Skin Trade Journal

Scribe notes by Phaeton

Session 1

==== Day 1 ==== (1st Fruit 808 WK) It was about time I made an appearance again, as I was spending the last year of so making star maps. Besides, there was a plague in Insel der Freiheit that needed seeing to, and it was a flareup, similar to a previous one that a previous Guild party had dealt to (cf Save A Prayer). Except that this version seemed more insiduous.

The representative was a toga wearing human male who had been sent by Master Everan. He told us that just before the quarantine on Setagen went down, three ships had left the port. Fast cutters went after them but none of the ships had been seen again.

A reward had already been set for us but, when I touched mine, I got shocked and dropped it. Hm. Still, I guess we can sort something out later. Could be another Power involved, hopefully not demonic. They turned out to be some sort of soul protection that had to be inserted into the body and installed around the heart. Morgan was also a Master Healer so I let her get on with it as the first one was installed into Haann. As it went into place, it glowed blue then the wound closed by itself. What it did was to keep the soul in the body to make resurrections easier. Some of our party decided not to have them installed.

As it turned out, Victoria was selling an item that enhanced spellcasting. I was going to purchase it but Guild Security went for it then presented it to me as exchange for the 'heart soul holder'.

Other notes about the party:

• No Dark or Light Walls or Webs around Morgan. She's both Light and Dark Aspected so both will hurt her. Not good.
• Haann is pacted to Seir so he could get hurt by my Sunray. So .. getting between me and undead would not be healthy for him
• Cher has a little lizard called Hatch who can communicate with the Knowledge Dragon on the Plane of Oz
• Menolly also has a pet, a tiny spider monkey. She left the two dogs behind. Probably wise.

Guild Security also reminded us all that 'pants are to be worn at ALL times'. Something to do with Haann I suspect.

  Haann (the satyr) - And if you're lucky, I'll show you my Jade Staff

Victoria became the party leader and I got appointed Military Scientist. Menolly and I would contribute to the scribe notes.

To get to where we were going we had to fly to the Filgiso Forest. Wings were obtained from the Lord of the Bats (well one of his personal apprentices) and we headed off into the clear, starlit night, following our guide. On the way, we passed a volcano with some strange lights to the west. Finally landed at a lit area where we met a Trorc, Asath, who took a fancy to Morgan.

We then were led into a tunnel then though a portal. The side effect was that Morgan was illusioned to look human. Since orcs are killed on sight, this was for her personal safety. More trekking through tunnels later, we encountered a blue dragon (Chaaff?). He told us that he believed that the recent disappearance of Isreana is likely connected to the plague. She was the last fae left on the Isles.

More tunnels and portal short cuts later saw us at a dwarven city(?) where we were greeted, fed, refreshed, and shown to somewhere to rest.

==== Day 3 ==== (3rd of Fruit WK) Most of the party had to adjust to being halfway around Alusia from Seagate. Fortunately, since I had been on a night cycle, it wasn't so bad. After purification and breakfast, we headed out and headed down more tunnels before emerging in the sun at a rice paddy. And it was HOT - Victoria hadn't been kidding. Finally had to remove the armour I was wearing under my robes, it was that bad.

More walking and we found ourselves at the edge of a circular swamp (Alice's Swamp?). Guard towers were dotted around it with guards patrolling. This swamp was interdicted but we had to get in there. So I cast Witchsights on those that needed it, then it was Walking Unseens all around before we snuck in. Once we reached the swamp water, evidence of our passage was visible but it was soon apparent that they were more concerned about things coming out than things going in.

The swamp contained giant termites and we saw the mounds heading in. There is also a termite shaman. Finally we reached an island which had a spiky hedge on it. We went through the hedge and met Everan and a dwarven lad. We later found out that the lad he was the next termite shaman.

The victims of the plague required a combination of curse removal and healing to cure them. Unlike the last time there were no amulets involved. Cured victims would still get reinfected even if they were isolated and there was currently no idea what the vector was. The symptoms are boils, aches, nausea, fatigue and red-eye. Only the populace in the town of Setagen had been affected. There was an upsurge in the number of cases, monthly at the full moon, the next one being the 21st of Fruit. The first wave occurred 94 days ago (1st Frost 807). The original termite shaman, Isreana, went missing on the 19th of Thaw 807. The incubation period is two weeks and, according to divinations, the College of Exsanguination is involved. So far, the plague seems confined to Setagen.

Other dates, the King was born 19 Seedtime 807 and the 1st of Meadow 808? was when the last fae, Isreana's sister, was killed. She had since been resurrected and sent away from the Isles for her own safety.

