View source for Our Two Main Weapons are Fear, Surprise, A Huge Mountain of Skulls...Wait a minute.

[[Category:William]]
== Introduction ==
To be played on Tuesday. A vast number of horrible things are happening and a party is needed to profit from it all, um I mean stop it.

Game to be played in rainy, desolate Glen Eden. 112 Solar Road, unit 3.

== Party ==
* [[Pent]]
* [[Ben]] Poor fool blamed for what we do (Party Leader)
* [[Flamis]]  Mil Sci
* [[Human the Fool]]
* [[Phaeton]] Scribe
* [[Eltan aka Stupid Stupid Rat Creature | Eltan]]
* [[Keesha]]

==Buffs==
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{| class="buffs" |
!Align="left"|  Magic
!  Rk  
!Align="Left"|  Effects  
!  Dur  
!  Caster
!width="30px" title="Pent" | Pnt
!width="30px" title="Ben" | Ben
!width="30px" title="Flamis" | Fla
!width="30px" title="Human" | HTF
!width="30px" title="Phaeton" | Pha
!width="30px" title="Eltan" | Elt
!width="30px" title="Keesha" | Kee
|-
| class="text"|Armour of Ice
| 11
| class="text"| 7 AP / -2 Ag / 5 WT
|  6 Hrs
| Pnt
| Y
| 
| 
| Y
| 
| N
| 
|-
| class="text"| Resist Cold
| 12
| class="text"| +4 Gauge / -4 Cold DM 
|  13 Hrs
| Pnt
| Y
| 
| 
| Y
| 
| N
| 

|-
| class="text"|Weapon of Cold
| 20
| class="text"| +7 DM / +21 SC
|  10.5 Hrs
| Pnt
| 7
| 
| 
| Y
| 
| Y
| 
|-
| class="text"| Fire Armour
| 15
| class="text"| Absorbs 64 point of fire damage
| 16 hrs 
| Fla
| Y
| 
| 
| Y
| Y
| Y
| 
|-
| class="text"| Resistance to Light
| 20
| class="text"| +22 resistance to light attacks 
| 210 min 
| Pha
| Y
| 
| 
| Y
| Y
| Y
| 
|-
| class="text"| Coruscade
| 12
| class="text"| +14 DEF (+7 in close)
| 6.5 hrs
| Pha 
| 
| 
| 
| N
| 
| N
| 
|-
| class="text"| Armour of Earth
| 20
| class="text"| +42 DEF +1 AP
| 10.5 hrs
| Elt
| Y
| 
| 
| Y
| Y
| Y
| 
|-
| class="text"|Strength of Stone
| 15
| class="text"| +15 EN or PS
| 16 hrs
| Elt
| Y (EN)
| 
| 
| Y (EN)
| Y (EN)
| Y (EN)
| 
|-
| class="text"|Rune Shield
| 
| class="text"| 
|  
| Kee
| 
| 
| 
| N
| 
| N
| 
|-
| class="text"| Rune Weapon
| 
| class="text"| 
|  
| Kee
| 
| 
| 
| N
| Y
| N
| 
|-
| class="text"| Willow Healing Rune
| 7
| class="text"| Heals 3 Endurance for 9 pulses
| 14 hrs 
| Kee
| Y
| 
| 
| Y
| Y
| Y
| 
|-
| class="text"| Greater Heart Rune
| 17
| class="text"| Heals 11 Endurance 
| 18 days
| Kee
| Y
| 
| 
| Y
| Y
| Y
| 
|}

== Scribe Notes ==
=== 1st Thaw ===
Adventures seem to be like the public carriage system in Seagate.  You wait a long time for one, then two come in quick succession.  This was the second one.  The representative from the Lord Mayor of [[Zumular]], near the [[Ffenargh]], reported that they were being attacked by slimy things.  Necromancers were suspected.  Could they be lurking in the sewers or in the undercity?  Pools of slime and discarded weapons had been found where guards had gone missing.

