Organised Chaos

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Organised Chaos
GM: Scott Wittaker
Season: Autumn 797 WK

Party

• Thulrandir Non-mage Male Elf Leader/Mil Sci
• Kraft Non-mage Male Giant
• Luthor E&E Male Dwarf
• Gideon Earth Male Human
• Aqualina Water Female Human Scribe

Employer

Head of the Storm Bull temple

Mission

To recover the Death Stone and stop the organization of Chaos

Original scribe notes

Media:Snau9703.zip

Scribe Notes - Summary

Plane

Glorantha

Places Visited

New Pavis

Old Pavis (the Rubble)

Sunken Lands

Krjalki Bog

An underground complex under the bog.

Major NPCs encountered

Lady Rh'khay-el - a Daoene Sidhe from Avalon.

Shi'Kain of the Royal House of Durban

Kera-sria - another Daoene Sidhe

30/06/96

Summoned to the Glorantha mission and saw the Head of the Storm Bull temple. We were told that there was an increasing amount of Chaos in Old Pavis. Portalled to the Storm Bull temple in New Pavis and stayed the night at Gimpys.

01/07/97

Did research in the Storm Bull library.

02/07/97

Entered the Rubble, and followed the Zola Fel river towards Ogre Island. Found a ruin to camp in for the night.

03/07/97

Neared Ogre Island and were ambushed. Fought off attackers but Kraft was hurt so we headed back to New Pavis using a raft on the river. Attended a Zola Fel cult meeting that night.

04/07/97

Got a boat and sailed back up the river. Reached Ogre Island and landed. Attacked by several chaos creatures near a ruined temple. Defeated them before camping.

05/07/97

Found a trapdoor in the floor of the temple. Underneath was a passage with a frictionless ward. We slid down and landed in some awful green ooze. The only way out was a teleport ward so we used it and ended up at a luxurious estate owned by Kera-sria where we were cleaned up and refreshed. She wanted an item back, the Stone of Death, which was currently being used to organise the creatures of Chaos.

06/07/97

Teleported to the middle of the Krjalki Bog and waded our way along. Found a small hillock and made camp.

07/07/96

Continued traversing the swamp and were attacked by giant mosquitos. Reached another island by evening.

08/07/96

Found a pit on the island, by falling into it, and found a room. A passage took us to a large circular room. Wall sections and the pillars between them was marked with runes and we had come through a wall. An information rune told us that the Death Stone was in an underground complex reachable by a teleportation ward in the room we had fallen into. So we used the travel rune to get back there and teleported, ending up waist deep in mud, somewhere in an underground complex.

Made our way down and found a library. Then found a room with four broo eating the remains of a giant so we dealt to them. Retreated back to the library to camp.

09/07/96

Continued exploring the complex. Found a room containing lots of biers, sarcophagi, and crypts. Also here were several spirits. We were told that this used to be a temple of Light and Enlightenment before it was taken over. They wanted the Death Stone removed so they could go to their rest. They also provided us with a map.

After leaving we went down to the lower level and explored it. In one room we fought octapoid humanoids. After that we had to retreat back to the upper level to rest.

10/07/97

Continued on. Another room contained a pool of water that was solid, but not frozen. On the way we managed to determine that the Death Stone was in the large room at the end of the main corridor so we made our way there.

On the way we had to traverse a room containing a creature covered in snake-like tentacles, then a room that was full of Darkness. Once the darkness was removed we discovered that the floor was covered in stakes and rotting flesh.

After carefully making our way through we reached the entrance to the large chamber. Inside was the scorpion queen, surrounded by four trollsized broo, a priest of Thanator, four scorpion men and eight normal broo. Somewhere near the throne was the Death Stone.

Just then Rh'Khay-el and Sh'Kain arrived to help us. Once we were ready we charged in. The fight was furious but finally we defeated the guards and faced the scorpion queen on her throne. The throne was surrounded by wards and an invisible wall but we managed to deal with those before attacking the Queen. Once she was defeated the Death Stone, which was inside her, was retrieved. Then we used a glass rod to return to Kera-sria's home.

13/07/96

A few days later, feeling much refreshed, we were ready to leave. Kera-sria portalled us straight to the Storm Bull temple library in New Pavis.

14/07/96

Headed back into the Rubble to see if the chaos creatures had stopped organising. Reached the flooded quarry and discovered it was full of gorps (amorphous blobs that secreted acid). They looked rather disorganised so, after defeating the ones that attacked, we headed back to New Pavis and collected our rewards.

15/07/96

Returned to the Guild.

Scribe Notes - Detailed

30/06/96

It was just after the Guild meeting where I received a summons to go to the Glorantha trade mission to see the head of the Storm Bull Temple there. Once I arrived, I encountered Kraft, a nine foot tall warrior, and an elf druidic earth mage by the name of Gideon. Kraft doesn't like magic but I think I got on his good side with a Waters of Strength. Once we introduced each other we were told that there was an increasing amount of Chaos in Old Pavis. Another of our party, Thulrandir, would meet us there. Our pay for this mission was 1000sp/month less tax plus salvage. They also offered us free healing and training.

