Dear Diary….last stand of the Slave Lords

Talk about dramatic! I’ll try to do it justice.

Using Mikael’s idea, we headed back to the metal door that shocked Ezekiel, and tried opening it again with protection. There wasn’t exactly a handle on this side, though, so in the end Ezekiel hammered it with his rod of smiting. Only took about five blows to bend it back from the hinges.

By that time, we figured anyone along this passage knew we were coming, so there wasn’t much sense in sneaking around. Advancing down the passage, we found another door – that opened into a tall throneroom.

We couldn’t pass the threshold at first…Ezekiel tried, and knocked his hand against an invisible wall of energy. Beyond, we could see nine people – armed warriors, men in wide-sleeved, embroidered robes, and one woman with ebony skin and stunning white hair…nine people staring and pointing and laughing at us. They all sat on thrones, but they had to twist and lean over the backs of their chairs to look at us, since – once again – we came in the back way.

We couldn’t hear them through the wall of force, but we could see the spell casters waving their hands and chanting while the warrior-types tightened their armor or gulped potions. Mikael took the opportunity to heal Ezekiel’s burns, Raven to close his eyes and center himself, and me…well, I’ve always got an arrow on the string.

Ezekiel still wanted to try the “talking” method…you know, where we use the papers we had to try and turn them against each other. I never had much confidence in that plan (partly because we do subterfuge like an ahnkeg does opera), but as it happens I didn’t need an opportunity to talk him out of it. And I certainly didn’t get one.

First, we noticed we couldn’t hear each other. Next, a flurry of daggers flew past, glancing past Mikael’s face with flashes of red blood. Continue reading

Dear Diary….winding lead-up

Alert: Contains spoilers for the adventure “Scourge of the Slave Lords”

We found the next maze area. It all started when Mikael and I went down the sewer grate in our seized house.

First off, we noticed the passage looked suspiciously new…like it hadn’t been used for sewage at all, in fact. I had the ten-foot pole out, and balanced it on my off-hand to let me prod the walls and floor as we went. Our light came from my shield, but Mikael made sure he had his light-marble in a close pocket just in case I plunged abruptly into a pit or something (can’t be too careful, we’ve learned).

The passage turned and opened up into a larger room, and here at last we could see moisture dripping down the walls and mineral deposits coating grates in the floor…but it still didn’t smell as bad as you’d think a sewer should.

As we moved into the doorway, a creepy metal-looking statue in the center of the room started waving its arms and yelling at us: “Flee, or I shall breathe poisoned death on you!”

We did some experimenting with whether it noticed me when I had my invisible sword belted on…but either it could smell me or something, or the blazing light on my magic shield was enough to give me away, since it turned its head to follow me when I tried to creep around it. It didn’t seem riled enough to attack until Mikael stepped into the room – and when he retreated, it went back to its post – but we decided we’d have to get rid of it sooner or later. It didn’t seem eager to actually blow poison at us, so I gave Mikael the shield, and we tried what the statue thought of arrows.

Not much. It didn’t think much of arrows. They made it shout and run into the corner and finally come to fight me…but it didn’t hit hard enough or fast enough to stop me from dropping it. Continue reading

Dear diary….two steps back

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure: “Scourge of the Slave Lords”

Never a dull moment, it seems. We arrived back in Homlette to a bustle in the tower. Men seemed to be moving Sir Rufus’ things out, and he himself asked to speak with us at the inn.

(Handed over Wimple Frump, and now he’s someone else’s problem.)

It’s mostly good news. Sir Rufus has been recognized for his efforts in building the fort, and he’s being promoted to a post – I think in Veluna.

The rest of the news is more of an inconvenience for us. His replacement officer is bringing a mage who wants to use Lydia’s room…which means we have to find a new place for all our stuff – principally the mirror. We’ve had a pretty sweet set-up, being able to pop all over the world at will…but life is made of adapting to new circumstances. Besides, Master Osler has been more than gracious keeping our stuff locked indefinitely in one of his rooms. A less personable inn-keeper might have dumped it while we were off kidnapped for a month.

So…we need a secure place as a new base of operations. Ezekiel is busy convincing Agnar and Usin to go look after the pets for the night, and to give us news if any slavers discover their back door has been breached. Part of me thinks they must know we’re coming…but then why leave the way so open? I mean, it was guarded by gnolls of all things!

Lydia will portal the rest of us to Veluna, since that’s the most likely place to have a temple or vault where we can store our Vast Wealth (until we decide what we’re actually going to do with it. Been kind of busy. Does Elmo need a new axe?). Heiron will stay here to “protect Miss Lydia”.

****

I think Ezekiel was hiding behind the corner watching us. He said he was going to the Temple of Rau with Mikael to find a place to keep the mirror…while Raven and I went to the city keep to ask about using the vault. He said.

The guards at the fortress were very suspicious of a monk (foreswear earthly wealth) and a ranger (only own what you can carry on your horse) asking about storing treasure in the city vault. So…I’ve been stretching the spirit of the law lately…but they really couldn’t seem to understand that we might be asking on behalf of a super introverted friend of ours. And to be fair, Ezekiel is the one still hoarding harpy feathers.

Just when I was ready to give up, they told is which door to go to and who to ask for, and let us through the gate. We found the place with no trouble, and found out there are actually standard fee rates for this sort of thing. When we said we were adventurers, the clerk asked if we were the “Northern Four”…apparently some group making a name for themselves. I couldn’t tell exactly if it was a good name or bad.

He gave us the run-down (pay ten percent to reserve your space, but after that you don’t have to pay again unless you withdraw everything, and then want to place stuff in the vault again).

We thanked him and went to find Ezekiel…except Raven got stuck talking with the guards out front again. I’m sure there’s a rule against distracting the guards on duty, but there are also rules against discussing demonic rituals, and Raven was ignoring them all. Ezekiel finally showed up before things got really out of hand.

Mikael and Ezekiel didn’t have much luck at the Temple. The head priest was understandably unenthusiastic about storing an artifact that wasn’t actually a holy relic to Rao…besides the fact that the Temple is warded against teleportation (handy, if contrary to our current needs).

Ezekiel then checked out the Arcane Academy, AKA the Library, but our one contact Mr. Prettypebbles was out at the moment. Sounds like Lydia is just as happy they didn’t do business with those “misers”…

Someone thought Princess Aliana had been staying in Veluna, so Lydia tried to contact her for references…all I heard about the result was, “No she’s not in Veluna.”

We met Lydia in a quiet alley, and she led us through the air back to her room in the tower. Heiron was standing guard over a disheveled young man who seemed just returning to consciousness. He says the young man made the mistake of trying to mug Miss Lydia, and unceremoniously returned him to Veluna before Lydia closed the portal.

