Summaries

Setting out:
For reasons unknown, Valde(Vry), who worked as a diplomat for the Citadel, has decided that there is something that must be investigated about the Tower guarding the western most edge of the world. He has managed to convince quite a few others from the Citadel's ranks, that it would either be good for the realm, good for themselves, or just an entertaining diversion with a mad Gnome. He has gathered up Alric(Garrett), whom none of the others have heard of, but Valde seems to trust well enough. Daryth(Jed), a monk seeking balance in the world, whom the others know to be a far ranging scout for the citadel. And Uriel(Jb), a knowledge gatherer, weather the knowledge was meant to be or easily gathered, or not.

They met in the western most village of Maordaen, in the kingdom of Naerfost, to begin their journey. After gathering the supplies thought to be needed for the journey towards the mountains, the party set out west along the broken road that remains from the Edge Tower's construction.

First Undead Encounter:
A short time into their trek, the were ambushed by a hoard of undead things. The walls of the village were a distant thought, so standing and fighting became their best option, as Valde was the only member of the group with a mount, and never gave a thought to abandoning his traveling companions. The strange beasts seemed focused on the warrior astride his riding dog, to the point of ignoring his mount, continually trying to bite through the armor he wore, scoring only occasional hits.

Daryth was struck with a paralyzing blow from the horrific attackers at the onset of the battle, but made up for his lack of action, as soon as he was able, by destroying quite a few of the beasts in rapid order.

Uriel did his best to add to the chaos of the battle, before and after he too was struck with paralyzation, by spreading a slippery mass of grease around the field and laying about him with his sword. He dispatched a number of the things in his own right, even decapitating one with a swift stroke of his scimitar.

Alric blithely danced around the melee, striking down opponents from behind and receiving not a scratch in return the entire time, he was however covered in the gore erupting from many of his strikes to the horrible festrogs.

Valde was broken, blinded, dismounted, and covered in grease and ichor by the end of the battle, but managed to account for himself well enough, along with his dog that survived unscathed. Cleaning himself off seemed to be as simple as dismissing his armor from whence it came, and summoning it back, gleaming and clean. Essence was used to knit his wounds and clear away the foul feeling left by the festrog puss.

As the fight with the strange hunting party ended, a pair of worn looking baykoks, horrible flying skeleton archers, bounded over the trees to the east, pursued closely by a large number of soldiers, that appeared to be from far distant Tower. Alric charged the strange creatures and was paralyzed by their horrible cries. The soldiers open fire with strange tubes that belched thunder and fire, ripping holes in the floating horrors and bringing one down in the second volley. The captain of the squad, a half-elf that later introduced herself as Reynolds, gave orders for her men to follow the fleeing baykok, as Alric and Valde pelted it arrows, with little to no effect.

Meeting the Tower guards:
A terse conversation confirmed that Reynolds and her men were indeed from their tower, and she bid the party to swing through the trees to the east, and clean up the creatures her and her men had bypassed in pursuit of the flying creatures. She also confirmed that these were the undead spoke of in legends and that she had never seen this number before in her long time working the edge.

Faced with the choice of traveling quickly to the now mostly unguarded tower that was their actual destination, or helping to guard the realm from a possible insurgence of undead that the inner domains would be completely unprepared for, the heroes gave an immediate pledge of support, and quickly followed Valde's dog's keen nose after Reynold's backtrail.

Once deep into the evergreen forest proper, they noticed strange skittering noises coming from the boughs of the trees, and caught glimpse of a body wrapped in a massive spider's web. As they neared the tree that the body was bound in, it broke free and dropped to the ground at their feet. Once free of the webbing, it appeared to be a mass of flesh wrapped loosely around a skeleton, that struck at them with an enormous spiked tongue, trying to grapple them and bring them in to be digested. As this unexpected abomination fell, another descended upon them: An enormous spider's husk, being worked as a grotesque marionette by a sea of spiders. The thing flung webbing at them, keeping its distance and trying to entangle its prey before closing in for the kill. Being hastened by the magus during the brief scuffle with the mohrg, Daryth quickly closed the distance with the deathweb, rolled past its reaching arms, under its enormous abdomen, and straight into the web that the creature had set up as a trap behind it. The monk quickly writhed free and turned to face the creature, but covered with a sea of small spiders trying to devour him piecemeal.

The ninja, seeing this, flew to Daryth's aid and nearly destroyed the creature with a single blow from his katana, and was also covered in spiders for his trouble. As another deathweb descended from the trees and flung a web at the magus, missing as the first throw web had, the mounted gnome warrior rode across the battlefield to try to finish the first spider-thing, danced out of range of the swarm of spiders that attended it, and returned to fight the 2nd monster along side the magus. As thanks, the magus raised one of his many wands and disappeared from sight.

First Session Experience:
Combat: 10800.

Game Total: 33800.

Second Undead Battle:
Upon finishing the battle with the deathwebs in the forest, which resulted in a lightly injured Alric and Uriel, and a gravely wounded monk and gnome, the party was left with gore, chitin, webbing, and not much else. Some investigation of the undead and the trees they came from yielded no more information as to where either had come from. The part of the Sidh Eryn they were in had been set up as a massive trap by the hunting spiders, with webs strung up on a scale large enough to entangle a man.

Using Ice to continue back tracking the soldier’s path, the group cut down a good portion of the webbing to clear their path. They reached the teleport point with no more incidents, the undead either all having been driven off or destroyed as far as they could determine. After a moment's contemplation, Valde urged the group to return to the road and continue their journey to the Tower.

 Tavel and Rest:

Following a good day's travel, the group set up camp on the Tower road; since it seems to keep itself clear of snow and ice through some means. During the night, there were many strange sights seen by all, and a bit of discussion on it in the morning, but few conclusions could be drawn. Leaving a mark on the ground mirroring the one on his armor, Valde breaks camp with the others and the group heads out again.

 Fire and Wyverns:

A couple of hours journey brought them up against a shallow pit on the right of the road, into which flew a trail of fire that was spotted by Daryth, in time to warn the others and prevent them all from being dazzled by the intense light of its impact.

Two wyverns climb up out of the pit, and are immediately set on by the group, Daryth leading the charge with a blow to the leading wyvern. Alric swung around to flank the same beast, and landed a strike that continued to bleed for the remainder of the battle. Valde sprouted armor and wheeled around the beasts seeking a better angle to strike from, but was met by the jaws of the second wyvern, preventing his attack from landing. One of the wyverns took flight, piercing Alric with its tail and injecting him with searing venom. The second wyvern backed away from the fray, hissing, and striking wildly at Valde, missing him by a safe margin.

Uriel, drawing upon his knowledge of the habits of creatures, realizes something was amiss with the entire situation, and the behavior of the wyverns, and called for his companions to pause a moment in their assault.

In the heat of battle, Alric ignored the call to back down, and pulled his kusarigama out, and struck again at the wyvern that had lifted off, but missed, only further enraging the beast. Daryth, unsure now that this was the ambush it had appeared to be, dove past the wyverns and out of attack range to give them a moment to retreat if they wished it. Valde, following suit, dismissed his armor and retreated out of striking range.

Seeing this, the enraged and severely wounded wyvern made a fly by attack on the ninja that had caused it so much pain, grazing him lightly and then headed the calls of its companion, urging it to retreat. This last was somewhat cryptically relayed to the party via the enchanted gnome, as well as passing on information speaking about bright lights and summoning.

 Discussion, Travel, and Rest-ish:

After investigating the sink hole that had at first appeared to be a dug out pit, a brief conversation concerning the motives of the beasts ensued as the group resumed their journey, almost resulting in the loss of the gnome to the party, at the hands of a frustrated Alric.

Changing the subject, the group began ruminating on Valde's night-time excursions, Uriel hazarding a guess that it might be astral projection of some sort.

