Overdue Library Books

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Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Overdue Library Books
GM: Martin
Season: Winter 798 WK

Party
Time on adventure
1 Frost 798 WK to 20 Frost 798 826 WK
Employer
Amelia and Mary-M
Mission
To find some black books that had been stolen from the Guild Vaults

Places visited

  • Seacroft
  • Sanctuary
  • Caron - sea town up the coast from Sanctuary
  • Ffenargh Swamp
  • Eylea - settlement in swamp, located on the river
  • The Monastery of St Theoderick - in Eylea
  • Lorge Island - somewhere in the swamp
  • The Black Tower of Caroc - on Lorge Island

Major NPCs encountered

  • Aloysius Took (Mary M’s father and ex-adventurer)
  • Koth Darkclaw
  • Koth’s gargoyle/half-devil familiar
  • Bill - a Sanctuary urchin
  • Goodie Atwater - innkeeper of the ‘Five Pipes’
  • Illora - fortune teller
  • Felix Dravin - fence/jeweler
  • Melliot - a scribe
  • Tobius Morgan
  • Brother Joseph - Michaline knight
  • Daniel Potter - reformed thief
  • Harkeem - storyteller
  • Lord Reynard De Molei (Mr Weasel) - Bowcourt noble
  • Jean-Paul - rescued Bowcourt guard
  • Clavados - monastery bailiff
  • Father Zebulon - head monk

Adventure Summary

01 Frost '98

Found out about the mission, the retrieval of three black books of power that had been stolen from the Guild Vaults. The books had been authoured by Caroc, an extremely powerful pre-Penjarre mage and brother to Sith.

Amelia and Mary M had brought them back from a previous adventure to the Ffenargh Swamp. The first book in the set had also been found but it was taken by Koth, an ex-adventurer and evil mage. It was suspected he was after the others.

Went to Seacroft to consult with Aloysius Took, an ex-adventurer who had adventured with Koth. Stayed the night and learnt more about both the adventures that had been in the Ffenargh (The Progress of Disease II).

02 Frost '98

Returned to Seagate and did various preparations. Left that evening on a ship to Sanctuary - last known sighting of Koth.

03 Frost '98

Arrived in Sanctuary that evening. Stayed at the 'Five Pipes'.

04 Frost '98

Acquired our urchin guide, Bill, who led us to a fortune teller. After that went to the 'Notched Axe' where Arthur met his contact who told us about Felix Dravin, who had fenced the books and other stuff. They weren't there not. We could also try a person called Melliot.

Went to see Felix Dravin. He worked as a jeweller and ran a shop. After some questioning many of the missing items were recovered but not the books, which he never had, or a stone cutting sword which had been sold to someone called Simon. The box of stuff had come from Tobias Morgan who ran a warehouse in the docks.

Next stop, Melliot. He had some books but they turned out to be copies of the original first book. He also told him that Tobias had tried to sell him other books in the set but they couldn't be opened. (This was because of the enchantments that meant that the books had to be opened and read in order but we weren't going to tell him that.) He believed they were fakes. He did tell us that the owner of the first book was the leader of a firecult.

Late afternoon, went to Tobias's warehouse. Amelia tried to buy the unopenable books but they weren't there. They had been bought by Madame Letitia from the 'Three Quills'. Went there but discovered the books had been stolen. Someone had cut a hole on the stone wall. Returned to the inn. Early that night there was a ruckus outside and a dead man, wrapped in a red cloak was lying outside. He had been stabbed by a poisoned dagger. A resurrection was done on him and we discovered that this was Brother Joseph, a Michaeline Knight from the Abby of Michael Defiant, located outside Ranke City. He was here looking for a demonic fire cult.

Apparently they had found him. We decided to join forces. He told us that the fire cult was located under a deserted temple in a set of crypts.

05 Frost '98

So we decided to raid the place and retrieve the first book. We found the deserted temple then made our way through the secret door, down the stairway and into a large room where we were set upon by phlegm golems that spat sticky, quick setting, mucus at us. We managed to get past them, past the horde of undead, then some of the party went after the mage. They killed him, grabbed the book and other stuff, but then the demon Belial turned out and to say he wasn't pleased was an understatement. We fled the temple as Belial had a temper tantrum, completely wreaking the temple with fire.

Once we returned to the inn, we discovered that, again, this wasn't the original book although it was a well crafted forgery - even down to illusionary duplicates of the original enchantments. At that moment Koth turned up and told us that the original book was safe. He had created this copy in order to get out of a 'difficult situation' and requested our help to get the other three books. Amelia refused.