We gave report to each other, and the consensus seems to be that we arrange with the fortress vault to store most of our treasure there until this whole business is dealt with. Whatever we don’t take via portal, Sir Rufus has offered to supervise in the caravan he’s taking to Veluna tomorrow.

Which means the only thing we haven’t settled is the mirror. It is super useful, but it must be locked in a secure place that we can still access…if we’re going to continue using it as an escape hatch, of course.

[written in Lawful Good]

Master Osler said he might have a solution to our problem, but we had to wait until the tavern cleared of all the other customers.

Finally, he led us to the cellar and a secret door in one corner. It’s left over from the times of trouble, when the town elders needed secure places to meet and prepare their defenses. We could still come and go from the Pomarjch, but we’d have to be discrete about when we emerged from the cellar.

Ezekiel says he can put a glyph of warding on the area in front of the mirror – or on the mirror itself, maybe? – so that anyone who doesn’t know the password or the technique or something won’t be able to move it. He told Master Osler the trick, so he’ll be safe around it…but I’m also relieved it’s in a secret room within the inn. Not like someone’s going to trip over it by accident while trying to fetch beer or something.

Heiron, Raven, and Ezekiel carried it over tonight, so there’d be less chance of anyone observing us. I helped – I “supervised.” It’s mostly framed in with wood at the moment (Sir Rufus’ men let us use some boards, which was very nice of them) so it’s more set to travel on a moment’s notice. Taking it back to Geoff will still be a headache, I imagine.

[written in Common]

I suppose Lydia would come with us if we go back to Geoff? Doesn’t sound like she has any family to speak of, and nobody in Greyhawk she wants to see ever again… Ezekiel and Raven keep talking about this temple-fortress they want to build, and discussing where a good site might be (not a lot of unclaimed land around). Last we heard, someone was killing the goblins in Ertulli…but it still might be nice to see it again… And I haven’t been home home since Reapfest when I was fifteen or sixteen… Not that I miss the old place particularly, but Father must be getting tremendously old by this time, and I would like to see how Mama’s doing. And Alpheus has been married so long… Merciful heavens, a lot can happen in five years.

****

Sudderheim – city of the Slave Lords.

[expansive map sketch, with scribbled labels]

Agnar and Usin reported nothing unusual when we rejoined them in the caves – though I think they were both glad to see us, for different reasons. I think Agnar’s chaffing at the lack of a battle.

The stairs from Frump’s throneroom lead up to an earthen tunnel, and finally out a hole to what seems to be an island.

[sketch]

It’s almost like a lump of pudding in a bowl…cliffs rise, surrounding us, across the waters of a blue lake, while a mountain rises in the middle, obstructing our view in that direction. The tunnel entrance is unobtrusive, but not exactly concealed…the immediate surroundings are huts and gardens, such as you might find in any human village, while to the south lie fenced fields. People were working the fields, but I wasn’t close enough to see chains or any other obvious signs that they were slaves at all.

After much discussion, three of us set out as scouts – Raven, Mikael, and me. Lydia made Raven invisible, then slipped back to the mirror so she could keep an eye on everything. I belted on the sword that makes me invisible, and put my chainmail in my bag so I wouldn’t be quite so noisy. Mikael turned into a snake and hid in Raven’s pocket.

Raven led the way, tugging on my hand, and we headed toward the largest landmark – the huge, square city up on the hill (I don’t think it’s quite the top of the island’s mountain, but it’s close). As we came closer, we could see piers off on the north-west coast of the island, where merchants could dock their ships. Just as Wimple Frump told us, litters traveled from the pier to the gate of the city, with (presumably) the merchants hidden behind the curtains. The porters carrying the litters all wore scimitars, and I can only assume they work for the Slave Lords.

As we approached the city gate, three litters were just arriving, too. The guards on the gate inspected their warrants and permits (such bureaucratic slavers!) and issued them all passes to enter the city, then waved them through. Raven steered me between two of the litters, and we tip-toed past the guards without anyone being the wiser.

Inside the gatehouse there’s a beggar sitting to the side, which I thought quite odd – but he didn’t seem to notice us, so I guess he’s not there for magical detection…and then we followed the merchants through another set of guarded doors into the city proper (there’s another gate on that end of the gatehouse, but they didn’t open it at that time. Possibly operated by winch inside the wall? So far, guards mostly in pairs – with four armed porters on each litter).

Inside the city itself, a colorful crowd mingles. Orcs and ogres wander freely, while humans from all over – Bakluni, Sea Princes, whatever – walk around in their ostentatious best. I can only assume these are the customers of the Slave Lords, and that whoever’s in the business of buying and selling kidnapped and traumatized villagers is both very wealthy, and likes to strut that wealth.

Raven led us down the main street for a distance, until somebody next to us went sprawling on the ground (it wasn’t me; I didn’t feel anyone trip over me). After that, Raven had us duck into a side-street and we wound up in a more residential area…quiet, well-tended, with an occasional errand-boy carrying notes to butlers and such.

Once, Raven told Mikael to explore a door tucked into an alleyway, and a snake appeared on the ground. He slipped through a crack in the door – and a moment later, whipped out again, pursued by a young man with a broom. He says it smelled like an inn, though he didn’t get to explore very much. (We managed to evade the young man, and he lost interest and went back to his business.)

There seem to be a number of inns around, plus a money changer (might come in handy, since the Slave Lords have their own currency), a blacksmith, and a couple mysterious buildings that will require more investigation. The city itself has watchtowers on each corner of the wall, and sentries at regular intervals. Also patrols that circle the city, though I haven’t figured out the pattern yet.

Finally, Raven found us a back alley that led to a single door – with plenty of dust on the threshold. It seemed to line up with a door I’d noticed on the other side of the row of houses, where a door seemed neglected.

Raven got the door unlocked, and we took a quick look around…no one around, no food in the cupboards, and plenty of dust on all the floors and furniture. If I had to guess, I’d say no one’s been here for a couple months – though they’re likely just on vacation a business trip or something, since they left plenty of personal belongings here (not to mention the beds and furnishings). Still, it seemed like the best temporary base of operations, so I drew my short sword to become visible, and we sat around to wait for Lydia to notice us…so she could then bring the rest of the party to us.

(The house also has a trapdoor in the master bedroom that seems to lead to the sewers. Potentially useful for our purposes, but what did the owners want it for? Isn’t a guarderobe usually tucked away from the living spaces?)

***

Well, great, great, great. First day isn’t even over yet and we’re already –

So Lydia brought the rest of the party through to our empty house – including all the animals, which Mikael insisted on bringing for some reason. Then we headed out to make a circuit of the city, investigating the places of interest Raven and I had noticed.

