Return One Hero from the Cosmos

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: The name of the adventure
GM: William Dymock
Season: Autumn 795 WK
Night: Someday
Level: Level

Party

• Isil Eth Mind Elf Female Leader
• Antonio Air Human Male
• Dramus Necromancer Elf Male
• Haarn Binder Human Male
• Flamis Fire Human Female
• Basalic Earth Human Male
• Geraldine Illusionist Human Female
• DeRoin Necromancer Dwarf Male

Time on adventure

01/07/94 - 10/08/94

Employer

Captain Carlos, a Zentradi Spirit Warrior

Mission

To find the whereabouts of Moeg Khellec

Original Scribe Notes

Media:Snau9503.zip

Scribe Notes - Summary

Plane

Galatea/Zentradia/Atraxia

Places visited

Huldice Village - Galatea

Rejavik - Galatea

A huge chasm - Zentradia

Ry'leh - Atraxia

Employer

Captain Carlos - Zentradi Spirit Warrior

Major NPCs encountered

Readia - a blue dragon

Jacob Carlye - a Traveller

Prince Garak of Ry'leh

Mission

To find the whereabouts of Moeg Khellec

31/06/94

Captain Carlos, a Zentradi Spirit Warrior, turned up at the Guild and wanted the Protectors of Galatea to pay sutage in order to assist them with their war against the Calimari on the Plane of Jamaria (Rhy Keller's home plane) or to assist in the search for Moeg Khellec. He also mentioned there was a possibility of the Calimari putting a foothold on Alusia itself.

Moeg Khellec had been last seen disappearing into a portal while in pursuit of a demon. One person who may know is Prince Garak of Rhy'leh. Getting there is through the Chasm of Forever in Zentradia which is 4000 miles from the Galatea/Zentradi portal, which had reappeared after being shut down.

01/07/94

Got our shadowwings and flew off to the edge of the forest. After landing we trekked through it. Then we were attacked by eight demons and three Calimari warriors - as well as an invisible entity. After defeating them I found a pool of bubbling magma which was starting to cool.

The portal tree wasn't far away. As we got there a 'flying breadbox' came through which had been skewered by a dagger. Analysis identified it as a Nathul Kadaka. After going through the portal we discovered a group of Huldice in some sort of ritual.. We ended up being invited to an honour feast at their village (a rough collection of huts), three hours away.

The Huldice's reaction to the name Moeg Khellec was instant panic. They seem to refer to him as the 'Destroyer of Worlds'.

08/07/94

After quite some time, reached the end of the jungle.

09/07/94

Shadowwinged to the Zelani capital city

18/07/94

Finally arrived at the Zentradi city of Rejavik. Discovered that the portal to Zentradia had reappeared (it was shut down the last time we were here). Searched in the library for locations of other portals on Zentradia. Could only find three: The Dread Portal of Sadam, one located in the Necropolis of Cyrellia which is located at the bottom of the ocean, and the Immovable Gates of Tala. None seemed to be what we were looking for.

After receiving Shadowwings we entered the portal and was much as we remembered it. i.e. the insides of a long, grey, tube. Halfway along in the wall, was a black ring which was magical. It looked like a side branch but no destination was indicated in the aura.

Reached the end. Only sign of life was a ratman seated on the ground nearby. When we approached it ran away. Smoke rising over a nearby ridge indicated a campsite nearby. It was decided to confine the group for questioning. Soon a fight was in progress.

After a while the ratmen & cowmen surrended. Meanwhile the only points of interest we could see was the remains of a tower, a volcano, and a ziggurat.

The ratmen told us they were there to keep a watch on the portal and reported to their captain in the city of Anzel, near the volcano. They went pale and shivered when Moeg-Khellec was mentioned.

We discovered that the beings here had been infected by Primary Chaos. They told us they must serve the Masters (the Calimar). It was evident they were afraid of them. They also mentioned that there were Slayers in the area near the chasm and described a spirit warrior. They were afraid of them as well.

After using magic to convince our captives that we had re-entered the portal we flew off. To the northwest were volcanos and to the north and east were mountain ranges. We reached the eastern range and followed a glacier through the pass.

Spotted the huge chasm. A road lead towards it. I flew over it and couldn't see the bottom. As we landed we were hit by purple energy from the chasm. Last magic to impact - Earthing. College - unknown. Also there was a magical aura on the rocks in the chasm. Nature of magic - Creation, it had been there for 500 years and had been cast by an avatar. No signs of volcanic or seismic activity. Geraldine found a tower on a ledge below the lip of the chasm to the north.

Went down to a nearby ledge. Just then the ground shook and the head of a blue dragon appeared from under the tower. It's name was Readia. Hadn't heard of Moeg Khellec but had been warned about humans from Alusia. Then the dragon spread it's wings and vanished - literally.

It was decided to head along the floor of the chasm. and camp by the remnents of the road at the bottom.

Flamis did a divination ritual and saw a large city and a bunch of Calimari doing something. Suddenly there was a massive explosion and a bright light raced to the horizon. When the smoke cleared there was the chasm and the city was no more.

19/07/94

During the midnight watch we were attacked by a brain on legs and some humanoids. The brainthing disappeared, taking Perriot, Haarn's golem, with it. Meanwhile we fought off the 9' tall hairy humanoids.

We rested for most of the day but we did have a visitor, one Jacob Carlyle, who described himself as a Traveller. He was 30ish, 6' tall and dressed in bright colours. He had just 'jumped' here through a portal from a plane called Artrax. When asked about Prince Garak on Ry'leh, he said that he hadn't been there but he had heard that Garak was somehow linked to an Elushian adventurer, a chap by the name of Moeg Khellec, at least according to a prophecy uttered by a seer. Garak is human and has a reputation of being a swordsman. He also mentioned that Ry'leh was rumoured to be under a great ocean but know nothing of the location of any portal to it. When told about the dragon he was very interested and literally popped off to have a look. Divination rituals led us to the conclusion that the portal was to the west so we went looking. Couldn't find it so we set up camp near where we thought it might be.