Joseph left to report to his abbot, taking the illusionary copy with him. Meanwhile we had discovered who had stolen the other books, a Daniel Potter, so we went looking for him. During the search we were attacked by a bunch of drugged-up fire cultists.

Daniel was found in a cellar above a sign shop, dead from a rapier or estoc wound. After resurrection he told us that 'the nob' had the books. 'The nob' was described as a small weasely man with a goatee and had hired Daniel to get the books from the 'Three Quills' with the help of Simon. Daniel told us that the man's name was De Molei and he was staying at the Three Crowns Inn. He was accompanied by a lady who he had addressed as M'Lady or Melody.

Headed for the Three Crowns but De Molei had left. We departed Sanctuary in pursuit. Suspected that Koth was following us so we stopped and laid an ambush. Got horribly stormed on instead.

06 Frost '98

Continued the pursuit.

08 Frost '98

Discovered that De Molei's party planned to take a ship from Caron, the next town up the coast, so Arthur and Gerald went ahead while we carried on with the horses. On the way, Mary M was chased by a gargoyle - Koth's familiar.

Meanwhile Arthur and Gerald arrived in Caron and discovered that De Molei was planning to leave that evening. Gerald arranged travel on another ship for us. A bit later on, a body is discovered in the inn's stables and it is taken to the bailiffs. Gerald and Arthur sneaked in to retrieve it as they discovered it is one of De Molei's escort, which implies either Koth, or his son Claude, was now disguised as the guard.

By the time we arrived, De Molei's ship had left. We sailed off towards the Ffenargh. On the way, the guard was resurrected and questioned. He had no idea who hit him but did confirm that De Molei had the books. He also warned us about the two large guards whom he referred to as Fear and Loathing and also mentioned it was rumoured that M'Lady dabbled in the occult.

11 Frost '98

Arrived at Eylea, in the Ffenargh Swamp that evening. Stayed at the monastery. Told that more adventurers had been through and had gone into the swamp.

12 Frost '98

Punted into the swamp. Reached Lorge Island and discovered a black tower rising from the ground where Lorge Hall used to be. Managed to find a way in from the top. Made our way down past the old library where the books had been first found, through the remains of an alchemical lab then down to a larger room with an ornate pentacle plus other runes etched into the floor including a large triangle. A crack was discovered running around the triangle.

Distracted by an illusionary weasel. Arthur went to investigate but disappeared. Mary M nearly netted by the familiar. Amelia went after the familiar and it's companion - another half devil but they got away.

The triangle had transportation magic on it and we discovered how to use it to descend to the next level. There we found a large dark room from which four staircases descended. The stairs descended around the inside of a large cylinder, the top of which was fog shrouded and the bottom covered in small bubbles which had condensed and dropped from the stalactites in the ceiling. Protruding from the floor was a large ziggurat.

When we neared the bottom of the stairwell we encountered De Molei and some guards including the two big ones at the top of the ziggurat. After some bantering the guards attacked. The two big ones had wings and DAed as some sort of devil. After a fight they were dispatched.

As we crossed over to the ziggurat, De Molei was joined by M'Lady and a tall wizened figure dressed in robes. M'Lady conjured up three female winged creatures while the wizened one used a spell to render our invisibilities useless. He then caused flaming walls and black tendrils that acted like Hands of Earth to erupt all around the ziggurat.

De Molei had been doing something with a spherical object until one of Gerald's arrows stunned him. A small shape next to the wizened one took the opportunity to take the sphere so it, and De Molei started wrestling for it. During the fight, the sphere broke. M'Lady tried to attack the wizened one but that was ineffectual. Meanwhile he did something that caused all the bubbles to rise and swirl rapidly around the cylinder before soundlessly exploding in a burst of light.

When our eyes cleared we noticed that the fog had gone and the wizened one was no longer wizened. Instead he looked fully regenerated. We suspected this was a rejuvenated Caroc. Also, in the centre of the ceiling was a large black stalactite that had pieces dropping off it. Caroc leapt to the apex and opened his mouth side to catch the first falling drop. Gerald tried to deflect the drops but they managed to swing back on course.

One of the remaining guards flew up to meet up with another figure who had been watching from another stair and they both left. M'Lady also sprouted wings and flew up. We decided to leave because, as Caroc swallowed a drop, he became larger and more draconic looking.