I guess it was while we were checking out this circular building at some cross-roads near the center of the city… Raven (still invisible) climbed the outer walls and discovered an amphitheater of some kind, with a couple guards milling through the stair-step seats around the central platform. (Why guard an empty amphitheater with “Do Not Enter” signs posted on all the doors??)

Anyway, I don’t even remember how it started. We were saying something about being sneaky, and Mikael told Agnar that he wasn’t. Sneaky, that is. So Agnar threw his cloak over his face and worked his eyebrows…and while “sneaky” isn’t what I’d call it, he did look dark and intimidating…but Mikael said he looked stupid.

Then Ezekiel dragged us off to check out a big marble building labeled “Temple of the Earth Dragon,” and some square, stone buildings like vaults with iron-bound doors and guarded portcullises leading to walled courtyards. We figured out the guards circling the city travel in squads of ten plus a commander, and only move clockwise (they must have set routes – bureaucratic slavers!).

We found an armory and some kind of arcane building, and several taverns, and finally returned to the hideout.

And that’s when Usin asked where Agnar was.

It’s true he’s not exactly the subtle type…but now he’s gone and none of us can remember seeing him leave. Raven thought if he decided to ditch us and grab a drink, he might go to “The Fighting Man’s Haven” (right by the central cross-roads), but he didn’t see him there.

If he decided to betray us to the Slave Lords…he knows this hideout. Then again, he never came this far while he was working with them, he didn’t seem particularly sold to their ideology, and he shouldn’t have any personal contacts that he can go to. Back on the first hand, it’s possible all the paranoia about them scrying their minions is true, so they would know him… On the other hand again, it’s been some time, and no one has showed up to arrest us (we couldn’t even bluff our way out of that, because none of us have the right papers to be here).

I know no one cares when they call me short and high-strung…but none of them is my best friend. If my best friend called me names, what would I do? More to the point, what would Agnar do? What has he done?

Raven drew the circle to attract Lydia’s attention quite some time ago. Likely, she just got tired of sitting in the cellar of the Welcome Wench, and we’ll have to wait until she finds an opportune time to slip down there again.

But on the other hand…

[more detailed sketch of Sudderheim, with labels on the buildings]

Well I don’t intend to sit making horse faces at the others any longer. We act as though nothing can happen without Lydia, or Agnar, but the day is still young and we still have some Slave Lords to kill.

If worst comes to worst, there’s a building just south of here with a “Closed by order of the city” notice on it, which could probably serve as a headquarters if necessary. I don’t remember discussing it in front of Agnar, and he’s not exactly the sharpest scalpel in a doctor’s kit. I might suggest moving our camp there, since Lydia will be scrying us when she gets back, not our hideout…although I don’t know what we’re supposed to do with a wolf, a worg, a giant hyena, a carnivorous ape, and a giant ant (Buffy is small, and easier to smuggle around…also she could be a useful scout, and doesn’t eat nearly as many dead gnolls).

Cross that bridge later. There’s an opening to the sewers here, and I think I can convince Mikael to help me explore it. Good to know what our options are – and it’d be really disappointing to find the exit all blocked up by grates just as we’re trying to escape through there. The others are all worried about the smell or something, but fresh-air people like Mikael and me know you just tuck a sprig of pine behind your ear, and it goes away…or at least it helps. Surprised the Monk doesn’t know about that… True he doesn’t know how to sit on dust without disturbing it, either…odd…


Find the previous entry here.

Dear diary….one step forward

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Scourge of the Slave Lords”

Took a step in the right direction today. We left the wood-paneled spike room, went down the long corridor, and ended up in a huge, pillared room.

At the far end of the room, about a dozen gnolls – half of which seemed to be undead – clustered around a throne. On the throne sat a most remarkable gnoll…big but kinda lich-looking, with black fur, glowing red eyes, and a three-headed flail.

Ezekiel started muttering, “No, no, no!” but he does that a lot…and it wasn’t clear if he was talking about the gnoll-lich or the giant armored lizard-thing in the middle of the room.

I went for the leader. My arrow flew true until a few feet in front of the throne, where it hit some kind of barrier and dropped to the ground.

Heiron went for the terrible lizard…and when his arrow whistled harmlessly through it, it seemed to evaporate before our eyes. An illusion.

There was still plenty to fight, though. Agnar and Raven charged a slimy, blob-looking beasty hiding where the lizard had been. Mikael was trying to cast spells, but his non-arm didn’t seem to be cooperating.

I stayed close to Ezekiel and his Protection from Evil, and as we advanced more and more gnolls appeared from behind the pillars. When we got far enough into the room, Ez waved his holy symbol, and the undead gnolls near the throne cowered back. Strangely enough, the gnoll-lich – and the rest of his entourage – hadn’t engaged in the battle at all.

The rest of our party spread out into the room, while I dropped gnolls as they showed themselves behind the pillars. And still the huge black gnoll with glowing eyes just sat there with the rest of his honor guard. I figured the wall of force that kept my arrow from reaching him also kept them from reaching us (as much as I thought about it at all in the heat of the moment). Until Ezekiel pulled out a scroll and read something.

The huge gnoll-lich vanished…and the whole squad of his entourage vanished, undead and all. Instead, a little, inoffensive-looking man sat on the throne.

We didn’t get a good look at him before his outline and features blurred, and he darted for a door to the side of the room. Most of our party was finishing off the real gnolls behind us, and Ezekiel and I just about ran into a glass wall trying to reach the throne. I thought we’d lost another lead when a wall of fire sprang up blocking the door. The little man skidded to a halt and threw down his weapon (all he had was a dagger, really) and began sniveling.

Ezekiel and Raven started questioning him, and I caught sight of Lydia standing off to the side, her eyes looking smug.

Our side wasn’t completely without losses. I found Agnar bashing dead gnolls into putty with the crumbly hilt of a sword. Turns out it was his broadsword – only the reddish, blobby monster ate it or something, and turned it to rust with just a lick! We’ve warned Heiron and Usin to look out for anything like that, and Heiron said it’s a good thing Master Raven only hit it with his hands. Agnar was pretty grumpy about it…he told us some kind of story about how that was his father’s sword. I’m not totally sure how much of his stories to believe, but it sounds like his family is much crazier than mine. Anyway, I offered him the magic sword I’d been using, and scrounged up one from the gnolls that looks good enough I can use it. That way, he still has a magic weapon, and I can use the invisible sword if I need to (I’m glad he went for it, since I don’t like the idea of him running around invisible). He actually seemed touched…can evil people be emotionally touched?