20/07/94

More divinations led us to the conclusion that the portal in a ziggurat while Perriot was somewhere to the northwest. Spotted an orc standing guard at a cavern to the northwest.

21/07/94

Set out towards the cave. No sign of an orc. Decided not to enter it was it seemed more prudent to bypass any fights. So we flew out of the chasm. At the top Perriot was waiting for us. Fireflighted towards the ziggurat and, after flying over the mountain range, saw it in the distance. Something tried to intercept us but it was vanquished. Landed and entered the ziggurat.

The ziggurat was made of Bound Earth and there is a vertical shaft with rungs in the floor.

Geraldine, Perriot and Haarn go down looking for traps and disarm some. The rungs go down to the 50' mark, while the tunnel goes down another 50' before levelling off. There is a cavern below containing skeletons. A rock fell on Flamis and I as we descended. By the time we recovered from that the rest of the party had finished off the skeletons. Found several magical items on a wraith. A portal at the other end led to Atraxia. We went through and found a featureless rock plain under a black sky. The air was cold and there was only one star. So we headed off in that direction. After a while we spotted another obelisk. Three of the party Doomed with Guardianship and their aura was transforming to Sentient Undead. MA of curse = 25.

Reached the obelisk, went down the spiral starcase and into the huge cavern beyond. We could see a 200' wall ahead with a gate in it with a 50' gap between that and the ceiling. We could hear a rhythmic pounding. This turned out to be a 30' metal golem walking along the wall. There were buildings beyond the gate.

The wall was made of magical earth while the gates were warded with something called 'Eternal Damnation'. Antonio tried flying over the wall but was shredded by a whirlwind vortex. Managed to Tunnel under and got through before molten rock flowed in the tunnel. While we rested, Dramus dealt to the Dooms.

22/07/94

Headed towards the central temple. Inside was a big room. The next room had a throne in the middle of it. On it was seated what initially appeared to be a suit of glowing armour with the Wiccan Wheel design on the chestplate. The colour of the armour was continally shifting. An ornate sword was propped up next to the throne.

Suddenly two glowing lights appeared behind the visor and the armour stood up. It identified itself as Prince Garak. I discovered that the armour came from the Plane of Hell and the aura strength was Avatar. Prince Garak told us that he wished to die from an un-named horror which is located behind a set of doors at the other end of a spiralling corridor. He had been here 12,000 years waiting for someone to open the doors so he could cheat fate. It turned out that Moeg Khellec was his nemesis and that he was fated to meet Moeg in combat. Also he couldn't remove the armour. We thought about releasing the nameless horror for him but when we discovered it had the potential of destroying entire planes of existance we gave up on that idea.

Garak also told us that Moeg Khellec was searching for a banner. After further questioning we discovered he was in the Chaos Maountains. Flamis did a divination and discovered that the banner was 'in the home of the bride of the wielder of the black spear'. That meant Rhy Keller's home plane of Jermaria. The banner itself was described as 'The standard of Light, bearing stars and rainment of Carradine'.

Left the city and clambered up the stairs.

23/07/94

Reached a circle of nine 100' stones with a 20' stone in the middle. No magic detected. There could be ancient elven writing on top of the block and random scratches on the ground.

25/07/94

Finally reached the portal and, once back in the ziggurat the hole was sealed in order to stop anyone else getting to the unnamed horrors. A note was left 'Warning. Tomb robbed by Alusians. Some traps still set, some monsters left, all loot gone'. P.S. Watch out for the wight'. Headed for the portal and returned to Galatea. Greeted by spirit warriors.

26/07/94

Antonio resurrected and our broken arms fixed. Reported to the Guardians who would arrange for an expedition.

08/08/94

Trip back to Alusia uneventful. Arrived back in Seagate on the tenth.

Scribe Notes - Summary

31/06/94

I knew there was going to be trouble when that Zentradi Spirit Warrior turned up at the Guild meeting. First off he announced that he had come to ask 'The Protectors of Galatea' for sutage of 10,000sp each in order to assist them with their war against the Calimari on the plane of Jamaria (Rye Keller's home plane). Either that or we could assist in the search for Moeg Khellec. He also mentioned that there was a good chance that the Calimari were going to try and gain a foothold on Elusha itself.

So we assembled in Meeting Room 12. All of the others from our previous excursion to Galatea were there as well as two extra. We started off with introductions.

• Isil-Eth. She was a tall (6'4") slender elf with long wheaten gold hair touching the ground. Currently she was wearing a sky-blue dress and several pieces of rather expensive jewelry. I also noticed a dagger. She is a Mind Mage.

• Antonio (nicknamed Herby). He's an air mage, currently covered in leaves because he has a talent which allows him to grow plants on his skin. 5'11" human carrying projectile weapons.

• Dramus - A necromancer. A 6'8" elf wearing 2 inch high heels. He was wearing flashy clothing and had very long blond hair, reaching to the floor. For weapons he was wearing two short swords.

• Haarn - He was a Binder, a recently established College. He was 5'8" and skinny at 120#. A rather average looking bloke who was all 'angles' (elbows, knees, and nose). His face was badly scarred as well as carrying a rather severe expression. He was wearing a leather apron complete with a belt full of implements. He was also wearing leggings, knee high boots, as well as a small hat with a feather stuck in it, topping shortish, bowl cut brown hair. There was a crossbow and scimitar stuck in the belt as well. With him was a rag and string golem called Pierriot.