By various means we made our way out of the tower. On the way, M'Lady was caught up with and dispatched. Mary M and Silverfoam flew off to warn the monastery.

13 Frost '98

Made our way back to the monastery and found the others, including Arthur who had spent some time in Koth's pocket. Koth had released him with a message to warn us before fleeing himself.

Made our way back to the Guild.

Basalic's Unexpurgated Notes

06 Frost '98 Around six we were all woken. The horses sensed a predator and less than a minute a smallish shape padded towards us. It was a rather damp wolf and was wearing something silver around its neck. It was also affected by a Mind Control from the Entity College. Had to be Koth again. Now what was he up to? Silverfoam and I cautiously approached the wolf and we could see it was wearing a silver hipflask. The flask didn't have an aura so we carefully removed it. The wolf ran off into the forest. Silverfoam examined the contents of the flask and pronounced to be a 50 year old Borderleau cognac - a very good year. It was passed around and helped warm us up - as well as the fire I managed to get going. Amelia started calling Koth all sorts of names including smarmy, egotistical and pretentious. When we checked on the ward it was still there. Headed off and reached the seacoast. Around 11am we reached a small fishing village with a large inn. Check in and clean up. The innkeeper mentioned that a large group had checked in just before the storm hit. There were a couple of nobles (a man and woman) as well as eight guards, and servants. The woman was described as a 'stunning blond' and the chap as 'a weasel'. They had left at eight this morning. Decided to rest and stay the night. 07 Frost '98 Left really early. I asked the innkeeper for packed food for the trip. It was a grey, cool, morning as we left. Passed another inn at 3pm but decided to keep going in the hope that we might catch up with the other party. Later on, Mary M's horse had a mishap and slipped over a bluff breaking both front legs. Mary M was able to fly off. We had no choice but to put that horse down. I cast Speak with Animals in order to calm the rest down. We pushed on. It was nineish by the time we reached the next village and stopped at a large rural inn. We figured that, by now, Lord De Molei's party was one inn ahead. There we arranged for rooms and hot dinners. Silverfoam also arranged for a mule. 08 Frost '98 Early that morning we were awoken by a flash of light and a loud BOOM!. A thunderstorm was rolling in. Very soon it was pitching down with rain. I stayed up for a while to watch the light show. From what we could ascertain this was a natural storm. It was still raining at dawn as we left. The storm was rolling inland. It wasn't until 6pm that we reached another village. There we discovered that the Lord's party had been here this morning. They had been asking about alternative means of transport and were told that it may be possible to get sea transport at the next town up - Caron. So we stopped for a meal and pushed on. It was decided that Arthur and Gerald would fly on ahead and see what was going on. Before they left I put a Strength of Stone(Endurance) on Gerald. Silverfoam theorised that they would be leaving this evening as it was high tide. Once they left, we carried on. Mary M was flying above, stretching her wings. Just then she spotted that gargoyle creature that had been with Koth, back in Sanctuary. It flew off and she went after it. Silverfoam put a Locate on it. The gargoyle tried to distract her by emitting a flash of light but Mary M was relentless. Soon she had caught up and grabbed it. However it was stronger than it looked and managed to break free. It then tried to net Mary M but she skilfully evaded. It then flew into a valley, created a patch of fog, and vanished. Silverfoam had to give Mary M directions over the MindSpeech. Again Mary M caught up to it but again, it broke loose and took off. Liessa sent a Phantasm after it but it went 'poof'. Also the locate lock vanished. When Mary M returned she had been blinded and deaf. Silverfoam talked her down then cast a Wiccan General Counter on her which removed the effects. By now, Arthur and Gerald had arrived in Caron and discovered that the Lord's party was still here. However they soon found out that they had booked passage out on the next boat. .10. Arthur was following the guards while Gerald headed for the docks. There, he saw that there was one large boat, a caravel, two smaller coasters and a flotilla of fishing boats. He managed to speak to an officer from the caravel, called the Lady Elvira, and discovered that they were preparing to leave shortly. They couldn't wait for us but recommended one of the coasters, the 'Spirit of Air' commanded by Captain Johansson. So Gerald went to see him and arranged passage north. To the south side of the Ffenargh would cost 250sp while up the central channel to Eylea would cost 300sp. There hadn't used to have been a channel but it had been cleared 7 years ago. Gerald went back down to the docks. Shortly afterwards, some guards arrived. The two lead guards were large and looked like twins. They were leading the horses and led them along the dock, down the ramp and onto the water where they trotted along as though they were on dry land. It looked like the Lord and Lady