The Travelers of Put

The Return of an Old Foe

2010-10-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

Now that we were back down to one Carlagnios, we followed the damp passage to a circular stone chamber of tremendous size. There were eight alcoves, and the chamber looked like a mold for a giant gear. This was the heart of the Centenarch.

The floor was covered with writing. In the center of the room was a painted, magical swirl. There were symbols everywhere -- religious symbology, arcane symbology, old war numerals.

Kale examined the arcane writing on the walls, and Tiny examined the religious symbols. They concluded that these were part of the ritual that the 100 used to escape from this world. Some of the writing was the same as we found in the journal. Apparently, many of the notes in the journal was written as the authors attempted to determine how to get out of this world. (The authors were the mathematicians living under the north pole, where they had learned how to travel between dimensions.)

Then, we all heard the voice of The Keeper. "Finally! You made it. It feels like it has been weeks! Now go straight across the chamber. You'll find the passage to get you there."

As we started across, Carlagnios suddenly cried out, "The coin!" The coin in his hand began to shimmer and glow with an aura. Out of the coin rose Baird, the Lich who had been following us for weeks. He summoned a spider demon and ran across the chamber to one of the alcoves.

"He's chanting!" exclaimed Ryn. "He's unleashing more evil into the world!"

"No, wait," corrected Kale, "he's not casting a spell. He's speaking to someone -- or some thing."

Tiny quickly called upon the Gods to prevent the spider demon from making any violent attacks against us. But although it could not hurt us, it managed to put Firinne, Ryn, and Kale to sleep. Tiny also blinded the Lich, preventing him from seeing us.

Kale, Ryn, and Firinne managed to wake out of the magical sleep, and Kale summoned a cloud of stench to block the spider demon from our path.

Carlagnios managed to strike a critical blow to destroy the spider demon, and Firinne (with her blessed weapon and a majestic halo) delivered a fatal blow to stop the Lich.

As the Lich lay dying, he uttered his final words: "Do you think that the Seed of Contradiction is something that you stumble upon?" He paused. "A guest who comes too early is as troublesome as a guest who comes too late." He crumbled into dust and died.

The Keeper called us to the side of the chamber to a passageway. Tiny entered the passage and brought back a chest and a jar.

"Should I smash the jar," asked Tiny.

Kale inspected the jar. "This seems to be the focus of The Keeper's existence. It's like a magical battery."

"You are welcome to the contents of the chest," announced The Keeper. We looked inside and found a large amount of gold.

"Great!" exclaimed Carlagnios. "I can buy a Hippogriff now!"

The Keeper continue, "Will you pull the stopper from the jar if I tell you what you want to know?"

"Did the coin serve as the Phylactery of the Lich?" asked Kale. "Where is the coin?" he asked Carlagnios, but the coin had vanished and Carlagnios shrugged. "Hmm," muttered Kale, "that must have been it."

Kale turned back toward The Keeper. "How do you take away the immortality of the 100?"

"I saw them try to do this once," replied The Keeper. "They tried to take away the immortality of the 101, but they failed."

"Each of the 100 is kept alive by an aspect of Gamerat," he continued. "The aspect does not do so willingly. It is compelled to -- it is bound by a demon.

"The Blindness -- this demon -- struck a bargain with the 100. The 100 now have both the angelic and demonic aspects of Gamerat. The 100 tried to release The Blindness of the 101."

As The Keeper spoke, we saw flashes of the ritual in our minds. We saw them trying to dispel the demon. They pulled out ashes and smeared the ashes on the face of the 101.

"They need to use the ashes of Gezu, for it was Gezu who bound the demon.

"But even with the demon released, the aspect of Gamerat chose to keep the 101 alive -- perhaps as an ally.

"So... to kill the 100, you need the ashes of Gezu, and you need to cast the ritual to release the Blindness. You must do this individually for each of them.

"After Gezu and his followers were cremated, their ashes were buried in the crypt beneath you."

The Keeper paused. At last, we knew how to defeat the 100.

"Now," The Keeper said, "you must honor your part of the bargain and release my essence. End my existence."

For some reason, we all turned to Garg with expectant eyes. He shrugged, lifted up the jar, and pulled out the stopper. Magical energy began to leak out of the jar.

"Oh, and by the way," The Keeper mentioned, "I've been keeping the Centenarch together. The void will begin creeping in now that I am dying."

"Great," muttered Kale. "He could have told us before we pulled the stopper out."

Dragonborn, Dragonborn (Measuring the Marigolds)

2010-10-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

We went to the North door and walked down the stairs to the circular chamber with the 100 doors. Kale paused to examine the Mantle of Ores again. He explained to us that it protects the wearer -- like (as he put it) "an Amulet of Resolution". Once a day, the wearer could choose his fate.

Kale then turned to Carlagnios. "OK, you can start flipping the coin again. If you need help focusing, I can help."

Carlagnios flipped the coin and said, "Heads!" Nothing happened.

Kale looked painfully annoyed. "You want to visualize both futures."

"Oh," said Carlagnios, "I should think about seeing both heads and tails?"

Kale gave him a sour look and nodded.

Carlagnios flipped the coin again, this time visualizing two of him -- one that saw heads, and one that saw tails. As Carlagnios moved, he became two Carlagnios' that walked apart from each other. Each one held a coin.

"OK," said Kale, "now flip the coin 5 more times."

Both Carlagnios' started to poke at each other and point.

"Will you stop that and flip the coin again?" barked Kale.

Carlagnios continued to flip the coin and divide into more and more Carlagnios'. As he continued, he began to feel like his hold on life was more tenuous. And the copies of Carlagnios began to argue about who should flip the coin.

"Mage!" shouted Carlagnios over the din of growling and muttering Dragonborn. "Make sure that they all flip the coin!"

Irritated, Kale kicked one of the copies of Carlagnios, which promptly fell unconscious. "All right. Flip!" ordered Kale. "Flip again!" He continued until we had enough copies of Carlagnios.

"Now," Kale ordered,"one of you ask the Animata to open the door."

One of the copies of Carlagnios asked the Animata, and the Animata replied, "You can proceed." The doors opened, and we all ran through one of the entrances.

We found ourselves in a damp passage, lined with rusted cells. The construction work was old. We began to follow the passage but were interrupted by a number of growling noises.

"I want meat!" declared one of the copies of Carlagnios.

"Great," muttered Kale. "How do we get back to one Carlagnios?"

"Maybe have him flip the coin and choose heads?" suggested Tiny.

The copies of Carlagnios gathered and began to push their copies of the coins together. As the coins began to combine, so did the copies of Carlagnios. Eventually, they all merged back together, although one copy refused to join the others initially. It took some time to convince the copy to merge with the others.

"How do you feel?" asked Tiny.

"I have strange memories from each of the copies," replied Carlagnios. "But I am glad to be the one true Carlagnios again."

A Vision Too Horrifying For Words

2010-10-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

After a long, awkward pause, Ryn asked The Keeper, "Every minute that you stay in this world is torture, isn't it?"

"I've learned to be patient," replied The Keeper.

"You know, sometimes a good puzzle can help to pass the time," remarked Carlagnios.

The Keeper ignored him and continued, "But what you see here is just a window to my soul. If you make it to the chamber beneath the old prison, you will find my essence. You must destroy it there."

"But we'd need a quorum of the 100 to enter the old prison," Kale pointed out. "And --" He stopped and gave an odd look toward the Seed of Contradiction. "Does the quorum need to be comprised of the different members of the 100? Or can the quorum consist of the same member?"

"It sounds like you have an idea," said The Keeper.

Ryn laughed. "Right. What's the worst that could happen?"

In our minds, we must have all imagined a quorum of copies of Carlagnios, running around, picking fights, gobbling down all the food, burning down buildings with his fiery breath, and being generally very grumpy. At least, that's what it seemed like everyone was thinking, since all of our jaws had dropped and we all had looks of absolute terror on our faces.

Kale shook his head to clear his mind of the horrifying images. "Wait. So what is the Mantle for?"

"The Mantle keeps the Stone Men from seeing you," The Keeper explained.

"So do we need 50 of him? 75?" asked Kale.

"Ohhhh!" interjected Carlagnios. "You're going to make copies of me? What if you make hundreds of copies of me? Will the 100 be referred to as the 100s of 100s?"

The Keeper sighed. "There are only ever 100."

"What do the Stone Men do?" asked Ryn. "Why do we need to hide from them?"

"The Stone Men maintain the barrier between worlds," Kale explained. "The question is -- what holds the worlds together?"

"Love?" suggested Carlagnios.

Kale glared at him. "No."

"Well, how would you know?" demanded Carlagnios.

"Because I'm a mage, OK?" Kale replied, grinding his teeth. "Contradiction keeps the worlds apart. Keeper, why have the Stone Men demanded tribute from us in the past?"

The Keeper replied, "They favor you."

"Favor?" shouted Carlagnios angrily. "I lost my --"

Kale waved his hand to silence the Dragonborn. "How did Ores use the Seed of Contradiction? This ... coin?"

"In times past," The Keeper replied, "Ores would flip the coin. It's pretty obvious how you would use this."

"Well," Kale explained, "the last time that I guessed about how old war technology worked, I ended up locked in a magicless state."

"Ah," said The Keeper. "Would this have been an iron snake?"

Kale shot The Keeper an irritated look. "So," Kale said, quickly changing the subject, "who flips the coin?"

"It all depends," replied The Keeper. "If you want more than one Dwarf, have the Dwarf flip the coin. If you want more than one of the 100, have the Dragonborn flip the coin."

He continued, "The Dragonborn will see a premonition. There are two possible futures: one where the coin lands heads up, and one where the coin lands tails up. With great effort, he can envision both possible futures."

Carlagnios snatched the Seed of Contradiction from Kale and flipped it. Nothing happened.

Carlagnios struck his hand against his forehead. "I felt compelled to choose tails!" he explained.

"Would you stop that?" ordered Kale. "Let's go down to the circular chamber with the 100 doors first."

Crocodiles! And the Intentions of the 100

2010-10-12T19:00:00.000-07:00

We now had the Mantle of Ores and the Seed of Contradiction. But as we stood in the Ores' chamber, we heard a loud crashing noise from the front of the cottage. A number of large crocodiles broke down the door and smashed their way through the house.

Kale quickly used the Exodus Knife to cut a hole in what he called "extradimensional space". We quickly hopped in and watched as the crocodiles destroyed the cottage. Apparently, the creatures could not see us or reach us, but we could see them. Kale explained that this was expected.

Carlagnios glared at Ryn. "Why did you have to complain that we would get attacked by crocodiles?"

"I didn't know!" Ryn replied. "It just seemed as improbable as having a Kraken attack us in a room."

Carlagnios huffed. "At least we didn't get attacked by a squid --"

"Don't," interrupted Kale, "just don't."

After half an hour, the crocodiles departed. At that point, Ryn noticed that the Mantle of Ores kept fading out and fading back in. "Let me take a look at that," requested Kale.

Kale spent some time examining the mantle but could not determine what was happening. Ryn and Tiny also looked at it, but neither could explain the odd behavior.

We decided to leave the extradimensional space. The area surrounding the cottage was covered with crocodile tracks. "I could tell you where they came from, if we wanted to follow them," offered Tiny.

"No," replied Kale, "we should go back to The Keeper to get the instructions on how to use the Mantle and the Seed."

We returned to the portal, which transported us back to the room with the sunken circle. From there, we made our way back to the East door and met The Keeper.

"Are you ready to agree to my offer?" The Keeper asked.

"How exactly will this work?" Kale asked. "Some of the members of our party are ... hesitant ... to take your life."

"When you release my magical essence under the prison, I won't die right away. It just starts the process."

"OK," relied Ryn, "It's no skin off our nose." He turned to Tiny and whispered, "Is it possible that The Keeper is lying?"

Tiny frowned. "It would be very hard to tell."

Kale turned to The Keeper and asked, "What exactly happened between the 100 and the Lover of the Raven Queen?"

The Keeper let out a long sigh. "The Lover promised the 100 that they would live forever -- that they would be Gods upon this earth. And they were ... for a while."

"The Lover had tricked them," continued The Keeper, "and set about destroying life in this world. He blotted out the skies. He killed living things."

"Wait, so what do the 100 hope to do?" interrupted Kale.

"Escape, of course."

"Well, they certainly achieved that," quipped Ryn. "They escaped to our world."

"This world is a lost cause," The Keeper explained. "The 100 needed to find a place to hide from the Lover."

"Um, they're not exactly being inconspicuous," Ryn pointed out. "They're conquering territories back home, starting wars, ..."

"Being inconspicuous doesn't matter," noted The Keeper. "If the Lover is in your world, he will see the 100 no matter what they do."

"So you say," replied Ryn, "but we have no reason to trust you."

The Mantle of Ores

2010-09-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

"Warriors!" snarled Carlagnios "Attention! Stand all in a line!"

The sworn warrior quickly lined up.

"Step forward!"

They all took a step forward.

"Step back!"

They all took a step backward.

"At ease."

The warrior relaxed their stances.

"What next?" asked Tiny. "Tell them to put their left foot in and their left foot out?"

"Sir!" shouted one of the warriors. "We have waited a long time for your return. Have you come back to fight the Chimera?"

"Who is the Kai-meh-rah?" asked Carlagnios.

Kale let out a long sigh and explained the Chimera to Carlagnios.

"Right," muttered Carlagnios and turned back to the warriors. "Do you need food or water?"

"No, sir. We can take care of those ourselves."

"Are you ready to fight the Chimera?"

"No, sir. We cannot leave here."

Carlagnios growled impatiently. Kale whispered to him, "Tell them we are here for the weapon."

"We have come to retrieve the weapon," announced Carlagnios.

One of the warriors produced a knife and handed it to Carlagnios. "This is the weapon -- the knife of Ores."

Kale examined the knife. "This is an Exodus Knife. You use it to trace the outline of a door, and you can open a door to another place."

The warrior continued. "This was Ores' knife. He left instructions. You are to take this to Ores' chamber, move the dresser, and use the knife of the wall behind the dresser."

"Good," grunted Carlagnios. "We shall go there now. What about you?"

"The enchantment keeps us here. We are bound to stay here forever."

"That doesn't seem like a life worth living," noted Kale. "You know, if you want, we could just kill you."

"Yeah," agreed Garg, "I have no problem with that."

Tiny and Firinne paled.

"That won't be necessary," snarled Carlagnios. He turned to the warriors. "We will see you in the future."

And with that, we left and made our way back to the room with the sunken circle.

When we entered the circle, the animata appeared. "Would you like to go to your chamber?"

"No," replied Carlagnios. "We would like to go to Ores' chamber."

The animata paused. "That is an unusual request, sir."

"We have the knife of Ores, and we need to get something from his chamber."

"Oh," said the animata, "why didn't you say so in the first place?"

And in a flash of light, we found ourselves in the chamber of Ores. The room was filled with indoor plants. There was a path through the plants. Bran carefully checked for traps and found none.

An animata appeared in the distance. It carried a light bucked and headed toward us.

"You there," called Carlagnios, "where is the dresser of Ores?"

The animata ignored him and continued on.

"We need to figure out how to get there," said Garg. "Can you determine the right path?" he asked me.

Unfortunately, my sense for nature was terribly off at this point in time. Fortunately, Kale was able to find the path to a small cottage.

"We should be on our guard," noted Tiny.

"Oh, right," said Ryn. "We were attacked by a Kraken in a room. Perhaps in this cottage, we'll be attacked by a giant squid. Or crocodiles."

We entered the cottage and found an animata setting the table with food. The animata had also started a fire in the fireplace.

We discovered a sword hanging nearby. Kale examined the sword and declared that it was a magical sword with the ability to cause different types of damage -- a Dynamic Longsword. "Who wants the sword?"

"Why should we take the sword?" growled Carlagnios. "It is not ours. Let's ask the animata who the sword belongs to."

The animata did not respond.

The dresser was full of old, disintegrated clothing. We moved it out of the way to reveal the wall behind it.

Kale took the Exodus Knife and carved the outline of a door on the wall. He opened the door, and the Mantle of Ores was hanging there before us.

"So this is the Mantle," said Kale. "The Mantle that hid Ores from the Stone Men, so that he could steal the Seed of Contradiction."

We now had the Mantle and the Seed. All that we needed were the instructions.

The Kraken

2010-09-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

After we woke, Bran suggested that Carlagnios ask the animata for some food for breakfast. Carlagnios stepped into the circle, summoned the animata, and asked for food.

"I am sorry, sir. There is no food."

Carlagnios growled. (There is nothing more frightening than a Dragonborn who is woken early in the morning and who has not had his breakfast.) "Fine! Just take us back then."

We stepped into the circle and, with a flash of light, we found ourselves back in the Centenarch. We made our way back to the East exit. Kale tried the Amulet of Opening on the East door.

The door opened to a dusty room. In the room, a cracked, crystal orb sat in a metal vise. Kale approached the orb and, with a few gestures, activated the device.

We were all overcome by a feeling of unease, as though we were surrounded by insanity.

"Who is there?" demanded a voice. We all felt too ill to respond. But Carlagnios eventually did.

"I am one of the 100," Carlagnios declared. "Who are you?"

"I am the Keeper. I am the most powerful of the animata. I am charged with the care of the Centenarch."

"Oh," said Carlagnios. "So how's the Centenarch these days?"

"Quite boring. Each year that passes is like 1000 years to me."

Carlagnios seemed to be getting bored with the small talk. "So is this the Armory?" he demanded.

"No, the Armory is next door."

"Is that why you're here? To watch over the Armory?"

"My essence is kept below, beneath the old prison," the Keeper replied.

"Ask it about the Ritual of Immortality," suggested Kale.

"Keeper," said Carlagnios, "do you know about the Ritual of Immortality? When was it cast? How was it cast? And how can it be undone?"

"I saw it attempted once before," the Keeper replied. It paused before offering, "I will trade what I know, if, in exchange, you would end my suffering. Destroy my essence beneath the old prison."

Carlagnios agreed and showed it the Seed of Contradiction. "Do you know how to use this?"

"Look at what you found," said the Keeper with a note of surprise in its voice. "I only know what the patron told us. To use that, you will need to find Ores' mantle."

Ryn, Garg, and Kale surmised that we could use the sunken circle to visit Ores' room to look for the mantle. But first, we needed to get into the Armory.

"Thank you, Keeper," said Carlagnios. "Don't go anywhere."

The Keeper let out a long sigh. "No, I suppose I couldn't anyway."

With that, we left the room and used the Amulet of Opening on the door to the South. The door opened to a hall that broadened into a wider corridor. There were pillars along either side of the corridor. The design of the room seemed familiar -- almost like something we had seen in Focus House 17 long ago.

Lined up on both sides were circular spheres. There were 30 of them. Eight of them snapped open, revealing warriors armed with bows. Four more of them snapped open, and dead bodies fell out.

In the middle of the room, something was bubbling from the floor. It began to coalesce, until a giant Kraken emerged.

"A Kraken? Here? On land?" asked Ryn, looking puzzled.

The warriors shot at us, while the Kraken grabbed us and tried to crush us. Kale cast a spell to force the Kraken back, breaking its hold on us. We were assailed by powerful blasts of force, but Kale managed to cast a protective spell to keep the blasts from harming us.

Even with the most powerful blows from Firinne and Carlagnios and the most deadly strikes from Bran and Ryn, the warriors did not fall. Instead, more of the spheres snapped open to reveal more warriors. Garg healed our wounds, but the warriors and Kraken kept up their attacks. It seemed like we were facing an insurmountable enemy.

Kale stared at the warriors and a glint of recognition flashed in his eyes. "Carlagnios!" he shouted. "Command them!"

"What?" Carlagnios growled back.

"Tell them to stop!"

Carlagnios put down his jagged axe and called out to the warriors. "Here me, Carlagnios of the 100! Stop your attacks!"

And they stopped. But only for a moment. As they lifted their weapons again, Kale shouted, "Command them to attack the Kraken!"

Carlagnios nodded and barked out the order. "Warriors! I command you to attack the Kraken!"

With those words, the warriors turned their weapons and fired at the Kraken. The Kraken was no match for the combined assault from the warriors and the rest of our party. Before long, the Kraken had lost and sunk into the floor.

"Couldn't you have done that sooner?" asked Garg.

"How was I to know that they would listen to me?" Carlagnios snarled back.

"It's a good thing that they did," said Firinne. "I just hope they don't harbor any ill feelings toward us after we damaged them."

The sworn warriors surrounded Carlagnios and awaited his next order.

"Before I Leave This World"

2010-09-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

We made our way to the East exit and stood in the hub.

"Let's try the North door," Bran suggested.

Carlagnios tried to open the door, but it would not budge.

Kale sighed. "To one side, Dragonborn. Let me examine this door."

He looked it over carefully for several moments. "There is a magical force that holds the door closed," he declared. "The key to the door is an amulet."

"I have an amulet," said Firinne, approaching Kale. She handed him the Quartermaster's Amulet that she had received long ago. "Will this work?"

"Well," replied Kale, "it's not the same amulet. But there are some faults in the enchantment, so perhaps I can make this amulet open the door. Stand back now, and see what a powerful Mage can do."

He spent several minutes fiddling with the amulet and the door. Nothing happened.

"Do you need help?" asked Ryn.

"I can help as well," offered Garg.

Together, Kale, Ryn, and Garg tinkered with the amulet and the door for several more minutes. But the door still remained shut.

Tiny rolled his eyes. "OK, guys, it's not hard." Tiny effortlessly unlocked the door with the amulet and went inside.

As we followed him in, Kale explained, "Well, I can usually break these types of enchantments... It must have been some bad luck that made this fail."

"Uh huh," said Carlagnios, seeming unconvinced.

The door led to the Hall of Records. The room was filled with scrolls and books. Most of the parchments had crumbled to dust.

Of the scrolls and books that had survived, we found:

a scroll that captured the account of the bribery of Shabriri

Ores had negotiated with Shabriri and convinced him to do a job.

the proceedings of the Council of the Centenarch
This included a debate on moving the Centenarch from the world to here — 99 voted for this, and 1 was opposed

notes about the Assassin (Brother John)

This included a field report when Brother John was captured and tortured. Under duress, he revealed that he was the Assassin, but he was sworn not to reveal his name.
He was in the Centenarchy, spying on the 100, when the Ritual of Immortality was cast. This explained why he became immortal and why he was known as the 101.

a ritual of simple finding

an account of how they caught the Whale
Ores used the Seed of Contradiction and wore the Mantle. When this happened, he multiplied. (He was able to keep his copies from going into other worlds.) He was a powerful warlock, so once there were enough copies of him, he could reach the Whale.

It had been a while since we had rested, so we decided to go back to the room with the sunken circle to rest.

Kale thought that it would be a good precaution to disable the runes. He had the scarab that we had used to disable arcane devices before. But there was no place to attach the scarab in the sunken circle.

In the end, we decided to sleep around the circle. Ryn stood guard while we slept.

After only an hour, animata suddenly appeared in the room and began to attack us. We scrambled into the sunken circle, and the animata stopped attacking.

"Why did you attack us?" Carlagnios demanded.

The animata replied, "I know you as Logrid. How are you named?"

"Named? I am Carlagnios. Who are you? And why do you attack us?"

"I only exist to serve. You and the 100 use this circle to transport yourselves to your rooms."

"Well," Carlagnios started. He thought for a moment. "Can you use this circle to take us to my room?"

"Please step inside the circle. Keep away from the edges."

We followed its instructions and, in a flash of light, we found ourselves in what appeared to be Logrid's bedroom. It was an irregularly shaped room. There was a cloakroom with hooks, a chest, a bed, and a writing desk. Beyond the desk was a large window. From that window, we could see that the room overlooked a forest. The forest was shrouded by dark fog. There was also a sunken circle in the room -- a circle that seemed to have the same arcane runes.

As we moved closer to examine the chest, Tiny stopped us. "There is a trap. We will spring it if we open the chest."

"That's no problem," declared Bran. "I'll disarm the trap."

He took out his tools, fiddled with the lock, and deftly ... triggered the trap. With a puff of gas, Bran was knocked unconscious.

"We really don't seem to be having very much luck today," observed Firinne.

"Speak for yourself," quipped Tiny.

In the chest, we found a locket with a picture of Brother John. Kale carefully examined the locket. "This appears to be an amulet of opening."

The chest also contained a letter. Kale took several minutes looking over the letter before shrugging. "I can't understand it. It is written in a script that is not familiar to me."

Carlagnios scoffed. "Give me that letter. I'll read it."

Kale fought to keep from laughing out loud. "Really? Carlagnios, can you even read?"

"I can read this," Carlagnios answered. "It is from Logrid. It is her final message before she left this world for ours."

"Hmmm, perhaps it is written in a script that only the 100 can read," surmised Ryn.

Carlagnios continued, "'Before I leave this world, I shall take the tree and kill it. I will prevent others from becoming the 100. We are to be exiled from our world. I leave behind this key to the armory. The armory contains a powerful weapon.'"

"Key?" I asked.

"The locket," suggested Kale. "This must be the key to open one of the other doors."

Bored with the discussion, Carlagnios tossed away the letter and moved to examine the sunken circle. As he stepped inside, an animata appeared before him.

"Greetings, My Lord," it said. "I live to serve."

Carlagnios snarled, "That's nice. I hate you. Goodbye." He stepped back out of the circle, and the animata disappeared.

We decided to rest here in Logrid's room for the night. We fell asleep to the sounds of rustling wings as bats flew past the window outside. Tomorrow, we would continue our exploration of the Centenarch.

The Futility of Interrogating Animata

2010-09-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

The West exit led to a square room with a sunken circle in the center. The room was much smaller than the room we had come through. The circle was about a foot deep.

Carlagnios peered down into the circle. "Something is carved here," he called out.

Kale quickly joined him and examined the markings. "These look like magical runes. Some of these are used for teleportation. Some look like the rituals we used to summon animata. Curious."

"I wonder what this is for?" pondered Firinne.

"Well, let's find out," said Bran.

"Wait," Firinne interrupted. "Maybe we should -- "

Bran jumped into the circle and began to kick at the runes. Firinne rolled her eyes.

"Get out of there!" warned Kale. "It's dangerous! Will you stop that??!"

Bran looked sorely disappointed as he climbed back out of the circle.

Kale shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Clearly, this is getting us nowhere. Let's go back and investigate the North exit."

We went back to the circular room and peered through the North exit. There were stairs leading down to a lower chamber.

"Should we try the East exit first?"

The East exit led to a hub with doors to the North, East, and South.

"I say we go downstairs," announced Bran. He dashed to the North exit and headed down the stairs.

We scrambled to follow him. Kale muttered something about breadth first versus depth first and accompanied us.

At the bottom of the stairs was a large circular room, lined with doors. There were 100 doors.

Carlagnios approached one of the doors and tried to open it. The door didn't budge. Carlagnios growled impatiently.

Suddenly, an animata appeared beside him.

"Welcome, My Lord. What are you doing?" the animata asked.

Carlagnios was taken aback. "You can talk? Tell me -- what are these doors for?"

"They lead to the old prison, My Lord. That is where you -- and the rest of the 100 -- meet. Any of these doors will lead you there."

"Really?" said Carlagnios. "Why won't they open?"

"You need a quorum."

Carlagnios seemed puzzled by this. He turned to Kale. "Mage, what is a -- kwoh-ruhm?"

Kale sighed. "He means that we need 51 of the 100 in order to enter the old prison."

Carlagnios looked irritated and turned his attention back to the animata. "What else can you tell us. Can you tell us what Gamerat is? That thing that looks like an angel?"

"I do not know who Gamerat is."

"Well, then tell me what you do know. Tell me everything that you know." Carlagnios was snarling and smoke was billowing from his nostrils. "Tell me or I will kill you with this great, jagged axe!"

The animata did not seem to notice Carlagnios' rage. "If killing me will help, My Lord, I will be happy to be killed by you. I only live to serve."

"Stupid animata," muttered Carlagnios.

Garg had an idea. "Why don't you ask it if anyone else has been here?"

Carlagnios nodded. He decided to change his tactics and spoke in a polite voice. "Hello, Animata. How are you doing? Have you seen anyone else here?"

"I only appear for the 100. I have not seen them since the Centenarch moved."

"When did it move? And where did it move?"

"We moved it 10,000 years ago. It used to be in the world, and now it is here."

Carlagnios gave up. He was not going to get any useful information from this animata.

We bade farewell to it and made our way back up the stairs. The only unexplored area left to us was the East exit.

A History, Told in Pictures and Figures

2010-09-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

The statue allowed us to pass, and we entered the narrow vestibule. We walked through a hallway that ended in two tall, brass doors. As we approached the doors, they swung open by themselves, as if the room on the other side were eagerly welcoming back Carlagnios, one of the 100.

Beyond the doors, we saw a broad, tall room. Light from a distance illuminated the room. Carlagnios casually strolled forward, without any sign of fear or caution.

The room seemed to be shaped like a rotunda. It was vastly tall and broad. Above us, in the distance, we could see 100 hovering orbs. Most of them glowed with an unearthly light. Oddly, 7 of them did not shine, and 3 of them were blinking.

"This looks like a civic building," declared Kale. "Note the murals along the walls and the statues in the center."

We approached the wall and examined the murals. There were 9 of them.

The first, "The Release of the 100," depicted a number of individuals being released from a jail.

The second, "The Age of Service," showed these individuals battling wraiths.

The third, "The Harrowing Ordeal," was a familiar scene. The tree that we had faced was shown killing a woman. Carlagnios gazed at the mural thoughtfully. If the memory had caused a shiver to run down his spine, his steely Dragonborn face did not reveal it.

The fourth, "The End of Service," illustrated these individuals slaughtering the Judges.

The fifth, "Life Everlasting," depicted an angelic figure bound to the ground. Something terrible was about to happen to the figure. I suppressed the urge to quickly shuffle over to the next mural.

"Is this Gamerat itself?" Kale wondered aloud. "It has power over life and death. Perhaps this is showing the time when the Lover of the Raven Queen imprisoned him, in order to harness his power." He turned to Bran and asked, "Is the angelic figure Gamerat?"

Bran shrugged. "How would I know that?"

Carlagnios snarled, "Don't be so sleazy, Bran. We know who you are. We know you follow the Raven Queen." Carlagnios huffed and impatiently moved on to examine the next mural.

The sixth, "The Seed of Contradiction," showed a man in peasant's clothing. He held a coin. In the mural, there were 5 "copies" of the man.

The seventh, "The Whale," was a drawing of the Cthona that we had seen in one of the Focus Houses so long ago.

The eighth, "The Torment of the Chained Man," was an illustration of a man being held underwater. Chains bound the man to the floor. Curiously, the man closely resembled someone we had met long ago. "Isn't that Brother John?" I asked. Kale scowled, as though this was no revelation to him. "Of course. He is the Assassin. The Chained Man. The 101."

The ninth, "The Patron," depicted a wise man, staring in the distance. This particular mural had been vandalized. Someone had scrawled the word "BETRAYAL" across the wise man's face. Beneath this word, someone had written a curse in Old Warrior. "He lies in his shit."

"That doesn't seem very good," remarked Firinne. Bran shrugged, looking somewhat bored. "Let's look at the statues," he suggested and scampered to the center of the room.

There were two large statues, perhaps 3 or 4 times larger than the people they depicted. To the left, a statue labelled "Gezu" stood. The figure was slumped, as though Gezu was falling down. He had a javelin piercing through his chest. One hand gripped the javelin. The other hand was outstretched.

"Gezu sacrificed himself to save the 100," Kale reminded us.

The status on the right was labelled "Ores." The statue depicted a man in a rough spun. He crouched, as though he were sneaking somewhere. In one hand, he held a dagger. In the other, he held a coin.

Kale noted, "This depicts the time when Ores stole the Seed of Contradiction from the Stone Men."

Carlagnios frowned. "All of this seems dimly familiar. It's as though I somehow know this."

"Well, you are one of the 100 now," Kale said, carefully resisting the urge to make a remark about the choice of the word "dimly."

There were three doors exits leading from this room: one to the West, one to the North, and one to the South.

"Shall we proceed West?" suggested Bran.

Fear the Reaper

2010-07-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

We continued down the path in silence, some of us holding our heads. Bran finally broke the silence.

"What was in that drink?" he asked, holding his head painfully. "I kept having these strange dreams. I was in a boat in a lake, and we were getting attacked by ghouls. And this nymph of the lake kept pushing us into the water."

The dream seemed awfully familiar. "I was in the boat in the dream as well. It seemed like Garg was controlling the nymph and the ghouls." Garg shrugged.

"I was a Bard," said Ryn. "I didn't know that I could sing."

"I was attacked by an old woman," said Kale. "I think we raided a caravan."

"I was in a tree in my dream," said Tiny. "This wood nymph kept summoning branches to attack us."

"And poison us," added Firinne. "I kept on getting poisoned until I was near death. Why am I always the one who is near death?"

"I was the one who died last time," noted Carlagnios as the trudged along the path.

"Oh, that's right," said Firinne. "What about your dream? Were you attacked by nymphs as well?"