• Flamis, she's cute, with shoulder length blonde hair and a freckled complexion. She's 5'6 tall and is a fire mage and mechanician, liking nothing better than banging on bits of metal on the forge. Being a fire mage she usually dresses in red. Currently she was wearing her 'flying suit' - a tight-fitting orange & red one piece longsleeved top and short skirt with a flaming 'F' on the chest. Completing the ensemble was a short black cape and knee high red boots.

• As for me, I'm Basalic, 5'10" human Earth mage. I was wearing mostly greens and browns and carrying a broadsword and a crossbow. Mainly I'm a ranger and geologist.

The two newcomers were:

• Geraldine - A 5'7" human female wearing a mottled grey jumpsuit and bright blue boots. She was also carrying a broadsword. She was homely looking with a thin face, lightbrown shoulder length hair and striking blue eyes. She told us she was an illusionist, spy, troubadour and currently unmarried.

• The last member was Dramus's servant, DeRoin who was also learning to be a necromancer. He's a stout 3'8" dwarf with braided hair and wearing hard leather armour. He was wearing a dagger but had left his axe outside.

Of course Isil-Eth objected to Flamis's outfit - again - so Geraldine used an illusion to turn the outfit into something a bit more 'normal' in a muted blue/grey colour. Flamis was rather put out by that so Geraldine promised to fix the colour scheme later. I also examined, with her permission, Geraldine's sword. It was surprising well balanced. I offered to help her with practise if she wanted on this trip.

Dramis introduced his other two servants. Horace - a sheep's skull, and a disembodied hand he called 'Thing'.

The Zentradi spirit warrior introduced himself as Captain Carlos. He had a large iron bound chest with him which he said contained the base rate for our employment. Inside were several large gold coins, a cup, a crown, and a rod.

Carlos re-iterated that we had to find Moeg Khellec, who was last seen disappearing in a vortex while in pursuit of a demon. One person who may know of his whereabouts is King Garacc of Ry'leh. The way to get there was through the Chasm of Forever in Zentradia which is about 4000 miles from the Galatea/Zentradia portal. We would have to get past the Calmari by ourselves as the Zentradi can't go back. However they can provide us with Greater Enchantments.

Once he had finished we decided who was doing what. Isil-Eth became party leader and I became the scribe. Dramus also invited everyone to his place for dinner at 8pm that night. This prompted Geraldine to inform us she was a Vegan i.e. doesn't eat meat or any animal byproducts.

My first stop was the library as I was sure I had heard the name Ry'leh before. The best I could find in the library was it being the name of a far off king on a far off plane - deceased 1979AP. Another reference was on an obelisk in the Plane of Aldaxia in an island on the Seas of Torment. Following that was the Fire College where Flamis was dishing out Protections from Normal Fire. My next stop was the Healer's offices where I picked up six 100pt healing potions for 3000sp. I was then summoned to Guild Security. All they wanted was information on Prince Garacc i.e, race, college, age, pacted or not, GTN, and if possible ITN.

I then went back to the Fire College where Flamis was engaged in her Contact Other Selves ritual. Something must have gone on because she suddenly went berserk. I rushed in to try and subdue her but managed to get knocked unconcious, by what I recognized as a Mental Attack, for my efforts. Fortunately Guild Security managed to put her to sleep, but not before she had TK raged the rest of our party.

Guild Security were NOT pleased about the whole incident especially since someone had triggered a full security alert. The upshot was that Flamis was banned from using that ritual at the Guild unless there was no chance of a backfire effect. Meanwhile I ended up in the infirmary getting healed up.

01/07/94

Early that morning we all proceeded to the Lord of the Bats and got the required Shadowwings and flew off to the edge of the forest. We then organised ourselves and proceeded through the forest. Just then I spotted something ahead.

Once I alerted the others, Geraldine sent her pet ferret after it. It soon reported that it spotted a talon disappearing behind a tree. So we prepared for a possible combat. I threw a Walking Unseen on Flamis while other members of the party went invisible. Isil'Eth recommended that we move on a bit. We did so.

After a short while we heard a large demonic roar. Isil'Eth had the spirit warriors and her men-at-arms form a circle around us. Out of the trees, came eight demons and three Calamari warriors. As they closed I DAed one of the demons and discovered it was a magical construct from the Plane of Hell called a Blood Letter.

Soon we were engaged. I was hanging back a bit while the two spirit warriors nearby were engaging a demon each. If one got past, I was going to intercept. However I didn't see the large, invisible creature that burst through the line and trampled me to the ground.

By the time I came round it was all over. The only casualty on our side was Haarn. Perriot had tried a Great Shout and backfired, covering him, Haarn, and a few others in the area of effect. ('Hoist by your own golem' someone remarked later). Fortunately Dramus was able to get to Haarn before it was too late. As I pulled out a Healing potion, I felt a Trollskin impact.

I then went for a scout around and discovered a pool of magma bubbling in the forest. Flamis had already dealt to the fires around it. It was still rather hot to approach but I managed to get into an effective DA range to discover it was a Portal to Hell. Currently deactivated and cooling. There were no sign of any more of those things near the magma portal and the portal tree so we moved on. Once we arrived at the tree I gave DeRoin some healing and a Strength of Stone.

Just then there was a 'thump' from the tree and a 'flying breadbox' with a javelin through it came through the portal. It promptly flopped to the ground. I was unable to DA it but discovered the wood on the javelin was Galatean in origin. Just then it expired from it's injuries so I tried again. Formally living GTN - Nathul Kadaka'. Isil'Eth them did a precog on what would happen if we stepped through the portal and obtained the image of a ring of stakes.

One of the spirit warriors was rendered invisible and he stepped through the portal. After a short while he reported that a ring of 14 dead Nathuls on stakes had been arranged in a circle around the portal tree. Since most of us were still battered from the previous engagement, it was decided to rest here for the next six hours before going through. Flamis tried her Flamesight ritual on a piece of the javelin and got an image of a Huldice crafting it.