Session 2

It was easier to use Kryanite for bad than for good but, like magic, it's really only a tool. It's what the mage does with it depends on whether it is good or evil. When I asked to examine a piece, I was given a refined crystal that was used by the last Termite Shaman to enhance healing magics. It was decided that it would be more effective in Haann's hands for now.

Also, going after the ships would be like looking for a needle in a haystack - and the needle was not made of iron so, no help from a lodestone. Instead we would head for Setagen and talk to the Namer there. So we left the swamp on the back of a giant termite.

On the way Haann read us a piece of poetry he had obtained from the dragon. It may not have any relevance to our current mission but it fitted with Everan's theory that the plague and curse was being caused by the original inhabitants of the island i.e. the fey in order to drive the current inhabitants off.

  Morgan - Who wrote this piece of doggeral?
  Haann - The dragon
  Morgan - It's fantastic!

Finally, that evening, we reached the edge of the swamp and I started casting Wings on everyone. Partway though, I got an uncontrollable thirst, jumped off the termite and started nearly inhaling swamp water. A small pert of me was thinking this was incredibly stupid but .. as it turned out the stuff was actually beneficial, having some healing properties. Both Everan and I took samples of the swamp water and mud for later analysis although I suspect that the magic will be lost once removed from the swamp.

Once the wings were up we flew 100 miles towards Setagen. We were flying above the low clouds but we could see the glow of the volcano near the city. Soon we could see the second one. Partway, I had to renew the Wings in flight.

Landing was ... interesting. We tried for the obsidian dock and two of the party ended up in the water. I managed to fumble, trip, and faceplant. Finally, once everyone was recovered, I counterspelled the Wings and we headed into town where we were shown somewhere to rest.

Day 4

I dreamt of fire. This had Everan concerned.

Morgan and I went to examine some of the victims. It was very hard to detect the curse itself in the patients but, in one or two, I was able to do so and determined that the centre of the curse was near the heart. We were told that, if the patients were cured and they were reinfected then the nest time around the symptoms would arrive faster and be worse. So I suggested, instead of trying to cure the patient completely, just alleviate the symptoms to minimise their suffering.

Meanwhile Menolly was wandering around town DAing everything. A while later she came back with a small collection of objects that she had detected the curse in. Cher used enchantment divination in them and detected some sort of 'blast pattern' as if the magic had struck the object on one side and passed through it. This gave us a vital clue in order to determine the origin point. Menolly had also ascertained that only humanoids were suseptable as all the plants and animals were free of curse and disease.

Everan had arranged for us to talk to the local Namer, Eloese, who was also attempting to determine what was going on. When we compared notes, during lunch, we discovered that she had been doing some divinations and discovered she could detect the curse magic flows only five minutes on either side of midnight on the night of each full moon. The flows looked like a web all over the city connecting all the infected people but, there was a bright spot, somewhere in the city, that wasn't associated with a person. It looked like a flare. The web pulsed, like a heartbeat, presumably draining each individual on each pulse. During that time, the curse and disease was reinforced.

Day 5

We went out to try and find the flare site, splitting up into two teams to go around the city in opposite directions. As far as I was concerned, the city was one large crime scene so I was carefully documenting everything that was detecting as cursed, including what orientation it was. It was hoped that we could triangulate to the source.

Several divinations led us to one block and two potential suspect buildings, the bath house, and the Balai Temple next door. The temple had a statue of three people sitting crosslegged and linked together. On a hunch I looked up to the roof and could see a glow going up as high as I could see. I told Everan about it and he said that it was the Guardian Spirits. DAs told us that the curse was in the spirits as well. I did some quick calculations and given the height, I theorised that this was the source of the flare, as the curse impacted on the spirits.

Everan tried to 'sense' their lifeforce and passed out. So Haann attempted to walk him out by 'controlling' his body. He ended up being blasted backwards about forty odd feet and knocked out. There were cries of 'Witch! Witch!'. We had been told that they didn't like magic around here, so Morgan grabbed Haann while Cher helped me with Everan, and we vacated the area, hiding out nearby before the angry mob with pitchforks and burning torches turned up.

I left Haann to Morgan's tender care while I used smelling salts to try and bring Everan around. My empathy was telling me he was completely exhausted after an intense session of spellcasting. Both of our patients came around a few moments later with Haann complaining of a splitting headache. I would have prescribed a dose of Soothe Pain and poppy extract but he was Morgan's patient.

It was getting late by now and, with two of our party temporary out of action, we headed back to rest the night.

Session Three

(missing - refer to Menolly's notes)

Session Four

Day 7

Finally found my pen again. Darn thing got buried in the bedroll. Anyway we saw Vidal and Everan gave him a synopsis. The crystal on top of the Bali statue had been swapped out with one of a slightly different shape. The originals are diamond shaped but this substitution was offset, more kite shaped. The plague was also affecting it, but divinations had told us that the crystal had been designed and built to to disrupt the usual greater ritual. Obviously whoever had done it knew quite a bit about how the original ritual worked as they would have had to reverse engineer it then rewrite it in a subtle manner. Had Isreana been kidnapped to start the initial ritual? After all she was initially killed on Beltaine.