Carlagnios frowned as he struggled to remember. "I was ... kicking a soft, white orb toward a net that was posted in the ground."

"OK..."

As we continued along the path, Tiny, our incredibly perceptive dwarf, could see a flicker of the other world that Carlagnios could also see.

We heard a high pitched humming sound. After a while, we felt as though we crossed over into the other world.

We entered a humid jungle. The light was dim, almost like twilight. There were no stars above us in the sky.

Carlagnios continued to lead us along the path. Occasionally, the space around the path would warp in strange ways. The light level was constant, never changing. And large beetles scurried along the ground below us.

"This is kind of creepy," noted Kale.

Suddenly, the surface of the swamp began to bubble and boil, and graves spewed up to the surface. From these graves arose three Spirit Devourers and a Reaper.

One of the Spirit Devourers engulfed Ryn, but Ryn was able to break free. Bran and Firinne struck down one of the Devourers. The creatures seemed particularly susceptible to Firinne's and Tiny's attacks -- perhaps because of the holy, radiant light that they used.

Two of the Devourers swallowed Garg and Firinne. Firinne was able to break free, but Garg was trapped. The Devourer began to consume Garg's soul and spewed chunks of his soul all over us.

Garg was able to break free, and Firinne struck down and killed the Reaper with a radiant blow.

Tiny kept us all alive, but one of the Devourers captured Tiny, rendered him unconscious, and threatened to kill him. Firinne smashed the Devourer and freed Tiny.

After we defeated the creatures, we discovered a cruel looking black rod in a old urn in a surfaced grave. Kale noted that it was a Vicious Rod.

There was no good place to rest, so we continued on. Eventually, we found a large, cylindrical building that rose from the swamp like a wide tower. The building was metal and had blackened windows. The building did not seem to fit the rest of the swamp.

There was a rough, long bridge that led to the front entrance to this building. The bridge was rickety and wooden. Strangely enough, the bridge seemed to have been built recently. We could smell the scent of fresh pine from the wood.

Bran led the way across the bridge, checking for traps as he moved. We reached the front door of the building, which had been torn off its hinges. There stood a statue, guarding the way.

The face of the statue suddenly came to life. "No one may pass -- save for the 100," it demanded.

Carlagnios replied, "I am one of the 100."

"Welcome, 100," the voice said, and the face froze back into stone.

Getting the Book on the Twisted Line

2010-07-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

Bran shouted to the approaching party. "Hey! I mean, 'Halt!' Who goes there?"

"It's us!" they replied. "Who are you?"

We quickly discussed what we should do.

"Hey!" they ahouted. "Are you going to come out and parlay with us or what?"

"We have a wizard," warned Bran.

They approached us. They were a group of men, wearing broad brimmed hats. "You've stumbled into the wrong stretch of hell, friend," one of them said. "This isn't a place you're allowed to be."

Ryn noticed that one of them was making a symbol recognized by other members of the Book Club. Ryn smoothly stepped out of the shadows and made a gesture in response.

The leader of the party looked surprised. "OK, why didn't you say you were members of the Book Club?"

"Well, we're in a strange land, and we are not sure who to trust."

"That's fine," their leader replied. He introduced himself and his party. "I'm Nighthawk, them's Ace, Happy, and Fibs. We call him Fibs 'cause he lies. And by 'lies', I mean sits on his ass. The ugly fellow is Stitches; he's our Healer. And him what's riding drag is Chuck Wagon, our Feeder. Don't mind him; he's full as a tick."

He looked at us. "What are you doing here?"

"We're -- uh -- looking for morons to harvest," Kale quickly replied.

"So, how long have you been here?" asked Ryn.

"I was born and raised here," answered Nighthawk. "We control the Book around this area. When were you last here?"

"About ten year ago," replied Ryn, "when I was 12."

"Well, things here are run by a new guy here -- Caro. He seems to be doing a good job."

"KAY-row?" asked Carlagnios.

"What happened to his predecessor?" asked Ryn.

"Muse? I don't know. They don't tell me." Nighthawk shrugged. "I'm not Inner Sanctum."

"Well, I hope you don't mind if we pass through," said Ryn.

"Are you headed on the Twisted Line?" asked Nighthawk.

We looked at Carlagnios, who simply shrugged.

"Don't tell mean that you ain't got the Book on the Twisted Line," sneered Nighthawk.

"We could trade you a book for the Book on the Twisted Line," suggested Kale.

"Sure," replied Nighthawk. "Which one of you is the Finder? What do you have to offer?"

Tiny and Kale both raised their hands.

"That's a lot of finders," remarked Nighthawk.

"We could offer you a book on Sour Well or the Bonebreaker," said Kale.

Nighthawk considered the offer. "Well, this is a hot place. It's a good pokeout."

"So are these."

After some haggling, Kale was able to exchange the Book on Sour Well with the Book on the Twisted Line.

"Great," said Nighthawk. "What's say we camp here tonight and share the watches? We could have some drink and share some stories."

"Sounds good."

"OK," said Nighthawk and turned to one of his comrades. "Pass the bottle of Eau de Joy."

After much drinking, the night passed uneventfully, and in the morning, we went our separate ways.

The Path to the Centenarchy

2010-07-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

Carlagnios knew how to get to the Centenarchy. "I can write down the ritual for you," he told Kale.

Kale replied, "Wait, you know how to write?" Carlagnios glared at him. "OK, OK," Kale stuttered, digging into his bag for a magic quill from the Old War. "Why don't you just explain it to me, and I can write it down.

Carlagnios proceeded to explain the details of the ritual. As he explained more, we began to realize that we could not perform the ritual immediately. First of all, Carlagnios was still far too weak to take part in the ritual. And then, we were lacking the components required for the ritual.

"Maybe we could we sell Carl to get the components needed?" suggested Tiny. Carlagnios growled back at him.

"Perhaps it's best if we head back to the Siege City, the city of the dwarves," said Kale.

We flew back to the city with our vulture drakes. As we approached, we could see the tops of the towers that protected Siege City. And the ballistae on top of the towers began to fire at us.

"Hey!" roared Carlagnios. It was fortunate that he was still weakened, or the testy Dragonborn fighter would have attacked the dwarves manning the towers.

Tiny wisely suggested that we land and that he should approach the towers. "Hello!" he called to the dwarves at the top of the towers.

"Who goes there?" one of the guards asked.

"We are looking for some components to complete a ritual. Could we find the components here?"

The guard shook his head. "I feel that you've come to the wrong place."

Tiny raised his hammer, Loom, into the air. "Do you see this hammer?"

The guard squinted for a moment and recoiled in surprise. "Are you the one who wields Loom? Why didn't you say so? Come in."

They took care of our Vulture Drakes and led us to Ionel Brownstone. "Yes, we can get you the components," answered Ionel. "We'll need to go back to the House of Mages."

We returned there, where we exchange 5 of our gems for the components needed for the ritual. "We would also like you to rest here tonight," suggested Ionel. "From what I understand, you had a difficult journey, and one of you had to be raised from the dead."

"I was, but I am not weak!" snarled Carlagnios before his drooping eyes sagged shut and fiery snores blew out from his nostrils.

"I've prepared quarters for you," said Ionel. "We will see you in the morning."

The next morning, Ionel and Pesker the Younger came to greet us.

"While you were gone, the council convened. The signs are right. We are ready for The Return when you are ready."

"The ... Return?" asked Tiny.

Ionel recited, "And Po said: 'When these eleven portents come, cast this hammer, Loom, from thy hand. Cast it into the moat of thy exile. The hammer shall return in hand of a mighty warrior. And he shall cast you from your exile and you will return to the rich hills of your birth. Heed his call.'”

He paused and looked over Tiny.

"We were ... thrown off by the 'mighty warrior' part ..." He paused to gesture at Tiny. "But," he sighed, "on the whole, this seems like it fits, and our auguries are not overwhelmingly negative." He shrugged.

"So," he continued, "how do we go back?"

"Well," said Tiny, "we could help with The Return, but we're on a quest somewhere else."

Ionel smiled. "No need to worry. We need to get our people ready for The Return." He handed Tiny a horn. "Just blow this when you are done with your quest and are ready to help us."

Kale noted that this was a Horn of the Highway, an arcane item.

Tiny eagerly took the horn and began to fiddle with it.

"Can I try it out? What happens when I blow? Can I try blowing softly? Would that be OK?"

Ionel shook his head. "You must not blow the horn until you are ready. Otherwise, you might call us too early." Tiny looked sorely disappointed.

"Now," Ionel continued, "we must make ourselves ready. We will have stout hearts of stone ..."

"Ah," interjected Tiny with a gleam of recognition in his eye. "Have you met the stone men before?"

"The ones we sent with Loom saw the stone men from a distance. Now you must go and complete your quest."

With that, we left the city. We left the Vulture Drakes behind us -- the ritual was a walking ritual, and we had no use for the Drakes.

Beneath the open sky, we began to perform the ritual. Kale and Garg assisted with the ritual. When it was done, we could see a path in another world -- a path that now appeared in our world.

Carlagnios told us to follow the path and led the way. He said it would take a day to get to the Centenarchy.

As we followed the path, we could feel the eyes of other creatures upon us -- creatures that we could not see. We could see the path in our own world, but we could not see anything else from the other world.

We finally reached the entry to a valley. Bran decided to try riding the Ebony Fly to the sky to see if we could see more of the area. But as he flew farther from Carlagnios, he felt as though he was not following the same path. He returned to the ground.

Then, somewhere in the distance, we heard a party approaching us.

The Harrowing Ordeal

2010-06-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

At dawn, the tree spoke again:

Are you ready?

The challenge is unopposed.

Prepare to face the Harrowing Ordeal.

You must prove yourself in combat.

You must fight without the aid of others.

You must fight without the aid of potions that heal.

You must fight to the death.

If you do not follow these rules, you cannot become one of the One Hundred.

The tree grew to a gigantic size, and its bark twisted to form a horrifying face. It moved toward Carlagnios, sending splinters of wood through the air.

As it rose up, its roots burst through the surface of the ground, making it difficult for Carlagnios to move. One of its pods exploded, sending shrapnel at Carlagnios.

Carlagnios fought back, making a lunging strike at the tree and covering it with a breath of fire. Carlagnios' Jagged Great Axe was like a thicket of blades, cutting off three huge branches.

With each moment, Carlagnios struck at the tree with blow after blow, like a rain of steel on the limbs of the tree. The tree looked battered and half-beaten, but it still attacked Carlagnios.

Carlagnios could not continue to take damage from the tree, and he eventually fell unconscious. The tree smashed at Carlagnios continuously until no life was left in the Dragonborn's body.

Then, the tree spoke again:

He has given his life.

He need never fear death again.

He is now one of the One Hundred.

Your friend is a brave warrior.

You can now return him to life with pride.

And with that, the tree shrunk down and became a regular tree.

Kale and Tiny took the day to cast the ritual that raised Carlagnios from the dead. He was now alive but felt quite weak.

"Am I alive?"

"Yes," replied Kale. "We raised you. Might I remind you that the reagents for this ritual are quite expensive?"

Carlagnios sagged. "All I have is my part of the gold chain." He handed it to Kale, who proceeded to melt it down into ingots.

"Am I one of the 100? Am I immortal? Garg, punch me." Garg happily complied. "Owww! OK, try cutting me." Garg's blade drew Dragonborn blood. "Owwww! I don't understand. Shouldn't I be immortal?"

Carlagnios frowned quizzically. "And yet... This is strange. I feel something that I have never felt before... I feel like ... I know something!"

"What do you know?"

"I can sense that the other 99 are far away. And I know where the Centenarch is."

"Then lead us there," said Kale. "Lead us to the Centenarch."

Who Will Stand For Justice?

2010-06-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

The dwarves left us at the base of the Bonebreaker. From there, we flew to the top. We pounded stakes into the ground and tied up our mounts here.

As we began to explore the summit, we noticed a rustling noise from the Bag. Suddenly, the Bag flew open, and the golden chain (from the mouth of dragon) came spinning out. It grabbed two of us and summoned four puppets of swirling stick and stone. The chain and its puppets lashed out at us.

As we battled, they stunned us and dazed us, keeping us off balance. But together, we were able to beat them back. Garg marked all of them to kept them from attacking some of us. Firinne smashed and badly damaged the puppets. Bran snuck behind and struck one of the puppets and kept the others from attacking him. Finally, the tide turned when Carlagnios destroyed one puppet with a lunging strike, and Kale split apart another puppet in a cloud of daggers.

After we defeated the gold chain, Kale carefully examined it. He was concerned that the chain might come back to life.

"I will melt this down into ingots."

"No, don't destroy it!" yelled Carlagnios. "It is worth something as a gold chain."

"But I want to make sure that it is dead and won't attack us again."

"Fine," snarled Carlagnios, tearing off a small section of the chain. "I'll take my part of it, and you can melt down the rest."

Kale cast a magical fire to melt down the gold chain into ingots. Carlagnios held the ends of his section of the chain to the fire. "Can you melt these two ends together?"

We searched the summit and eventually found the fossilized stump. Kale carefully poured out the drop of life from the vial, and, after it fell slowly (almost too slowly), it hit the stump. The drop sat there, beading on top of the stump. Slowly, the drop changed color from gray to brown.

Then, suddenly, a tree grew up out of the stump. It was a small sized tree -- scrawny but healthy. It was perhaps twelve feet tall. Kale caressed the tree, mentioning that it was a cute, tiny thing.

"OK, that's kind of creepy," Carlagnios remarked.

Kale then began to cast the Ritual of Challenge. Bran suggested that we all rest while Kale cast the Ritual, since we were exhausted from our battle with the chain and the puppets.

At dawn, Kale finished the Ritual, speaking the last words in old warrior: "And so we begin the Ritual of Becoming the One Hundred."

With that, the tree came to life and spoke:

"Since the time of the deep past,

the One Hundred have stood to defend our people and our way of life.

You have begun the Ritual.

Who will will stand to join the One Hundred?

Who will stand for justice?

Carlagnios woke up. "What's that noise?" he growled.

"I think we have a volunteer," Kale replied.

After some discussion, Carlagnios agreed to go through the Ritual. "I will do it," he answered the tree.

"Who do you challenge?" demanded the tree.

"The Owl?"

"I do not know that name."

Carlagnios searched through the book that explained the early Centenarchy. He was looking for a name. "Gezu?"

"Gezu is dead." replied the tree.

"Fine... then, Logrid," Carlagnios spat out. "That one's a bastard."

"Aza Logrid Paladus. The challenge has been sent. You must wait a day and a night for her to arrive."

"Will I fight her alone?" asked Carlagnios.

The tree stood in silence. Carlagnios continued to question the tree, but the tree did not respond.

Kale suggested that we lend our magical items to Carlagnios to help him with the battle. But even with the items, Carlagnios was unsure of his victory and began to have second thoughts.

Kale tried to calm him down. "Logrid swore not to attack us. So perhaps she will not be able to fight back."

"But we're putting her into a bad situation," observed Bran. "She doesn't deserve this."

"Maybe some practice rounds will help me to feel more confident about the battle," Carlagnios thought aloud. Kale agreed to help him practice. Carlagnios swung at Kale with furious blows, and Kale warded off the attacks with his magical shield.

Even if Carlagnios could defeat Logrid, he was still unsure what else he would face in the Harrowing Ordeal to come.

"This Is Life Itself"

2010-06-18T19:00:00.000-07:00

After the battle, we found the lone dwarf on the ground. He was in bad shape.

Through cracked and bloodied lips, the dwarf spoke. "You are not known to me." He gazed at all of us and focused his attention on Tiny, our Dwarven Cleric. "Kill me now or kill me later. It is your choice, brother."

"We should make sure that Garg doesn't finish him off," suggested Carlagnios. Garg glared back at him.

Tiny looked back at the dwarf. "You have nothing to fear from us. I don't work for the Lord Chimera."

"I don't believe you," the dwarf replied.

"But I'm a dwarf! And we destroyed the teardrop in the sky and stole these mounts!"

The dwarf sighed. "The Chimera can turn anyone to his will."

Tiny thought for a moment. He asked, "Do you know who Po is?"

The dwarf nodded.

"Do you know what this is?" asked Tiny, holding up his warhammer.

"Is ... Is that Loom?"

Loom responded through Tiny's mouth, "Aye. The Same."

"Then... you must have met Berit." We did remember the dwarf who had given Loom to Tiny.

"Yes," Loom responded.

"She never made it back to us," the dwarf explained, "so we never knew if she was successful in her mission."

"Yes, we did meet her -- it must have been three months ago."

The dwarf quickly sat up. "You must come with me."

Tiny healed the dwarf's wounds while we searched the dragon's bodies. In the mouth of one of the dragons, we found a long and large gold chain. Kale carefully separated it from the dragon's mouth and put it into the Bag.

We found nothing else and joined Tiny and the dwarf again. The dwarf introduced himself as Pesker the Younger. He led us on our mounts across the sky. After a while, he motioned for us to stop and land.

"We cannot fly any further. Otherwise, we will be seen in the sky and attacked."

He led us the rest of the way on foot. We stopped at a keep with four stone towers. At the top of each tower was a giant ballista. As we approached, the ballistae swiveled to follow us.

"We can leave our mounts here. They will tend to them for us."

We entered the keep and followed a set of stairs down. We reached a point where the stairs were flooded, and we could go no further.

"Let us wait here."

As we waited, the water slowly receded (almost as if it were being drained out), and we were able to continue.

We were led through a damp passageway, and Pesker warned us, "Move along and do not touch anything that is wet. The liquid is a venom that we use to discourage intruders."

"Oh, neat!" said Tiny.

"Uh, we should keep Tiny from touching that," Ryn cautioned.

"Hey!" Carlagnios yelled at Tiny. "Don't touch that, Tiny!" he snarled, slapping Tiny's hand. Tiny pulled back his hand and looked sorely disappointed.

As we continued through the passageway, we noticed giant stones hanging above us. It seemed like the stones could be dropped to block the passageway and prevent further intrusion.

We finally reached another flooded area (which Pesker called "a water lock") and waited for the water to be drained out before we continued.

"Why is this area so well defended?" asked Ryn.

"We have help to do this. I'll show you."

We continued until we reached a towering steel wall with a picture of Moradin shaping dwarves.

The wall slowly moved to the side, opening up the way to a yawning room containing a large city. The floor was in tiers, leading downward. In the center of the city was a long and large set of leafy green vines.

"Welcome to the Siege City," declared Pesker. "Melora's gift provides us with food and shelter. She protects us with the venom behind us. And the plant keeps us all alive."

He led us to our quarters and told us to rest there, while he let the elders know of our arrival. "Bale here will take care of your needs," he said, motioning to a human next to him.

"Hello, I'll be your translator here in the city. I can translate between your Common tongue and Dwarven. I'll also keep the rooms clean. If you need anything, I can get it for you or tell you where to find it."

"Where did you learn your languages?" asked Firinne.

"I learned Dwarvish here, and I learned Common in school."

"When did you go to school?" asked Carlagnios. "Was it a special school?"

"Did you have to take the short bus to get there?" asked Garg.

Bale looked confused. "I can also help you around in the city." He pointed to a large, square building. "That is the Temple of Moradin." He pointed to the base of the plant in the middle of the city. "And that is the Shrine of Melora. It is open only to those who have been invited." He waved his hand across the city. "And the rest -- is the city. That's it."

"He's somewhat simple," Tiny whispered to us.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully.

The next day, we were met by an acolyte. He was dressed like a junior priest of Moradin. "I'm here to take you to the Temple of Moradin," he told Tiny. "Is it true that you carry Loom?" Tiny nodded and let Loom speak to the acolyte.

At the Temple of Moradin, we met a priest named Ionel Brownstone. He wore a bushy beard and had to push it aside whenever he spoke.

"You have come a great distance," he told us.

"Yes," Tiny replied. "We used a rope to get to this world."

Ionel raised his hand. "Before we speak, would you join us in a prayer to Moradin." He glanced at Carlagnios and his Jagged Great Axe. "Your new warriors look strong. Would they like to pray with us?"

"I will pray with you," said Carlagnios. "How do you pray to Moradin?"

"Let us kneel in prayer." He began to chant, and Carlagnios followed his words. "Moradin ... Patron of craft... Seeker of soul ..."

After the prayer, he gave Tiny a suit of magical Dwarven chain mail, and he gave Carlagnios a pair of gloves that he called "Dwarven throwers."

"The 100 are long gone from this world," Ionel noted.

"Yes," said Kale, "They're now in our world."

"I wonder," said Ionel, "did they go the same way that we did? We originally came from your world. Where are you headed?"

"We seek the Centenarch," replied Kale. "To get there, we need to find our way to the Bonebreaker."

"Ah, I have heard about that place. There is one who is a scholar and a powerful mage. He would know more about this. I can bring you to him."

He led us to a small house with a sign above the door. The sign was in Dwarven and read "House of the Magus."

We were met by a short, stocky dwarf carrying an axe and wearing chain mail. "I am Gyuna Brassfitter," he said. "I am a mage."

"I am Kale, a student of the Lycium Arcanum."

"Ah, I see that you are wearing leather armor," noted Gyuna, chuckling beneath his breath. "So many magicians are content to sit in the back of the battle. I, on the other hand, like to be in the thick of things."

He paused and gazed at Kale. "I sense... that you have an object of great power."

"Yes, we do," replied Kale, handing him the coin with the dove and chimera.

Gyuna examined the coin. "This coin is the seed of contradiction. This was used to grow the Cthona." He looked up at us. "Do you know why the worlds are separate? The contradiction holds the worlds apart.

"The stone men were the guardians of the contradiction," he continued. "The 100 brought the contradiction to this world in order to gain their powers."

He stopped at looked at each of us. "Which one of you has touched the seed of contradiction?"

"I did," replied Kale, "and Carlagnios and others. Why? Is it dangerous?"

"I don't know if it is. So, you need to find the Bonebreaker? I have visited it on three occasions. It is in a wild country that is very treacherous. As for the mountain itself, it is really more of a hill. Over time, the weather has worn it down."

"Yes, we need to go to the Bonebreaker to cast the Ritual of the Challenge," said Kale, showing Gyuna the ritual.

"These are dark magics that use the Cthona," noted Gyuna. "My dwarves can lead you to the Bonebreaker. But you will need to visit the Shrine of Melora first."

He led us to the shrine at the base of the plant in the center of the city. He introduced us to Callum Ironeye, a human priest.

"This place, and all within it, are holy to me and to everyone around us," said Callum. "Come, follow me."

He led us to a room inside the plant. The room was damp, and sap dripped from the ceiling. Tiny looked around in awe and whispered to us, "This is life... all around us."

"The nectar of this plant is possessed with natural energy," he said. He handed us three bottles of the nectar. "These will help you to heal your wounds and regenerate your bodies."

He went to the back of the room, lifted up a chest, opened it, and removed a bundle of cloth that wrapped a vial. He motioned to Firinne.

"Take this," he said.

"What is it?" she asked.

"This... is life itself." he answered. "Once in a while, the plant gives up a drop of life. If you drop this on a table, the table will sprout leaves and branches."

"Interesting," Kale remarked. "Could this be used to... grow a tree ship?"

Callum nodded. We looked at the vial more carefully and realized that it closely resembled the tree ship bottle that we used in the City of the Orc King.

"Take this to the Bonebreaker, and use the drop to resurrect the fossilized stump."

With that, we left for the Bonebreaker, continuing our quest for the Centenarch.

Four Dragons and a Dwarf

2010-06-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

Account of the Dwarf, Pesker the Young:

In the moment before I saw the travelers, the certainty of my death was absolute. There were four of the beasts around me, their hideous mouths curled upwards. Lying disarmed and bleeding, I knew they were merely toying with me. And then I saw a group of shapes in the sky.

They were vulture drakes, plummeting towards me, and I could swear I saw a dwarf perched atop the lead mount. Of course, hallucination is common in cases of battlefield shock. Surely these too were the chimera’s henchmen, come to claim me for some horrible interrogation.

The drakes touched down hard, and armored soldiers tumbled off, springing forward. An elf in the lead somehow fired an arrow before landing, the shaft glancing off the lead dragon. The four creatures twisted their heads, momentarily puzzled.

And then they charged. The soldiers drew their blades and shields and the two groups slammed into each other with a mighty crash. The chimeric dragons belched gouts of red flame onto the attackers, knocking some down. A man in the front bellowed “HOLD THE LINE!” as he pulled a companion back up. The attackers pressed back, blades whirling. In the back I saw a wizard hold aloft an orb, glowing with dark energy. Suddenly a sheet of black flame burst upwards from the earth. The four dragons screamed in pain, engulfed by the flames.

It was now difficult to see exactly what was happening. The dragons seemed to lunge forward, trying to push their way out of the flames. But each time, with ringing blows and shouting, the attackers pushed them back into the black fire. Lancing spells and arrows pierced back through the flames. Flashes of holy light silhouetted the dragons as they continued to fiercely attack.

A dragon retreated, trying to circle around the edge of the flames, even as some of the attackers circled the other way, flinging daggers and firing arrows. Finally, one of the terrible dragons crumpled backwards, collapsing into the black flames. Another followed, stumbling back as axes and swords rent its flesh. The final dragon took flight, fleeing as its companion fell.

And then the party approached me, the steaming corpses of the dragons smouldering behind them, their armor still smoking, fresh blood on their blades. Terrified, I believed that surely these were servants of the Chimera. Why would they attack the dragons? What could they want of me?

Account of Clarence, Servitor Animata:

Party is in flight. Party encounters four reptilian creatures of indeterminate origin and one humanoid of diminuitive stature. Party descends. Instruction given by Controller: “Stay in the back, Clarence!” A large fight commences. Some party members become unconscious. One dragon dies. Another dies. A third dies. A dragon flies away. The party is victorious.

Instruction given by Controller: “Clarence, help me lift this chain!”

Dove and Chimera

2010-05-09T23:03:00.001-07:00

Murderers in the Mist

2010-05-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

As the platform descended, Firinne and Kale decided that it was time to act. Firinne knocked out the guard, and Kale grabbed the guard's signalling stone, which controlled the movement of the platform.

From our hiding place on the ground, we saw the struggle on the platform, and we moved quickly to take out the guards at the bottom of the tower.

When the platform finally reached the ground, we regrouped and hid the guards bodies. We moved back onto the platform, and Kale used the signalling stone to move the platform upwards.

As we reached the top and exited the platform, we heard rallying cries from the floors above us. There were four stairways (one in each corner of the room), and Kale surmised that the guards in the barracks had awoken and would come streaming down the stairs soon. He positioned Firinne and Carlagnios before two of the stairways and had the rest of us stand a good distance away from the other two stairways. We readied our bows, throwing axes, and slings so that we could deal with the guards before they reached us.

The first set of guards tried to storm down the stairs, led by their sergeant. Firinne held them off. Their glaives (polearms) lashed out at her, but many of their blows could not get through her powerful armor. Firinne quickly bloodied their sergeant.

A second set of guards took the second staircase and were met by Carlagnios, who kept them from entering the room. He knocked several of the guards out with a sweeping blow.

The third and fourth sets of guards came down the other two stairwells and ran toward us, one group led to another sergeant. Garg started to take out one group, while Bran bloodied the other sergeant. As the sergeant became bloodied, he called out to his men, who moved to surround Bran and strike at him.

Bran quickly shifted out of the way, and Carlagnios drew the guards to him and struck them down in a rain of steel. Kale summoned a cloud of stench that covered the sergeant and his guards.

Meanwhile, Tiny healed us and quickly killed the first sergeant with a lance of faith. In his dying breath, the sergeant called out to his men, who once again lashed out at us. Tiny healed us again, and we were able to kill the remaining sergeant and guards.

As we fought, the platform suddenly began to descend again. Someone else was coming up. We had to act quickly.

We made our way up the stairs, past the empty barracks, the glowing device, and the residential level, until we reached the Guildmaster's offices. As we entered the room, Tiny warned us that there were people in the room. He also detected a strange mist in the air.

From our left and right, we were attacked by barbarian women -- murderesses, who sought our lives. The mist suddenly congealed into the Guildmaster. Tiny and Kale were able to identify the Guildmaster as a vampire.

As we fought off the vampire and murderesses, Bran attempted to make his way to the storeroom that held the scrolls. Two of the murderesses pursued him and attacked before he got the chance to open the door.

Meanwhile, the murderesses struck us with sharp blades, leaving us bleeding and slowing us down. Firinne was able to kill the first murderess. Carlagnios drew the others to him and sliced through them with a thicket of blades, killing another. Bran drew out his wand of poison and shot another one, killing her. Kale summoned a gigantic, icy hand -- the hand of Bigby -- and kept the vampire at bay.

The murderesses attacked Firinne and knocked her unconscious, but Tiny quickly revived her. In time, we were finally able to destroy the rest of the murderesses.

The vampire, seeing that his comrades were defeated, turned into mist again and escaped from the room.

In the vampire's wardrobe, we found stylish attire, along with some gems and two potions of healing. He also had a magical suit of serpent skin leather armor, which Bran decided to wear. He handed me his magical Elven battle armor, which (after some adjustments by Tiny and Kale) I was able to us.

As Bran picked the lock on the storeroom, Tiny noticed someone entering the room behind us. It was the Drow Librarian.

"I saw the Guildmaster leaving in his misty form," he said. "It's a shame that you didn't kill it."

"Thank you for the information that you gave us," said Kale. "It served us well."

"You are welcome. May I recover my library books from the storeroom?"

"Only if you give us some of the rituals," Bran quickly replied.

The Librarian nodded. He went into the storeroom and, after some time, came out again with a bag full of books. He handed us a few scrolls, including the Ritual of Challenge. "Thank you for providing a distraction for me and my warriors. We will be disabling the Turnip soon. There are some Vulture Drakes downstairs. I suggest that you use them."

But we were not done with our work. Bran quickly picked the lock on the other room, where, earlier, Kale had detected an object of immense power. He found a coin in the room.

"Could this be the coin that the Lover of the Raven Queen used to become a god?" On one side of the coin was the image of a dove; on the other, the image of a chimera.

Suddenly, the Turnip began to shudder.

"I wouldn't tarry any longer," the Librarian said as he quickly left the room.

Kale and Bran grabbed a couple of artifacts from the room, and we ran down the stairs. In the chamber with the blue device, we saw that the Drow had used a leather strap to clamp something on to the device. Whatever this was, it had stopped the device from glowing.

We found the Vulture Drakes, mounted them, and flew out of the Turnip in a mad rush. As we flew away, we saw the Turnip tipping and falling on the tower below it, crushing the top levels of fine stores and restaurants. The tower shuddered under the weight of the Turnip and collapsed, sending shards of stone and glass throughout the city.

As we rode to the ground on our Vulture Drakes, we were awestruck, staring at the rubble that was once the tallest tower in the city.

Bran turned to Firinne. "Well, I hope you weren't planning to return those shoes."

She had a horrified look on her face. "Why does this always happen to us? Why do we always leave a wake of destruction behind us? Melora would not want us to do this."

Tiny nodded. "Moradin would also not approve."

Garg shrugged. "Eh. At least it gets us closer to our goal of getting to the Centenarch."

"We now have the Ritual of Challenge," agreed Kale. "We can become members of the 100, and we can reach the Centenarch."

An Audience with the Guildmaster

2010-05-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

We discussed what to do next and agreed that we should approach Putnam. Perhaps we could get him to grant us an audience with the Guildmaster.

Firinne, our diplomatic Half-Elven Paladin, suggested that she could pose as a wealthy buyer who was interested in rituals. She would banish her armor and dress up in fine clothing. She would also take Kale with her to answer questions about the rituals.

They made their way to the top of the tower. They passed by merchants selling expensive goods and restaurants offering fine foods before finally reaching Putnam's offices.

At the door, they were met by a few guards and mercenaries.

"What do you want?"

"We are requesting an audience with Putnam."

The guards quickly let Firinne and Kale through the door, where they found Putnam, the Half-Elf, closely examining an artifact through an eyeglass. When he was done, he put the artifact away and approached Firinne and Kale.

"What would you like to drink?" he asked them.

"Brandy, if you have it."

Putnam pour them generous portions of brandy.

"We have learned -- through some unnamed sources -- that you have acquired some rare artifacts from the library under Lordahl," said Firinne, sipping her brandy.

Putnam clucked. "You learned this from Dennig, I presume? From that loudmouth?"

"We were hoping to peruse the artifacts that you found. We would be interested in adding some of these to our collection."

"Ah, this is most unusual. Are you suggesting a trade?"

"Yes. Any negotiations should be done through my agent, the mage Kale."

"What do you have to offer?" asked Putnam. "I'm interested in artifacts from the Old War."

"We have some trinkets from older civilizations," replied Kale.

"Old trinkets?" asked Putnam.

"Yes. We have an Iron Snake that came from an ancient tomb."

Firinne nearly choked on her brandy. The Iron Snake was still wrapped around the neck of the Mad Mage, who was in the Temple of Melora in our world.

"Could I see this Iron Snake?"

"No, you can't" replied Kale, as Firinne coughed again. "It's -- in a very safe place."