[hasty sketch of rust-monster]

Got back with Ezekiel and Raven, and this is what we’ve learned from our captive. His name is Wimple Frump (talk about a rough start in life!) and he’s part of the Outer Council (says there’s a score or more of them; Bluecolts was only recently promoted). Sounds like Frump is quite down on the totem pole, and they had him guarding this out-of-the-way “escape hatch.” (Makes sense why most of the traps seemed pointed in one direction. Doesn’t explain how anyone expected to get up the salt slide, but I’m sure if we needed to we’d find a way.)

Nine people sit on the Inner Council…he gave us names and descriptions. Edralve is a dark elf lady, and sounds like as nasty a femme fatale as you could wish to meet. Sounds like over half of them are spell-casters, although the leader is a warrior type who prefers to fight with a scimitar. Raven said he sounds like a swashbuckler. Frump gave us a little info on some potential in-fighting among the leaders, but I don’t think we can rely on that. Apparently they all stay in their private city, Sudderheim, which means they can’t be off plotting against each other. They have to at least play-act getting along, because they’re all in close proximity…like a family. Like Reginald and Archy when Mother was watching them.

It’s also very true Frump is terrified of all of them. With that many magical people, it makes sense at least some of them are scryers, and at least some of those keep up-to-date with their underlings…although I think Ezekiel’s right, and keeping that many scryers busy watching the every movement of every minion just isn’t feasible. But as long as they’ve convinced their underlings they do that, it doesn’t matter. Frump says Marquessa came back to explain how she lost the stockade, and they publically executed her for negligence or failure. Doesn’t even matter if they executed the real Marquessa, or if Frump saw it in person. He saw the head, and he firmly believes the Inner Council would absolutely send him to his final judgement if he stepped out of line.

Which brings me to another point…he wasn’t at all this forthcoming for nothing. At first, we weren’t sure what to do with him, or what we could offer him – since he has been quite willingly working for the slavers, and Ezekiel gets strangely frothy at the mouth about that. I could have pointed out that he let that half-orc assassin go that literally assassinated him, and was working for the Temple of Elemental Evil on top of that, and was a half-orc on top of that…but Lydia pointed out we are kinda sorta under the authority of Furiundy (being knights and elders of the land and so on) and we could be within our rights to surrender him to the justices of Veluna or Mitrik for them to pass judgement.

Frump seemed to brighten up at that thought, and I definitely like the idea of letting an actual judge be the judge. Killing prisoners is bad mojo (though Agnar says he doesn’t see the problem), and I also don’t like the idea of letting actual Slave Lords get away with their deeds. The other hand of that, though, is that Frump gives the impression of being a pathetic pile of goo of a man, who would be led around by anyone and anything who happens to present itself. He’s certainly been led around by his greed, it seems…though his post wasn’t too glamorous. A quick ransack of his quarters didn’t turn up any interesting papers, or even anything particularly worth taking along.

We did find a compartment in the throne that held a key – turns out it’s the spare key to the door Frump was trying to escape through. He says the door leads to some stairs, which lead to the Secret Private Island of the Slave Lords, AKA Aery Island. On the island, there’s a fortress that we’ll have to get into – and they even use their own currency (he showed us a coin – it has three hands encircling a pair of manacled hands. Like, they’re not very subtle at all).

We took Frump’s belongings (his bracers were the most interesting thing; he also had gobs of wool on him for some reason), and prepared to return to base. Ezekiel and Raven were having a heated discussion about whether burning Sudderheim to the ground with everyone in it would be ethical. I have some concerns about Ezekiel.

Also had some discussion about the animals. Frankly, there’s a lot of them now…and some of them are large and unwieldy and not best suited to a town visit. (Lulu currently chewing on a dead gnoll leg.) We finally convinced Mikael (and he convinced them) that they should stay here and guard this area. There are plenty of bodies for them munch on, and they won’t get into trouble in town. Tried to get Agnar and Usin to babysit them, but that got nixed pretty quickly. They don’t have the best rapport with the animals, or with each other… Frankly, this party can’t keep growing unconditionally. More thought required.

Now to just keep Ezekiel from committing genocide, and we’ll be all good.


Find the previous entry here.

Read the next entry here.

Dear diary…delighting the scientist in us

Alert: Contains spoilers for the adventure “Scourge of the Slave Lords”

Sentient stalactites that drop from the ceiling.

Sentient stalactites that drop from the ceiling!

SENTIENT STALACTITES THAT DROP FROM THE CEILING.

Sentient stalactites that happen to be vulnerable to arrows and fireball. Crisis averted.

**

Well, we found the giant hyenas. The next place where the tunnel opened up into a room, we found a squad of gnolls with huge, dog-like pets. They tried to douse us in meat to goad the hyenas to attack.

While Mikael fed his new hyena pet (because he had to add one to his collection), we searched the dead gnolls and found an interesting ring. Added it to the “check for magic” pile.

**

[Huge, sprawling map]

Ugh. Found a cavern blocked by some kind of white goo, so we tried to go around…but all the passages lead back to the same place! In fact, it looks like the gnoll company that met us at the bottom of the slide might camp out there…there’s no other sign of habitation down here.

I guess we have to beat the goo somehow. The gnolls must have had a way…but they’re super dead.

**

The white goo room is beyond weird. Wide stone steps lead down into the bubbling pool on each side, while a narrow bridge spans the distance above it. But – across the center of the room, cutting off the bridge, some kind of blue fire keeps jumping back and forth between the walls, crackling as it goes. The whole room smells like a thunderstorm (only without the rain smell).

When I shot an arrow through the fire, the arrow wasn’t instantly consumed, and we heard it hit the far wall…but none of us suggested the fire might not actually be there. Ezekiel’s Dispell Magic did nothing to it.

Mikael started dipping a stick in the goo, while Raven ran back to the other room to fetch a hunk of meat (amazing Lulu and the doggy pack left him anything to find). While he was gone, Ezekiel and Usin tried sticking a torch into the goo…with the result that the torch went out, and the stick got covered with goo. The goo didn’t seem to harm the wood – nor Raven’s chunk of meat, nor the iron-tipped arrow he used as a skewer. Finally, Raven walked along the bridge to do a side-by-side comparison of meat in the blue fire. Goo-ified meat came out of the fire a bit singed…while the plain meat looked and smelled almost cooked.

Well, Raven has never been known to send others where he wouldn’t go himself. He dipped his arm in the goo, and tried it out in the fire. While the goo felt cool (despite the bubbles), the fire made his skin tingle and his hairs prickle, and his arm reflexively jerked out of it. He thought the goo protected him some, but obviously it wasn’t complete protection – and getting the animals through there would be a chore, at the very least.