The members assembled in the meeting room were:
* Pent – 3'2", 65 lb - all muscle, a hobbit ice mage blender in shiny mirror armour with a big (relitively) spear. Friendly.
* Ben Gaul – Shapeshifter.  6'5" of red headed gorgeousness (so he said).  Can shift into a tiger or hellhound.  Non-mage healer and acrobat.
* Flamis – 5'7" human female firemage
* Human the Fool – Illusionist.  Looks lizard like underneath the illusion, red scales and gold flecks.  Master rank troubadour as well.
* Eltan – 2'6", 50lbs, whiskers, angular face and tail.  Mostly a hobbit and incredibly agile.  Warrior.
* Keesha – Rune Mage male elf.  Said he fights a bit.  Has an intelligent bloodthirsty sword.  Also has the rune healing spells at higher ranks than I do.
* And I'm Phaeton.  Solar Celestial healer and philosopher.  Prefer to user my magic than weapons – and preferably from a distance. 

Flamis volunteered to be the military scientist.  Ben was convinced to be the party leader.  I was content to be the scribe.

Discussion then turned to what people wanted to add to the contract.
* Flamis – masterworks in military science and weaponsmith
* Keesha – masterwork assassin
* Human - as above (not a priority though)
* Eltan – masterwork warrior
* Ben – something to store items in while shapeshifting
* Phaeton – masterwork philosopher, iconograph, aether flyer, optical devices for observing the night sky.
* Pent - masterworks warrior, kinjutsu

Arranged to purchase 6 restoratives at 1000 each.

Flamis decided to use her Talk to Other Selves ritual.
# ''What is the nature of the creatures infesting the undercity of Zumular?'' – The Reclaimers
# ''What are they attempting to reclaim?'' - The Western Lands
# ''Where do they come from?'' - The Land over the Waters
# ''How great are their numbers?''  - As countable as the number of stars in the sky.  (7542 at last count – Phaeton)
# ''What is their greatest weakness?'' - The passage of time
# ''Where must we go to be most effective against them?'' – The City beneath the Lake
# ''What is their particular objective in Zumular?'' - To make the sacrifice.

That led us to ponder that this may be part of the upcoming drow invasion from Terra Nova.

Zumular was built on an old harbourage of the elven clan known as the Leaping Dragon.  They were absorbed by [[Crocell]] (the Duke of the Bath) at the [[apotheosis]].  When it was settled, it had been the site of vampires so the main cathedral to the Powers of Light was placed over the spot and the area consecrated.  The Bath is a chamber of ritual purification in elven temples.  This harbour was the main manufactory for elven eagle ships, small scout ships was the impression I got.  There was a treaty with the local merfolk which included sacrificing ten beings to the merfolk each year.  There were merfolk colonies in that area but it is not not well known what the current status of them are.  I was also wondering if there was a connection to [[Carroc]] and the old books several years ago, but further research later indicated that is not the case.

I was beginning to wonder if we needed to get a water mage for this adventure but soon came to the conclusion we could have a look, and if it looked like we really needed one, we could always return and get one.

=== 2nd Thaw ===
It was decided to get to Zumular by taking the [[Elfenburg#Slow_Portal | slow portal]] to [[Elfenburg]] and then take the river down to the Ffenargh swamp.  Halfway through the portal we heard sounds of skittering and running coming towards us.  My first thought was 'I thought this thing had been fixed', but when the goblins ran past, I was rapidly coming the conclusion that a [[We_are_still_walking_to_China | previous party]] hadn't plugged all the holes.  We managed to snag one briefly and discovered that they were in the old portal network and they were fleeing from elves.

After they went past we noticed that the path was covered in frost then we encountered a fork in the path, which had never been there before.  The goblin tracks had come down the right hand path.  I was sure that portal paths could only intersect at terminus points, but somehow, the slow portal had been tapped into.  