She then tried it on a sample of the ichor that had come from the demon and immediately wished she hadn't. What she got was a picture of five Calimari, in purple robes with gold trim, standing at each point of a large pentagram. Just then something formed in the middle of the pentagram and looked straight at Flamis. She screamed. When she finally calmed down she described it as a large non-tentacled Calimarian about 1.5 times as high.

Finally, after some rest, we stepped through the portal. What we discovered was a group of Huldice chanting a ritual. The chanting abruptly stopped when Isil-Eth stepped through. One of them stepped forward and touched her as if it didn't believe she was real. Dramus was then presented with a large spear so we reciprocated with a bone statuette.

Perriot was convinced to do a Comprehend Languages on Isil-Eth so she could converse with the Huldice. It turned out that we were invited to an Honour Feast.

It took us three hours to get to the Huldice village. On the way we were beign plagued by swarms of insects (GTN = Squatha) so Antonio put up a 28 knot wind. Also we were wading through thick mud which was very tiring so I gave Strengths of Stone to Isil-Eth and DeRoin. Dramus then remembered about the bone cart he had created last trip so he assembled another one and we placed some of our gear on it. Geraldine added an illusion to make it look like a cart. Meanwhile Flamis constructed some mudshoes.

The 'village' turned out to be a rough collection of huts. As we approached, an armour plated quadraped barred our way but the Huldice beat it off. We were then rushed by a group of excited Huldar. From what Isil-Eth was able to figure out from what they were saying, they were glad that their ritual to summon Al Sarin, The Destroyer of Worlds, had worked and that would keep off the encroaching perpetual darkness. Isil'Eth reckoned that Al Sarin was a corruption of an ancient elvish word.

A Huldice then approached, bearing a large shell containing a heap of flowers. It made signs indicating that they were there for us to eat. I checked one out and discovered it was poisonous. If this was the honour feast, then I'd eat it but I'd wash it down with a Waters of Healing afterwards.

After a while Dramus mentioned the name 'Moeg Khellec'. The reaction from the Huldice was instant panic. Within a few seconds there was not a Huldice to be seen. We waited a bit but none of them came back. Finally someone spotted one up a tree so Geraldine floated up in an attempt to reassure it. It fell out of the tree. Dramus started Healing it while Isil-Eth added 'special effects'. Geraldine added Heroism. It appeared that Dramus was trying to make him and Isil-Eth out as Gods and this Huldice was to be the Prophet.

Finally the rest of the Huldice cautiously returned. I spot DAed a few of them and came up with MAs ranging from 21 (the leader) down to 12. None of them had any aura in Flamis's mirror. Also their GTN was 'The Untutoured Ones'. They were saying something about 'The Elder Ones come. Darkness falls. Need Destroyer of Worlds'. I bet they really mean Moeg Khellec.

Naturally Isil-Eth asked to hear their legends. It was difficult to follow what they were saying as the story was wrapped in allegory and metaphore but the gist of it was as follows: World created, initial strife, strife ended. Calimar were all seekers/dreamers/finders of truth but were seduced by the darkness and tried to conquer the world. The Huldice fled and sheltered outside civilisation. A call for help brough the triad which ended the battle. Calimar fled to an unknown place. It ended with the phases 'Revenge lies end all destroyed. Calimar come. Darkness falls. Khellec comes'.

Isil-Eth went very quiet and seemed to go into a trance. Meanwhile the Huldice served up a meal of several odd things including some moving green plants (GTN - Ectlar Mustla). After a while it started raining heavily. Flamis wasn't keen on that so Geraldine created an umbrella. A short while later, it got dark.

02/07/94

Next morning everyone was still fatigued, especially Isil-Eth. Dramus requested some wood so he could enhance the cart so DeRoin, Haarn and I went and got some. Once Dramus had created it, we dumped our stuff on it then I DAed it for duration. Isil-Eth still required a Strength of Stone so I attempted to give her one. Unfortunately I ended up with muscle spasms which Dramus fixed.

08/07/94

Six days later we reached the end of the jungle. All of us received Shadowwings from the Zentradi Celastial. I cast another Strength of Stone on Isil-Eth then attempted to do one on Haarn. Apparently I backfired that one as well and came up with Total Amnesia. Geraldine had to coax me out of the forest because of the 'demons' I suddenly found I was surrounded with then I was put to sleep.

09/07/94

The next thing I remembered clearly was waking up in a Curse Removal circle in the Zelani capital city a day later. I soon discovered there was a party going on - and had been going for the last day - but after snagging a few drinks I went looking for Flamis.

18/07/94

It took us another day to reach the port city by Wings, 5 days on a ship, then aother 3 day flight to Rejavik. Once we arrived we discovered that the portal to Zentradi had reappeared. We also received our Rank 15 Greater Enchantments

Well the only information we could find on portals on Zentradia were the following. One was called The Dread Portal of Sadam.(Sadam was a mad mage who specialised at using undead for doors.) Another was located in the Necropolis of Cyrellia - somewhere at the bottom of the ocean - and a third were the Immovable Gates of Tala. None of them appeared to be the one we were looking for.

The Zentradi mages also had a rank 17 Enhance Enchant so we took advantage of that to have various spells put on, such as a renewed Protection from Magical Fire, an Enhance Armour (Rank 12 and will last for 12.5 hours) and a 17.5 hour duration Witchsight. Dramus also recreated the bone buggy and did a Wraithcloak on himself. We were then pelted by some large seeds which a group of Huldice were throwing at us. Apparently it was some sort of ritual blessing. Initially we tried catching them but soon discovered that they were fragile and contained something rather corrosive. My armour would never be the same again.

