as Battleforged Shield for Alexi.

Arranis was nowhere to be seen when we hear voice yelling "use the button!", then there was a crash as a massive brass guardian smashed through the wall at the end of the chamber. Amassa quickly aimed the device at the guardian and deactivated it. Arranis reappears, a little worse for wear for being part of the wall that the guardian smashed through but Alexi quickly healed him and we moved into a chamber with doors to our left and right. Down the right passage we found a pit. The upper part seemed to go to the top of the temple as we could see the "sun" but the lower part was pitch black and as I looked closely the blackness seemed to shiver and vibrate.

Along the left passage we found many bedrooms and several dwarves dead from the fall of the temple, we also found a bathroom. At the very end of the passage was a library, where dog homunculi silently watched. Amassa threw a small rock in, at which their eyes glowed red but then returned to the dull black orbs they had been. We continued to examine the room to notice blueprints on a table inside. I walked in but as soon as I crossed the threshold the homunculi attacked, I made a defensive retreat back out the corridor hoping they would follow into the range of Alexi, Amassa, and Arranis but as soon as I was outside the door they ceased and returned to their initial positions.

We then spent a great deal of time discussing the merits of leaving and going into the to finally decide that Arranis, and Amassa would teleport in while Alexi and I waited outside. The homunculi didn't attack because they seemed to only watch the door any other activity seemed to be completely ignored. While our teleporting friends explored the library, Alexi and I returned to examine the pit. Alexi decided to see what would happen if he tossed his hammer at the wall. It hit with no sound at all and then the darkness exploded outward at us. I was completely absorbed and I noticed it was swarm of Void humminbirds. We ran down the hall to try and warn the others but the hummingbirds activated the homunculi before we reached them. They managed to teleport out before anything happened, while I and Amassa remained covered in void humminbirds. Most of the birds flew off as Arranis explained that he had found a few rituals and that the blueprint was for a kind of sun stone like the one already used to light this place. Weary from our battles we used the bedrooms to rest.

We awoke to explore the North passage where we found a room with dwarven clerics guarded by large mechanical beings. At the end of which were two door on the left and right onto the roof. On the roof we saw the top of the hole that whatever had burst out of the underground had made as well as many dead dwarves and a few eladrin. We found two mutilated bodies as well. One dwarf and one eladrin both with tattoos of basilisks. It was then that I noticed the pull of the void humming birds towards the bay. I had almost forgotten that they were still fluttering around both myself and Amassa.

We decided that the best place to continue looking for the beast we were sent to slay was down the hole. We lowered a rope and climbed down to find a passage with a set of stair going off to the left and at the end of the passage we found a large door embossed with a gold and ebony basilisk. Inside we found some tables with dissected bodies and a coded book. In the corner there was an unnatural darkness and a horrible stench and as I stepped inside the darkness there was a splash as though I had stepped into a puddle. After feeling around a bit I determined that this must have been where the bodies no longer on the tables had been cast aside. While I was exploring the darkness, I heard a thud, and I stepped out to find half a body lying in the middle of the room. Amassa opened the door but it was pitch black and no matter how bright Arranis made his light it showed nothing more than a midnight black.

Amassa stepped out and began feeling around in the darkness, I followed him as he said he felt something like porcelain ahead. He withdrew, but I decided to try and determine what this porcelain object was as it had not been here before. I felt a hole with warm air coming out and as my hand went further along the porcelain shape, I felt feathers. Suddenly, the thing let loose a terrible screech as it grabbed me and flew to the roof. In the gray of morning it looked like a giant vulture as I began stabbing and slashing with my sword to get it to release me.

When it had reached about thirty feet it dropped me. Agile I am not but I managed to break the worst of the fall and as I rolled to my feet I prepared for the bird's next attack. Soon Arranis, Alexi, and Amassa reached the roof and the fight began in earnest. Seeing reinforcements the bird animated shadows to control the dead like puppets. At the end, the bird grabbed Amassa and was able to rip the armor off of him with its talons. I noticed that Amassa bore the same scar that I did in that moment as sliced off the birds head landed on his feet just as the carcass thumped down beside him.