We went down the left path and ended up in a cupboard.  Upon exiting we stumbled on to a dead elven male body that was dressed in a guard.  Cause of death was sharp force trauma to the throat, probably caused by a garotte.  Outside the building we were in, there was the sound of a hue and cry about murder.  From what we could determine from the blood splatter, the guard had been taken from behind by someone stepping out of the portal.  

We were in Elfenburg so we went to see the Captain of the Guard.  We found him with an elven lady who was introduced as the Chancellor of the Exchequer.  They want us to check out the new branch that had suddenly appeared.  So, we buffed up and went back into the portal.  At the branch, tracks were going both ways so we went down the new branch and ended up at a gate near a walled city.  The guards told us that we had reached [[Under Eidolon]] and it was apparent that this place was a portal nexus as there were many portal terminus points here.  So we headed off to the library.  Apparently this place was supposed to be guarded by the [[Beltan | Beltan Elves]], but they weren't currently here.

At the library, we discovered that Zumular had originally been dedicated to the elven god of the sea.  A reference was found to [http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Gillyweed a weed] that can provide water breathing.  There was also talk about a mountain of skulls that increased the range of necromantic magics, the bigger the mountain the longer the range, one foot per two miles.  It looks like we could be dealing with a fifteen foot high mountain.

Something else that was mentioned was the Oroflame of Kale which is used for forging sharp weapons.  It's an ancient forge last seen somewhere in [[Alfheim]].  While we were doing that, Pent went poking around and found a lake of liquid mithril.  No GTN, nature of magic – potential, and a college of Yes.  Meanwhile I was finding information on how to absorb energy from the sun – which may be very useful while Flamis discovered a recipe for growing crystals, a combination of alchemy and gardening. 

Flamis then tried another of her 'talking to herself' rituals.
* ''Where in Alfheim is the last known location of the Oroflame of Kale?'' – His temple in Seensplate Province
* ''Who currently has possession?'' – The Forger of Ira
* ''How is it protected?'' – By six powerful demigods
* ''Why is it important we find this thing?'' - Powerful shaping artifact
* ''What does it do?'' It is a forge for weapons of power.
* ''What is the name of the elvish city that Zumular now occupies?'' – The City on the Golden River – Ethalore

From what we could find out, Ethalore was one of the major cities of the Western Province, one of the two rebel provinces. The person who used to be [[Seir]], Astronia, stayed at the palace on the Golden River.  The river was so named because at sunrise and sunset, the light would make the river look like it was flowing gold.  I then found a reference to light elementals – definitely interesting.

Under Ethalore was storage cellars including a most excellent wine rack.  It was on the elven ways so we can get there from here.  Meanwhile some of the others were playing around with that mithril pool.  Eltan had already discovered it had dissolved a javelin tip so Human stuck his little finger in it.  The finger also dissolved, but when I went to regenerate it, I discovered that it was if that finger had never been.

   Eltan - "We should dip some annoying adventurers in it"
   Human - "You're right.  Come here"

=== 5th Thaw ===
I just have lost track of how long we were in the library, but as some say, time flies when you're having fun.  I was perusing a text when the entire tower shook – which wasn't normal since we're in a pocket demi-plane.  The librarians were rather shocked, and we decided to investigate.  So it was back down the portal to Elfenberg where we discovered more panic.  An elf had been stabbed in all eight power points.  While I started healing him, the others were able to track the trail of mana heading south.  From what we could tell Blood Magic was involved – magic that involves the sacrifice of life.  It wasn't Exsanguination but, in the hope both Colleges were similar enough, I left the Exsanguination Special Counter on him before we took off to follow the rapidly fading trail.

Four hours of flight, and one inflight recasting later, we were following the [[Baratary River]] to the Ffenargh and we noticed the river just stopped.  Something had pushed the earth up along a fify mile long fault line and was damming the river halfway along it's course.