We were also given their Flight spell as well just before we entered the portal. Flamis passed over two rings for me to use if I needed them: a ring of Shadowform, and a ring of Dragonflames. Once in the portal, it was just as we remembered it, a long grey tube. As we advanced we were keeping an eye out for strange demons. About halfway along we encountered a black ring in the side of the tube. It DAed as magical. I thought it was a side branch but it gave no answer when I asked for destination. According to Flamis's mirror, the area was black while the rest of the tube was gold. Geraldine tossed a coin into the ring but it bounced off the wall.

After a while the end was in sight. I was expecting a horde of Calamari at the end so I had my sword out ready. However the only thing we saw, upon emerging, was a ratman seated on the ground. The only visible weapons were a bow and dagger.

Dramus suggested that we try not to make threatening moves so I put my sword away. Isil-Eth flew forward. At that the ratperson jumped up and fled towards a nearby hill. Flamis reported she could see campfire smoke emerging from the other side of it. That definately implied there were more of them.

Dramus requested that the group be confined for questioning. While the rest of the party spread out, I quickly DAed a plant for Plane of Origin as Isil-Eth had earlier asked for confirmation that this was Zentradia. It was. Then, while preparing Hands of Earth, zipped over to the brow of the hill overlooking the campsite. There were more ratmen and a cowman gathered around. Haarn tried the same trick but overshot the hill and landed near the campsite where he was immediately set upon by a ratman. Perriot leapt on to the ratman while wielding a dagger.

By now the entire contingent were either readying to attack or running away. An arrow whizzed past my head as I cast the spell. Unfortunately it failed to go off. Meanwhile Geraldine was firing arrows at the bowman and the cowman. Both collapsed. Another ratman was frantically digging a hole to hide in.

Dramus surrounded one fleeing figure with a Wall of Bones and Geraldine flew over to cut another one off. Either the ratman was lucky or incredibly skilled as he managed to hit Geraldine rather badly as she landed. Perriot was thrown out of his combat while the ratman advanced on Haarn. I put a Diamond Weapon on Haarn's scimitar - in case he needed it - then charged the ratman, who was still excavating a pit, in order to subdue it.

Antonio managed to kill one with Ice Projectiles, much to Dramus's annoyance, while Dramus ringed another fleeing ratman. By now, Geraldine had recovered and was grappling with the one that had hit her. Haarn and I were doing the same with our targets. Meanwhile DeRoin was chasing one all over the place.

A short time later the ratmen surrendered. Dramus tied them up and tended to their wounds. Meanwhile Geraldine did an aerial survey but spotted nothing. Flamis and I went on lookout on top of a nearby hill. The features of interest we could see were an active volcano, the remains of a tower, and a ziggurat structure.

After getting a translation spell from Perriot, Isil-Eth questioned them. Basically they were there to look out for things coming through the portal. The nearby tower had been destroyed a year ago. They report to their captain, a horseman, in the city of Anzel, located near the volcano and several days walk away. Their relief is due here in a few days. He went pale when Isil-Eth mentioned the Vagdar and shivered when Dramus mentioned Moeg Khellec.

Meanwhile, having nothing better to do, I decided to attempt to find out what had caused these changes on them. A few DAs later I had ascertained that they had been infected by Primary Chaos which would require a ritual to remove. The MA rating of the curse was 20. Isil-Eth offered them the oppotunity to leave this area and be cured but the cowman refused saying that they must serve the masters (the Calamari) even though they're afraid of them. He also mentioned that there were Slayers in the area near the chasm and described a spirit warrior. They were mortally afraid of those as well.

I DAed the portal and established that it had been up for six months. Meanwhile Isil-Eth used suggestions to convince our captives that we had re-entered the portal. After releasing them we left tracks to indicate that before flying off. Dramus had reshaped the bone cart so he and Isil-Eth could ride in style.

Finally we flew off. To the northwest, we could see volcanos. North and East were mountain ranges. Finally we reached the foothills of the eastern range and I scouted out a pass for us to fly through. Glacial by the looks of it, which was confirmed as we flew into it. Flamis spotted some man-made snow covered structures but we decided not to investigate. After following the glacier through the pass, we spotted the chasm. It was HUGE. Haarn was so awestruck that he forgot to maintain his flight. We had to rescue him from the ledge where he had fallen.

At about 60 miles from the chasm we spotted a tower to the north. Another 2 hours and we were getting close. We could see a road going towards the chasm. I did a quick overfly in attempt to look down into the depths. Couldn't see the bottom but there was some mist down there. The cavern itself looked like it had been spooned out.

As we landed, a large mass of purple energy leapt out from the chasm, bounced off Antonio, before scattering among the rest of us. Once on the ground, Geraldine asked to be DAed for 'last magic to impact successfully'. The answer was Earthing and the College was unknown.

I decided to lower myself over the side to get some rock samples. As I got them I noticed that there was a magical aura on the rocks. What I got was that the nature of the magic was 'Creation', the aura had been there for 500 years and it had been cast by an avatar. I tried for the name of the avatar and got some sort of aura backlash causing a word to bounce around in my mind and a mild headache. Also there was no sign of volcanic or seismic damage to the rock structure.

While Geraldine flew down for a recon, Isil-Eth tried reading my mind to see what it was. She got knocked out for ten minutes and Dramus reckoned it was caused by 'Primal Damage'. Geraldine returned about then and reported that there was a tower on a ledge below and to the north. So, after a meal, we all flew down. Haarn was scared of heights so Isil-Eth hypnotised him. Soon we found it down below and landed on the ledge nearby. Most of it had collapsed but the lower bit was still relatively intact. So Dramus wandered up and knocked on the door.

Simultaneously Geraldine informed us that the area was alive with magic.