The party, after another day's travel, decided to camp again. This time for an extended period to try to recover from the damage received by all the encounters over the last two eventful days. Another spectacle filled night, paired with Valde's talk of night-time journeys, led the group to somewhat start doubt what was real, and what was not.

In the morning, the group was shown a patch of ground that looked just like all the others, by Valde, who swore it had been altered during the night. Ulric, drawing on his arcane knowledge and the last two night's occurrences, hazarded a guess of fire and earth elementals, and decided to inspect the party with Detect Magic to see if more clues were available. This led to the discovery that some magic had been laid upon Valde, and Valde alone, at some point. Daryth decided he's been cursed, but Uriel was unable to glean that much information. With nothing else to do, the group once again set out towards the ever closer Tower.

 Second Session Experience:

Combat: 10000.

Game Total: 43800.

Third Session
Game cancelled on account of Vry getting work.

Third Session Experience:
For Showing: 500.

Game Total: 44300.

Entering the Tower:
A couple more night's journey, with more of the strange same happenings, later, our heroes arrived at the far western Edge Tower. There, they were greeted by half-elf captain they had met at the edge of Sidh Eryn after the fight with the flying skeleton archers. A luke-warm greeting was turned even more cold, after a quick reply from Alric advising the captain to mind her own business.

After some quick soothing from Uriel and Valde, the captain invited them inside to speak more about their "missions" goals and the advancing undead.

After a brief talk, and a request of aid from the Citadel to investigate the undead incursion, the captain asked that everyone in the group show their badges, to prove their identities at least somewhat.

As the group begins it's journey to the top of the tower, to see what they might find there, there is a massive explosion from below prompting the group to bolt downstairs behind the captain. There they encounter a lone soldier trying to calm the captains worries about the noise.

Below the Tower:
She seems unconvinced from the beginning, only becoming more so when the badge on her gauntlets flairs red. This prompts the abominition, posing as the soldier Reynolds addressed as Hiram to drop its disguise, revealing it to be a monstrosity topping ten feet tall made of exposed muscle and gore. It had already been wounded somehow, so the ensuing fight is a short one.

Reynolds pulls forth a shield and sword from seemingly nowhere, the sheild bearing a crest familiar to Valde, and charges the beast in a rage. Valde, who was already standing next to the ecroche, is the first to strike at the beast, and the first to miss. The monster responded with an offhanded strike, that still did a good amount of damage to the gnome, and followed up this attack by missing the mounted figure, and burying its claws into its own legs. With the rest of the party manuvering around the hulking figure, Reynolds charges in and makes two savage slashes at the figure, carving deep grooves in unbleeding muscle.

With the thing distracted Alric circled around and landed a stinging series of blows on the creature, prompting it to spin around with a backhanded blow that sent the ninja flying, to land on his back. This allowed Reynolds another opening to carve some more flesh away. The creature's strange composition and odd movements proved to be a large hinderance to the attacks of Daryth and Uriel, as it easily shrugged aside their blows with no damage taken.

With the thing already gravely wounded by Alric and Reynolds, Valde and Ice darted in at its legs for the killing blows, the warrior's mount once again landing the final attack of a fight.

After the Fight:
After the fight, the captain journeys around the barracks of the Tower, searching for any sign of her men. Finding only a the skinned body of Hiram, and no other traces of struggle. The party split up to search as well, finding a giant fissure in the floor of the holding cell that was either the undead's entrance or egress, a large store of wine and food, and the captain's finely appointed quarters. After locking and barracading the door leading to the holding cells as best they could, performing a minor looting of the wine casks, covering the body of Hiram, and leaving the contents of the fallen soldiers rooms undisturbed, the party went in search of the captain that had wandered to the top of the tower in her fugue state.

Tower Top:
The group finds a listless Reynolds staring into space, at the top of the tower. Their arrival and questions seem to shake her back into reality. She first requests that the group go to town, to warn of the likely fall of the tower, but then reconsiders and bid them follow their duties to the Citadel. Valde, seemingly happy with her replies that she will do what is needed should more undead arrive, launches himself through western side of the shimmery dome atop the Tower. With nothing left to them, the rest of the party followed.

Teleport Landing:
The group finds themselves on a road that seems to spring up out of nowhere, and lead west into the mountains. They also find a very young blue dragon with two imps in tow. The dragon makes its appearence by erupting from the ground, and spraying many in the group with a shower of rocks, injuring Ice for the firs time. Valde's reply is swift, as he charges in for retribution, perhaps a bit too swift as he fails to invoke his armor or raise his shield, this seems to momentarily confuse the dragon, as he manages to perform this manuever without sustaining injury.

Alric, invoking the powers of Ki, and Uriel, invoking the powers of magic, pull forth mirror images around themselves for protection and advace on the wyrm, while Daryth swings wide to attack the mephits.

A now armored Valde and Alric begin trading blows with the young dragon, scoring many hits and Valde actually receiving quite a few in return. Uriel, meanwhile, surveys the battlefield, feeling again that something is amiss. Daryth, upon reaching the imps firmly pounds one into the ground with a flurry of blows, and frightens the other into the air.

For their part, the imps spewed forth a torrent of stones a time or two, before being defeated or driven off.

The gravely wounded dragon, after taking a swipe at the nearby magus and hitting nothing but an illusory image, dives straight into the ground, only to erupt a few moments later as the last imp is finished off. As the last mephit falls, the dragon shakes its head and launches itself into the air, and away from combat, with Alric's taunts chasing after it.

After the battle, Uriel posits that the dragon was being controlled by the mephits, as Alric sadly speaks of dragon hoards lost.

Valde, yet again urges the group west, seeming fixated on an unknown goals and sets off to the barbs of Daryth, regarding the state of his mount. This prompts some rumination among Alric, Daryth, and Uriel as to the gnomes state of mind, but they follow on anyway.

Mountain's Entrance:
Another few hour's travel brings the party to archway carved into the side of the mountain. Before them is a golden door, etched with some strange dialect, barring the way. Above and to each side of the slab door are symbols that are identicle to the Eye of Heaven pendant worn around the gnome's neck and his armor's tabard.

After a confirmation from Valde that he'd seen the writings and, obviously, the symbols before, but was unable to share their meanings, the magus tried to divine what they could entail, but met with no success. A brieft interrogation of Valde by the group met with no good answer or ideas, aside from Uriel's joking cry of "Praise the Eye!", Valde stepped forth and uttered the same words, bringing his armor forth. At this, the pendant on his neck, and the symbols around the door burst into firey life, and the golden slab sank into the ground with a horrible sound. After taking a moment to bring forth light for themselves, the group journeyed into the waiting darkness of the mountain. Taking a few steps into the passage way, the group hears the door slide shut behind them, sealing them inside.

Inside the Mountain:
After opening the first door, the group is met by a deathweb, a festrog, and a mohrg, all of which, much like the previous mindless undead they've encountered, made a line for Valde and were swiftly cut down by the party. Valde fells the festrog in the first few seconds of the skirmish, while Uriel and Alric move forward to confront the spider-like monstrosity sitting further in the room.

Daryth and Valde have some problems with the parasite infested skeleton, missing many attacks against the strage creature, but receiving little damage in return as well. As Alric and Uriel make short work of the deathweb, Alric landing the final blow and disintegrating the shell housing the swarm of spiders, Daryth tires of the back and forth battleing with the mohrg and reaches into the skeleton's rip cage and rips the pink mass out of the structure and slams it to the ground, ending the fight.

Looking about themselves, Uriel and Alric begin to investigate their surroundings as Daryth organizes the room for a camp site, and Valde plops down to write in his journal. Unexpectedly, Alric decides to open a door leading further into the place they've found themselves, and releases a ghoul into the room, that charges at Valde before being cut down by blows from Alric and Daryth, but not before Uriel misses a swing and lodges his sword in the door frame near the beast's head.