I had a few loose ends to tidy up at the Guild so I went back to attend to them as well as collecting my adventuring gear. It wasn't until late afternoon that we met back at the temple and portalled through the portal to the Storm Bull temple in New Pavis. The people there had arranged rooms for us at Gimpys - a more upmarket place than Rowdy Djoh's, where I had stayed the last time I was there. They served us refreshments, including something I was surprised to find - faerie wine from the village between worlds where I had been on my last adventure. As I explained to the others, that was a drink to be savoured, not to be consumed quickly. Kraft then took us to dinner at Bobs Bison Burgers which served just about every burger imaginable. So I ordered a shark burger. We dropped off our stuff at Gimpys then headed off for another temple for a night of pleasure. I spent the time just relaxing in a hot tub being pampered.

01/07/96

It was time to get to work. So, after breakfast, we headed back to the Storm Bull temple. There we were told that the numbers of chaos creatures were on the increase, notably in places such as the Devils Playground and Ogre Island. There was even a possibility that someone was organising the various groups which would make them even more dangerous.

We really needed to know just what we were going to be up against. Gideon believed that the best place to find out was the Temple of Lhankor Mhy. So off we went. They told us that the major Chaos Gods were the following: Primal Chaos, Malia (the God of Disease), Cacodemon (worshipped by ogres), Thed (the mother of broo), Bagog (scorpionmen), Thanator, Krage (the hungry one) and Vivimar (the god of undead). That led to the subject of vampires. They can be killed by silver and cannot cross running water. My thought of jumping into the river to escape a vampire was quickly squelched when I was informed that the river contained gorps - amorphous blobs that were highly dangerous. They mostly consisted of water and when I asked what would happen if Liquid Transformation or Purification was cast on one the temple staff replied that they didn't know but would be very interested in finding out. This was emphasised when one of them handed over a quill pen, parchment, and a specimen jar with the strong instruction to take lots of notes.

We retired to their library for a while. Kraft decided to check out a book of chaos creatures which was full of illustrations. Rather graphic illustrations, showing all the gory details. He started gibbering, rather loudly. Fortunately it wasn't long before Thulrandir turned up, attracted by the noise, and soon calmed things down.

By now we had quite enough of chaos for a while and it was near lunchtime. We soon found ourselves back at Bobs Bison Burgers where I tried a rather delicious sushi burger. Then it was back to the Storm Bull temple to get the maps we had arranged for. There, a surprise awaited us. Both Rh'Khay-el and Sh'Kain had turned up. They weren't planning on coming with us openly but offered to put Rank 14 Greater Enchantments on us in return for 'a piece of the action'. By the time we were all done, it was late afternoon. We decided that our first foray into the Rubble would not be until the next morning. Instead we headed back to Gimpys to rest up. We had a room each so I practised my harp before retiring. During the night I was disturbed by Kraft having a nightmare.

02/07/96

Kraft had allowed me the use of his bath, (the size of a small pool) so I purified in it for a couple of hours before joining the others for breakfast. The plan was to enter Old Pavis through the Peoples Gate, angle towards the Zola Fel river (which flows through the middle of the Rubble) then follow it upriver towards Ogre Island. This we did. Nothing of event happened on the way.

At dusk we were halfway there so we found an partially erect building to spend the night in. Again we were disturbed by one of Kraft's nightmares.

03/07/97

The next day we were greeted with a light rain. Didn't worry me though but the others grumbled a bit. Also we noticed giant cat paw prints around the camp.

We continued on along the river. I was watching the water, contemplating a swim during a rest break when I noticed something looking like a blob of jelly in the water. Thulrandir said it was a gorp. Suddenly the idea of going for a swim lost it's appeal.

We were getting close to Ogre Island when we were ambushed by four broo and a scorpionman. Two of the broo were covered on what appeared to be brass plates and also had vicious looking horns, also of brass. The broo were waving vicious looking axes while the scorpionman turned out to be a spellcaster. Thulrandir and Kraft stepped forward to meet their attack. One spat at me. Most of the acid splattered on my Sash of Defense but only caused minor damage. As it went for me I was able to disarm it with my net. Then, while I fumbled for my dagger, Collage cast ecstasy at the spellcaster. A Hands of Earth from Gideon managed to stop the others. While Thulrandir finished them off, I produced a Waters of Healing for Kraft who was badly hurt and poisoned. It was decided to head back to New Pavis for healing.

We searched the bodies. Between all of them, we found 235 copper pieces, 52 silver lunars, 8 golden wheels, 5 gems and two crystals. Both crystals, according to Gideon, were formally living. Power crystals I reckoned.

Even after our ministrations, Kraft was still in a bad way and the quickest way back seemed to be by river. Thulrandir went fossicking for wood so I could create a raft. He came back with a large door. So we launched it and I cast a Ship Strength on it. Once aboard, with the armour plated broo bodies, the current carried us back all the way to New Pavis.

Back at the Storm Bull temple we managed to negotiate a 50-50 split with the temple for the proceeds from the metal that could be extracted from the broo. It worked out to be another 350 silvers. One of the crystals proved to be a standard 10pt fatigue store while the other was a five pointer with some sort of bound spirit to make it regenerate faster.

We all got healed up and Kraft had his nightmare curse removed. Thulrandir had earlier said that he was going for a swim in the river (it's safer in the New Pavis section) and join in a ceremony that the Zola Fel cult were having. I decided to join him and see what was going on.

