Fear the Reaper

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.