Just then the ground shook. From what I could tell, the epicentre was under the tower. There were no wards or traps on the doorway so we had a look. The room was 30' in diameter inside. Another rumble and the floor collapsed. The head of a blue dragon peered up inquisitively.

Geraldine spoke to it and discovered that it was a Zentradia dragon by the name of Readia and had been asleep under the tower until a disturbance had woken it up. It told us it had taken the tower of Cullen when it had come of age. I presumed it was referring to this tower.

Flamis tried observing the dragon in the mirror of auras under the pretext of fixing her hair.

However the dragon must have realised what was going on as a claw reached out and it wanted to know just what it was she had. Flamis explained that it was a magical elven mirror from the Plane of Culthea and explained what it does. Readia appeared satisfied. In the mirror the dragon's aura was sapphire blue.

Readia told us that it hadn't heard of Moeg Khellec but it's parents had warned him to beware of humans from Elushia. It's mate, a silver dragon, was in 'The Place of Thought' - probably a library. It then announced that it had to hunt and invited us to join it. Geraldine graciously declined. The dragon spread it's wings and vanished - literally. Geraldine went into the cavern below the tower. It was bare with no exits.

It was decided to head along the floor of the chasm and camp by the remnents of the road that was now at the bottom. Evidently this cavern was formed by a subsidence as rock samples from the bottom matched those I had previously taken from the ground above.

Dramus wanted to know the 'Effect of Last Magic to impact' on him. So I did the DA and got 'Summoning'. He didn't seem too pleased about that. Flamis then requested a piece of wood that dated back to before the chasm had appeared so I went hunting for one - and more interesting rocks. She wanted it for a divination ritual. When she did it she saw a vision of a large city with some Calimari doing something. Suddenly there was a massive explosion and a bright light raced to the horizon. When the smoke cleared, there was the chasm and the city was no more.

19/07/94

I was on the midnight watch with Geraldine that night. Suddenly I heard a whistling sound. Just then Isil-Eth called 'To Arms' just as I was hit by three arrows, causing me to topple off the rock (Mistake #1 - Should have had a Walking Unseen or a Blending on - now there's a reason to practise that spell) completely stunned. Another arrow shot past Isil-Eth just before a Wall of Bones appeared between us and the archers.

Suddenly a large brain with four clawed limbs appeared by the fire. Geraldine started pumping arrows into it. Antonio started to cast but he suddenly screamed and collapsed, clutching his head. This prompted Haarn to come up with the comment 'Must have something to do with the mind guy') As he said that, it leapt towards him so he backed off.

Flamis threw a DF at it. Suddenly she found herself being attacked by a demon. We later found out it was a phantasm. I had recovered by now so I tried to trigger a Witchsight so I could see more clearly what was going on. It didn't work. Curses! That was the last one. I did see a flight of arrows whizzing past Flamis though.

A Wall of Fire sprung up from one end of the Wall of Bones providing more illumination. Just then Flamis fell over and a humanoid appeared next to her. Another appeared next to Geraldine. who immediately attacked it. I charged in to help Flamis but was hit by another wave of arrows. I collapsed, completely unconscious (Mistake #2 - didn't have a Healing potion on me. Must remember to keep one handy at all times. Mistake #3 - no magical defense. Must rank that Armour of Earth spell and use it or get some invested Shadowforms).

Geraldine was also stunned by an arrow hit and fell over. Flamis fumbled and nearly broke her quarterstaff. Perriot did a Great Shout in the direction where the arrows were coming from while Haarn staunched my wounds (Mistake #4 - no Trollskin. That needs ranking as well).

Flamis finally tripped her opponent while Dramus backed off from the brain-thing. Isil-Eth was defending herself from another humanoid. Perriot jumped on top of the brain-thing and begain attacking it. More arrows flew in and Dramus toppled over.

Suddenly the brain-thing disappeared, taking Perriot with it. The rest of the combat was a bit of a blur but soon we had run out of opposition. One of them had been captured and restrained. More arrows were flying in so Haarn put up a Bound Air shield. Meanwhile Dramus managed to get a Healing potion down me and I recovered consciousness. Antonio was hauled in and discovered to be in mental shock. One of Flamis's Waters of Healing was given to Haarn. Antonio finally recovered from what Isil-Eth called 'elani mana flux' and Dramus called 'brain-damage'. The opposition turned out to be 9' tall hairy humanoids which DAed as human. Primal Chaos again I think.

While most of us, me included, slept through most of the day, Isil-Eth and Geraldine wind-walked, in opposite directions, to have a look about. Isil-Eth didn't find anything and ended up having to walk back as the spell ran out sooner than expected. Meanwhile Geraldine went out: one mile, two miles, traveller, three miles. She suddenly U-turned and went back. From what she could see it was a 30ish human male 6' tall dressed in bright colours. So she flew back to the camp and got Antonio to fetch Isil-Eth.

Soon the gentleman neared our campsite and Geraldine went out to meet him. He told her his name was Jacob Carlyle and he had just 'jumped' here through a portal. He's a Traveller and had been to a lot of planes and places over a very long time period. When Isil-Eth told him we were two planes removed from Elushia he reckoned that explained a lot about us. Also Dramus was having deja-vu that he had met this guy before.

He had popped through from a plane called Artrax through a castle on the cavern floor. When asked about Prince Garak on Ry'leh, he said that he hadn't been there but he had heard that Garak was somehow linked to an Elushian adventurer, a chap by the name of Moeg Khellec, at least according to a prophecy uttered by a seer. Garak is human and has a reputation of being a swordsman. He also mentioned that Ry'leh was rumoured to be under a great ocean but know nothing of the location of any portal to it. According to Flamis, the Traveller's aura was a rather stylish black.