The artificial sun began brightening for morning when we heard a noise on the street below. We looked to see Lord Illica and several horsemen below. Upon seeing us he said "Oh, you managed to kill that bird" and motioned that he wished to talk to us closer. We climbed down to the main entrance where Lord Illica noticed Vinoss sheathed on my back. He outstretched his hand as he spoke "thanks for finding my sword". Not wishing to anger the regent I handed him Vinoss, I still had my old sword anyway. Illica then asked Alexi if he was the lead to which Alexi responded yes. Illica offered Alexi a horse and then had another of his men go to fetch the rest of horses for our travel as he rode off with Alexi.

When the horses arrived and we began to wander around I noticed that the elf-girl we had come to know as Tenny was not around any longer. It is my hope that she had not gotten lost or killed in the temple but I suppose I may never know. When I left my musings I noticed Arranis had taken us to a strange shop that looked to sell the things he could use. Afterwards I began looking around for armor as the set of chainmail I was wearing seemed to longer hold off the strikes of assailants as it used to. I eventually came upon a fine set of meliorating plate armor which I spent all the gold I had on me to purchase. With our purchases completed, Arranis and I decided to head back to the Hips where its proprietor handed us two notes. The first was from Alexi and told us to meet him at an address in the nobles' quarter. The second was a note from Amassa explaining that he had remembered other business to attend to and that he left a few things for us in our quarters.

Arranis and I set out for the noble's quarter on the horses Illica had given us. Upon reaching the address Arranis knocked on the door, the door opened and Alexi invited us in where he explained that Illica had mad him the baron of Fallcrest. Alexi explained that though the disaster we had witnessed had almost completely destroyed the town, Illica was providing Alexi a ship with supplies and people to help rebuild the town. He continued that all that was left for him to do was to take are of the manifest and extra supplies as well as a few formalities and we could be on our way.

We then headed down to the bay where the void birds had been tugging to see Alexi's ship. As we approached the ship a guard called out "who goes there" to which Alexi responded "Lord Kholodov". Then a shorter Dravon who called himself Dante Rolf and identified himself as assigned to be Alexi's quartermaster. Alexi asked about the ship and Rolf which is the name he preferred seemed to give a fair description that I wasn't paying that much attention to. Rolf also informed Alexi that he could begin loading passengers and any cargo Alexi wished to add. Rolf then handed Alexi a key and we descended into the ship to determine who and what we would need to start this colony and eventually we came up with this list:

Crew:

10 Troops 02 Blacksmiths 02 Carpenters 03 Merchants 02 Masons 02 Cartographers 07 Minstrels 02 Miners 01 Priest of Hlyn 01 Priest of Ximenia 33 Citizens

We began to discuss what we should to from here deciding on decoding the book we had found in the temple. Unfortunately none of us had a clue of what to do until someone suggested trying to find the Syrien cult member I'd been hauling around after our adventure in the prison. Alexi lead us to the Dravon headquarters and we entered a room full scribbling clerks. I tried to ask the clerks about the cult member but they completely ignored me. Alexi then spoke up and asked about the dravon and one of the clerks was able to find him for us. The clerk led us down a long flight of stairs and then an even longer hallway and eventually to a heavily barred door. The clerk showed opened it with a "Welcome to the chamberpot", then he led us to cell 32, which was labeled

Name: Aletsi Incarcerated: Suspicion of treason

Alexi then asked for the prisoner's file and the clerk responded that he would get it on the way out. When we got back Alexi asked how to go about pardoning him as we needed "Aletsi" for our expedition. The clerk then gave Alexi a form 26A and left. Arranis was able to make enough sense of the form in order to fill out and once returned to the clerk he let us know it would be a few days. Arranis quietly slipped him some gold and the clerk replied, "Ah, excuse me, just a minute". While waiting for the clerk to return we discussed further what the colony expedition would need.