Soon I was in the river and found Thulrandir having a conversation with a giant catfish. A rather intelligent catfish. In fact many of the fish here would put even a dolphin to shame. The catfish's name was Brighteye and he turned out to be the High Priest. Brighteye invited me to join their cult but I told him I was already promised to Itimanuka. He reckoned since I was off-plane, I could still join while I was here. He also invited me to witness the ceremony and suggested I change into merform. This I did. It proved to be rather interesting. Kraft and Gideon turned up later on.

04/07/97

Next day we hung around the Storm Bull Temple deciding what to do. Also another party member had come through the portal, a dwarf by the name of Luthor. He was wearing sandy coloured robes and a black hat with a feather stuck in it.

We decided to have another go of reaching Ogre Island, but this time we decided to use the river. I suggested a raft but Thulrandir pointed out that gorps can crawl on rafts. What we needed was a decent fishing boat. So Thulrandir went off to get one. The rest of us followed shortly after. I was first there and found that Thulrandir had managed to borrow a Zola Fel boat from Brighteye. The rest then decided they needed more supplies from Gimpys so Thulrandir and I stayed with the boat. I spent the time in the river.

Finally we made our way upstream and into the Rubble. As we rowed we kept a nervous watch on the banks but didn't see anything. Finally we reached the Great Basher. This is a triangular shaped solid rock located where the river rejoins after going around Ogre Island. One side went through swamp so we decided to try going the other way, even though the current was faster.

Soon we found a place to beach the boat on the island, so we did, then covered it up with branches and leaves. Nearby we could see the ruins of a cacodemon temple. We headed towards it, making our way through the low scrub. Just then Thulrandir stopped us. Up ahead he saw something moving.

We soon discovered what it was. Six humanoid skeletons wielding hand & half swords accompanied by two big cat skeletons. Thulrandir and Kraft circled around to take out a cat each while the rest of us waited in the underbrush for the skeletons to come to us. As they rushed us Luthor scored an excellent hit and took one out. Meanwhile I was looking for a branch so I could trip them and discovered an actual quarterstaff. Perfect! As I waded into the one looming over me, Luthor took out another and Kraft brought down a cat. A skeletal gorilla and skeletal wyvern showed up at that point and both were snared in Gideon's Hands of Earth. Then a real tiger turned up. That, and another skeleton, went for Kraft.

As the skeleton swung at me, I rolled into the nearest bush and prepared my net. I threw the net over it and managed to tangle it up so badly that it fell prone. The tiger was causing Kraft some grief so I sprang over to help. Unfortunately I ran into some difficulty.

By the time I recovered it was all over. Thulrandir had killed the tiger and it turned into a human. Must have been a were-tiger. Gideon & Luthor finished up the skeletons. Kraft was badly mauled by the were-tiger and the others were dealing to it.

The bodies were ransacked and the treasure collected. It added up to 52 bulbs (troll currency), 25cp, 13sp, a gem and three safe conduct passes over the troll bridge - assuming the trolls are in control of it. Additionally there was a power storage crystal and a necklace containing counter magic. While we rested for a while Gideon tried to attune himself to the crystal and succeeded.

A bit later, Thulrandir looked around the temple. The top of it was completely ruined but he found a trapdoor. He believed he could hear movement below so he placed a large rock on it. We slept for the rest of the night.

05/07/96

Morning arrived and so did a shower of blood. Wyrm blood according to Gideon. He tried tasting some and immediately wished he hadn't. I created some Waters of Healing for him to wash it down. Thulrandir pushed the altar stone out of the way and we had a look down the hole.

Couldn't hear anything down there but my ocular detected a ward on the floor. Gideon identified it as a slippery spell and it extended up to a foot short of the ceiling. The corridor itself was six foot wide so Thulrandir and I were able to get past the ward by carefully climbing in then shuffling sideways close to the ceiling before dropping to the floor. Kraft was the next one to try but was too big to clear the ward. As a consequence the entire floor became slippery. Kraft slid down the corridor. A short while later we heard a 'splat' and an incredibly bad smell drifted up. Thulrandir and I had managed to stick our daggers in cracks in the rock wall to stop ourselves sliding down the corridor. We worked our way along as the chute got steeper but we ran out of cracks. All we could do was hang on to our daggers. Thulrandir also had his legs hooked around my waist.

However our daggers could only take so much. Mine suddenly snapped under the strain and my extra weight caused Thulrandir's one to bend alarmingly. He had no choice but to let go so the both of us found ourselves sliding down an increasingly steep spiralling slope until we splashed down in some awful smelling dark green ooze. Gideon and Luthor decided to join us a few moments later.