We kept going to the sea and finally sighted Zumular, covered in fog in the distance.  Just then we heard a wolf howl and Human and my wings dropped off.  Two quick casts later and we were airborne again.  Eltan explained that [[Wolves of Winter | a previous party]] had placed [[Big Bad Void Wolf#Void Wolf Facts | Void Wolves]] around the city that had an area effect anti-magic howl.  Ninety wolves in total arranged in three sets of thirty.  They had been imported from Terra Nova.  With fits and starts, we managed to land just outside Zumular and I was feeling really exhausted.

Zumular was covered in fog and all we could see was the tip of the cathedral and the main palace.  We could also hear war drums in the distance.  Just then there was a hissing sound and darts were thrown at us.  Turned out to be surime.  The battle was short and we were able to capture one.

We didn't learn much so we let the lizardman survivours go with a warning not to attack Guild members.  The city itself looked like it had been smacked over by tsunamis and eathquakes.  The walls were completely down and bodies were draped over the rubble.  I examined the bodies and was a bit surprised to discover that they had died from a rank 15 necrosis.  We also discovered a magical barrier around the city where the walls were.  That seemed to be a mix of necromancy and blood magic which could not be affected by a counterspell.  Presumably that had been the cause of death especially since the triggering condition was leaving the area.

After some 'discussion', we entered the area.  The entire city had been trashed and, as far as we could tell, this had occurred two weeks ago.  Hopefully there were survivours still.

We headed towards the cathedral.  On the way I was using my non-tactile empathy and managed to find some survivours in a semi-intact building.  Turned out to be a follower of [[Liessa | Liessal the Devourer]], a [[Priest of Chantris | follower of Chantris]] (Brother Andrew)  who had been here three weeks on a pilgrimage, and a group of locals.  We were told that the drow had attacked just after the wave .... and they were sure surprised when their island sunk.  The drow were now below the city doing sacrifices to maintain the barrier.  

We passed the town square and noticed that it looked like the aftermath of a warzone.  The defenders had been pressed up against the central monument.  No drow bodies were there though.  Many of the defenders had been poisoned by hydra venom, extremely toxic and quickly fatal.  The delivery method was small darts that were fired by small single hand crossbows.  Some intact darts were retrieved.  Meanwhile I determined that the magical causes of death were from necromancy although some air magics were also used.

The fog around us was DAed as being of the Black College.  Again there was no counterspell and the MA of the caster was .... astronomical.   

Just then, we heard fighting coming from the castle.  Running out of the gates were three panicked drow.  One got crossbow bolted in the back from the castle, another ducked into the nearby guardhouse while the third was knocked out by Eltan.  Meanwhile the second one was smoked out.  Inside the castle we found a knight in black armour, a Sammulite called Brother Fear Is The Mind Killer.  He proclaimed himself as the self proclaimed defender as the local baron had ran off to the Rock.  His assistant was James, who had not yet been ordained.  He also told us that the food had gone moldy and putrid.  I went to sort it out.  There were twenty survivours here.

The others were interrogating the captured drow.  They discovered that Captain Miltain was leading the assault and that they were being led by the [[Ruby Scourge]], who we thought was dead.  Apparently not.  They had already overran the elven islands then headed for the main river.  The boat had been sank by the howling and their spellweavers went insane.  Their plan was to make a beach head in what they called Caro-eneth and were also planning an alliance with the suarime.  However they discovered that they couldn't summon their Elder Gods, but they had one spell weaver left who was 'slightly insane' and more drow were in the sunken island.

I also discovered there was a Brother Failure Is Not An Option in [[ Konigburg]] who worked for [[Blitzkrieg]].  

We went up to the Rock .. which was a large rocky hill that jutted out into the harbour to have a word with this cowardly Baron.  Turned out there were a whole lot more survivours up here that the Baron had gathered here.  They were also having problems with their food as well.  

Looking towards the Cathedral we could see a dragony thing wrapped around the bell tower.  It was currently asleep and we were told that if we could get past it and rang the bell, it would cause an anti-evil effect that would be extremely helpful in the current situation.  Also the cathedral was full of a collection of monsters such as serpents, wyrms, large lizards and other flying creatures.  One description sounded like gargoyles that breathe choking gas.  