Vidal told us that the the only persons likely to be able to detect the mana lines back to the source would be the Shaman of Life and the Shaman of Death (Lord Arrindale). Also there was another concurrent attack on Setagen which he described as dream attacks. The dreams Everan and I got could have been side effects. They were aimed at Romache, the red dragon that lived in the volcano nearby. The dream attacks were caused by the Children of the Rifts - some sort of undead that took over dead children. The orcs were also on the move, heading into the Devil's Claw which isn't far, by boat, from Setagen.

For payment, he wanted to know our plans and would help us decide the best one. Our initial goal is to find the source of the plague curse so he suggested that we consult with the Shaman of Life who resided near the Blue Lake, which was located near Boenoel. However, proximity to the Life Shaman had the unfortunate effect of aging people nearby. He offered us short-lived sentients a potion that would counteract that but he would requite blood. I was rather suspicious that the College of Exsanguination was involved but, once Everan assured me it was not, I decided to accept. That proved to be a mistake.

We were handed a goblet and we drank. But, as I did so.. I felt great pain and passed out. Everyone else was unaffected. When I came around, I realised what had happened, remembering a side note in somebody's notes (can't remember who or where I saw it) that the five dragons were analogs of the five Powers of Light, they weren't ordinary dragons, ... and Vidal was actually one of them. And having bargains with other powers and accepting gifts from them was a no-no. Probably why the original 'gift' back at the Guild had shocked me. I am SO going to have words with Sir Christopher ... long ones ... probably of a philosophical nature .. when I get back to Seagate.

Anyway I was in pain but I wasn't going to treat it .. if that was my punishment .. so be it. I guess I'll just have to take my chances. And I was hoping to learn from the Shaman of Life.

Near where Vidal was were some temples. One was a Western Kingdom church which had been constructed and dedicated to the Powers of Life by Sir Christopher. The other two, dedicated to the Balai, were near the village on the shores of the twin Lakes of Regrets, one each. I was amused to discover that Sir Kit's temple wasn't consecrated although it had been stated in his notes that it had been. The two Balai shrines were occupied by Kinsen monks and examination told us that the crystals here were untouched and the spirit lights above them were pure.

Everan then did a ritual in the boneyard.

Also nearby was a pagoda and we crowded into it. The internal portal transported us to a stone chamber in the dwarven halls. We headed down the tunnels, saw the ruling Council, and spoke to their mages. We then got fed, and what a feast it was. Today marked the anniversary of the formation of the Council.

Several hours later, after progressing through tunnels, we came out in a jungle, near a brook. We followed the brook down, about five miles, to reach the river. Once there, we used the magical boat we had been given. When dry, it was the size of a toothpick but. once it was wet, in enlarged to standard boat size. It would shrink again once it was dried. In that state, we would have to be careful not to misplace it.

Once we got underway, I decided to take the opportunity to meditate on the current situation and pray for forgiveness. As I did, I suddenly found myself sitting in front of a man clad in blue scale armour. He wanted to know what I wanted and I told him I was seeking forgiveness and explained the situation. He told me that I should be careful as, if I was involved in stopping this plague, I could be involved in a conflict of interests with my deity, Diancecht, as I would be aiding another deity. I thought about that and decided that, I'll deal with that when the time comes. Besides, saving lives is mine, and Diancecht's prime concern, and doing that, even if it aided another deity, should not be a conflict of interest. If I'm wrong, I'll take my punishment.

I found myself back on the boat. Apparently I had vanished for a short time, much to everyone's consternation. After I told them what had happened, Menolly concluded I had appeared in front of the blue dragon, and I was currently completely out of touch with my own god. She said that Sir Kit had been popping in and out a lot on their last outing, even going as far as taking other members of the party with him. Thank you Sir Christopher. You could have mentioned that too.

Finally arrived near the Grand Monastery of the Balai at dusk.

During the night, Everan contracted an infection. Morgan was able to fix it but was unable to determine the cause. So I stepped in to have a look, much to her annoyance, and was able to determine that he had been cursed with a weakening effect that had made him suseptable. Looks like one of Menolly's Strength of Stones had backfired with a delayed reverse effect.

Day 8

Next day, we went to the monastery, where we were told the crystals had come from. The monks were doing katas in the courtyard so, while we waited for the Balai Kinsen, we watched and Victoria joined in, with permission. I made some quick sketches of the forms, some of which seemed nearly impossible for a normal body to attempt.