were already on board the boat. Arthur had also arrived, along with a crowd of curious onlookers, and detected that the other guards believed that there was something odd about the two large guards. None of them know where they're going. Soon, the officer arrives with the remaining sailors. They row out then the sails and anchor are taken up. The ship starts to depart then a Mage Wind picks the sails up and they take off out of the harbour. Shortly after, there is a commotion at the inn. A body has been discovered in the stables. He had been stripped and garrotted. It was generally believed it was one of the sailors. Could it be that Koth was now on the boat? The body was taken to the bailiff's place and stored in the cellar. Once everything settled down Gerald and Arthur sneaked in and removed it. Gerald made it look as if they were carrying a roll of carpet. By dusk, the rest of us arrived in town. Amelia spoke to the Spirit's captain and soon we were getting on board. I counterspelled and recast my Speak with Animals (getting a triple). Thus armed, I reassured the horses about what would happen. Once we were on board and away, Mary M resurrected the body. We discovered he was Jean- Paul, a guard from Newcourt in Bowcourt and one of the Lord's guards. He had been checking on the horses and had no idea who hit him. Liessa hypnotised him to believe he was still in the stables and that the motion he was feeling was due to his weakened condition. We needed to find out everything he knew and ensure that he was truthful about it. So a strange surreal landscape was set up involving mists, strange eldritch sights and sounds, and certain disguise cantrips to make us more unearthly. Then we abruptly woke Jean-Paul up. To him, it must have looked like something out of his worst nightmare. Liessa was doing the questioning (with suggestions from the rest of us through the mind-link). I'd hate to have been the poor sod that was subjected to Liessa's interrogation. As well as asking pertinent questions she was unsettling him with questions like "Where is the Key to the Apocalypse" and "Name the 8 steps in the Ritual of Ag-Nazim. Hurry. Your life depends on it". He was really getting unsettled and fearful and for a while I thought he was going to have a heart attack. He tells us that he's working for De Molei who he referred to as 'Le Weasel'. M'Lady was identified as De Berville. Jean-Paul said he was from Newcourt which lies within the county of Foxcourt. He had been working for Le Weasel for the last three months and during their travels they had gone down to Seagate by horse then to Monkierre in South Bowcourt, where they spent a week, then down to Sanctuary where Le Weasel acquired the books. The books are kept in an ornate box. M'Lady came with Le Weasel and it is rumoured that she speaks with the Dark Ones and has hands of men who have been murdered, some candlesticks, and a stone that draws blood. As far as the two big guards are concerned, he doesn't know who they are as they also came with Le Weasel and he referred to them as Mr Fear and Mr Loathing. He has seen them summon rain. After all of this he was put to sleep again with the 'suggestion' that this was a nightmare brought about by delirium and fever. 09 Frost '98 Early morning, the wind stiffened and the ship surged forward. It stayed as a strong southerly all day. I spent most of it fishing off the stern with some of the sailors. The others spoke to a well recovered Jean-Paul. He didn't say much about his employers but said he was from a fishing village in Newcourt. Amelia told him we had found him and would attempt to rejoin him with his comrades. 11 Frost '98 At midday we reached an estuary with a large rock at the end. The captain said we just might make it to Eylea just on dark or we could wait here for the next morning. We decided to press on. Sure enough, night was falling as we reached Eylea, after passing through the channel in the swamp. The most prominent feature was the stone monastery to St Theoderick to the right. Amelia and Mary M leapt off the ship and went up there while the rest of us helped unload. They were met by an old guy, Clarados, who knew them from ten years ago. Apparently he had hired there party and also the original one from 25 years ago. He told them that more of their friends had arrived that morning who had been concerned about some terrible business in the swamp and were going to check it out. They had taken a couple of punts and had left at 10 that morning, heading for a large hall. Lorge Hall, Amelia surmised. They had left their horses behind. By the time we arrived, Amelia had arranged for a punt and guide for the morning. Dinner was served and accommodations were provided. I decided to stay in the stable with the horses and tried talking to the two big black ones that the Lord and Lady had ridden but didn't learn much. However I believed that they would make good breeding stock. .11. 