After about an hour "Aletsi" was brought out in chains. Alexi asked and found out from "Aletsi" that his name was actually Kalas. Upon Alexi's request for help Kalas gave him a blank stare. We were also informed by the guards that in order for the "Aletsi" to be released, he had to be released to Alexi's guards. Alexi made me acting captain and I took custody of Kalas. We then returned to the mansion. Upon our return we inquired of Kalas how he was feeling and what he remembered. He replied that he was fine and that the last thing he remembered was the Dravic army marching into Thundermarl. We then asked him to decode the Syrien cult book. He refused. We then brought up how we rescued him and he continued to refuse. Finally we told him of the deaths of his compatriots and he agreed to help us then. He then began to read the book. It turned out it was a personal journal of a lower member of the cult. Many of the entries were trivial descriptions of meals and grudges but at the end Kalas began to page through faster and faster. He read us the last entries . Kalas continued flipping through the empty pages of the journal until at the back blood dripped out and we found the words "ITS NAME IS CAIPHON" written in blood. Kalas was visibly shaken by what he had read and asked "Resurrection doesn't work? What's going on!?". Seeing Kalas confusion Alexi offered him a place on the colony ship which Kalas accepted.

The next day at the beginning of the parade Lord Illica introduced us to captain of the guard, Bontreche; his general, Lord Garth; and the dwarf acting as regent of Thundermarl, Darthan. Bontreche informed us that we would be stopping at each grandstone and at the end there was a special treat that the captain and the mages had prepared. Illica seemed uncomfortable in the frills of high society. As the parade got underway I saw the throngs of people gathered to see the parade and watched Illica's speech at the platforms set up at each grandstone. By the sixth grandstone, I was tired of the speech; by the ninth, I could have given the speech myself. Finally we reached the eleventh and the end of Illica's speech. That's when Captain Nesai and the mages began chanting. Alexi asked what they were doing and Illica responded that he should wait and see. I noticed the wind had picked up and that the crowds on the lower levels had begun cheering. I peered over the edge to see the temple rising from below. Suddenly there was a thunderous sound and Illica snapped "What's this!?" at his captain. The captain replied that it was nothing. I started to notice people on the miner tier falling off the ledges. Alexi and Illica both asked what was going on as I noticed green shapes moving on the lower levels. Captain Nessai conjured a magical lens in the air and showed us Kruthiks among the people. We then saw a black cloaked figure approach Illica after a quick discussion Illica followed him and Arranis mentioned he had a bad feeling about this. I began to smell the smoke of many burning buildings and the light from many fires on the lower levels. Then there came a massive blast as a grandstone caught fire. Illica urgently told Alexi "Get the mages out of here!" as he handed him a treasury slip and said "Save as many civilians as you can!". As we went over the mages the temple began to crash back down as we got their attention. With the people and mages at our back I charged a tiefling line and we managed to punch a hole and get through. We headed for the minstrels guild in order to teleport the people an mages out. Just as we got there we heard the thunderous report of another grandstone catching fire. As we rushed through the corridors of the minstrels guild one the mages stopped at a door and told us that Illica had used the room before. Once inside the mages activated the teleportation circle. As the portal opened I saw Dast, Ghavat, Vyse, and about forty tiefling as the wind from a storm of arrows brushed my face.