Putnam sighed. "Well, is there anything of substance that you would show me?"

Kale reached into his bag and drew out the Scarab. "We have this artifact, which has some unusual properties."

Putnam examined the Scarab. "Well, this is something of substance. I will arrange a meeting with the Guildmaster. Where can I find you?"

"Thank you," Firinne said. She gave Putnam the location of our inn. "Would you also happen to know of a cobbler nearby? My boot has a hole, and I am looking to purchase some new boots."

"Try the merchants closer to the top," suggested Putnam. "Cream rises to the top. You'll find better quality there."

Firinne thanked him again, and she left with Kale. After some time shopping, they returned to the inn with a number of new pairs of shoes.

"Those are quite a few shoes," observed Bran.

"I'm planning on trying them out tomorrow," explained Firinne, "I'll return the ones I don't want. There were a few others that looked nice that I might get when I return these."

We turned in for the night, but then, after midnight, we were woken by a knock on the door. A group of mercenaries had come to visit us.

"The Guildmaster will see you now."

"Now?" asked Firinne. "It's the middle of the night."

"Yes. You and your agent -- the mage -- can come with us."

"We'll need our bodyguards," mentioned Firinne, pointing to the rest of our party.

"No. Just the two of you," insisted the mercenary.

Firinne and Kale left with the guards, while Bran stealthily led the rest of us after them. We followed the mercenaries, Firinne, and Kale back to the tallest tower, where they stopped near a wall. One of the mercenaries fiddled with a device in his hand, and a platform descended before them. The mercenary motioned them to follow him onto the platform. We watched as the mercenary, Firinne, and Kale ascended up through the sand storm.

The platform finally stopped, and Firinne and Kale found themselves in a room with four guards. The guards led them up the stairs, past the barracks (where other guards were sleeping). As they ascended up more levels, the Turnip grew wider.

In the next level, they found a pale, glowing device in the center of the room. The device was attached to the floor and the ceiling. Kale surmised that this device kept the Turnip afloat.

Around the edges of this level were stables where the Vulture Drakes were kept. The guard continued up to the next level, leading Firinne and Kale through residences.

Finally, the guard led them up to the top floor, where he said the Guildmaster lived. The room was lavishly decorated. On the left was an exquisite table, and on the right was a finely woven carpet. Before them was a chair where the Guildmaster sat. Putname stood next to him.

On the left and right were doors to rooms. Kale sensed that there was an arcane object of immense power in the room to the left.

"Thank you for coming," said Putnam. "We'd like to see the Iron Snake now."

Firinne, with her most diplomatic words, requested that they show her what they had first.

Putnam relented. "All right. What would you like to see?"

"Rituals," Kale suggested.

Putnam turned to the Guildmaster, who sat in his chair, pale and slouched. The Guildmaster's eyes kept shifting from side to side, as though he didn't trust anyone around him. He flicked a finger upward twice to signal agreement.

Putnam nodded in acknowledgement and turned back to Kale. "We have ordinary rituals -- Raise Dead, Scribe -- you need to be quite skilled to practice these. Are any of these of interest?"

"Do you have the Ritual of Finding?" asked Kale.

"You know, you could just kill a Finder to get that."

Firinne glared at Putnam. "Do we look like the sort of people who wold kill?"

Putnum shrugged. "I wouldn't presume anything of you."

"Well," Kale continued, "What about Rituals of Illusionism?"

Putnam went into the room on the right and brought out a few scrolls. "We have Combine Soul and some others here... But if you're looking for the rituals that were in the Library under the city, the Rituals of Illusionism would not be among them. The 100 would have kept these rituals for themselves."

"What about the Ritual of the 100? The Ritual of Challenge?" asked Kale.

Putnam once again went into the room and brought out a scroll. This scroll was in a case decorated with the symbol of the 100. Kale was able to verify that this was indeed the ritual we sought, but Putnam did not give him the time to memorize the scroll. Instead, Putnam put the scroll back to the room on the right.

"All right," said Putnam, returning from the storeroom. "Where is the Iron Snake?"

"We told you," answered Kale, "it's in a safe place, far away."

"We did not want to be caught with it in an unfamiliar place like this," explained Firinne. "Otherwise, it could be taken from us."

The Guildmaster's head sagged. He turned to look at Putnam. "They waste my time. Escort them out."

The guard brought Firinne and Kale back down the stairs to the platform, and they begun their descent back down to the bottom of the tower. The rituals that we sought were moving farther out of our reach as the platform descended, along with our hopes for finding the Centenarch.

Reflections on Life, Death, and the Raven Queen

2010-05-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

After we rested for the night, we woke to the crowing of a rooster (an arthritic rooster, as Tiny was quick to point out.).

We met in the dining hall of the inn to eat breakfast and determine what to do next. Bran and I quickly grabbed some food, followed by Ryn, then Garg, then Carlagnios and Kale, and finally Firinne and Tiny.

Carlagnios seemed slightly more irritable than usual. When he and Kale happened to grab the same loaf of bread, Carlagnios growled angrily at Kale, and sparks of fire began to dance in the Dragonborn's throat. Kale quickly released the bread.

"Carlagnios, you shouldn't intimidate your allies," chided Firinne.

"Or use your dragon breath against us," added Bran.

"It's -- (cough, cough) -- it's much worse than that," gasped Kale, making a face and waving his hands to clear the air. "It's dragon morning breath."

Last night, at the bar, we had learned from Dennig that the Guildmaster held the rituals that we needed. The Guildmaster lived in the inverted teardrop suspended above the highest tower in the city. We needed to find some way to get up there.

"Maybe we could find some Vulture Drakes to ride up there," Firinne suggested.

"We could always find someone to ask," offered Tiny. "It's fun to meet new people!"

"I can ask Fasil," said Bran. "He might know of some followers of the Raven Queen who could help us."

We all agreed, finished breakfast, and headed to the Temple of the Raven Queen.

Fasil was in front, sweeping the temple grounds.

"You," snarled Carlagnios, "we want to see the Guildmaster."

"Forgive my impertinent friends," Bran quickly said. "We are seeking an audience with the Guildmaster. Would you happen to know how we could do this?"

Fasil pondered for a moment. "The Guildmaster is rarely seen outside the Turnip -- that's the inverted teardrop above the tallest tower in the city. The Guildmaster does have two agents in town who do his bidding.

"One of his agents, Putnam, is a half-elf. He serves as the Guildmaster's purchasing agent, buying artifacts that are found beneath the city. His offices are in the tony region (the upscale area) near the top of the tower.

"His other agent, Portage, is his slave master. Portage represents the Guildmaster in his dealings with the Slave Market.

"There is an an initiate of the Raven Queen named Scioto. He could tell you more about these agents. I can give you directions to his room."

Bran thanked Fasil, and we left the Temple. Kale suggested that we seek out Scioto first, since he might be able to give us more information.

We made our way to Scioto's residence. We knocked on the door, and a woman answered the door. She was the landlady of Scioto's building.

"What do you want?"

"We're looking for Scioto. Do you happen to know where he is?"

"He's out to lunch," she answered, pointing at the tavern next to the building.

In the tavern, there didn't seem to be anyone who looked like a follower of the Raven Queen. (Certainly, there was no one who had as dour a demeanor and dress as Fasil.)

We walked over to the barkeeper, who was cleaning glasses. Near him sat a tall human, who wore a long sword and a pair of wands that shot projectiles. The human wore a feathered hat and quite colorful clothes. The back of his hands were curiously covered with ash.

"Greetings," said Bran to the barkeeper. "We're looking for Scioto."

The tall human cheerily spoke up. "Well, hello! That's me! What would you like to talk to about?"

"Religious matters."

Scioto pondered for a bit and took off his hat. He adjusted the feather in his hat and asked, "What sort of religious matters?"

"Fasil sent us to see you," Bran said, cautiously glancing around the tavern. He spoke next in a low voice. "Say, could we go somewhere no private to discuss this?"

Scioto chuckled. "What need do I have of secrets?" he declared. "But if it's privacy that you seek, we could use the room for rent upstairs."

The barkeeper nodded, and Scioto led us up to the empty room. Once we were there, Bran began to explain his dream.

"In my dream, an aspect of Gamerat appeared in the form of a black bird with a broken neck. As it lay on the floor, it spoke to me and said, 'You need to die in the service of the Raven Queen.' It said that the Raven Queen had determined that the 100 (and the 101) have been walking the earth for too long -- that it was not appropriate for them to live forever."

Scioto nodded. "The 100 have denied death, which is an affront to our lady."

"There are other creatures that deny death," mentioned Bran. "Like Liches."

"Like the one above, who stays with the Guildmaster in the Turnip?" asked Scioto. "The one who acts like he's one of us? The undead are a perversion of life."

"As is the case with the Chimera," added Bran. "It seems as though the Raven Queen does not like the direction taken by her lover."

"We can never understand how the Raven Queen thinks," Scioto corrected him. "But it is true -- there are some who deny the priority of death. The Chimera is one of these.

"With the Chimera's study of Illusionism," continued Scioto, "he denies the priority of death. With his denial of soul, he denies the priority of death."

"There is something strange her in this city," observed Bran.

"There is something wrong," said Scioto. "The city is rotten up to the top. Look at the Guildmaster. Why does he buy slaves? And since that Lich came to town, the Guildmaster has been buying up all the slaves. There is some necromancy at work here."

"Perhaps it is related to that artifact -- the Shroud of the Raven Queen," offered Kale.

Scioto scoffed. "This is just symbolic. The cutting of her hair represents sacrifice. The weaving of her hair represents creation. The Shroud is merely a story that is used to pass along the lessons of humility."

"Is there a book that might explain more about these visions?" asked Bran.

"Have you ever read 'The Revelations of Galea'?" Scioto asked. "He was addicted to drugs, but as he came closer to death, he starting having visions of the Raven Queen. You might also want to read 'Reflections of Life and Death.'"

"Do you have a copy that I could read," asked Bran.

"Certainly." Scioto rummaged through his bag and pulled out a copy of 'The Revelations of Galea,' which he handed to Bran.

"Thank you," said Bran. "Also, do you know of any rituals of the Raven Queen that I should be performing?"

"Rituals are very private," replied Scioto. "For me, I take the ash from the fireplace and put it on the backs of my hands. It is a reminder of our mortality.

"Is there anything else that you wanted to discuss?"

"Yes," Bran answered, "We need to meet with the Guildmaster."

"You should."

"We were thinking of approaching his agents, Portage and Putnam," mentioned Kale. "Do you know anything about them?"

Scioto thought for a while. "Portage is a cruel, obese man with unsavory appetites. Putnam is more well mannered -- he keeps his word, like a gentleman.

"You know," he continued, "if you want to get to the Turnip, you'll need an invitation from the Guildmaster. Some visitors fly in with Vulture Drakes; others use an elevating platform in the tower. There is also an elevating platform from the roof of another tower."

"Have you seen the Guildmaster?" asked Bran.

"I've only seen him twice," replied Scioto, "and only late at night. I wish you luck."

With that, we left the room and went outside. Above us, the skies were getting very dark, as if it were night. The winds grew stronger. It reminded us of the dust storm that Caleb the Finder had led us through. And perhaps it was also an omen of the destruction to come.

The Dragonborn Bard

2010-04-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

"Do you know Dennig?" Kale asked Fasil, our guide.

Fasil shrugged. "I am not good with names and faces. In the end, neither matters. The patroness decides whether we live or die."

We retraced our steps back to the city of Lordahl on the surface. After a day, we found our way back to the cylindrical carriage. Once more, we paid our residuum to the statue of the woman with the outstretched hands, and the carriage delivered us back to the room with the mosaic of the man pouring out water from the gourd.

We went back up the stairs to the fountain, where we found the bull that we had left there, still eating the feed. We led the bull up to the room with the platform and tied it to the iron ring. We made our way up to the fork and to the upper room, waited until we heard the bull wail in fear, and scurried back up the passageway. As we passed, we almost forgot who we were.

We finally reached the surface and decided to part company with Fasil.

"My patroness has not seen fit to take you yet," remarked Fasil.

"Before we part ways, can we ask you something about the Raven Queen?" asked Kale. "Do you know one of her angelic servants named Gamerat?"

"The Raven Queen sends Gamerat on errands to help make things right. She gave him authority over life and death. The 100 were an aberration -- they were placed above death. That is not right -- the natural order should be preserved."

Bran nodded.

"If you plan to stay in the city," said Fasil, "perhaps you could volunteer to help us to maintain the Temple of the Raven Queen."

"I'd like to help with that," offered Bran.

"Thank you. Now that I know you, you may approach the High Guild and ask for me there."

"Maybe we could have a drink some time, as well?" asked Kale.

Fasil scowled. "Do not mock me, Mage."

We left to continue our search for the Ritual of Finding and the Challenge Ritual. Perhaps Provost Benjy could help us in our quest.

We found Benjy in class, so we waited outside and read the books to pass the time. After class was over, he walked outside to meet us.

"Was Pican able to help you?" he asked.

"Yes," replied Kale, "but we have some questions we'd like to ask."

"Maybe we could talk somewhere more private," suggested Benjy.

"We could bring some wine as well," offered Kale.

"Excellent! It's the full moon, and my stipend is not sufficient to cover such things."

Bran found a merchant that sold some decent wine, and we purchased the wine and met up with Benjy.

Kale handed the book on Pre-Centenarchy Law to Benjy. "What can you tell us about Illusionism?"

"Illusionism led the 100 to discover and contact the Chimera," explained Benjy. "The Pre-Centenarchy is from the time of the Judges. The Laws of the Judges would have prevented the coming of the Chimera."

Kale showed Benjy the "Illustrated Exploits of the Early Centenarchy."

"May I borrow this and have a scribe copy the notes from this?" asked Benjy.

Kale nodded. "Now, we need to find the Ritual of the Challenge. Do you know what that is?"

"It was used by the 100 to assert power over the army, I believe."

"If an explorer found some books and brought them back to sell them, where would they sell them?"

"Well, usually the Guildmaster gets the first choice of whatever is found. The Guildmaster buys the best of the artifacts recovered."

"Oh," Benjy continued, "I forgot to mention this. While you were gone, there was an eerie fellow who came asking for you. He was wrapped in cloth from head to foot. He called himself 'Baird'."

The lich. We had never found his phylactery, Kale explained earlier, which meant that he was not destroyed and could come back to life.

"Did you tell him that we were here?"

"No," Benjy quickly replied. "I didn't give anything away."

Tiny gave him a skeptical glance and whispered to us, "He might have been tight-lipped about our whereabouts, but Baird could still discern a lot from Benjy's mannerisms."

"Anyway," Benjy continued, "Baird left and flew back up to the teardrop. I wish he hadn't come by here. He had parked in the greens, and the vulture drakes shat all over the lawn. We had to get our first year students to clean up the mess."

"Who is allowed to go to the teardrop?"

"Usually the Chimerics. The teardrop is where our government is run from."

We thanked Benjy and left. Bran decided to go to the Temple of the Raven Queen and help Fasil with the cleaning. As they swept the temple floor, Bran asked Fasil if any of the Raven Queen's followers could help us in our quest.

"I do know people who know more than I," replied Fasil. "I can ask around. Give me a few days and I can introduce you to some of our followers."

Bran thanked Fasil and met us in the city. Ryn used his streetwise skills to find the bar where Dennig was at. In the bar, there were a dozen patrons, and a large man (perhaps 6' 7" in height) holding court. The man was quite drunk and had been paying for everyone's drinks. This had to be Dennig.

"And they went to the desert," Dennig sang, "and found a mystic river..." He turned to Carlagnios. "Sing with me!"

Carlagnios joined in. "I went upon the river, and drank a mighty drink..."

Dennig applauded. "We have a bard in here! Give him a silver piece!"

Carlagnios drank with him. They both continued to drink and sing until they were too drunk to stand.

"Why are we here again?" slurred Carlagnios. "I forget." He belched, and a small flash of fire lit up the bar.

"I need to piss," declared Dennig. "I'll be right back."

He stumbed to the bathroom, and we waited for his return. Time passed -- 5 minutes, 10 minutes -- until it became evident that Dennig was not returning.

We quickly made our way to the bathroom where we found Dennig on the floor. He had fallen over and was too drunk to pick himself up. Carlagnios helped him to his feet.

"Thank you," said Dennig. "What is your name, bard?"

"Carl...agnios."

"So," Kale interrupted. "We heard that you raided a library."

Dennig smiled. "I'm still living off that. It was a few weeks ago. It was great -- I had a buyer lined up and everything. It was the Guildmaster himself! I went up top to sell the books to him." He started to get sleepy.

I wondered whether we should tell the librarian where to find Dennig. Tiny pointed out that he was just a hard-drinking explorer with no moral quandries. In some ways, we were not all that different.

But it was clear that all paths led to the Guildmaster and that we needed to find our way up to the teardrop. That would have to wait, though -- we needed to sober up our drunken Dragonborn bard first.

Illustrated Exploits of the Early Centenarchy

2010-04-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

From “Illustrated Exploits of the Early Centenarchy”, an illustrated children’s history book. The book is composed of engravings opposite simple captions.

Page 1:
“The suffering under the Judges’ Rule.”

Page 2:
“The Rule of the Judges is overthrown.”

Page 6:
“The treacherous Assassin are hunted and pay for their crimes.”

Page 17:
“Gezu gives his life to save the other 99.”

Page 22:
“Gezu’s brother, Garu, faces the Harrowing Ordeal and takes his dead brother’s place among the 100.”

Page 30:
“Under the guidance of Chimera, the new 100 unlock the secret of life everlasting.”

Page 51:
“101 is defeated for the first time.”

Page 61:
“Ores the Daring journeys to the hidden lair of the Stone Men. His clothing, knitted and magicked in the manner Chimera had taught him, blind the Stone Men.

Page 62:
Ores sneaks into the Stone Mens’ treasure trove and steals the Seed of Contradiction.”

Page 63:
“Ores plants the Seed of Contradiction in our world, whence grows the Whale.”

Page 64:
“Chimera is free.”

The Librarian of the Buried City

2010-04-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

Fasil led us through a long route to the library. "Before the city was buried," he explained, "the route was easier. But now we need to go through these tunnels that were dug through the buried city."

After a while, Fasil stopped and led us to a cul-de-sac. "We should rest here. We'll need to go through an area that is protected by the Drow, so you'll need to recover your strength before then."

After an extended period of rest, Fasil led us further down through the caves. "The Drow are active here during certain times of the day, so we'll need to be careful."

Tiny looked at Fasil and whispered to us, "I think he's been sneaking drinks."

"We've had a pretty easy time so far," continued Fasil as he led us through the tunnels. "Ah, we're here."

We found ourselves in a room with a shaft in the center of the room. In the shaft was a spiralling staircase leading down several floors.

"We should be ready for battle," Fasil told us, "so one of you should lead."

Firinne led us down the stairway, past two floors. On the third floor down, we found a path to the side that led to a door. Inscribed on the door was the word "History."

We went through the door and found ourselves in a ruined scriptorium -- a room for reading and transcribing scrolls. At the end of the room was a desk with a locked door. Bran easily picked the lock, and he opened the door to find a room that once housed books. Someone had been through this room and taken all of the books.

Bran managed to find one remaining book. It was a children's book titled "Illustrated Exploits of the Early Centenarchy." The book contained engravings with explanatory text on the facing pages. According to the book, the Early Centenarchy ended with the growing of the Whale and the freeing of the Chimera. Kale surmised that this Whale was the Cthona.

We left the rooms and continued down the spiraling staircase. At the next floor, we found a door labeled "Law." In this room, there were sections for books on the Law of Centenarchy and Pre-Centenarchy. The room was destroyed and the books were taken, except for one book on forbidden studies during the Pre-Centenarchy. Kale read through the book and explained that the studies included Illusionism -- the belief that the world itself is not real (it is just an illusion).

We made our way back to the staircase and went down to the next floor, where there was a door labeled "Physik." This room would have contained books about knowledge of the Body, but the room had been completely cleared out.

On the next floor, we found a door labeled "Religion." The door had been torn off its hinges -- perhaps from an explosion. Tiny noted that there had been a battle here in the past few months.

On the bottom floor, we found a door labeled "Arcana." We opened the door and found a room with a table. Behind the table, there was a Drow leaning back in a chair. He had one foot propped up on the table. Near his foot was a wand -- one of the wands that fired projectiles.

He turned to look at us. He was chewing a mouthful of some sort of leaves.

"Well," he asked, " have you found what you're looking for?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm the librarian."

"Really?" Kale remarked. "You seem to have extensive weaponry for a librarian. Are you a guardian of this place?"

"I was. What are you looking for?"

"We are seeking a couple of rituals."

"Well, send someone behind the stacks to look for them."

Unfortunately, this room had been cleared out like the others.

"So," the Drow asked us, "did you find it?"

"No," Kale replied. "We're looking for the Ritual of Finding."

"That should be here, but I guess it is not."

"We are also looking for the Challenge Ritual."

"That would be in the Law section up above."

"We couldn't find any books here."

"Well, then, you'll want to find the surface dwellers who took them. They came down here, looted the books, and killed all of my scribes. Their leader was a big, ugly human they called Dennig. If you find him and the books, send the information my way so that I can reclaim my books. Is there a place where we can meet to make this exchange?"

Carlagnios growled. "Why would we return the books to you if you're just going to give the books back to us?"

The Drow glared at Carlagnios. "I think I know who you are. You killed some of my people at the school."

"Well," Kale explained, "they attacked us."

"Wouldn't you defend your home against outsiders who would attack you and take your property?" the Drow asked.

We were silent.

"Have you ever dealt with the Guild?" Kale asked.

"Surface dwellers are filthy and should be destroyed," answered the Drow.

"Well... There's no reason for us to be at odds. Why should we be fighting over petty things when there are larger problems that we can deal with if we cooperate. Problems like... the Chimera."

The Drow cursed. "The Chimera is a thorn in our side. He does not show any respect for Lolth."

I shivered when hearing that name, remembering our encounter in the school

"Are there any other libraries where we could find these rituals?" asked Bran.

"This was our finest library," answered the Drow. "The books would have been here. You can still try to find Dennig and get the books from him. Make sure to let me know where he is."

"What's in it for us?" asked Carlagnios.

"Money, perhaps?" suggested the Drow.

Bran's eyes lit up. "We'll take the money."

Carlagnios growled. "Ignore the little one."

"Leave me a message at the school," continued the Drow, "if you want to contact me."

"How do we ensure safe passage to the school?" Kale asked. "We might be attacked again."

The Drow pulled out a stone attached to a leather string. "If you want safe passage, show them this."

"What do they call you?" asked Firinne.

"You can call me the librarian."

Firinne pocketed the stone and leather string. "So we just show this to them, tell them that the librarian gave this to us, and they'll let us pass."

The Drow nodded. "They'll... let you live."

We thanked him and left, making our way back to the current city of Lordahl, which sat on the surface above.

The Sorrows of the Map Makers

2010-04-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

The Map Room was a broad room with curved, luminous walls. The room was elongated, more like an oval than a sphere. Kale looked carefully at the walls and reported that an enchantment made them glow. He also detected some magic from the floor.

On the floor was depicted a vast map of a world -- the Siege World. The map seemed to be old, perhaps created before the First or Second Apocalypse. The terrain of the world -- the mountains, the valleys, the plains -- was captured in what seemed to be an abstracted painting across the floor.

As we walked across the map, the names of cities appeared beneath our feet. We stopped to examine the names, and we noticed a bright light appear in a different part of the map. The light quickly vanished, and after a while, another bright light appeared in another part of the map.

"What is with these glowing lights?" Carlagnios muttered.

We spent about an hour examining the map before we found a part that could have been Lordahl. It was difficult to tell, since the map now described the world beneath the surface. Every few minutes, a glow would appear in another part of the map.

On the other side of the room was a doorway. In the room beyond this one, there was something moving. We carefully approached the doorway and looked inside.

The doorway led to a workroom with four tables and chairs. At each table was a hazy, ghostly figure, doing some paperwork. On the far side of this room was another doorway.

As we approached the figures, we noticed that they had ghostly wounds that they bled from. The blood was just as ethereal as the figures were.

"Hi," Bran greeted one of the figures. But the ghost continued to do his work.

Kale cast a spell to make the table glow, and the ghost looked up. The ghost looked around, as if trying to find the source of the glowing, before he looked at Kale and said, "All sturgeons, whales, porpoises, grampus, and large fishes shall be the due of the 100."

Kale made the other tables glow, and the other ghosts uttered the same, odd statements, as though speaking in some cryptic code of a law.

We went through the doorway at the far end, and we found ourselves in a room with no other exits. The room was a plain study with a single desk. A ghost sat at this desk as well. He was a wiry old man with split, braided hair and a beard. From a ghostly wound, he leaked ethereal blood.

"Please sit," he said, "I will be done shortly."

After a while, he lifted his hands to his face and rubbed them over his head.

"Now how may I help you? I am the Master Map Maker."

"We seek the location of the Centenarch," replied Kale.

"The Centenarch is nowhere," said the Map Maker. "Even a school child knows this."

"Nowhere?"

"You are asking me how to find nowhere. As you know, early in our struggle against the Lover of the Raven Queen, the Centenarch was magicked away to a pocket, where the Lover -- the Chimera -- could not enter. The door was open only to the 100."

"So how do we get to the Centenarch?" asked Kale.

"To get to the Centenarch, you must become one of the 100. Our world is ruled by the 100 from the Centenarch."

"So how do we become the 100?"

"To become the 100, you must ascend the slopes of the Bone Breaker -- a large, dormant volcano. At the top, you must challenge one of the 100 in an ancient ritual. They will answer your summons and battle you. Then, you must face the Harrowing Ordeal."

"How do we get to the Bone Breaker?"

"I can give you a map. You will also need the Ritual of Finding and the Challenge Ritual. Those you can find in any library. I can give you a map to that as well. Do you have any other questions?"

"Where are the focus houses?"

He frowned. "I used to know where the focus houses were, but I can't seem to remember now."

"What are the glowing lights in the map?"

"Those lights show us when someone is using our system for locating places. The lights tell us who is finding their way."

He scribbled down something on two strips of paper and handed them to Kale.

"Give these to the clerk outside, and they will draw up the maps for you."

We left the Master Map Maker and returned to the room with the four ghostly clerks. We handed the strips of paper to one of the clerks, who examined the papers and gave us a confused look. He gave the papers to the other ghosts, and they proceeded to draw up the maps.

When they were done, the clerk handed Bran the two scrolls, encased in nice, leather tubes.

"These are for you," the clerk said. "Now run."

Before Bran could respond, one of the ghosts cast his sorrows onto Carlagnios and possessed him. In his mind, Carlagnios saw what had happened to the ghosts when they were alive. "The demon for us," the ghost said, speaking through the voice of Carlagnios. "They slaughtered us all."

Another ghost possessed Bran and forced him to shoot at Firinne.

Kale quickly used his Orb of Imposition to transfer the possession from Carlagnios to another ghost. Firinne struck the ghost with a brilliant blade of light. It should have killed the ghost, but the ghost still remained.

"Their lives," Kale explained, "are shared. When we cause enough damage to kill them all, only then will they all fall."

One of the ghosts possessed Firinne. I would be only a matter of time before they possessed us all.

Kale cast a spell to put one of the ghosts to sleep -- the ghost that had possessed Firinne. She managed to break free of its hold on her.

"Now," Kale told us, "attack the sleeping one. If we can damage it enough, all of them will fall."

Carlagnios struck the sleeping ghost with this jagged axe. Firinne slammed the ghost with the fury of a martyr's retribution and glowed with a divine radiance that further damaged the ghost. I fired at the ghost with an excruciating shot and caught it in a hunter's bear trap, and the four ghosts vanished in a wail of agony.

As they disappeared, we could see them in their previous lives, savaged by the attacking demons. Was this part of the First or Second Apocalypse? This was truly a horrifying experience for these clerks.

We opened the leather cases and examined the maps inside. One map showed the path to the Bone Breaker (the mountain) from what appeared to be the buried city of Lordahl (beneath the present city of Lordahl). The other map showed the path to a library in the buried city of Lordahl.

We returned to Fasil and showed him the maps. He agreed to lead us through this buried city to the library, where we could find the rituals that we needed to find the Bone Breaker and challenge the 100.

They Lurk Within Stone

2010-04-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Drow had escaped, and we were left with the bodies of the spiders in a long cylindrical carriage that was trapped within their webs. From the holes in the walls of the carriage, we could see nothing but the darkness of the tunnel. We felt a slight tremor as the carriage struggled against the webs.

"We need to free the carriage," said Bran. "Fasil, what do you recommend?"

Fasil pondered for a bit. "You could hack at the webs, but that would take time. A magical fire could damage the strands."

Kale nodded and cast a spell to set the webs on fire.

"And perhaps," Bran pointed out, "we should brace ourselves for the moment when the carriage breaks free of these weakening webbbbbbbbbbb--"

Suddenly, the carriage tore free of the burning strands and continued speedily through the tunnel, knocking all of us down.

Fasil sat up and looked into the distance. "We should be there soon."

Slowly, the carriage drew to a halt. We stepped out into a dripping, wet room. On the wall, there was a mural of a man collecting rain in a seashell.

Fasil pointed to a set of stairs leading up. "This is where we should be going."

The stairs led to a dirty, narrow tunnel. The tunnel meandered through the earth before broadening. We followed it through until we found ourselves in a wide cavern littered with rocks and boulders.

Before us was a long wall with a low, broad archway. Above the archway was some writing.

Firinne started to walk closer, and suddenly, the rocks around us came to life.

Five creatures emerged from the rock: two humanoids that appeared to be made of the earth itself, a third, smaller rock-like humanoid, and two beasts that had three claws around a single, staring eye.

At this point, Tiny, Garg, and Ryn suddenly vanished, leaving only the five of us (Bran, Firinne, Kale, Carlagnios, and myself -- Aelar) to fight the monsters.

"What in Melora's name are they?"

Kale examined the creatures from a distance. "It appears that they are two stoneshapers, a rockcaller, and a Xorn." He went on to explain at length the history of these creatures (an explanation that was well above my head).

"I don't understand," confessed Bran. "What are you talking about?"

"Something about where the creatures came from," answered Firinne, "but I don't get it. It didn't make any sense to me."

"He said something something Hill Giants something," Carlagnios replied and shrugged.

Kale rolled his eyes. He gave us an exasperated look, as though he had come to a realization that the monsters we were battling were far more intelligent than the rest of us.

One of the stoneshapers hurled a shard of rock at Carlagnios, striking him. The others burrowed through the ground and quickly flanked Carlagnios. The rockcaller turned into a boulder and bashed Carlagnios, but Firinne interrupted his attack with a beam of fierce radiance. Kale made a psychic attack against one of the Xorn, and it began to bleed from what appeared to be its nose. Bran struck the creatures with his daggers, causing further damage to them, and I shot the rockcaller with a biting volley of arrows.

The creatures continued to strike Carlagnios, bloodying him badly. But Carlagnios had had enough. "Come and get it!" he snarled, drawing the creatures toward him and striking with his jagged axe. He slashed at them so quickly that we could not see anything but a thicket of blades. When it was over, he had killed the rockcaller and bloodied both Xorn badly.

Rock dust flew everywhere, and the Xorn submerged partly into the ground, making them difficult to hit.

One of the stoneshapers slammed his fists against the ground, forcing a stone wall to emerge in front of him. Bran quickly dodged the rising wall, but Kale and Carlagnios were knocked down. Carlagnios was in bad shape. Firinne challenged one of the Xorn to draw him away from Carlagnios. Carlagnios was able to take a second wind and recover.

We managed to destroy the two Xorn, and the stoneshapers retreated by submerging into the ground.

We searched the rest of the cavern and found a pile of bodies in a corner.

"We're not supposed to touch the dead," Carl pointed out, but Kale proceeded to examine the bodies.

One of the bodies was an Eladrin, and the other was a Human. Perhaps these were explorers like us who were less fortunate in their battle against the stone creatures.

On the Eladrin, Kale found a suit of Fey Touched Leather Armor and 1400 gold pieces. On the Human, Kale found a powerful Amulet of Protection (more powerful than the ones we had purchased earlier) and 2100 gold pieces. We decided to give the amulet to Firinne and the leather armor to Ryn, although Kale decided to wear the armor until Ryn reappeared.

"Did you find anything else?" we asked.

Kale seemed lost in thought as he stared at the Eladrin's body. "I wonder if I could skin this."

"What?"

"Well," Kale explained, "the skin of a Fey creature would be useful for magical purposes."

"Excuse me???" interjected Ryn, who suddenly appeared at Kale's side. "Did you forget that I'm an Eladrin? Do you mean skin me as well?"

"Oh," said Kale, "I didn't see you there."

"And my ancestors were natives of the Feywild as well," I mentioned, "and so are Garg and Firinne's ancestors, at least one one side."

Kale sighed. "Maybe I don't need the skin after all. I seem to remember my mentor, Sta Sokeus, mentioning that the skin of an Eladrin was not tough enough."