After a quick discussion as to their current plans, as there seemed to have been a misunderstanding in the group, Alric agrees to open no more doors, and the party hudles up around Daryth's campfire for another cold night's rest.

Fourth Session Experience:
Combat: 6600

RP: 2500

Game Total: 53400

Rest in the Mountain:
After establishing that no more doors should be opened and discussing how best to mark their progress in the place they've found themselves, our heroes set up watch and proceed to rest with Daryth's Ion Stone being passed around as a watch light. During the night, there is an interlude while Uriel is on watch: Valde and Alric snap awake, and start speaking about visions of ziggurats, tall buildings, green lights, and many people. With none of the three able to make any sense of what was relayed, they decided the best action was to get more rest, dwell on it more later, and see if the mystery unravels.

Locked Doors and Secret Passages:
In the morning, after gathering their encampment back up and returning Daryth's Ion, the party discussed how to proceed through what could turn out to be a maze. Several ideas were posed: flipping coins, tracking turns, maps, always lefts, and a few others for good measure. It was finally decided that Alric would mark their passage with one of his daggers, and they would start taking lefts.

The first door, sadly, proved to be locked. Daryth, giving up his lead position in the walking order, allowed Alric to pick the lock, in lieu of magic or might being applied. Upon entering the next room, Alric spotted a hidden door in the south west corner. Another discussion ensues, with the result being that the opened doors are marked by Alric and the party continuing north east.

Encounter, the First:
After Alric, having taken the lead due to locked doors, opens the next room, Valde with his more than human sight, immediately spots a legless figure floating through a door at the far side of the area. Forgetting the limitations of half his party, he charges ahead to speak to the figure, whom they can't see, leaving them staring confused into darkness.

The spectre, an angry spirit of a murderer, according to Valde, speaks of laying the party to rest "with the rest of us", before beginning its assault on the group. Daryth charges into battle, trusting his in training and the strange properties imbued into his body, to strike the incorporeal being. He lands a solid blow, but feels some of the force of his strike flowing through the creature's form with little damage. Valde, for his part, realizes the problem the spectre could present and speaks warning to his companions of non-enchanted weapons being worthless and asks if anyone has an armament to spare. Alric, unwilling to be left out of a fight, charges forward with little consideration of their amorphous foe and swings, his blow's force also being partially wasted as it passes easily though the thing, but causing some obvious discomfort. Next, the magus enters the fray blade flashing and drives the creature back, the spectre slashing at him return as it fades backwards through the door.

Valde, having problems with Ice, as he shows more sense than the rest of the group, and is trepedatious about moving closer to the undead creature, hangs back waiting for a magic weapon to appear or the foe to be struck down. Daryth, finally pleased to have an enemy he can strike with impunity, rains down a torrent of blows on the creature, knocking the ghost insensate upon the floor.

The threat dealt with Daryth and Uriel immediately turn their attention to their new surroundings. Alric, showing a touch of mercy, bends down to finish off the befuddled creature and notices a strange sigil, an obelisk of some sort under a crescent moon, before the spectre fades, finally truly at rest. At this action, Daryth speaks a small eulogy and Uriel asks if any items were found on the incorporeal body. After the ninja describes the markings he noticed to the group, a hazy memory is brought forth in Valde, but he is unable to put words to it. The group, with more questions of how to proceed resolved, moves south.

Exploration, Traps and Unanswered Questions:
The next few rooms are filled with either shredded pictures of figures bearing strange clothing and symbols, notably the already encountered Eye of Heaven sigil and the newly found moon and obelisk symbol, rusted and useless weapons, or nothing at all. Several hidden and locked doors later, the group has fallen into a lull when a portion of the ceiling collapses on poor Alric as he attempts to gain access to their next chosen room. At a cry from Daryth, Valde quickly dismounts, his armor flowing away, and frantically digs their buried companion out. Having sustained surprisingly little damage in the miniature cave in, due to his quick reflexes, Alric is none the less thankful to find air easily accessible again.

Deciding that trapped doors are doors meant to be opened, the party quickly clears away the remaining debris and eagerly open the door before them to find... nothing. The room obviously once housed important items of some kind, made obvious by the thorough scouring the room has received.

With another discussion of how to proceed raised and settled, the party begins following the prolific number of secret doors in the warren of rooms, encountering three more traps without incident. As they wander, the party begins to ruminate on their surroundings, namely what or who was housed here, how the building was lit as they've encountered no wall sconces or other obvious sources of light, when the traps they've encountered were placed, how long the undead have been here, and how far down they actually are. With no answer to the first few questions forthcoming, Uriel is happy to at least supply the answer to the last: They've not traveled down or up one hair's breadth as far as he is able to discern.

After finding what appears to be a barracks of some kind, with more sigils etched in various places, the group stumbles into some old friends: a baykok and a mohrg.

Encounter, the Second:
Alric, in the lead position due to the need for frequent unlocking and trap detection, is attacked by the mohrg that charges at him, landing a solid blow. He quickly backs up, trying to lure the creatures into the room with the rest of the group, striking as he retreats. Uriel and Daryth, unable to gain a clear avenue of attack on either opponent, decide to wait for a more advantageous moment to strike. Valde, having no idea what is occurring peers curiously ahead, waiting to see what they're facing before committing to an attack.

The skeletal archer, for it's part leaps, into the the air, hangs there, and begins firing arrows into Alric, over the mohrg's head. Daryth decides that no better opening will present itself, and attempts to strike the mass writhing within the skeleton before him, but misses. Alric, arrows striking him as he launches an attack on the infested being in front of him, is thrown off balance and he slams his weapon into the ground, mangling it. The mohrg seizes on this opportunity and slams itself into him twice, dealing glancing blows. Still having no openings Valde and Uriel circle for a better avenue into the melee. The baykok, seemingly joyous at having an opponent unable to defend itself launches two more arrows into Alric, the missiles appearing from its wrist as it pulls the bow string back. Alric's movements as the arrows strike open an avenue for Uriel to hack at the mohrg. His two blows, one carrying the weight of a magic spell as well, deal a startling amount of damage to the undead being.

Daryth, returning to form, misses three rapid blows aimed at the staggered creature. Valde over-eager at his chance to finally aid in the battle charges in and misses two blows followed Ice, also returning to form, landing a solid blow to compensate for the previous missed attacks. The mohrg, spinning to face this latest threat, finds an unarmored gnome atop a weak looking mount at launches two brutal attacks, to punish the fighter for rushing into battle a second time in as many days without armor.

Alric, seeing his companions thoroughly engaging the strange creature before him, turns his attention to the archer inflicting pain from behind him, and conjures up a host of images to confuse the beast as he drops his sword, pulls his chain, and charges into battle against the airborne foe. Confused at this turn of events, the floating skeleton hastily launches two more summoned arrows and managed to ricochet an arrow back at itself, knocking itself to the ground, but taking out one of the ninja's images.

Uriel, seeing that the mohrg, is already fairly wounded decides to attack without more magic being expended and deals the creature a light blow with his scimitar. This is followed by six missed attack from Daryth, Valde, and Ice, and two resounding blows on himself for his mercy from the mohrg.

In the next room, the baykok is slashed at by Alric as it snatches at its bow, and attempt to take flight once again. Uriel, distracted by the action in the other room, misses his swing nearly injuring himself, but is saved by Daryth landing two staggering attacks on the creature that distract it. Valde and Ice, however, continue to have troubles connecting against the abomination.