So he decided to try walking through the goo. Lydia produced a ten-foot pole from her magic robe, and Raven headed out – trying to use the pole to feel out the slope of the floor before him. He decided the floor was probably ten feet below the surface, which meant even Mikael would be under if he tried to cross through the goo. It’s also very thick, so even Raven had to fight his way through, and he was less swimming more pushing through.

He crawled out – all white and sticky – and borrowed two of our shields for one more experiment. He coated the shields with goo, also, and tried to walk through the pulsing fire, blocking both sides with the shields. It worked about as well as our other experiments – he didn’t die, or lose his footing, but the fire still prickled at him…and his daggers slid out of their sheaths and stuck to the shields.

Raven decided to try once more, to see if he could swim across the room – under the fire, since it crackled pretty close to the surface of the goo. I wasn’t sure about everyone’s abilities to swim through the goo – especially if Raven of all people struggled with it – but we didn’t have many other options. Raven gave Lydia back her pole and started out.

For a while, we could see the lump of his head bobbing up, then under, then back to the surface a bit farther on…then it felt like quite a while since we had seen him, and I considered that if he drowned in there, none of us was well suited to rescuing him.

Then, we saw him coming back – looking weird and monstrous, with his face all covered in white goo. He announced that we could breathe in the goo (maybe that’s what the bubbles are about??) so after that, it was just a matter of forming up – and everyone keeping hold of a rope so Raven could lead us across. I think Mikael carried Buffy under his jacket, since the fire occasionally licked the ceiling with its blue tendrils, so he didn’t want her to fly.

It’s weird trudging through goo, unable to see anything, feeling your lungs satisfied by something that isn’t really air… I’m glad Raven has practiced moving and navigating while blind-folded…I’m sure I could have wandered in circles down there if I wasn’t careful – and if there was nothing to hold on to.
Speaking of which…

I felt something brush my hand in the goo, and grabbed it automatically (I thought it might be one of Mikael’s animal posse, or one of our many belongings, fallen off our persons). I finally pulled free of the goo and struggled up the steps on the far side, to find all my companions staring at me. But no – they weren’t staring at me… Raven said something about, “Elwyn went and got lost!” and I think Lydia and Heiron started tugging the rope to see if I was still holding it. I was – it was in my other hand…so I tugged it back, so they could see I just hadn’t climbed all the way out of the goo yet.

Well, Raven still couldn’t see me, so he came down a couple steps and stared into the goo – with me standing there the whole time, with goo drying on my skin and clothes. I couldn’t take it anymore, and laughed.

Turns out, I was invisible. I thought for an instant that maybe it was something the goo did, but when I put down the thing I grabbed (it felt like a scabbard), everyone could see me again.

Ezekiel picked it up – and vanished! He buckled it on (took him a while, being unable to see himself) and we heard the sound of a sword drawn – and suddenly Ezekiel was there again, holding what seemed to be an empty hilt (it did have a blade – he nicked his thumb on it).

Just when it seemed our excitement had peaked, Ez had Usin buckle it on, then draw his flame-tongue. A blade of fire appeared in the air, but the rest of him stayed invisible. Then Ezekiel had him knock his sword against Ezekiel’s shield. Usin stayed invisible. I don’t have to be a magic user to understand the implications of this…and to want this sword in only the right hands!

We talked for a moment about who was best suited to use it, and in the end, I put it in my backpack. It doesn’t seem to make anyone invisible unless they’re actually wearing it or holding it sheathed, so it might end up awkward to carry around…

**

The goo hardened as we walked, and finally peeled off in chunks like an exoskeleton. Lydia theorized it was an effect of the lights we carried, since the goo in our lungs just absorbed harmlessly – which suggests that the blue fire had a counter-active property, since we stood in there for some time, waving our lights around, and the surface of the goo never hardened. Or perhaps it has something to do with the bubbles constantly rising through it…or the huge quantity of goo piled together.

Anyway, the next room we found also had a trick to it. It seemed to be completely empty, except for a rope hanging from the center of the ceiling. Ezekiel and Agnar made a circuit of the room, but they didn’t find anything – not even dust or pebbles or anything.

We tied a rope to the one hanging from the ceiling, and then stood in the hallway to pull the rope. Sure enough – the floor dropped away on hinges…while at the same time, a secret door opened up exactly opposite where we were. Down below, we could see a clear liquid…with absolutely nothing in it. Not a fish, not floating debris – nothing.

After a short discussion, Ezekiel held the rope braced, while Raven crossed the room using his monk-ish skills. He was able to jam the secret door open with a crampon, and then signaled Ezekiel to release the rope. Luckily, the floor folded back up when he let go of the rope – so the rest of us were able to cross and get through the secret door with minimal trepidation.

After another unnecessarily complicated long, twisty corridor, we found a larger room that felt more like a natural cave…complete with a huge stalagmite in one corner. We’ve learned better by now, of course – it looked suspiciously like the last “stalactite” we fought (Agnar calls those things that try to drop on you “piercers”). So we approached cautiously – and what a surprise! it shot out two tentacles and tried to hit Ezekiel. He warded it off with his shield, and we killed it without much trouble. (Agnar called that one a “storoper,” and said they try to mind-control you with their tentacles. That would have been entertaining, but we’re sort of on a schedule.)

While Agnar was cutting it open for treasure (quite a lot of coins and gems – I guess they don’t digest that stuff), he discovered a hole underneath it leading to another tunnel. I was glad we could just climb into this one, and didn’t have to drop down with no way back. Raven thinks this passage is meant to be traveled the other direction (something about a mechanism on the far side of the drop-floor?) but that still leaves unanswered questions.

Now, the latest room – all covered in wood paneling, with plenty of knots to be secret spy-holes. Ezekiel is busy searching every single panel, in case one of the knots is a button or something. Could take a while.

**

Well, Ezekiel found the knots that were different – one corner of the room had a door hidden among the panels, with the knots removed. Squinting through one, he saw they were removed to allow spikes through! We weren’t sure what would trigger the spikes, but we all agreed better to be far away when it went off.

So we all cleared out of the room while Mikael stood in the doorway – and cast Turn Wood. The paneling secured to the walls didn’t budge, but the wooden door cracked and popped open. Something behind it (I think a second door?) shoved the spikes forward…but of course there was no one standing there for them to pierce. Once the spring was sprung, Raven was able to open the door properly, and lead us into – yep – yet another long stone corridor.

(Mikael’s just excited he finally got to use his spell.)


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Dear Diary…underground – again!