Meanwhile, Carlagnios looked around for Fasil and found him in a corner of the cavern.

"Why are you hiding there?" barked Carlagnios.

"Me? I am just waiting for my patroness to decide who will live and who will die. It does not matter to me if the stone creatures die or if you die. Either way, the outcome is still the same."

Firinne approached the archway and read the words above the archway aloud. "Map Room." The words were in Old Warrior and formed a pun of sorts. The same markings could also be interpreted to read, "You are here."

"This is where I stop," Fasil announced. "I will go no further than this."

"In the past," he continued, "I have led some here who have found the answers that they were seeking. I have performed rites on others who have never returned."

We turned toward the archway and looked into the Map Room. There was some danger here, and we needed to be ready.

"I will wait for you here," Fasil said. "If my patroness decides that you live, I will lead you back to the city."

A Lesson in Risk and Reward

2010-04-01T23:00:00.000-07:00

The stairs led to a long, low hall that was magically lit. In the floor, there was a long groove that had been dug out.

The walls had chipped mosaics and were glistening with moisture. Every so often, we'd hear a drop of water fall to the ground. One of the mosaics was a man with a gourd, pouring out the contents of the gourd.

At one end of the room was a small booth. From that booth extended a statue of two outstretched woman's hands. Fasil directed us to place the residuum in the hands. The hands slowly absorbed the residuum, and from one end of the room, a long tapered, alabaster cylinder slid along the groove toward us. When the cylinder reached us, it stopped.

"This is something that they used to travel from place to place," explained Fasil. "It is part of the ruined city."

He led us into the cylinder. Once we stood on the platform inside, the cylinder began to move along the groove again.

We were moving quickly. Once, we passed by a section of light. It passed too quickly for us to see anything, but Tiny noticed that there was a battle between Demons and Animata that was taking place there.

The cylinder kept on moving. Suddenly, we jolted to a stop, and we were all thrown to the floor. Two large spiders (Blade Spiders) jumped in to attack us, along with two other spiders (Swarm Spiders) and a dark elf (a Blade Master).

We were struck and poisoned again. Bran shot one of the spiders in his opening move and was quickly able to dodge two powerful blows from one of the Blade Spiders. Kale set the spiders on fire.

The dark elf summoned a cloud of darkness around himself and Firinne. Firinne was able to stumbled out and, in a Berserker rage, badly damaged the spiders.

Tiny weakened three of the spiders, but the spiders fought back. They stunned and poisoned Tiny and brought him close to death. Garg inspired Tiny to fight on, and Tiny healed all of us in a brilliant beacon of hope.

We continued to fight the spiders but held back in our abilities. Perhaps we were worried that we'd expend too much of our energies in this battle, and we wouldn't be able to fight the next battle as effectively. But in restraining ourselves, we let the dark elf escape with any treasures that we might have gained.

The Sacrifice

2010-04-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

The cave began to get rough, and we found ourselves climbing up a rocky face. We climbed for half an hour before we reached the top. At the top, we found a corridor, and we saw a light approaching us from a distance.

As the light grew closer, we could make out a man, carrying a torch. "Hello!" he called out to us.

"Were those your zombies?" asked Carlagnios.

"No," the man replied. "Are there zombies here?"

He had dropped cheeks -- almost like a basset hound. He introduced himself as High Guide Fasil of the guild.

"My patroness allows be to live," he declared.

"Your patroness?"

"Yes, I am a follower of the Raven Queen."

"I am also a follower of the Raven Queen," Bran said. "Have you met her?"

"No, but I will meet her one day. One day, we all will meet her."

Tiny looked at him closely and whispered to us, "He's a heavy drinker. I think he might be drunk now."

"Where is your guide," Fasil asked us.

"He... uh... disappeared. Did you have a party of treasure hunters with you?"

"Yes. They met their end. But that is how I serve the Raven Queen. I bring people closer to her."

"I am on my way back to the city," he continued. "I need to get some supplies."

"Beer?" asked Tiny.

Fasil glared at him. "Do not mock me, Dwarf! I must return to the temple."

"The Temple of the Raven Queen?" asked Bran. "Where is that?"

"In the outer city above us. What are you here for? What do you seek?"

"We are looking for the Centenarch," answered Kale.

"It is a chair," explained Carlagnios.

"It's a piece of furniture," offered Tiny.

Kale corrected them through gritted teeth. "It was their seat of *power*. The seat of power of the 100."

Fasil gave him an empty look. "I don't know what it is, but I could take you to the Map Room. You might find your answers there. My fee would be 500 gold pieces."

"500?!?"

We discussed this amount amongst ourselves and finally agreed to pay the cost. We had just found 1100 gold pieces, so the price would not be that much of a problem for us.

"Now we need to go back to the surface to get some supplies," Fasil said.

"And you can show me the Temple of the Raven Queen," said Bran.

As we followed him back up, Kale recorded the path we took.

When we reached the surface, Fasil brought us to the Temple of the Raven Queen. Before we could enter, a Chimeric approached us. He stared at Garg.

"Where are you from?" the Chimeric demanded. "What business do you have here?"

What was the name of the town we had come from? We did not remember, but Firinne did. "We came from the town of Sour Well," she answered.

"And we're exploring the mines," replied Garg.

"Alright, you can go now," the Chimeric declared and walked away.

"The Chimerics are taking a census," Fasil explained.

"He better have counted me as a Dragonborn," Carlagnios muttered. "Dragonborn are always underrepresented in treasure hunting groups."

"As are Halflings," mentioned Bran.

Tiny chimed in, "And Dwarves. Why aren't many of us in these groups? It's the Humans, Elves, and their half-breeds who always seem to crowd all of us out. Why are they so popular?"

"Wait," interrupted Ryn, "you don't think they're lumping in Eladrin with Elves in general, do you?"

"Why?" growled Carlagnios "Elves are all the same."

"Are you kidding? Eladrin are a different race of Elves," explained Ryn. "And what about the Drow?"

"What are Drow?" asked Carlagnios.

"The dark Elves we just fought," said Ryn impatiently. "You know, the Arachnomancer? Lolth's Grasp?" He turned to Garg and Firinne. "Surely you'd want them to distinguish between Elves and Half-Elves?"

"Eh." Garg shrugged with indifference.

"Well, what about women who are treasure hunters?" Firinne pointed out. "Hello? If we're talking about underrepresented here, ..."

"Look, people, can we just go inside now?" said Fasil.

No one else was in the temple. There was a small altar to the Raven Queen inside.

"You should prepare for the event of your demise," Fasil told us. "I always ask people to do this before I lead them to the mines. Some of them will never come back alive."

After Bran and Fasil were done with their prayers to the Raven Queen, Fasil rattled off a list of supplies that we needed.

"500 gold pieces worth of magical residuum."

"Got it," replied Kale.

"250 gold pieces worth of magical components."

"Got that."

"A pair of bulls -- in the prime of health -- not castrated."

"Go-- wait, what?"

"And some feed for one of them."

"Did you say 'bulls'?"

"Yes, we'll need one bull to get into the mines, and one bull to get back out. We'll need to bring them with us."

"Don't the bulls get aggressive?" asked Carlagnios.

"Yes," replied Fasil, "but I have a feeling that you are the type of person who is good with aggressive creatures." He smiled.

"Where would we get bulls?" Kale asked.

"In the outer city, you should be able to find a herder that would be willing to sell you a pair."

The request for the pair of bulls seemed very strange. We asked Tiny if we could trust Fasil. "Yes, he'll take us where we want to go. He doesn't care much about what happens to us."

We made our way to the outer city and found a drover who had some cattle. Perhaps he might have some bulls that he would be willing to sell.

"So, you wanna buy some bulls? How about these ones? They came from my old grandmother, who used them only once every other Sunday."

He pointed to a group of scrawny bulls. Kale shook his head.

"If these will be used in some sort of magical ritual -- which I suspect -- we'll need exactly what Fasil requested."

"OK, how about these? I'll sell both to you and some feed that you wanted for 50 gold pieces."

The two bulls seemed to be in good health and had their virility intact.

"These will suffice," Kale answered.

"Oh, wait," the drover interrupted. "There's an extra 2 gold pieces that these will cost you. It's obligation for him -- the guild master. That guy who lives in that floaty thing."

"The teardrop above the tower?"

"Yup, that place. Anyway, is it a deal?"

"Yes, we'll pay for the bulls and the feed. Just out of curiosity, do you sell bulls like this very often?"

"Oh, about once a month or so," the drover replied.

We took the bulls and the feed and met back with Fasil. He led us to a guild house in the outer city. We walked past a guard who looked quite disinterested, and we walked down a ramp tha tled to a platform.

The platform descended and we found ourselves in a room with a crushed table in the middle. Fasil led us out to a door. When we looked behind us, we saw that we were coming out of an odd looking building. The door had a sign that said "Trust of Beric."

Fasil led us through a passageway untl we reached a fork. One path led upwards and the other downwards. We led the bulls down the lower pathway. The pathway led to a room.

In this room, the air became permeated with a sweet, rotted smell -- a smell that seemed to remind you that you forgot something. Something bad had happened here.

In the room, there was a platform with a locked iron ring. Carlagnios followed Fasil's instructions and tied one of the bull to the ring.

We followed Fasil back up the passageway to the fork and then followed the upper passage to another room. It almost seemed like this room was above the room where we left the bull.

We sat there and waited for 15 minutes. After that, we hear the bull lowing below us. Five minutes later, the bull was wailing in fear.

"OK, we need to move now. Put out your torches."

We used the wall to make our way back and quickly pulled the bull with us. As we passed the room with the bull, we could hear gurgling, keening noises. The noises were confusing. We almost forgot who we were. Kale whispered that the sounds were almost demonic.

We were able to pass the room quickly, and we found ourselves in an excavated room. It looked like a small civic square. In the center was a fountain. Somehow, water continued to flow through this fountain. We followed Fasil's advice and used it to refill our water.

We tied the bull to the fountain and left the feed with it. Fasil led us down a long set of stairs deeper underground.

Between the Veil of Life and Death

2010-04-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

We took one of the passageways out of the school and continued through the tunnels. We reached a cave where there were tunnels to the left and right of us.

Tiny summoned the Hand of Fate, which suggested that we take the passage to the right. We followed the passage until we found ourselves in a natural cave. On the other side, in the distance, we could see three humanoid, looking in our direction. They just stood there, waiting.

We decided to move closer to see who -- or what -- they were.

As we grew closer, we discovered that these creatures were no longer living. One was also missing arms. Tiny and Carlagnios decided to approach them.

One of these undead creatures walked toward Tiny and Carlagnios. He reached toward Tiny's face, and Tiny quickly backed away. The creature stopped and just stood there.

Tiny circled the creatures to see what they would do. Carlagnios picked one up and shook it.

Finally, Tiny decided to stand still and let the creature approach him. The creature reached out, touched Tiny's face, and then walked back to the other creatures. They just stood there, doing nothing.

Carlagnios pushed one of them, tipping it over. It came back up again, righting itself.

"Hey!" Garg yelled at the creatures. But they did not respond.

Tiny thought for a moment about his earlier studies of undead creatures. "When someone reanimates a corpse, they can give the corpse a job to do. Perhaps that's what they are doing. Following someone's orders."

"Well," Bran said, "the Raven Queen doesn't like things that exist between the Veil of Life and Death. They need to die."

He drew his rapier and stabbed one of the undead. The creature stood there, flailing and trying to pull the rapier out. Bran shook his head.

"This is too sad. I cannot do this."

He withdrew his rapier and sheathed it.

We continued onward. As we walked, we heard the creatures shuffling behind us. They followed us as we walked, keeping a distance of 20 feet between us.

"We can't continue like this. What if they attack us when we're not ready. We need someone to destroy them -- someone who is cold and uncaring. Someone who would not be moved if they struggled to survive."

We all turned and looked at Garg.

"What?" Garg looked surprised. "What are you pointing at me for? They're not doing any harm. I see no reason to destroy them."

"Fine," Carlagnios growled, "I will dispatch them."

He walked over to them and lifted his jagged axe. With one blow, he split the creature's head in two, and the creature collapsed on the floor. He did the same to the two other undead creatures.

Carlagnios walked back to join us, muttering under his breath.

Perhaps this needed to be done. A creature unnaturally brought back to life and made to serve another could not lead a fulfilling existence. Like all things in nature, there is a time for a living creature to pass on and leave this world. Perhaps the time of these undead creatures had passed long ago.

Trapped in Lolth's Grasp

2010-04-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

Guppy collected his short sword and prepared for the journey. "It will cost you 50 gold pieces," he explained. "The guild controls the doors to the tunnel. It is a standard charge that all treasure hunters must pay."

We paid him the gold and followed him to a platform. As we stood on the platform, the platform began to fall into the earth. It was a slow, steady fall, but the sensation was still unnerving.

After a while, the platform stopped. We walked off and headed into a passageway on the side. After following the passageway for some time, we found another platform, which also descended when we stood on it.

After that platform stopped, we made our to way to a corridor. As we walked further, we found a number of alcoves where merchants were selling goods to the treasure hunters headed down. "This is your last chance to get torches!" "Rope! Get your rope!"

Fortunately, Bran had collected more than enough rope from the caravan of merchants that we had found massacred earlier.

Finally, we reached a metal door. 6 guards stood watch there. Guppy showed the guards his guild badge.

"Can I see your badge?" Tiny asked eagerly.

Guppy sighed. "No. You're in a guild town. You must follow the guild rules."

We went through the door, and Guppy led us through a low tunnel that led into the mines. We saw Servitor Animata digging through the earth, as if searching for something.

Guppy led us through more tunnels, down winding paths. It almost seemed as though Guppy were trying to obscure our path so that we would not remember our way through. Kale map our journey for future reference.

"Why are we going this long, roundabout way?" asked Garg. "Why not just take us directly there?"

"Look," said Guppy impatiently, "I found these places, and I take my clients to them. Don't you try to steal my places and sell them to other guides!"

"The thought had never crossed my mind."

We went down 3 or 4 more levels, through complicated passages. Along the way, we only found Servitor Animata, digging away.

We finally reached a small building. We stood on its platform, and the platform descended into the ruins of the school.

In the front of the school, we saw some dust and footprints, perhaps from creatures from long ago. No one had visited the school for a while.

"When you brought other groups of treasure hunters down here, how many groups died?" asked Tiny.

"Only 2 groups," Guppy replied. "Not everyone died."

In the middle of the school was a play yard. The ground was decorated with lines for some sort of sporting activity. On either side of the play yard were doors that led to classrooms.

In each classroom, there was a lectern in front and some benches in back. Doors directly connected each classroom with the one before it and the one after it.

Along the walls, there were words carved in and pictures above the words. The words were simple, like "Sword", "House", and "Food", as were the pictures above them.

"Uh, Guppy, this isn't the kind of school where we'd find the literature we're looking for," Kale pointed out.

As he spoke, he was suddenly surrounded by an unearthly aura. From the door to the next classroom, we saw a group of dark elves. They held wands that shot at me. In a matter of moments, I was quickly bloodied, poisoned, and enveloped in the same dark aura. The poison made me weak and kept eating at me.

I scurried into a corner, while Garg moved into the next classroom to confront the dark elves. They began to shoot him with the poison as well, but Kale was able to use his mystical orb to transfer the poison to another dark elf.

As Firinne and Carlagnios followed Garg into the next classroom, more dark elves appeared in the doorway to the center of the school. Tiny blinded one of them, and Bran quickly dispatched that dark elf to its maker.

The dark elves continued to shoot at us, weakening us with poison. But Tiny sacrificed some of his life energies to heal all of us in a glowing stream of life.

Kale summoned a cloud of a terrible stench in the next classroom, trapping some of the dark elves in it. And Carlangnios pulled the elves all toward him and brought down a rain of steel upon them, killing one.

One of the dark elves in the next room cast a terrible spell. She shrieked that we would not be able to escape Lolth's Grasp, and the floor in the next room was suddenly covered with ghostly spiders. Firinne, Carlagnios, and Garg were trapped and could not make their way through these spiders.

Ryn teleported himself in Firnne's place, moving her out of Lolth's Grasp. He struck at another dark elf and teleported back to safety.

Carlagnios scrambled out of Lolth's Grasp but Garg was still trapped inside. The dark elven spellcaster summoned a cloud of darkess to prevent us from seeing Garg, as he was being attacked. Tiny called out to Garg to give him strength, and Garg was able to escape Lolth's Grasp as well.

The dark elven spellcaster decided to escape, but Ryn struck her down before she could escape. Bran and Firinne bloodied another dark elf, who finally decided to run away. Tiny was able to heal the rest of us.

After the battle, we found over a thousand gold pieces on the dark elves. Bran also found one of their wands intact. He could use it to fire a poisoned projectile at an enemy. It was quite a brutal weapon.

It was then that Tiny noticed an absence in our party. "Guppy is missing," he announced. We searched the school but could not find him. Now, we were lost in the mines without a guide.

In Search of a Guilder

2010-04-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

After dining with Provost Benjy Bellingham and his wife Tella, we decided to go to the inner city to find a guilder. We needed to find our way to the tunnels, where we could find clues to the location of the Centenarch. Only members of the guild were allowed to go there.

In the inner city, we found a stall where we could buy healing potions. As we replenished our supplies, Tiny noticed someone trying to pick his pocket. He alerted the rest of us, who turned to confront the thief.

The thief was a young Gnome, perhaps just a child. He quickly fled, and Carlagnios followed in pursuit. The young Gnome had not gotten very far before he ran into a dead end. He turned around to see Carlagnios approach him -- an huffing, angry Dragonborn.

"What are you doing, kid?!!!"

The young Gnome wet himself in fear. He reached into his vest, pulled out 5 silver coins, and threw them on the ground.

"Please, sir, let me go! I won't do it again! I just wanted to buy some food."

Carlagnios' heart softened, although it was impossible to tell from his demeanor. He pulled out some rations from his pack.

"Here!" he bellowed, hurling the rations at the young Gnome. "Take this, and don't ever steal again!!!"

The rations caught the young Gnome squarely in the belly, and the force knocked him to the ground.

Carlagnios turned and walked away. He rejoined us and explained what had happened.

We still needed to find a guilder. Ryn offered to find out. He spoke with some people near the corner and found out that there were different offices for the guild around the city. The more powerful groups of "treasure hunters" could go to the better guilds and get better guides.

In order to get any guide, we would need to have someone vouch for us. We were strangers in this world and were not well known. (I suppose that I should be thankful that they did not know of my defeat in the town of Sour Well.)

We decided to ask Benjy to vouch for us. When we arrived back at the mage's school, Benjy was teaching one of his classes. We waited outside for him to finish.

While we were waiting, Kale started to stare at the tower in the distance. As he watched the inverted teardrop hanging above, he noticed three tiny specks landing on the teardrop. They seemed to be humanoids riding Vulture Drakes. Perhaps they were visiting someone who lived in the teardrop.

Benjy walked down the steps toward us. "So, you need an introduction to the guilders?"

"Yes," we replied.

"Some guides are more experienced than others. The more experienced guides know about the more dangerous areas in the lower city, Lordahl. But the more experienced guides are also reluctant to take novice 'treasure hunters' through the tunnels to these areas."

"What sorts of 'treasures' are in these tunnels?" asked Kale.

"Mostly artifacts from the time before. The guild master purchases the most interesting ones. It seems that the inhabitants from the time before lived in a Gilded Age. They created strange artifacts. A treasure hunter once found a singing rock..."

"Is there some way we could be vouched for? Some way we could be introduced to some more experienced guides?"

"Perhaps you should start with a simpler guide from one of the lower guilds?"

We did not believe that we could find the Centenarch by starting there. It would take too long. Perhaps there was a way for us to demonstrate our power and experience? Some sort of play to show our strength?

Benjy pondered for a moment. "I do know someone in a middle guild. He was a former student of mine who dropped out and joined the guild. His name is Pican. He is in the guild office in the inner city, below ground."

We made our way to the guild office. The guard at the door eyed us suspiciously.

"I don't know you," he declared.

Firinne quickly stepped forward and said, "We're here to see Pican. Benjy sent us."

"I don't know Benjy," he muttered. But his demeanor changed as he spoke to Firinne. "We do have a Pican here. Let me get him."

He returned with a man who looked quite unkempt. The man's face had a hangdog expression. He introduced himself as Pican.

"Benjy sent us. He said that you could vouch for us."

Pican looked skeptical. "We're all booked up now. We have no time to waste with novices who don't know how to fight."

"Well," Firinne said, "I have a VERY big sword and I'm VERY proficient with it." She drew her Berserker Bastard Sword to demonstrate her point.

"We've killed people before," Garg declared, glaring at Pican.

Pican lifted his palms up toward us and stepped back. "I believe you. I believe you. Let me check if there's anyone available."

He went back into the room, and we heard a faint buzzing of voices. Tiny, with his incredible knack for perception, whispered to us, "He's asking if anyone can take a bunch of novice treasure hunters down to the tunnels." Firinne scowled.

But Pican did return with a guide. Our hopes were high until they came closer and we saw the person who would be guiding us.

He was a Halfing (like Bran) and wore orange leather armor. His head was full of dense, dark hair. And he introduced himself as Guppy.

"Guppy?" Carlagnios sneered in disbelief.

Garg gave Guppy a skeptical look. "Have you really been in the mines before?"

"Yes," replied Guppy, "about a dozen times."

Tiny turned to us and whispered, "He's not right in the head." He turned back to Guppy and asked, "And when you were down there, did you find anything?"

Guppy cleared his throat. "Look, I'm the newest person in this guild office. So, I get to guide the treasure hunters that are less experienced. Most of the groups that I've led have been smaller than yours... In any case, I can take you to an interesting area."

Kale interjected, "Well, we're looking for something more specific. We're interested in the literature of the old world."

"Well... I do know of a school down there," Guppy replied. "Are you the mage of the group? Do you know how to make light?"

Kale scoffed and projected a glowing ball of light on Guppy's nose. "Do you want me to conjure something else on your face?"

"N-no," Guppy answered. "We can go now."

Dinner With Benjy

2010-03-17T23:30:00.000-07:00

We had a long conversation over dinner with Benjy and his wife Tella. I must admit that I have never been good at understanding these historical matters and did (at some point) doze off. Perhaps it was the fine meal that Benjy conjured for us. For what it is worth, Carlagnios also did not seem pleased with an evening of chatter.

"Have you ever seen an adult dragon?" asked Benjy. "Or an elder dragon? I once saw a chromatic dragon passing through."

"We have found several dragons in our encounters," Garg answered. "Carlagnios always gets sad and funny when we kill dragons."

Carlagnios scowled and muttered something about others not knowing the difference between dragons that breathed fire and dragons that spat acid.

Benjy began to explain some of the history of the Siege World. "The 'Wayfarers' all came at once, when the 100 left. They were the Dragonborn, the Dwarves, the others like yourselves.

"The Exodus of the 100 came just after the First Apocalypse. Most of the damage here (the lava, the buried buildings) was done in the Second Apocalypse, when the 100 were not here to stop him.

"Lord Chimera is an incarnation of a demigod. Every 5 years, he takes a student for his services."

Kale interjected, "My master has had interactions with the Chimera."

"Your master? Where are you from?"

"We are Wayfarers as well." Kale proceeded to explain where we came from.

"Interesting. Perhaps your world isn't one of the original worlds..."

"What do you know about the Lover of the Raven Queen?"

"The Lover was a mage who become a god. He has an oracular gift. He can see different futures. Every time a choice is made, he can see all the possible futures from all the choices.

"He ended up coordinating his actions with his selves from the different worlds. He would flip a coin to decide each action and coordinate his actions with this new and future selves. He flipped a coin every day for 10 years. By evaluating the prophecies, he was able to transcend from a paltry mage to a greater being.

"But a god has no gaps, and he had them. The Raven Queen took him and filled in the gaps.

"As part of this ritual, some of him died, and it left him mad

"The Early Centenarchy -- the rule of the 100 -- was a peaceful time. They met and passed laws at a building called the Centenarch -- their seat of power. Passage of laws required a majority. During this time, they also brought in the Cthona."

"Seat? It was a chair?" asked Carlagnios, waking up briefly from a short snooze.

"Furniture?" asked Tiny, who had also fallen asleep.

Benjy ignored them and continued. "During the Early Centenarchy, the 101 appeared. He was like Robin Hood -- an outlaw. Sadly, he was married to one of the 100 at one point, and then he was imprisoned three times and spent 1000 years in captivity. The name of his wife was Ana Logrid Polliz. She was a mage of some repute, but there were stronger mages in the 100.

"Early during the first war, the 100 hid the Centenarch, in case a crackpot got ideas. Rumor has it that there is a hall of maps in the old city that might have the location, and there are dungeons beneath the city.

"During the First Apocalypse, all crops were destroyed and there were worldwide clouds. The 100 left soon afer that because they realized that they couldn't win."

"Speaking of the city," Kale mentioned, "do we need to be in a guild?"

"No, you just need to hire a guilder."

"What do you know about the Aspect of Gamerat?" asked Bran.

"It was involved in the relationship between the Lover of the Raven Queen and the 100. The followers of the Raven Queen still have a template in the city. The Lover tolerates worship of the Raven Queen."

"What magics have survived since the early times?" asked Kale.

"Sometimes, we'll find bits of Animata rituals. But usually it's considered bad taste to summon an Animata. Many have lost loved ones to Animata."

Kale cringed. "What about the markers throughout this world?"

"It is a system of beacons that was introduced in the Late Centenarchy. The flying Animata guard these."

"What about the towers in this city?"

"The 100 built the towers with help from the Lover of the Raven Queen."

"Why is the top of the tower in the mage's school missing?"

"It happened between the First and Second Apocalypse. They used to use the Cthona for their larger magics. But the Cthona left the world when the 100 left. They took their loyal servants with them."

"What happened in the Second Apocalypse?"

"The Chimera raised the lava over the world. A god can't be contained in one world, but his agent could be."

"Do you know the Owl?"

"The Owl was one of the greatest, most ruthless generals."

"Do you know of the Lens?"

"The Lens allows someone to commune with the Lover of the Raven Queen. But teaching someone to use this would drive a mage mad."

A Teardrop Above the City

2010-03-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

The next day, Caleb led us up the river to a tributary. We followed him over a hill and down a valley, where we were finally able to see Lordahl.

From a distance, we could see white spires pointing up toward the sky. Beneath these spires was the grubby underbody of the rest of the city.

There was a vast central tower that tapered up. Above this tower hung an inverted teardrop, suspended in the middle of the sky.

The second tallest tower was jagged at the top. Smoke billowed from the top.

Caleb turned to us and said, "This is as far as I go. I don't want to go into the city. I have enemies there."

We parted ways and headed toward the city. We no longer had any Finder to guide us along.

On our way, we were intercepted by a patrol of 4 guards.

"Guild pass," they demanded.

"We don't have any guild pass."

"No guild pass? Well, then, you'll need to pay the entrance fee. There are 8 of you, so that will be 120 gold pieces."

Tiny frowned and whispered to us, "They're trying to extort money from us."

Bran turned to the guards. "By whose authority?"

"The authority of the mayor," the guards replied. "You'll have to join a guild. The main guild hall is in the inner city." They pointed to the central tower. Then, they pointed to the burning tower. "The mage's school is in the outer city. Now pay your 120 gold pieces."

"Hold on," Firinne interrupted. She spoke with them diplomatically and was able to bring down the cost of our entrance to 60 gold pieces.

We walked into the city and noticed that the structures along the way were low and dismal.

Ryn checked around and found that we should go to the gate, talk to the guards, and get into the market. We walked to the gate, and the guards looked us over.

"We need to know if you're serious and have the gold to spend."

Kale showed them some of the treasure we had collected, and the guards let us through.

Inside, there were solemn warehouses filled with people in chains. It turned out that this was a slave market. There were a variety of slaves -- most of them human. There was a tall wall around to prevent their escape.

Garg walked along, oblivious to the sight, but the rest of us felt uncomfortable. "How could you not care about what is going on here?" growled Carlagnios.

As we approached the mage's school, we noticed the top of the tower was glowing, as if it had been blown off. We walked through the broad entrance to the school and noticed a Chimeric leaving.

The Chimeric had a scar across his head. People quickly moved out of his way to give him space. It was an odd sight.

In the center court, there were plants growing. The towner was a hollow cylinder with doors leading to inner rooms.

Tiny sat down and reflected. As we waited, a wizard approached us.

"Can I help you? You're not all here to enroll, are you? We are one of the premier mage academies in the area. We teach students how to become great wizards."

"I'm a mage, sixth rate," replied Kale. "I've mastered fire and ice, and I have knowledge of poisons."

The wizard seemed to perk up. He introduced himself as "Provost Benjy Bellingham". "We have an open teaching position here. We need someone to teach our classes on Intro to Glyphs, Aberrants, Greater and Lesser Dragons, and Practical Pyrotechnics."

"That sounds interesting. Have you also had experiences with these?"

"I was actually once an adventurer myself. But," he sighed, "I decided to settle down and get married. Say, why don't you come back here for dinner tonight, and I will set the table for you."

Tiny whispered to us, "He's dying of boredom and is looking for someone to talk to."

We agreed to meet for dinner and continued our exploration of the city. The area beneath the inverted teardrop was the inner city. It was the tallest tower in the city. Instead of a courtyard, there was a levitating platform that went up and down many floors of the tower. You could speak to tell it to go up or down.

It used to be an old building, but the alcoves and the stalls were retrofitted at some point. It also seemed to be a dangerous area. There was a criminal element that pervaded the place.

After our exploration, Bran decided to buy some wine for dinner. Then, we headed off to have our dinner with Benjy.

"I Attack the Darkness!"

2010-03-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

It was a large, black dragon. As we scattered, it spewed out acid with a fearful, stunning roar.

We moved into position to attack it from all sides, but it suddenly surrounded itself with a massive cloud of darkness. We could not see our hands in front of us, so we scrambled to make our way out to the light.

Kale declared that he would attack the darkness and sent an icy hand after the dragon. We shot into the cloud in an attempt to strike the creature. Eventually, it dispelled the darkness and moved in after us. We kept striking it, but our blows were barely enough to bloody the monster. The dragon finally grew weary of our attacks, and it flew away from us, covering us with a final blast of acid.

Drained from the battle, we decided to take an extended rest in the swamp. In the morning, we continued on, and Caleb led us to an odd structure. It was an unornamented cube of stone, sticking out in the middle of the swamp.

"This must be 'the Armory'."

On the door, there were symbols in old warrior that read, "Sworn Quartermaster."

Firinne remembered from our travels months ago that we had found a key in a Quartermaster's quarters. She took the key -- her amulet -- and placed it in the door. The door melted before us. Silently, we entered and began to explore the building.

It was indeed an armory that once held weapons and armor. Apparently, it was used to replenish arms. Most of these had been cleared out by someone at some point in the past.

We did find a long sword and a suit of scale armor. Kale examined these and announced that the sword was a magic Demonblade, and the armor was Demonscale. Carlagnios took the armor.

The armory also seemed to be a safe haven in the swamp, so we decided to camp here for the night.

The Judgement of the Blind

2010-03-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

"You are accused of slaughter!"

"Who are you?" we asked.

One of the men in front replied, "I am Brady, a Defender of all that lives. And you are responsible for slaughtering the men in that caravan!"

"We didn't slaughter anyone. Where is your evidence?"

"I don't need evidence. You're guilty unless you can prove your innocence."

We tried to explain ourselves. "We didn't kill anyone. Are you sure it wasn't the Chimera or his men?"

Brady hissed at the sound of that name.

"We spoke to one of the Chimera's men," we continued to explain.

Brady glared at us. "We have a way to tell if you're lying. You'll have to come with us."

Tiny whispered to us that they seemed to be fanatics but had no special desire to kill us.

Garg narrowed his eyes. "How far do you want us to go?"

"We are close by our camp," Brady answered. "We have been following you for a while."

"But if you followed us," Firinne pointed out, "You would know we didn't kill anyone."

Brady would not be dissuaded. "Come with us. Now."

We followed them to a camp, where we were met by 2 dozen other men. Near the fire sat a blind man. Brady gestured toward him.

"You will need to tell your story to Dunnell."

We sat next to Dunnell. "These ones are innocent," Dunnell declared. He felt the need to apologize for his comrades. "You understand -- it is a hard life to lead, when one is responsible for defending life against the agents of the Chimera."

"Are you sworn?" asked Kale.

"Yes," Dunnell replied. "We are sworn to fight the Lover. We swear ourselves to fight. Would you like to be sworn?"

"Uhhhhhhh -- no thank you. What do you know about the 100?"

"The 100 fight the Chimera. We are preparing ourselves for their return!"

"Didn't the 100 work for the Lover?"

"It sounds like you're confused. The 100 defended every living thing against the Chimera. They were forced to leave in order to muster their strength. But they will return with an army."

"From father to son, we have passed along the oath," Dunnell continued. "We are preparing ourselves for service when the 100 return."

"But the 100 did ally themselves with the Lover at some point?"

