Adventure 6

Temple of Death



Session One - The Great Pass


Using the maps they had found in the abbey, finding the location of the entrance to the Great Pass was not too difficult. At the end of a ravine, a long wide ramp of packed earth and rock, some 100' wide led upwards and ended suddenly at the rock wall of a mountainside. It was obvious from the many tracks that the army of the Master had travelled down this ramp. There were even the tracks of the juggernauts. The illusion hiding the entrance to the Great Pass did not fool the party at all. Mazaramus recognised it as a hallucinatory terrain spell concealing the entrance, and he simply approached the wall, putting his hand to it and dispelling the illusion with a simple touch.

A tunnel, about 100 yards wide and perhaps half a mile long was revealed. After a short distance, the ground proved too rocky to show any more tracks. Travelling along this, the tunnel began to taper, and at the far end a tunnel mouth, about 20 yards wide, led further into the mountain. A rumbling noise could be heard from within the tunnel, and steam billowed forth from it. Moments later, the head of a green dragon thrust it's head from the tunnel. Lithanor was immediately dubious. Having studied dragons, this looked nothing like the green dragons that he knew of, and its movements seemed too mechanical.

The dragon spoke, giving a warning that the party should leave. When the refused to heed its words, a second dragon, this one significantly smaller, crawled out, clutching the rocks above and around the first dragon's head. This one looked more realistic, and as the party prepared their swords and spells to do battle, it breathed forth a noxious cloud of chlorine gas. Lithanor had tried to call upon his draconic powers to protect himself from its attacks, but this time his mastery was insufficient.

Still gagging and reeling from the effects of the chlorine, Mazaramus invoked the arcane energies at his command and sent a fire ball hurtling towards the larger dragon. The dragon instantly set alight. The sounds of splitting wood and timbers accompanied the crashing to the ground of the framework of what was now seen as a mere wooden fabrication being manipulated by hoists and pulleys. The smaller dragon had completely disappeared. With the realisation that this second dragon was a mere illusion, the effects of the chlorine vanished too.

Standing in the wreckage of the dragon framework were a group of Sindian warriors, accompanied by a robed figure who was brandishing a wand. The warriors charged, while the robed figure unleashed a lightning bolt from the wand. Klaus and Mazaramus found themselves in the path of the bolt, but managed to find sufficient cover in the rocks to avoid the brunt of the blast. Lithanor responded by casting a sleep spell, sending half of the warriors into a magical slumber. Two more of the warriors were cut down by Morgan and Gandi. The robed figure, seeing that things were going badly, turned to flee, but found himself impaled on Sneaky's rapier, who had invisibly manoeuvred round to take care of the spell caster. As the Sindian warlock fell lifeless to the floor, Sneaky imagined that she saw the mages' blood glisten with an almost eerie glow on the blade of her rapier, and a feeling of mild satisfaction came over her, as if the rapier was pleased with the kill.

The remaining warriors were quickly slain. Mazaramus had Morgan do a detect for magic, while he took care of the 'bodies'. Several of the slumbering warriors never woke again, their throats slit by the red-eyed wizard. The warlock had only a magical dagger, and of course the wand, and a few non-magical gems, though of no small value. Two of the sleeping warriors were kept alive, at Lithanor's insistence. The rest became victims of Mazaramus' necromancy, rising up as undead skeletons to do his bidding. The debate between Mazaramus and Klaus over the practise of such magics had been brought to a compromise. Klaus was reluctant to allow this, and only agreed to his use of such foul arcane practises as long as it was conducted well away from the civilised lands of home, and providing he kept them a good distance from the party. As it was, Mazaramus was once again raising quite a force, having at his disposal the zombified hill giant and grizzly bear and a few bugbear skeletons.

The two warriors that had been kept alive, they tied up and roused so that they could quiz them for information. Even with their leader (or 'wasabi' as they referred to him in their native tongue) slain, it was obvious that they were fanatics and devout followers of the Master, also known as Hosadus. Lithanor cast a charm person spell at one of them. He immediately became more forthcoming with information concerning the lands they were travelling to and the Great Pass itself. His companion spat at him and derided his fellow for associating with the 'infidels'. Mazaramus ended this new rivalry by reintroducing him to his former comrades in arms.

Lithanor's charmee, who was named Darnis, was now quite eager to 'educate' the party on the ways of Hosadus and what they could expect to find in the lands of Hule. Only the 'holiest and most enlightened' of people got to see the Great Temple of Hosadus. He did tell them about the people of Hule, how the lands were kept in order and prosperity. The word of Hosadus was passed on to the commoners by the Holy Men, while order was kept by the Diviners. Even the humanoids of the lands, gnolls, bugbears and the like, lived somewhat peacefully in those lands, not daring to disturb or disrupt the daily lives of the people of Hule lest they incur the wrath of Hosadus.

They had scrambled over the wreckage of the 'dragon' and ventured into the tunnels of the Great Pass. The tunnel was far too narrow and rocky for the juggernauts to have travelled through them, and they guessed that some great magic was used to transport them across the mountains. They had also heard rumours that the tunnels leading through the Great Pass changed and twisted, causing the unwary to become hopelessly lost. Darnis said that their patrols had no such problem when they were led by their wasabi.

They continued on in a roughly westerly direction, passing a few side tunnels on the way, until the tunnel opened up into daylight once again after a few miles. Emerging from the tunnel, they found themselves in a vast valley, at least a mile wide. The air was damp and chilly. Muddy ground covered the valley floor, and here and there were large areas of long grass. They had barely travelled a few hundred yards into the valley when they came across a series of strange furrows in the ground. These seemed to run for about 50' to 100; before ending at a series of strange holes, several feet deep, with gouged earth all around them.

Mazaramus cast a polymorph self spell and assumed the form of a griffon so that he could fly up and scout about. The valley seemed to curve around to the north a few miles west of where they were, while to their immediate north the valley ended at sheer rock walls. He was loathe to fly up too high.  A bank of clouds covered the valley several hundred feet up, and he was already beginning to feel the chill. He returned to land, telling the party what they saw. It was when they saw the gouge marks that he had made upon landing that they realised what the furrows were. Mazaramus had left a trail of lines in the earth, an inch or two deep, and had dug his claws into the ground to bring himself to a stop. The claw marks in the ground were like tiny versions of the strange holes with the gouged up earth. Whatever flying thing had left the furrows and the holes must be truly huge indeed.

They continued on, heading westwards through the valley. They had sighted a side-spur of the valley leading roughly southwards, but this was found to end at more rock walls of the mountains. By late evening they found a strange sight. What seemed to be some low building constructed of canvas and reinforced with wooden beams jutted a few feet out of the ground. Most of this dwelling seemed to be beneath the ground level, in some large dug-out pit. Lithanor and Gandi could make out some small people inside the dug-out, some of whom were peering out from beneath the canvas, watching the party's approach. A voice called out "Approach no further! What do you want in this valley?" The party halted, and Lithanor told them that they were trying to find the western end of the Great Pass. A few moments later they heard footsteps on wooden floorboards, and a gnome emerged from the dug-out.

He approached to within a few yards of the party once he was satisfied that they were no threat. He advised them that they had best find a way out of the valley that they are in as quickly as possible. Some strange terror had been known to descend from the skies in these parts. Lithanor asked why the gnomes hadn't left the valley themselves. They responded that they had learnt to avoid the attacks of the sky terror, keeping to the safety of their dug-out as much as possible, only going out to hunt and forage for short periods, and staying close to the sides of the valley. What lay in other parts of the Great Pass was of greater peril to them than the dangers posed by the thing from the sky.They were unable to find a way out of the Great Pass. Some curse prevented them from finding a way out, and after trying for several years, over which there numbers had severely dwindled, they resigned themselves to adapting to and surviving within the Great Pass and the valley that they were now in. With no further information to offer, they bade the gnomes farewell and left to find a way out themselves.

They trudge onwards through this strange valley. Every now and then a strong wind would rise up, and they thought they heard a shrieking voice cry out from the clouds above them, a single word, if it was a word, that sounded very much like "Klaus!"

Two spurs of the valley loomed before them. One led westwards, the other to the north. They tried the westwards spur first. A mile or so in, the ground beneath them began to tremble. Three mounds began to appear around the party, each almost ten feet across, and from them burst forth three giant worm-like creatures. Mazaramus summoned his undead minions, motioning for them to attack the worm, a caecilia, that had emerged to the rear of the party. Lithanor unleashed a flaming arrow into one, and Gandi quickly finished it off with a flurry of axes. Morgan raised his claymore, ready to thrust it into the second caecilia, but the worm lunged at him, swallowing him whole. Undeterred, Morgan carried his thrust through, almost piercing though to the side of the worm. Klaus rushed to his aid, bring his mace down, slaying the beast, and Morgan finally cut his way through the creature's hide. Mazaramus skeletons made quick work of the third. They pressed on before any more of these creatures appeared. After few more hours of travelling, they found that this spur of the valley was also a dead end.

They returned to the northern spur. The strange winds, accompanied by the piercing call, continued to stir up every now and then. At one point they saw a dark shape above them. Looking up, they saw that it was descending rapidly towards them. Lithanor tried to make out what it could be, but it didn't seem to be any winged creature. The shape was growing larger and closer. Realising that it was coming straight for him, Lithanor followed his fellow's example and made a run for it. The ground shook as something large and heavy plummeted into the ground behind him. Looking back, he saw that it some huge elephant-like creature lay dead in the crater of earth created by its fall. Mazaramus recognised it as actually being a mammoth. The only explanation was that the same huge flying creature that had created the gouges in the earth had carried and dropped the mammoth.

They journeyed on for another mile or so, but now it was getting quite dark. They would have to risk sleeping out in the open. They did find some tall grasses that they might be able to hide in, and so they set their watch for the night.

A couple of hours later, they heard the winds again. This time it did not abate, but grew fiercer and stronger. The grasses were blown flat. A darkness of the night seemed to intensify, though Lithanor, Gandi and Mazaramus with their infravision saw some huge form descend. Just as this seemed to engulf the entire party, it receded just as quickly, the winds dying down with it. They called out to each other to see if they were all there. Lithanor, Gandi, Morgan, Mazaramus, Sneaky, Darnis and even the capuchin monkey they had rescued from the abbey were all present. Klaus, however, had vanished!

It took some scrying by Mazaramus with his crystal ball and Lithanor using a potion of flying to locate and 'rescue' Klaus. Lithanor found him high up above the clouds in the nest of a giant roc. He was unharmed, and at Lithanor's arrival, the roc looked at him quizzically for a few moments. It then flew off, descending through the clouds to where the rest of the party were camped. It landed close to the party and waited for them to climb on its back. Once they were all on it flew back up to the nest
to where Klaus and Lithanor were waiting. Once these two had also climbed on board, it took off once again, flying over the Black Mountains. Soon it descended once again, landing in another valley. It waited for the party to disembark, then flew off again. As it took off, a roc feather, at least a yard long, drifted down to the party. Mazaramus kept this in case it came in handy later. At the very least it would be a valuable memento.

The following morning they awoke to see that the valley they were in was quite unlike the one they had been travelling through the previous day. Green, grassy fields filled the valley, and several quiet brooks added to the tranquility of the landscape. It was at this point that Mazaramus realised that his undead minions were stranded in the other valley, with no way of summoning them to him.

They had barely finished their preparations for the day, relearning spells and such-like, when they saw a group of a dozen or so centaurs watching the party. After a few moments the centaurs cautiously approached. One came forward and told the party to announce who they were and what they were doing in their valley. Lithanor explained that they were on a quest to slay the Master. The centaurs responded by pointing to Darnis and asking what one of the Master's soldiers was doing with the party. Lithanor tried to explain that he was under an enchantment, but this seemed lost on the centaur. The centaur then ordered them to follow them to their village.

They met the leader of the centaurs. He was equally dubious as to whether the party was working for the Master or not. In order to prove that they were enemies of the Master, he asked the party to seek out the rock-men that were in the tunnels of the Great Pass and bring back their corpses as proof. Darnis was kept as a hostage, and the centaurs led the party to the tunnel that led to the lair of the rock-men.

An hour or so of travelling through the tunnels, they saw a humanoid form scrambling towards them. As they got closer, they saw that it was Darnis, and appeared to be wounded. He told the party that the centaurs intended to killl them once they had dealt with the rock-men. He had barely escaped and come to warn the party. Lithanor was instantly dubious. How did Darnis manage to escape and get to the party so quickly if he had been wounded? Mazaramus used his wand of enemy detection and 'Darnis' glowed. Realising that his ruse had been discovered, Darnis leapt at the party, attacking with a sword (although the centaurs had disarmed him). He was soon slain and revealed to be a doppleganger, as they had suspected.

They continued on through the tunnels. As a precaution, Mazaramus used invisibility spells to hide most of the party, but Lithanor stayed visible so that he could draw out these rock-men once they encountered them. Sneaky went ahead, followed some distance behind by Lithanor, then the rest of the party. They soon heard strange clacking noises, like rocks tapping against each other. Continuing on, the tunnel widened slightly where it branched. Around Lithanor, the rocks seemed to come to life. Several small boulder like creatures surrounded him. Eyes peered out from beneath a stony 'hood' as they moved closer to attack, each brandishing a rather sharp-looking stone spear.