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Scourge of the Slave Lords”

Following the pebble-arrows led us, by nightfall, into a ravine. We took a vote, and decided the ravine was sheltered enough, the fortress wouldn’t be obvious from a distance…and that, given we’d been led into this area where we could be easily surrounded, having a bit of protection would be nice.

Turned in a bit early, as the sunlight disappears more quickly in a sheltered place like this, and had some nice time to ourselves. Someone brought up Edralve, that mysterious Slave Lady who was writing notes in two different hand-writings, and everyone had to give a theory.

Raven says he’s on the look-out for a villain named Evlarde.

****

No more arrows this morning. I did some scouting around while Mikael was “meditating,” but couldn’t find any signs of heavy traffic leading out of the ravine (understandable, given the weather recently).

There were four cave mouths in the west wall of the gully – the same direction both the trail and the arrows were directing us. With no other direction, we decided to investigate. None of the caves seemed more popular than the others, so we started on the right…not a bad system.

The rightmost cave seemed very rough and twisty – very much what you’d expect from a natural formation. In the very back, we found a pile of old bones that I’m pretty sure some kind of hyena had been chewing on…only the teeth-marks were larger than I expected. That said, the bones didn’t look like they’d been disturbed in some time.

We kept our eyes open, but found no more signs of giant hyenas. We did determine, after several hours of mapping and comparing and walking back and forth from dead ends, that the next three tunnels all connected with each other…and the passage second-from-the-right seemed to be the main thing.

This tunnel led, after a couple twists and false turns, to a carved passage, then to a suspiciously square-ish room, with two narrow mats made of hide laid on the floor. Ezekiel turned them over, and found rock crystals stuck on the bottom that Raven confirmed were salt. Ez said, from his mountaineering experience, they reminded him of toboggans or sledges…only he couldn’t think where the salt flats were that these mats had been dragged over (nor what heavy thing needed to be dragged).

A carved passage led out of this room, to a place where Raven said there was a pit trap. He poked with one of Mikael’s sticks, and a pair of doors swung down, revealing a floor of salt about fifteen feet below. As we were theorizing what the salt could be for, the doors snapped back into position on springs or something, which made me very disturbed.

We could see some kind of door at the end of the passage beyond the trap, so Raven helped everyone cross the pit with ropes, and we formed up. “Some kind” of door! Raven was confused that it had a keyhole, but didn’t seem locked, but still wouldn’t open for him. Ezekiel went to open it, and – crunch – ripped it right off the wall…and that’s all that was behind it – the cave wall, and some rude graffiti!

That leaves no path forward except the salt pit…or stumbling around outside on our own. By now, the sun has fully set outside, so we’re calling it a day and taking votes for how to proceed.

****

We wedged the doors of the pit with crampons so they stay open, and Raven scouted down below on a rope. He says the salt is pretty deep, but there’s a tunnel sloping away into the mountain. The walls glow with some kind of fungus, and it seems to be where we need to go. I do hate when there’s no clear path of retreat…but I think it’s our only option. At least, with the doors jammed, none of us will get beheaded – and with the hides, and the fake door, there should be enough sleds for us all, so none of us sink into the salt. (Raven says we could walk on it easily, but he also thinks armor is a silly luxury.)

**

Back door! The salt tunnel frayed my nerves a bit, but at least I didn’t scream the whole way down like Agnar. I can’t tell if he was having fun or not (caves being a dwarf thing, you know). At the bottom, a couple squads of gnolls were waiting (maybe they were the ones chewing on the bones upstairs?). They shot Lydia full of crossbow bolts – but then Ezekiel covered her, and Heiron and I got our bows out. Even Usin got in on the action with his sword. Heiron went around afterwards, stabbing the bodies and stomping on them to be sure they were dead.

One of them had something unusual – a piece of black papyrus in a scroll case. Either Ezekiel or Lydia is carrying it; I don’t remember.

Now we are faced with a bank of corridors, leading off into darkness…we’re going to need a bigger map…


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Dear diary…a change of scene and pace

Alert: May contain spoilers for the adventure “Scourge of the Slave Lords”

We gathered up the rest of the bodies from the torture room for proper burial. Ezekiel finally decided that he didn’t have the time or resources to bring them all back, maybe especially after seeing the scarring on that one guy. I figure, if they went to the happy rest of their Food deity – why disturb them? And if not…is that our business, either? Might be why I’m not a cleric…

Lydia got us back to Homlette just fine. It’s still standing. Sir Rufus has finished the fort, and it looks like they could hold off quite a force, if they used the defenses properly.

Ezekiel and Raven want to check on their disciples, so they’ll have Lydia scry them…but Heiron and I have an appointment at the inn.

***

Elmo and I snuck down to the Temple of Elemental Evil…bold, I know, but it’s kinda his job to keep an eye on things. The only tracks we found were probably a bandit group, and they didn’t actually enter the grounds. It’s not the kind of place you want to go, even if you need shelter temporarily. And the rats say they haven’t seen any traffic, either (I got Ehlonna’s permission to ask).

I also showed Elmo the journal we found, and we tried the trick for speaking to each other in bird-calls, but I don’t think we did it right. Obviously, you can use bird imitations as signals, but to send more complicated messages is going to be harder. And you can only practice if you have a partner.

More thinking required…

**

Returned to our quarters to find Ezekiel there with Dree, just returned from a shopping trip with Mikael. Lydia dropped them in Mitrik, so they’re loaded up on magic items – including some bracers for Raven, who’s still wherever Keom and Ronhass are, giving them a hand. Apparently they have the dragons in a swamp somewhere south of Greyhawk. Bornthene is also keeping an eye on things, and Ez says he seems in a positively upbeat mood. I’m sure knowing Miffly is safe here, helping Madam Osler, takes a load off his mind.

Something about Ezekiel needing money…didn’t realize he was getting short, but the subject changed before I learned more.

Heiron and Usin are at the fort, drilling with the men there. Learning opportunities all around, I suppose.

Asked Dree how she was getting on as Team Mom, and she says everyone is working together well, and even the dragons are sweethearts in their own way. Said she still can’t cast spells, but she’s starting to understand this whole “God of gods” thing better.

Mikael says Father Geru has sent for an “arm specialist”…apparently the clergy of Obed-Hai have conferred or something, and there is someone who can help. He was evasive about details, though.

When Dree went back to the others, I sent the magic short sword I’ve been carrying as a back-up to Bornthene. We all agreed the chances are low that I’ll need it…and I really don’t want to start breaking weapons or having them stolen again.

****

Finally got the report on some of the things Ezekiel left in Mitrik to be identified.