The fog had appeared two days after the monsters attacked which seemed to imply that the drow weren't the only factor in the equation.  Also, all the priests were in the cathedral. 

So we had two immediate issues:
# The food.  Something needed to be done as people would be dying of starvation in a week, and something was renewing the putrification.  Much of our stuff had also been made rotten three hours ago.
# The dragon.  Get past that and ring the bell.  Hopefully that will give the enemy a really bad day.
 
The knight had already offered to take on the monsters if he didn't have to guard his people.  So we decided to try and get them up to the Rock.  So we created some elementals and went down to the castle.  On the way back with the people, the dragon woke up and attacked.  It was using some sort of air magics to fly and breathed on us with ice.  So, assuming it was a creature of ice, used a red bolt on it.  Meanwhile, Ben the Hellhound tried to jump on top of the dragon and got swatted with it's tail.  One of the survivours was carried off and a few more had died from the ice breath by the time the dragon was forced to disengage.  Once we delivered the others to the Rock we made plans to resume the battle.

So we headed for the Cathedral.  The dragon was back to being entwined around the bell tower and those that could, were able to detect an invisible humanoid in the belltower.   Brother Fear was with us as well and, as we advanced, something bounced off his armour.  Human also received a barrage of crossbows, including a bad one in the arm.  

Flamis fire ran us, except the knight, who was charging ahead, up to the main doors.  The dragon unwound itself from the tower and picked up a barrel.  Meanwhile the elementals pounded the doors and got it open just as the gargoyles jumped on us.  Great.  Now we're being attacked by the cathedral defenses – and here we were trying to help.  As the doors flew open, outwards, effectively cutting the party in half, the cultists inside charged out.  And to make matters worse, the area here was consecrated to the Powers of Light, which was really reducing my effectiveness as a spellcaster.

Things were really confusing for a while but, after a while, it was looking like the tide was turning in our favour.  However, Ben and Human were in bad shape so I charged through the fountain, in order to get around the combat as fast as possible.  Flamis then dropped a fireball on the entire mob, using Eltan as ground zero.  That was when the dragon landed nearby.

   Flamis - "It was going so well until the dragon decided to join in".

I slipped Human a ten pointer healing potion and suddenly realised my stocks were getting really low.  This could be really annoying.

The dragon was swiping at us with one hand and holding the barrel with the other.  Someone thought that the barrel was full of commando ninja halflings but, when the dragon threw it, we discovered it was full of explosive alchemical fire.  Meanwhile the order was given to retreat into the church.  Ben, the hellhound, was picked up by the fire elemental and thrown into the church before a strike by the dragon's tail made it go away.  Ben landed on an orc, which broke his fall, and crushed it.

The dragon then set off a Thunderclap spell and it felt like that the Church bell had gone off in my head.  As well as the dragon, we also had another annoying orc to deal with but Keesha soon dealt to that problem.  The dragon then tossed a lightning bolt at us and the next thing I remembered was being in the church with Ben.  So I drunk my last healing potion.  Somewhen during that, the dragon had eaten Brother Fear.

A Wall of Radiance had been put up across the door but that didn't deter the dragon from coming through.  That was actually when the barrel got tossed at us.  It then breathed cold all over us while Keesha hit it from behind – really really hard – twice.

   Keesha - "Many orcs died in the production of this fight" (Yep – he's death aspected)

After quite a bit of beatings later, the dragon decided to retreat.  Those that could of the party went after it and finally brought it down.  Unfortunately it crashed outside of the perimeter, necessitating the use of Eltan's earth elementals and Pent's use of ice to drag it back in.

It took us two hours to drag the dragon back.  Meanwhile Human had established that the orcs came from  [[Salla'm'karr]].  I got started on healing Ben's broken ribs then, once that healing was underway, helped extract Brother Fear and managed to get him repaired and resurrected.  It was going to be a long job though. Meanwhile the others dissected the dragon to extract the useful bits, thanks to Flamis's weapon of flame that the acid couldn't dissolve.