Uriel and Daryth finish off the mohrg, as Alric and the baykok face off again. The baykok is unable to land an attack through the blur of the ninja's images, but dodges Alric’s attacks in return. With the mohrg dispatched, the rest of the party rushes forward. Uriel knocks the creature out of the air, with a disorienting spray of colors and Valde finally strikes true as the thing falls, opening it up to attacks from the gathered heroes. The thing feebly makes one more attempt to rise, but is beaten mercilessly into the ground until it is still. The finishing blow is landed by Alric, enraged by all the attacks against himself, as he slices the thing into three parts with his kusarigama.

The battle ended, the group ruminates on the source of the undead.

Fifth Session Experience:
Combat: 3750

Locks and Traps: 1150

RP: 3500

Game Total: 61800

Further Exploration and Discussions:
Having finished with the two undead, the room is searched and another secret door discovered. The possibility of a map is brought up again, but dismissed. The room searched to their satisfaction, and the baykok's bow left behind, the group moves on, Alric in the lead once more. The hidden door to the south is trapped, as is in the one behind it. Having disarmed them the group moves on through another series of empty rooms. After some more random wandering, a fifth discussion on how best to proceed arises, with Daryth championing a patterned approach. He is outvoted by Alric and Valde, who want to keep following secret doors, picking seen ones at random, and marking their way as they travel. Uriel withholds a vote, as he does not have a light source with which to bargain.

The Library:
A few more turns, and the heroes find themselves in a room with a massive marble table. Too large to have come through the doors and not made of the same stone of the mountain, the table itself is in pristine condition; the stools around it are mostly shattered, but preserved by the frozen climate. The next room finds what appears to have once been a library, a massive metal table filled with scrawls, and another member of the undead. Instead of attacking, however, she just wanders the room, attending to books that are no longer present, in a repeating loop. The rest of the party hangs back, as Valde steps forward to address her. She replies nicely enough, if in an odd mode of speech, and speaks briefly of her duties with "the Order". She seems oblivious to everyone in the room, save Valde, as Uriel tries to interject a question and is ignored as if not there. She speaks of a "Solenrae" when Valde mentions the lack of light, leading to an easy loss of time sense. When pressed further by Valde, the ghost loses interest and begins attending to her duties again.

Alric, impatient to be on to more of the complex advises moving on. Uriel, however, wishes to study the runed table, and see if it can answer any of the mysteries of this place. None in the party are able to decipher the scrawl, so Valde invokes a bit of his gnome heritage and begins reading the table through a lens of magic translation. Leaving the suddenly engrossed warrior to his task, the remainder of the party decides to explore around the immediate area. They find an altar, some broken pews, and some more tables, these made of wood. There are a few more trapped doors, but they seem less in number, and no hidden ones to be seen.

The party regroups after an hour or so, to a Valde sitting in semi-darkness with a guttering torch, and a thoughtful look on his face. Valde asks that they take an account of their disposable light sources, taking an offered torch and asks what the others have found. The party decides that two groups of two, with one light source each would help their stores last longer. In response to his question of what they'd found, not much of anything seemed to be the general consensus. As this news, Valde urges them onward to unexplored areas. Ever eager, the party pushes south again.

The Stairs and the Mural:
The next room of interest is actually a touch warmer than the rest of the chill place. Feeling around at the doors lining the area, they feel warmth coming off the southern door with the decorated arch above it. After a brief discussion, again, on the purpose of this place, the group opens the door, and wanders into the small room behind. The only feature of the place is a tightly wound staircase. Deciding not to leave this floor, until all of it has been explored; Alric marks this door with a different symbol, and the heroes press on. The group begins to have troubles keeping up with each other, in the winding passages, but manages to make it together to the next room of note: Another space filled with pews, but no altar this time. Looking over the room, Alric is the first to notice the faint remnants of a mural on the western wall.

Calling the group's attention to it, Valde is the only one able to make out much of anything, saying only that it seems symbolic, but not worship worthy as the pews might indicate. Daryth posits that they might not have the training to actually read any of the meanings of the artwork, to which Valde shrugs and the group moves on.

Very Annoying Stone Melding Skeleton:
A few turns later, and Alric opens the door to a new horror the place has saved for them: an earth covered skeleton that causes the stone of the floor, around it to flow and warp. The thing opens up with a resounding strike to Alric's head, deafening him. Alric immediately throws up a series of mirror images, and backs into the room with the rest of the party. Valde, remembering to put his armor on this time, rides up to strike at the thing, but misses. He easily shrugs aside a blow from the creature with his newly summoned armor. Uriel seeing that this foe might be a touch more imposing than the others, casts haste on the group. While Daryth, unwilling to engage the thing in the tight confines of the doorway, waits for the thing to come to him.

With glee, the monstrosity gestures, and brings hundreds of razor sharp stone spikes jutting up out of the stone floor of the room the group is in, then waits for the party to advance towards it, taking damage all the way. Daryth, ever nimble, and tired of waiting, and advances, taking almost no damage along the way. A series of strikes leaves the monster slightly chipped, but no real damage done. Grinning, the thing places its hand on the west wall, and slides through, disappearing. Looking all around themselves, the party waits, while Valde dismounts Ice, and gestures him to stay and Uriel takes flight, in preparation of having to move into a better position. A frustrated Daryth vents about how to fight a creature that can hinder your movement, while its movement is absolute. As these words, the thing springs from the wall in the corridor that led them here, and gestures to the group. Uriel immediately swoops in, and lands a resounding strike, backed by magic, on the creature causing it to regroup for a second as Alric dives behind the thing, stepping lightly and avoiding any damage from the spiked floors.

The thing cackles with glee, grabs either side of the door way and draws them closed like a curtain, then turns to face Alric, who is suddenly alone with the thing.

Deciding the a live ninja is a valuable ninja, Alric focuses momentarily, turning invisible, and backs away from the creature, trying to find a way back to the group. Back in the room, headless of the damage, Valde charges at the newly formed wall, but is unable to push his way through; the rock is as solid as if it had always been there. Daryth sprints down the passage the earthen thing had emerged from, to see if led around to Alric, but finds only a trap door and quickly returns to the group.

Feeling its other prey scurrying around the skeleton quickly makes a passing strike at Alric sensing his movements, even if it can't see him, and then dives into the wall on its right again. At this brief reprieve, Alric, hastened by Uriel's magic, fairly flies around the complex, attempting to return to his companions. Valde, with no other options present, armors down and begins to meditate, hoping a solution will present itself. Moments later, the thing bursts out of a wall, and assaults Daryth, giving him a deep gouge. Hearing his friend cry out, Uriel flies over, and hammers the thing with a few resounding blows, managing to take one of the creature’s hands off with one of his strikes. Daryth, his surprised fading, spins around and delivers a series of strikes on the thing, many of them landing, but turning his ankle while pivoting for one of them. Alric, running furiously to meet the group, finally encounters a locked door, but fails to pick the lock in his haste to regroup. Valde, unable to get within striking range of the creature, still moves painfully across the floor, in case an opening presents itself. Seeing that the thing is on its last legs, Uriel decides to finish off the creature with two mundane attacks, but the skeleton manages to avoid destruction, by a minor margin, even as Daryth leans in for a few more blows, chipping away more of the earth around the things body, but doing only minor damage. The creature again slams itself into Daryth, dealing quite a bit more damage. Alric, finally able to unlock the door, and hearing the sounds of battle from across the spiked covered room, drinks a potion of spider climb, and scuttles along the room's walls, positioning himself behind the unsuspecting skeleton, due to his invisibility.

Sick of the battle, Uriel brings his sword down with two ringing blows, and caves the beast's head in, finishing the melee. Alric sighs at the missed chance for revenge, and drops to the ground, appearing out of thin air to the surprised group. Daryth, concerned with Ice's safety, asks Uriel to retrieve him before his spell of flight ends. Valde, coming out of his reverie a bit late sees that the battle has been ended, and his companion rescued. Nods to himself, and joins back in with the group's discussion of what to do next.