12 Frost '98 Next morning we were ready to go. Nearly everyone wanted Strength of Stones and Armours of Earth so those were provided. Also Arthur requested a blessing from the monks, something to protect us from the water. After a bit of conferring Clarados went off, then returned with a clear, teardrop shaped crystal he said was the Tear of Theodelus. It would turn black if it was touched by an 'impure' person. Naturally that led to a discussion on the meaning of purity. Arthur suspected that his touch would turn it black and he wasn't sure that he could be shriven. Mary M didn't think we'd have enough time for that. From what we could tell from DAs, the tear detected compassion, conscience, and morality. Most of us touched it and it stayed clear however, when Mary M did so, it went sparkly blue, much to the astonishment of Clarados. He (sort of) rushed out and returned with a whole collection of monks including a very old one with a protective magical staff. He was introduced as Father Zebulon. While the assembled watched, Mary M touched the tear again and the same thing happened. There was a collected gasp from the crowd. I wonder if this means that Mary M is going to be venerated. Father Zebulon gave us all blessings, consisting of Waterbreathings and Waterproofings. I then arranged for the scribenotes, written to this point to be left at the monastery. A written note told where we were going and contained instructions to forward them to the Guild if we didn't return in a week. We boarded the punt, currently rigged for sail. Silverfoam still wanted to be piped aboard. Finally Gerald took the hint. Our guide took us up-river past the Eylea Island then went up a tributary passing the village of Lagfar then Corpsemire. It was well named as there were lots of corpses there, some of which would float up from time to time. A big battle had been raged there sometime in the past. At 1pm the sail was brought down and we punted further into the marshy swamp. By four we were in stick, boggy, march, about two miles off from Lorge Hall. This was as far as we could get by punt, we had to walk the rest of the way. So we squelched on. Fortunately the ground got firmer after 200 yards and was reasonably dry. Soon we reached a ridge and Liessa reported a bunch of minds thinking "Yum yum eat eat eat yum". Turned out to be a herd of swamp cattle. The other thing we saw over the ridge was a huge black edifice consisting of one large tower and eight smaller ones around it, located about a mile away, on the spot where the manor should be. We made ourselves invisible by various means and cautiously approached. When we got there we discovered a 130ft diameter black disc with eight 20ft high outward projecting spikes with octagonal cross sections. On top of the disc was the tower, 100ft high and 40ft across. On top of the tower were ruins of grey stone, what was the manor's basement. Other bits of grey stone masonery, the remains of Lorge Hall, were scattered about. The tower was covered in wet, glistening, swamp muck which was slowly dripping down. We walked around the tower. All we found were animal tracks, no sign of a campsite until we got around to the front. There, near the front track was two desiccated bodies. We figured that they had been dopplegangered to death as they looked very old and mummified. The last magic to impact was life draining. It was entity magic and had occurred yesterday. We then tried to learn as much as we could using DAs. Everything was magical. Each spike contained incredibly strong entity magic which was used for channelling. However each one channelled a different elemental aspect. In order clockwise from the western most one was Dark, Earth, Life, Water, Light, Air, Death, Fire. We figured that they were draining the appropriate element from the environment, a hypothesis that was proven when an animal brushed against the life spike and was aged. They could only be negated by the opposite element. All we could detect on the disk and the tower were protective and preservative magics. Then Gerald noticed that the disk was still rising at a rate of just under an inch in five minutes. Gerald went up to have a look at the top of the tower. Up there was lots of rubble and no guards. So the rest of us ascended to the top. Up there we found an open trapdoor with black stairs spiralling downwards. Muddy footprints led downwards. We descended single file. First Gerald followed by Silverfoam, Amelia, Mary M, Liessa, me then Arthur. Shortly we were in a circular room which had been trashed. Some bookshelves were still partially intact along the wall. Four stands with empty glass cases were also standing. The first one had been broken but the remaining three had only the backplates removed. Amelia warned us to be careful as there were still active destructive wards on the cases. These had been where the books had been kept. Tracks led to the opposite wall and a secret panel in the floor was discovered. Below that was another spiral staircase. Not far down was a dark shadow on the step and the wall. Its aura was Formally Living and had been hit with a Black Wind spell of the Entities College around 20 to 22 hours ago. So Silverfoam cast Counterspells on us from the various entity colleges. The stairs ended at another room which contained material that had collapsed and decayed, such as tables and glassware. We suspected that this had been an alchemical lab. Footprints in the dust led to the remains of a door opposite. The panel at the top of the stairs had closed but Arthur soon had the triggering mechanism figured out. More stairs. By the time we reached the bottom of those we figured that we were at the level of the disk. We were now on an internal balcony with a large room beneath. There