Session Two - Lost in the Tunnels


In the narrow twisting tunnels, spells such as fire ball and lightning bolt were out of the question. Sneaky turned to see her elven friend beset by about half a dozen rocks wielding spears, and several more were closing in about him. One had found a gap in his armour, leaving a deep gash in his side. She risked using her horn of blasting, aiming it off to the side so as not to catch Lithanor in the blast. Gandi and Morgan tried to rush to his aid, but more of the small rock men blocked their path. The walls of the tunnels shook as Sneaky sounded her horn, a small group of rock-men were momentarily hurled back. Rocks fell from the ceiling. Lithanor avoided being hit by any of them. A few of the small rock-men  geonids, were hit by falling rocks, but to little effect.

Lithanor and Morgan slew a couple of the geonids. Three of them broke off and advanced towards Sneaky, who was now isolated from the rest of the party and quite visible. Gandi was having a difficult time penetrating the stony shell of the geonids with his axes. Mazaramus, now in hydra form and chomping at the stone-men, was also making little impact.

Sneaky had little choice but to fight alone. The geonids thrust at her with their spears. Ignoring the wounds, she fought back with her rapier and dagger, felling one that had already taken damage from her horn of blasting. Slowly but surely, the heroes gained the upper hand. Lithanor had fought off all of the geonids surrounding him. Morgan had broken through. However, by the time he reached Sneaky, she had already felled the last of them.

They took the corpses of the geonids back to the centaurs as proof that they had been slain, scooping them into Mazaramus' bag of holding. Mazaramus wondered whether could animate them as zombies, and once again called upon his necromantic magicks. It was indeed effective, and found that the toughened shells of the geonid zombies would make them quite formidable. Over the course of the next few days, he animated them all, ending up with fifteen of them.

Back at the centaur camp, they were told of the curse that lay upon the Great Pass. In addition to those travelling through it becoming trapped and unable to find their way out (as had happened to the gnomes), the area of valley to the west of the centaurs camp was blighted, and nothing would grow there. They feared that this blight could spread, and may soon affect even the part of the valley tended by the centaurs. They suspected that the Master was responsible for this curse, as his troops that had passed through the Great Pass were unaffected. If the characters were to look for a way to end the curse, the centaurs proposed two courses of action One was to travel westwards along the valley and into the blighted land. The other was to investigate a tunnel to the south of the centaur village. The centaurs believed that somewhere within this tunnel was the source of some great evil. The centaurs shunned the tunnel, approaching it with great reluctance, and certainly never ventured in.

The party agreed on dealing with the latter, and so ventured in. Back inside the tunnels of the Great Pass once again, they found that these tunnels were more extensive than they had first thought, twisting and turning for miles, with numerous intersections and side branches.

How many days they had spent in those tunnels, and how far they had travelled, was anyone's guess. Even relying on the dwarf's knack for knowing the direction whilst underground was at times more of a hindrance than a boon. Mazaramus, realizing that they had circled back to the same points several times, used his runic powers to create statues to act as way-signs. This helped somewhat. They were about to backtrack along a familiar tunnel when they found that a colony of green slime now covered the rocks ahead. Against better advice, Mazaramus used a fire ball to clear the way. The green slime was instantly incinerated. However, the ball of fire quickly seemed to collapse in on itself in the thin air, and within moments the party members were gasping for breath. Gandi and Sneaky passed out from lack of oxygen.

Once they had recovered, and finished berating Mazaramus for his recklessness, they abandoned their hunt for the source of the evil and decided to head back to the centaur valley. They were most of the way back, and near to an unexplored side tunnel, when they saw that the tunnel ahead was completely covered with some strange soft blue light, stretching for as far as they could see. Mazaramus threw a coin into the light to see what would happen. When nothing remarkable happened, he reached forward to retrieve his coin. As he did so, he experienced a peculiar numbing sensation in his finger-tips where he had touched the light. The coin itself seemed unaffected in any way, so he tried to pick up a small rock that was covered in the light. His arm became weak, and he found himself dropping the rock back onto the light. Morgan guessed that the light must be magical in nature, and probably only affected spell-casters, so he boldly strode along the light covered tunnel. He had only gone a few yards when everything around him seemed hazy and strange. He heard distant shouting behind him and turned to see hs comrades beckoning him back. Heading back to them, he soon found himself back in the normal area of tunnel. It was then that he realised that he had been crawling along on his hands and knees, and he collapsed exhausted on the tunnel floor.

Mazaramus had found that his arm had recovered sufficiently for him to be able to cast a spell. He cast a darkness spell on a small stone and cast it down the tunnel. The coin landed several yards down the tunnel. Although the area around the coin was still engulfed in darkness, the strange light on the walls and floor where it had passed had now disappeared. Beckoning the party forwards, he retrieved the coin, and they continued on along the tunnel, not stopping until the magical darkness expired. By this time, there was no sign of this strange blue light.

They arrived back at the centaur village. After telling them that they had been unsuccessful at finding this source of evil that they had mentioned, they decided to go back to the northern end of the valley to the tunnel leading to the geonid's lair. For some reason, they were under the impression that more of the geonids must be lurking there, and might have a hoard of magical treasure. The centaurs seemed dismayed, not because the adventurers had not rooted out the evil, but because they had apparently succumbed to the madness inflicted by the curse of the Great Pass.

They found the area of the tunnels where they had fought the geonids, but the only thing of interest was a part of the tunnels just beyond this area where they branched. They took the rightmost branch. After a couple of miles this opened up into a cave, about a hundred yards long and half that wide. Their were no other apparent exits from this cave. A small way in, two rock outcroppings formed a narrow defile. In this gap where half a dozen stone spikes jutting out of the ground. Atop each was the shell of a geonid.

Suspecting some kind of ambush, Lithanor climbed over the left outcropping. On the far side, he saw a number of small cave mouths on each outcropping. Sneaky, meanwhile, ascended the right-most rock. Lithanor dropped down onto the cave floor to investigate the caves. As soon as he reached the floor of the cave, he saw several large man-like figures rushing forth from the caves, giving forth a terrifying bellow as they charged. Instantly, Lithanor invoked his dragon wings and flew up out of reach of the charging creatures. He saw now that they were minotaurs. Three of them had emerged from the caves, but failed to notice other three emerging from the furthest caves.

Mazaramus had rushed forward after hearing the bellows of the minotaurs and prepared to cast a fire ball at them (and having deemed that there was sufficient air in the wider cave). He saw the three minotaurs that Lithanor had missed, and instead directed his spell at them. Relentlessly, the minotaurs continued on. Two were felled by Sneaky's daggers, thrown from her vantage point on the rocks above. The third gored at Mazaramus, but Klaus waded in to finish it off. Morgan and Gandi went in to finish off the three that were ineffectively trying to bring down Lithanor with their spears, one of which was already riddled with the elf's arrows.

They searched the small caves that the minotaurs had emerged from. There was little of value, save for the battered remains of a corpse of a Sindian soldier. In a pouch on the remains they found a tattered piece of paper, a crude map that seemed to show the tunnels they had been wandering through, and marked at one point with an ominous looking skull. This skull seemed to be at the end of the tunnel they had ignored earlier where they had discovered the strange blue light.

Klaus tended to the wizard's wound incurred by the minotaur's gore. The cave they were in seemed to be a dead end. After a brief rest, they considered their next move before hoisting up their packs and setting off into the tunnels once again.



Session Three - The Trip to the Fungal Forest


It was clear that the party were miles off from where they intended to be. They decided to return to where they had encountered the strange blue light and explore the side tunnel that they had bypassed. En route, they encountered another small patrol of geonids. These were overpowered and slain, incurring only minor wounds in the process, and Mazaramus added the three that had not been smashed to smithereens to his entourage of zombies.

They were almost at the point where the as yet unexplored tunnel branched off when they spotted some large mushrooms up ahead that had not been there before. Lithanor used a clairvoyance to 'see' through the eyes of whatever they were. Although, as plants they did not not have visual senses, he was still able to sense what these fungi could sense, perhaps because he was using the mushrooms given to him by the flitterlings which proved to have an unexpected effect when used on other plants and fungi in particular. Mazaramus used his self-crafted spyglass to take a closer look at these mushrooms as well.

What they saw was a group of five mushrooms, each about 3' tall with purple tops dotted with white circles. Lithanor seemed to recall something about these creatures, being able to shoot out strands that entrap their prey and draw it towards them. Mazaramus, upon hearing what Lithanor knew, or rather thought he knew, sent his undead genids forwards to deal with the threat. As they approached, a high-pitched shrieking emanated from the fungi. Within moments, a carrion crawler appeared, scrambling over the mushrooms and towards the party. Two more carrion crawlers emerged from the rocks, crawling along the walls.

Lithanor ended his 'contact' with the fungus and cast a lightning bolt. One of the carrion crawlers was instantly fried, as was one of the strange mushrooms. Mazaramus' geonids advanced. The carrion crawlers lashed at them ineffectually with their tentacles before being skewed on their spears. The geonids continued on, dicing the mushrooms to shreds, and finally everything fell silent.

They finally reached the tunnel that they hoped would lead to the source of evil that the centaurs had mentioned. The tunnel led on for several miles, and required the party to take rest for the night in what seemed a defensible cave some way along. The following day they ventured on. A strange scent, more unusual even than what foul stenches already filled these tunnels, was coming from whatever lay ahead, a pungent, yet somehow sweet scent.

The tunnel opened up into a vast cavern filled with all manner of noisome molds, fungi and toadstools, a scene that most of the party found utterly revolting. Klaus and Darnis, however, viewed the scene with a sense of awe and wonder. Some of the other party members, particularly Lithanor and Mazaramus, noticed that these two seemed to be acting rather strangely. Their lack of disgust was apparent. Klaus pointed out that the party was under some delusion. The fungal forest before them was a beautiful place, filled with wondrous sights. He pointed to the finely made castle constructed of giant toadstool logs on the far side of the cavern. All Mazaramus and the others could see was a monstrous spire oozing with foul mold.

As they tried to convince each other of their delusions, Klaus and Darnis saw a group of albino humanoids approaching, their arms outstretched in a friendly, warm greeting. The rest of the group saw that these were zombies. Lithanor unleashed a flaming arrow into one of them. Klaus was horrified when he saw the albino wounded by his attack. Gandi and Morgan leapt forward, felling several zombies. Lithanor continued firing arrows into them. Mazaramus ordered his own zombies forward.

Seeing the carnage, Klaus moved to aid one of the wounded albinos, laying his staff of healing upon him. To his horror, healing white light uncovered the poor fellow, but rather than healing him, the man stiffened and collapsed. Mazaramus' geonid zombies, protected by their stony shell, were slaughtering the albinos. He presented his holy symbol to turn the geonid zombies. What the rest of the party saw was Klaus waving his holy symbol and shouting the name of Pellar to no effect. Despite his best efforts, the albino men were all ruthlessly slain. Klaus wept, running to aid a dying man and calling upon Pellar to heal him, but to no avail.

Lithanor addressed Klaus. His best efforts would not convince him that these were actually zombies. Remembering that Klaus had the ability to cast a truesight spell, he suggested this to him. Klaus agreed. He jumped and pranced about, chanting holy words, and announced that his spell was cast. The vision was true. These were innocent men, as he already knew, and the party were murderers.

Lithanor discussed with Mazaramus on how they could make Klaus and Darnis see things for what they really were. It was a rare moment where the two saw things eye-to-eye. Mazaramus had a dispel magic spell memorised, and could use it to remove whatever enchantment the two were under, and Lithanor agreed. Mazaramus cast his spell. Klaus and Darnis were totally unaffected and still believed that the fungal forest about them was a thing of beauty. Sneaky noted that the strange aroma was stronger in this cave, and it is quite likely that Klaus and Darnis had succumbed to the mind-altering effects of whatever spores were being released by the fungus. Lithanor remembered the mushrooms that he still had that had been given to him by the flitterlings of the Emerlas. Some of them had the ability to neutralise poisons, and he handed these to Klaus and Darnis.

Klaus was glad that Lithanor had finally accepted that the mushrooms were benevolent, and eagerly accepted, as did Darnis. Their effects were soon felt. Klaus and Darnis came to their senses, and saw the same abhorrent scene that the rest of the group saw. They unanimously agreed that they must proceed to the slime-covered castle and destroy whatever evil lay within.

Although it was little over a mile away, reaching the strange castle was by no means easy. Two lizards burst forth from the mushroom forest at one point. Mazaramus peered to get a closer look, only just looking away in time once he realised that they were basilisks. Gandi and Morgan, having some experience in fighting these, quickly and swiftly slew them, making sure not to look at them directly as they fought. For good measure, Mazaramus animated one of the slain basilisks, adding it to his company of zombies.

Mazaramus decided it might be quicker if he polymorphed into a griffon and ferried the party members one at a time to the castle while the rest of the party proceeded on foot. Further on, they were hampered when the geonids moving in front fell down a pit, causing a cloud of spores to burst forth from the yellow mold growing at the bottom. Mazaramus had given instructions for the to fight anything that they encountered on the way, and so had to order them out once he returned, as they were futilely stabbing away at the mold with their spears.

Finally, they all reached the castle. At the last, they were attacked by another group of zombies. This time, Klaus was able to banish them with his turning. The last one he gave a hefty whack with his mace, discovering that it was even more powerful when used against undead.

With the zombies dealt with, they ventured into the noisome, oozing tunnel that led into the heart of this strange fungal fortress. They dared not touch the walls, and carefully watched their footing, lest any of the ooze on the walls be a green slime, gray ooze or other nasty pudding-like creature.