There were two opposing corridors out of this chamber. After picking ourselves up and tossing a coin, we decided to go south. I scanned ahead with my ocular and shortly noticed that the area Thulrandir was about to step into was glowing green. Green? It's never done that before. Gideon soon determined that the nature of magic was travel. The area covered the entire floor in front of us so we decided to back-track and check out the northern tunnel. But soon we found the same thing. We had no choice but to trust the ward. As soon as we contacted the ward, everything went black. When we woke up we found that we were in a room, lying on a floor, and completely naked. Additionally someone had done an excellent job of cleaning us up. Not a trace of the gunk and mud were left, not even in my hair. On a nearby table was stacked our equipment, minus weapons and food. We quickly dressed and surveyed our surroundings. Another table nearby contained food. Also we noticed that the workmanship on our clothes had improved somewhat. The food checked out okay so we had some. It was absolutely superb. Then I found an alcove containing a small sink and several items of make-up. Under Collage's instruction I proceeded to apply what was required and give my hair a really good brush. Even Thulrandir looked stunned when I re-emerged.

Just then a disembodied voice said "Come with me". We did, into a corridor that had plush, thick wool carpet on the floor. Walking on that in bare feet was very nice. The corridor led into a lounge room in which was arranged several leather chairs. Thunderlizard hide according to Gideon. In one was seated a 5'9" tall lady of exquisite beauty. I wouldn't be surprised if she came from the same place as Rhy'kael. She motioned us to sit and we did so.

She introduced herself as Kera-sria and told us that we were in the Sunken Lands in the far west of Glorantha. She liked visitors and had portals to all sorts of places - even the Emerald Isles. Over refreshments, she told us that she wanted a small favour from us, which was connected with our current mission for the Storm Bulls. There was an item that is currently organising the Creatures of Chaos and she wants it back. She showed us a gap in a stone wall where it belongs. When the Stone of Death, which is black and looks like the death rune, is placed in there, it is rendered inert. Outside the wall it organises Chaos and is the icon for Death. We would be fighting undead and our weapons had been temporary enchanted to hit chaos creatures. She would also give us an item to contain the stone so we could convey it safely.

We rested up. I found my way to a large pool where I spent the time practising my Troubadour and Unarmed Combat skills - underwater. When our weapons were returned we discovered they had also been fixed up. My dagger never looked better.

06/07/96

We prepared to leave. Kera-sria provided us with several potions to aid us: four general poison antidotes, two antidotes for scorpion-man poison, two for serpent-man poison, 15 rank 15 Waters of Healing (three each), and five rank 15 Waters of Strength. She also gave us the containment item which looked like a hairnet and our method of return, a glass rod. Then we were teleported to the middle of the Krjalki Bog ...

... and landed knee deep in the swamp. Strange vapours swirled around in all sorts of colours, mostly pinks and greens. It smelt bad and the insects were very bothersome. Definitely not a nice place to be. I decided to try conjuring up a rainstorm in order to keep the insects at bay but something went wrong - even though I was sure I had it right. Instead of water, I got something with the consistency and stickiness of tree sap. Yech! And that was getting in my hair. Casting spells in an area of chaos is not a good idea.

Kraft took the lead and we slogged through the mud, occasionally stumbling. So it wasn't long before we were nearly covered completely in swamp mud. Six hours later we reached a small hillock which was solid enough to make camp. As Kraft and Thulrandir constructed a lean-to, it started raining which helped remove most of the mud but there wasn't much I could do about the tree sap, at least until the spell ran out.

07/07/96

Sometime after midnight, Thulrandir believed he could hear something large splashing in the swamp. Next morning we saw a smashed tree. Whatever it was must have been rather large.

As we progressed the day was hot and muggy, and very uncomfortable. After a while a swarm of five, four foot long, hairy, mosquito like creatures flew in and attacked us. One impacted on Kraft's arm while another managed to bury it's proboscis between my breasts. As it commenced suckling blood, I stabbed it with both the dagger and maingauche managing to dispatch it.

Meanwhile Kraft used his crossbow to shoot one down. The fourth one impacted on Thulrandir while the last one tried to bury itself in Luthor's forehead. I helped Thulrandir kill his one before cutting off as much of the creature attached to me as I could. Once they were all dead I used one of the provided Waters of Healing on Kraft. Then Gideon set about removing the remainder of the proboscis from my chest - and I'm sure he was enjoying himself immensely. I decided to wait and bide my time. After all, revenge is a dish best served cold.

By evening we reached another island and made camp.

08/07/96

When we woke up we were enveloped in fog so thick that it was difficult to see even our hands in front of our faces. Just as we were ready to go, the ground shook and the entire hill crumbled. We tumbled down into a ten foot pit the bottom of which was laid with stone with a thin covering of dirt. Gideon landed in a thornbush and several thorns managed to work their way in his codpiece. I took great delight in removing those thorns.

What we had fallen into was a room. At one end was a stone door with evilly visaged faces which glowed pink through my ocular. Gideon quickly determined that the nature of the magic was Sealing. So Luthor tried to backfire his TK spell in order to bash the door down. He failed to do so but after a few attempts, the door exploded showering debris all around. Luthor was flung across the room and impacted on the opposite wall, forming a dwarf sized dent. After I got a Waters of Healing down him he commented 'What any dwarf hopes for - to be immortalised in stone.'

Beyond the remains of the door, a tunnel sloped downwards. It was damp with patches of mould growing on the stonework. After a couple of hundred feet it levelled out. Then we found ourselves in a large circular room, so large that we couldn't see the other side or the ceiling. Then we discovered that we had walked through a blank wall bounded by two pillars. Both the wall and the pillars were marked with a rune. I marked the wall we came through and we circumnavigated the room. What we discovered was that the room was 100' wide and equally spaced around it was 13 pillars. All the pillars and the walls had a rune on them, all different and all magical. The nature of magic in the rune on the wall we came through was Releasing.