He also mentioned that he had picked up quite a few tricks while Travelling, one of them being he could teleport himself to a place he had previously seen. When the dragon was mentioned he was rather interested so Antonio showed him the area through a Crystal of Vision. With an audible 'pop' the Traveller vanished.

Dramus had done one of his divination rituals and had come to the conclusion that the portal was to the west. So we headed in that direction. By the time we got there it was getting dark. There was no sign of a portal but we reckoned it could be buried nearby or just below the lip, depending on whether the structure it had been in had tumbled to the floor or not. Geraldine put up an illusion around the campsite to hide it while we waited for dawn.

20/07/94

The next morning, after Antonio took over watching from me, I went for a walk looking for clues i.e. fallen masonery. I didn't find any but did increase my collection of Zentradi rock. Meanwhile Dramus had tried his ritual again and reckoned the portal was in a ziggurat to the west while Perriot was having an interesting time to the north-west. The discussion about what to do next started on ziggurats, touched on pyramids, but seemed to mainly focus on elephants and large gold coins. Just how much wine had Dramus and Isil-Eth consumed?

Antonio spotted, through his Crystal of Vision, an orc tanding guard in front of a cavern in the side of the chasm to the northwest. It was decided to wait for the remainder of the day.

21/07/94

The next morning we set out. I did a Strength of Stone on Flamis and Antonio but, for some reason, it kept bouncing off Haarn. I gave up after three attempts. After crossing a small stream, and climbing a bit, we could see the cave mouth. No sign of an orc. So we rendered ourselves invisible by various means. I cast Walking Unseens on five of us and received a Dark Vision from Dramus. Then we stepped towards the cave mouth.

It was decided not to enter it as it may be more prudent to bypass it. After all, why get into a fight when you don't have to. So we ended up flying out of the chasm. Once on top we landed and discovered, to our surprise, that Perriot was waiting for us. He immediately berated all of us but the worse of his abuse was directed towards Haarn for sending him into combat with that brain-thing in the first place.

We fireflighted in the direction of the zigguratt that Dramus's vision had indicated that the portal was in. After flying over the mountain range, we could see it clearly on the horizon. As we approached something launched itself from the ground to intercept us but it was quickly vanquished - but not before certain party members discovered the perils of low level flying at high speed.

Finally we reached the zigguratt, found the entrance and stepped inside.

We quickly discovered that the ziggurat is composed of bound earth and thre is a tunnel in the floor going straight down. Rungs are affixed at regular intervals. So Geraldine, Perriot, and Haarn go down to scout ahead to locate any traps. The rungs stop at the 50' mark but the tunnel continues down. So Geraldine levitates down to the bottom of the shaft carrying Haarn. At the bottom, another 50' down, they discover that the tunnel slopes further downwards then levels off.

They find and disable a couple of traps then Perriot discovers a third - by triggering it. A pit trap opens up at the bottom of the vertical shaft and he drops a fair distance onto spikes. Haarn enlarges the hole and sees the gold heart and bits of fabric. They manage to retrieve the heart.

Meanwhile the rest of us wait above, apart from Dramus who was waiting down at the last rung. At Isil-Eth's request, I clambered down to join him while expertly balancing a glass of wine. Once down there, I handed Dramus the wine then secured a mountain climbing rope to the bottom two rungs. Geraldine then levitated upwards to get Dramus - apparently there were skeletons in the cavern below at the end of the tunnel. At the same time Flamis was coming down the ladder.

Dramus slid down the rope while Geraldine floated down after him. When Flamis arrived she stuck a Firelight on a convienent object and prepared to descend down the rope so she could 'burn those nasty skelingtons'. I decided to wait until she was off the rope before making my own way down.

Flamis was most of the way down when a voice rang out 'DARE YOU TOUCH THE FIRST WARD OF RY'LEH'. At the same time I felt an irresistable force pull me off the rung. I was lucky my arm wasn't ripped off but it definately broke. Flamis managed to somehow break my fall but a block from the top of the shaft broke off and tumbled down after us. I guess someone missed a trap.

The next thing I remember was coming around, stuck in the shaft, wedged between Flamis and the rock. Antonio had managed to wedge it in place with some ice. Isil-Eth had Healed some of the damage I was taken and we were instructed to clear the shaft before the ice disappeared. We did so. We managed to make it part way down the sloping bit before we were hit by a torrent of water (Isil-Eth had cast Mol-Rec on the rock) and were swept down the slope. At the bottom, Flamis triggered a Self-Immolation, followed by a Weapon of Flame and plowed into the skeletons. I wasn't too far behind. However the combat was now at the mopping up stages, plus we discovered we were on the wrong side of a Wall of Darkness. Geraldine bravely ran through the wall to help. Soon the skeletons decided to leave.

Meanwhile Dramus had finished Necrosing the undead that had cast the Wall, the Web of Darkness they were in, (and other spells). It turned out to be a wraith wearing, and using, several magical items. While I drunk a Healing potion, Flamis attempted to step through the Wall in order to rejoin the others but bounced off. She then began viciously attacking it. I tried to stop her but managed to break her arm as well. I'm sure I'm jinxed somehow.

Once the Wall dissipated and all the party was back together again, we analysed what we had. An amulet - celestial. Headband - mind. Helmet - mind. Sceptre - illusionist. Wand - E&E. Broadsword - Namer, Crown - necromancer. Also at the end of the room was a coffin and a portal.

Isil-Eth collected the items in silk hankerchiefs and stowed them away. Dramus reckoned it would take too long to heal our broken limbs and time was at the essence so some temporary splinting was sorted out. Meanwhile I discoverd that the sword had paralysing magic on it while the plane that the portal led to was Atraxia.

After some deliberation we stepped through. I felt magic impact. Antonio hadn't so I DAed him for 'Last Magical Effect'. The answer was 'Doom'. Where we found ourself was a featureless rock plain under a black sky. The air was cold and there was only one star in the sky. So we headed off in that direction.