Investigation of the church soon showed that it was empty.  There were twenty barrels on the roof but not all of them smelt of alchemical fire.  Underneath the church was an ossuary that was full of stacked bones and shelves with row upon row of skulls.  Part of it was sealed with a big rune and the words "Don't go in here or face the wrath of the <strike>Four</strike> Five".  They finally went up into the belltower, attached the rope and rang the bell ..... and it was so very very loud.  It didn't seem to do anything obvious but there was definitely a magical emanation every time it sounded. It was finally decided to sound the bell every dawn and dusk as well as noon and midnight.

A short while later, a big gargoyle turned up and offered to continue ringing the bell.  They had been told by an 'elf' that we were the evil invaders.  They had been suspicious at first but the 'elf' had been very convincing.  They were also a bit concerned about the orcs and the dragon as well but again, the 'elf' had convinced them that everything was kosher.   If the barrier could be brought down, a message could be sent to the abbey at Dunny-on-Marsh.  We were also informed that the Great Dying was to start here and now and a great nation shall end.  The extra barrels were barrels of healing potion but the entire barrel needed to be consumed to be effective and that the ancient evil under the cathedral was a rather powerful avatar of Crocell.

=== 7th Thaw ===
It took us a couple of days to sort everything out that needed doing, including Ben's full recovery, during which we spoke to our employer who still wanted all the drow cleaned out and was still concerned about the sunken island.  I had a look at the area with a spyglass and could see a large, slow, whirlpool in the area.  It was also discovered that everytime the bell tolled, the barrier went down.  So Flamis used the oppotunity to send an owl to Seagate with a message while plans were made to evacuate the town.  We were also told that the sewers were shaped in such a way to act as a magical amplifier.

That night Flamis used her flamesight ritual and discovered seven fires in the city, and three of them were underground.  All three were close together and the middle one was large.  So she went for the  flaming pile of doom and discovered it was a large tower of burning skulls.  A nearby small fire had eight elves clustered around it warming themselves while the other one had four elves on guard facing outwards.  While she watched, four more elves came into view with with prisoners, beaten up townsfolk from what we could tell.  Meanwhile Eltan had a quick fly around the city and found the sewer grate that was warmer than the others.

=== 8th Thaw ===
So it was that morning we assembled around the grate, all buffed up, and ready to go in.  A crystal of vision showed us four guards drawing straws.  The one that drew the short straw ended up being sacrified in a rather gruesome method that only Keesha and I could watch.  His skull was added to the pile.  

I then DAed the grate, and discovered the spell "Storm of Blood' on it which I recognised as being part of the [[College of Exsanguination | Exsanguination College]].  Flamis didn't believe me though and checked it.  One Exsanguination Special Counter later and we had the grate open and descended into the sewers.  We then had to seperate the ice and fire elementals which wanted to have a go at each other.

Once peace reigned again we entered the cavern where the burning pile of skulls was and generally had an easy time of capturing the lot.  This was helped by the fact that we had arranged for the bell to be continually tolled and the drow were getting waves of pain everytime it rang.  Mind you, I was starting to get a thumping headache which matched the bells as well.  

While the others secured our prisoners I went to rescue the drow's prisoners.  They turned out to be all townsfolk with low MA.  When asked where Captain Miltain was, the drow pointed to the burning skull pyre.  Well, I guess that's one interpretation of the phrase 'giving one's all to the cause'.