was a large inlaid pentacle immediately below the balcony. A protective triangle was nearby and the rest of the floor was covered in glyphs. Liessa picked up two worried minds, another 150ft below, probably the remaining two guards. The room itself was 100ft across. Around the edges were eight large curved arches. The top of each arch corresponded to one of the spikes. The floor was awash in two inches of water. There seemed to be a flow in from one of the eastern arches, probably the Water one. The Air arch had the intrinsic magical nature of portal, destination of Alusia. From what we could figure out it was a doorway from an elemental aspect and there seemed to be no effect if an entity walked through. .12. As far as I could tell, the floor was made out of a black basalt rock. Mary M was checking the doorway auras and noticed that the death one seemed to be weaker than the others. Why that was, we were unable to determine. The life one was correspondingly more powerful. Just then, Arthur heard something upstairs just as Silverfoam found a crack running around the edge of the inlaid triangle. We then noticed a twinkly light bouncing down the stairs so we ducked behind an illusionary wall. The light turned out to be a glass globe with a magical light inside which plopped into the water and floated there. Gerald Tked kit away towards the light portal where it rested, still glowing. Meanwhile Arthur detected two minds upstairs thinking waiting, curious and watching thoughts so he crept up the stairs to investigate. Silverfoam quickly determined that the light ball doesn’t have any offensive capabilities. On the way up, Arthur spotted a weasel, that didn’t appear to have a mind, coming down. We suspected it was an illusionary animal which was later confirmed. The spell had been cast at the tenth level of ability and the weasel couldn’t see invisibles - which was what most of us were, in one form or another. Silverfoam then counterspelled the weasel. Arthur, by now, had worked his way up to the remains of the lab. Suddenly he vanished off the mind-link. Silverfoam tried locating him but to no avail. So most of the others charged up. Mary M was the first into the darkened lab and suddenly found herself netted. Amelia wasn’t too far behind and banged into a solid door in the doorway - that hadn’t been there a few minutes ago. The gargoyle on the other side, tried to sap Mary M but missed. As Mary M struggled to get out of the net, the gargoyle began dragging her up the stairs. Then the gargoyle fell over as Mary M’s invested petit mort spell took effect. While she worked on extricating herself she noticed another gargoyle/half devil drag the first one away. Liessa was hacking at the door while Amelia triggered a WindWalk and slipped though the gap. She then went after the retreating half-devil which was attempting to fly off with the first one. Mary M managed to extricate herself and also took off in pursuit. As she crossed the library, she felt magic impact. It took a short while for Liessa to knock a hole in the door and we poured though into the lab. Gerald spotted an illusionary wall, forming a small alcove. There was still no sign of Arthur. The two half-devils and Amelia had managed to exit the tower. Amelia could catch them but Mary M was too far behind. Unfortunately she couldn’t do anything while in an insubstantial state so she tried to position herself so she could grab them as the Windwalk wore off. It didn’t work and Amelia’s own flight ability was much too slow for another attempt. So her and Mary M returned to the rest of the party. The triangle had transportation magic on it and the triggering condition was a word in common speech. So we stood in the triangle and Gerald uttered something in an ancient language (‘down’ he later said it was) and the floor dropped out from under us. It then closed above us. We were now descending in a triangular column. After a while, the walls disappeared and we descended to the floor in a very large, pitch black room. Undetectables are dropped on Amelia, Mary M, and myself. ESP detects nothing. The triangle is flush with the floor and no sign of a groove is detected. We explored carefully and discovered stairwells at each of the four cardinal points - Life, Death, Light and Dark. From the lantern light I was carrying, we could see glyphs on the ceiling and a triangular hole in the centre. We headed for the Life stairwell and discovered it was 30' across. There was a magical aura - life channelling in the area and we could see a dim glow coming from below. Also we could see that the staircase descended into fog. We descended to the fog layer. On one side the stairwell became unsupported and we could see part of the ceiling. No sign of any floor below though. Stalactite objects could be seen protruding from the ceiling. They were magical with the nature being channelling and condensing. Drops could be seen forming at their tips. The fog itself was also magical and, from what we could ascertain, had a slightly beneficial effect. So we went into it. It didn’t feel damp but definitely felt refreshing and clean - like mountain air. Once out of the fog layer, we could see we were descending along the sides of a cylinder - 700ft across. Three other identical staircases also spiralled down. The floor seemed to be around 2100ft below us but