"The 100 were given their immortality by the Lover of the Raven Queen. He tricked the 100 into doing things for him. He enslaved the 100. But soon, they will return with their army."

After some discussion, Dunnell agreed to "share book" with our Finder. As he and Caleb walked away to talk, Kale turned invisible and followed them. Kale saw Caleb writting down notes from his talk with Dunnell.

After they were done, we returned to our camp. Caleb said, "They gave me a lot of good information. There is a direct path to Lordahl -- we just need to go through the 'Fenns' for a few days. We need to go through this swampy area around the river."

"There was something else that was odd," Caleb mentioned. "In this area, we will find a place called 'the Armory'. What an odd name for a place in the middle of the swamp."

We slept through the night. After waking up in the morning, we headed to the swamp.

The trek through the swamp was long. We could not make it through in a day, so we were forced to make camp and sleep there for a night.

And it was during this night that we were attacked -- by the darkness.

The Fate of the Caravan

2010-03-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

In the afternoon, we saw a speck in the sky. Slowly, the speck grew, and we began to realize that this speck was someone -- some thing -- flying toward us. It was a man on a Vulture Drake. He landed near us and dismounted. He walked toward us and greeted us.

He looked like a human. He wore a cloak around him. The most notable things about him were the incredible number of scars crisscrossing his arms and the bird claw that was his left hand.

"My name is Yolori," he said. "I'm looking for a caravan of 4 wagons. The wagons are being pulled by lizards, and one of the carts is blue."

"Why do you seek this caravan?" Kale asked.

Yolori seemed puzzled with this question. "I don't know why. I just need to find it. The High Lord Chimera demands it."

We learned that the High Lord Chimera was the Lover of the Raven Queen made real -- the incarnation of the Lover in this world.

"We did meet some riders on lizards earlier in our travels," Bran noted.

"Finder, where were these lizards?" Yolori asked.

"Near Sour Well."

"No. That is in the wrong direction."

Ryn asked, "Are there others looking for it?"

"Yes. There are 3 of us looking for it. But if you find the others, don't tell them that I'm looking for it."

"Is there a reason why you need to find it?"

"It is not for us to question the Lord Chimera's will."

"Are the people in the caravan dangerous?"

"No, not dangerous. Probably not."

Tiny whispered to us that Yolori seemed incredibly imperturbable. Yolori didn't seem to be cued in to any social distinctions.

Garg looked over Yolori's Vulture Drake. "Where can we buy drakes like that?" asked Garg.

"In Lordahl."

"How far is Lordahl?"

"About 4 to 5 days."

Yolori walked back to his Vulture Drake and mounted it. "I must continue my search for the caravan," he said, and he took to the sky.

After he left, Caleb explained Yolori's odd behavior to us. "Chimerics are like that. They tend to fly around and do things."

"Should we -- "

"We are in the Lover's world," Caleb cautioned us. If he wants something, he can take it. We just mind our own business and don't cause trouble. The Lover doesn't care about us."

"Why did the Lover take over this world?" asked Bran.

"I don't know," Caleb replied. "You need to ask someone who is more book learned."

Later that night, Clarence (our blue Servitor Animata) returned to us after completing his task. He came toward us from a direction not very far from Lordahl. We slept for the night and woke up the next morning.

Kale instructed the Servitor Animata to retrace its steps, and we followed it. It was evening when we stumbled across something. Something terrible.

It had, at one point, been a caravan. But the men and lizards were no longer breathing, and the chests they carried were now destroyed.

It looked like they had time to prepare for the fight. They tried to defend themselves, but one by one, they were tracked down and slaughtered. There were no survivors.

They had been killed with some sort of weapons. It wasn't clear what weapons were used.

They seemed to have been merchants who were selling rope and iron bars. Bran took some of the rope.

We found a lockbox that had been split open. 400 gold pieces were spread on the ground. We took the gold.

It was early evening at this point. Caleb remembered that we passed a good area for a camp, so we walked back and made camp.

As we prepared to rest, a group of people approached us from the site of the slaughter. They wore dusty leather hats and capes.

"You are accused of slaughter!"

The Road to Lordahl

2010-03-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

After our battle with Baird the Lich and his Ghouls, I learned of what had happened when I lost consciousness. Bran, Firinne, Garg, and Carl were finally able to bloody Baird and bring him near death. With his last breath, Baird decided that he would take everyone to the grave with him. He hurled an icy ball the floor, freezing himself to death and covering the ground with unnatural shards of ice. Bran, Firinne, Garg, and Carl were able to get through this difficult terrain and destroy the other Ghouls.

After a long sleep, we awoke to find ourselves surrounded by Animata. Now that we had broken in to Baird's lair, the Animata found a way in toward their final goal.

We make our way upstairs, where we found an old fountain. Next door, there was a stable, which had stalls laid out in a circle. We searched the stable and found a statuette of an ebony fly. Kale examined the statuette and told us that it was magical. We could use it to summon a flying mount.

In the ceiling above us was a hole where sunlight crept through. As we explored the rooms, more Animata collected around us. Caleb noted that they seemed to be going some place. Usually, he said, they are looking for something buried.

Kale suggested that we harvest the Animata and leave 1 or 2 to see what they would do. Tiny taught Kale the ritual of the feeder (from the book), and Kale proceeded to harvest most of the Animata.

Of the two remaining Animata, one skitterred away, and the other did not move. Kale poked the unmoving Animata, but it did not respond. We decided to follow the escaping Animata, who had wandered back to the hole that Bran dug.

The Animata led us back to the surface, where it proceeded to move quickly across the desert. We followed it during the day, and as it began to get dark, the Animata showed no signs of stopping.

"If it keeps going, we'll lose it," Caleb said. "We need to stop and rest for the night."

"Perhaps we could summon a Servitor Animata to follow it," suggested Kale. We got into a long discussion about how long the Servitor Animata should follow it and how we would know where the Servitor Animata was.

After some time arguing about this, Carlagnios began to growl impatiently (or perhaps that noise originated from his stomach). Kale finally suggested that we have the Servitor Animata follow the fleeing Animata until it stopped, at which point the Servitor Animata would return to us. We would then ask the Servitor Animata to lead us back to the point where the fleeing Animata stopped.

Kale proceeded to cast the ritual. "I am summoning a blue Servitor Animata," Kale declared. An Animata with an orange glow appeared before us. Kale didn't try to hide his annoyance. "A BLUE Animata," he declared, as he cast a glamor on the Animata to make it appear blue.

"Clarence," Kale said, addressing the now blue Servitor Animata. "You are to follow that Animata until it stops, and then you are to return to us." The blue Animata quickly sped after the fleeing Animata.

We made camp and slept until the next morning. Caleb suggested moving to higher ground to get a sense for where we were. He still wanted to find our way to the city of Lordahl, which Baird the Lich had mentioned earlier. Bran suggested riding the ebony fly to get a view of our location from the air. Caleb was concerned that "sky rats" might notice him up there, but we agreed that the risk was worth the information.

Bran summoned "Tim" (as he called it), mounted it, and took to the sky. From up there, he surveyed the area but could not see either of the Animata. He flew higher and was able to see more of the terrain around us. The lands were sometimes hilly, and sometimes not. There were swamps around us and, in the distance, a river.

Bran landed back on the ground and told us what he had seen. We spent the rest of the morning waiting for the return of the blue (orange) Servitor Animata.

The Cold Chill of Death

2010-02-26T23:00:00.000-08:00

I do not remember much beyond this point. But I do know that we almost died. We have never come as close to death as we did on that day.

Kale and Ryn suddenly disappeared with a noise like a "pop". (Eventually, after the battle was won, they somehow reappeared.)

Bran, the Halfling Rogue, began the battle by tipping over the table. He had hoped to trap Baird beneath the table, but Baird managed to dodge aside. Baird hurled a ball of icy death toward the ground, covering it with cold from the grave. It was difficult to move, and the icy cold tore at us while we stood there.

Firinne, the Half-Elven Paladin, Carlagnios the Dragonborn Fighter, Garg the Half-Elven Warlord, and Bran moved to surround Baird, while Tiny kept Baird distracted with his spiritual hammer.

Since I had been in the back of our party (strategically positioning myself to attack Baird with a swarm of arrows), the Ghouls were closest to me, they all chose to attack me at the same time. With each blow and each bite, I could feel nothing but terror in my heart. I could no longer move, and I was stunned by the shock of their bites.

Far ahead of me, I could see Baird covering more of the ground with ice. Bran carefully avoided these areas, but the others kept getting caught in the cold. They managed to surround Baird and strike him again and again.

But Carlagnios took one too many blows from Baird, and he fell unconscious. The Ghouls kept biting and striking me, and I eventually fell as well. Before I lost consciousness, I was Tiny, the Dwarven Cleric, bring Carlagnios back from death's door. Garg was keeping the party inspired as well and healed many of their wounds.

I could hear Garg's voice in my head when I awoke. The Ghouls had taken me down and moved on to attack the rest of the party. The party had managed to kill Baird but at a hight cost. We were all bloodied and worn from the effort. The Ghouls gave them no respite.

One had attacked Tiny and stunned and immobilized him. Even while stunned, Tiny could still strike back through Loom, his magical hammer. Loom struck a critical blow, but the Ghoul was relentless and kept mauling Tiny until, mercifully, Tiny lost consciousness.

We were able to dispatch one of the Ghouls, and Garg was able to destroy another. But Garg, Carlagnios, and Firinne were nearly unconscious from the blows from the Ghouls. Bran was thankfully unscathed.

Bran, Garg, and Carlagnios focused their efforts on one of the Ghouls, while Firinne battled the other. I faced a difficult decision -- I could finish off the first Ghoul, or I could attack the second one, who was about to knock out Firinne. I reluctantly chose the former, and the second Ghoul struck Firinne down. We refocused our efforts on the remaining Ghoul and finally destoryed it.

Tiny and Firinne were near death, and Garg and Carlagnios were close to losing consciousness. Carlagnios and I had almost died.

We wanted to rest but Kale insisted that we search the room.

"We must find its phylactery," Kale said. "It is the thing that holds the soul of the Lich." He was referring to Baird.

Although we searched, we did not find this phylactery. We found some gold, and we had Baird's helm.

Kale examined the helm and declared that it was a Helm of Vision Unclouded. The helm would give its wearer keen insight and perception and the ability (on occassion) to see invisible things. Tiny eagerly scooped up the helm and donned it on his head.

Animata had slowly begun to stream into the room. We explored the rest of the room but could go no further.

We backtracked to the stairway up and followed the stairway past a fountain to some stables. In the ceiling, there was a hole with a rope coming down it. This is where the underground room "poked out".

In the stables, we also found a statuette of an ebony fly. Kale discovered that the statuette was magical and could be used to summon a flying mount.

Beyond that, we found nothing. After nearly dying in battle, we decided to take a long, extended rest and heal our wounds.

A Civilized Discussion With a Madman From Beyond the Grave

2010-02-26T22:00:00.000-08:00

We followed the stairway down and found ourselves in an ancient sewer. The sewer was now dry, and there was an empty channel running alongside it. Bran pointed out that a sewer of this size meant that we must be in a large city, buried beneath the ground.

We followed the sewer and found a room with a number of cages. The cages held the bodies of humanoids that died recently. The bodies looked as though they had been starved and beaten. We did not see anyone here, not even any animata.

Near the cages, we found a book and a hook dagger. Caleb examined the book and dagger closely. He turned to Tiny, our Dwarven Cleric.

"Dwarf, you're a ritualist, right?"

Tiny nodded.

Caleb handed the book and dagger to Tiny. "Well, now you're a Feeder. Kale, you can use this as well," he told our Human Wizard.

The book was called the Traveler's Feast. It contained the instructions for making food for 5 people from 35 gold pieces of ingredients. The hook dagger was a Harvesting Dagger that Feeders use to collect the residue from animata.

We stopped to ponder our next move. Tiny suggested that we raise the dead bodies to give us some answers, but we agreed that this might be a dangerous path to take. In addition, the smell from the bodies in the cages was becoming overwhelming.

We decided instead to follow the tunnel. The tunnel led upward and then took a sharp turn. Bran snuck around the corner, but the passage ahead was dark. Kale lit a rock and threw it around the corner.

Ahead, we saw a door to a room. We opened the door to find ourselves in a long, triangular room. In the middle of the room was a long table with seats around the table. Sitting in a chair in the middle was a shrouded figure with its back toward us.

Was this a living creature? Or yet another beaten and starved body?

We approached the table, and Tiny poked at the back of the black-clothed figure. We heard it rustle as it sprung alert and turned to face us.

t threw back its hood to reveal a gaunt face with skin stretched tightly across its bones. It wore a shiny helm on its head. Tiny felt that whatever this creature was, it was no longer a human.

"Greetings," it spoke. "My name is Baird. Won't you all take a seat?"

"A seat?"

"Encounters don't have to be that tense," Baird said.

We took our seats across the table from Baird. Tiny looked closely at Baird's helm. "What is that?" Tiny asked as he pointed at the helm. "Where did it come from?"

"It's a trinket that I found," Baird answered. "It helps me to clear my mind."

You also have a trinket," Baird continued as he pointed at Loom, Tiny's magical hammer. "Where did that come from?"

"Another world," replied Tiny. "Can I have that helm?"

Baird chuckled. "We're not in the bargaining stage yet."

"How long have you been here?" asked Tiny.

"Quite some time." Baird went on to explain that the Minotaurs that we fought had worked for him. We told Baird that we killed the Minotaurs, and Baird let out a tired sigh. "That's the thing about life. Sometimes, you aren't up to its challenges, and then you die."

"What do you do here?" Tiny asked.

"I do experiments. I try to help people."

"Do you experiment on yourself?"

"I did experiment on my body before. But not anymore. What is the body but a lump of clay? What use is anything in this world?"

"Are you alone here?"

"No, it's not just me down here."

"Are those your animata?"

"No -- they are ancient servants of a long-dead foe. They were ordered to find this place and kill whoever was inside. But that Old War has been fought and lost."

Bran, the Halfling Rogue, noticed how pale and thin Baird was. Bran offered Baird some hard tack to eat.

"Thank you," said Baird.

"How did you help people with your experiments?"

"Have you seen the people in the cages that you passed? I helped them to see past the world. If you give me more captives, I can show you how I helped the others."

A chill ran through my spine.

"Are you the master of this place?"

"No, I am just squatting here.... waiting..."

"The Raven Queen is also patient," Bran remarked.

"Death is patient," Baird replied. "Death is fickle. I had some acquaintance with the Lover of the Raven Queen... but that war has been fought and lost."

"Who sent the animata to find and kill the people in this place?"

"The 100 sent the animata. Even though their hand has been removed form the tiller, their boat continues to drift forward."

"Boat? Is there water is this desert?"

"The Waste is not just a desert. There is Ocean Waste as well."

"Did you know the 100? We have fought some of them in the past. Do you know the 101?"

Baird nodded. "I knew the 100. I only know the 101 by reputation."

"Now," Baird said quietly, his patience seeming to wear thin, "Why don't you give me that Finder of yours, and I will let you go."

"What would you give us in exchange?"

"Mercy."

"But we're on your side -- we also face the 100. We have battled their Sworn before."

"How I would love to track down and kill the 100. The Sworn -- those were the days."

"Have you sworn anyone before?"

"No, what would I need the Sworn for?"

"Can you tell us where the 100 got their power?"

"The 100 got their power from the Lover of the Raven Queen." Baird seemed to be losing his patience.

"Can you help us find the Centenarch?"

Baird looked at us quizzically. "Why are you looking for the Centenarch?" He sighed. "There is a city called Lordahl. It is a haven for spelunking types, such as yourselves. It is a busy place that sits atop a vast mine... It is a city on a ruined city."

We turned to Caleb, who simply shrugged. He had not heard of Lordahl before.

Baird pondered for a moment. "It is a shame about the Minotaurs."

"We could raise them from the dead for you," offered Tiny.

"If you raise the Minotaurs and throw in your Finder -- dead -- I'll let you live."

"Do you surrender?" asked Tiny.

Baird almost looked amused. "By the way, if you indeed know the 100, then tell Logrid that I've got one of her books."

"Did you know Logrid?" we asked.

"I fought her," Baird replied.

"I was her," interjected Tiny.

Baird looked as though he was done with us. "It was pleasant while it lasted," he said. "And now...."

"It is time to eat!" he called out behind us, where four powerful ghouls arose.

Secrets Beneath the Sand

2010-02-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

After much discussion, Caleb the Finder agreed to lead us to a city for two shares of the treasure that we split amongst ourselves.

As we started out across the desert, the sky was as gray as ever. There was no hint of the sun, and without the sun to guide our way, we could only put our faith in Caleb's abilities as a Finder.

After we trekked for what seemed like miles, Caleb stopped and stared into the distance. We could barely make out a brown smear far ahead of us.

"We should all tie in," Caleb ordered. Tie in? "Tie yourselves to each other. There is a dust storm coming."

We all tied ourselves together. Bran, the Halfling Rogue, did not weigh much, and he realized that he needed a strong anchor to keep him from being blown away. He decided to tie himself to the back of Carlagnios, our Dragonborn Fighter. Bran had not been so close to Carlagnios' back side before, and his face shriveled into a squint when he smelled the odor from under the Dragonborn's tail. "Ugh..."

Caleb led us ahead into the dust storm. We could barely see before us, and the air was getting harder to breathe. We felt ourselves weakening, but Caleb insisted that we continue on. We marched through the evening and into the next morning before the dust storm passed us by.

Although it was the middle of the day, we felt too exhausted to continue on. Caleb suggested that we make camp and take an extended rest.

But the terrain around us was rocky. Ambushers could easily hide behind the rocks and decimate us with ease. This was not a safe place to stop. Could this be a trap?

We asked Tiny, our perceptive and insightful Dwarven Cleric, if he could determine if there was anything unusual about Caleb -- perhaps a subtle clue that Caleb might intend to have us killed here.

Tiny eyed Caleb carefully and replied, "Well, he has some food stuck to the corner of his mouth. But that's the only unusual thing that I see."

Well, at least he was not hungry enough to kill us and eat us.

Up ahead of us, we saw a ridge. Perhaps on the other side, we might be able to find a campsite that was less visible to any attackers.

Caleb walked ahead and peeked over the ridge. After some time observing the other side, Caleb returned. "There's a stutter of morons just past the ridge -- maybe 30 or so. Usually, they won't attack you, unless you poke them."

"Are they squatters?"

"No," Caleb replied, "squatters don't usually mill around like these ones do. They're out there for a reason -- they just don't know what that reason is yet."

Caleb sighed. "It's too bad we don't have a Feeder with us. A Feeder would carry a harvesting blade and could use that to harvest residue from the morons. Feeders use that residue for casting rituals to make food."

"So what do we do?

"Who is the fastest runner here?" Caleb asked. All fingers pointed at me. "You should just go to the middle of that stutter and see if they try to attack you. If they do, run out of there as quickly as you can."

"This is a bad idea," Ryn noted. "We don't know what their intentions are. Once you're down there among them, they can surround you and attack."

We didn't have other options (or perhaps we did, but I was not the brightest member of the party and could not think of any good ideas), so I proceeded over the ridge.

On the other side of the ridge was a mild depression, the animata were wandering around the depression, seemingly without any aim. I walked among them unhindered. They did not seem to notice me (or if they did, I was not important to them). They almost seemed to be hunting for something, but I could not say what.

I reported this back to the party, and Ryn came down to the stutter of animata. He checked for any sort of arcane aura -- something that might be drawing the animata here -- but he could not detect any.

"Maybe we should scare the morons," Caleb suggested. "That'll send them running back home to Ma, and maybe we'll find a poke-out there."

But we were still exhausted from the long trek through the dust storm, and we decided to make camp back where we had originally stopped. Fortunately, the afternoon passed uneventfully, and we were able to take in a long, extended rest.

After we awoke, we watched the animata for a while. They still seemed to be hunting. Something was there -- something that we could not see or detect.

"Maybe it's underground," Bran said. He pulled out his shovel from his pack, headed to the depression, and began to dig. We followed but were skeptical. "I'm telling you," Bran said, "there's something here."

"Bran, you've already dug 12 feet into the ground. How much farther are you going to dig?"

Only an eerie silence answered from the hole that Bran had been digging.

"Bran...? Bran...?"

From far beneath the ground, we heard Bran's voice echoing. "I fell through, but I'm alright. I'm in a narrow fissure of sorts. It looks like it might go deeper!"

Kale, our Human Mage, cast a spell on Bran's sword to make it glow. "The fissure is leading to a room," Bran called out, as we watched Kale's light grow dimmer.

We followed Bran's voice down through the fissure until the fissure broke through to a room. It looked as though the wall of the room had collapsed and dirt had flooded in. Bran was exploring the room with this glowing sword.

There were a number of pieces of rotted furniture, scattered throughout the room. They looked like beds or bunks. Ruined weapons and armor were strewn about, along with humanoid skeletons. Perhaps this was some sort of barracks in its time.

Bran found a trap door in the floor near the end of the room, and we opened it up. A tunnel led downward. As we followed the tunnel, we noticed that it was oddly shaped with square edges -- almost as though it had be constructed by someone.

The tunnel tooks sharp turns at various points. We felt as though we were following a winding maze. At one point, we found some writing in Old War language on the wall. "Gladiators Quarters". After that point in the tunnel, we continued to find more messages written on the walls. Most of the messages were mottos to encourage warriors to fight.

The tunnel finally ended in a large room. On the sides of the room were ladders leading upward.

As we made our way into the room, we were attacked by monstrous creatures. One was a demonic bull that Kale called a Minotaur. Three were half-breeds of bulls and men (identified by Kale as Minotaur Warriors). And two were great lizards with wings (recognized by Kale as Vrocks).

The Vrocks swooped upon us and shrieked in horrifying voices. We were stunned by the sound and could not move or take any actions.

Then, the Minotaur Warriors began their attack. One of them charged Firinne, the Half-Elven Palading, but ended up bouncing off her powerful armor. "Hah!"

Some of them surrounded Bran but failed to realize how flanking him would make him incredibly difficult to hit.

Carlagnios rushed to attack one of the Vrocks.

A long and torturous battle ensued, but we were finally able to turn the tide. Bran struck and killed one of the Minotaur Warriors with a deep cut. Firinne badly damaged another with a critical blow. Ryn wounded yet another one, and Firinne struck the final blow to finish that Minotaur Warrior. Tiny sacrificed his health to heal us when we were getting close to death. Garg healed us as well and commanded us to strike strategic blows against the enemy. Kale burned the Minotaur Warriors with bursts of flame.

At some point, an animata appeared (perhaps having wandered down from the surface) and milled around the room.

Finally, with his Vrocks and Minotaur Warriors dying, the Minotaur demon decided to flee, and the battle was over.

In the room, we found a lockbox, which Bran picked open to reveal a stash of gold coins. Caleb took his cut of the gold (the 2 shares).

At the end of the room, we found a stairway leading up and a stairway leading down. Tiny noticed an odor of garbage coming from the stairway down. We looked closer but could only see inky blackness.

High Noon

2010-02-10T23:30:00.000-08:00

The elf had three groups of five people with him. We seemed to be outnumbered. We tried to escape through the kitchen, but they poured in, and the tavern became a madhouse.

A Hill Giant appeared, waving around a giant iron wand and wearing a sheriff's badge on his chest. "Everybody calm down now. There will be no trouble in this town."

He brought us all outside and spoke with the elf and our party. "Choose a man and square off," he said. "The first one to be bloodied by the attack loses."

It was decided that I should face off against the elf with the iron wand. He drew the wand quickly. I was able to fire an arrow in my defense in an attempt to disrupt his attack. But he was far too precise in his shots and he took me down quickly with two metal balls.

"The battle is over," the Hill Giant declared. The penalties for losing the battle were harsh. We were run out of town for a year, and the elf could take any possession of mine. He decided to take my breaching armor. (Fortunately, we had a spare suit of deathcut leather armor that could protect me.)

Caleb looked at us skeptically, as if trying to determine if we were really as experienced as we claimed to be. We told him about the pokeout that we had cleared out earlier. "Well," he said, "now that it's cleared out, someone could start a new mining operation there. That's worth something."

"I could take book, verify the place, then go back into town and sell the claim," he offered. "I'd need to convince everyone that you were staying, though. that would drive the price of the claim up. I could get maybe 1000 gp for the mine." Tiny, our insightful Dwarven Cleric, thought that Caleb would be able to get more.

Kale, our Human Mage, noted that the "blip" was probably us when we were fiddling with the symbol. This meant that we could use the scarab to hide book. This could be useful if we wanted to sit on a claim and didn't want anyone to notice.

We declined Caleb's offer. Tiny sensed that Caleb respected us for not giving book. Caleb believed that you should keep book to yourself.

We asked Caleb about the other cities and towns in this world. The big cities were far away from here. In those cities, people charge a lot for pokeouts. There are guilds in the cities. You need to pay to enter pokeouts, and most of the pokeouts have alredy been picked through.

People tend to pay more in smaller towns because they don't know what it's worth.

The Iron Wand

2010-02-10T23:00:00.000-08:00

Pistol

Military one-handed ranged weapon
Cost: -- gp
Damage: 1d8
Proficient: +2
Range: 15/30
Weight: 3 lb.

Properties:
Load 2 Minor (Ranged weapons that loose projectiles, including bows, crossbows, and slings, take some time to load. When a weapon shows “load free” on the ranged weapons table, that means you draw and load ammunition as a free action, effectively part of the action used to attack with the weapon. Any weapon that has the load property requires two hands to load, even if you can use only one hand to attack with it. (The sling, for example, is a one-handed weapon, but you need a free hand to load it.) The pistol is “load 2 minor,” which means it requires two minor actions to load shot and powder into the weapon. If a power allows you to hit multiple targets, the additional load time is accounted for in the power.).
Small (This property describes a two-handed or a versatile weapon that a Small character can use in the same way a Medium character can. A halfling can use a shortbow, for example, even though halflings can’t normally use two-handed weapons.).
High Crit (A high crit weapon deals more damage when you score a critical hit with it. A critical hit deals maximum weapon damage and an extra 1[W] at 1st–10th levels, an extra 2[W] at 11th–20th levels, and an extra 3[W] at 21st–30th levels. This extra damage is in addition to any critical damage the weapon supplies if it is a magic weapon.).

Brutal 1 (A brutal weapon’s minimum damage is higher than that of a normal weapon. When rolling the weapon’s damage, reroll any die that displays a value equal to or lower than the brutal value given for the weapon. Reroll the die until the value shown exceeds the weapon’s brutal value, and then use the new value.)

Misfire 1 (Roll d4: 1, explosion, burst 1 d8 damage; 2-4, fouled until rest)

Group:
Firearms

In Search of a Finder in the Town of the Sour Well

2010-02-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

From a distance, we could see the town. There were low buildings and a pokeout -- a reminder of the cataclysm that covered this world in lava rock.

At the town limits were narrow lookout towers, made of stone and wood. Two riders on lizard approached us. They wore floppy hats and badges to identify them as deputies. They did not seem hostile -- just curious.

"Are you going in to Sour Well?" one asked.

"The sheriff runs a tight ship," the other proclaimed. "No funny business."

We explained that we were merely travelers seeking shelter.

"Feel free to throw around your money," they advised, eying our clothes and equipment. It was clear that we were wealthy enough to afford some powerful armor and weapons.

The town was small (less than 100 inhabitants) but active. There was a mix of races -- Dragonborn, Halflings, Humans, Half-Elves, and Dwarves. Some walked together in groups. Perhaps these were parties such as our own. Not many had bows and arrows -- many had the iron wands that we saw earlier.

At the General Store, we bought working clothes, so that we would not stand out. Nearby, we found a maker of the iron wands. We purchased one with a bone handle, carved from a lizard. We also bought the magical powder (which made the wand work) and a couple hundred metal balls (which the iron wand shot into the air). We were pointed in the direction of an armorer in town who could enchant our weapons.

As we walked to the armorer, we passed by a pokeout. A guard was standing in front of the door to the pokeout.

"What is in there?" we asked.

"A spent pokeout," he explained. "It's been here as long as the town has been here. If you want, it could be arranged to get you entrance to tihs pokeout." We politely declined and continued on.

The armorer was a gruff dwarf who complained about our manner of speaking. "You talk funny," he remarked. We explained that we were not from around here.

We spoke a bit about making magical weapons. He knew of a ritual that would transfer the magical enchantment from one weapon to another. He agreed to take gold as payment, as long as he could verify that the gold was pure.

He also had heard of a tavern that was popular and that we might be interested in. We walked over there and asked the tavern owner if there was a room to rent. He replied that there was a room but that he'd have to kick out the current tenant.

The room cost 4 gp to stay, and we'd need food and drink. The water from the well tasted better now (perhaps the curse was over). The food would be more expensive, since it was created magically.

The tavern owner advised us to wait at a table while he cleared out the room for us. Nearby, two Finders were talking to each other about a blip yesterday. During this blip, something went away and came back.

Carlagnios, our Dragonborn Fighter, wanted to intimidate them to get some information. Firinne, our Half-Elven Paladin, suggested a diplomatic approach instead. She and Garg, our Half-Elven Warlord, asked the Finders about the "blip".

"You wouldn't know -- you're not a Finder," one of them replied.

Carlagnios decided to intimidate them but the Finders seemed unconvinced. "Why not just sit down with us and have a beer?" one asked.

During this time, Ryn, our Eladrin Warlock, noticed an elf standing by the door. The elf quickly left, and Ryn tried to follow him but lost the elf in the streets.

Back in the tavern, one of the Finders introduced himself as Caleb. We asked Caleb about life in these lands and about pokeouts. "You go out into the Waste and find things. Sometimes you find a good pokeout, and once in a while, you find a useful item in it. You want to get the book on it."

"You can last a short trip without a Feeder," he continued. "If you want to learn how to be a Feeder, you need to learn the right rituals."

He eyed us closely, as if trying to judge our worth. "Some folks just go out and come back, honky tonky. They're not serious about killing."

At that point, there was a yell from outside. It was the elf that Ryn had seen. The elf was yelling at us.

"Come out and meet justice! They killed Lyle!"

Melora, Defiled and Desecrated

2010-02-10T20:00:00.000-08:00

After traveling East for a long while, I saw something in the distance: a rod to the left of us (like the one we saw before) and a white platform to the right. As we grew closer, I saw debris between them -- perhaps the ruins of a destroyed camp.

When we reached the rod, we realized that it was not quite the same as the rod we had encountered earlier. This rod had a burning, red, magical glow. And throughout the destroyed camp, we found bodies that had been dead for months.

The white platform looked like it was alabaster. There was a post about 30 feet above the ground and a stairway winding up. At the base of the platform was a shaft, where the mine started.

Tiny (our Dwarven Cleric) and Bran (our Halfing Rogue) climbed up the stairs and found themselves in an observation tower with filigreed benches. Tiny tried hitting things with Loom, which just ricocheted off.

Kale (our Human Mage) and the rest of the party followed. Standing on the platform, we felt a warm wind blowing. In the distance, we could see a thin post that marked part of the town.

We returned down to the base of the platform and examined the shaft. There were handholds along the shaft, going down into the mine. We dropped a torch and watched it fall some 70 feet before reaching the mine floor. We decided to make our way down there.

At the bottom, we found a narrow passageway that we followed. The passageway skirted around a petrified tree. Past the tree, we continued onward and found ourselves walking around a buried house that was filled with stone. In this world, there seems to be a whole history and civilization buried beneath the ground, and only a few traces of their existence "poke out" into the surface.

We followed the passageway as it worked itself around more trees and structures. We finally ended up before a set of double doors. Around the doors were the remains of some diggings. It was almost as though the miners never finished their work here. Perhaps something had interrupted them.

Carlagnios, our Dragonborn Fighter, had no patience for these theories. He kicked the doors down. Inside, we found a large room with an altar along the opposite wall. As we approached, we realized to our horror that this was an altar to Melora -- an altar that had been defiled and desecrated.

(Our party did not find consensus on whether the altar was defiled, desecreated, or both. We spent quite some time debating this point until Carlagnios threatened to come down on us with a rain of steel.)

The decorative floor, which once portrayed an idyllic forest scene, was now badly chipped. Firinne, our Half-Elven Paladin, was greatly angered by the state of the altar, and we started to fix the damage.

But we were interrupted by an attack by a group of monstrous creatures that looked like demonic gorillas, crabs, and insects.

Firinne managed to strike down the first demon with her blade. Kale put another to sleep, and Bran finished him off quickly. Kale killed another, and Carl and Tiny struck down yet one more. The demons began to despair -- one of the gorilla demons even began to sing in Abyssal.

Although we had taken much damage, Firinne called upon the power of Melora and strengthed our bodies. Tiny protected us with a powerful shield. Through the strategies of Garg, our Half-Elven Warlord, and the nightmares and blows of our Eladrin Warlock Ryn, we were able to destroy these demons.

We finished cleaning up the altar and noticed a small wite disk built into the wall. It was a small symbol, which looked like a pictogram of something.


  ^
 / \    |----
/ | \   |
/  |  \  |----
|  |  |     |
|     |___  |

It was similar to things we saw in the book we found on one of the elves that ambushed us earlier.