They came to the heart of the fortress, a roughly circular chamber. A veil of strange gray slime hung from the ceiling, concealing the far side of the chamber. Two eerie blue glowing points of light appeared in the eyes of a grimacing skull floating towards them. It drifted through the curtain, its body a strange greyish robes flowing about a mold-encrusted skeletal frame. Pus-covered bony hands stretched out towards the party.

Lithanor took a scroll of protection from undead and read it out. Its aura surrounded the party. Gandi leapt forward and hacked at the slime-covered skeletal fiend. His blows were true. The skeletal monstrosity howled with rage, and it clutched at the dwarf, who had dispelled Lithanor's protection with his attack as quickly as it had gone up. Gandi evaded the filthy rotting claws and hacked again. Once more, the claws reached for him, and once more the dwarf leapt back out of reach. Lithanor leapt into the fray, plunging Scorbane into the unholy creature, which collapsed into a heap of bubbling putridness.

Where the remains of the slain creature lay, they saw three strange lumps of yellowish-brown mold. Lithanor fired a burning arrow into one of them, burning away the mold and revealing a medallion of some strange blackish metal and inlaid with a black opal. He was about to repeat the process with the other two, but Mazaramus interceded. He told the elf to save his arrows and prodded at one with his trusty 9'9" pole. The mold scrapped off easily, revealing a valuable looking necklace. The third lump of mold was found to contain two small vials, which turned out to be potions of healing. Morgan used his claymore to detect for magic, revealing that the potions and the medallion were magical.

Mazaramus put on the medallion, first removing his amulet of protection in case it interfered with its effects. There was no apparent change, so he passed it around to the other party members to try on. When Gandi attempted to hand the medallion to Morgan, the cave seemed to throb and shake. The medallion threw itself out of Gandi's hands, and Morgan himself was flung backwards. They had seen something like this effect before, and seemed to be linked somehow to Morgan's psychic ability. Gandi tried the medallion on, and after a brief discourse with Mazaramus on how to activate items with psionic powers, attempted to read Morgan' thoughts. Everything suddenly darkened around the dwarf. Morgan and Sneaky both also found themselves in a strangely darkened chamber, like, yet unlike, the chamber they had been in previously. The shaking and throbbing of the cavern started up again, this time more pronounced than before. Strange whispering sounds of some unnameable things could be heard. Myriad colours and shapes could be seen moving towards them, sickly green, purple, orangey-yellow and gray shapes. Faintly, Gandi heard the thoughts of Morgan telling him to remove the medallion.

Gandi hurriedly took the medallion off. The darkness receded. The cavern they were in, however, was beginning to collapse and fall in on itself. Without delay, the party fled back up the tunnel and out into the fungal forest. Behind them, the fortress collapsed in on itself until it was just a mass of oddly-mixed slimes of all shades and colours. They made their way out of the fungal cavern as quickly as they dare, keeping watchful of any more pits, slimes, zombies or other nasty horrors that may yet be lurking.

Finally free of the forest, they made their way back to the centaur valley. Gandi wanted nothing more to do with the medallion, and gave it to Mazaramus. The wizard experimented with it. He found that with some concentration and control, he could read the thoughts of his comrades. It wasn't perfect. Sometimes it would have the opposite effect to that desired, and broadcast the wizard's thoughts. He did not experience the strange darkness that had engulfed Gandi, and attributed this to being used within the fungal fortress, the molds therein somehow feeding off of the mental powers of the one using it. He was also pleased to discover that it did not interfere with the functioning of his amulet of protection.

Reaching the centaurs village, they had little need to tell them of their success. The centaurs could sense that the evil was now gone. When Lithanor described the horrendous creature they had fought, the centaurs told them of how their forefathers had passed down the legend of the dusanu that inhabited the tunnels. So elated were the centaurs that they had vanquished this ancient evil that had troubled them for so long that they held a feast and bestowed many great gifts on the heroes, including a magical ring that was given to Gandi. Later, when the party ventured on to find their way out of the Great Pass, Gandi discovered, while striding over the brooks of this part of the valley, that he could actually walk on the water as though it were firm ground.

The curse of the Great Pass was still upon them. The dusanu was just a small part of it. Further westwards, the valley still suffered from the dreadful blight. Saying their farewells to the centaurs, they pressed on in this direction. After a few miles, they found that they valley separated into two branches. Ahead, the valley continued on as far as they could see. To the west branched a side valley, perhaps a mile wide, and in this direction it seemed that nothing grew, just barren rocks and wasteland.

The blight even seemed to have affected the animals living in the valley. A giant weasel, thin and emaciated from hunger ventured to attack the party in the hopes of finding a morsel, but lost its nerve when it saw Mazaramus' geonid zombies. Lithanor took pity on the poor creature. He cast a charm monster at it. The weasel halted and looked towards him. When he held out some food the weasel eagerly scurried forward to accept it. Klaus' capuchin monkey, however, was not too thrilled with the new guest, and decided to keep out of its way.



Session Four - The Quest of the Dragon


They followed the narrower valley to the west. The fact that this was more barren and seemingly lifeless indicated that the source of the curse lay in this direction. A few miles further on, they found yet another side branch of the valley, this one leading southwards. They had little daylight left and would have to make camp soon. Mazaramus cast a massmorph on the party, turning them into stunted, dry, leafless brambles, and used invisibility 10' radius to further hide them. Lithanor and Mazaramus both polymorphed into griffons to scout ahead, investigating both branches of this valley. Lithanor carried on along the valley they were already travelling down. A few miles further on, he spotted a tunnel leading out of the valley in the rocky cliff face off to the right. Other than this, he seemed to be near the end of this spur of the valley and so returned to the rest of the party.

Mazaramus, flying southwards, soon rounded a rocky spur,and saw three huge figures on the ground below him. Three almost humanoid looking creatures, but each he guessed to be about 20' tall. They saw him and begin pointing up at him. One hefted a huge rock, ready to throw it at the wizard in his griffon form, but one of the others seemed to hold him back. They hollered and bellowed at the wizard in some strange guttural language. Mazaramus landed about a hundred yards away from the three giants, which he could see now were cyclopes, transformed back into human form, and cast a fire ball at the group. They were barely singed, and understandably extremely annoyed. The cyclops with the rock prepared to throw it. Mazaramus quickly polymorphed again, this time into a tiny gnat, to fly away from the cyclopes. He did not get far. The cyclops aim was perfect. The handicap caused by its poor depth perception was no hindrance on this occasion, and Mazaramus was flattened beneath the rock.

He found himself knocked into a rocky recess of the valley floor, trapped from above by the huge boulder. A few minutes later, the boulder lifted. Three cyclopes were staring with puzzled expressions at the ground where Mazaramus was. He flew off again. The cyclopes failed to notice the tiny insect flying away. Looking back, Mazaramus saw that the cyclopes had begun to follow him and were heading towards where the party was camped. The wizard flew back around the cyclopes, cast a darkness spell on himself, and circled back round to the front of the cyclopes. The darkness sphere was a dead giveaway. Mazaramus prepared to cast a magic missile at the approaching cyclopes, but his time they were too quick for him. Two of the cyclopes threw boulders at the darkness, while the third advanced towards him. One of the boulders landed well wide of the mark, but the second scored a perfect bullseye. Mazaramus was sent reeling back, the wind knocked out from him, and his spell ruined. The third cyclops bellowed out some kind of curse in its strange language, pointing into the darkness. Whatever this was intended to achieve was lost on Mazaramus, his magical wards and protections obviously blocking whatever it was the cyclops was directing towards him. Now severely wounded, he gave up and flew directly back to the party.

Lithanor had already returned to the camp by the time Mazaramus got there. In the distance they saw the approaching cyclopes. Lithanor cast a haste spell, followed by a mirror image. As the cyclopes began to close to within a few hundred yards, he cast a phantasmal force spell, creating the illsuion of a stone juggernaut. At the sight of this, the cyclopes bolted and ran in all directions. One ran for the rock wall of the valley of to the left. Lithanor slowly advanced, maintaining his concentration on the illusion for as long as possible before breaking into a run and charging at the cyclops. Mazaramus also unleashed a volley of magic missiles at the fleeing cyclopes before they were too far out of range. Lithanor conjured up his dragon maw. One by one, he pursued and hacked down each of the fleeing cyclopes.

Before Lithanor returned, Klaus approached the closest cyclops. It was still alive, but barely. Klaus called upon his clerical powers to heal the cyclops. Its eyes flickered open, then it scrambled to its feet, a terrified expression on its face. It backed off, then turned to flee, pausing only when it reached one of its fallen comrades. It knelt beside the body for a moment, looked back to scowl with hatred at the party, then left, heading back towards its valley.

They were reluctant to camp out in the open, but it seemed as though they had little other choice. Mazaramus used his remaining invisibility spells on Klaus and himself. Lithanor took cover in some nearby rocks, using his elven cloak to remain hidden. They decided not to keep a watch, relying on Mazaramus' geonid guards in the event of any trouble. Slumber quickly took them. They slept soundly and peacefully, all except for Sneaky and Klaus, who were haunted by strange dreams.

Klaus found himself with the roc, which seemed to be communicating with him telepathically. It seemed to warn him that delaying too long was dangerous. They must find their way out soon or become forever trapped.

Sneaky was travelling through the tunnels of the Great Pass. It seemed as though she had been in these tunnels for as long as she could remember. No matter where she went, she ended up in the same tunnels, arriving back at the statues that Mazaramus had created. At one point she found herself in the geonid tunnels. The strange clacking of the rocks was replaced by a rusting sound, as though some kind of plant or brush was moving about or being blown about in the wind, but what was it doing in the tunnels? She awoke, finding herself in near darkness. Close by, she could hear the rustling of the branches of her invisible friends as they slept. Relieved, but still somewhat unsettled, she returned to sleep.

After breaking camp and relearning their spells, they decided to carry on towards the tunnel that Lithanor had found, keeping tight formation to stay within the effect of the invisibility 10' radius. Mazaramus had to recast an invisibility on himself after learning his spells (how else would he be able to read his spell book?)

Reaching the tunnel, they had an encounter with a stone giant and his pet cave bears, monstrous beasts over 15' tall. This involved first Lithanor using a wall of ice to block the tunnel then Mazaramus having to use his runic powers to create an opening through the rock to bypass the wall of ice and sending his genids forward to fight them. By the time this fight was over, the entire party was now visible, including all of Mazaramus zombie creations (now increased by adding a zombie cave bear).

It was now that the party noticed that Darnis was missing. The last time he had been seen was the previous evening, when Mazaramus had used his spells to hide the party. Lithanor wanted to go back to look for him, but the rest of the party agreed that this was a waste of time and wanted to press on  along the tunnel. Lithanor was still determined to go hunting for him. This is when Scorbane intervened. The highly potent and sentient elven blade had a very strong desire to seek out whatever was at the end of the tunnel, and took control of the elf. Mazaramus cared little for the fate of Darnis, and it took a bit of discussion with Klaus over what happened at the fungal forest to come to the realisation as to what had become of him. Mazaramus remembered now, that he had cast a dispel magic spell at Klaus and Darnis. Furthermore, it was Lithanor's suggestion that he do this. Although the spell did not counteract the effect of the spores, it did remove the charm spell that Lithanor had put upon Darnis. He must have slipped away during the night (at which Sneaky recalled her dream, and the strange rustling of branches that had awoken her), and right now was on his way back to his people to report on the party and their mission.

Although this would seem to indicate an even greater urgency to find Darnis, as Mazaramus pointed out, by now he could be anywhere! Retracing their steps in an effort to find him would waste even more precious time, and was likely to be fruitless anyway. Mazaramus forgot (or chose not) to mention that he could locate Darnis using his crystal ball.

Continuing on along the tunnel, they found that after a few miles it emerged again into another valley. As they approached the end of the tunnel, they spotted a group of shriekers some fifty yards from the end. Mazaramus sent his geonids forward to deal with them. The shriekers were hacked to pieces, but not before their shrieking had echoed along the tunnels and the valley beyond. When the shrieking ceased, Lithanor thought he heard some movement on the rocks overhanging the tunnel entrance.

The floor of the valley they entered was strewn with bones of all manner of animals and creatures, some of them even humanoid. The more remarkable feature, however, were the carvings of strange beings, some 100' tall, lining the side cliffs of the valley. Gandi was reminded of the time he had walked between statues lining the sides of a tunnel and had been electrocuted when he passed between a pair of them, so he urged Sneaky to check them out and see if they might be trapped. Sneaky returned a short while later, allaying the dwarf's fears and saying that they were just weather-beaten carvings.

A few miles on, and the ground began trembling, the bones of the valley floor shaking. A purple worm burst through the rocky ground. Lithanor, under the control of Scorbane, could not cast any of his spells, nor would the sword appreciate such cowardly behaviour. Mazaramus sent a fire ball towards the purple worm, but at the last instant it lunged forwards and barely singed the back of the creature's head. Lithanor hesitated, downing a potion of speed, while Gandi, Morgan, and several of Mazaramus' geonids charged forwards to fight the creature. A second hole burst open, and the tail of the purple worm burst forth. It skewered a geonid, but the poisonous stinger had no effect on the undead rock-man. By the time Lithanor entered the fray, the combined attacks of the warriors and the geonids had brought the creature down. Scorbane commented; "not the kind of worm I was hoping for!".