we couldn’t see it as it was covered in small, spherical bubbles. Occasionally another one would fall from the stalactites above. In the middle of the ‘bubble bath’ was a ziggurat, also made out of black granite.. Gerald Tked a falling bubble towards us and we examined it. Effect on humans - restoration. Effect on elvish namers - beneficial. Liessa surmised that was because they were ‘gobstoppers’. We were about halfway down when a guard-type figure stepped out of an entrance near the apex of the pyramid. He took one look and ducked back inside. A few minutes later he was back with five companions, another two guards, two larger guards, and an aristocratic looking gentleman. The aristocrat called out in a Bowcourt accent “Don’t come any closer”. “Is there a problem?” called back Silverfoam, taking on a similar accent. “Only if you come any closer”. They kept bantering at each other as we continued our descent. It was obvious that they were De Molei, the two that Jean-Paul had referred to as Fear and Loathing and three of the other guards. After taking into account the shadow on the stairs, that left M’Lady and two other guards (one of which was either Koth of Claude) unaccounted for. Finally De Molei ordered his guards to ‘harm’ us. Fear and Loathing looked like twins, blond, blue-eyed and beefy. One of the bug guys cast and Silverfoam was hit with Dragonflames (being the only obvious target) while the three guards raced down the pyramid and crossed on top of the bubbles. Amelia and I went to meet them while Gerald fired arrows at them. The arrows struck home but we saw them eat something before continuing. Fear and Loathing unfurled batwings and took off. Silverfoam Daed one of them and concluded that he was some sort of devil. Unfortunately he wasn’t banishable by counterspell. Amelia shot at them with special arrows and succeeded in causing one to fall on to the stairs. The other one pulled out an arrow, which obviously hurt it, and proceeded to kick his fallen companion before continuing on to attack us. Liessa hacked into it and caused it to explode in black, oily smoke but not before it hit her back. Amelia was busy attacking the three guards, who had reached the stairs. She seemed to have gone into some sort of berserk rage so it seemed more prudent to stay out of her way. Gerald was in the process of charging in. It didn’t take long before all three guards were either dead or unconscious. Just then, on the pyramid, two other figures appeared next to De Molei. One was a woman with long blond hair wearing a courtly gown (M’Lady) and the third was a tall figure dressed in black robes and looked like he had been mummified. .13. Gerald was the only person I could actually see so I followed him across the bubbles. It was like walking on a scree slope so we had to be careful about our footing. Another guard stuck his head out of the pyramid and ducked back inside. M’Lady clapped her hands three times and three oily puffs of smoke appeared which coalesced into humanoid females. More devils I presumed. The mummified one raised his hands and something dark flickered between them before hundreds of little black stars flew out from them in all directions. At the same time a small black haloed shape appeared next to him while the guard returned carrying a very large crossbow which he started winding up. We made an attempt to avoid the black dots but to no avail. Everyone got several of them stuck to themselves which made them effectively visible. Mary M flew to the base of the pyramid and hovered. Just then the guard that Amelia killed stood up again. Fire flickered in his eyes and mouth as he shambled towards Silverfoam, who was still on the stairs. The wizened one gestured again and black flame erupted then vanished into the pyramid. Then 20ft high walls of black flame appeared on the edge of every level all around the pyramid. Mary M had a wall appear in front of her and another 5' wall appear behind her - presumably from the level below the layer of bubbles. It was about then I noticed another black haloed figure halfway down one of the spiral staircases on the opposite wall. It looked like he was just watching. Amelia got to the first wall (the 5' one) and floated over the top of it. Silverfoam raised a staff and the Undead stopped ten feet away from him. Le Molei was doing something with an orb in his hands while M’Lady cast a spell at Mary M which had no effect. Silverfoam started running and the zombie decided I made a more tempting target so I increased my speed towards the rest of the party and the pyramid. Just then the wizened one completed his latest incantation and black tentacles appeared on all the pyramid steps, spaced twenty feet apart. They looked like some strange version of Hands of Earth and were behaving the same way. One of them tried to grab Amelia but she elegantly sidestepped. Gerald boosted himself upwards, pulled out his bow and shot several arrows. One of the female devils took the one meant for M’Lady. The one aimed at the mummified one dissipated before it got to him but De Molei took two good hits which left him rather dazed. The crossbowman also fired hitting Gerald then began reloading. Gerald shot up and into the mists. As he did so, the figure on the stairs stood up and saluted him. Amelia decided to charge through the next wall and took damage from