Finally we headed to the main temple. The Balai Kinsen didn't seem to know what we were talking about and, when a monk was told to go up and examine the top of their, rather large, statue, there was no crystal there. However we had seen a rather powerful spirit light here. Incidentally it is possible to use these spirit lights for navigation.

We retreated to our camp to consider our options, Crystals of Vision confirmed there was no crystal visible on top of the statue but then I noticed something odd of the ornate carvings in the doorway. Sure enough - there it was. It looked like a perfect diamond. It had been tuned for good, it was untainted and used for soul storage and amplification.

Session Five

Menolly and I went to have a look at the paintings around the place but none of them revealed any relevant information. Meanwhile an appointment had been made for us to see the Balai Kinsen, so when the time came around, there we were. He was clad in deep blue coloured robes, as opposed to the rest of the monks we had met who were in red. All of them were under some sort of physical enhancement magic with no malign influences or curses. Again, no useful information was gained and we had decided to be discrete about the crystals in case the revelation of tainted crystals evoked an extreme negative response.

Dinner that night was a mixture of rice and vegetables. Reminded me of Shoji.

Day 9

We left the monastery and headed into the jungle. Finally we found an area where we could safely cast Wings and take off. After all, we had no desire to be shot down by the monks. Once airborne we flew to the twin lakes on the split level plateau. Between the two was a cataract, going upwards. The Blue Lake is the lower one so it was that one we headed for, landing on the edge of the plateau itself.

A short walk through the jungle got us to the lake shore. We could see fish in the lake, thankfully normal ones. The boat was brought out and we decided to go around the T shaped lake, clockwise. The 'waterrise' was two miles up the river.

We found a small village on the bottom of the lefthand arm of the 'T'. I could also see a soullight behind it. We were greeted by a group of villagers, one of which stepped forward and placed a banana on the ground. Everan wasn't sure what was going on but, apart from the absence of the spear wielding native, it looked very similar to a Pasifikan greeting ritual. So Everan stepped forward and picked up the banana. There seemed to be some consternation from some of the villages but, at least it didn't turn hostile.

We asked about the Shaman of Life, Garserril, but were met with blank looks. However, we were feasted and entertained. The mood became more friendly when Haarn started contributing to the feast. It was evident that there was supposed to be an exchange of gifts.

Their local witchdoctor was a short lived sentient and was runic. They don't go to the waterrise nor do they go to where the water boils, at the bottom of the 'T'.

The party kept going way late into the night, with singing, dancing, and drinking.

Day 10

Morning saw us back on the boat heading down to the base of the 'T'. If there was no sign of the Life Shaman down there, then we would go to the waterrise. I had acquired a rather young caterpillar in order to detect any time accelerations. I was also periodically empathising Victoria.

  "From the frying pan into the flier" - Victoria

Finally arrived at the boiling water area. I guess there must be a thermal hotspot under the lake in this area even though there was no smell of sulfur. My caterpillar was starting to look a bit older.

By the time we found the cave near the shore, the caterpillar had pupated. Also Victoria was aging at about a week per minute. The resulting butterfly flew away as we entered. So far, the rest of us weren't suffering any noticeable aging effects. Menolly's spider monkey had been petrified for its own protection. In a chamber, we found a lady who looked like a young Erelhein. Now, the aging effect was up to 75 days per minute (300 years/24 hours).

She told us that the curse ritual invoked great pain in her as she was attuned to the total life force of the Isles. There were many deaths and a demonic influence powered the ritual. The ritual was powered by sacrificing people in pain. The center of the plague was the same as the malign influence. Isreana was a great healer in her own right and it would be advantageous if, somehow, her skill could be transferred. The source was northwest of here as marked by a black stain on her dress. I was able to get a more accurate bearing by using the my planetarium to fix the direction with a guide star.

  "Never underestimate the ability of a guild party to scank up the works" - Morgan

As we were about to leave bolts of light from the shaman hit us.

Session Six

Back to Setegen. When we got there, we discovered that the six ships had been located, up a river. So we went there to investigate.

When we got there, we found that they had been docked. There was no sign of the crew. It was evident that the boats had been left there for the orcs to use. Markings on the hulls were evidence that slings had been placed around then at bow and stern and the boats lifted. We got rather suspicious about that. Suspicions were raised further when we discovered that the top of the anchor chains were warded with the Exsanguination Special Knowledge spell of Fleshstorm, with the triggering condition being sentient non-orcs. I was able to see the area of the ward so we were able to bypass it and get on board. However, most of the deck was also warded, this time with the spell Skeletons of Society.

It would be a while for the orcs to get there and we needed a Namer, so it was back to Setegen again to arrange to borrow Eloese to have the wards removed and also to get crews to get the boats out.