Two of the rings are interesting – one lets you walk on water, the other lets you see in the dark like an elf, dwarf, or orc. We’ve forwarded the first to Bornthene – should come in handy while living in a swamp. Everyone decided I should wear the second, at least for the time being, since Raven has all the magical items he feels comfortable using at the moment (monks have weird ideas about keeping things fair and depending more on their deity or something, which I guess I can’t argue with).

As for the amulets – the one from the magic circle does indeed cast Protection from Good, upon command, a few times a day. I asked Ez, and he didn’t think it would strangle us or anything if we happened to wear it…but he left it in the care of the Temple of Rao for “disposal.”

The second one (from the treasure room)…that one was quite weird. The amber stuff surrounding it inside the bottle was actually a jelly monster of some kind…but Marquessa had altered it, apparently, so it could survive in that state until exposed to the air – then, presumably, it would behave like a normal jelly. (Heiron can deal with that with his flaming sword.) The amulet inside has something to do with a power word…the sage thought it was “Pain,” but naturally it’s hard to read through a jelly slime. Probably needs to be used by someone who understands the arcane, so that means Lydia (Ez and Mikael also bought her a new robe in Mitrik…it has little cut-out pictures of items stitched all over it).

Lydia also mentioned she tried to scry Marquessa… She’s not sure if she really found her, or found the body double instead, but either way…apparently she’s in a bad place. They say virtue is its own reward, and it seems crime also has its own reward.

****

Lydia dropped us at the outside of the stockade, where the stream runs out of the hill. Raven checked, and says the blacksmith and his people have cleared out. So I think that means the whole stockade is empty.

On to Suderheim!

**

Minor heart-attack tonight. I was on guard with Agnar, and we banked the fire since we could both “see” in the dark (such a weird sensation; in daylight, everything is normal, but in darkness the colors fade, and the clearest shapes I can see are the flares of heat sources, like fires and living bodies; getting side-tracked).

Maybe halfway through the watch, the ground started to tremble. I scanned the area with my bow, and spotted the huge head of a stone giant lumbering through the trees. They can see fine in the dark, and he was headed on a course directly past us. I did some frantic thinking – after all, I haven’t always had problems with stone giants, and on average I’ve heard that if you leave them alone, they won’t care about you. But would camping above the track be considered “leaving them alone”?

Just as he was getting close, I kicked Ezekiel awake, since he’s the one who knows how to speak diplomatically.
The giant came right up to us – and didn’t attack. Instead, he said he represented the Brotherhood of Granite, and there were forces on the move in the area. He warned us to be careful, and stomped off – waking a few more of the party with his footfalls.

Who’s moving? Are the giants against the Slave Lords, or with them?
Ezekiel decided to throw up the instant fortress, so the Brotherhood wouldn’t think we were trying to sneak up on them or something…and also so we’d have a more defensible position. I think Lydia is happy.

****

Aaand we’re back in Homlette tonight. We have a good excuse, though.
We followed the track away from Marquessa’s stockade, all morning and into the afternoon. Air was brisk, and clouds threatening, but no precipitation yet.

Then, about mid-afternoon, I heard a group coming from up ahead of us. We got off the track and hid among the trees…and sure enough, a huge caravan came up the track below us. There must have been a hundred men or more, with over a dozen wagons. The leader wore fancy armor, and there also seemed to be a man in robes, riding one of the carts.
Lydia made Raven invisible, and he snuck off after them to try and hear what the deal was.

Shortly, he coughed to let us know he was back, and told us what he overheard between the armored leader and the robed man. Apparently they were originally heading to the stockade, but Marquessa sent word that it had been seized (which either means she’s still alive, or that she got a message out before she died).

Raven’s biggest concern was that they had a half-dozen or so slaves chained together in one of the wagons. This launched quite a discussion, and I was really getting afraid that Ezekiel expected Heiron, Lydia, and me to massacre over a hundred men that afternoon (slaves and slavery do something funny to his head).

I reminded everyone we had a literal Mirror of Magic Portaling – and suddenly the subject switched from how we could kill the entire caravan, to how we could sneak the prisoners out through the mirror unobserved. Much better! I remember the flind battle, and that wasn’t exactly a piece of cake.

In the end, we trailed them quietly until nightfall. Lydia got as good a look as she could before dark, then took Raven with her back to her room at the tower. She locked on to the prisoners, Raven slipped through (still invisible), and got their attention quietly (which removed his invisibility, but fortunately none of the guards noticed him).

The slaves were chained to each other, but not to the wagon, so once he had their attention, it was a simple matter of walking them through the air into Lydia’s room.

We couldn’t really see any of it from where we were, of course. The wagons were all circled in the middle, with the men-at-arms bivouacked around them, and a patrolling guard around that.

Before too long, though, Lydia stuck her face out of the air and invited us to join them in Homlette. She and Raven had decided, as entertaining as it might be to watch the changing of the guard, we would be more prudent to be a safe distance away from the caravan by then.
So – another night of real roof and real floor around us.

The prisoners claim the century-guard was for the merchants being escorted, not because they’re particularly exciting slaves. They did come from Suderheim, so we know we’re on the right track.

Ezekiel shilled for his temple a bit, and got all curious when the slaves said one of the merchants was from the Scarlet Brotherhood, like an emissary or something. Ez dug through his notes, and found that someone in the Temple of Elememtal Evil was worried about the Scarlet Brotherhood, but we weren’t sure why. Maybe they’re competitors or something.

Another useful thing the rescued slaves clarified – Suderheim isn’t just a base for the Slave Lords…it’s an entire town. Most of the inhabitants own slaves, but the ones for sale (especially high-value ones) are kept in the fortress there. So Ezekiel has to decide if he wants to slaughter an entire town, or if he’d be satisfied just making a surgical strike on the slavers’ fortress.

We also asked about giants, and they said they saw four hill giants moving in the direction of Suderheim, but it’s hard to say what their object is. With hill giants, they could just be looking for a small caravan to rob.

****

Well, we found the hill giants today. Lydia returned us roughly to the trail in the hills, though it took me a minute to find where we’d been. We kept following the trail, though the clouds were lowering and we watched for snow all morning.

Then, about noon, we spotted four hill giants climbing down toward us. Ezekiel tried talking to them (typical), but they made rude comments (according to Mikael) and reached for boulders.

Agnar whined that Lydia, Heiron and I didn’t leave enough for him to do. Lydia must have been bored, as she threw a lightening bolt into the middle of them.

Found something strange on them. Hill giants usually have trash for clothes, and not much else, but one of them had a fine leather pouch with a design worked into it. Inside the pouch was a note in fancy writing – talk of a “great plan,” and addressed to Edralve – the same Slave Lord or Lady who was sending all the mysterious notes to Bluecolts.