While the rest of the party continued on along the valley (and Sneaky took what poison she could from the purple worm's stinger), Lithanor moved on ahead. Scorbane was still refusing to relinquish control or allow him to cast spells. After a couple of miles, Lithanor found a large recess set into the side of the valley. This large, hemispherical cave-like area seemed to be almost perfectly smooth and rounded. The area was clear of bones. Most alarmingly, clinging to the overhang above the entrance to this recess was an enormous red dragon, glaring at the approaching elf.

Lithanor held aloft his blade and challenged the dragon. "I am Scorbane, slayer of Khordarg, and wielder of the mighty elf Lithanor!". The elf then looked at the sword with a puzzled expression, then back at the dragon. The dragon responded in its hissing, reptilian voice "Yes! I know who you are."

The rest of the party were now in sight of Lithanor and the dragon. The dragon spoke "Who are your companions, and why have you come here". Mazaramus ventured forward. His attempt at providing the dragon with false names was met with an angry growl. Lithanor suggested that they not try to fool the dragon. The fact that it had not attacked yet could mean that the significance of meeting this particular dragon here was something they should bare strongly in mind. Even Scorbane indicated that he had no quarrel with this particular dragon. Mazaramus and the rest of the party announced their real names, except for Sneaky, who didn't know her own name. As to their reason for being here, "trying to find a way out of the Great Pass" did not seem very appeasing to the dragon. When he asked for more specifics, Mazaramus said that they wanted to meet The Master. The dragon once again growled angrily. Mazaramus continued, "we want to meet him so that we can slay him". The dragon's growling seemed to take on a more satisfied tone.

The dragon announced itself as Kalanthraur. It told them a little about the curse of the Great Pass, and it was quite likely that the party had already succumbed to this curse. To this end, the dragon told them to find three items, two of which they already had; a roc's feather, the mold from a dusanu, and a snake from the head of a medusa. Once they had all three, they were to return to the dragon, when they would receive their gift. Mazaramus pointed out that they didn't know where they would find a medusa. Klanthraur began speaking magical words in the draconic tongue. Mazaramus found his gaze met by that of the dragon's. The piercing reptilian eyes burnt into him. and a vision of an area of the Great Pass where they had been earlier before venturing towards the valley of the cyclopes filled his head. He found himself looking towards the wider valley that they had not as yet explored. With a strange dizzying sensation, Mazaramus found himself standing back with the party again, staring up at the dragon. Kalanthraur spoke "Go now, and return when you have all three!"

Back at the valley the dragon had shown Mazaramus, they proceeded onwards. A few miles further on and the valley branched once again. Two narrow spurs, one to the west, the other continuing on north-westwards. They took the latter branch first. After a skirmish with a group of trolls, in which Mazaramus zombies took quite a battering, and finding this to be a dead end, they returned to the other branch. This too ended after a few miles, but in this area near the end of the valley they found numerous statues of various animals and people. Beyond these they found two tunnel entrances. One was carved in the likeness of the gaping mouth of some kind of sea serpent. The other was framed with beckoning hands. It was apparent from the statues that they were now close to the lair of the medusa, but which tunnel?



Session Five - Hule


Lithanor went ahead into the serpent mouth tunnel, followed by Mazaramus' geonid zombies and then the rest of the party. After about a mile, the tunnel came to a dead end. They checked the area for secret doors but found nothing, so they turned back to explore the other tunnel.

The tunnel with the beckoning hands soon opened up into a small cavern. Lithanor was at the head once again. Suddenly, a medusa leapt into the tunnel entrance, and at the same time the rest of the party heard a shriek behind them. They turned to see another medusa. Every single member of the party managed to look away in time, avoiding the petrifying gaze of the medusae. Only Lithanor's poor giant weasel was petrified. Lithanor swung with Scorbane, instantly decapitating the medusa in front of him. Klaus and Morgan leapt at the other medusa, blindly swinging their weapons, and this one too was felled.

Lithanor and Mazaramus seemed to think that defeating the medusae was too easy. A search of the cave itself revealed a small cache of treasure hidden in a hollow covered with a rock, a substantial amount of gold and a small black rod tipped with an amethyst held in place with silver gilding. Determining that this was a magical wand, Lithanor tried it out. The command word, 'Grimituf', was revealed by Scorbane's read magic ability. Uttering the command word merely caused the gem to pulse with light for an instant, but other than that, nothing happened. Lithanor guessed that it was a detection wand and gave it to Mazaramus.

Taking the final component they needed to take to the dragon, a snake from the head of one of the medusae, Mazaramus suggested taking the entire bodies, or at least the heads, to the dragon. Lithanor thought that the wizard was being foolish. Not only that, he knew the real reason that Mazaramus wanted to keep the bodies. Mazaramus cast an animate dead spell to turn one of the medusae into a zombie. He had hoped that even as a zombie, it would retain its petrifying ability, but the necromantic magic involved to turn the medusa into a cadavre stripped her of this power. Mazaramus, against Lithanor's protests, kept the other body too, throwing it into his bag of holding, to be animated later.

They returned to Kalanthraur, arriving back their the following day, with little incident en route except for one of Mazaramus'geonids being consumed by a black pudding laying in wait and pretending to be a tar pit. Once they reached the dragon, he showed the party a circular well in the centre of his cave. Looking down, it appeared as if the bottom of the well glowed and rippled with silvery light, almost as if they were looking down at the moon. He told them to cast the three items into the well. They did so. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but then they sensed a change, a freshness on the wind.

Klanthraur spoke, "the curse is ended. Now you will receive your gift!" The party waited, the dragon continued, "cast what gems you have into the well". They did this. As the gems landed in the silvery water, they reappeared once again in their hands, only more finely cut or with a greater lustre. All that is, except for the two uncut diamonds that Gandi had found in the coal in the blacksmith's shed at the Evil Abbey. These reappeared, cut to shape, and affixed to the hafts of his two axes. The axes themselves seemed for a moment to gleam with power, their edges somewhat sharper. Kalanthraur told them that only one thing remained now for the party to do. Take some of the water from the well to the valley of the centaurs to end the blight on the land there.

Mazaramus suspected that the dragon too had been trapped by the curse. Kalanthraur told him that he was correct in his assumption. The curse had been laid by Hosadus. The three guardians of the pass were the first to be cursed. Since then, the three guardians had sought a way to rid the Great Pass of the curse, looking for heroes who would bring the water from the Well of the Moon to their valley. Unfortunately, the nature of the curse caused them to bestow the same curse on any heroes they sought. Mazaramus realised now who these three guardians were...the cyclopes!

They travelled back to the valley of the cyclopes, and Kalanthraur met them there to see that the deed was done. As soon as the water was poured on the ground, grasses and vegetation began to grow, slowly, spreading throughout the valley. Kalanthraur had explained to the party that by the will of Hosadus, dwarves, elves, halflings and even dragons were unknown in the land of Hule. He would wreak his revenge upon the armies of the Master that were marching on the eastern lands. He bade the party farewell, then flew up, across the Black Mountains and into the Sind Desert.

They returned to the two cave entrances, taking the serpent's mouth cave. This time, they found that it did not end suddenly at a dead end, but continued on for several more miles. Finally, they came to a heavy iron gate blocking the tunnel. Beyond, they could see the vast countryside and rolling hills of the land of Hule. A funnel protruded from the ceiling on this side of the gate. From it they heard someone speak "state your names and the password".

The party hesitated, trying to think of false names that they hadn't already used. As to the password, they didn't have a clue. Morgan tried to use his ESP to read the thoughts of anybody nearby. Either the rocks were too thick, he was concentrating in the wrong area, or he was being blocked by some other means. Lithanor tried to lift the gates, his strength augmented by his girdle of giant strength. He managed to lift the gate a few inches when it was pushed back down again by something with even greater strength. Finally, Mazaramus decided to use his runic powers to reshape the gate and create a hole wide enough for the party to be able to climb through.

Lithanor snuck on ahead, using his elven cloak and boots to remain hidden. Once again, the undead geonids followed. A stairway cut into the side of the rocky ravine that he was now in led up on his left hand side. Venturing up this a short way, he soon saw an armoured figure coming down the steps toward him. The armoured man drew his sword at the sight of the geonids, but Lithanor had maneuvered behind him and swung at him with Scorbane, dealing a hefty blow. The man turned to fight Lithanor. The elf swung again, but this time his blow was parried. The geonids joined in, one finding its mark with its stony spear. Gandi and Morgan heard the sounds of combat up ahead and tried to move in to help their comrade, but struggled to get past all of Mazaramus' geonids that were now hampering their progress.

The fight between Lithanor and the armoured man waged on. Lithanor was fighting his equal as far as marshall prowess was concerned, each parrying each others blows. Occasionally, a geonid managed to cut into the fighter with its spear, and Lithanor himself took a fierce cut from the warrior's blade. Gandi and Morgan had almost reached Lithanor when the elf found an opening, delivering a savage thrust that the fighter was unable to parry, and he fell lifeless to the ground. Lithanor noticed that the man was wearing a ring, probably magical. During the fight, his adversary seemed to ignore the pain from his wounds perhaps quicker than one might ought to. Lithanor tried the ring on. It fit quite snuggly, and almost at once he felt the pain of his wound ease as it slowly began to heal up by itself.

As they were about to proceed on up the stairway, they heard a rumbling, grinding noise, as though some huge stone was being moved. They found further up that a huge boulder blocked the stairway. Lithanor summoned up his dragon wings and flew over the boulder. Beyond, he saw a large stony platform in the side of the mountain, and there watching him he saw a giant, some 20' tall. The giant lifted a boulder at hurled it at Lithanor. He tried to dodge the boulder in mid-flight, but was caught and sent reeling to the ground. Rising to his feet, he charged at the giant, which was now  reaching for its huge iron-studded club. Lithanor had abandoned his shield, wielding the armoured man's longsword in his left hand.He deftly avoided the swings from the giant while cutting into him with his two swords, and felled the giant. Without hesitation, he ran back to the boulder blocking the stairway and swung his rope of climbing over the top of it after attaching one end to the top of the boulder.

The rest of the party joined Lithanor on the platform. Gandi noticed that the giant was wearing an amulet. At first, he gave this to Morgan, but the fighter experienced sharp pains in his temple when he tried to put it on, so Gandi took it to wear himself. Klaus noticed that the giant wasn't dead, and using his healing powers to revive him. The giant looked at Klaus in bewilderment, astonished that his enemies would save his life. Klaus learnt from the cloud giant that he served the Master more out of fear than out of loyalty or respect. He knew little of use about the lands of Hule, and had only heard in vague rumours about the Temple of Death. Once Klaus told him that the curse on the Great Pass had been lifted, the giant seemed greatly relieved. He would return to the lands to the east, no longer a slave of the Master.

The giant left, after being healed further by Klaus. They then searched the area more thoroughly. As well as finding the top part of the gate, which could be pulled up by the giant or held in place by a boulder which the giant used as a seat, they also found a small amount of loot hidden behind another boulder, a few thousand electrum pieces and some minor magical items. Morgan did a detect magic, revealing that the armoured man's plate mail, sword and the ring that Lithanor now wore, which he had now determined to be a ring of regeneration, were also magical.

They left the platform, down the stairway and out the ravine, into the lands of Hule. Beyond the hills that they were now in, they found that after a days travel they were in countryside for as far as they could see. In the distance could be seen what was evidently a town, some 150 miles in the distance. The trail they were on soon became a road, and it seemed as though they were headed for this town.

Aware of the dangers that lay ahead, Mazaramus had previously scried for Darnis. He had seen him in some large room surrounded by red robed figures. A purple robed man had been speaking to him, laying his hands on his shoulders and then Darnis left the room, escorted by some of the red robed men. It was obvious that he had told them about the party, what they looked like, what their names were and what their mission was. Wherever this building was that he had seen Darnis in could be anywhere, and for all they new could even be in the very town that they were headed towards.

They had travelled for several days without incident. They were about two days away from this town when they spotted two merchants on horseback headed along the road towards them. At this point, most of  the party where invisible. Sneaky took it upon herself to waylay these merchants and rob them of their valuables, but resorted to murder when the merchants realised that the party where 'outsiders', not denizens of the land of Hule, slitting their throats and leaving their bodies for Mazaramus to add to his undead horde, all for a pouch full of gems. Klaus, Lithanor and even the capuchin monkey viewed this with severe distaste.

Finally, they reached the town.

Up until now, having a horde of zombie geonids had proved to be a boon, more often than not. Moving about under cover of invisibility in the dungeons and the wilderness was also a prudent idea. Having a score of three to four feet tall zombie rock men moving through a bustling town is bound to cause something of a disturbance. They had seen the guard towers posted at various intervals along the walls of the town. Amongst the commoners inside the town were numerous red robed people. These apparently policed the towns and communities of Hule. They would later learn that the red-robed men were Diviners, there to ensure that the people adhered to the will of Hosadus and root out those who would oppose his will.

Mazaramus, Klaus and Morgan were visible. The rest of the party, and Mazaramus' entourage of zombies weren't. Had they been more astute, they would have left the zombies a safe distance from the city. Instead, they entered the city as a whole. Some townspeople began bumping into or tripping over or falling over the invisible geonids. They continued on regardless. A group of Diviners saw the commotion and moved forward to investigate. Still they chose to ignore prudence. The three visible party members could have slipped away. Instead, they chose to continue on, dragging their geonids along in their wake and causing further commotion. The Diviners saw the three, unmolested by whatever was causing the commoners to stumble about, yet at the focal point of the disturbance. One of the Diviners called out to the three, ordering them to halt where they were.