Talking and Traps:
As the party ponders the trap door Daryth discovered, the monk asks if anyone has seen anything like that before. Valde, replying that he's only heard of them, says that it was a Guecubu, a risen murder that was improperly buried. Alric, seeing that folks appear to be the worse for wear, decides they should find a place serviceable for a camp site. As he searches the attached rooms, realizing he can heal his deafened state with a use of Essence along the way, the group discusses whether every undead they've encountered has been a murder. Valde posits that at he believes they've been remnants of people on both sides of the blade. Alric, at Daryth's advice for checking for creatures before they set up camp, triggers two rubble traps, receiving a few wounds himself. This has the unintended effect of nicely sealing the room that they're in. As the ninja is dug out for the second time, Daryth begins praising the group on the use of strategy in the last fight, hoping for cooler thoughts in the coming battles. Deciding that this might not be the best place to rest, Valde asks if the group is willing to press on after all. A short time later, with Daryth the only person suing for rest, the group pushes on, deciding to see where the trap door leads. It opens, if not easily, not exactly rusted shut with age, either. Alric and Uriel take point, with Daryth and Valde serving as rear guard.

Encounters, Encounters, and Loot:
As they descend, Uriel immediately cries out that there is something waiting for them, turns invisible, and moves cautiously forward, sword drawn. Alric, unable to see as far as the half-elf, freezes, taking his companion's word for it, and summons more blurry images to serve as a shield against the unexpected. Valde, hearing his companions in danger, armors up, and charges down the stairs in time to see a robed figure run screaming at Daryth, but miss its wild clawing. Daryth, racing down the steps as well, runs up to the robed skeleton, and lands a blow. Alric, as usual swings behind the thing, and tries to take it unawares. His attack destroys it utterly, leaving a pile of bones and cloth on the ground.

The group hears a familiar skittering, as a see of spiders revealed in the torch-light recedes. Valde, unwilling to let the undead runs up to the remaining robed figure, and strikes at it, landing only a glancing blow. Uriel cautiously moves forward, trying to find where the spider has gotten to, as the remaining skeleton, seeing the emblem on Valde's tabard, but showing a cruel streak, throws itself on Ice, tearing into the dog and doing grievous amounts of damage. Daryth runs up to aid the mount, but as he is looking around for the spider as well, mis-judges a strike, and injures his wrist on the skeleton's unyielding frame. Alric moves up and finishes off the skeleton easily, as Uriel cries out a warning moments before the missing spider scuttles from the darkness while hanging on the ceiling, and drops onto Valde and Ice, nearly crushing Ice to death, however the mount refuses to give in and clings desperately to life, even as the mass of tiny spiders drop down and begin gnawing away at him.

Valde, armoring down and accepting the wave of pain as the tiny spiders begin eating at him as well, drags his friend away, and spends a point of Essence to stabilize him, chanting as he does so.

Uriel, enraged at the sight of the downed animal many of them have become attached to, charges forward. Due to his invisibility, the deathweb is unaware of his approach, until it suddenly ignites from the flames leaping up around the magus' blade. Uriel enters the fray with a startling amount of damage done to the undead shell. Lashing out in fury at anything moving, the spider form take a chunk out of Daryth at his approach. The monk lands a solid blow in return, however. His fist bursting into flames, as Uriel's sword had, dealing even more damage to the beast. The flames from the two attacks cause parts of the figure to start smoldering, and the party hears screams beginning to emerge from the thing's abdomen.

Alric, again swinging behind his target, shatters the husk, even with his bent katana, and a large wooden chest spills out of the thing, along with the usual flood of spiders, that quickly flow away into the dungeon. Valde, looking in concern at Ice, votes that they finally take a rest. Alric, oblivious to the trivial concerns of life or death, looks at the potential money sitting before him. He examines the chest, wondering if it's trapped, or possibly alive. To which a tiny female voice comes roaring out of the box, in the affirmative that she is indeed alive, and would like to be extricated. Daryth steps back in shock, as Alric moves to open the chest, the entire party reading for another potential battle.

Out springs a green haired gnome female, who is immediately beset by questions. She turns out to have been a part of the Western Tower guard. After berating the group for trying to set her on fire, she asks of her companions. When pressed she speaks of being herded through complete darkness, with the rest of the contingent. At the end of her tale, she seems to wither, as she relays the probable demise of her companions, but posits hope that they might still be alive. This hope is immediately and relentlessly crushed by all four members of the group, who also point out that the tower may have fallen by this time, to add salt to the wounds of the freshly abused figure. At this news, Reah bolts back for the hole, intent to show them that her friends are still alive, and the tower still stands. She turns into a wolf along the way, leaving them all staring in shock, except for Daryth, who instantly races after her.

Rest at last:
The rest of them, for various reasons, decide to let Daryth handle it and get to setting up camp and searching for treasure. They find in the chest a small horde of gems that immediately capture their attention. After a short time, a grapple hook flies out of the hole, and Reah and Daryth emerge, the monk seemingly having calmed her down quite a bit. As the party moves things around to begin camp, talking over recent occurrences, they find a few more items in the chest, some proving to be enchanted, per the magus. Two wands, a small sword, and two of the guns from the tower. After comforting the injured dog, Reah offers to take first watch away from Daryth, as he looks to need rest as much as the rest of the group. Watch order and rest time decided, the group beds down for the night.

Sixth Session Experience:
Combat: 3200

Locks and Traps: 2150

RP: 4000

Game Total: 71150

Slumberiou Interruptus:
At some towards the end of Daryth's watch, Alric and Valde snap awake. The ensuing conversation, involving numbers and strange symbols, awakens the rest of the party. Reah, having no idea what's going on, watches in silence as Uriel, Alric, and Valde fill Daryth in on the past night's nocturnal adventures, and discuss what tonight's might mean.

As the group speaks, Daryth, remaining vigilant as it is his turn on watch, spots another robed skeleton at the edge of their lights, either attempting to skirt by or eavesdrop. As he shouts an alarm, the thing bolts down the pit to the north of camp. The groups snaps into action immediatly, Uriel asking for a direction, and Valde actually putting armor before he's hit. Reah, confurming the monk's statement, shifts back into gnome form, and says that the scent is fresh and unmistakeable, the thing went into the caverns below.

Two Plans Foiled:
Discussing if they should follow, or just try to cave the whole thing in and be done with it, the heroes decide to split up, with half staying above as anchors, and half going below to see if the tunnel Daryth spoke of is more easily sealed off than the hole. Inching slowly forward, with Reah sticking close to the light of the stone circling Daryth's head, the ninja and monk uncover a grisley scene: skinned bodies arrayed around some strange orb. At their approach a tremor shakes the foundations of the complex, dislodging more stones around the hole, dropping Valde, Ice, and Uriel down with them.

Daryth, not knowing that his companions have already descended races back to bring have them investigate with the rest of the group. With a cryptic remark to the other two, he races back to Alric and Reah. As the entire party gathers, a low chanting suddenly become audible, then ceases. They are then greeted as "the lights", and their skeletal hosts speaks of waiting a long time for their arrival as he finishes a strange ritual that turns the skinned bodies before them into newly born ecorches.

Valde, ever the diplomat, attempts to charm a few answers from their undead guest before the inevitable melee, and succeeds in gaining a few cryptic replies before the lich sends its newly created minons to destory them. Refusing to believe that fate could abandon them to such and end, Valde yells definatly at the ancient wizard. As his words echo around the chamber, a rift of searing light and agonizing sound opens above the orb and floods the chamber with strange energies, allowing a few a glimpse through to the other side, before the four "lights" are bathed in radiance and darkness, in equal measure, leaving behind strange gifts for them all.