Kale attached the scarab to the disk as a test. The scarab stuck to the disk, but nothing else happened. Kale took a rubbing of the symbol for future reference.

Garg found a nearby treasure cache in a small room. The bodies of Dwarven miners were scattered about the room. Perhaps this was where they made their last stand.

In the room, we found a great axe and a hand axe. Kale discovered that both of them were magical, so we gave them to Carlagnios and Firinne. Kale surmised that these might have been Suri's weapons. We also found some gold and a large gem.

There was nothing else to be found in the mines, so we made our way back to the surface and continued our trek to the East. As the afternoon wore on, the clouds began to clear, and we saw a bright patch of light in the sky. Perhaps there was some hope for the desolate world after all.

That night, we made camp, and slept well to regain our energy. The next morning, we continued on and finally reached the town of Sour Well.

The Necessity of a Finder, a Feeder, and Some Goons

2010-02-10T18:00:00.000-08:00

Tiny, our Dwarven cleric, looked to the sky and noticed a vulture drake and its rider high above us. It was joined by another vulture that came out of a cloud. It was possible that they saw us, but they gave no indication and continued to head away.

We decided to follow the trail to the southwest. After a time, it started to rain. (As if the skies in this world were not dreary enough!) We found ourselves before a gully, where there were more broken boulders everywhere. We continued through the gully until dusk was upon us and it began to get dark.

Tiny stopped us and whispered that he heard a person behind a rock ahead of us. As he spoke, a half-elf, clad in leather armor, jumped out from behind that rock. The half-elf pointed an iron wand at us and asked, "Do you aim to fight?"

We diplomatically declined, and he said, "So everyone is copacetic, then?" He pointed to the sky as he approached us. "I've been seeing a lot of 'sky rats' today."

"Sky rats?" He must have been referring to the vulture drakes.

"Yes, sky rats. So many of them have been flying around that I think they might come back to attack us tonight. They prey on small groups. I wish there were some other groups of folks that we could stay with, so we could be safer."

He tilted his head and peered at us closely. "Say... you wouldn't mind camping together and sharing book, would you?"

"Book?" Then, we remembered that we still held the halfling's journal. "Yes, we could do that."

The half-elf smiled. "My name is Thacker." He motioned toward the rocks, and his comrades revealed themselves. There were three tough-looking men, who Thacker introduced as "Dun, Cal, and Pisspot." And there was one nervous and fretful person -- he looked like he was their Mage. "And this is Sikes."

Tiny eyed them with suspicion. He thought we could trust Thacker -- who seemed to be the boss of the group -- but not the others.

We made a campfire and set up our bedrolls, in preparation of sleep. Kale, our Human Wizard, explained to Thacker that we were in a "ruined pokeout" and that we were travelers from far away.

Thacker scowled. "You don't know how to share book. And you just don't go out into the Waste book blind! When you come out into the Waste, you come out with a Finder. A Finder has a book."

"Where is your book?"

Thacker glared back. "I'm not going to tell you where my book is!"

"Anyway," Thacker continued, "When you go out into the Waste, you always have a Finder, a Feeder, and some Goons. I'm the Finder."

We surmised that the Goons were Dun, Cal, and Pisspot. But the Feeder?

"Sikes is our Feeder," Thacker explained. "A Feeder makes the food. How? Magic."

We talked a little more to Thacker about who he was and where he came from. He was born and raised here, and he lived here all of his life.

He seemed very familiar with the area, so we asked him for directions. He knew of a camp where we could stay and "play some dice". But he wanted something in exchange for the directions. (Tiny thought that Thacker might be getting the better end of the bargain, but it was not an outrageous trade.)

Kale offered the location of the "pokeout" that we encountered. He told Thacker about the "moron" (the animata) that we found there, and how these were "squatters" (morons who could squat). I remembered how they tried to "squat" in our bodies and make us attack each other.

Kale also showed the symbols to Thacker, who examined them but would not explain them to us. "Finders aren't going to explain these things to you."

Thacker went on to give us the directions. "Go due east for two days. At that point, you'll see something -- a guidepost and a pokeout. Steer around these."

"Why? Are there more morons there?"

"No, not morons. I don't know what's inside, but it's bad. Suri and Tem had a mining operation there. They broke through into something bad. Their camp was burned down, and no one ever saw them again. For time to time, people go out to check and see if they can find them, but those people never come back again."

It sounded like an interesting area to explore, but we kept it to ourselves.

"Past that," continued Thacker, "you'll find the town of Sour Well."

"Sour Well?"

"Yes, there's a well in the middle of town, and the water from that well tastes like crap!"

"What about the 'Sky Rats'?"

"Don't worry -- they'll mostly leave you alone."

With that, we all prepared for bed. Thacker walked over to the boulders and stepped behind a large rock. Dun joked that Thacker was "playing with his rod," and Pisspot broke out laughing.

We were curious about what Thacker was doing, so Ryn (our Eladrin Warlock) decided to make a diversion. Bran, our Halfling Rogue snuck past the Goons and made his way to the rocks.

It was dark, and Bran could hardly see in front of him. But he could hear Thacker mumbling in some sort of ritual.

He snuck back and reported his findings. Before we went to bed, we talked with Sikes, who was working out a watch schedule.

"Sikes, could you teach us how to make food?"

"Why would I do that? If everyone knew that, no one would need my services."

"We know how to raise the dead. We could teach you that ritual. You could even try it out."

Sikes stared at us. "I don't want to do THAT. What are you, dense or something?"

And with that, we went to sleep.

The next morning, we parted ways with Thacker and his men. "I'm glad I'm not going back to Sour Well," he confided with us.

We followed his directions and headed due east, in search of the town with the water that tasted like crap.

Ambushed by the Riders

2010-01-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

As we continued toward the northwest, the ground become more hilly. We reached a point where the land was broken. In the middle was a path cut into the earth. On either side were rock walls and ascending hills.

Along the path, there were tracks. We examined the tracks and realized that they were made by giant lizards, like the one we found back at the building (the corpse that had been gnawed apart by vulture drakes).

As we paused, a figure emerged from the hill on our left side. It was an elf with a broad leather hat. He held an iron wand of sorts in his hand and pointed it at us.

Suddenly, there was the sound of thunder and smoke rose out of the wand. Another elf appeared next two him, and two humans emerged from the same area and raced down the hill to attack us.

The humans and elves were all quicker than we were. They struck at us twice for each blow we could strike at them. One of the humans reached us at the path and began to attack Garg, our Half-Elven Warlord. Together, Garg, Firinne, our Half-Elven Paladin, Bran, our Halfling Rogue, and Tiny, our Dwarven Cleric, were able to surround him and fight back. The human was badly damaged from our blows and ran back up the hillside.

Bran raced up the hillside toward one of the elves and began his attack. Both elves began to strike quickly back at him, pointing their iron wands and making thunderous explosions. Bran took the brunt of their attacks.

Kale, our Human Wizard, cautioned us to seek cover along the wall beside the path. He advised us to make our way further down the path, where we could climb up the wall and attack the human and elves from a distance.

As we did so, the humans and elves quickly retreated up the hill, freeing up Bran from the attacks.

We followed them up the hill and saw them on the other side, mounting giant lizards and riding away.

I was able to finally dispatch the badly wounded human with a strike powerful enough to trap a bear. His riding lizard followed the rest of the pack, and the human's body fell off his steed. The body dragged around after the lizard for a while before finally getting untangled from the reins and coming to a rest.

We caught up with the body and found that he had a leather rucksack. In the sack was a bag of gold powder and a book. The book seemed to be a journal. Tiny noted that the words seemed to be encoded in some sort of personal code.

The human's body also held a net and a dagger. Bran claimed these and the hat.

As Tiny tended to Bran's wounds, we noticed that there were metal balls embedded in his wounds. Kale surmised that perhaps these were projectiles from those iron wands. This Siege World is truly a place of strange devices and bizarre magics.

The Mysterious Marker

2010-01-28T17:00:00.000-08:00

After we awoke from a long-needed rest, we went upstairs and walked through the hole in the building (where we had battled the vulture drakes earlier).

We had no idea where to find the Centenarch. We watched the sun rise and pass overhead in order to get some sense of direction. I tried to examine the earth and the landscape around us to determine if I could find any sort of tracks, but I failed miserably. (I had not slept very fitfully last night for some reason.)

Tiny, our Dwarven Cleric, summoned the Hand of Fate, so that we could get some advice about where to go. The hand led us toward the northwest.

As we followed along in that direction, the ground became rockier, and the rocks were covered by an anemic lichen. We continued our trek to the northwest.

After another hour, we came upon an iron rod to the left of us. The rod was sticking up from the ground and seemed to light up under the grey sky (like a red everlasting torch).

Tiny noticed that on the side facing the house, the rod was flattened in the middle and had symbols etched on the flattened surface:

^
x
|

Kale, our Human Wizard, noticed that the rod was surrounded by an aura of magic. The aura extended only as far as the glow. He copied down the symbols for future reference.

Digging a bit under the rod, we found that the rod was just stuck into the ground -- there was no underlying structure or foundation that the rod was connected to.

We decided to continue to the northwest, in the hopes of somehow finding our way to the Centenarch...

Rust Monster Farming

2010-01-28T16:02:00.000-08:00

[Aelar sleeps and dreams. In his dreams, the events of the past few days seep into his mind and invade his thoughts. He finds himself in a town square, where a few street merchants are selling their wares and services. An older merchant takes the stage at the center of the square and begins to speak ... ]

Merchant: In these times of strife, we often see "adventurers" stopping by our towns and villages as they make their way to explore some ruins or caverns. We all know what it means when they talk into our lives: trouble. We see the path of death and destruction that they leave behind them.

(Villagers whisper to each other and nod their heads in agreement.)

Merchant: Or at least, that's what most of us see. But not me. Would you like to know what I see?

(Puzzled looks throughout the crowd)

Merchant: Opportunity.

(Crowd starts to take an interest)

Merchant: Yes, we can get back much more than they've destroyed through battles in our villages, bars, inns, and homes. And it's all thanks to my friend Rusty here.

(Points to a rust monster, restrained in a makeshift wooden cage)

Merchant: Rusty and I are here today to introduce you to the Exciting World of Rust Monster Farming!!!

(Murmuring throughout the crowd)

Merchant (holding up book): Thanks to this book retrieved from the Siege World -- "The Secrets of Rust Monster Farming" -- you too can benefit from owning and breeding these fine creatures.

Rusty (woefully): Mrrwahhhhhhhh!!

(Merchant picks up a stick and pokes at Rusty several times)

Merchant (to Rusty): Quiet, you! Here. (throws Rusty some bolts)

Rusty (chewing): Nam-nam-nam-nam-nam--

Merchant (turning back to the crowd): So what opportunities do we have with these "adventurers"? Simple -- in four words: "Madjek Ree Zid You Em!"

(Crowd exchanges puzzled looks)

Merchant: See, often, during their explorations, they find magical items of little or no use to them. We offer to take these items, feed them to our rust monsters, and have them regurgitate this Madjek Ree Zid You Em back out.

And we'll do this for a fee -- a thousand gold pieces. Adventurers would be more than willing to pay this price! They normally get only a fifth of what a magical item is worth, if they were to sell the item.

(Nods of understanding in the crowd)

Merchant: But don't take my word for it. Why don't you listen to some of these satisfied Rust Monster Owners and Breeders?

(A middle-aged man walks up on the stage. The merchant introduces him as a former innkeeper.)

Former Innkeeper: Hi. I used to run an inn in a town not far from here. Then, one day, I rented some rooms to a party of adventurers who came into town. The next thing I knew, some assassins burnt down my inn in an attempt to kill the adventurers, and the assassins started shooting arrows at everyone from the building across the street.

I was left with nothing and also had some arrows stuck in my leg.

(Many in the crowd shake their heads.)

Former Innkeeper: I thought that all was lost until I learned the joys of Rust Monster Farming.

Why, just the other day, an adventurer came into town complaining about the bow that he had found during a campaign. Apparently, it could only shoot powerful arrows if he was underwater in a chariot after dark while adjacent to two enemies and critically wounded a third one that was a larger creature.

I was able to convert that bow into "Madjek Ree Zid You Em" that he could use to create a better bow. And he gave me fifteen hundred gold pieces for my services!

(Gasps of astonishment in the crowd.)

Merchant: Thank you for your story. Let's talk with another man who used to tend a bar along the Salt Coast.

(Another middle-aged man walks up on stage)

Former Bartender: Hi. I used to tend a bar in a small quiet village. Although the Owl's men had terrorized most of the larger cities, they had left our village alone, save for a few scouts.

(Nods of acknowledgment from the crowd, many of whom have firsthand experience will oppression under the Owl)

Former Bartender: Then one day a group of travelers came to my bar and wanted to kill the Owl's men. I tried to dissuade them but they were insistent and ended up killing the group of scouts.

The Owl later put our village under marshal law and taxed me into bankruptcy.

("Curse those travelers!" someone in the crowd shouts.)

Former Bartender: I thought I would never recover from this. But then I was introduced to the Exciting World of Rust Monster Farming. Now, when I see adventurers approach, I greet them happily with the knowledge that they will end up paying me more in gold than I could ever have hoped to earn at the bar!

Yesterday, I made two thousand gold pieces by converting a sword that could only make its wielder move 5 feet if it was used to make the killing blow against an undead creature that had the initiative to strike first in the battle.

(Cheers from the crowd.)

Merchant: Thank you, thank you. We have one more story to tell. The sad story of a guide.

(A pale man shambles up the stairs. Flies surround him, and the merchant covers his nose from the stench.)

Former Guide: Hello... I was once a guide... who worked for the Mad Mage... My only companions were his gnolls... One day, I led a group of heroes to the Mad Mage's lair... I was only going to kill them... I couldn't help it... I was compelled to...

But then they discovered my plans... attacked me... tied me up... and then, while I was tied up... they stabbed me and they killed me...

(Gasps from the crowd.)

Former Guide: The gnolls found my body... and... bless their hearts... They brought me back to life...

But... I think they used the wrong spell or ritual... Because I really don't feel that well... and I have this ... growing hunger ... for... braaaaaaiiiiiins....

(Former Guide's ear detaches and falls to the ground.)

Former Guide: I thought my days as a ladies man was over... and then I discovered the wonders of Rust Monster Farming...

Now I am rich and popular...

(Former Guide's nose detaches and falls off.)

Former Guide: Rust Monster Farming has proven quite lucrative to me... I am seeking to expand my tiny shop... I am looking for the best and the brightest...

(Former Guide's jaw starts to unlock.)

Former Guide: ... braaaaaaaiiiins to eat... ...braaaaaiiiins... ...braaaaaaiiins...

(Former Guide's jaw falls to the ground.)

Former Guide: Rahhh rahh rahh rahhh rahh... Rahhh rahh rah rahhh rahh--

Merchant: Yes, yes, thank you, thank you. (pushes the Former Guide offstage)

Former Bartender (muttering to himself): Hmm, maybe I should have kept that sword.

Merchant: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your time today. I'll be here for the rest of the week.

I hope you'll take some time to meet with me and join the RMOBA: the Rust Monster Owners and Breeders Association.

(Crowd applauds)

Merchant: Just imagine the joy of waking up every morning to Rust Monsters!

Rusty: Mrwahhhh! Mrwahhhhh! Mrwahhhhhh!

Merchant (poking his stick at Rusty): Will you shut up?!? Damned Rust Monster.

A Voice from the Past, Trapped in the Chiime of Echoes

2010-01-28T15:40:00.000-08:00

As Kale activated the Chime of Echoes, we heard this voice:

Dear One,

I was cataloging the lower guild library for Harrath-Anic this past month. While there I discovered a false wall, and behind, a recess. Therein I found two volumes of forbidden Illusionist esoterica, hitherto unknown. To say the words therein is certain punishment at the hands of the executors, but I believe I have built an invocation of power which will afford me protection. I will say the words this evening. In case I am wrong, I leave this message, with instructions to my aide to see that it reaches your hands. I have taken care to hide the books where they will not be found, save by you.

The Chime of Echoes and a Place to Rest

2010-01-28T15:35:00.000-08:00

Tiny, our Dwarven Cleric, slowly made this way through the hallway, carefully checking for some sort of hidden entrance to the section of the building that we could not explore. One thing we had learned in our early adventures was that Tiny was exceptionally perceptive and insightful. He could notice details and subtle clues that the rest of us ignored too easily.

Eventually, Tiny found a latch that opened a hidden door to this mysterious section. Behind the door was a sealed bedroom, one that was much more formal than the other rooms in the building. The room was filled with knickknacks (which Bran, our Halfling Rogue, proceeded to gather).

On the desk was a tray, and on the tray was a strange chime. Kale, our Human Mage, examined the chime carefully and told us that it was a Chime of Echoes. This odd device had the ability to capture sounds that were spoken around it and repeat those sounds when activated. This chime had captured something earlier, and Kale fiddled with the device to get sounds to repeat.

The chime made a droning ring, and someone started speaking in old war language. The voice spoke of cataloguing the library and of finding books that would provide protection from the executors. Perhaps these were the destroyed books that we had discovered earlier. If this was true, we did not have the proper protection against the executors. What would happen if we were to encounter one of them?

Kale kept the chime, and we decided to take the residuum that we recovered from the Rust Monsters and the Halfling corpse and enchant our weapons and armor. For Garg, we made a Curseforged Armor; for Bran, a Duelist's Rapier (to replace his eaten one); and for Tiny, a Summoned Armor. We needed every advantage we could get in this hostile world -- we had no idea what we would be up against.

The hidden bedroom seemed to be the ideal place to sleep for the night. There, we rested, as the thoughts of this Siege World, the animata, the Rust Monsters, and the Centenarch swirled through our minds.

A Ritual for Summoning Servitor Animata

2010-01-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

Summon Servitor Animata

A hazy light solidifies before you into a vaguely man-like form. At your behest, it begins to search the bodies of the fallen Orc patrol.

Component Cost: 150 gp
Market Price: 360 gp
Key Skill: Arcana (no check)Level: 6
Category: Creation
Time: 1 hour
Duration: Permanent

You summon a Servitor Animata (see below) with the ability to move under its own power and an understanding of one language of your choice. It has speed 6 and Strength 16, never tires, and obeys you at all times. The servitor is a noncombatant. When forced onto an active battlefield, treat the servitor as an allied minion (1 hit point, never damaged on a missed attack) with all defenses of 11. It acts just after you do and never makes attacks. You cannot have more than one servitor at a time from different performances of this ritual. If you attempt to create a second servitor, that ritual fails without component expenditure.

The Circle of Bones

2010-01-28T15:11:00.000-08:00

As we approached closer to the circle of bones, we are attacked by two governing animata, who summoned a number of other animata to fight us. The minions quickly swarmed us and we found ourselves battling enemies before us and behind us.

The fight was a test of our endurance. Our blows kept passing through the animata, wasting our strength and energies. Kale, our Human Mage, was able to cast a cloud of toxin that he made lethal to the animata. (Normally, these creatures of magic could not be affected by natural poisons, but Kale changed the poison into a necrotic cloud that could kill these monsters.)

Each time we slew a minion, one of the governing animata summoned it back. Bran, our Halfling Rogue, found himself surrounded at one point and battered by these creatures until he was near death. Tiny, our Dwarven Cleric, was able to save him, and Bran came back to strike down one of the governing animata with a fatal sneak attack. Firinne, our Half-Elven Paladin, battled the other govering animata and its minions. Under the tactical presence of our Half-Elven Warlord Garg, we were able to defeat the second governing animata. Once both of these creatures were gone, we quickly dispatched the rest of their minions.

We took a closer look at the pile of bones, and Kale noted that the bones were in a summoning circle of sorts. The bones that had been collected there were from creatures of varying races and origins. Some bones were much older than others (the newest of which had been there for a few weeks).

We explored the room further and only found a bookery containing several destroyed books. We did discover a ritual for summoning a servitor animata. Perhaps this could be useful in the future. We also found a suit of magical Elven battle armor, which Tiny agreed to size for Bran.

It seemed at this point, that we had made our way through the entire building, although there was one mysterious section of the map that we could not explore. No door or passageway provided entrance to that area. Perhaps Tiny could examine the hallway more carefully and find a way in.

Some Answers, More Questions, and a Curious Pile of Bones

2010-01-15T21:08:00.000-08:00

Honorable Priestess of Melora,

After defending ourselves against the guardians, we continued our exploration of the building. Near the room with the guardians, we found a room containing cooking utensils, a dining room, and a room with a carpet and bench.

We also found an entrance to the building. Outside the entrance were a number of pillars, covered in lava. There, we found some words and arcane markings that Kale interpreted.

"This building is sealed by the order of the judges."

The arcane markings were oriented around the building and formed a protective force -- a barrier to keep people out. The lava rock around the pillars had been there some time and had cooled.

We went back into the building and decided to explore a staircase that led downward. We found a wine cellar beneath it. The cellar was full of casks, and we discovered a chest that contained a golden goblet (a beautiful item that could fetch perhaps 50 gold pieces).

At the end of the wine cellar was a pair of double doors. We opened the doors and found our way into a large round room that had a pile of bones in the center.

As we approached the bones to investigate this, we had an ominous feeling that something was about to happen ...

Excerpts from the Journal of a Halfling, Deceased

2010-01-15T20:30:00.000-08:00

...ran along the outside of the wall til we found him. Made okay trades and got enough grit for a good hunt. Shared some book. Won at dice from some guilders and slept in a real bed. Finder got us two more goons, a human and a half-orc. They're plenty strong, but not sure how they'll handle the Waste.

Finder and Asshole gave me dawn watch and I'm beat. Bagged two morons today and think we've got a scent. Found a poke-out, but it was posted with...

Finder is pissed at me for stabbing him. He'd probably square off if I wasn't the one feeds him. Lover-f*cking hypocrite. Like he wouldn't slit my throat if shoes were switched. And probably whistles while he does it. That's what you do with a squatter, and if he won't admit it, devil take him. I never seen Finder smile before that squatter got him, creeped me out. He blew Asshole's head off, clean across the room. The morons backed me up and Finder and all. I cooked their shit and then lit Finder up like a fire vent. And now his pride is bothering him cause of some singed eyebrows. Vainful wretch.

We're so far out of book. Finder says we ain't gonna die, but with one goon down and the other two virgins... f*ck me. He aims to follow the morons back to mamma, which is how we met them squatters and lost Asshole.

We've found a poke-out here, at last, and we'll all just rest a bit. Get calm and settled before we go on in.

Bright Red Tapestries, Dominating Will (An Animata's Thoughts in Battle)

2010-01-15T20:20:00.000-08:00

Flesh is weak. The physical form is imperfect. It is but a tool for us to control.

We are power. We control the physical form. We decide what the form should do.

I have moved one of these feeble creatures into this pit, where it will die. My brother has moved another one here as well.

These creatures of flesh are no match for our powerful will, our magnificent strength. They cannot resist. They have no choice but to --

Flesh.

Excuse me?

Flesh is weak.

Hello? What are you doing here? Get out of me!

The physical form has no will, no strength, no power.

What are you talking about? I have no physical form. Now stop dominating me and get out of here!

You are simply a tool. A tool for our own purposes.

No I am not! Are you even listening to me? Hello?!!!

You will rise up out of the pit. You will rise out now.

I most certainly will not. They've surrounded the pit and are going to attack me when I get out.

You cannot resist. I am will. You are flesh.

No, I am will! You are thick-headed. Hello?!! Do you even know who you are possessing???

You will rise up now. You have no choice.

Oh yes I do have a choice. I am not going to poke my form out of this pit just to get hammered on by those creatures.

Oh come on. Don't be such a baby. YOU WILL OBEY!!!

Urrrrghhhh -- alright. BUT -- you -- will -- PAY -- for -- making -- me -- do -- this -- !!! If -- they -- don't -- kill -- me -- first -- !!!

Oh please. Stop whining.

They're not going to kill you. These are lesser creatures that aren't capable of harming any of us.

See, they're trying but all they can do is --

THWACK!!! WHOCK!!! BAM!!! CRASH!!!

Kkkgggkkhhhhh...

Oops.

Uh, sorry, I guess I was wrong about that.

...ghkghhshhhhhsssssss... *

Well, at least I'm out of your form now, right?

...

Um, OK, alrighty then. I think I'll go back into the tapestry over there ...

...

(whistles nonchalantly while floating away)

Bright Red Tapestries, Dominating Will (Aelar's Thoughts in Battle)

2010-01-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

We are continuing to explore this strange building in the Siege World in hopes of finding our way to the Centenarch.

As we make our way through, we find another large room, shaped like a cross. On the walls of this room are red tapestries, covered in markings. Kale, our Human Mage, is studying them closely. "There are indicators woven into the tapestry," he warns.

Suddenly, the tapestries begin to pulse, and glowing shapes began to emerge. The shapes are hauntingly familiar. We had seen this before when we battled the bear that was possessed. These shapes -- animata -- could take hold and control other living creatures.

"These are the guardians of the room," Kale shouts, "and they intended to punish us for our intrusion!"

Quickly, I draw my bow and fire an arrow at one of them. The arrow passes through the shape without doing it any harm.

Another shape shoots forward and dives into Bran, our Halfling Rogue. I come to the realization that he is no longer Bran -- the animata is in control of him. Bran's body stumbles across the floor and the floor suddenly shifts open. Bran's body tumbles into a deep pit. I can barely make out another body in the pit, perhaps that of a recent and unfortunate explorer.

One by one, the shapes leap toward each member of our party: Tiny, our Dwarven Cleric; Firinne, our Half-Elven Paladin; Ryn, our Eladrin Warlock; Kale, our Human Mage; Garg, our Half-Elven Warlock. (Where is Carlangnios, our Dragonborn Fighter?) Some of us get possessed and turn on each other; some of us successfully fight off the creatures.

Kale is taken by one of the shapes and is made to walk into the pit with Bran. Other members are attacking each other. I must help. I must -- that shape is approaching me! I can't --

Flesh. Flesh is weak. The physical form has no will, no strength, no power. It is only useful as a tool -- a tool to be used by us.

They have intruded. They will pay. Shoot them. Shoot them all. They must be punished.

-- I shot at them. I shot at our party! But I thankfully missed badly. I cannot let them control me again.

Tiny is possessed. He cannot shake these creatures out of him. But Loom -- his hammer -- has just spun around sideways and struck one of these shapes. How is that possible?

We must stop these creatures. What they cannot possess, they lash out at with a shock. I'm feeling the pain of the last shock as another one approaches me to --

You must obey. You are flesh. I am will. You cannot resist. Shoot them. Shoot them all.

-- I hit someone! No. I must not fall prey again. Bran is crawling out of the pit. Kale is crawling out as well. Clever! Kale has switched the possession from Bran to another one of these creatures. One shape now possesses another shape. As it rises out of the pit, we strike it down. Ryn kills one shape. Bran will two. We manage to destroy the rest of the shapes.

There is smoke in the air. The tapestries are smoking. Kale stares closely at them. "The magical aura -- it's gone."

We go back to the pit and check the corpse of the halfling that Bran found. The corpse wears a leather bag -- a satchel. We open it to find a book (the halfling's journal) and some magical residue. It seems as though this halfling was some sort of ritualist. He has been dead for 2 weeks. He'd taken some wounds before he fell in here.

Perhaps this was one of the members who set up camp in the other room. Perhaps this was the rider of the giant lizard we found.

This building still holds too many questions. We need to find the answers soon ...

Dull Grey, Approaching Dawn

2010-01-15T17:02:00.000-08:00

Honorable Priestess of Melora,

The Lost Soul has been freed, but we now find ourselves trapped in the Siege World -- with no rope to lead us back to our world. We have been transported into a room with no roof and only dull grey skies above us.

The Lost Soul's chair now sits empty. We used the chair to climb to the top of the wall to see what lies outside this building. There is nothing but a vast expanse of grey -- a wasteland that stretches out as far as the eye can see.

We were tired and weakened after our battle with the Lost Soul, and we are in desperate need of an extended rest. However, we did not know if other creatures roamed this building, and we didn't want our rest to be interrupted by an attack that we could not fend off.

We decided to explore more of the building -- at least enough for us to find a safer spot to rest. There was a door across the room from the chair. Bran, our Halfling Rogue, led the way through to a wider room. On the left and right walls of the room were destroyed tapestries. Ahead of us was darkness and the ominous sound of a howling wind.

We explored more of the room and found alcoves on both the left and right sides. These seemed to seemed to be safe enough pockets where we could rest for the night. Kale, our Human Mage, also found a statue of a duck in the far left corner of the room. He put the snake around its neck as a test of sorts -- but nothing happened.

We decided to take our rest, and Ryn, our Eladrin Warlock, stood watch for us. During the night, at some point, we heard rustling and scratching noises from the roof, almost as though large rodents were scurrying around. But nothing came down to attack us, and the night passed uneventfully.

As dawn approached, the sky remained grey but grew brighter. We could not see the sun.

We moved forward and found ourselves in a large room at the end of the building. To our left was a cooled lava flow. The wall next to it had been destroyed, leaving the building open to the grey wasteland beyond. We followed a hallway on the left side that led us through the left side of the building. We discovered a room with beds and another room with cooking kettles. It looked like a camp that had been abandoned -- perhaps 2 weeks ago. The outside walls of these rooms were destroyed and we could see the grey world outside.

Something caught our eye outside one of the rooms. We walked out of the building and discovered the corpse of a giant lizard. It had been used for riding and had a leash that was staked to the ground.

Something had been chewing on this corpse -- something much bigger than the lizard. We soon discovered that the teethmarks belonged to giant vulture drakes, which surprised us and swooped down to attack.

They snapped at us with their beaks and tore at us with their claws. When we fought back, they released terrifying shrieks that struck fear into our hearts. We were somehow able to compose ourselves and battle off these scavengers. Kale kept a beak as a souvenir.

After the fight, we went back and explored the right side of the building. The rooms were intact but empty. Oddly, there was one part of the building that was walled off. We could not find any doorway or entrance. When we climbed up on the roof, we could not find any entrance from above.

What was this place? Why was it destroyed? And who lived here? We could hope to find the answers by continuing our exploration of this building...

The Lost Soul

2009-12-05T00:07:00.000-08:00

Honorable Priestess,

Now we come to a most disturbing part of our journey.

As we followed the rope, the walls of the cavern gradually became the walls of a manor. There were tapestries of harvests on these walls.

Up ahead, we heard scratching and scurrying on the floor. In moments, the floor was swarming with rats. Ryn remarked that it felt like we were walking near to the land of the dead.

The rope led into a square room, in which we found more decay. At the opposite end of the room was a dais. On the dais was a chair, placed as though it were the seat of a magistrate. On that seat was a corpse. And leading into the chest of the corpse was the rope that we were following.

As we walked closer, the corpse suddenly leapt to its feet and severed the rope -- cutting off our only way to return home! This corpse -- the Lost Soul -- began to attack us. I choked as the corpse summoned a huge rat from inside my mouth. The rat leapt out and attacked me.

The Lost Soul was powerful, but Firinne was able to use her divine powers to make us stronger in our battle. We were finally able to defeat the Lost Soul when Garg commanded Bran to strike the creature, and Bran made a dead-perfect stab that destroyed the monster.

As the Lost Soul finally died, we all saw a vision of the soul leaving its body. It was as though the soul was trapped between worlds. We all felt this soul eminate a feeling of deep relief and a sense of gratitude for being freed.

We then had another vision of the Lost Soul before his body had died. He was a man, hiding a room in the cellar beneath where we stood. As he hid, the door opened, and a shadowy figure appeared.

The Lost Soul tried to cast a spell against the shadowy figure, but the figure flung a brass snake collar around the neck of the Lost Soul. As the shadowy figure approached, we started to recognize who he was -- Brother John.

Suddenly, everything became clear: The Lost Soul was captured by the Executors for committing a crime. He was taken to serve in the army. As he left, his wife and children were left behind, wailing for him. Eventually, the Lost Soul died before he could ever return to his family. He was killed by a disease from a rat.

The vision that we were seeing was "spoken" to us in Old War language. We realized that we were all now proficient in this language.

After the vision passed, we found ourselves in a room like this one but wihtout a roof. There was dust everywhere in the room.

We were now in the Siege world. And without the rope, we had no way -- and no hope -- of ever getting back home.

"Payment Has Been Made"

2009-12-04T23:52:00.000-08:00

Honorable Priestess,

We continued to follow the rope along some strange loops. Kale the Human Mage noted that the loops reminded him of the strange kinds of math that they did at Govor.

Eventually, we reached a point where the rope bended around the corner of a piece of rock. At that point, the rope followed the contours of the path fo the tunnel. The path bended upward to a set of steep stone stairs. We followed the stairs to a room with a familiar pile of stones in the center of a circle. The stairs led up to the center of this circle.

As we entered the room, the stones started sliding together, forming a crude semblance of creatures. The figure looked around outside the circle before realizing that we were in the circle.

"How did you get here?" the stone man asked us.

"We followed the rope."