The Diviners began to question them. They were no fools. Some strange magic was afoot and these three seemed to be at the centre of it. Unsatisfied with their responses, they were ordered to follow them to the Diviners' Court. Mazaramus, Klaus and Morgan followed without argument or resistance. Mazaramus' invisible undead also continued to follow, causing further commotion along the way, which the Diviners were determined to get to the bottom of. Sneaky, Gandi and Klaus also followed along, themselves masked by invisibility.

On the way to the Diviners' Court, they passed another large compound. Through the gates they could see rich gardens, and walking about inside a few purple robed men. They reached the Diviners' Court and the three were escorted inside after one of the Diviners had a brief discussion with another Diviner on guard at the gate. Lithanor decided to scale the walls of the compound, despite the fact that he could have easily walked through the main gates. The Diviner at the gate that had been spoken to made his way to the other compound with the garden and the purple robed men. Sneaky followed this one, while Gandi went into the Diviners' Court. There he met back up with Lithanor and the two waited for Sneaky to return.

Inside the Diviners' Court, Mazaramus and Klaus were put into holding cells, while Morgan was taken through into a large chamber. Another Diviner, this one seemingly of higher rank, questioned Morgan. Morgan gave the Diviner the impression that he was 'misguided' and followed the way of Hosadus. The Diviner seemed satisfied, and had Morgan taken to a 'Chamber of Contemplation'. a bare, marble-floored room accessible merely by a curtained arch rather than a door.

Sneaky, following the Diviner that had gone to the second compound, saw him speak to a purple robed man, who then went to talk to another group of purple robed men, and soon a group of six purple robed men were making their way towards the Diviners' Court. Realising that this spelt trouble, she quickly returned to Gandi and Lithanor, told them what was happening, and the three of them decided to mount a rescue mission.

The Diviners were about to bring the second of the 'misguided ones' for questioning, when Lithanor, Gandi and Sneaky entered the building. Finding themselves in some kind of anteroom, a couple of Diviners stood on guard, looking apprehensively about the room wondering what the strange clicking noises were coming from Mazaramus' geonids, not to mention the unearthly stench. They tried to cross the room, themselves hampered by the zombies.

The doors behind them opened, the purple robed men and some more Diviners entered. Straight away, they began chanting. One of them pointed about the room, saying "these are the monstrosities". Two of the other purple robed men held up strange symbols and called upon the power of Hosadus. Lithanor called upon his magic, creating a wall of ice to block off the entrance to the Diviners' Court. Gandi leapt at the purple robed men swinging his axes, and Sneaky positioned herself behind one of them for a backstab strike, her blade already coated with venom.

Several geonids were instantly obliterated by the holy words of the purple robed men. Sneaky's adversary was severely wounded by her blows, but the poison on her blade had little effect. They responded by themselves speaking arcane and holy words. Lithanor's wall of ice was dispelled. Lithanor, Gandi and Sneaky felt the paralysing effects of a hold person spell. The two demi-humans easily resisted its effects, but Sneaky found herself held solidly in place. Another fired three magic missiles, all hitting the dwarf.

Back in Morgan's 'Chamber of Contemplation', he heard the sound of distant fighting. He used his ring of spell storing to cast a haste spell, having no idea who else might be within the area of effect, and moved out into the corridor to make his way back to the chamber where the Diviner had questioned him.

Klaus and Mazaramus, locked in their cells, also heard the sounds of fighting. Mazaramus called for his cave bear zombie to bash down the gates of his cell, but they were quite sturdy and would take some time. He considered instead using his runic powers to reshape the door or the walls.

Things were looking desperate. They had underestimated the strength and resourcefulness of the Diviners that policed the lands of Hule, not to mention having the assistance of who knows how many high-level spellcasters. Morgan may have to fight his way back to his comrades. Klaus and Mazaramus could do little for the time being, incarcerated as they were. Sneaky was held by magic. Gandi and Lithanor were beset by Diviners and purple robed clerics and mages, and more were on their way!



Session Six - Through the Dark Wood


Gandi and Lithanor fought on, felling two of the clerics. The magic-users continued to bombard them with magic missiles and hold person spells, and outside, they could hear the sounds of more Diviners rushing towards the building. Mazaramus, trapped in his cell, realised that even his cave bear zombie would take far too long to break through the door. Instead, he cast a polymorph self spell, transformed into a gnat, and flew out through the bars of his cell door. Once outside, he saw an alcove near the cells where their confiscated gear had been stored, and hanging on the wall, a bunch of keys. He grabbed the items and the keys, and hastily moved to unlock Klaus' cell door.

Morgan started running out of the room he was in  Just then, he heard the sound of fighting coming from the hallway off to his left, deeper into the building, rather than coming from near the entrance where he had previously heard his comrades fighting. Looking down the hallway, he saw two Diviners slump to the floor, and a muscular man wearing no armour and clad only in breeches, wielding a mace in each hand, jumped over the bodies at a rather speedy pace and rushed to Morgan's side. Morgan judged by his swift movements that he had been within the area of effect of his haste spell. The man looked at Morgan and said "I'm for getting out of here. How about you?"

Morgan quickly grabbed his claymore that had been left in a small room adjoining the Chamber of Contemplation, then the pair ran back into the large hall where Morgan had been questioned. The Diviners there were rushing towards the door in the south that led to the entrance room. At the sight of Morgan and his new-found companion, some of the Diviners moved to intercept them.

Back in the entrance hall, Gandi and Lithanor were still furiously fighting off the Diviners and spell casting purple robed Holy Men. Lithanor had momentarily succumbed to a charm person spell cast by one of the magic-using Holy Men, but the effects were short lived when Gandi hacked the warlock down, ending the spell. Just then, a cave bear zombie and a troll zombie burst into the room from the door leading to the cells, closely followed by Klaus. Mazaramus himself appeared in the midst of the battle as he transformed back into human form once again and ordered his geonid zombies to attack. Klaus cast a dispel magic spell, and Sneaky was freed from her paralysis. Hearing the sounds of rapidly approaching Diviners from outside, she drew forth her horn of blasting and brought down a large portion of the ceiling above the doorway.

Morgan and the unknown warrior had slain most of the Diviners in the main hall. The stranger told Morgan that the main entrance would be teeming with Diviners, and more were approaching from further inside the building. Upon hearing the sound of the collapsing entryway, and seeing the carnage going on through the new open doorway at the southern end of the room, he told him that they were trapped, unless they could somehow force a way through the northern wall. With the Holy Men now slain, and the few remaining Diviners beset by Mazaramus' zombies, the heroes made their way into the large hall to join Morgan. Mazaramus said that he could make away through the northern wall/ More Diviners were heard coming from the corridor leading to the Chamber of Contemplation. The unarmoured man moved towards the corridor. Moments later, screams of terror could be heard, followed by the sounds of rapidly fleeing Diviners.

Mazaramus called upon his runic powers to reshape the northern wall. He opened up a large hollow, but the wall was thicker than he had expected. Once again using his runes of stone, he opened it up further. This time they found themselves at the top of an almost sheer drop of some twenty feet into the river running along the north side of the town. The wizard clung to the wall beside the opening. The rest of the party jumped into the river below along with the man who had rushed to fight alongside Morgan, and then followed by Mazaramus' undead. Once they were all through, Mazaramus restored the rock to its former shape, leaving no trace of their passing through it, and leapt into the water.

Some miles downriver, the party waded ashore. Mazaramus' zombies hadn't quite caught up yet. They were still walking along the river bed, and would in time catch up with their necromantic master. They asked who the man was (by now he was wielding a pair of longswords, favourable to the maces that he had taken from slain Diviners). His name was Ruhwin, and like the party, had been imprisoned by the Diviners for 'wrong-thinking'. He had no love for Hosadus, and eagerly agreed to accompany the party to the Temple of Death to help destroy the Master. They asked how he had managed to drive off the Diviners that had been approaching from the hallway. He told them that the Diviners were fearful of his legendary swordsmanship and fighting ability. They found this unlikely, and instead attributed it to magic or some supernatural power. Nevertheless, he had helped them escape from the Diviners' Court, and for this they were grateful, Moreover, Ruhwin was somewhat familiar with the land of Hule, and could help them find there way in this strange land. He did not know the location of the Temple of Death. Instead, he suggested that they venture into another town, albeit somewhat more discretely, in the hope of finding out what they needed to know.

To the west stood the town of Magden. This could be reached by following the River Rostin until it met the River Gree, Ruhwin told them, and the follow this southwards to Magden, where the River Gree joined the River Thanat. Had they paid more attention, they might have realised that the River Thanat translated to the River of Death, perhaps even named after Thanatos, the god of death. They followed Ruhwin's advice. When they reached the River Gree a few days later, they encountered a group of Diviners travelling northwards. They told the Diviners that they were on a pilgrimage, and were headed for the town of Magden. The Diviners told them that they might get there faster if they found the road a little way to the north-west and headed southwards. Following the advice of the Diviners, they reached the town of Magden a couple of days later.

This time they were only going to send a small group into the town to try to find out more information about the location of the Temple of Death. Elves and dwarves were considered strange and were largely unheard of by the people of Hule, so Gandi and Lithanor remained out of sight in a small wooded area on the western side of the town. Mazaramus could easily be recognised by his glowing red eyes, so he also remained behind, along with his invisible undead. This left Morgan, Klaus, Sneaky and Ruhwin to explore the town.

It was already getting quite late in the day, so the four quickly made their way past the Diviners at the gates. Morgan and Klaus were wearing the armour of Sindian warriors, so the Diviners didn't ask any questions. Ruhwin led them to the centre of the town where they found a large marketplace. On the opposite side of this was the Diviners' Court, and beyond this, the Temple of the Holy Men. Ruhwin suggested that this would be the best place to find out what they needed to know.

They were most of the way across the marketplace when they came to what seemed to be a puppet show. Several children, women and even a few elderly people were watching the show, laughing and applauding. They group approached to see the show themselves. A puppet made up to appear as some black armoured man was challenging a larger puppet depicting some kind of giant. They guessed that the armoured puppet was a representation of Hosadus. The two puppets fought, and the armoured one was victorious. It then ordered the giant to go to his temple at Greatrealm, where he would serve him for a hundred years. At this point the show ended. Morgan wanted to ask the puppeteer, who was now beginning to close up his puppet tent, what the show meant and whether their was any truth to it. The puppeteer said that the tale he had shown was indeed the truth, but if he wanted to know more, he would have to come back tomorrow.

They hastened on towards the Temple of the Holy Men. The day was coming to an end, and the purple robed Holy Men were now making their way from the gardens back to the Temple. The group walked inside. A Holy Man at the door to the temple told them that they were welcome to look around, but had best be quick as they would soon be closing the temple doors for the night. Within, they found the usual trappings one would expect to find in a temple. Off to one side were shelves full of scrolls. Klaus and Sneaky had a look at these but found that they were mundane texts of little use, although some told of the deeds of Hosadus, some of them dating back four hundred years. Morgan and Ruhwin went towards the back of the temple where a large statue of Hosadus stood. Behind this statue was a bas-relief which was actually a map showing the land of Hule, including the location of the Great Temple on the shores of Lake Tros.

Now they knew where the Temple of Death was, they hastened back out of the town before night fell. At the gates, the Diviners warned them that curfew would soon be up and they had best get inside. Morgan told them that they were on a holy mission that took them outside the town. It seemed that people going on various holy errands in the name of Hosadus was something that took precedence over any other laws of the land, and so the Diviners did not question them further.

Rejoining the rest of the group hiding in the nearby woods, they followed the River Thanat westwards, which should lead eventually to Lake Tros. They had only been travelling for a couple of days when they spotted a pair of rather portly merchants walking towards them. They met the merchants, who seemed quite friendly. They asked where the party was headed. When they found out that they were looking for the Great Temple (they had learn't by now not to refer to it as the Temple of Death as this seemed tp provoke a severe reaction), the merchants said that they too were curious about this place and asked to join them in their travels. The party agreed. They thought that they might even be able to learn more about the temple, but it turned out that the merchants had never actually been there.

That night, as they made camp, the merchants shared out their own stock of provisions, which turned out to be mostly meat - bacon and sausages and the like. They found the food more than palatable, and quite tasty compared to the food that Klaus had been creating with his holy powers. After about another three days of travel, they encountered more Diviners. The party told them that they were on a pilgrimage to the Great Temple. At this, the merchants seemed a little apprehensive, especially when the Diviners asked to see their passes. Morgan stated that they didn't have any passes. The Diviner in charge looked at Morgan for a moment, then said "How foolish of me! I should know better than to ask those on a holy pilgrimage to the great Hosadus and his temple for something as mundane as a pass! Go in peace, and may the blessings of Hosadus be upon you" The Diviner saluted and they then left.

The merchants seemed somewhat relieved. They asked how they knew that pilgrims didn't need passes. Their nerves must have gotten the better of them because they tended to snort every now and then while they were talking. Morgan asked if they were feeling alright. Sneaky had suspicions about them, as did Klaus. That night, as they camped, Klaus cast a truesight spell. This revealed that the merchants were what they appeared to be, yet at the same time this was not their only form. Klaus could only guess that they were lycanthropes. Sneaky picked their pockets and went through their possessions and found human teeth and short sharp shards of bones. The following morning, they quizzed the merchants. They told the party that the bones and teeth they had acquired from someone claiming to be an archeologist, and that these remains could be from some ancient civilisation and quite valuable to the right person. This didn't quite ring true for some reason, but they decided not to press the matter.