2 December 2011

The arrows killed the mages before they had time to react as they were directly in front of the portal. Arranis, as he was with the rest of the mages was bleeding out on the ground when Vyse said "Where's Illica!? He was supposed to be here!". Alexi went over to heal Arranis when I heard screams. I ran back out to see the citizens that had followed us getting massacred by demons. The tieflings from the portal charged in front of me as I threw a hammer. Arranis, looking well after having been made a pincussion, launched a ball of lightning that exploded among the demons. Dast shouted above the melee that we needed to reach the bathouse. We run for it but the demons are faster and after a quick battle where we managed to get away we reached the bathouse. Once inside Dast drainded a pool then yanked a grate off and yelled "We've got to get to the bottom!". Then it seemed as though the world flickered and I was in a prison made of red stone I had never before seen or heard of but as quickly as things had changed they were back to normal. Entering the grate we splashed into the sewers. As we rushed through the sewer I noticed skittering noises and we came upon a wererat we had met below the prison. Arranis put him to sleep and took a necklace of keys off of the rat. I pulled him out of the water and we moved on. The wererat woke up again and Gavotte plunged his weapon into him leaving the wererat gasping for life as he muttered "Want...shiny....". Vyse casually flicked his dagger into the wererat's throat, killing him. Then we reached a grate and we all pulled together to wrench it out of our way as we stepped into a view of the dravon headquarters. Ahead of us we saw Pavan at the head of a small army riding Nightmares as Dorial Illica and Stryke were leading another group towards Pavan. Then there was another muffled boom probably from another grandstone that caught fire and suddenly I could see a massive red gate before everything returned to normal. As we approached Pavahn and Illica Gavotte said he hadn't seen Pavahn in weeks and he was surprised to see Stryke with Illica. Then a dense green fog descended as something began to shimmer near Gavotte. I saw bright green lights starting to come toward us the thing that was shimmering solidified into existence in front of us. It was a creature that looked like Stryke but upon its forehead was the word 'HEMLOCK'. Hemlock grasped a massive battle-axe on his back as Gavotte looked on in terror and with a mighty swing Hemlock beheaded Gavotte in front of us. I looked around to see Dast in shock, one of the tieflings cowering on the ground, and the other nowhere to be seen. I picked up the tiefling and shouted "Pull yourself together" as Alexi and I headed towards Dorial while Arranis and Vyse made their way to Pavahn. Another thunderous boom sounded and I found myself in a red hallway feeling like my soul was slowly being leeched from my body. We ran down the hallway of red brick as I glanced behind to see stone like that in Thundermarl. We quickly reached a left turn in the hallway and then where an identical passaged converged into another one we met the rest of our party. We rushed further down the hallway only to find our way barred by a massive gate. On the other side was a massive circular room with two large X-shaped crosses at the back. On one was a tiefling just past his prim with a gilded horns but one of them had been sawed off. On the other cross was a man with red skin who would have been handsome if not for the bruises covering his body. In a gate on the right side of the room were Stryke, Dorial, and Hemlock. On the left side Pavahn. In the middle of the room there was a circle. Pavahn looked at the tiefling with gilded horns and shouted "My liege" in an anguished voice and Dorial turn to Stryke and mused "So that's what happened to him." Then Dorial looked our way and Alexi shouted across to him "What is going on!?". Dorial teleported to us and told Alexi "you've been a good man, and you've done a lot of good" and he then cast a spell at the end of which my soul seemed to longer be leaking from my body. I looked past Dorial to see Pavahn toward and just as she passed the circle it burst into flame in the form of a rune of Sirrien and then the rune shaped itself into Imix, the elemental lord of fire. Dorial shouted "What is that doing here!? Kill it!". Then Dorial, Stryke, Hemlock, and Pavahn engaged Imix in an epic battle and destroyed him.

Then we moved over to the crosses where the tiefling and the red man hung. Near them were two cases with a dagger each. As we moved closer Pavahn looked upon the tiefling and said reverently, "It's Helphon". Then Strych smashed a case holding a sheathed dagger in front of Helphon just as Dorial smashed one in front of the red man. Strych drew a long silver dagger from its sheath and sliced the air. Where he sliced I could see bright stars but one star, a purple one, gleamed brighter than the rest. Then columns of purple light shone down around Pavahn, Dorial, and Helphon. Their faces erupted into tentacles and when the tentacles were gone Helphone's forehead read 'ANTIMONY' and Pavahn's red 'CURARE'. In that same time Dorial had ripped off his glove to reveal a bright red hand and smashed the other case to draw a pure black dagger. Dorial sliced the air and just befor e he vanished he shouted "This isn't over yet!". After Dorial teleported a purple column of light ascended from where he had been and the purple star seemed to draw closer to Mondevai. Then the room disintegrated as though it were only a facade and revealed itself to be covered in symbols of Sirrien as though it were one giant temple. Then the tiefling said "It's just like dad said; it's just like Turath". Then a symbol appeared on the floor; an eye in the center of five petals.