"I see no rope," the stone man remarked. "You're going the wrong way."

"No, we're going to the Siege world."

"You want to go *to* the Siege world?" The creature stared at Garg. "You. You are the one. There must always be payment."

Garg stared back at the creature and replied, "I refuse to make payment. Payment has already been made."

The stone man scoffed. "Who paid?"

Garg stated his mother's name.

"Your mother will pay by giving her name and identity as passage," the stone man acknowleged. "The door is open. You may pass."

(We learned later that this was all part of Garg's prophecy. He would face the stone men once again, and they would ask for payment. He would refuse payment and say that payment was made.)

The stone man continued, "Some things you'll need on the other side. You'll find these things on your way there. Before you saw with the eyes of the refugee. This time, something different will happen."

And with that, the stone man allowed us to pass.

Swimming Through the Earth, Breathing the Dirt

2009-12-04T23:39:00.000-08:00

Honorable Priestess,

After we defeating the rust monsters, we continued on, following the rope. After going down a sloping grotto, we noticed that the walls became less substantial. Pushing against the walls felt like pushing through clay.

We finally reached a point at which the rope led straight into a wall. Tiny eagerly pressed against the wal and found it to be soft like clay. He pushed himself into the wall and found that he could breathe (but not speak or see).

We followed Tiny and blindly trudged ahead, using the rope to pull us forward. Eventually, we came out of the wall and into another low cavern. The cavern floor was flooded with water that came up to our legs.

There were columns lining the cavern and stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Tiny decided to taste the stalactites and discovered that this cavern once contained limestone. The limestone had dissolved to form the stalactites.

Something stirred in the watter, and four Gricks burst to the surface. Two Troglodytes emerged behind the columns and started to fire up on us.

Fortunately, our battle ended quickly. Kale's strong magic put three of the Gricks to sleep. Garg commanded Firinne to kill the remaining Grick. Once the Gricks were dead, we swiftly dealt with the Troglodytes.

The Smell of Decaying Metal

2009-12-04T23:29:00.000-08:00

Honorable Priestess,

We are following the rope to the Siege world. We headed past the forest, away from the sea, and followed the rope along many circles and curves. The journey has been long and we had to make camp, tying down the rope for the night.

The next morning, we continued to follow the rope until we hit a wall. The rope went through the wall. Fortunately, Kale the Human Mage and Tiny the Dwarven Cleric were able to cast a ritual to excavate our way through the wall. We followed the rope into a low cavern. The ceiling was so low that most of us (except for Tiny and Bran the Halfling Rogue) has to stoop down to get through.

We followed the rope into another room. This room was taller. There was an odd smell in the air, and the walls were dripping with a red fluid. Kale checked and discovered that the fluid was rusted iron.

At that moment, we were attacked by a group of rust monsters. They devoured Bran's Duelist Rapier, Tiny's Chain Mail, and Garg's Armor. Fortunately, we were able to defeat them and recovered the "residuom" of magic from these items.

Notes from Aelar's Journal (How to Kill an Immortal)

2009-11-04T22:38:00.000-08:00

Since we have met the Priestess of Melora and have learned things from her, the Mad Mage, and the 101, I have decided to capture some of this information in my journal. Much of this information, I do not understand. I have just written it down for posterity and hope that we can glean some knowledge from this in the future.

The Campaign made the Mad Mage who he is today. Half of who he is now is who he was before the Campaign. The other half is what he became during the Campaign.

Before the campaign, he was a braggart (he'd gloat). During the campaign, he did terrible things. These experiences killed part of the person he once was.

The Owl lost the Lens to the Lover of the Raven Queen. The Lens made him very strong.

The Raven Queen and her lover are estranged.

The Lover wouldn't let the Mad Mage die. This was an effect of the enchantment. It is like raising the dead.

We must go to the Centenarch. The Centenarch is the gathering place of the 100 -- this is where they met before they betrayed the Judges.

But there is a problem. The Centenarch is in the Siege world, and it is impossible to cross over to the Siege world. The path to the Siege world is complicated and is something that only Gods understand.

The 100 crossed over by using the Cthona before it was sealed. They did so without the lens shard. They heard voices telling them to do things -- dig, work out the complicated math algorithems, destroy, etc.

The 100 die and are reborn over and over again. To break the bond, you need to free Gamerat.

The Honorable Priestess of Melora was able to cross over to the Siege world with a combination of a prayer, divine help, and luck.

The one person who can go back to the Siege world is Garg. The Priestess was carrying him (right before his birth) when she went to the Siege world and returned.

The Priestess gave us something that would bring us to the Siege world and back. She reached into a bag and pulled out a rope. One end of the rope stretched out 3 feet ahead of us and ended in thin air. If we pulled ourselves along the rope (hand over hand), the rope would lead us to the Siege world. (The end of the rope was tied to something in the Siege world.)

The Priestess also told us that we need to learn the prayer of Melora to help guide us through.

The Priestess did not remember much about the Siege world. As part of crossing back to our world, she had to forget some things.

She did remember that time passed differently there. A short time in the Siege world ends up taking a long amount of time in our world. We should bring a good supply of food with us.

Along the way, we will encounter the Stone Men again. They are the guardians protecting the space between worlds.

Tiny seemed quite excited about going to the Siege world.

But what about the Mad Mage? The Priestess will keep him here and will attempt to heal his troubled mind with the salves of nature. (She will use a shoot from a beautiful plant to heal the Mad Mage's mind.)

The 101 was once a captive in the Siege world. He has been alive for 10,000 years and wants to end his immortality. We cannot use the box to communicate with him when we are in the Siege world. Only the Lens works between worlds.

The Mad Mage says that in order to kill an immoral (like the Owl), we need to bind him to our will (enslave him). We need to find someone who knows how to do this.

When the Mad Mage looked through the Lens, he saw the world differently. It made him think of different things.

The Priestess gave us 100 days of supplies and rations. We are headed to the Siege world and to the Centenarch.

What I Wanna Be When I Grown Up (Written by Dornal, an Elven Child in Aelar's Settlement)

2009-11-04T22:03:00.000-08:00

Today was real exciting. A bunch of peoples came from far away to visit our town. I never seen peoples like this before!

One people said he was Tiny. He was real friendly but kept tripping and falling down. I guess his armors were too heavy. Anyway, he had a hammer and it talked!!!

There was a girl with armors too. All of a sudden, she made the armors disappear into air!!! She looked a little like us but not the same.

There was a guy who looked kind of like Ms. Honory Priestess and he was called Garg. The others kept scolding him for stabbing people. I guess he stabs lots of people when he's not supposed to.

There was this other short guy who kept sneaking around. He was looking for things to take. I think he liked the armors girl.

One guy was really hard to see. He disappeared and showed up someplace else! He even made a poofing sound!!!

They had a magician there too. This squirrel kept following him and asking for more nuts. I guess the squirrel told him how to go here but he din't pay the squirrel enuff nuts. Then he made this stinky smelly puff on top the squirrel and the squirrel rans away screaming.

The neatest one was the dragon man. He was all scaly and had a tail even. He looked real grumpy. Everyone kept talking and talking and talking and I think dragon man got bored. Then he breathed fire and burnted some houses down. It was sooooo neat!!! When I grow up, I wanna be a dragon man.

The End.

Scouting Report from Hallis

2009-11-04T20:48:00.000-08:00

Tonight, during my patrol, I encountered a long lost friend, Aelar. He was leading a strange group of travelers. Among them were an inquisitive dwarven cleric, a shifty halfling, a shadowy and mysterious eladrin, a grumpy dragonborn, a human mage, two half-elves, and a sulking captive.

Aelar told me that these travelers were seeking the counsel of the High Priestess of Melora. He claimed that they had found us through the advice of a squirrel. Apparently, the human mage can speak with the animals here. (Preposterous!)

Aelar also claimed that their captive was the Mad Mage. (I doubt this was true, since a powerful figure such as the Mad Mage would hardly been seen wearing garish reptilian jewelry around his neck!) If indeed this was the Mad Mage, why did they not kill him? They said that they needed to learn something from him.

Against my advice, he insisted on bringing the entire group of strangers with him to our settlement. He claimed to trust them, but for the safety of our people, I cautioned him against making our settlement known to outsiders. This was especially a concern, since we had to move to our hidden ravine. I explained that I was dispatched on patrol to prevent outsiders from discovering the location of our people. However, he would not listen to reason and we ended up bringing the group with us.

When we entered our village, we were greeted by stares, as I had expected. There is a reason we keep our village hidden.

I had neglected to tell Aelar of our late leader's passing. Aelar had expected to see Lorandal again but was instead welcomed by Luthe, our new chief. Luthe and Aelar have had differences in the past, so the moment of their meeting was quite tense. Fortunately, Luthe agreed that they should see the High Priestess. The Priestess was at a retreat north of the village, performing the spring ritual (a religious ceremony).

Luthe asked Aelar if he was returning to stay for good, but Aelar said he had to complete this quest and wanted to continue to explore the outside world.

This is all I have to report for the moment. I had meant to record this earlier, but my pen and journal went missing. (This is what happens when you let strangers into your home! I suspect the halfling stole these from me.)

-- Hallis

The Inn on the Salt Coast

2009-10-25T22:43:00.000-07:00

Honorable Priestess of Melora,

When we last corresponded, we found an inn along the Salt Coast and decided to stay there for the night.

As we entered the inn, we heard music from a lute. Tiny raced over to the bar to get some apple juice. We noticed a group of armored men -- soldiers -- sitting in the corner.

The innkeeper stared intently at Carlagnios, as though he somehow knew our Dragonborn fighter. But he seemed glad that we had come in. He sat us down at a long table and brought us some hearty stew and flagons of beer, "on the house".

After we ate, he approached Carlagnios and asked, "Are you Carlagnios?" Carlagnios nodded and growled, "Do I know you? How do you know who I am?"

The innkeeper passed him a piece of paper. Carlagnios unrolled the scroll to reveal that it was a proclamation from the Orc King. "Wanted, Dead or Alive: Carlagnious. Reward: 10,000 pieces of gold." The poster explained that Carlagnious was wanted for the atrocities that he had committed.

It was a very curious situation: the poster had an incredibly detailed picture of Carlagnios. Even more puzzling was the amazingly detailed history of Carlagnios in the poster. The history included obscure facts (things we did not even know) about Carlagnios' childhood, where he trained, every city in which he lived, and so on.

The innkeeper seemed excited that Carlagnios was here. "Are you the Butcher of Popetu? The one who sank 100 ships, brought the Orc King to his knees, stormed the castle, and left the city in ruins?" Carlagnios nodded, and we asked the innkeeper if we could speak with him at greater length in a more private room.

After we moved to a back room, the innkeeper introduced himself as Gund. He explained that the armored men in the corner were causing many problems for him. The men were the Owl's Scouts. Gund complained that the men were just drinking all of his mead and harrassing his customers.

We asked Gund about the Owl and the state of the Fingers. He told us that the Owl took over Moran and the Fingers. In the Avery, however, the Usurper sill hold power. The Avery is in the Protectorate of Olen, which is keeping out of this war with the Owl.

Hoklithan, the city of Goverilli with the hanging castle, is rumored to be under attack (or will be under attack) by the Owl. Hoklithan is in Gibralter, which is right above Olen.

The Orc King has sent out scouts to look for Carlagnios. They just seek to monitor him (not attack).

The Witch King in the Chasm Lands has an army. He opposes the Usurper of the Avery.

We thanked Gund for the news of the lands and we asked him if he wanted us to kill the Owl's scouts. Gund encouraged us at first, but later changed his mind when he realized that the Owl might send more troops in retaliation. "Don't kill Ward (the Owl's scout)!"

We left the private room and decided to sit down and talk with Ward. Ward quickly recognized that Kale was from the Avery, based on Kale's accent. Ward explained that he came to the Salt Coast because the Owl needed someone here to be his eyes. He hasn't seen much action here (a recent attack by a wolf on a farmer, some travelers from Ortmage).

After we left Ward, we had some concern that Ward would notify the Owl of our presence here. So the next day, Kale paid a visit to Ward and his men, where Kale introduced them to his nifty "Cloud of Daggers" spell.

Elis, the Mad Mage, watched the daggers kill the Owl's Scouts and commented, "So, I see that you're not afraid to spill blood." Elis seems to be regaining more of his memories as the days pass. He noticed the iron snake around his neck and mentioned that it was one of the "tools of the executors". "They thought it would be more humane than killing. More humane to keep mages locked up like this, like animals. The judges used interesting rituals to determine who was guilty and who should be punished."

After Kale dealt with the Owl's Scouts, we searched their room and found some venomous gloves, which Kale took for future use.

Honorable Priestess, there is not much more to report beyond this. We left the inn and headed inland, past the Salt Coast. The Mad Mage noticed something about the ground on which we tread, and Garg confirmed that the ground was consecreated or descecrated by a "natural ritual". At that point, blood golems rose up to attack us, and Hylox joined them against us. They were powerful creatures who split into more creatures when we bloodied them. But we defeated them and killed Hylox.

Elis the Mad Mage noted that we should dig for the gold. When we dug into the ground, we found bones from a battle long ago and a decayed purse. The Mad Mage commented that "the Owl didn't win the last time, either." Very odd...

Until the next time, your honorable servant,

Aelar

Our Travels Along the Salt Coast

2009-10-25T22:15:00.000-07:00

Honorable Priestess of Melora,

My great apologies for this belated message to you. (I have, for some reason, several incomprehensible drafts of letters about a stranger on the beach. I cannot fathom why I wrote them.)

Since we last corresponded, we were transported from the city of the Mad Mage to the Salt Coast. We have captured the Mad Mage and restrained him with the snake collar -- the powerful artifact that prevents mages from casting spells.

We contacted the 101 and found that much has changed in the outside world. The Owl has taken over the Fingers. It is too dangerous to bring the Mad Mage back to Put. The 101 suggested that we consult you for advice, so I am leading the party toward the Temple of Melora. He warned us to avoid the Agents of the Owl along the way.

We travel with Elis the Mad Mage (chained behind Carlagnios, the Dragonborn), a mathematician (Burrus, who is seeking a way back to civilization), and a prisoner (Hylox, one of the mages who tried to kill us).

Elis is blank-faced. He has probably surmised that we have restrained his spellcasting abilities (with the snake around his neck) but does not show much anger (or emotion, for that matter).

Hylox still does not seem to have given up on his quest. He asked Firinne to help him to fulfill Goverillis' noble goals.

Kale used one of his new rituals that he learned to commuincate with his mentor, Sta Sokeus. Sta has fled the Fingers and is seeking the Witch King. The Sworn abound the Chasm Lands (a province of the Avery).

Elis, the Mad Mage, mentioned that he knew someone who knew Sta. This someone blew out his own eyes because he could not handle the lens. The lens is a window that shows you a dfiferent way. It is the lover's window. And it magnifies the human condition.

Elis said he himeself doesn't know anything about this, but someone knows -- someone who did horrible things (burned villages, killed people). He remembers all of these terrible things happening, but none of these feel like things that he did.

He turned to Kale (our mage) and remarked that the ritual was "passable and clumsy". He explained that it was hard for him to see rituals and spells cast so poorly.

Elis then said that we would take leave of us, and he fell unconscious.

As we continued along the coast, we saw a building in the distance. The building sat on a raised hill on an estuary.

As we approached, we realized that the building was an inn. We decided to stay there for the night.

I shall write you again soon. As ever, your faithful servant,

Aelar

The Life and Times of Elis the Prodigy

2009-10-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

They called him Elis the Prodigy. He was a human mage who came from a noble family in the Avery.

As a child, he showed enormous potential as a mage. He was tutored by the renown wizard Sta Sokeus, and he soon eclipsed Sta in skill and power.

When Elis was barely 6 years old, he defeated another mage in battle. At the age of 10, he fought in the Campaign.

Now, 25 years later, he sits before us, weathered by age and battle, slowly regaining a sense of self. A scar runs across his neck -- a dark memory of a time when someone tried to kill him.

He slowly begins to speak, as though unsure that the words are coming out of his mouth.

"This form -- this body that I am in... It is very uncomfortable. And smelly. Very smelly. It wears shoes?"

We acknowledge that we found his body without any footwear, and we gave him a pair that we found in the warehouse.

"Hungry. This body feels -- I -- I feel hungry."

Ryn generously offered to prepare a meal of Jambalaya for us. After eat up the food, Elis frown and said, "Something is wrong. But I do not know what it is. Something feels wrong." But he could not elaborate on this.

As we turned in for the night, we could he hear him sobbing to himself quietly.

A Stranger on the Beach

2009-10-25T21:34:00.001-07:00

(Readers: start with the last post with this title, and read upwards)

...

and suddenly --

...

everything becomes clear --

...

as if we had known this all along --

...

A Stranger on the Beach

2009-10-25T21:28:00.000-07:00

There is a stranger before us, bound in rope and with the snake wrapped around his neck. He glares at us. (Why? We do not know.)

Bran says something about untying the Knot. The Knot of Forgetting. He pulls the Knot out and begins to loosen it.

But what will happen if he does this? What--

A Stranger on the Beach

2009-10-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

We are on the shore. There is a stranger tied up, sitting before us? How did he get here? Who tied him up? And why is the snake around his neck?

Bran is saying something. "The Knot," he says, "the Knot of Forgetting." He says we should --

A Stranger on the Beach

2009-10-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

Carlagnious, the Dragonborn, is intimidating a stranger on the shore? We need to tie him up? And put the snake around his neck? Why? We grab the rope and the snake, and we --

A Stranger on the Beach

2009-10-25T21:21:00.001-07:00

On the shore, there was a stranger walking away from us. He was headed North. Where did he come from?

Kale is shouting something. "Stop him! Tie him up! And put the snake around his neck! I sense --"

A Stranger on the Beach

2009-10-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

We found ourselves on the shore. A stranger was there, insisting that we dig North of here. He seemed to be getting more and more impatient. Dig, he said. Dig --

A Stranger on the Beach

2009-10-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

After escaping, we found ourselves on the shore. A stranger told us to dig North of here. Dig. He said --

A Stranger on the Beach

2009-10-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

After escaping through the portal, we found ourselves on the shore near -- the lake? the sea? -- with Burrus the mathematician, Hylox (the wizard who, after attacking us, surrendered rather than facing death), and a body that Bran the Halfling Rogue insisted that we bring with us.

And there was a stranger. We did not know where he came from. We did not even see him approach us. He was telling us to dig North of here. The conduit? He said --

Reflections on the Spontaneous Arcane Improvement of a Weapon

2009-09-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

After the utter destruction of Guards-Captain Hannerty (he had a fine ear for music, I much regret his loss) we decided to make camp among the dunes near the ruined Inn. And while there we were harried by a local Lich and his demonic consort. A heated battle culminated with my dagger thrust into the Lich's brittle chest. As the Lich crumbled, I felt an expulsion of malignant energy and, afterwards, I was pleased to discover that the dagger had spontaneously improved: it was lighter and more wieldly and, upon arcane inspection, I saw it had gained a necrotic aspect. It was no longer suitable for use as my camp knife, turning meat sour at the slightest touch, but was quite fit for battle.

This is an example of what I call the Natural Ritual, in this case a ritual of enchantment enacted by battle and death. The majority of the Learned Rituals are probably Natural Rituals which some beneficent soul has observed, abstracted, and set to paper. More magic is unknown than will ever be known, much as it might fret my colleagues to admit this. We need only look to the humble Sorcerer, who wields magic despite his ignorance, to see this personified.

With my curiosity aroused, I set out with our scout and secured the Lich's phylactery. I kept this with us and, every week or so when the Lich reappeared, I would dispatch him again with a fresh knife. Sadly, despite dozens of trials, I was never able to recreate the exact circumstance of the initial encounter. Perhaps there is an element of urgency which is required.

The Lich grew quite tired of me before all was done.

Excepted from Sokeus, Sta "Dropping the Lance" The Annals of the Expeditionary of the Lyceum Arcana CXIX.2

Return to the Caldera

2009-09-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

From the journal of Kale:

21st day, Morning
Our guide is dead and we are on the run. Aelar thinks he can lead us back the eladrin encampment, though everyone agrees we should circle to the back before entering. I believe the prophecy of Mades Skinner holds the key forward: we must claim the three-legged construct that I inspected earlier.

You have seen too much. You must die.
-Speaker

21st day, Evening
I am riding inside the belly of a strange machine. This has been an eventful day.

We managed to locate the construct without much difficulty, and it was exactly as I had remembered it. As we began to inspect the tripod an eladrin emerged, dressed in simple robes and carrying a spear. The resulting conversation was rather tense, and ended badly.

We were immediately set upon by about a dozen eladrin soldiers who appeared from nowhere, wielding powers of ice. The battle was chaotic and fierce-- Firinne and Garg rushed into melee, killing several soldiers, but they were quickly surrounded. The earlier speaker proved to possess tremendous teleportation abilities and began to blind members of the party with Fey spells. Reacting quickly, Ryn employed his own Fey teleportation abilities to pull away Firinne, killing several soldiers in the process. I managed to summon a poisonous cloud across the eladrin formation, inflicting further casualties (I regret that Garg was among the victims). We quickly realized that two of the soldiers possessed the ability to absorb inflicted wounds from their allies-- a dangerous ability that we had seen before.

The situation seemed grim: Firinne nearly succumbed to her icy wounds. Nonetheless, despite the blinded Carlagnios managing to knock over half the party in a sightless fury, we eliminated all but the two resilient knights and the speaker. We poured our fire onto the lead knight, and finally they broke, crumbling down together. We then faced only the elusive speaker.

Realizing that the speaker would likely flee unhampered once we managed to wound him, we quickly devised a cunning plan. In a moment of confusion I concealed myself with a spell of invisibility and began to creep towards the speaker's position. Meanwhile Carlagnios began to loudly negotiate terms of a truce. I edged up behind the speaker without alerting him, while removing the iron snake from its wrappings. As the speaker began to proclaim the terms of our surrender, I snapped the snake around his neck.

He's a liability.
-Ryn

Though he did carry the key to the construct, the disabled speaker proved to be of little use. The morphic key and lock on the tripod appeared to be on a sort of periodic cycle that was unaligned. The speaker, laughing, proclaimed that the two would not be in sync for a week. He said little else. It was clear that the elf was some sort of fanatic. As we began to explore other options, Garg callously snuffed out the speaker's life with his blade. I see the necessity of this course, but I must say that such a cold-blooded act does not fail to unnerve me. Perhaps that is a good thing.

In a flash of insight, Firinne suggested we make use of the iron scarab we discovered earlier in the Ring of Melora. Attaching the scarab stopped the action of the key. It had a similar effect when attached to the lock, and Bran, seeing it frozen, realized he had a chance of picking it. He deftly subverted the lock, and the door atop the construct was opened. As we began to climb into the small space within, we were astonished to hear the device begin to speak to us.

Ryn: What can you do?
11: I can walk.
Ryn: Is that all?
11: I can cry.

We quickly found that the construct, being of eladrin origin, would only converse directly with Ryn. The device reminded me a bit of a golem. Its requests were simple, almost childlike, and it accepted Ryn as its commander without question. In addition to locomotion, it seemed to have the ability to withstand great environmental extremes, and claimed to be capable of "crying." A bizzare console in the center of the construct controls the so-called tears, which emerge from a small orifice in the machine's underbelly. Ryn asked the device what its name was. It answered "eleven." We then took the obvious course-- straight to the caldera, to seek the mad mage. The tripod began to lumber off into the cold.

Then a change is happening.
-Crypt-keeper

22nd day, Morning
We are not quite were I expected us to be. In fact, I am not sure where we are at all.

Last night we rode in the construct straight to the edge of the caldera. Approaching the lip of the ridge, we sealed the hatch shut. The device lumbered up and over the ridge and down into the caldera, no doubt still teeming with gnolls. 11 reported seeing 'creatures' all about. Nervous minutes passed. Eventually we began to hear bumping and clattering noises echoing across the hull. 11 tried to shake some of them off, which seemed to work for a while, but they soon returned, and I sensed the expression of magical energies as well.

Despite this interference, Ryn guided 11 to proceed into the center of the caldera. At last 11 stopped, saying that he had clambered onto a sort of 'door'. Feeling this was as good a time as any, Ryn commanded the release of a tear. This was a singular event.

The tear was visible even inside the armored core of the machine-- a brilliant point of light that seemed to appear in the console and plummet down. I sensed powerful spatial magics (a sort of teleportation?). As the tear left the craft we felt a great heat, and then we fell.

After some bumps, 11 reported that we were floating in water. Prying open the hatch, we discovered that we were floating under water, and our metal companion quickly began to sink. Swimming up, we found ourselves in a vast cave. A passage of the tear's making pierced the ceiling, and a whirlpool was actively drawing the water down along the same axis. As the water drained away we saw that the tear's path had breached into corridors extending beneath the cave.

We also observed a bizarre spatial anomaly: a spherical portal, suspended high in the air, through which water was pouring. Eventually the portal ceased to flow, the water draining away, and we glimpsed a blue sky and (with a leap by Ryn) a lake from which the water had come.

We decided to investigate the lower tunnels, and began to rappel down the still-hot channel. Walking down the corridor, we came upon a large room-- and several humans. These men were still in shock from the tear's effects, and were expressing concern for a city they claimed was further underground.

Several things have now become clear. No outsiders had visited this place for twenty years. The denizens of this place appear to serve the legacy of Govorilli, the infamous possessor of the Lens. Govorilli left his servants instructions about what to do when "changes" occurred. We appear to have instigated such a change. One man led us through a crypt of his keeping, clearly intended for necromantic purposes. The men we met were not armed; we subdued them once they tried to contact their superiors (the "blades"). There was talk of these people having built up an army.

Finally, the mad mage is almost certainly here. When asked the name of the last outsider who appeared in this place, the crypt-keeper paused and replied "I don't remember."

Betrayal Beneath the Caldera

2009-08-03T00:50:00.000-07:00

Honorable Priestess of Melora,

We finally reached the caldera under which the Mad Mage lives. The caldera is a vast, barren, sunken circle. In caldera, spiraling down, there are giant roads that spell out runes of protection. As you get closer to the center, the surface becomes rockier and harder to traverse. And throughout the caldera, we see Gnolls everywhere.

Manos leads us to one of the side passages and tells us to sleep here for the night. Honorable Priestess, this is where I must finally deal with the Prophecy of Mades.

When Mades took me aside, he foretold that we would meet Manos in Kenner and that Manos would lead us to the Mad Mage. He also foretold that Manos would tell us to sleep before entering the Mad Mage's lair. And it is here that Manos would lead us into a trap.

The only way you can prevent this, Mades said, is to kill Manos in his sleep. You must then leave the lair of the Mad Mage because there is something that you are missing. You will know that this is. You will lead the party back to return to some place that you have been before. You will find the missing object there, and only then should you return to the lair of the Mad Mage.

And, Mades told me, this prophecy must not be shared with anyone else.

As hard as it would be for me to kill someone in their sleep, it would be impossible to do if someone else were there, awake and alert. Ryn, the Eladrin Warlock, never sleeps. Given how badly my luck at combat seems to have been (missing the Manticore in several of my most powerful attacks), it seemed likely that I would also somehow fail to kill Manos in his sleep if I tried. And then what would I say to Ryn? "Uh, hi, don't mind me. Just killing the guide in his sleep, that's all. Nothing to worry about."

I had this bad feeling that this could not possibly go well. The only way I could take any action against Manos was to tell Ryn about the prophecy. So I did, and in doing so, changed the prophecy in an unpredictable way.

Ryn also had his own prophecy as well, which seemed to fit with the one I was told. So there seemed to be some accuracy. However, there was still some doubt about Manos. What if the prophecy was wrong? Would we be killing an innocent man? How could we know?

In the end, we decided to tie him up instead, and question him about why he planned to betray us. We gathered some rope and slowly made our way toward his sleeping figure.

Unfortunately, although we attempted to be discreet, Manos had heard us discussing our plans and got up quickly before we could reach him. I attempted to shoot him with my arrows, but he scrambled over to the Horn of Summoning and sounded it, warning every Gnoll in the area about our presence. We eventually were able to subdue him.

The rest of the party were awoken by the Horn of Summoning. They were shocked at what had happened but after explaining our reasons and exchanging information about each of our prophecies, we realized that we did need to go back.

We tied up Manos and questioned him, but he refused to give us any answers. I was concerned that Manos might tell the Mad Mage or the Gnolls of our plans and thought we could not let him go. Garg ended up slaying him. After Manos collapsed, we found that his body was covered with runes of compulsion. They were old runes, so perhaps he had been compelled to lead us into a trap for a long time.

We ran back toward the Eladrin encampment, hearing the sounds of the Gnoll forces mobilizing behind us.

Your faithful servant,

Aelar

A Life Learned Along the Death Walk

2009-08-02T23:20:00.000-07:00

Honorable Priestess of Melora,

When we last corresponded, our party was waiting for the Eladrin to appear. We did not have to wait long.

We noticed an Eladrin had been standing nearby and watching us. It was not clear how long he had been there. Ryn greeted him.

"Are you of the Emaq Caste," the Eladrin asked Ryn. "Yes," Ryn replied.

"Have you," asked the Eladrin, "been on a Death Walk recently?"

We gave each other puzzled glances, while Ryn answered, "No, I haven't. I can offer my services to you, if there are any dead among you."

The Eladrin nodded. "There is one dead among us. Come with me."

The Eladrin led us through the snow and over a high ridge of ice and rock. Below us was a valley filled with a mist. Manos frowned. "This is not normally the way I've gone before."

We followed the Eladrin down into the valley. As we descended, we noticed that the air was getting warmer, and the snow started to disappear. The ground around us seemed unsteady, and the rocks on the ground began to look more like volcanic rock. We passed a few hot springs and saw algae of a number of colors.

Manos glanced at us and whispered, "I've never been here before."

We finally reached a low encampment of criss-crossing fissures. Here, the Eladrin folk made their dwellings in the walls. There were many wild-looking Eladrin here, wearing handmade leather clothing.

The Eladrin who brought us here took us to their quarters, where he said we could stay. He seemed puzzled that we would be traveling with Ryn. "Members of the Emaq Caste -- those who do the Death Walk -- are not to be touched. They live separate lives from the rest of us."

Ryn did not look very pleased with the Eladrin's attitude. Still, he agreed to do the Death Walk. "It's the least I can do, since you are letting us stay here."

"Good. Just don't wander around. Stay in your quarters."

The Eladrin gave us some food -- a slurry of sorts, with some algae and meat in a stew -- and left us to eat.

After we ate, we discussed ways to explore the area and get more information. Ryn could walk around unhindered, since he was a member of the Emaq Caste. Kale had an impressive ritual that made him invisible to all around him. Perhaps Ryn would do the initial exploration of the encampment, report back, and tell Kale what areas were worth looking into.

Ryn left the quarters to start exploring. He didn't find anything unusual except for one area, in which a guard prevented him from following one of the paths down a ridge hallway. The guard told Ryn, "Their world is so dull compared to ours. Their north has a harsh beauty." When Ryn pressed the guard for details, the guard said, "This valley was not found as it is -- it was modeled to fit the needs of this outpost."

After exploring the rest of the area, Ryn went to do the Death Walk. He discovered that the Death Walk was for an Eladrin who probably was a mage. This Eladrin's death was accidental and happened well over a month ago.

The body of the Eladrin was frozen. The room for the Death Walk was filled with candles and containers of water.

As Ryn began the Death Walk, he started experiencing the life of this Eladrin mage. He learned that the Eladrin had built this area. It was not a volcanic area before the Eladrin arrived. The mage himself was separated from his group in a blizzard. The mage was also in charge of operating some sort of magical device.

The Death Walk lasted for 36 hours. After the vigil was over, Ryn asked if the Eladrin could set us on the right path to the Mad Mage. They agreed to do this and gave Ryn some pig weed for smoking.

While Ryn was on his Death Walk, the rest of the party went to the path that Ryn had been prevented from exploring. The guard was still there, so Firinne talked to the guard to distract him. Kale used his ritual to become invisible to all eyes, and he snuck around guard and walked further down the path.

Along the path, there was a sign that warned "Do not enter". As Kale continued down the path, he noticed that the land was becoming swampier, and he had a strange feeling that the area seemed haunted. Finally, the path led down to a volcanic area, where a black ovoid was suspended above by three posts coming off to the side (almost like a spidery structure). Kale detected magic from this device.

The posts on the side were made of some unrecognizable metal. The posts had bumps throughout their lengths -- almost like handholds. Occasionally, there were runes for protection. Kale used these handholds to climb to the top of the ovoid.

At the top of the ovoid was a closed door. The top of the oviod itself was covered with runes for strengthening metal from fire. The door was locked by a morphic lock (something like a padlock that changes shape). A morphic lock could only be opened by a morephic key.

The entire device seemed like some sort of golem or magical construct.

Kale cast a spell to allow him to fall from the top of the ovoid like a feater. As he floated down, Kale noticed a small pore (a hole) in the bottom of the ovoid.