Session Seven

We needed allies to help deal with this entire situation. Menolly was also talking to every bug she could find, presumably hoping to get a message to the appropriate shaman. She was also on a search and destroy mission on spiders. Finally, a search of the library told us that the names of the months corresponded to the extant shamen - and there were quite a few. Finally we decided to try and get messages to the bat shaman.

The other thing we discussed was the no fly zone on the island. But Everan thought we had actually flown through it with no ill effects.

While the others flew off to see Romache, I stayed behind to see if Reading the Night Sky rituals would yield any useful information. Unfortunately, what I got was either nothing or inconclusive.

The others had a rather interesting time. They landed on a mountaintop and and pondered what to do next. Suddenly Everen was enveloped in flame, and and it hurt, a lot. All that was left was a pile of ash. Was it something he said? Menolly was next and it was definately looking like she was being burnt alive. The others waited a bit, and then they too disappeared, however there fiery transportations were without pain.

All the party appeared in Romache's presence, whole and unharmed, in the order of their disappearance. He was appraised of the situation and much discussion was done. Apparently all the dragons were able to communicate with each other and he had obtained a lot of information from Videl. Haann was also told that Romache had 'claimed' him. What that meant we had no idea. Once the audience was over Romache breathed on them and they reappeared just outside Setagen. They had to wait for the wings to drop off before entering the city.

Finally, it was back to where the boats were to get them all 'cleansed'. Everan attempted to make his bone construction raft and ended up imprisoning himself in a bone construction jail - complete with bars in the windows. After the laughter died down, we broke him out.

Eloese used a Namer Talent and Counterspell to get rid of the wards. I followed along to make sure they stayed gone as I was suspicious of resetting wards. Once the first boat was clear, it was checked for more mundane traps, and a nasty surprise was found in the hold. The bodies of the crew of at least two of the ships were stacked in there and they were badly decomposed, much too late for resurrection. Everan spoke with the dead and discovered that a group had suddenly appeared on the deck and slaughtered the entire crew. A few were killed by magic, the rest by the sword. The attackers were mostly human and the only odd event was a dark cloud on the horizon. Finally the hold was sealed.

Menolly spoke to a monkey and discovered that the monkey shamen lived in the Great Tree. A message would be conveyed.

Day 11

Early that morning, a group of twelve flew in to secure the boats. One of them is an airmage. Now that the situation was under control here, we flew off back to Videl's boneyard. It took most of the day to get there. It was discovered from Videl, that the Balai were split into three schisms, the good, the bad, and the undecided.

Session Eight

Day 12

Went to the dwarves and travelled through the caverns. Stopped by Chaaff where we were joined by Haann, a mind mage whom had sent for to help us [Edit: It wasn't until a few days later that we started to remember again that Haarn had been with us from the beginning. Were the Fates playing about? And, if so, why?]. We were also told that Shareal was to the south, rebuilding the cockroach army. Zahie was away for a couple of months.

After that, we went through the caverns some more and exited near the sound of running water. We soon found we were by the pool where the water nymph statue is, which I drew a picture of. There was no magic on the statue. Also, since we were in the 'no fly zone' in Waringin, Victoria tested the air, but nothing happened. Maybe, somehow, we had an exemption.

We made camp and stayed the night.

Day 13

I cast Starwings on all those who required it and we all took off towards Shareal's location. Unfortunately I soon discovered that the 'self-effect' backfire I had done had me only flying at half speed and, since it was essentially a curse, there wasn't much I could do about it at this time. So the rest of the party had to zig-zag a bit. However, this was a good thing as the ground below was heavily forested and we needed a clearing to land in. It was also a bad thing though as it extended our flight time requirements so, even with a mid-air recast, we fell short (not literally) of our objective by a few miles. It wasn't worth me having to cast another set of spells - and using yet another of Haann's restoratives, so it was decided to attempt a landing on top of the tree canopy.

Everan was able to construct a bone platform and we landed on it. Menolly and the others climbed sown but Everan decided to create a bone spiral staircase, and I decided to follow him. He needed two casts to do so and, on the second he managed to create a spiral staircase around himself, effectively trapping him. Fortunately we were able to prevent him from falling and get him down where the bone was broken.

A short walk brought us to a four sided obsidian pyramid with a single door. A stream flowed out of it which some of the party knew caused animal growth. During our picnic lunch, we wondered what the effect on a person would be if they drank it. From what we could tell from DAs, it would have an enhancement effect. So Cher drunk some and it was apparent that all her physical abilities were enhanced. So we got every empty potion bottle we could lay our hands on, mostly empty restorative vials, and bottled some, managing to get enough for one each. , including the spider monkey. Physical stats [STR, END, FT] double for two hours as well as adding trollskin. Victoria compared it to a potion that they got off the Riverman.