After a while we spotted another obelisk on the horizon. Isil-Eth called a dinner break. Haarn was feeling more vigerous than usual so I checked his aura out. It had changed from 'Short Lived Sentient' to 'Sentient Undead'. He was also Doomed, the nature of which was 'Guardianship'. Flamis checked out his aura with the mirror and saw black stains in it. The same thing was happening to Antonio and Dramus.

We rested up then continued towards the obelisk. Once we arrived Dramus rushed into the entrance and down the spiral staircase beyond. The rest of us followed a bit more sedately. Also the three affected were behaving more like undead. Haarn was even casting Celestial spells. At the end of the staircase was a huge cavern. We could see a 200' wall ahead with a gate in it with a 50' gap between that and the ceiling. We could hear a rhythmic pounding. This turned out to be a 30' metal golem walking along the wall. We could see buildings beyond the gate.

The wall was made of magical earth while the gates were warded with something called 'Eternal Damnation'. Antonio windwalked over the wall to scout around then flew back over. Or tried to. As he came over the top he literally exploded when caught in a whirlwind vortex. We gathered up as many bits as we could. His head had been in that magical helmet and was intact. It was evident that the airspace was warded as well. Flamis called it 'a Whirlwind Weedeater'.

I was rather dubious about Tunnelling through the wall or the gate but decided to try Tunnelling under it using two spells. So I did. Just as I got the second tunnel going molten rock began to flow in. Flamis and I scampered through. I was just able to Counterspell the tunnel before the magma got out. Meanwhile Haarn had used a Shadow-walk to get in.

Flamis used her mirror and discovered there were gaps in the air wards where Antonio had gone through. So Geraldine raised a rope up along one side, then projected her image to the other side of a gap. Using the rope and Geraldine as markers, the others were able to Shadowwing in. It was just then I discovered Haarn had the chilling touch of an Undead.

Dramus wanted to know the MA of the Doom curse so he could try removing it. I did so, and got the answer of 25. It was going to take 18 hours per removal so the rest of us rested. Once that was all done we headed towards the central temple.

22/07/94

Inside was a nice big room with nothing magical. The next room had a throne in the middle of it. On it was seated what initially appeared to be a suit of glowing armour with the Wiccan Wheel design on the chestplate. The colour of the armour was continally shifting. An ornate sword was propped up next to the throne.

Suddenly two glowing lights appeared behind the visor and the armour stood up. It identified itself as Prince Garak. I DAed the armour and discovered it came from the Plane of Hell and the aura strength was Avatar. Prince Garak told us that he wished to die from an un-named horror which is located behind a set of doors at the other end of a spiralling corridor. He had been here 12,000 years waiting for someone to open the doors so he could cheat fate. It turned out that Moeg Khellec was his nemesis and that he was fated to meet Moeg in combat. Also he couldn't remove the armour. We thought about releasing the nameless horror for him but when we discovered it had the potential of destroying entire planes of existance we gave up on that idea. Garak also told us that Moeg Khellec was searching for a banner. After further questioning we discovered he was in the Chaos Maountains. Flamis did her Ritual of Speak with Other Selves and discovered that the banner was 'in the home of the bride of the wielder of the black spear'. That meant Rhy Keller's home plane of Jermaria. The banner itself was described as 'The standard of Light, bearing stars and rainment of Carradine'.

Now that we knew where Moeg Khellec was, our mission was complete. So we headed back to the gates. Flamis wanted to fireflight but I was dead against the idea because of the dangers of flying in an enclosed space. The rest of us went for Shadowwings instead. Flamis nearly hit the ceiling and scraped the far wall before coming to a stop. I wasn't amused. We clambered up the stairs and left the obelisk with the lone star at our backs. We walked for a day then rested. It was at the rest break that Flamis discovered her pocket watch had stopped and she couldn't get it going again.

23/07/94

After more walking we reached a circle of nine 100' standing stones with a 20' stone block in the middle. There was no detectable magic about the place. Geraldine levitated upwards and spotted the portal. She also noticed what could be ancient elven writing on the top of the block and an apparently random pattern of scratches in the ground. Both were noted down for later analysis. From the ground, the scratches looked like they had been scooped out.

25/07/94

Two more 'days' of walking and we reached the portal. After stepping through it we were back in the barrow. Geraldine went ahead to check for any more traps before ferrying us up with the aid of a Strength of Stone. It was decided to seal the hole with a combination of Binding and Mind Mol-Rec in order to stop anyone from getting to the 'unnamed horrors'. So after Haarn made a platform of Bound Air we piled rocks in. Isil-Eth did a Mol-Rec to change them into mud. Dramus scrawed a message in the mud on the lines of 'Warning. Tomb robbed by Elushians. Some traps still set. Some monsters left. All loot gone. P.S. Watch out for the wight'. Finally Isil-Eth counterspelled the mud back to rock.

We flew off to the Galatea portal and went through. On the other side we were greeted by spirit warrior guards. After receiving assurances that we were indeed the Seagate adventurers we went to an inn and the first decent bed in a long while.

26/07/94

The next morning we arranged to get Antonio regenerated and ressurrected and our broken arms fixed. Antonio's recovery would take a month, ours would take a few days. It was decided to head back to Seagate when Flamis and I were ready but leave off the treasure split until Antonio got back. That night we gave our report to the Guardians who would arrange for an expedition to retrieve Moeg.

The trip back to Elushia was uneventful and we reached Brasta on the 8th of August. We then took a boat down the Sweetwater while having a party on the way (Dramus had stocked up). It took us a couple of days to reach Seagate. Once there we debriefed and cashed in our treasure. Finally Flamis and I returned to the farm. Maybe I'm better off raising livestock.