cold and life-draining effects. M’Lady cast again at Mary M who resisted again. Meanwhile the wizened one looked at M’Lady then De Molei, noticed that they weren’t looking at him, so decided to send black fires up and down. A few seconds later all the bubbles started rising and drifting sideways. It was getting more difficult for us to keep our footing. Liessa leapt through a wall on to the pyramid while Silverfoam and I ended up on the next layer down as all the bubbles began spiralling faster and faster into the air. Amelia, Liessa, and I were grabbed by tentacles. Now I was on the pyramid, I could feel the magic again so I decided to try a long shot and send a Tunnelling up the side of the pyramid. The mana felt dead and cold. However, something had happened on top. The small creature next to the wizened one had leapt up and plucked the sphere out of De Molei’s hands. It, and De Molei began wrestling for the sphere. M’Lady threw a beam of light with splashed against the wizened one while the three female devils tried to attack him but met resistance in the form of an invisible shield. The bubbles were swirling rapidly all around. Suddenly there was a soundless detonation as they all exploded with a bright burst of blinding light. It smelt and tasted of bright sunshine and restored us to full health and invigoration as well as wiping out the zombie. Once we could see again the battle on the pyramid top was still going on. M’Lady and the devils were recovering from the light. The guard had dropped the crossbow and was attempting to flee. The figure on the stairwell was still watching. De Molei and the small creature were still fighting for possession of the sphere. However the wizened person was no longer wizened and mummified looking. Instead he stood tall and debonair. Also the mists above had gone. In the centre of the ceiling was a large black stalactite with something descending. Gerald flew up again and saw that the stalactite was dropping off in layers, each subsequent piece being larger. The ex-wizened one jumped to the apex of the pyramid. M’Lady ran off after the guard while unfurling bat wings. The devils tried to attack him again, but again bounced off the shield. All he did was to open his mouth wide to catch the first descending drop. Gerald conjured up a plank in an effort to deflect the drops away. That worked but the drops, after leaving the plank, curved back on course. The stranger swallowed the first drop and became bigger. At that moment another figure came out of the pyramid, quickly assessed the situation, and flew off. M’Lady also took off. Amelia ordered us to get out as fast as we could. Those that could, started flying towards the entrance. The rest of us that were held, destroyed those tentacles, and Amelia triggered WindWalks on those who couldn’t fly. I was first and immediately headed for the entrance. Just then, from the midst of the wrestling match, pieces of brass orb dropped out. De Molei looked very worried at that point. Also the other guy that had flown off met up with the one on the staircase and they departed together. Black power was pouring out of the pyramid while the person, whom we were sure was a revived Caroc, was growing larger with each drop and also appeared to be changing into a dragon. We weren’t planning on hanging around to confirm this. By various means, we made our way out of the tower. On the way, Arthur’s sword was located but there was still no sign of Arthur. When we reached the library level we noticed that the entrance above had caved in and M’Lady was trapped there, pleading with someone called Azmade (turned out to be the other demon who had got a forgery) to save her. So while the others piled into her. I cast a Tunnelling through the blockage. M’Lady was quickly dispatched and her body turned to powder. All that was left was a winged skeleton. As dark smoke began coalescing in the room, we exited through the tunnel and left the tower. Power was crackling around the spikes and the tower was visibly rising. While Mary M and Silverfoam flew off to warn the monastery, the rest of us managed to find the punts that the other group had arrived in and left. It was late at night by now so, when we figured we were at a safe enough distance, Gerald cloaked us in an illusionary terrain. 13 Frostth Early that morning, it was noticed that everything had gone silent. We were found by monks and escorted back. Mary M and Silverfoam were waiting as was Arthur. He told us that he had been in Koth’s pocket the entire time and, after Koth had left the tower, he had released Arthur and told him to warn us to get clear. Koth was also keen to vacate the area. So Claude had given Arthur some shadow-wings and Arthur had managed to reach the monastery. Arthur also told us that, while he had been in Koth’s pocket, he had summoned the demon Lorange, who was a rather nasty demon, into pain and torture. The demon was still trapped in there and Koth had no idea. If that demon ever got out, we suspected that it would become very unpleasant for Koth. Also Lorange knew about the books. So that was that. We made our way back to the Guild. The monks allowed us to take the four horses that the other party had left so I claimed the black stallion as part of treasure. Should make a good stud horse.

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