After Kale returned, we went back to our quarters to meet up with Ryn. Manos had already packed up and was ready to leave.

Manos said that we are getting close to the lair of the Mad Mage. The Mad Mage lives under a caldera. The main entrance -- Hell's Teeth -- is surrounded by runes of protection and is guarded by Gnolls. There are side passages to the caldera, which bypass Hell's Teeth. Manos will show us the way but will not go into the caldera. Carlognios' father was captured up here many years ago.

We discussed the ovoid and what it might mean. Some of the party members thought we should stay and see if the ovoid could be used against the Mad Mage. But we could not determine a good way to free the ovoid, since it was still guarded.

In the end, we decided to leave for the Mad Mage's lair. As we drew closer, my heart sank as I remembered my prophecy and what I would be compelled to do.

Your faithful servant,

Aelar

Lament of Bruce, the Second Troll

2009-08-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

Hah! More foolish travelers! They are no match for us! While the Manticore shoots them with spikes from above, we shall hammer them from below with our deadly mauls!

(No, no -- "maul". With a "u". It's a kind of hammer. No, you don't go there to shop for clothes.)

Even if they do bloody us, brother, we will come back twice as strong! Our wounds will be magically healed, and we -- brother? Hah! The fools think that you are dead and turn their backs, but they don't realize that you will rise from the grave and smash their skulls!!! Destroy them, my brother, while I deal with this paladin!

(*sniff*) Hmm. (*sniff* *sniff*) What is that odor? It smells pretty tasty. Sort of like bacon or well-cooked steak or -- Artie!!! You burned Artie!! Arrgh!!! You will pay for this, travelers! Manticore! Strike them down with -- Manticore? Where are you going? What do you mean, you're late for a dental appointment? I don't care how many rows of teeth you have! Flossing is tedious work for everybody! Come back here, you coward!!!

Alright, you fools, none of you is a match for me! If you wound me, I'll heal my wounds. If you bloody me, I'll -- hey! Let go of my neck! What are you doing? Ow! Ow! My skin doesn't cut that way! Ow! Ow!

Oh great. Why did you have to cut my body off? Do you know how long it's going to take me to regenerate that? (*sniff*) (*sniff* *sniff*) Huh. What's that smell again? Smells pretty tasty... almost like... ughhhhhhhhhhh...

Death and Rebirth In the Belly of the Worm

2009-08-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

Honorable Priestess of Melora,

When I last wrote you, we were on the icebreaker on our way to find the den of the Mad Mage. The journey there was slow, since we had to pause frequently to break the ice that had built up in front of the ship.

Finally, after a few days, we made our way to an icy shore. We got off the icebreakers with our supplies and followed Manos into the icy tundra.

We asked Manos about the road ahead. He told us that there was a trail with placemarkers that we would follow. Eventually, we would find ourselves in an area controlled by the Eladrin. (We were fortunately that our companion Ryn, the Eladrin Warlock, was with us for the journey.) Manos noted that the Eladrin did not trust strangers but would probably let us through because they were angry with the Gnolls that served the Mad Mage.

As we made our way across the icy tundra, we noticed that Tiny, our Dwarven Cleric, and Carlagnios, our Dragonborn Fighter, were both missing. The wise Mage Kale explained that they wandered into a -- pardon my translation, for there are no words in Elven for this -- dih-mensh-uh-nuhl-riffed. They had been transported through this dih-mensh-uh-nuhl-riffed to a foreign land known as Kaim-Bridge. The Mage Kale used a ritual called "The Scrying Eye of Tand-berg", which caused the air before us to shimmer. Suddenly, we could see Tiny's face, as though he were standing in front of a mirror. Unfortunately, he could not see us, and Kale cursed the quality of the magical channels that bridged our worlds (the legendary "series of tubes" that connect all things). Finally, after trying the ritual again a few times, we were able to see each other and converse briefly. Tiny explained that he had temporarily joined up with another party on an adventure in Kaim-Bridge. As we bade farewell to Tiny, we could hear the festive sounds of a bard in the background, playing a quite raucous instrument.

The walk across the tundra was long. Fortunately, Bran the Halfling Rogue had brought along his riding wolf (now named "Fluffy the Dire Wolf") to help him move speedily through the snow. Eventually, we reached what looked like a cave in the side of a hill. Manos walked into the mouth of the cave.

For a moment, we hesitated, for the stalactites that came down from the ceiling looked almost like sharp teeth. We examined them more closely and realized that they were indeed the teeth of some giant skeletal creature. The mouth of the cave was actually formed from the jawbone of something that was once a huge worm. As we followed Manos deeper into the cave, the ceiling of the cavern slowly disappeared, becoming something that was more of an arch. It became clear that this cavern was nothing more than the rib cage of the worm. Around these bones, the snow was more sparse and the bones radiated a strange warmth. The Mage Kale touched one of the bones and told us that he felt the presence of some arcane power. He had heard ancient legends of such giant worms, which were rumored to be the source of the oil sands. The worm was enormously long, and the path went for miles.

As we were following the path, we were suddenly ambushed by large creatures, which were hiding behind the rib bones. An angry Manticore shot at us with spike from its tail, and two brutal Ice Trolls battered us with their mauls. The Mage Kale warned us that the trolls could magically heal the wounds from the blows that we dealt them. Worse yet, whenever we were bloodied by their attacks, they somehow were able to strike us again with a second blow.

Honorable Priestess, Melora was not with me in that battle. I kept missing the Manticore with my arrows. I had tried to pierce its hide with an excruciating shot, but that had failed. I had tried to trap him and slow him as a hunter would trap a bear, but again, I badly missed the shot. Even my attack to fire the arrows like fangs from a snake failed to hit their target.

One of the Ice Trolls nearly killed Bran, but he and the Warlord Garg surrounded the Troll, and they (with the Paladin Firinne, Ryn, and Kale) were able to slay that Troll. While Firinne valiantly fought the second Troll, we turned our attention to the Manticore.

Suddenly, the first Troll -- the one that we slew -- rose up from the dead and began to strike us again! Kale killed the Troll again and set it on fire, and the Troll's body did not rise again.

We shot at the Manticore until it was bloodied and beaten, and it turned to fly away. Ryn, angered at being struck by its spikes, followed it and was able to finally finish it off.

The second Troll, which was bloodied from our earlier attacks, seemed to have healed unnaturally. Firinne kept striking the creature and healing her wounds from its attacks, but she did not have the same unnatural ability that the creature did. Bran joined the battle, as did the rest of the party, and we eventually beat down the Troll. Finally, Bran, Ryn, and Garg grabbed the Troll and -- through some effort -- were able to separate its head from its body. The gruesome head kept bouncing around and glaring at us.

After slaying these monsters, we tracked down the body of the Manticore. The creature had three rows of razor sharp teeth. We each decided to take a Manticore tooth with us.

We also found that they had a magical horn. Kale noted that this was the Horn of Summons, which allowed you to send a warning to your comrades of where you were, if you were hurt, and how badly you were hurt. The sound of the Horn could be heard by anyone from a mile away.

We continued to follow the path until there were no more bones to be found. (Perhaps we had reached the end of the worm.) It was there that Manos suggested that we wait for the Eladrin who rule this area.

I will write you again when we are greeted by them. As always, your faithful servant,

Aelar

From the Journal of a Jester in the Town of Kenner

2009-05-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

(This page was found on the ground outside the bar, torn out of the journal of a jester passing by.)

(I got this idea for a joke from this party of strange travelers outside the bar. They wore weapons of magic, and one of them was talking to the others about an encounter with the bartender. This might make an entertaining tale to tell but it needs some refinement.)

The setup:

An Eladrin Warlock walks (teleports?) into a bar. "I've just walked all the way across the tundra," he says, "and I'd like a warm drink -- perhaps some mead." The bartender replies, "Sorry, all we have is this vodka." He pours the Eladrin a glass, and the Eladrin sips the drink and almost spits it out.

The punchline:

The bartender says, "You know, we don't get many people who walk across the tundra to get here." The Eladrin replies, "Yes, and if all you serve is this crappy vodka, you won't get many more."

(Scribbled in the margins) Too long. Maybe change Eladrin Warlock to talking warhammer.

The bartender says, "You know, we don't get many talking warhammers around here." The warhammer replies, "Yes, and if all you serve is this crappy vodka, you won't get many more." (beat)

Strangers in the Town of Kenner

2009-05-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

Honorable Priestess of Melora,

We have finally arrived at the town of Kenner. It is a small town (perhaps 200 people) of low buildings and warehouses, backed by mountains of snow. As was the case with the Lodge, the buildings are all lit with some sort of magical light, since the sun never shines in the sky.

The town sits on the edge of the water (or ice, in this case) and has a harbor for incoming ships. Three long, narrow ships sit in the harbor. They seem to be icebreakers -- ships with the magical ability the break through the ice.

We see smoke coming from the tops of the buildings but almost no one seems to be walking outside. Understandably, the climate in this Arctic region is harsh, and most would want to keep indoors, where it is warmer.

We find what appears to be a bar. Ryn, the Warlock, is the most streetwise among us and has the best chance to find our contact, Manos. He enters the bar alone, in the hopes that it will give him a better chance to get information from the town's inhabitants.

While we wait, some of the inhabitants pass us by and give us strange looks. A few ask why we're here. When we mention that we came across the tundra, they stare at us in disbelief.

After a period of time, Ryn comes out and tells us what had happened inside. From the moment he walked in to the bar, everyone drew back from him and stared. The bartender said to him, "No ships have come in for a while. How did you get here?" When Ryn explained that we walked across the tundra, the bartender shook his head in disbelief. "Why wouldn't you take a ship into port? This is very strange."

Ryn asked the bartender about Manos. "There is someone here with that name," the bartender replied, "but... are you looking for trouble?" Ryn convinced the man that he only wanted to talk to Manos, and the bartender sent a boy out to get him.

While he waited for Manos, Ryn asked for some mead or something to warm him from the chill outside. The bartender sighed and said that he only had something that tasted like vodka. (This is truly a harsh and merciless environment!)

Manos finally arrived. He was an older man in his 50s with dark hair. He actually owned this bar.

At that point, Ryn came out to get us. We followed Ryn back into the bar, and Manos leads us to a room in back.

"I hope this is important," Manos said. "You pulled me away from my work in the oil sands." I had never heard of oil sands, although our Mage Kale was familiar with them. In the North, there were large creatures of magic that once roamed the lands. At some point, many of them perished and were compressed into oil. This oil is a common ingredient used by alchemists and mages.

In Kenner, most people work in the oil sands during the cold weather. When the weather gets warmer, the inhabitants prefer to go whaling. (I had heard stories of these large, gentle sea creatures who were preyed upon by men. There is a rumor that they are just as wise and intelligent as we are.)

We told Manos that Falen sent us and that he needed to take us to the Mad Mage, but Manos demanded proof. "How do I know that you really know Falen?" Bran showed him the knot, and Manos stared in disbelief. "I never thought that this day would come."

He had only been to the Mad Mage once, 20 years ago. He helped Lakos (Garg's father) to find the Mad Mage's hideout. Then Falen and the Dragonborn (Carlagnios' father) showed up, and all hell broke loose.

Manos said that he owed Falen, so he agreed to bring us to the Mad Mage. (He did not want to tear up Kenner, his home.) He needed 2 days to take care of a few things but would let us stay in the bar while we waited. (He had some rooms in the back where we could sleep.)

Then, we needed to use the icebreakers to travel across the waters to the Mage's Den. It would cost us about 10 gold pieces to rent an icebreaker.

We agreed to his plan, replenished our supplies, and, 2 days later, found ourselves on an icebreaker, heading toward the den of the Mad Mage.

There is something that I find puzzling still. Falen, Mades, Lakos, everyone who has seen the Mad Mage and his den -- none of them remember who he was or where it is. How is it that Manos still knows the way?

Perhaps we shall learn that when we get to the Mad Mage's den. I shall write you again when we arrive.

Your faithful servant,

Aelar

Idea for Recipe: White Dragon Stew

2009-05-28T23:21:00.001-07:00

(found in a page that was torn out and discarded from the Journal of Pock, the Cook)

Ingredients
1 adult white dragon
(add the list of the seasonings when I figure it out)
2 pounds of potatoes
(?) several carrots
(?) several onions
(?) several tomatoes
(fill in exact portions when I figure it out)

(scrawled in the margins) Important: Try to avoid using magicks or projectiles to kill the dragon. Projectiles get lost in the meat and are hard to find and dig out. Magicks like clouds of stench ruin the natural flavor of the dragon meat.

Instructions:
1. Clean the dragon carcass and remove the meat.
~~You can use a simple kitchen knife to~~

~~Try using a large cleaver to cut the~~

~~Find a sword that looks strong enough to cut the dragon's body and wield it to~~

~~If the sword was magical and frost-enchanted, allow several additional hours for thawing the~~

If you happen to know a Dragonborn warrior who has a large, vicious-looking battle axe, ask him for a favor and have him clean the carcass and cut up the meat.

2. In a large pot, put several cups of oil, let the oil heat up, and add the meat.

~~3. Cook the meat until it is brown and tender and easy to~~

~~3. After several hours, the meat should be~~

~~3. If the meat is still tough~~

~~3. Before cooking the meat, make sure to use a meat tenderizer to~~

3. If you know a Dwarven cleric who has a large magical warhammer, ask if he can use the hammer to tenderize the meat first.
~~While you wait for the cleric to do this, you might be able to pass the time by striking up an interesting conversation with the magical warhammer.~~
Avoid talking to the magical warhammer, if it happens to speak.

4. Cook the meat until it is browned. You might notice a peculiar scent coming from the pot. Not to worry. ~~Even though the smell might be off putting, the flavor of the meat should still be~~

~~With some light seasoning, the flavor of the meat should~~

~~You might need to use some moderate seasoning to mask the taste of~~

(Scrawled at the end) I give up -- this is like eating ice cubes of rotten pork

Icy Terror on the Road to Kenner

2009-05-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

Honorable Priestess of Melora,

When we last corresponded, we had learned much from the Half-Orc prophet, Mades Skinner. Since then, we also learned that not only had the portal in Samhain transported us far North, but it had also taken months for us to reach these Arctic lands (even though, to us, only seconds had passed). We had left Samhain in the Autumn and now, in the Lodge, it was mid-Winter.

Bran, the Rogue, has also gained a mount. He asked Mades for one of the riding wolves tied up here at the Lodge, and Mades presented him with a small Dire Wolf as a gift. It was not large enough a creature to do battle with our enemies, but it could carry the Halfling Rogue quite a distance in a remarkably short amount of time.

Bran had decided to name his riding wolf -- and I fear this will not translate well from the Common tongue to our Elven language -- Turr-Bow (or something that sounds like these words).

Mades gave us directions and advice on how to get to the city of Kenner. We must head North for two weeks. Along the way, we'll need to cross a glacier. And finally, when we get to Kenner (a town of a fair size), we should make sure to muzzle Turr-Bow.

We followed Mades' directions and eventually reached the glacier that he spoke of. As we started across the glacier, we noticed that there were dangerous drops on either side, and we decided to tie ourselves together on the same rope to keep anyone from falling off.

As we made our way across the glacier, we heard a horrendous roar from one side of the glacier. A large, adult, white dragon flew up above and roared hungrily at us.

Bran slung a stone into the dragon, and, with this very deft and tricky strike, managed to move the dragon back. Kale, the Mage, summoned a huge cloud of stench around the beast, which forced it to move over the glacier, directly above us.

The dragon made a terrifying roar that struck fear into our hearts. Some of us were stunned, and the feeling of terror made it difficult for us to attack it. The dragon then let loose a breath of paralyzing cold, a breath that left us weak and unable to strike back with full force.

The dragon chose to focus its anger at Tiny, the Cleric. The dragon swooped down and clawed and bit at Tiny. Fortunately, Tiny quickly healed himself, and summoned a weapon to attack the creature, keeping the dragon distracted and open to our attacks.

Firinne called upon Melora and challenged the dragon, compelling the beast to fight her instead of Tiny. This compulsion made it difficult for the creature to hurt Tiny, and each time the dragon did hit Tiny, a radiant glow struck the monster and made it shriek in agony.

Perhaps swooping down to attack became the downfall of the dragon (literally), as Bran spun around and knocked the giant beast onto its side. Our party surrounded the creature and proceeded to strike.

Carlagnios, the Dragonborn, brought down a rain of steel on the monster. Garg, the Warlord, commanded Carlagnios to keep striking again, further damaging the creature. Ryn drew his sword and struck the dragon again and again. Firinne struck the beast with such force as though channelling the retribution of a martyr. Tiny hit the creature hard with his warhammer and with radiant lance, energized by his faith. Kale cast several spells to damage the creature with daggers, frost, and other elements. I was able to hit the dragon with a few arrows, one deeply in the monster's body.

Finally, it was Ryn who dealt the final, fatal blow to the dragon. It collapsed on the glacier and moved no more.

Kale decided to take a sample of the skin from the dragon, but we found nothing else in our search for the dragon's lair.

After this terrifying encounter with the white dragon, we continued along the way and eventually reached the city of Kenner. I shall write you again to tell you how we found our guide there.

As always, your faithful servant,

Aelar

The Lodge, the Prophecies of Mades, and the Question of Choice

2009-05-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

Honorable Priestess of Melora,

We have finally arrived at the Lodge, after a long journey through the snow. This is quite a harsh land, devoid of the nurturing warmth of the sun. I am always amazed that even in environments like this, trees and plants are still able to survive.

We approached a four-story timber building on the lee of a tall rock. Smoke crawled up out of the chimneys at the top. Lights were glowing on the eaves, and the air was thick with the smell of animal fat.

In the building itself, there were a number of rooms (and some rooms were even carved out of the rock!). We passed by some rooms for curing pelts before arriving at a common room, where we met Mades.

Mades was an older Half-Orc, perhaps 50 years in age. He told us that he was born with the gift of prophecy, which was a useful skill during the hunt.

We had a long discussion about the nature of prophecy. Tiny, our Cleric, discovered that Mades was the author of the old, rare, long-sought-after book, "Time, Choice, and Prophecy". (Mades had a copy of the book, which he gave to Tiny as a gift.)

"Prophecies are complicated," Mades noted. "You must be careful which ones you set down."

There are two types of prophets, he went on to explain. Some prophets are just instruments of a higher power that intends to change the world. Their prophecies seek to deny us our ability to choose. The other type of prophet is complicit in the prophecy. They look into the future and decide what to do.

For Mades, when he foresees events, the world becomes blurry, and some of the choices appear before him. (It is almost like the Dreamwalk we took earlier, where we explore one possible future.) Mades cannot see all possible futures -- the number of paths forward would be too overwhelming. Instead, he can only explore a few of the possible paths to the future.

As time passes -- as choices are made -- as the future becomes the present and the present becomes the past, the worlds that Mades explored (the realms of the other possibilities) die and their forward paths close off. After a choice is made, you cannot go back, and Mades can no longer see the path because it has become part of the past.

"I once had a twin brother," Mades reluctantly said, "A brother who is dead to me now. He could see into the past, just as I can see into the future."

Mades explained that most prophecies come from the Divine, and prophecies can be fulfilled in different ways:

Some prophecies will definitely come true, regardless of what else happens.
Some prophecies might come true, and prophecies can be made to make it more likely to come true.
Some prophecies won't happen without some sort of intervention. A prophet might lie to someone and give them the wrong information in order to make a prophecy come to pass.
In some cases, the prophecy must be stated in order for it to come to pass.

Kale, our Mage, nodded in agreement. He had heard that prophecies were like gem cutting. If you find a flaw, you can use the flaw to cut a better stone, or you could use the flow to destroy the stone.

For every day of Mades' life, he saw worlds and possibilities die and cease to exist. But he could only see the possibilities in our world. Prophecies made across worlds are weak.

"The area between worlds is guarded by men of stone," Mades said, reminding us of our encounters with these creatures in the past. Carlagnios, the Dragonborn, growled at this memory and asked if there was any way to recover the items given to the men of stone. (He had, as you remember, given up his father's ring in order to pass between worlds and save his father.)

Mades shook his head. He only knew that the men of stone extract the costs needed to make sure that the balance between worlds is maintained.

We asked Mades if he could see the Mad Mage. He replied that he did but kept forgetting about the Mad Mage. The Forgetting Spell is quite powerful.

Bran, the Rogue, asked Mades if he knew about Gemeret, the follower of the Raven Queen. (Bran encountered an aspect of Gemeret along the path from Samhain to this Arctic land.) Mades explained that Gemeret was a death angel and that where Gods and angels touch, the prophecy gets obscure. (The Gods and the angels obscure things.)

We also asked Mades about the 101. He did not know but thought that his brother would know.

Finally, Mades stood up and declared that he had a prophecy for each of us -- each one except Tiny. The Gods have been trying to move Tiny around too much.

Some of these prophecies could be shared, but others must been kept secret. If the secret prophecies were revealed before they came to pass, Mades could not foresee what would happen.

He met with each of us separately to tell us our prophecies. After our meetings, some of us were able to share their prophecies. For Bran, he was told that he must die to get what he truly wanted (and what he truly wanted was something other than a riding wolf as a mount!). For Carlagnios, if he were to give himself up to the Orc King, he should recite a poem about a swan, its children, and the moon.

My prophecy was not one that I could share and presented a difficult dilemma. I can only pray to Melora for the strength to make the right choice and for the understanding from my comrades when the time to make the choice comes to pass.

As always, your faithful servant,

Aelar

The Cruelty of Nature and the Kindness of Strangers

2009-05-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

Honorable Priestess of Melora,

We entered the portal at Samhain, only to find ourselves exiting into a blizzard. We did not know where we were. The sky was dark, and the plains were covered with snow in all directions. We could see no further than our companions before us.

Tiny, our cleric, performed some strange ritual to summon the Hand of Fate. The glowing blue hand appeared before us, and Tiny consulted it for advice. The Hand determined that we should forge our way West, and we followed. (Ryn, the Warlock, suggested that we consult the Hand in a gambling den. It is an interesting idea that could make us much gold and perhaps afford the Hippogriff mount that the Dragonborn always talks about.)

We forged our way West through the snow but found no signs of shelter along the way. We saw a forest but no place to rest there. As we moved further west, the ice below our feet grew thin. Firinne, Tiny, and Ryn fell through, and I -- dexterous and agile Aelar -- managed to slip and completely fall on my face. Fortunately, the water below the ice was quite shallow, and we just ended up getting wet.

When I was growing up in the forests, I learned to love and understand nature -- the trees, the wildlife, the cycle of the seasons. But here in the blizzard, nature seemed completely foreign to me. Nothing living could survive this harsh cold. The sun never made an appearance in the dark, foreboding skies. What could grow in this world? And what could endure the cold, icy water that now soaked through my clothes after I fell flailing through the ice? (How embarrassing.)

Our party decided to head North in the hopes of finding some shelter. But we had seen nothing, and the cold wind was starting to take its toll on us. We could not last another day in this weather.

Then, in the distance, we saw some smoke rising to the sky, as though someone had like a fire ahead of us. As we grew closer, we saw a group around a fire, one of whom moved to approach us.

He was a Half-Orc, slinging a heavy crossbow and carrying a lance at his side. He wore a thick hide and his face was smeared with animal fat (a common way to protect oneself from the cold).

"Come, come warm yourselves by the fire!"

Tiny, with his wise insight, did not detect any hostile intentions in this Half-Orc, so we accepted his invitation and joined him by the fire. They offered us a warm meal of meat stew, and they gave us some hides and pelts to keep us protected from the cold.

There were 5 of them in this group. The leader, who had welcomed us here, was named Drager Skinner. The group included a couple (Alec and Bonta Flint), a child, and another Half-Orc. They were all armed with heavy crossbows and lances -- even the child!

The Half-Orcs made their living as hunters and trappers. They collected the skins of mammoth and polar bears and traded them with the other Half-Orcs back at the lodge.

Bran, the Rogue, was most interested in the wolf that they had tied up. This animal was a riding wolf that had been tamed from birth. (Perhaps, like the Dragonborn, Bran is also seeking a mount of his own.)

We spoke a bit with Drager about where we were and discovered to our surprise that we were in the Arctic, far north. He was waiting for us here because his father, Mades Skinner, was expecting us.

"My father Mades knows a lot of things," Drager mentioned. But he could not explain any further how his father would expect us to appear here. Is it possible that our futures have already been determined? We must meet this seer, Mades, to learn more.

Mades and the other Half-Orcs live in a lodge 60 miles to the Northwest (through the tundra). The Half-Orcs had settled there for at least three generations.

Dragen offered to take us to meet Mades at the Lodge, once we had rested and regained our strength. Dragen also told us that from the Lodge, we could get to Kenner.

Our party accepted his offer and, now, having recovered from the cold (and the wet, icy water that seeped through my clothes), we make our way to the Lodge...

I will write again when we arrive there.

As always, your faithful servant,

Aelar

Beyond the Widowmaker

2009-05-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

Morning, Day 3

Our disheveled guide has finally take his leave. We now move with all due haste towards the far side of the Widowmaker, keeping level with the crown of the mountain, and keeping an eye out for structures of interest.

Afternoon, Day 3

There is an outpost of Melora here, presumably Samhein, and Aelar has found a path down. Even from here I can see that the scrivening circle present at other stations has been extensively defaced.

Late afternoon, Day 3

The circle outside was thoroughly destroyed, and a large pit marked the central point. It looks as if something specific was excavated from the center of the circle-- perhaps the power source? A sign on the outside of the Samhein station reads "YOU ARE NEXT." We approached carefully and discovered a runic glyph inscribed on the door. It was rigged to explode, but the deft fingers of Bran managed to disarm the glyph (by crossing the channeling rune back onto itself, naturally). Inside, we found the standard station layout, and signs of gnoll habitation. As soon as we entered, an unknown entity triggered the death portal and fled. We're following now; I expect a fight.

Evening, Day 3

The gnolls were ready for us when we exited the portal. We found ourselves in a narrow corridor. Carl, on point, triggered a trap as he advanced, and poisoned darts began firing from the walls. A drawbridge immediately ahead of us was raised up and an archer began pouring fire into the party. Aelar quickly darted forward and breached the raised bridge (employing the transspatial capabilities of his armor). He seized control of the bridge and the party advanced into a cavernous room. We quickly assumed a defensive formation around the entrance and assessed the situation. We were facing a group of nearly a dozen gnolls, many of them entrenched atop walls ringing the room. The initial combat was fierce, and Garg took the brunt of the damage, falling unconscious. The battle was compounded by the appearance of a bizarre creature who began to support the gnolls with his unnatural aural abilities.

Firinne was able to revive Garg, the party closed lines, and we began to prevail in the pitched melee battle. Ryn maneuvered to harass the entrenched archers. Finally, the gnolls broke. Their leader fell and we routed the remaining creatures.

There are stairs here leading up.

Dusk, Day 3

This complex proved to be extensive: up the stairs we found a similar space filled with altars to Melora and other aligned deities. A prisoner freed from the chambers in this room now accompanies us (he is a cook). Following further passages to the summit of the mountain, we found yet another defaced circle, marked by the same curious excavation.

In the upper corridors we also discovered a pair of reliefs, as before, but set in a long hallway adorned by a finely crafted mural of the seasons. At one end is a portal marked by the sun. We now stand at the opposite end, about to enter the portal of the moon.

Scribbled hastily in the margin:

There is a blizzard here. Bran has experienced something remarkable during his transit. He is gesticulating excitedly. He found himself in a featureless room, unable to move or even blink. A blackbird, its neck twisted, lay dead on the room's floor. Bran found he could somehow speak, and expressed his surprise. The bird answered back, claiming to be an aspect of Gemerat, angelic servant of the Raven Queen. The aspect explained that the 101 immortals are an affront to the Queen and must pass on to death. The source of their immortality is Gemerat himself, who was somehow enslaved. An artifact is required to liberate him: the Shroud of the Raven Queen. This artifact is somehow invisible to the gods. The Mad Mage knows of the shroud.

A Gnoll's Haiku

2009-05-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

Hail by Anonymous Gnoll Archer

Hail of deadly bolts
Strike hard at our enemies
Damage not their shoes

Rawk rawk rawk by the Author's Griffin Mount

Rawk rawk rawk rawk rawk
Rawk rawk rawk rawk rawk rawk rawk
Rawk rawk rawk rawk rawk*

* Translation in common tongue:

Why Did They Have to Come Down This Road, Darn It?!!

Cloud smells like my poop
Dragon-man so frightening
Both talons can't hit

Why I Hate Warlocks by Another Anonymous Gnoll

We strike from above
Warlock appears up here, and --
Where did the ground go?

The Climb to the Widowmaker

2009-04-27T00:07:00.000-07:00

Honorable Priestess of Melora,

Since our last correspondence, we arrived in the city of Ris and began to hunt for a guide to lead us into the mountains, where we could find a way into the Station of Samhain.

As we searched for a guide, it became apparent that no one was willing to lead us up the mountains. It was unclear why everyone was reluctant to help us on our quest.

After much effort, we finally found someone willing to bring us there. He seemed to be a person of questionable character (the Dwarven Cleric "Tiny" -- as we call him -- had some insight into this man's true nature), who seemed to have much knowledge about this area. He said we had to go to The Widowmaker in order to get to the entrance to the Station of Samhain.

The man demanded a sizable payment for his services ("5 gold pieces!"). Ever the diplomat (and the voice of reason for our party), the Half-Elven Paladin Firinne managed to barter him down to 4 gold pieces. Carlagnious, the Dragonborn Fighter, roared at the man and argued that 4 gold pieces was too high a price, but the man would not budge.

We finally agreed on that price, and we followed the man up the winding mountain road. The sides of the road were surrounded by sheer 40 foot walls. My instinct told me that malevolent creatures could use this rocky terrain to their advantage, and I kept my eyes open for areas in which we could be ambushed.

As we were turning around a bend, I felt we were being watched and were about to be attacked. I strode forward ahead of the party and partly around the bend, where I could see the entrance to a cave. In front of the cave, there were two angry, snarling Griffins.

I pulled out my bow and shot two deadly arrows at one of the Griffins -- completely missing it. (Melora was not with me today. I would go on to miss many more shots in this battle...) As I finished shooting, a number of Gnolls moved into view and proceeded to inundate me with crossbow bolts. I would have died, if it had not been for the powerful healing spells cast by the Paladin Firinne and the words of healing from the Half-Elven Warlord Garg.

Firinne instilled the party with the furious wrath of Melora, which made our strikes against the Griffins and Gnolls far more deadly. My comrades moved in and began to battle the Griffins face-to-face.

The Human Mage Kale, our master strategist, had an ingenious way to prevent the rest of us from becoming the easy targets of the Gnoll archers. He created a huge cloud of noxious vapors that obscured their view and blocked the entire passage. None of the Gnolls could shoot us, and the longer they stayed in the cloud, the sicker they became. The only way to escape the deathly cloud was to climb up.

Some of the Gnolls climbed up above the walls before us. More Gnolls appeared above the walls right next to us.

Zrynfari, the Eladrin Warlock, moved swiftly and silently through space, vanishing from his position next to the wall and appearing above the wall. He made one of the Gnolls move in the same unearthly way, except that the Gnoll was left with no ground beneath him -- 40 feet in the air. The Gnoll plummeted to the ground.

The Mage Kale moved the noxious cloud up above the walls, forcing the Gnolls back down to the ground. At one point, amazingly, he had made the cloud hover enough above the ground for us to see and move.

My comrades slew one of the Griffins and beat the second one until it was bleeding badly and screeching. It was then that the Fighter Carlagnious curled his Dragonborn maw into an angry, glaring face. He shouted at the Griffin, threatening to take its life, and the Griffin flew away in sheer fright. We all turned to Carlangious and, with puzzled expressions, asked him why he chose to scare the creature, rather than kill it. Carlangious insisted that he could have forced the creature to become his mount. There was much rolling of eyes, as we tried to explain to the Dragonborn that savage creatures like the Griffin could never be ridden by any other creature. Griffins are too wild and uncontrollable -- they could never serve as mounts.

Not long after this, the Griffin returned -- with a Gnoll archer riding on its back.

And Carlagnious gave us all an eye oozing with more stink than the Mage Kale's noxious cloud could ever emit...

The Warlock Zrynfari noticed that the Griffin was badly injured and was barely able to keep afloat. He struck the Griffin with a deadly force and instantly killed it, sending its Gnoll rider tumbling downward.

Meanwhile, Bran Tredegar, the Halfling Rogue, sliced through several Gnolls in a spinning stroke down to the ground. Carlagnious unleashed what could only be seen as a rain of steel strikes against more of the Gnolls. He chased them further into the cave and burned their flesh with the searing flames from his mouth.

In the end, the few Gnolls remaining chose to fled, and we searched through the cavern to find an unusual neck ornament. The learned Mage Kale mentioned that this could help to protect one of us against creatures that try to savage our minds, our health, and our speed.

We now continue on the road to the Widowmaker. I am hoping that the Great Goddess Melora will watch over us in our continuing travels. May she help my arrows find their targets and help our party to find the Mad Mage.

Your servant,

Aelar