As we finished doing that, someone, Shareal, came out of the pyramid, accompanied by two giant cockroach. After introductions, we went into the pyramid, which we saw was one large room. Looking up, we could see that the roof was covered in cockroaches.

We had already determined that the source of the plague was in an area containing a warren of caves that Arrindale had previously inhabited. It seemed logical to me that, since a shaman can see through the eyes of their appropriate lifeform, and cockroaches tend to turn up in all sorts of places, that there was a good chance that there was a cockroach spy in the area. So, we followed that possibility and, sure enough, there were five cockroaches in useful places.

The first one showed us a mercenary company of six humanoids, camping in a cave mouth, consisting of 2 dwarfs, an elf and three humans. They did not look like natives of the Isles. There was also the possibility of four more nearby. The second cockroach showed us a large flat stone area. A Calimar mage was doing a ritual, in a pentagram, which involved removing the skin from a living victim. The skin was then carefully folded away and the skinned victim, still alive, pushed down a hole. The next image was deep inside the cave, which was well trafficked. This cockroach was in a large chamber containing a larger, and more elaborate, pentagram than the one above. Suspended above the center of the pentagram was a large Kyranite crystal onto which blood was dripping onto from above. The blood flowed down the crystal then dripped down into channels in the floor, filling the grooves making up the design of the pentagram. Looking at it, it was nearly full which implied the ritual was nearly complete.

The fourth image was of the bleeding, skinless, bodies that were in the pit, some of which were still alive. We surmised that was the source of the blood. The final image was a jungle image containing a stockade with forty people inside, victims still to be skinned.

To the southwest was an island where Calimar had been spotted.

It was apparent we now had to act fast to save as many lives as possible. Shareal cashed in a favour to summon the black dragon, Larth, who breathed on us, sending us to the shores of the Blue Lake, near where the river 'ascended' to the top lake. We followed the path for two hours into the jungle then up the cliff near the water-rise itself. Finally we reached a point where the path went behind the water.

Inside, we reached a cavern and soon found ourselves in a gentleman's library. Here was the Bat Shaman, Petrirod, who turned out to be a vampire, dressed in the style of the Western Kingdom. Since we couldn't prove Arrindale's actual involvement in what was going on, he wouldn't help us directly by attacking. He did tell us he would pay highly for Arrindale's head. He did offer however to do a ritual on us that would help.

We discovered through DA's that Petrirod was an E%E and what he cast on us was a permanent Rank 20 Greater and we were guarded against all scrying for the next two weeks. Finally we were taken to guest quarters to rest the night.

Session Nine

Day 20?

Lots of scrying into the cave complex with our collection of crystals of vision and plotting and scgeming later, we were ready to make our raid. It was decided to leave the fortress for now and try and do something about the ritual itself. So, a few hours before dawn, we were in the jungle facing the cave mouth.

Witchsights were put on those that needed it and so were armours of earth. We then drunk those potions we were given. and prepared to go in. The scries told us that there were six people plus the Calimar currently in the cave. Four were right at the cave mouth and, according to my DA, none of them were mages. Menolly then used one of her items to Quicken us all, and, after a sight mishap with one of the charges, succeeded in doing so.

Everan put down a Special Knowledge Counter on the ground which we all stood in, before putting up an Agony spell which covered the entire area and going right back into the cave. Fortunately all of us resisted, unfortunately so did all of them and one of them seemed to be completely unaffected. At the same time that the Agony went down, Cher disintegrated the barrier in front of the cave mouth and I tossed a black Bolt of Starfire at the one with the bow. Everan's attempt at a Whirlwind Vortex failed. While they were recovering from the initial surprise, Morgan and Victoria headed in to engage. Haann opened a box and released some sort of nightmare. Unfortunately, it decided to pick on Morgan. Haann realised what had happened, and closed the box.

An Exsanguination spell which had similar effects to an Agony then swept over us and only Cher was affected, even after the Exsanguination Counter I had previously placed on her. So I drunk my potion that allowed me to cast Counters like a Namer, and dropped the one on him. Meanwhile Menolly was putting Exsanguination Counters ahead of us to stand in.

The next spell that came out at us was a Necro Special Warrior and, by the way it moved, told us there was a Necro Special Counter in the cave mouth. Also heading out to us spellcasters was a rather large guy with a polearm that smacked into Everan, gouging into his face, while I was trying to deal with the Spectral Warrior. To my annoyance, it took me three attempts to get rid of it, and during that time, I was scratched with the polearm. Thank goodness for the armour that was under my robes. By this stage, two of the five opposition, still in the cave mouth, were down. We also became aware of a Blood Lich, deep in the cave, along with the Calimar.