Much theorizing among the party. Raven started spelling everything backward and trying to uncover some kind of conspiracy that way. Query: maybe his brain doesn’t deal well with repeated invisibility?

****

Camped under an overhang of rock (fortress too conspicuous) and woke up to deep snow – up to Agnar’s waist!

The trail was getting harder to spot, what with the rocky terrain, and now it’ll be impossible! Even if this melts quickly, that will likely wash away any tracks there were…it hasn’t been a carved path like a road or anything like that.

Ezekiel brainstorming; Lydia damp and crabby; Mikael enjoying himself.

**

Started raining about mid-afternoon. Spirits briefly revived by a band of ogres stupid enough to attack us. Agnar got a couple hits in, which mollified him. Lulu now chomping on dead ogre and making Raven sick to his stomach.

Ezekiel has decided to try scouting from the air. He’ll have us tie him to one of the magic ebony flies, and see if any kind of structure or settlement shows up when he can get a feel for the land.

**

Zip, nada, nothing. The rain didn’t help, I’m sure, and he didn’t stray too far for fear of losing sight of us – but he didn’t see any sign of our slaver city.

Speaking of getting a feel for the land, though, Mikael has been sitting in a corner with his eyes closed, ignoring us. He says he was trying to become one with the natural forces of the area in hopes he could sense which direction civilization might be…but he only got a sense of a very big, very old, minimally aware “being” somewhere in the area. He got all druidy, and a little nervous,  and hunkered down to try to puzzle out what kind of creature or power of nature it might be.

Ezekiel did say that, since the rain obstructs vision at a distance anyway, we might as well set up the fortress. Popularly adopted.

****

Creepy development this morning. The rain seems to have broken (that’s not what’s creepy), but when we got up this morning, something (that is, someone!) had left pebbles arranged in an arrow outside our door.

An arrow pointing in roughly the direction we were heading until we lost all tracks.

If Ezekiel is right and there is maneuvering within the Slave Lords, this could be the work of one of their agents. Whoever it was, I find it disturbing that no one on watch last night saw them or heard them…we need to step up our game, people!

All that said, it’s not like we have any other lead to pursue. Raven suggested scattering the pebbles after taking bearings, so it’s harder for anyone to follow us.

With invisible stalkers leaving ambiguous notes in the night, it might be too late to be worrying about that…


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Dear Diary…last undead

Dear Diary…last undead

Alert: Contains spoilers for the adventure “Scourge of the Slave Lords”

We continued south down the passage, led by Ezekiel…Raven and Mikael followed him about ten feet back, just in case. This stronghold seems to love traps.

Up ahead, the blazing light of Ezekiel’s shield revealed a lumpy white thing hanging from the ceiling. After a moment of staring, we realized the shadows on the ceiling were from spiderwebs, mostly above the cocoon thing.

Before we reached it, we found a side-door into a storeroom. Ezekiel checked it out, and said there was lots of dust…and also an apparition of an elf prisoner that ran up some stairs, through a secret door, under an arch, and into a storeroom where he got eaten by wolves. Wish I could have seen how it could show all that while staying in one place.

Ezekiel came out, all fired up for an exorcism, and pointed out that the stone arch just outside the door (between us and the spiderwebs) looked identical to the one in the vision.

Mikael tapped on a strand of the web, hoping to draw the spider out, but they didn’t seem to care until Raven started cutting open the cocoon.

A web dropped down on Raven – and tried to grab Ezekiel, but it slid off him.

While Raven was cutting himself free, two huge spiders – bigger than Nori! – dropped from the ceiling. Heiron and I loosed our prepared arrows, and once one spider died, the other scrambled back up to the ceiling where it was hidden by cobwebs – ignoring Mikael’s attempts to befriend it. Continue reading

Dear Diary…finally a back door

Dear Diary…finally a back door

Alert: Contains spoilers for the adventure “Scourge of the Slave Lords”

We formed up in battle ranks and headed up the stairs to the north door (the only one we’d found at that point).

Beyond, we found a number of storerooms – wrapped furniture (Ezekiel thinks that’s for trading), food, goblin-sized armor, and things that look like manacle-bracelets, except with spikes on the inside. Totally useless.

Where the hallway turned, we encountered something more out of the ordinary. For twenty or thirty feet down the way, the floor, ceiling and walls were all covered with…cupboards. It looked like a grill work – only the shadows were wrong. Someone had cut out “boxes” about an armlength deep and a foot square at the top, leaving dividers between. As if that weren’t tricky enough to walk on, some kind of black goo or fluid coated the entire surface.

Ezekiel tried to figure out what it was, but could only say it didn’t behave like lamp oil. Mikael waved a stick down the hall – and that’s when we got new information: a little blue creature with an oversized head popped out of nowhere, grabbed the stick, and vanished. I didn’t get to see the first one (back of the pack again), but Raven said they weren’t exactly like the blue creatures we found on the towers.

Don’t know if we felt flummoxed, or we’re just easily distracted, but we decided to go have another whack at finding the rumored south door of the torture chamber. This basically meant propping the iron maiden open so Ezekiel could tinker in it without needing to be raised, while Lydia and I tried to keep our rescued prisoner’s mind on other things. Continue reading

Dear Diary…musings on the ethics of Raise Dead

Dear Diary…musings on the ethics of Raise Dead

Alert: Contains spoilers for the adventure “Scourge of the Slave Lords”

Ezekiel opened the secret door, and there was some thumping and clanging. Agnar rushed in to help him, and by the time the rest of us caught up, they had a dead minotaur. The minotaur’s room was littered with old bones and debris, with a pile of straw in one corner. The north wall and south wall each had a door in it – and each door had a short board leaned against it, such that it would fall and clatter if someone opened the door. Both boards were in place…but if Marquessa did escape through there, the minotaur could have set up the boards again. Not exactly solid evidence.

The north door led into the hallway behind the weapons room – leading to the suite where we killed the two elves (as Ezekiel says, the “maybe-elves”). While I was updating the map, Ezekiel borrowed one of Mikael’s sticks to poke at the chimney in the fancy bedroom because he was convinced there was something funny going on there. In the time it takes to turn around, he found the hidden lever or whatever it was, and opened up the secret door in the fireplace (sure we aren’t overdoing it here, lady?!).

I guess we must have been bored, or overcome with excitement, or something…because we forgot something very, very important the universe taught us way back in Explictika’s lair (and again in the Temple of Elemental Earth).

The passage slants south away from the fireplace, and joins up with the passage on the south end of the minotaur room…so that was neat and tidy and nice. But there’s another passage, leading even further south…and that’s the one that got us into trouble. Continue reading