9 December 2011

Leaving the room we took the hallway on the left and we came upon a room at the end which Vise entered only to get caged. Further in the room were two demons and a Succubus. We fought as well as we could but the Succubus kept gaining control over us as we were about to strike her down. Arranis and I fled back into the room leaving Alexi unconscious in the hallway. Then Alexi walked through the doorway and told us that just as the Succubus was kissing Dast he called down sacred flame upon her and left naught but ashes. After licking our wounds we moved on to find what appeared to be part of "The Hips" sticking into the room and to our surprise when we entered we found that it indeed was "The Hips". We went out the other side to find Gosh Pellsturn and a group of scared townspeople. We asked Gosh what he had seen and he told us that he just been serving when suddenly the everything changed to how it was now. In the yard with Gosh and the townspeople was a well that seemed well over a hundred feet deep. We decided to check the other door that led off from the room with the cage traps. It led into a hallway that continued straight into a room and branched off to the right into a silver door with six locks and Sirrien symbolism. Vise worked on picking the silver door but to no avail. So we went into the other room. It had paintings of dretches covering each wall, in the very center was a golden tattoo stylus with a tube connecting it into the ground. I picked up the stylus and felt the flow of ink coming into it and when I pressed the trigger to examine the ink it rushed out as the doors slammed shut and the ink continued to flow even when I had released the trigger. The ink formed dretches and soon the entire room was filled with them. I struggled to escape their grasp and reach the door and bash it open. I shouted for help as started to reach the inn. The tiefling yelled out, "Throw water at them!" and despite my best efforts to escape and Alexi's to keep me from succumbing to the dretches I blacked out. I awoke to Alexi's healing and a demonic tattoo on my right shoulder. We returned to the well and pulled up a bucket of it to find a bubbly red liquid. I tested it by pouring it on some grass, and the grass became greener; so I took a sip and found the liquid had a bloody after-taste. I began to feel my soul slipping away again and Arranis told us that we only had a little over an hour before our souls would be drained from us. We returned to the silver door and resolved to smash it down. Alexi and I charged the door with our shields and as we braced to hit the door we passed right through it! When all of us had entered we heard a click and spiked walls on either side of us began to close in. Then ghostly apparitions began to assault us. They must have been truly ancient ghosts as they had lost all form of what they once were. When the ghosts had been banished the walls slowed but they continued to move in on us. I decided to push against them to buy time for the others to figure out but just as I reached out to push against them I fell through, where I found lever that I pulled to halt their advance. We continued on to fine a larger hallway that gradually changed into a dwarven tunnel and ended in two massive wooden doors. Vise peeked through and told us of a massive cathedral and lines of knights. We entered and at the far end we saw a ritual circle and a man in a black coat and a silver mask with the symbol of Sirrien on it. Vise warned us of two shadowy figures beside him. An arrow flew out and took an elderly eladrin in the shoulder, then the eladrin disolved into nothing. The knights lowered their weapons and the ritual mound exploded. The shadows beside the man in the silver mask vanished. Then the ritual mound exploded and a skeletal dragon emerged. Vise shouted "It's Szartharax!". I charged the skeletal frost dragon and began the dance of the sword as my companions let loose with everything they had. In the fight Szartharax roared "Give me your gold and your soul!" and Vise took the opportunity to plunge his dagger into the roof of Szartharax mouth, shattering its skull and defeating the dragon.