Flamis divinated the mountain of skulls and determined it had two primary effects.  The first was give any devotee of the Dark Gods within range, (800 miles in this case) the ability to make their first blow in any battle be a killing blow.  The second was to call forth the avatar of the Dark God.  The necrosis effect around the city was an independent effect.   The only way to shut down the skull pile was to summon the avatar.  The fire was magical and didn't seem to be actually consuming the skulls and, there seemed to be eyes in the eye sockets – or was that a trick of the light.  The drow told us that they had created the pile in order to get their Master through and a three foot high pile was supposed to have been enough.  But when that hadn't worked, they decided to keep piling on more skulls.  They were trying to get the [[Sallos | Mighty Duke]] ... or was that the [[Eligos | Knightly Duke]]?

Since the pyre was magical fire Flamis decided to drop an Extinguish on it.  To our surprise, the fire went out ......

... and an 8ft tall opening in reality appeared which we soon ascertained led directly to Hell. That was when a person shaped being stepped through.  Five foot eight, furs, moccassins, hairy and what bare skin showed had orange goop on it.  He was also carrying a spear.  Behind him, the portal began to close.  The DAs also told us he was an avatar and the GTN was Sun God. The skulls were also now non-magical.

He growled at us at first then told us his name was Karl and that he had been imprisoned in Hell, in a room without doors by 70 elves.  He had other brothers such as Fire and Hunting.  When we described the barrier he said it was similar to his cage.

Before we left, the spellweaver drow was tossed through the portal just before it shut.  We then took the remaining drow and their ex-prisoners back up to the Rock.

The Baron was rather bemused when we introduced him to Karl.  It was also ascertained that the source of the barrier came from under the water, presumably the sunken island.  Sure enough, we found what appeared to be a 'tunnel' of barrier force that emanated from the harbour and spread out to encompass the entire town.  However, we decided not to try getting to the island that way.

Karl was sent to the Elemental Plane of Fire in order to help in the fight against the demons and to free his brothers.  He left behind his spear which had the properties of doing double the normal damage to creatures of night, death, or cold. 

It was getting on to late afternoon when the bell started tolling consistantly.  When we asked the gargoyle, he told us that he was instructed to keep the bell tolling by a lady dressed in white who was currently heading up to the rock with other townsfolk.  We flew back to the rock and discovered that the 'lady in white' was the Sister of Dissonance (reformed), being Sister Angela.  I hoped that bell was giving her a headache too but, being a sister of Dissonance, she was probably already used to it.  

When we told her about the sunken island being the source of the necrotic barrier she offered to give us gills so we could investigate.  Looking down into the vortex, using crystals, we could see the top of a fortress complete with battlements etc.  We also caught sight of a slithering slug like creature with tentacles around it's mouth and no eyes.  Sister Angelica also had a triangle that had the same effect as the bell.  The barrier itself caused a Rank 30 Necrosis once every pulse and was six inches thick.  The effect was maintained by a ritual.

=== 9th Thaw ===
We powered up again and those that needed gills got them.  With Flamis jangling the triangle – rather loudly and definitely with much dissonance – which gave me a shocking headache – we got through the barrier without harm.  We then flew off and splashed into the water.

Finally found the island in the gloom and then found a huge 100ft square grate at the rear.  We got closer, thinking this might be the back entrance and discovered a huge eye attached to a rather huge creature, possibly a kraken.  We decided we weren't going in that way.

So we continued going around and found smaller doors – about 20ft high and wooden.  They had a Major Curse on them, MA 5, triggered by crossing the threshold.  Probably not a good way to go in either but, given that all the walls, including the interior ones were Bound Earth, we might not have much choice.

However we soon found a hole in the rock that was not warded.  Eltan headed up and nearly got stuck – a rat in a drainpipe.  We avoided the drow coral snake that had been coming the other way and managed to all get inside and out of the water.  We must have been in the dungeon level as we were finding cells with prisoners in them, including a drow.

The rest of this prison seems empty - i.e. no guards only prisoners? so we have a talk with the drow (who looks like one of the invading army).

{<i>Extra by Pent as Phaeton is busy healing folk.</i>} 

We found out there has been a bit of a coup down here, about three days ago (when we started ringing the bell) all the drow started to feel really bad and lost control of the "Other" creatures from the abysmal deeps they had bought along, All the drow either went mad and died or were killed except two that were in the cells for being drunk on duty.