Luthor tried to locate the Death Stone but backfired. We could see all sorts of arrows pointing at him. He then started tracing the Rune of Release and it started glowing. Additionally a glow began forming in the centre of the room. The rest of us got rather alarmed at this so we stopped him. The nature of the magic in the glow was Containment. Gideon then tried to DA some of the other runes. Some he failed on but he did get one labelled Communication. So I traced it and a gruff and annoyed voice said 'What do you want?'

We managed to find out from that voice that the runes changed every lunar cycle and that the containment glow had a minion of Cacodemon inside it. If the rune had been completely traced then it would have been released. To reverse the process all we had to do was trace the rune in reverse. So we did. The voice wasn't much more informative. At one point it offered to show us something that was more intelligent than Luthor (who was currently talking to it) so a small furry ball suddenly appeared next to us. Gideon identified it as a tribble. It looked so cute as it crawled up to me and purred so I fed it some chocolate. Before long I was surrounded by them. They seemed to be multiplying out of nothing.

One rune that the voice did tell us about was an Information rune. So it was traced. As it activated, the other one deactivated. Once it was up we found out the functions of all the pillar and wall runes. They were as follows: Walls

• 1 - Releasing what is contained
• 2 - Activates a gate to chaos
• 3 - Communication
• 4 - Hibernates the person who activates it
• 5 - Creates an inferno which cleanses the room
• 6 - Travel
• 7 - Summoning
• 8 - Sustenance, provides any food.
• 9 - Worship
• 10 - Gives chaos features to whomever activates it
• 11 - Allows the activator to talk to Death
• 12 - Information
• 13 - Passage, lets us out

Runes

• 1 - Storage of mana
• 2 - Ritual of Binding Stone - targets the Gate rune
• 3 - Enhances Practitioner of Mirror Magic
• 4 - Causes a roast meal to appear in the room
• 5 - Enhances Practitioner of Fire Magics
• 6 - Transfers mana to the activator
• 7 - Provides healing
• 8 - Provides curse removal
• 9 - Floods room with hallucinogenic vapours
• 10 - Restores soul to any one person - once
• 11 - Enhances Greater Summoners
• 12 - Modifies a random stat - up or down.
• 13 - Random luck or unluck

Gideon tested the roast meal rune and ended up with a roast dinosaur. Meanwhile I was getting covered in purring and cooing tribbles while the rest of the party were getting information. Luthor might have got his stones mixed up as he asked about the Chaos Stone. He was told it was somewhere on a small island on Alusia guarded by serpent priests. However the Death Stone is on Glorantha and is not reachable by the Wall of Travel. It's located 100 miles down from the bog and is currently held by the scorpion queen of Bagog. She was a serpent priestess but managed to complete the ritual of devouring which included devouring the previous queen. The way to get to the underground complex was to use the travel rune to return to the room we fell into. There's a teleportation ward in there which would take us down.

So we prepared to leave. Absentmindedly I picked up a tribble before going through the portal. Once we were through I discovered it wasn't multiplying after being fed - it just purred louder. Unfortunately it's favourite food appeared to be chocolate. I had to hide the remainder before it got into my supply.

We rested for a while. As we did, we noticed that the door with the evil visages was back. It didn't take us long to find the teleportation ward and when we did, Kraft leapt through it dragging Gideon with him. The rest of us followed and found ourselves waist deep in thick, sticky mud. Fortunately Kraft was only knee deep (being tall does have some advantages) and was able to wade to the exit. Once there, he hauled the rest of us out.

We found ourselves in the ruins of an underground complex so we splodged onwards down the corridor. Upon rounding the corridor, we saw flickering torches and fresh tracks which indicated someone had been along recently and lit them. Then we encountered our first door, to the right. I checked it for traps and found a poison one buried in the handle by the simple method of triggering it. So I drunk a WoH to remove the effects. Meanwhile Luthor decided to try something crazy (that's what he said) and knock on the door. When he did, it sprung open by itself.

Inside was a library containing hundreds of books, tomes and scrolls. One of the bookcases had a magical glow with the nature being 'censoring'. Two of the books had protection magic on them so Luthor and Gideon took one each. They were bestiaries.

Further on down, we reached a four way intersection. Luthor boldly went left so the rest of us followed. A short while later Kraft heard a noise and motioned us to stop while he sneaked up to see what it was. Up ahead was a room containing some beds and a group of four broo having lunch - the remains of a large giant. This infuriated Kraft so he charged into the attack. The rest of us weren't too far behind.

The battle didn't last long although, in the process, nasty splotches began to appear all over Luthor. Fortunately it was a simple thing for Gideon to fix. All the broo had their tongues cut out and all we found were 30sps and a couple of bronze daggers. Kraft was rather upset about the dead giant and he tried to block the door with a bed. I filled the room with fog. That seemed to calm him down.

Gideon empathied all of us and discovered, between the poison and the fight, I was rather badly off. So Thulrandir insisted that we retreat back to the library so we could rest and heal up for a while.