Looking westwards now, they could see in the far distance the edge of some large forest. The merchants said that this must be the Dark Wood. When they found out that they would need to go into the Dark Wood to reach the Great Temple, the merchants had a change of heart. The place seemed to fill them with dread, and so the merchants took their leave of the party. They bade them farewell and good luck, and began walking eastwards, back the way they came. As they left, they heard one of the merchants make a comment about "almost biting off more than they could chew". At first they thought they were talking about the Dark Wood and the Great Temple beyond, but then they realised they had been talking about the party. Mazaramus realised now why they seemed familiar. Fingering his amulet of protection in the shape of a boar's head, they were somewhat reminiscent of Kalna Kaa, the devil swine that they had defeated on the island of Teki-Nura-Ria. In fact, they had been attempting to charm the party over the course of several days, but every attempt had been resisted. The devil swine came to the conclusion that these heroes were far too powerful to make easy victims.

After this, they all but avoided any further encounters until they reached the Dark Wood. Some kobolds found gathering crops in a field were discovered to be in actual fact slaves belonging to a local farmer. A large patrol of bugbears sweeping the area with sticks ran into Mazaramus' invisible geonids. These were quickly slain using magic.

At last, the edge of the Dark Wood was in sight. About a hundred yards from the edge of the forest stood a large pillar, about 20' high, shining with golden light. They considered giving the pillar a wide berth. Mazaramus wanted to examine the pillar. It had no markings or runes of any kind on it, so he had one of his geonid zombies touch it. A golden beam of light shot up into the sky from the top of the pillar. Moments after this, black clouds started to gather, soon accompanied by the rumble of thunder. They decided to put some distance between themselves and the pillar and entered the woods. Looking back, they saw lightning hit the pillar, and blue sparks danced about it. They waited awhile. The sparks ceased dancing about the pillar, and the skies began to clear again. Mazaramus was intrigued, and so he sent a geonid to touch the pillar a second time. This time he ordered the geonid to stay by the pillar. A beam of golden light once again shot out from the top of the pillar and the skies began to darken once again. Thunder rumbled and a bolt of lightning once again struck the pillar. The geonid standing near the pillar was blasted to smithereens by the lightning arcing from the pillar. At this, they decided to give up experimenting and continued on into the Dark Wood. Had they bothered to go back to the pillar they would have seen glowing red runes upon its surface, giving them a rather cryptic clue about the Master.

They continued on further into the Dark Wood. There were no signs of birds or animals of any kind. The forest was eerily still and silent. That is until a few days later, when they heard the baying of an approaching pack of dogs. They all quickly climbed a tree and hid. They also had invisibility spells hiding them. Only the undead remained on the forest floor. Soon the dogs came into sight, a pack of about a dozen translucent ghostly hounds. When the reached the area where the party was hiding, they ran about the trees, sniffing, as if they could still sense the party. Perhaps even the rotting stench coming from Mazaramus' undead was what caused them to remain.

Klaus assumed that these dogs where undead. He drew out his holy symbol and attempted to turn the dogs. Visible now, the dogs turned and ran at him running along the air as though it was solid ground! Six of the spectral hounds bit at him. One bit through his armour. Klaus did not feel the solid grip of a bite, more of a numbing chill as it sank its fangs into him. The rest of the dogs ran towards Klaus, so Morgan, Gandi and Ruhwin leapt from their trees to rush to his aid, while Lithanor shot fiery arrows into the pack. As soon as they attacked and became visible, the spectral hounds turned to attack the fighters, drawing most of them off Klaus. Even with magical weapons, they found it difficult to hit the dogs. A long drawn out melee ensued. After a tough battle, the spectral hounds were finally slain. Klaus had suffered a number of wounds. Morgan, Ruhwin and Gandi had also been bitten (though in Gandi's case this resulted in the spectral hound being slain when it was hit by his electrically charged armour). Gandi had even discovered the new-found power of one of his axes when he sliced one of spectral heads of the hounds clean off. The other seemed to move to block incoming attacks should he choose to use it in a defensive manner. Ruhwin and Gandi seemed to suffer no other ill effects  from the attacks of the spectral hounds, due to their resilience or whatever supernatural protection Ruhwin had  but Morgan felt the same strange chill that Klaus had felt.

Klaus and Morgan felt strange. The trees were not quite right. Everything seemed just a little hazy. Even their companions sounded as though they were talking in somewhat distantly echoing voices. Klaus used his healing powers to tend to those wounded. Thankfully, his powers seemed unaffected. They continued on until nightfall, when they made camp. They chose to light a fire. They were still many days travel from the Temple of Death, and if the only things in this forest were the spectral hounds, they were likely to find them whether they lit a fire or not. They noticed now that they could see through Morgan and Klaus, as if they were very slightly transparent. Klaus tried a remove curse spell, but to no avail. Whatever realm these spectral hounds were from, it seemed that these two were beginning to slip into that other place. Mazaramus judged that at the rate at which they were beginning to disappear, they had little over half a day to save them, if they could.

Mazaramus would have to risk another contact outer plane spell to see if he could find a solution. Furthermore, if he refrained from memorising his other spells until after he had made his astral trip in his mind, he may, with luck still have the mental fortitude to relearn these afterwards, assuming he found a way to bring them back.

They took rest, and in the morning Mazaramus delved straight into his spell book, memorising the vital spell that he hoped would save his comrades. Morgan and Klaus now were clearly see-through. They imagined that if they tried to touch them, they would simply pass through them like ghosts, but chose not to try this in case they too suffered the same effects.

Mazaramus cast his spell and slipped into a catatonic trance. To him, his journey seemed timeless. Minutes? Hours? Days? How long had he drifted through the astral planes seeking one who could answer his questions. Every time he dared use this spell he put his very sanity at risk. To the rest of the party, only ten minutes had passed when Mazaramus opened his eyes. He had the answers. Morgan and Klaus were being pulled into the Dimensional Vortex, that which lies between the fourth dimension from which most magic is drawn and the fifth dimension, also known as the Dimension of Nightmares, about which even the Immortals know very little. Bringing Klaus and Morgan back was actually very simple, if one had the power and the means. A dimension door spell would create a bridge, allowing them to return to their original three dimensions. Mazaramus' decisionn to wait before learning any of his other spells was the correct one. Wasting no time, he set to work, poring over his spell book once more and casting the spells that would bring Klaus and Morgan back into their world. The ordeal had been very exhausting for Mazaramus, and he spent the remainder of the day being carried by his geonids in a crude bone carriage that he had been constructing in his spare time.

A few days later, they came to where the River Thanat entered Lake Tros. The forest bordered the lake entirely, coming right up to its edge, so they still needed to travel through the eerie woods to reach the Temple of Death, which they estimated was about seventy or eighty miles to the west.

They journeyed on, and came to a large clearing. In the centre of this was a curious flat stone, about 6' high, glistening with a strange oily blackness. Cautiously, they approached the strange block. Ruhwin hesitated at the edge of the clearing. He seemed to stagger for a moment. He almost fell, but then steadied himself. Klaus and Lithanor heard his strange movements and moved over to help him. He seemed a little shaken, judging by the tone of his voice, but assured them that he was alright....except he had no idea who they were.

Mazaramus came to the conclusion that the strange black block had somehow affected Ruhwin, causing him to lose his memory (and they had had enough of that when they had to hunt for Sneaky back at the Evil Abbey). He moved up to the block and drew a rune upon its surface, hoping to completely break apart or even remove the block. For the second time since learning the power of the runes, his efforts went dramatically awry. A savage wind leapt up, emanating outwards from the black stone, knocking everyone off their feet. Quickly, it grew to a storm. Trees bent and twisted. Nearby, the waters of Lake Tros were whipped up, causing huge waves. Leaves and loose branches flew about everywhere, reducing visibility severely, and the companions had to huddle in whatever shelter they could find, grimly holding on to tree roots and branches to avoid being swept away.

Nine hours later, the storm finally ceased. Mazaramus summoned his undead minions, which had been hurtled in all directions, some as much as a mile away. Lithanor glared at Mazaramus. They had already been less than careful in carrying out their mission. Assaulting the main army of the Master, getting arrested in the town of Rostin, sending bright beams of golden light shooting into the sky, and now causing a storm practically on the doorstep of the Master's temple. Mazaramus explained why he had tried inscribing the rune. Klaus suggested that it might be a better idea if he tried a remove curse spell. After all, it had worked when Sneaky lost her memory.

They called out to Ruhwin. No answer. Mazaramus drew out his crystal ball and scried for him. Even though Ruhwin was still invisible, Mazaramus saw that Ruhwin was walking through the Dark Wood quite close to the river and near to where it entered Lake Tros. Ruhwin turned away from the river and deeper into the wood. Soon he approached a large tree and began pulling on a large bole at its base. The bole pulled free, revealing a hollow space inside the tree, and there in the hollow was a large tome. Ruhwin removed the book, opened it up and began reading it. Although Mazaramus couldn't see the words in the book clearly, it was fairly safe to assume that this was a spell book.

Mazaramus polymorphed into the fastest flying thing he could think of, a griffon, and flew off eastwards with all haste, hoping to find where Ruhwin now sat reading the spell book. An hour or so later, he found the large tree with the hollow in it. Standing there, he was Ruhwin, visible now, chanting and casting a spell. Leaves flew in a circular motion up from the floor and around Ruhwin. In moments, Ruhwin seemed to be engulfed in a small cyclone of wind, leaves and dirt. A blast of force sent the leaves flying outwards, and where Ruhwin had stood, there was nothing.

Mazaramus scried again. He saw the familiar lands outside of Glantri City. Some sixty feet or so below he could see a copse of trees that were rapidly growing closer. A blurry image of leaves and tree branches, and then he was looking up through the trees. The vision waved and rolled in a peculiar fashion. Ruhwin staggered out of the copse and headed towards the city. Mazaramus began to grow mentally fatigued and so halted his scrying at this point and returned to the party.

They now knew what had happened. Ruhwin had been possessed using a magic jar spell. Once the storm had started, whatever wizard now possessed him took advantage of it and struggled against the storm to get away from the party. He had then retrieved his spell book, which had been hidden for who knows how long inside the tree, memorised a teleport spell and then used it to travel to Glantri. His imprecise familiarity with the area (it could have changed over the years that the wizard had been trapped, presumably inside the black stone) had caused him to arrive too high, but luckily he had survived the fall. He then struggled against his injuries from the fall to make his way to Glantri City.

There was nothing they could do for Ruhwin now. Destroying the block would only kill Ruhwin. It would seem that whoever this wizard was, he (or she) was now in complete possession of Ruhwin's body. Klaus said a brief prayer for Ruhwin, the man who had helped the, escape from the Diviners' Court and had fought valiantly alongside them ever since, before they continued on.

A few days later they finally came within sight of the Great Temple. As had been described to them, the temple was indeed made to look like some great chariot. It even had huge carvings depicting wheels on the walls of its perimeter, and what looked like a quite lifelike statue of a charioteer standing in front of the largest building inside the temple compound. The area outside the walls of the temple was clear of trees. In the fields and the waters of Lake Tros near the temple, several groups of people could be seen, either tending the fields or fishing with large nets. Most of these people wore simple white robes, and each group was overseen by a man in yellow robes.

Lithanor crept closer, using his elven cloak and boots to remain undetected. He toyed with the idea of capturing some of the workers and either interrogating them or using their robes to disguise themselves. He got close enough to be able to see the front of the temple compound, with broad stairways leading up into it, and the guard towers overlooking the entrance, manned with several red-robed Diviners.

Lithanor returned to the party to report what he had seen. Mazaramus suggested another idea. The large building on the far right side must be where the Master resides. If they went around to the north side, they might be able to scale the walls there and enter from the rear, taking the Master by surprise rather than having to sneak or fight there way past all the Diviners elsewhere inside the temple.

The fields on the northern side had very few of the workers from the temple, and none within 100 yards of the walls. Besides, they were all still invisible, and should be able to scale the walls undetected. The wall was only 20' high, and Lithanor used his rope of climbing to make the ascent easier. Sneaky was the first to the top. She was an a narrow 3' wide ledge, and saw that the large building was surrounded by a moat, 20' wide. Using her ring of x-ray vision, she saw that the moat was filled with numerous small fish, with vegetation at the bottom. Occasionally, she saw some large creature moving slowly through the water.

The rest of the party reached the top of the wall and looked at the scene. Mazaramus had left his undead at the bottom of the wall. They were very clumsy and would find climbing the wall problematic. Besides, their mindless lumbering had given the party away once before, and Mazaramus did not want to repeat this mistake.

They pondered how to cross the moat. Gandi had his ring of water walking and could easily cross himself. He proposed carrying others across, but Mazaramus warned him that if he tried that, the magic of the ring would fail and they would both plummet into the moat's depths. Lithanor summoned up his dragon wings, and began ferrying the party over one at a time. Gandi simply walked across. At one point caught a glimpse of one of the large creatures when its thick, scaly hide
appeared just above the surface of the water.

On the grounds outside the large building there was a gardened area at each corner  The part of the building just before them seemed to jut out from the main part, and had what looked like open windows that narrowed towards the inner part of the building wall. Strange growlings could be heard coming from the gardens. Soon they saw huge feathered creatures emerge and move towards them, owlbears, two coming from each garden. They rolled there heads about as if looking for the party. They were still invisible, but the owlbears must have picked up the parties scent and were obviously agitated. They closed in, swiping the air. Then, just as Lithanor was flying back with Mazaramus, the last of the party to be ferried across, the entire party became visible!