Session Ten

The others were having problems with the other opponents so Menolly and Everan withdrew to help out. That left me keeping Halbert-Guy occupied, which I did by unarmed evading. I really should do something about learning defensive martial arts sometime. I was able to keep him occupied, and he only scratched me once, for a few minutes until Haarn and Morgan were able to help. However, by now, Menolly had suffered blunt force trauma to the back of the head and was knocked out. Also, the Calimar had put up a Scrum spell between him, the Blood Lich and us. This Exanguination College spell created a wall of fused bodies and living flesh.

I healed Menolly up as best as I could while the last of the mercenaries were taken care of. Then, while the others prepared to charge into the cave, I blasted the Scrum Wall with a Sunray to see what would happen. The result? Absolutely nothing. So the myth that the Scrum spell is an undead effect was busted.

When we got into the cavern, there was no sign of the Calimar or the Blood Lich. However, there was a pile of blood, pus, bone and rotted flesh which I suspected was the Blood Lich. Must have been created via the 'At Dawn They Sleep' spell from the College. The last magic to impact on it was 'Disciple', again from the College of Exsanguination.

Haann had a special crystal of vision that allowed the recent past to be revealed. What we saw was the Calimar grabbing a scroll from a rack, then disappearing into the area of the blood ritual. As it did, the Blood Lich collapsed.

We tried to determine what the ritual was for but there was no magic in the area of the circle. We were also unable to drain the blood off or disrupt the circle in anyway. Something seemed to be blocking any attempts. We did discover that the 'feel' of the ground in the circle was different from what we could see. Instead of rock, there seemed to be loose soil.

Everen summoned a minor undead to retrieve a sample and we were able to discover that it had a Plane of Origin of Korth. The remains of the Blood Lich also had that Plane as an origin. I began to wonder if a Dimensional Weaving Counter might do something to it.

Shareal turned up a bit later, after he had rescued the prisoners in the stockade. He had seen something similar before. calling it a 'Shallowing', and was a this end of a link to a similar ritual at the other end. The blood was holding it open. From what we could tell, the life threads were also going through it.

A cockroach was sent into the circle and we saw some sort of ritual on the other side on a hill near a cottage. Nearby was a forest and a stream. The threads lead into a black column of souls and there was a similar Kryanite crystal on the other side, presumably linked by a magical resonance.

It was finally decided to go through and deal to this ritual even though it was unsure if we were able to return. Just in case, I drafted a short note to any prospective rescue party.

After heading through we headed down to the cottage, especially since we had emerged at the top of a hill with the cottage at the bottom. As we did we discovered there was a life draining effect and Menolly's spider monkey had died. There was a column of light from the crystal to the cottage and all we could determine that it was protecting the ritual.

As we approached the cottage, the Calimar stepped out. He told us that this was his private plane and he was using the life force from Setagen to keep it going. Everan was most indignant about this and wanted to press home an attack. Inside, I was agreeing with him but wanted to explore any possibilities of negotiation first. But .. it was quickly evident that a showdown was imminent.

Session Eleven

At least three arrows thudded into the wall of the cottage behind the Calimar. At that instant, he collapsed. Now that definately came under the heading of 'we did not expect that'. So we pressed on, DAing areas ahead of us for any magical wards. I also dropped an Exsanguination Special Counter into the area we were advancing into - just in case. Menolly was starting to put them on us as well.

The Calimar struggled to get up, dry retching as it did. When he saw us coming, with obvious murderous intent, he looked at us as if he hadn't seen us before. Then it cast, causing a blast of magic to throw the leading members of the party backwards. The effect looked exactly like a Mind TK rage but we had already ascertained that the Calimar was an Exsanguination mage. So I DAed Haann for the College of last magic ton impact, and got Mind. Curious. Was the Calimar dual-colleged, like some Guild members, or had it somehow been released from some sort of possession, as Everan was theorising. However, at the moment, there seemed no way to test either theory.

I tried to DA the Calimar in order to find out how much the aura had changed but, alas, I was further away than I thought and it failed, much to Everan's annoyance. I was mentally kicking myself as well especially because once a DA fails on a target, it's aura remains incomprehensible until the next change of season. This meant there was no further information I could glean from it.

Morgan had a bad transition through the portal and was unable to help us. So, it was Cher and Victoria that finally charged in and began hitting the Calimar. The Calimar was still able to cast so, Bolts of Disruption and Phantasms were being fired at us. The phantasms were soon dealt with by Mind Specials from Haann and myself but we had to wear the disruptions. I took a hit before I put a Mind Special Counter on myself. I then moved over and behind Cher to keep healing her up as the Calimar was hitting her lots.