09/07/96

This time we went straight ahead at the intersection. a bit further on we found an intersecting tunnel and it looked like it had been made by something eating its way through. We definitely didn't want something like that sneaking up on us so a trap was constructed at the entrance.

Further on, the corridor ended at a large stone door. Lots of runes were carved in it. Thulrandir recognised every Gloranthian rune except the water one. Then we noticed a gap where the water rune would be so I tried drawing it in with chalk. Previously Thulrandir, Kraft, and Gideon had done a mission for the Zola Fel cult and they had been rewarded with a magical mark on the palms of their hands in the shape of the water rune. When I completed drawing the rune those runes began to tingle and the one I had drawn, glowed. So Thulrandir stepped up and placed his palm against the gap. When he withdrew it the water rune was now carved on the door and it slid open.

Inside were lots of biers, sarcophagi and crypts. Several spirits were moving in the room. At first we thought we were in huge trouble but then we noticed that they were all moving to the centre of the room where there was a glow in the air. Just then a voice said 'Enter. You will not be harmed'.

We did so and the door slid shut. The voice told us that these were the collected spirits of those who had fallen in this room. The complex used to be a temple of light and enlightenment before it was taken over by Bargen, a chaos god. The Death Stone was located at the centre of the chaos and they want it removed so that they can go to their rest. In one of the sarcophagi is a map of what the temple used to be and we would be allowed to take that.

Luthor asked just what sort of creature could have made the tunnel we had encountered earlier and the voice offered to show us. What we saw, in a glowing illusion, was a round creature that looked like a large mouth with tentacles. Looked very nasty.

So we split up and searched the room. It didn't take long before the map was unearthed.

The map depicted a lower level and the way down had to be at the end of the corridor we had not yet explored. So we stealthed our way along - at least some of us tried to [Note to self: practise stealthing]. On the way we noticed that something had eaten through the tripwire on the trap we had left blocking the strange corridor. So much for that idea.

The stairs spiralled down in a tight circle covering at least two complete turns before we reached the end then we made our way to the first intersection. I was very keen to turn right as the map showed what appeared to be a large pool of water down there, and my dowsing talent confirmed, but Thulrandir insisted that we check the left hand corridor in case there was something down there. The map showed it ending in a circular room and he didn't want anything sneaking up on us. Fair enough.

He crept down to have a look and discovered four humanoids with octopus heads sitting around a firepit in an otherwise bare room. So we prepared for battle. I prepared a Waters of Strength for Gideon and another for Kraft. But something odd happened to Kraft's one and I ended up enhancing his defence instead. Meanwhile Luthor and Gideon went Unseen. We could still see the glow emanating from Luthor's torch. So we went in, armed and ready.

The plan was good except for one thing: they could see invisible which meant while three of them went towards us, the fourth went straight for Luthor. It attacked him, wrapping two tentacles around him and drawing him close. Luthor's response was to break an oil flask over the creature's head and light it with the torch. But Luthor was too close and was being affected by the fire as well. I had no choice. While Thulrandir and Kraft met the other three I rushed over to help Luthor.

Gideon's spell then went off and giant Hands erupted from the ground, trapping one of the creatures. Meanwhile Kraft drove his giant glaive through another. A wound such as that should have instantly killed anything else but this thing still survived. Then we saw the flesh begin to close over the embedded glaive. We realised with dismay that these creatures regenerated. Had we got ourselves in too deep this time?

I rushed in to Luthor's rescue trying to duck flailing tentacles. One walloped me but I was able to score a good hit with my dagger. Then the creature belched a pungent and rather offensive green gas which enveloped the area around it. I had no choice but to withdraw from combat with eyes streaming and incapacitated by coughing. Once I reached fresh air I quickly recovered.

Kraft and Thulrandir were still holding off their opponents but it seemed like that these creatures were healing their wounds as fast as they were being inflicted. By now Gideon was coming in to help Luthor and myself. This was not looking good for us.

I saw Luthor slump into unconsciousness as he continued taking damage from the fire and the constricting tentacles. So I used my last Trollskin on him. Without it he would have surely died. It was then I noticed that the creature was not regenerating fire damage as fast as dagger damage. Fire seemed to be the answer so I triggered a Heatproofing on myself. By now Kraft had pushed another within range of a Hands of Earth which grabbed it. His momentum carried him through the hot firepit. Ouch! That’s got to hurt. Kraft then moved to help Luthor.

The creature was trying to drag the unconscious Luthor away with it, it's green vapour still wrapped around it. While triggering I had taken several deep breaths so now, while holding my breath, I charged the creature intending to tackle it to the ground. But somehow I missed everyone and ended up rolling to a stop just short of the wall.

Kraft did a massive blow to that creature while Thulrandir ran the remaining octapoid through. Now it was starting to look like we had a chance of surviving this.

I grabbed a burning stick from the firepit with the intention of burning the creature. The first attempt was a clear miss [Another note to self: Learn and rank crude club] and the second attempt was even worse. But soon, while Thulrandir finished off his opponent and threw bits of it on the fire we managed to get Luthor free and dispatched the octopoid, again into the fire. Then Thulrandir decapitated the other two.

We searched for treasure and located weapons, shields, and armour along with several coins. After collecting what we could we retreated back to the mausoleum to heal up and rest.