The Lights Kindled, a Battle Joined:
As the light fades, leaving behind the charred remains of the ecorches, the lich screams in frustration and denial, saying that the prophecy had promised his success. The heroes, siezing the moment, rush forward into combat.

Alric, summoning shadowy images once again, runs towards the lich, skirting the area of strange darkenss where the orb had stood, only to find the undead they'd seen earlier that had brought them down here blocking his way. As he stops to contemplate his next action, a wave of fear washes over him, almost causing him to break and run. However, before he can turn, he feels a pressure at his back from Valde, reassuring him that whatever the odds, the party would overcome.

Daryth, waiting to see what the magus might have to add to the battle before he rushes blindly ahead, holds back surveying the battlefield. For its part, the lich rages at Valde, and unleashes a torrent of magic missiles as it steps back from the now potentially dangerous heroes. Uriel, answering Daryth's query, casts haste to aid the party. In thanks, Daryth rushes forward as his fist ignites, and promptly injures himself due to his unexpectedly accelerated punch.

Valde, filled with new found fervor, rushes forward on a rapidly enlarging Ice, evading a clumsy attack from the lich that ends up striking itself, and lands several blows that shake the lich to its core. Across the chamber, the other skeleton in the room makes a weak attack at Alric, that he easily shrugs aside as he lands two easy blows on the creature, dispatching it.

Suddenly surrounded by enemies, the ancient seeming creature opens a rift and steps through to another part of the cavern, and fires off a quickened magic missile into Valde's back. Daryth, unable to see far in the darkenss, uses the incredible speeds of a hasted monk to quickly survey the area, find the lich, and land another a resounding blow to the undead wizard's head, taking the lich off guard and knocking the last hour's memory from its mind. Valde, having watched the monk's progress, charges forward as well and lands another savage strike on the thing. Alric, not wishing to be left out of the brawl, swings in behind the lich, dodging an opportunistic attack from the creature, and slices himself with his bent katana.

The lich, realing from the onslaught and dazed by the monk's strike to his head, backs away in confusion yelling that the sacrifice will not be interrupted, and unleashed a torrent of ice at Daryth, Alric, Valde, and his mount. The four suffere an impressive amount of damage from the spell, inciting the magus to draw his sword, which ignites along its length and crackle with electricity, and charge at the undead creature, landing a solid blow that does an impressive amount of damage to the undead frame, shattering the ancient bones and knocking the thing to the ground, defeated.

Searches for Loot and Answers:
As the ninja instantly begins to search the fallen creature for a replacement for his katana, one can only assume. The others begin to speak of what has just occurred. Valde, offering aid, leans down from his now massive mount, and lays glowing hands upon Daryth, healing his wounds, and invoking his goddess. As he's asked about the changes to himself and Ice, he speaks of changes to the world, promises straight answers later, and abruptly asks if the pilfering ninja has found anything that might be used as a phylactory. Since none were too sure what the this form might take, the group decides to split up and canvas the immediate area to find anything that might looks phylactory-ish.

Seventh Session Experience:
Combat: 8150

RP: 1000

Game Total: 80300

More Looking Around:
Search for the phylactory ends up fruitless. After Daryth leads the group in expanding its search of the cavern Uriel points out that they still have the chest with some loot upstairs, and the rest of the complex to explore. Valde, still feeling a sense of urgency, votes for heading back upstairs, before wandering off into the caves below.

The group, after deciding that closing the hole leading down was a hopeless task with the tools they have on hand, split up the gems in the chest. Briefly, Valde tries to bring up what he believes to be the return of the gods. Daryth quickly brushes any theological debates aside, and presses for a vote on where to head next. Valde's previous suggestion of exploring the remainder of the area above them is adopted, and the group heads upstairs.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Alric recommends trying to at least seal that trap door. As Daryth mulled over a way to seal it with magic, Uriel and Alric wandered off, then returned with some rubble to pile on top.

Following Alric's keen nose for treasure, the group decides to stay on this floor, before moving up the spiral staircase they'd found earlier, and heads out.

More Spiders too:
One room east, and one south, Alric and Uriel are jumped by a pair of deathwebs. Uriel gives a quick shout to alert the others, as he ducks an attack, somehow causing the eight legged beast to become entangled. As it tried to sort out its legs, the monk charges in from the other room, and lands the first attack of the battle. Trying to follow up on the opening, before his chance is lost, Uriel swings wildly at the undead thing, and wrenches his arm.

Valde, still in the room to the north, but hearing Uriel's cries of battle, armors up and charges to the creature in the south of the room, drawing its attention away from the rest of the group. Reah, for her part, lights up the deathweb facing off with Valde and Ice, using farie fire. Seeing that the spider monster in front of him was still having complications, Alric flips over the thing and scores a crushing blow as he lands on the other side. The enraged beast manages to gain its feet again, and spin on Alric, just in time to be cut down by a flurry of blows from Daryth, followed by a glancing, but fatal blow from Uriel's sword.

Valde, intent on the undead in front of him unleashes a torrent of light from his shield dazing the beast, opening up a lane for Alric, who dodges under the beasts slashing arms, and lands another viscious attack. The creature, still dazed from the light, and obsessed with Valde as most of the undead have been, ignores the attack, and moves in to strike the gnome, but manages to only score an attack on itself, adding the wounds already bestowed by Alric.

Daryth swings in behind the glowing monster, and lines up for a strike, and Uriel's sword sails over his shoulder, misses the spider-thing, and returns to his hand. All this, as Valde and Ice finish off the already severly wounded deathweb.

Exploration and Ghosts:
After a brief check to see if everyone is okay, the group moves on. Alric, checking the doors as they go, leads them onward. After a few more rooms, that appear to have been dinning halls and just empty walkways, he suddenly freezes and begins swaying from side to side. Daryth, next in line checks on his friend, only to hear a sound grating against his mind, and moves forward to cover his companion. Valde, sensing something amiss as well, charges forward on Ice, only to have his steed freeze as soon as he clears the door way. The gnomish druid of the party pulls forth a blade of fire, and beings edging into the room as well. Behind her, Uriel moves into the room cautiously only to be struck insensate as Alric and Ice had. Daryth and Valde suddenly charge forward, striking down a hovering figure that is emitting the mind numbing sound that has forzen a portion of the group.

Shaking off the affect, the group asks Valde the identity of the creature. He replies, after some confusion, that it was an Allip, but offers no more elightenment, as usual. Looking around, the party finds that they've entered a portion of the structure that has decorations carved into the walls, instead of tattered or missing hangings and pictures. Flowers and vines adorn the walls, and the smell of water and warm life drift through a door opened to the north by Alric. Deciding that this seems a cheerful place to make camp, in this cold place, the group beds down for the night, with Reah taking first watch.

Dreams:
Suddenly, everyone finds themselves surrounded in a nimbus of light, and at the base of a ziggurat topped with a verdant glow. Valde and Alric, somewhat accustomed to this, ask the identity of the other two lights. Daryth and Uriel speak up in reply, and all turn to ponder the light at the top of the tower.

As their attentions turn, so too does the light seem to notice them, and the words "What is this? In my world?" ring out across the landscape, thundering back on them over and over, suddenly to be swallowed up in silence as a quieter, but somehow more terrifying and more powerful voice emits from from Alric saying "Not your world, little sister. Mine." At these words, darkness erupts from Alric, slamming into the ziggurat and toppeling it, the light at the top winking out.

The four sleepers sit up in bed in unison, startling the druid on watch. Valde, looking at Alric admits a bit of fear. Daryth, hopping into the conversation over the curious words of Reah, asks for an explination. Alric, seemingly just as confused says nothing, as Valde asks if Alric might be a god. This does evoke a response in the negative from Alric. Uriel chimes in thoughtfully, that he'd like to study the dreams more.