While this was going on, both Everan and Menolly noticed that, every time the Calimar was hit, something wispy would drift away. Between the two of them, they ascertained that the wispy things were souls. Everen determined that there was somewhere between ten and twenty five of them somehow protecting the Calimar. Every time it was hit, one would detach.

Everan then concentrated his attention towards the house, and, after a while, was able to determine that, inside the house was a heart, the heart of a fae, presumably originally belonging to Isreana. Hopefully we would be able to reunite her body with her heart. Everytime it beat, lifeforce was sucked down the threads, then into the plane.

The house also had the same aura as the rest of the plane. While Cher kept the Calimar occupied, Victoria had a look down the side of the building but didn't see any windows. So she tried the door, and got shocked by the door handle. Her battleaxe was then applied to the door, swiftly bringing it down. Inside, we could see the beating heart, suspended in mid air and surrounded by a pentacle.

Menolly and Victoria headed inside while I moved away from Cher, as between Haann and myself, she was healed up again, and also headed for the door. By the time I got there, I noticed Victoria's hands were glowing with some sort of life energy - a gift from the Life Shaman. I must not have noticed her getting that. Menolly had DAed the pentagram, and determined it was not magical. So Victoria stepped in and grabbed the heart, disconnecting it from all the threads. As she did that, the ground began to shake as the plane began to self-destruct.

We had to flee up the hill to where the portal was, but the ever increasing quakes were making it even more difficult to stay on our feet. Menolly was able to grab Victoria's dropped rapier but, before long all we were aware of was the shaking of the ground and the associated noise. Trying to cast Wings on people just wasn't going to happen.

The plane collapsed .... and we found ourselves flung out and splashed into the blood filled area back in the cavern of Alusia. Then there was a shattering sound as the Kyranite crystal above us shattered, sending shards flying into us before the pieces of crystal destabilized and turned to dust. Victoria made a mad scramble for the heart. It had taken damage but was healing. Victoria's rapier was also lying in the blood and, so was the dead body of the Calimar. We discovered the remaining bound souls were in a cloak it was wearing.

Session Twelve

The physical enhancements we had got were about to run out so we healed each other up. We had no idea what to do with the heart that Victoria was still holding, but the quickest and easiest thing to do was to head to the dwarven caverns and consult with Chaaf. We then made a way to prevent Victoria accidently dropping the Heart before flying off.

Day 21?

The rising sun had just peeked over the horizon by the time we landed by the dwarven caverns. Once we were down and safe, Victoria passed off the Heart to Menolly. We found Chaaf, in elf form, in his lair. Unfortunately, he can't reunite the Heart with Isherael but he could use it to transfer Isherael's memories and abilities to the new termite shaman. He could also pass them on to another Master Healer, namely Morgan or myself. I had to admit, it was a rather tempting offer. Chaaf was able to provide a way for me to consult with Diancecht, and it turned out he wasn't too happy with me as I had been bending my pact, especially the bit about non-association with other Powers to virtual breaking point. Well .. I said I was going to take my lumps for this and I did. I could renounce the pact, or do three major acts of healing in order to atone and get my abilities back. I opted for the latter. That left Morgan as the recipitant of Isreana's abilities.

I was feeling rather glum, and completely chastised, when I rejoined the others and was brooding for a while. The cloak of souls was also handed to Chaaf so that the souls could be released. Everan wanted to tell Chaaf the entire story but Chaaf suggested that we should tell his brother as it was more likely that we could use it as a bargaining chip for further information. So, that's what we ended up doing.

So Videl was told the entire story. In return, he offered to answer any one question we had, truthfully, and to the best of his knowledge. There were lots of things I could ask but I figured I was in enough trouble already so I let Everan use mine. Basically we found out that this Calimar had been working alone and had created the plane to use it as a stepping stone in order to attack something that dealt in the void between planes. The ships had been lifted and transported by a void cruiser. The dreams attacking Romache were still going on but they were being dealt with. The missing skins may be required by the metamorphs or Lord Arrondale for reasons unknown. Basically all our loose ends were of no consequence or were taken care of. He did say that another Guild party would be required in five months to help deal with an incursion. Somehow, I do not think I will be returning, unless Diancecht sends me here.

   Haann - Where did you get your cool clothes?
   Videl - Our primary ability is illusion.

Next stop was Setegen, which was still under lockdown - much to Morgan's delight. We reported what we had done to the Governor then got to work healing up the plague victims. The full moon came and went without any dire consequences so we got to work eradicating the plague. It turned out to be my first act of redemption. I just have to figure out the other two. Haann also organised a grand party to raise the town's morale.

Grisleg was given the other crystal and was infused with Isreana's memories and skills and ... well .. that was basically it. Back through the dwarven tunnels, through the portal, and a quick flight back to Seagate, getting back late afternoon on the 30th day.