The owlbears charged. Gandi, Morgan and Klaus stood their ground. Sneaky, who still had hold of Lithanor's rope of climbing used it to attach to the side of the building as far up as it could reach and began climbing. An owlbear gouged her as she climbed, leaving a dripping, bleeding wound in her side, but she continued climbing until she was out of reach. Morgan and Gandi hacked down two of the owlbears. Lithanor alighted, hurriedly dumping the wizard to the ground, and drew his swords.

Sneaky found that there were no windows or means of access further up the side of the building, and the top was at least another 50' of smooth wall. Looking down she saw the battle raging, the heroes were getting the upper hand and she deemed it safe enough to descend again. She had just reached the bottom when a curious feeling overcame her, she stood, looking about in bewilderment and confusion. Morgan too stood and watched, wandering what was going on. Lithanor charged an owlbear, which stood there as if stupefied while he ran it through. Mazaramus was overcome with rage. Hefting up his staff of striking, he swung it at the last owlbear, delivering a heavy blow that swung the owlbear's  head sideways and snapped its neck.

Klaus struggled to concentrate. Some foul magic was afoot. Sneaky and Morgan were still looking about with dazed expressions. Lithanor and Gandi fought to retain their senses. He quickly cast a dispel magic spell over the party, just as Mazaramus was about to charge into the moat to fight a large crocodile that had emerged from the water close by. Mazaramus stopped, looking about in bewilderment and wondering why he was wielding his staff in an aggressive manner, then quickly leapt back with a terrified yelp, out of reach of the crocodile that was waiting with open jaws in the water.

There attention was drawn to the window like opening in the side of the building when they heard the sound of a closing door from the room within. The window was too narrow for them to climb through, so Mazaramus opened it up wider using a rune of stone. Climbing through, they found themselves in what seemed to be a wizard's workroom. As well as the books, scrolls and other wizardly apparel, there was a coffin, propped upright, to one side of the room. In the coffin was the body of an elderly, gray haired and bearded man, remarkably well preserved and showing no signs of decay or putrefaction. Lithanor suspected that it might be a vampire and wanted to drive a stake into its heart, but then thought it could also be an innocent captive, held in some state of near-death suspended animation.

They studied the notes and scrolls. Most of the notes were mundane or only of value to a wizard if they could be properly compiled. They did, however, find a few things of interest. One of these was extensive notes on the construction of juggernauts! Others detailed the strange monsters that could be found in and around the lands of Hule. Amongst these were notes on the spectral hounds, the geonids of the Black Mountains, and a strange warrior-like creature called a mujina. A revelation seemed to occur to them upon reading about this creature. It fought with two weapons. Ruhwin fought with two weapons. It had unusually tough skin and therefore had little use for armour. Ruhwin had not worn any armour. Most startling was that it could reveal its true face, that of a blank, smooth, featureless visage which caused terror in those who beheld it. At this, they remembered when Ruhwin had sent the approaching Diviners fleeing in horror when they were making their escape. Neither Morgan nor any of the other party members had seen his face as he had his back to them at the time.

Also among the notes were some references to a wizard named Gallus. This wizard seemed to be a rival of whoever wrote these notes. The notes were sketchy at best. Whatever the cause of the rivalry was between these two wizards was unclear, but Gallus had been driven off, presumably slain, some two hundred and fifty years ago in a climactic battle between the two duelling wizards.

There was little else of interest or value in the room, and they didn't have time to study the scrolls and notes in any further detail, so Mazaramus scooped the scrolls into his bag of holding. There were two exits from the room, a door opposite the window they had entered through (and presumably the one they had heard close earlier) and a flight of stairs against the north wall leading up. They found that the door was wizard locked. Lithanor had a knock spell so opening this would not be a problem, but they decided to investigate the stairs first. Gandi took the lead, and was attacked by a giant weasel tied to the wall by a chain near the head of the stairs. Gandi slew the weasel without too much difficulty, and they proceeded on up. Above was a room of similar size to the one beneath and seemed also to belong to the wizard who used the workroom below. The bits and pieces of components for magical research were largely unremarkable, though Mazaramus kept some of them anyway. They did find a secret compartment in which was hidden one of the wizard's spell books, along with some gems in a pouch that had been hidden with invisibility.

Returning to the wizard locked door, Lithanor opened it and they went through, finding themselves in a narrow area with cells to the north and south. Three of these cells were empty, but in the fourth was a man slumped against the back wall. As they approached, the man barely turned to face them and remained huddled against the wall. Morgan told him that they were going to get him out of there. Upon hearing his accent, the man seemed more attentive, but still suspicious. Lithanor ripped the cell door open. Morgan asked who he was. The man told him that he was Captain Narellus of the First Darokin Legion. Morgan told him to get to his feet and make his report. The man seemed puzzled. Morgan revealed that he was a Commander of the Darokin Army, and on a secret mission to assassinate the Master of the Desert Nomads. Upon hearing this, Narellus stood, If Morgan could provide him with armour and weapons, he will gladly help him with his mission.

Narellus was restored back to full health by Klaus's magic, and given a suit of plate mail, a shield and a longsword. There seemed to be no other exits from this area, but the wizard must have come through this way. Searching the walls, they found a secret door leading towards the centre of the building, and went through.

They were now in a fairly large chamber. The walls were painted with writings that turned out to be prayers of some kind. Immediately before them was a long, narrow table upon which were various relics; staves, books, clothing, battered weapons and so forth. Mazaramus scoured the table, hoping his broom of flying was there. Lithanor picked up one of the books, but got a strange feeling as soon as he held it and quickly put it down again. Just then, they heard growling coming from a pair of side alcoves in the room. Two large panther-like creatures with tentacles whipping forward from their shoulders....displacer beasts! Gandi, Lithanor and Morgan leapt forward. The displacer beasts lashed out with their tentacles, but soon met the blades and axes of the heroes and quickly silenced.

They looked about the room. An opening in the west wall led to a series of corridors, and it seemed apparent that they were in the heart of the Temple of Death. The wizard would have by now alerted the Master to their presence, and he would be ready for them. Mazaramus, however, continued to eye the relics on the table greedily...



Session Seven - The Fall of Hosadus


After some deliberation, Lithanor managed to convince Mazaramus that it was not worth taking the relics lined up on the table. They were obviously cursed or magically trapped. Besides, he could scarcely believe that battered and ancient weapons could be truly powerful.

As they were debating, they heard what sounded like a distant explosion coming from somewhere outside the building. The wizard was up to something. Then Mazaramus remembered his undead minions stationed outside the back wall of the compound. Lithanor suggested that they go outside to deal with the wizard rather than venturing further into the temple. Besides, it was a safe bet that the Master knew they were there. If they doubled back and found another way in, they may yet catch him by surprise and unprepared.

They had forgotten about the wizard lock on the door to the wizard's room, and Lithanor had used up his only knock spell. Instead, Klaus cast a dispel magic, removing the spell that barred their way. Also, Mazaramus had closed up the opening on the window, and was reluctant to use another rune to widen it again. He had an idea. The other party members would hide inside the bags of holding (they had three between them). Mazaramus would take the bags of holding, polymorph into a gnat, and fly out of the narrow window to see what was happening. Even now, they could see what looked like some kind of storm just beyond the compound walls.

Outside the building once again, Mazaramus could see some kind of cyclone or small tornado outside the compound. Bits of bone flew off in all directions, presumably all that was left of his undead army. It was an air elemental, meaning that somewhere was a wizard that was controlling it. The elemental flew over the wall and the moat, oblivious of his presence, and towards the north-eastern side of the temple. Mazaramus flew to the southern end of the building so as to remain hidden in case his invisibility should fail him. On this side he could see windows further up that had been out of sight from the party earlier. The elemental had moved towards the top of the tower above the building. Mazaramus had Sneaky climb out of her bag, and using Lithanor's rope of climbing, she scaled the side of the building. Mazaramus followed.

At the top of the tower, Mazaramus could see a young man gesturing and looking towards the elemental. Presumably, this was the wizard. Mazaramus noted how youthful the mage appeared for someone of such power, barely any older than himself. Sneaky shortly reached the top, sneaking up behind the wizard with her rapier drawn. She thrust her blade into the wizard, who screamed in agony. By now, Mazaramus had also landed on the small platform at the top of the tower and proceeded to lay out the bags of holding for the other companions to emerge and enter the fray.

The wizard turned and looked at Sneaky, struggling to overcome his pain and prepared to cast a spell. Realising that the elemental he had summoned was now out of control, he turned and launched a lightning bolt at it. Lightning danced through the airy form of the elemental, and a rushing wind that could be imagined to be it's screams was heard. Lithanor, wanting to take the wizard alive, interposed himself between the wizard and the enraged elemental on the now rather cramped platform. He swung with Scorbane, landing another wound, but the elemental batted him aside and moved in to finish off the wizard, who now lay bleeding on the floor after Sneaky had struck again with her rapier. The elemental was about to whisk off the fallen mages body when Lithanor once again thrust with Scorbane, dismissing the elemental back to its home plane.

Klaus quickly moved to the body, using his staff of healing to revive him. Surrounded and barely alive, the wizard was in no position to try anything. Morgan wanted answers. Who was he and how could they find Hosadus? The wizard was not going to help these infidels under any circumstances. They even threatened to throw him off the tower, to which the wizard replied simply "Go ahead!"

Lithanor cast a charm monster on the wizard, and instantly his demeanor changed.. He looked at Lithanor with bewilderment. He had always believed elves to be a thoroughly dislikable race of people, but here was one that was different. Maybe he had misjudged them. They found out that his name was Alrethus, and he was the chief advisor to Hosadus. Lithanor asked if he would draw a mao of the temple, and he eagerly complied. As to how to reach Hosadus, there was a trapdoor in the floor of the platform that they were on, and Hosadus was two floors down.

Sneaky went down first to scout the way. Immediately beneath them was a bare room, about 20' square, with another trap door leading to the room below. Sneaky opened this. She saw a black armoured man which could only be Hosadus, flanked by two tigers. Three other men were also in the room, two purple robed and one in armour but not wearing any robes. They looked up and she quickly closed the trap door and returned to her comrades above.

They prepared for battle, first casting a haste spell before descending to the room immediately above the Master. As they prepared, casting combat and defensive spells and drinking potions, they heard the voice of Hosadus, as though it was echoing from the very walls, gloating and inviting them to come and meet their doom instead of cowering like frightened sheep. Gandi, eager to get on with it, had downed a potion of speed, and was now moving four times faster than normal. Before they descended, Mazaramus sent a cloudkill seeping through the cracks of the trapdoor. Lithanor called up his dragon wings, and Mazaramus used his runes to open up a hole wide enough for them to jump down in quick succession rather than have to climb through the trap door one at a time.

Lithanor intended to fly straight at Hosadus to engage him in combat, but found his way blocked by a large, bare-chested man floating in the air. It was a djinni. Although Lithanor was protected by a protection from evil, 10' radius that Klaus had cast, the djinni could still interpose himself between Lithanor and Hosadus. Gandi, Morgan and Sneaky plummeted through the hole, taking some damage from the fall, but quickly rose to their feet. Moreover, Sneaky was invisible once again and she began moving around to the rear of Hosadus. Gandi's charge was met by the two tigers that stood at Hoasdus side, while Morgan was challenged by the armoured man that wasn't wearing the usual robes worn by the other denizens of the temple. This was Mond, one of Hosadus' chief military commanders. He was well aware of who the party were, having been present at the Evil Abbey in the strange building that seemed out of place with the rest of the abbey. Once he had learnt about the party and who they where from the Bhuts, he had left the building to make his report to Hosadus.

As the fight ensued, Narellus and Klaus were making their way down more cautiously using the rope of climbing, while Mazaramus remained above lending his magical support to the battle. One of the purple robed Holy Men charged at Narellus, who barely dropped down in time to dodge his incoming sword blow. The remaining Holy Man, standing over the body of a dead hawk, cast a hold person spell in an attempt to immobilise some of the incoming group, but a combination of magical protection and sheer will simply shrugged off the spell. Hosadus himself, seeing the dragon winged elf as the biggest threat, cast a finger of death at him, but this was absorbed by Lithanor's scarab of protection.

Morgan leapt at Mond, delivering a series of blows with his claymore, but these were easily parried by the fighter. He struck back, and Morgan found himself having to fend off the well-aimed sword thrusts of his opponent. He was fighting someone who was at least his equal in swordsmanship. The two fought and parried. Morgan found himself overbalanced. Mond took advantage of this and dealt a savage blow that sent Morgan reeling. On the defensive now, Morgan fought to fend off his blows. Narellus fought his own battle with the purple robed fighter, mirroring that between Morgan and Mond, with neither finding any advantage. This had, however, allowed Klaus to safely descend, who had now drawn his snake staff and advanced on Hosadus.

Sneaky struck at Hosadus with her rapier and dagger, both of which had been coated with a paralyzing poison. She struck home with the rapier, but the magical protections surrounding him had caused the blade to deal no more than a glancing blow, and the poison seemed to have little effect. Hosadus was about to turn to face Sneaky, ready to smash her to a pulp with his war hammer, when he saw Gandi fell the two tigers in quick succession with his axes and advance on him. Hosadus quickly found himself surrounded by Gandi, Klaus and Sneaky.