10/07/97

Once we were ready Thulrandir and Luthor went UnSeen and Thulrandir went ahead to scout out. All we knew of what he was up to when scribbled messages would appear in the dust in front of us. Gideon had to translate as Thulrandir was only literate in Elvish.

It had been a while since we had vanquished the octopoids and we all felt that there was a good chance that they had regenerated enough to be a threat. Fortunately there was no sign of them. The other corridor, according to the map, contained a large pool of water, which was confirmed by my dowsing talent even though there seemed to be something odd about it. When Thulrandir's next message said that the room was all clear I was anticipating immersing myself in the pool. But all I found was disappointment. The surface of the pool was too smooth and it was quickly apparent that the top 20 odd feet of water had somehow been solidified. But it wasn't ice. Even the air in here was too warm for that.

Since it was easier to cast in here, I put a WaterBreathing on myself then decided to see what would happen if I tried Liquid Transformation. It managed to retransform a small amount of the solid water back to liquid. Meanwhile Luthor had tried a Locate. He determined that the Death Stone was in the large room marked on the map. We decided to leave.

At the end of the final corridor was a stone door. Thulrandir listened at it and told us that he could hear rustling sounds on the other side. I tried to see through the door with a Waters of Vision and managed to get it going after four attempts. All I could see was darkness but Thulrandir, using elven witchsight, perceived snakes.

When his latest message was translated, Kraft took a step back in shock - and the floor gave way under him. Fortunately the stakes at the bottom had rotted away and it wasn't too hard to get him out. We figured that this was a trap designed to trigger only if something heavy walked on it - like a troll.

In case it was trolls we got some lighted torches and I gave Kraft a Waters of Strength. Thulrandir opened the door, and very quickly closed it again. It was snakes all right, the entire floor of the 4' deep pit was writhing with them. All different species, many of which we recognised as being deadly poisonous.

We took another, more cautious peek. This time Luthor noticed something odd. This wasn't a mess of snakes, this was a single creature that was covered in snake-like tendrils, like any other creature would be covered in hair. Gideon checked it's aura and told us it was an Elvis. I have my doubts that he read it right.

The room itself was 60' square and the walls were too smooth to climb. A door was in each of the walls and there were no ledges. Also there was nothing to hook a rope to on the ceiling. For some reason Luthor called out 'Hello. Anyone there' and four snakeheads spat at him, all hitting him full in the face. I quickly created a Waters of Healing and used that in an attempt to wash the poison out. Gideon reported that it had done some good but the poison was still working so I followed that up with one of the general poison antidotes we had been given. But still, Luthor was blinded. We just had to hope the effect would wear off with time.

Gideon detected a magical aura above the the creature, the nature being 'Warding'. Kraft tried firing a crossbow bolt, with a rope attached, in the hope that it would embed itself in the opposite wall. Instead the bolt shattered, and several heads tried to attack the spot where it hit.

Gideon's next trick was to cast Speak with Animals in order to convince the creature to let us pass safely. He was told that whoever had the Air Rune should pass. That had us flummoxed for a while until Thulrandir realised that Kraft had the Air Rune as part of being a member of the Storm Bull Cult. So Kraft asked for safe passage. Instantly paths appeared in the air connecting all the doors, in a cross shape. We followed Thulrandir straight across to the opposite door. No sense in exploring the side passages and getting pummelled by whatever was down there when we knew our objective was straight ahead. Note: On Glorantha many things are tied to runes - runes are power.

While we rested beyond the door, Thulrandir went ahead to scout, still Walking Unseen. Meanwhile Luthor's sight was starting to return but it was still very blurry. Kraft was carrying him. Shortly Thulrandir returned, not having detected anything through the door. When we got there we discovered it looked like a wooden door but had the consistency of stone. According to Gideon it was made of stonewood.

On the other side it was pitch black. I tried triggering a Firelight and sticking it in but the light was completely absorbed. Gideon Daed the darkness for associated runes and got: Darkness, Chaos, Death. So Thulrandir drew a rune in the ground and explained it was the Light rune. He then tried an invocation to Yelm, God of the Sun. Just as he finished, three beams of bright light leapt out from amulets that Thulrandir, Kraft, and Gideon were wearing. It was then I noticed that they bore the same symbol.

The light ripped into the darkness and neutralised it. As a sideeffect, Luthor's sight came back fully. Now we could see that the room consisted of a pit with bloodied stakes and rotting flesh. We carefully made our way through the stakes but I managed to slip on a piece of flesh and, if it wasn't for Kraft catching me, I would have landed on the stakes.

Finally we reached the other side. Beyond the corridor turned right before entering the large chamber. Thulrandir sneaked ahead and had a look to see what awaited us. At one end of the room, seated on a throne, was a creature that had the top half of a serpent man and the bottom half of a scorpion man. This had to be the scorpion queen. Surrounding her were four very large, troll sized, broo guards and nearby was a human clad in black and wearing four skulls. This I knew to be a priest of Thanator and each of those skulls were capable of casting spells from a College of Magic. As well as them there were four scorpion men and eight broo. The Death Stone was somewhere near the throne. Thulrandir was not optimistic about our chances.