So we have freed all the prisoners and recruited the drow as guides (basically given them amnesty and promise of release - or recruit into the guild), free as in still stuck on city at bottom of ocean in the prison but out of cells - we have blocked the main doors in and are exploring the rest of the city. We can get these people back to the city we think via rune portals but it would take hours and we would be found out by then.
So Phaeton and Flamis spent some time healing the prisoners up enough to travel (via rune-portal) as the rest of us looked around.

We went to the chart room to try and gather intelligence (found a real-time magic globe which is a bit big and cool).

I think were are about 30 odd nasty creatures (we killed one on patrol) mostly in the tower/fort in the centre. They are mercenary so might be convinced to leave and go home as there is no more money in this, but apparently they want to kill those on the surface as well.

Next we are going to the "power room" were the black heart is that powers the city (to steal it of course) and it has a number of Drow undead (some officers) and Greebly monsters - about to be attacked by us.

We scouted the area using a crystal ball and I made the door one-way transperant.
Inside were Three of the large crab monsters and Three drow revenants (the Captain, Spell Weaver, and another in Robes - Mage?)
We made a plan.
We would charge in and engage the closest Crab, after one shot of our attention Kesha and I would then charge over to the Spell Weaver (who was standing near the Heart of Darkness) in an attempt to prevent him from using magic against us - preferably by leaving his bloody corpse on the floor).
The we would roll them all up from right to left.

The plan worked to my surprise, oh there was lots of hacking and screaming, sacraficing (by both sides?), zapping and draining and generally mad halflings slaying things, the crabs turned out to be greater undead and did a lot of draining and my image copies went down at the rate of one every 5 seconds.
The heart sprouted tenticles and tried to grab anyone who was near it.
But by the end all of them were dead and none of us were.

So we looted a bit and Kesha divinated the heart - which gave him controll over the island, however it is very broken and isn't going to be flying anywhere without major drow repairs.

He switched off the barrier around the city and we got the water mage (one of the two surviving drow) to summon food for the Kraken.
Which we then went and had a chat with - it was quite nice as far a huge sea monsters go.
All it really wanted was to go home so after making friends with it we let it go.
it did tell us the tale of the missing fleet of Elvish pearl ships (plus crew) cursed to sail benieth the waves evermore and it gave us a way of contacting it should we want a guide to show us where these ships were. We thought this could be some future adventure perhaps funded by the elves and we should get a finders fee.

As we had taken the heart room the rest of the crabs fled into the depths.

=== 10th - 13th Thaw ===
For the next few days we explored the ship/island and transported the prisoners back to the mainland.

Our emplorer was vary happy and gave us a promisory note as pay for the good work we did.


== Treasure ==

=== Axe of Moon and Stars ===
=== Bakrahn Heavy Plate ===
=== Necrotic Wand ===
=== Tablet of Useful Mantras 
=== Assorted Investments ===
* Amulet - Five charges of Rk 12 Trollskin - BC 75%
* Scroll - Four charges of Rk 20 Strength of Stone - BC 90%
* Ring - Six charges of Rk 15 Witchsight - BC 85%
=== Assorted Potions ===
* 30 potions of R15 Waters of Strength
* 20 potions of R15 Waters of Healing
* 8 potions of R10 Restoratives
* 2 potions of Elixer of Death
* 3 potions of Power
=== Dragonskin===
=== Miscellaneous Dragon Bits ===
* Whiskers
* Eyes
* Third Eye
* Frozen organs
* Teeth
* Nictating Membranes
* Claws
* Tail Barbs
=== Captains Sabre ===
=== Captains Mail ===
=== Spell Weavers Crown ===
=== Spell Weavers Mallet ===
=== Necros Robes ===
=== Necros vial ===
=== Magic Books on Sacrafical and Blood magics ===
=== magic Books on Entity Magics ===
=== Invasion plans and Maps ===