Lithanor's had despatched the djinni, which turned into a wisp of cloudy air that streamed towards a ring that Mond was wearing. He moved in to deal with the purple robed cleric, who had now drawn his mace. His first swing went wild, and his second sent the cleric reeling, badly wounded, but still alive. The cleric raised his mace to attack the elf when a series of magic missiles from Mazaramus struck into him, slaying him. Looking around, he saw Morgan battling fiercely with Mond, while Narellus was still duelling with the other fighter. He deemed that Gandi, Klaus and Sneaky between them should be able to deal with Hosadus so he moved to assist Narellus.

Hosadus struck at Gandi with his war hammer. His blow was wildly off target. The dwarf dodged then countered with a lightning fast series of blows with his axes, His protections failing him, Sneaky struck again,and Klaus delivered blow after blow with his snake staff. Hosadus staggered, weakening from the blows. Finally, Gandi's axes sunk deep, cleaving through his armour, and he slumped in a lifeless, bleeding mass to the floor.

Mond did not see Hosadus fall, so intent was he on besting Morgan in combat. Gandi leapt into the fray. Attacked from two sides now, he fought frantically to dodge the blows. Gandi once again dealt horrendous wounds to the fighter. Mond was overwhelmed, Morgan and Gandi combined their attacks with great effectiveness, and he was soon felled. The purple-robed warrior that Narellus and Lithanor were fighting soon followed.

Gandi felt the effects of the quest spell cast on him by Guillaume back in Pramayama lift when Hosadus was slain. Moments after his demise, they heard a loud, deep voice that penetrated even the walls of the building they were in coming from outside. "Ha! Finally, I am free. Now you will pay for my imprisonment". This was followed by two loud thumps that shook the very walls of the building.

Eager as they were to find out what was happening outside, they took the time to loot the room first. They found a couple of large chests to the rear of the Master's seat, both of which were trapped, though between Sneaky's adeptness at disarming traps and the use of magic, these were safely deactivated. Inside where extensive plans for the war and the invasion of Darokin, a complete map of the temple, and Mazaramus' broom of flying. Using a detect magic spell, they discovered a number of magic items on Hosadus and those who had been defending him. Chief amongst these were a ring of djinni summoning, which Sneaky took, and a small black cube. This last item radiated intense power. Mazaramus examined it and noticed that it was an exact replica of the strange building in the Evil Abbey. The material even resembled the doors and window frames of the strange building. He did not know as yet how to activate it and would have to find out by research and trial and error at a later date.

They descended to the second level and cleared this, though it was mostly deserted. Anyone on that level had moved to Hosadus chamber and were already slain. There was a large balcony on the western side of this level, and from here they could see the entire temple. The denizens of the temple seemed to be in a state of alarm, if not panic. Many of the white and yellow robed men were trying to flee the temple, and a number of Diviners were frantically trying to hold them back. Nearby, they could see the building on which the statue of the charioteer had stood. The charioteer was now gone. Storm clouds were gathering in the sky. On the northern side of the temple, outside its walls stood a giant, over 20' tall, who was raising his arms to the sky as though he was summoning the storm clouds.

Descending via a secret stairway to the ground level, they found a short corridor that led to what seemed to be a barracks. Several Diviners were in here, and one that seemed to be in charge was marshalling the others. Mazaramus called out for them to surrender, stating that Hosadus had been slain. At first, they refused, and prepared to charge the wizard. Mazaramus casta fire ball at them, with no heed for his own safety or that of Gandi and Lithanor standing immediately behind him. All three were caught in the blast. Most of the Diviners in the room were instantly incinerated. The leader and two others survived. They threw down their weapons. Mazaramus told them to tell the other Diviners and Holy Men to spread the word that Hosadus had been defeated and that they were to surrender. The Diviner reluctantly complied. When he saw Alrethus with the group, he had no further doubt that it was all over.

As the Diviners moved off with orders for the other Diviners to lay down their arms, they continued to make sure that the Court of the Master, as this building was known, was cleared. Alrethus pointed out a small bare room, which was actually a teleportation chamber. He warned them not to enter, and if they did, to ensure that they had clearly in mind their destination. If they entered the chamber without this in mind, they would arrive at a totally random destination. Rather recklessly, and against Mazaramus' advice, Lithanor chose to test the chamber by entering it and thinking of Dorneryll. He had given no thought as to how he was going to get back. Alrethus eyed the rest of the party with distrust. Lithanor's assurances that they were his friends were of little comfort to him.

Deafening roars of thunder shook the building, and they saw a bright flash, followed by dying screams. Mazaramus still had his polymorph self spell still running. He cast his last invisibility spell on himself, turned into a gnat and flew out of a window to the north side of the building to see what was going on. Many Diviners lay lead, charred by blasts of lightning. Purple-robed Holy Men had moved to a bridge that connected the central building to the Court of the Masters and were pleading with the storm giant to stop hurling bolts of lightning at them. Mazaramus flew back to the party, this time taking the direct route through an entrance hallway.

In this hallway, two nightmarish creatures stood. They had elephantine heads with horns and tusks. At their chests, a mass of slimy tentacles twitched and grasped. These were the malferae. As he flew through the hallway they moved in on him, their tentacles reaching out to grab him. They could see him. Mazaramus quickly transformed again, this time into a hydra. The malferae slashed at him with their large claws, and one bit at him with its unearthly maw. Mazaramus smelled a stench that he had never encountered before, a sickly sweet yet wholly nauseous scent, causing the hydra heads to gag and retch.

In the main building, Morgan and Gandi heard the sounds of combat and rushed to Mazaramus' aid. They hewed and hacked at the foul creatures, slaying one of them, while Mazaramus managed to rip the other apart with his hydra heads. The bodies turned into a reddish-purple cloud of mist that quickly dispersed into nothingness.

They went back out towards the bridge that connected the Court of the Master to the central compound, dragging Hosadus armour along with them. Shortly after his 'death' the body inside the armour had turned to a withered husk, and then completely to dust. Nothing remained of the body of Hosadus, only his armour. They approached the Holy Men assembled on the stairs leading up to the bridge, displaying Hosadus' suit of armour before them. Mazaramus demands to surrender were unnecessary. They had already capitulated  Mazaramus then gave his demands. They were to make him the ruler of the temple, and the people of Hule were to serve him. This did not go down too well. Behind him, Alrethus scowled and shook his head. The other companions looked at each other with more than a little concern.

One Holy Man approached Mazaramus slowly. a stern expression on his face, and looked Mazaramus in the eyes, unflinching even with his ominous red gaze. He spoke "You have defeated Hosadus....today. Be warned, Hosadus WILL return. Hule will never belong to you, and we will never bow to you!" The Holy Man turned and pointed towards the area running through the centre of the building. "Look to the Hall of Laws. There you will see the truth."

Along the sides of the long hallway, set into the walls were several crystal-like caskets. Each one hold the perfectly preserved remains of a ruler of Hule from long ago. Beneath each was a plaque, showing the name of the ruler and the dates of when he ruled. One was labelled Hosadus. The first date was over 400 years ago. It did not have a second date. Inside the casket was simply the hollow outline of a man. It was empty.

Mazaramus stared at the empty casket, trying to hide his expression of disbelief from the Holy Men. He turned and returned to the party. He then said "This changes nothing. Hosadus is defeated, and your armies will fall" before returning to the Court of the Master. Morgan remained behind for a short time to converse with the storm giant. The giant expressed his gratitude for freeing him from his servitude. For now, and until the companions left, he would keep the Diviners and the Holy Men in check before he himself departed for his home lands.

They still had a the dungeons beneath the temple to check before they left. Immediately beneath the Court of the Master were the cells and an interrogation room. Three prisoners were released from here. Two of them were rogues, and Narellus identified them as having been drafted into the Darokin army as an alternative for incarceration for their crimes. The third was Marialena, an elf from Alfheim, who had been captured some considerable time ago when she was sent to investigate rumours that Hule was preparing for war. They were taken to the teleporter alcove and given brief instructions on its use. Narellus was reluctant to let Ranas and Philomen go, but had little other choice given that only those entering the alcove could choose their destination. Besides, he deemed that they had already served their time anyway.

A long tunnel led for about half a mile to a cave in which they discovered a secret exit. On the wall opposite the exit was an upright coffin, and beside this, a small chest. They were about to investigate the coffin when it burst open. The vampire within lunged at Gandi. The dwarf had no wish to have his life force drained again, and dodged aside. Between Morgan, Gandi and Mazaramus' magic, they slew the vampire, which turned into a cloud of mist. Klaus belatedly presented his holy symbol driving the cloud of mist away, which escaped through the cracks around the secret door and out into the twilight of the Dark Wood. It was a safe bet that the vampire had other coffins hidden in various places, but they destroyed the one in this cave anyway, and Klaus blessed it so that it would be of no further use to the vampire. The chest next to the coffin held a small amount of treasure, merely some coins and gems.

Their job done, they returned to the Court of the Master and the teleporter alcove. They left Alrethus to keep the Holy Men and the Diviners in line, and entered the alcove, one at a time, returning to Darokin to report on the success of their mission.


Aftermath

With the Master's plans for the war handed over to the military high command of Darokin, the armies of Darokin were able to stall and then drive off the Master's armies. The Masters forces had already suffered a few setbacks. First, there had been the rather reckless assault by the heroes themselves, which they had managed to withdraw from largely thanks to Mazaramus' undead. Then came the wraiths. The spirits of Darokin warriors sought terrible vengeance on those that had slain them. Many of their number wear lost before the clerics of Hosadus could be mustered to drive back the wraiths. After this, there was talk among the ranks of the Masters armies that the forces of Darokin, once slain, would rise up to fight once more in undead, and the clerics accompanying the army did their best to quell these rumours. As the army was nearing the eastern end of the Sind Desert, the dragon Kalanthraur attacked. Hundreds wear left dead, incinerated by the dragons fiery breath, and three juggernauts were left in blazing wrecks. Kalanthraur was driven off only by the sorcerers of the army hurling lightning bolts. Kalanthraur, though severely wounded, was satisfied that he had severely hurt the forces of the Master, and retreated northwards to the mountains, there to find a cave in which he could rest until his wounds healed.

As they left the Sind Desert, the armies of the Master had to divide their forces, sending a smaller group south, having received reports that Pramayama still stood. The defenders of Pramayama were prepared, having laid many traps and huge pits, the latter trapping many juggernauts. The men of Pramayama suffered minimal losses, while the southern force of the Master was completely wiped out.

By the time the main army had crossed the plains to within 100 miles of Akesoli, it too ran into similar traps and ambushes laid by what forces could be mustered by Darokin. Some of the legions of Darokin that had survived their former defeat had managed to make their way back across the desert to their homeland, and were eager to settle the score. These numbers were bolstered by a great many volunteers, and a surprising number of elves and mages were also found amongst their ranks, all in Darokin livery, of course. given that Alfheim and Glantri were reluctant to openly become involved in the war. The Sind warriors were unfamiliar with the territory, something which the Darokin forces used to great advantage. Using hit and run tactics, they were gradually whittled down, until what remained of the Master's army was finally dispersed in a climatic counter-attack by the forces of Darokin.

Few would ever know of the heroes involvement and how they had saved Darokin, so secret was their mission. They were richly rewarded, however, and given the freedom of Darokin. Land titles would be offered to Morgan, Gandi and Klaus, should they wish to accept them. Lithanor had his own realm of Dorneryll to take care of, and Sneaky needed to be getting back to Thyatis to check in on her Thieves' Guild. Mazaramus was not ready as yet to set up any kind of dominion, and at present was biding his time until he could find a suitable location to set up in.

There were still questions to be answered. The main concern was the likelihood that Hosadus would return. The same pale-skinned elf who had been mentoring Mazaramus with his studies in cryptomancy and who he had met with when he had presented what he had found at the Evil Abbey, had appeared once again in Darokin to be present at the meeting with the councillors and military officials that had appointed the heroes. Lithanor saw her for the first time. Never had he seen an elf as pale-skinned as she was, and guessed that she might be a shadow elf. She revealed her name finally as Shalandra. She too, had reason to believe that this was only a setback for the Huleans and the warriors of the Sind. The armoured man that they had slain was indeed Hosadus, but in the form of an avatar. Once slain, he had returned to his original body and fled, most likely via a word of recall spell, to some hidden sanctuary.

Then there this Gallus that they had read about in Alrethus' notes, and the mysterious wizard that had taken possession of Ruhwin. Mazaramus was under the impression that Gallus and the wizard were one and the same, and was now hiding out somewhere in Glantri.

These were questions that would have to remain unanswered for the time being. Darokin would prepare and rebuild its armies, in the event of Hosadus ever returning and trying to invade again. Mazaramus wanted to be about his studies and had things to research, as did Lithanor. Mazaramus wanted to learn more about the little black box he had recovered. With Shalandra's help, he found out that this was a House of Zebulon. By concentrating, he could make a door appear, made of the same shiny black material as the box, which led into a building identical to the one in the Evil Abbey. In fact it was the same building. This time, however, the view out of the windows was that of the streets of Darokin. There were limits. The door, and the location of the house itself, could only be moved once per week. Mazaramus conjectured that the house and the door needn't be in the same location, and he could have the door appear in one place with the dwelling still fixed to another location, given that Mond had been able to move from the Evil Abbey to the Temple of Death, across hundreds of miles, in no time at all. Whatever its powers and limits were, this would prove to be a most valuable and useful item, and he had best be careful that this not fall into the wrong hands.

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