As the conversation lulls for a moment, each of the four that had just awoken, start. Alric, asking if anyone else just heard a voice speak to them is greeted by the phrase "May it aid you in the dark days to come." from Valde. Daryth, replying that he felt something, but heard no words, offers nothing else.

Valde: If you end up being my god I take back anything offensive I've said, by the by.

Reah: You're all daft. I should have stayed with the undead.

Daryth: To be fair the undead would have tried to eat you.

Valde: Not quite so lively, smell much worse, all have horrible stories, can't have friendly puppies around. We're probably the better decision, daft bits and all. You aren't a god are you? Not too often I'd think gods come in boxes. But I guess stranger things have happened.

Reah: I'm not sure what you four are planning either. With all this talk of gods. I'm not a god. There are no gods.

Alric: I'm starting to think otherwise

Reah: I don't know what's been happening, but we banished the gods. Remember?

Daryth: We are planning on acquiring knowledge.

Reah: You all bear the mark of the citadel for Biomancer's sake!

Valde: I wasn't there, were you? /peers at Reah.

Reah: ... I'm not having this discussion. Good night. It's someone else's watch.

Valde walks over and pokes Reah, illiciting an exasperated sigh.

Reah: What.

Trying to win Reah over to his point of view, Valde begins: The gods saw fit to heal everyone earlier, did you miss that?

Reah: I... saw something heal everyone. But who's to say it's the gods?

Valde: When was the last time you saw someone heal someone else?

Dismissing this point, Reah replies: Everyone talks like you're daft in the first place since I've met you all. You're the only one really pushing this. Do the rest of you believe this is the gods' work?

Valde: ".... Hum" says Valde, peering at the group, "That's a right good question."

Alric: Getting there.. we have seen some strange things

Daryth: It is possible that they have decided to intervene in this world again.

Uriel stares at the ring on his hand, and nods.

Alric: "And im pretty sure my boots just spoke to me a few moments ago."

Reah stares around like everyone has lost their minds.

Valde: See, I'm not the only daft one.

Reah: Please don't kill me in my sleep. Again, goodnight.

Valde: Course, could be we're on to something.

Valde walks over to Alric.

Valde: Your shoes are your god, really? Or their means of communication, anyway.

Alric shrugs

Valde: Did they say anything meaningful?

Daryth: Don't tread on me?

Alric: I thought you heard it?

Valde: I didn't pay attention to Solenrae's shoes!

Uriel: ... Was that her name? Valde: Maybe, it's definitely her name, but I don't know if it was hers or not.

Uriel nods.

Valde: My boots didn't talk to me, it was just in my head.

Alric: Well maybe it wasnt really the boots speaking but thats where I felt.. whatever it was and heard the voice.. so it kind of amounts to the same thing

Valde: Well, this has been interesting.

Daryth: I didn't hear a voice but instead just gained knowledge.

Uriel: I heard nothing. But the dream has helped with the questions being asked.

Alric: It was the same as in that dream place.. only not so creepy and kind of more distant sounding

Valde: Think it's time for sleep, maybe I'll Dream again.

Alric nods

Alric: Who knows what else we might find here? We should rest up.

Eighth Session Experience:
Combat: 6000

RP: 2000

Game Total: 88300

One fight and a DC
Game called on account of inet connection problems, shortly after a quick fight with a ghost (which Alric again sat out).

Ninth Session Experience:
Patience: 33,300

Game Total: 121,600

Sip and Swim:
Having dealt with the apparition, the party journeyed onward. Moving north, after convincing the newly minted paladin to enter the vine covered room first, a seemingly bottomless well was discovered, suspended on a dias in the stone talons of some creature.

After thoughly testing the water by drinking some and not dropping dead, flasks were filled and most moved on. Uriel did comment on a strange aura of magic surrounding the setup, before moving on with the others. Valde, unwilling to let the depths of the well go untested, dove in. After a brief splash, he conceded that the well had no bottom he could reach and got out in time to meet a concerned group that had gone quite a ways before noticing the absence of their gnomish mascot.

Onward and Upward. Mostly Upward:
Upon discussing the remaining exploratory options left to them, the party decided to travel up the stairs they'd previously left alone. When they gained the summit, the witnessed the sight of the moon covering the Eye, but from the side, allowing them to see both at the same time. They also found a man kneeling at the edge of a precipice that dropped an incredible distance onto the below.

Valde: Hail friend!
 * Valde dismounts.
 * Daryth slowly walks forward, quietly.

Unknown: Heh, well then. What happened to the huecuva below?

Alric: The who?

Daryth: I don’t know the the heckava you are talking about.

Valde: It was killed, though we couldn't find the phylactery.

Unknown: You met the lich? Well then. Hmmmm muddled a bit there son. The others that didn't put up a fight were huecuva.

Valde: Why do you ask?

Unknown: Because you've got the girl with you, and she's not in a box.

Alric: They got deep fried
 * Valde peers at Reah.

Valde: I'm somewhat chilled and my brain is working on functioning, slowly.

Unknown: Are you here to help the girl or him?

Alric: Why are you looking at me like that?
 * Valde looks at Alric.

Valde: I see what you mean.

Daryth: Who are you?

Unknown: Adon.

Daryth: What do you mean by help the girl or “him”.

Adon: The lich. You were meant to be a sacrifice to Solenrae, little one.

Valde: I'm Valde Sunsinger, Priest of Solaire, nice to meet you. That would be less than optimal. How do you know this?

Daryth: I am not good with sacrifices.

Reah: Nor I.

Daryth: Unless it's missing breakfast.

Uriel: Do you see all?

Adon: From up here? I'd like to think so. But it's a very remote view. I just come to see Solenrae and Irori mostly. And because I hate the dark. As all who follow Solenrae should.

Valde: It's nice to see something that isn't chiseled and abandoned.

Adon: Ah, they've not taken care of the monastery? Well. It's been a time since any have come to worship. And there are dark things about.

Uriel: Are you holding it back?

Adon: Holding what back? The dark things?

Uriel: The Moon.

Adon: Irori. No. I'm not a god, son. Just one of the faithful.

Valde: It seems as good a time as any to show thanks.
 * Valde begins to walk toward Adon.

Adon: Like your friend here.
 * Valde kneels down and begins to mumble.

Uriel: Tell me if you can, who is this?

Alric: How long have you been here?
 * Uriel shows his ring. Adon does not turn, and does not offer an answer.

Adon: What year is it?

Valde: It is at least a thousand years since the Banishing.
 * Valde finishes his prayer.

Adon: Ah, then a thousand years at least?

Uriel: Yet not a god?

Alric: That’s... a long time

Daryth: There are those among my order who claim to have lived as long, so it is possible.

Valde: What are you doing here friend?

Adon: Hoping for an answer from a goddess that left me long ago.

Alric: You have been here alone?

Adon: When times are good. The others come at times, but no longer love the light as I do. They are angry at being left, and so started looking for something else to follow.

Valde: The gods, we work to bring them back.

Adon: Ah. Do you feel they left? For there are two of them, before us!

Alric: You are joking right?
 * Valde hums a little.
 * Alric looks at his boots curiously

Adon: Yes. I've waited a thousand years for someone to ask that of me, so that I could reply thus. Do you find it humorous?

Valde: Funnier than the bald fellow, well done.

Valde: I knew they were never gone, but more like a door had been shut between us. All we must do to see evidence is look up, after all.
 * Daryth sighs.

Uriel: The Moon and the Eye, I think.

Adon: There was many a door shut, sealed, and hoped forgotten.

Valde: We're working on fixing that, would you come with us?

Adon: That would be unwise.

Valde: My friend, how can we help?
 * He draws his hood forward briefly, turned toward Valde.

Daryth: Who was going to do the sacrificing of the girl?