Just then there was a shimmer in the air and two forms materialised. We were all set to attack when we recognised them as Rh'Khay-el and Sh'Kain. Now we may have a chance. In order to allow us to rest up and prepare ourselves fully they displaced us into limbo.

They supplied us each with a little white pill that when swallowed will restore our fatigue. I tucked mine near my back teeth - just in case. Then, just before we were ready to go, I cast Waterbreathing on everyone, created a Waters of Strength for Kraft while Gideon cast Armour of Earth on those who needed it. The fey went to cat form, quickened us and we found ourselves outside the door.

Kraft went berserk and charged in. Thulrandir was UnSeen so he headed straight for the Thanator priest. The rest of us went in. I tried fogging the place to make it harder for the opposition to see us but the spell failed. Meanwhile Gideon was casting Hands of Earth and caught a broo. Rhy'Khay-el tossed another one across the room but Sh'Kain wasn't so lucky. He had been badly battered and knocked unconscious. Meanwhile Kraft was trying to fight his way towards the queen.

A scorpionman was charging us so I tried flinging my net, and missed. A fireball went off nearby and I was struck by a mattock. I was sure I could hear the sound of tweeting birds for a while. Once I recovered it was time to swallow that little while pill, just as Luthor succeeded with a sleep spell.

Thulrandir cut the priests belt, sending his skulls crashing to the ground. Luthor managed to sneak around the side and charge the Queen. As he stepped onto the dais, some invisible force picked him up and hurled him across the full length of the room. More hands popped up and stopped the onrush towards us. Well done Gideon.

I tried fogging the area around the Queen but it dissipated just as rapidly as it formed. After killing his current opponent, Kraft charged the Queen. A lightning bolt didn't stop him but an invisible wall did.

I managed to slip past the Hands, around the opposition and headed towards the Queen, pausing briefly to drop a Waters of Healing near the still unconscious Sh'Kain. Gideon was right behind me so he stopped to administer it. Meanwhile my ocular told me that the entire dais was warded. Kraft was trying to get past the wall and discovered that it ran all around the throne. Then, as he took another step, his entire body turned electric-blue. I thought of flooding the area inside the wall but the Rainstorm failed to start.

Thulrandir had finished off the priest by now while Rhy'Khay-el was mopping up the rest of the opposition. The last broo guard she finished off exploded.

Once the rest of the opposition was vanquished and Shi'Kain had recovered, we assembled around the wall. Thulrandir did something with a rune and lines of power linked us. Then a blast of raw power emanated from Thulrandir and hit the wall, bringing it down. At the same time the Queen started shimmering. Everyone charged to the attack (well nearly, there wasn't any room for me). The two fey shifted out of cat form and were now wielding swords one of light and the other of dark. Thulrandir scored two good hits then I noticed he had shrunk a bit. Then Luthor glowed pink for a short while. I tried blanketing the area with a fog but that failed. Then Gideon's skin turned reflective. Must have been those wards they were standing on.

Finally Rhy'Khay-el struck the killing blow and there was a blinding flash of light. Luthor had already determined that the Death Stone was inside her so the body was cut open. Luthor managed to put the stone in the container then collapsed. Runes, later identified as the Runes of Hamut, appeared on him.

After collecting what treasure we could find, Gideon snapped the rod and we all found ourselves at Kera-sria's house.

12/07/96

Two days later we were all healed, watered and fed. I spent some of the time cleaning Kera-sria's pool, with Kraft's help. After all it only seemed fair to repay our host's hospitality.

13/07/96

We waited until this morning before returning to New Pavis. Kera-sria created a portal and we stepped through - straight into the Storm Bull temple library much to the surprise of the Storm Kahn there. I gave him a brief summary of what had transpired, with interjections from the rest of the party. Halfway through Shi'Kain and Rhy'Khay-el made a grand entrance.

The rest of the day was reasonably uneventful. Thulrandir had earlier suggested that we give thanks to the various Powers that had helped so we did so. Finally we all met up at Gimpys.

14/07/96

Thulrandir wanted to check out if the chaos groups had stopped organising themselves so we headed back into the Rubble and ventured towards the flooded quarry. Nothing attacked us on the way and, by lunchtime, we reached the edge and set up a camp. I was keen to explore the quarry itself but Thulrandir reckoned it was full of gorps. When I looked, he was right. Then I remembered the experiment that the Temple of Yhankor-Mhy wanted so Thulrandir went gorp-fishing. As soon as one emerged, I threw a Liquid Purification at it. It shrivelled a bit. As soon as Thulrandir finished it off, I got a sample. Then another one, with bits of leaves and other stuff emerged. This time the spell was more successful and it fizzled. We decided to leave at this point.

It certainly looked like that the Forces of Chaos weren't co-operating any more so we concluded our job was done. I delivered my report, and sample, to the Yhankor Mhy temple and received 200sp for it. Then we met at the Storm Bull temple where another 12600 was waiting for us. I decided to decline buying any items.

My intention was to head immediately back to Alusia but I was persuaded to stay another night. That evening I received an invitation, to attend the wedding of Kraft and Carlia to be held at Kera-sria's residence.

15/07/96

Said farewell and headed back to Alusia to start training.

28/07/96

Took a day off and headed for the wedding, with a Waters of Strength six-pack as a wedding present.