13 December 2011

On each side of the cathedral there was a spiral staircase. We decided to take the left one first, it led to nothing so we went up the right side where we glimpsed a reddish light up ahead. Halfway up we saw half a door merged with the wall. At the top of the room we found a room that was part library, part temple. I went to look out one of the windows onto a vast red plain. At the base of the cathedral there was a glowing viscous red liquid. In the distance there were several crashed ships and beyond them a giant city of obsidian. Vise joined me at the window and he staring further and harder than I, noticed that the city's flags were emblazoned with the symbol of Sirrien. In the library part of the room Arranis found a gold mechanism and a book that detailed how marmaron will take one between worlds. Alexi having heard us talking about the plane beyond said we should try and make our way to the ships, as they will have marmaron enough to get us home before our souls are completely gone. Examining the library further, we noticed that all the books were on tieflings; and specifically focusing on Salvulcian, he stole magic and gave it to the tieflings. As we began to exit the strange room we noticed that the glass seemed to be moving, then what we saw solidified into golems. One of the golems was hit by Alexi's sacred flame and it exploded in brilliant light. Vise ran to shatter one of the windows hoping to destroy the golem it came from, but when he did some of the golems vanished from our sight. In time we learned the secret of these golems. When viewed in green light, normal damage could effect them; in blue, magic; in white, radiant; but in red light, the light of this strange world, they vanished. Once we understood this we were able to defeat the golems.

Arranis made a portal at the broken window to the ground below. Once all of us and the townsfolk were through we made our way to the gatehouse for a drawbridge. Inside we found a human who asked for the toll, we bargained him down to 3000 gold and we went out upon the bridge. Lava snakes jumped onto the bridge from the sides and at the end stood a giant demon with great horns and wings who was wreathed in flames. Fearing the worst, I charged the demon hoping to distract him as the part and townsfolk went past. Alas, but the demon's strength was overwhelming and were it not for the tiefling intervention in convincing it we had right to pass, I would have perished. Then we sprinted to end of the bridge. At the gatehouse Vise peeked out to see a legion of undead and Arranis noticed a massive amount of magic energy building near the boats and a fire spell set to use it. We started walking towards the boats and the zombies began to turn towards. Then we began to shamble as zombies do and they turned their attention away. When we reached the ship we heard "Get to your post, prepare to activate the amplification ritual." the voice sounded familiar but I couldn't make out who it belonged to. Then Vise recognized a Yuan-ti as Crow and one of the people wore that same silver mask and black robes we had seen earlier. It was a race to get Alexi to the amplification circle so he could annihilate the undead with holy might. We fought through the zombies and the masked men to reach it, and we made it just in time. Then Alexi let loose a burst of holy light unlike anything I've ever seen. It was blinding even with my eyes closed and when reached Calarel and Crow they melted into dust. The zombies were blown into dust as Stephan was flung far off the ship. Off in the distance we saw Stephan stumbling to his feet and heard the crackle of lightning as zombie part began flying towards him in a maelstrom. We ignited the smaller piece of marmaron and then below there were only stars. In the distance we heard a roar as the ship began to roll. Then I began to make out a massive dragon made from the flesh and bones of the undead. It landed on the ship and bones extended from it, stabbing at me as made to stab it. Then Stephan's form appeared on the shoulder of the dragon and he let loose a fireball. Hit by the strange dragon, I went unconscious. Then I felt Alexi's healing hand and I was back to fighting Stephan. Then Stephan's skull peered out from the dragon's mouth and said "You would let Banikon have his way? Our mistress was going to get ressurection back!" then Alexi replied "There has to be a better way!". With Vise's final strike Stephan said "May Caiphon take you." then he exploded in purple light.

I began to hear wind rushing up below I could see boats, Alexi quickly healed us and as we rush closer to the sea I noticed hobgoblins in a raiding party on the boats. One of the hobgoblins had huge guilded canines. Then our ship smashed into the raiding parties boats and everything went black for me.