Adon: I and the others. Little choice if I wish to continue existing. But I would have taken no joy in it. For it is not a sacrifice that Solenrae would want or accept. I think doing as you are will help. I see the mark of Solenrae on you.

Valde: Do you know where we can find the Lich's phylactery? I can leave you with that small blessing, at least.
 * Valde hums to himself.

Adon: No, I'm sorry. I've had no dealings with him, aside from being set my task, and told my fate should I not follow it.

Uriel: What would it appear as?

Adon: A book, in his case. A tome on the ways of the gods, and sacrifices to Zon-Kuthon.

Valde: What exactly is your task, and the repercussion, and would you share the question that waits on answers?

Adon: The task to kill who they bring me, according to the ways that were in his book. The repercussion was my ending, and, he said, the unleashing of chaos.

Valde: My friend, whose side are you on now?

Adon: It took me many centuries of feeling abandoned and betrayed, but the side of the gods.

Daryth: It sounds like the wrong side.

Adon: It may be. It's possible I'm a coward. But I console myself that chaos sounded unlikable.

Valde: It's not my place to pass judgment; I only hope the answer to your question comes back favorable.

Uriel: Without the sacrifices, chaos in the world?

Adon: If she's here, and you're not with him. I feel we will soon find out what was meant by that. He was... unspecific. But the sacrifice was for a binding against undead.

Valde: There is a large blight in the world, of undead ever flowing, it seems.

Alric: There are undead all over

Uriel: Does the West Tower stand?
 * Adon nods.

Adon: I... do not know what that means? Is it a symbol of some new god?

Daryth: Just a tower that we use for transportation, nothing more.

Reah: It's the towers we built to keep the undead back when the gods left us.

Valde: An excise is not an exodus, you know.
 * Valde peers at Rhea.

Adon: I have no way of knowing. I'm sorry.

Valde: We will find the book, is there anything else we should know? Know that the gods will return soon, surely.

Adon: I see Solenrae with you and feel Zon-Kuthon with another of your party. You bring me hope, and fear. I will be judged for what I have done, I know.

Uriel: How do we destroy the book?

Adon: Burn it.

Alric: Does anyone else not have a clue as to what gods hes talking about?

Daryth: Who is Zon-Kuthon and where are the others that you spoke of earlier?

Adon: Zon-Kuthon is the lord of death. I do not know where they went, or I would do what I could to bring them back.

Uriel: How did this place come to be here?

Adon: We built it.

Uriel: In this mountain?

Adon: Yes, in the mountain. Specifically, we wished to be here were we stand, and felt a place to support those that had traveled this far was not an unkind idea.

Alric: I don’t suppose you have a map

Adon: I do not. I never intended to leave this place.

Uriel: Is there a light switch?

Daryth: A light what?

Uriel: Halls and rooms with no light...

Adon: Not anymore.

Uriel: Was it magic?

Adon: It was a blessing.

Alric: Hmm. Valde... go turn the lights on.

Valde: I'll put it on my to-do list.

Alric: Good.

Adon: It would be beautiful to see again.

Valde: It would be beautiful once more.

Valde: Good-bye friend, stay vigilant.

Adon: Solenrae smile on your journeys.

Valde: Ever faithful to the light.

Daryth: So I'm guessing we just leave the ancient guy who's been sacrificing people, here?

Daryth: Well then.
 * A feeling of warmth washes over you all, and the rope he wears falls limp.

Valde: You work will not be in vain.

Daryth: Could be worse.
 * Daryth examines the robe.

Valde: We're done here.

Valde: Let me see those, if you please.
 * Daryth puts the robe and staff in his pack.

Alric: I’ll be kind of glad to leave all the darkness behind.
 * Daryth allows Valde to examine the items.
 * Valde begins gathering up the bones of the former priest.

Alric: Need to get me one of those stones Daryth has.
 * Uriel peers down.

Daryth: It is useful.

Valde: I'll burn his things now, he deserved that much. We can continue after that.

Daryth: Unless the need to be buried.

Valde: A pyre seems more appropriate, all things considered.

Daryth: But I don't really care what he would have wanted since, you know the sacrifices and such.

Valde: Glass houses.

Daryth: Last I checked, I never sacrificed someone against their will. But if you insist on it I will allow it this once. Not the others though.

Valde: My friend, the others will be dying, the lich forever.


 * Daryth gives Valde the robe and staff.

Having decided that they should scour the cavern again, and see if they could find the missing phylactary, now that they knew what to look for, the party made its way back downstairs.

Basements and Burning:
A more thorough search reveals that one corner of the immediate caver had been overlooked, much to Alric's sorrow. A pile of treasure, fixtures, and other assorted items from upstairs awaited them. After a second disagreement about items and fire in as many hours, between Daryth and Valde, the phylactary was a pile of ashes, it's contents left un-glimpsed.

Alric split the gold among the party, as Uriel began to examine the magical items, to discern their properties. As the magus stared with unfocused eyes, the rest of the party discussed their next move. A consensus of exploring the eastern half of the monestary above was reached. Once Uriel snapped out of his trance, and the items were divied up, the party set out again.

Kitchens and Combat:
Back upstairs, the heroes picked up where they had left off, exploring the south east corner of the monastery. Wandering though the decrepit dining area, they discovered an ancient cooking area. Slab tables were still intact, but the hearths, hutches, and cooking implements had all seen better days.

A short talk let to more eastward movement, which in turn led to more deathwebs.

The spiders started off the fight, by skittering away to let their prey into the room, hopefully to stumble into one of their webbed traps. Alric, ever uncaring of danger, rushed into the room, bringing up 5 images around himself for protection. Daryth, more cautiously, called a warning to the others, and edged into the room, staying close to the south wall.

Given warning, Reah crept up behind Uriel to try to survey the combat. Uriel paused as well to wait for the spiders to step into the light so that he could strike. Valde and Ice had no intentions of waiting, and charged past the two, and into the room.

Daryth, with more companions now in the fray felt emboldened to attack, and firmly struck himself in the face with a missed blow aimed at the shifting form of the undead spider. This is followed by Alric slashing at the spider thing from behind, and missing as well, although not so badly as to cause himself damage. The deathweb, as usual, fixates on the mounted figure of Valde, but, being unable to reach him, settled for attacking the now formidable Ice. Valde, seeing the attack, attempted to move his trusty steed out of the path of the blow, but failed to act in time, and a slash appears on Ice's chest. The second deathweb moved down to attack the gnome as welll, but having a clear shot is able to bypass Ice, and thus managed to soundly strike Valde's armor, doing no damage. Enraged by the attack on his mount, Valde turned and smote the nearest spider, which dealt a grevious blow to the monster.

The monk, attempting to make a better showing of himself this round, landed 3 out of 5 blows on the monster he'd missed the previous round, dealing a fair amount of damage to the undead carapace. Alric, for his part, missed a second strike and stepped outside of the small sea of spiders that always attends the deathwebs. Reah, now certain of everyone's position, tried to run past the fight, and set herself up for an attack, but managed to get struck by a spider's talon as she sped by, taking a gash along her ribs. Valde, still focused on the northern spider, struck again, dealing an even more damaging blow than the first. The magus, feeling left out but apparently not wanting to hurt the ninja's feelings, moved forward and missed two attacks.

The two deathwebs struck at the paladin and his mount, missing both. Daryth, fists enveloped in power, attacked again, dealing... some damage. Alric, giving up on the creature he'd missed twice already, moved around to the northern monster, and managed to take a mandible to the arm as he passed by, receiving a fair amount of damage. He returned attack and managed to land a strike that almost finished off the already severely wounded creature. Reah, finally with enough room, shifted into a massive wolf, briefly giving pause to all on the battlefield, as she stepped forward and bit into the nearest deathweb.