Far Isles Session #24 - The Lightning Tower

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 3)
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 3), with familiar Hermes, and henchman Xavier (Swashbuckler 1)
Chaff (Vivimancer 3), with familiar Pretty Bird, riding hound Stinky Dog, and henchman Dudley (Cleric 1)
Torak (Cleric 2)
Beuford Bumbletoes (Halfling 2)

Using the great brass horn, the party summoned the whale, which dutifully deposited them back at the anchorage after a voyage of 5-6 days. Disgorging them just outside the little cove, the party could see right away the place was nearly deserted. Just a single vessel rode at anchor, a small dark ship called the "Nights Dark Angel". Luckily Nalco's boat was still there, so they rowed over to their employer. Who was both surprised and irritated at their appearance, having gotten tired of waiting around and pretty much given the party up for lost. But he immediately got down to business, reviewing all of the magical items they'd brought back.  The adolescent mage took the skull, the spell book "On The Witching of Stone", the mystery mirror/painting, and the erstwhile stone wizard Nysul (assuming the former mage was loaded with magic items that could be recovered once he was turned back to flesh). Nalco also claimed the ebony fly, but Chaff convinced him to let the party keep it for now. The vivimancer proposed that the party return to the Magic Isles for another run, and the fly would be of great  help in their exploration. To this Nalco agreed, and further agreed that at he would consider letting the party keep the fly if they brought back sufficient magical goodies satiate his needs.

The party took leave of Nalco and rowed for shore, bringing the now somewhat decayed Abdul el Abdul to Bellaphrone the Incontatrix, to see if the witch could bring him back from the dead. This she agreed to do so, in return for the sarcastic magic goblets and the various medusa parts they party carried. She had the party dump Abdul el Abdul into a large cauldron steaming over a low fire, and told the party to return in a few days. Before leaving, Kwinsea requested the witch's help with curing Xaviers rotting disease. Bellaphrone laughed at her, and told her to go speak to the whiskey priest; her dark arts did not extend to such matters.

Nilex of Velas

Back at the beach, they found the priest (Nilex of Velas) passed out under an overhanging pine. After rousing him, Kwinsea was able to explain (several times) the assistance Xavier required. The priest agreed, but in a hungover haze somehow cast striking on the poor henchman rather than remove curse. A half dozen flasks of wine later, Nilex was able to straighten himself out and call on Velas with the correct prayer, and Xavier was cured.

Taking leave of Nilex, and leaving him with wine and gold, the party next had to figure out how to resupply since there were no merchant ships in port (a result of  Xin and Chan'rk being once more at war, so it was not safe to sail the seas unescorted at the moment). Nalco was able to provide food, but the greatest gap right now was some armor for Abdul el Abdul. Eyeing the "Nights Dark Angel", they figured the adventurers aboard might be willing to part with a spare set of armor if they offered the right price. They rowed out to the black ship, and were met at the rail by some of the crew and several of the adventurers. Abdul el Abdul made his plea, and in return was mocked by the arrogant and haughty pair at the rail. In the end, however,  they did agree to sell some battered chainmail and a shield to Abdul el Abdul for the usurious sum of 500gp! Muttering under his breath, Abdul el Abdul had little choice but to agree. They also learned the "Night's Dark Angel" was off on an expiration to capture some great monster or beast, the ship being laden with nets and ropes and cages. Chaff, meanwhile, had taken the time to summon a new familiar (a less scrawny parrot he named Pretty Bird), as well as recruit a somnolescent cleric of Nod by the name of Dudley to replace his lost henchman.

The Lightning Tower

Now equip and healed, the party were ready to go back to the Magic Isles. Nalco once more summoned the whale, and it again carried the party back to the isles, spitting them out in pretty much the same spot as before. Based on the information they'd received from the tribesmen on their last trip, they turned the boat to the southeast in search of the lightning tower. Which was pretty easy to find, for it lived up to its name. They found a stone tower, the upper half of which was a globe surrounded by a ring of steel spikes. On the ground, at four points of the compass, were tall steel spikes, jutting up towards the top of the tower. And most significantly, a permanent bank of dark cloud hung overhead, from which a bolt of lighting sprang every few seconds, striking either the top of the tower or one of the four spikes on the ground.

They pulled the boat up onto the island, swampy and hilly like the isle of the Blue Tower, and headed towards the lightning. Reaching the spikes, they could see inside the ring, the ground was blasted into a fine grey powder and nothing grew. Everyone dropped to the ground and crawled towards the stairs that they could now see.  The air around them came alive with lighting and the smell of ozone. Luckily for all, no one was struck, and the party made it to the top of the stairs with no problem. There they found a set of heavy iron doors, each of which had a serpent shaped handle and a large knocker. Before letting anyone near the door, Kwinsea closely examined the handle, and discovered it was in some way magically trapped. So Abdul el Abdul and Beuford pulled out hammer and spikes, and knocked out the hinge pins. The great door fell with a "BOOM!", but once the dust settled the party was able to walk right in. The first room was an entry chamber of some sort, quite clean but largely empty. Torak cast detect magic and noted the entire room gave off a faint glow. Not really comfortable with that fact, the party moved through one of the two doors exiting the room. They  found themselves in a cloak room full of old clothing, both in condition and style wise. With nothing of interest there, they passed out through the entrance again and headed through the second door that led deeper into the tower.

The Snake Handle

This room was a siting room, with a large table and chairs and a staircase going up. Along one wall was a hutch with fine china and four bottles of wine (claimed by Xavier). At the other end of the room was a statue of a medusa embracing a king, and behind that a pile of boxes. Kwinsea immediately rushed over to the statue and brandished the crystal heart.The statue came to life, but given it's strange form it had trouble moving about. However, it was mounted on wheels and rolled around the room following Kwinsea's mental commands. When it did move, the party could see that it had been covering a trap door. Meanwhile, Abdul el Abdul had gone to examine the pile of boxes, and found they were just a shell covering a second trap door.  Opening the two trapdoors, they found the one under the boxes had a set of stairs going down, whereas the other was going to requires some other means to access the lower level. Abdul el Abdul started to get out a rope and tie it to the banister of the stairs going up, while the rest of the party headed down the stairs under the second trapdoor. They found themselves in a room filled with hundreds of crates, labelled with strange contents: "fingers of a musician who loved dragons"; "shoulder blade of a merchant who loved butterflies"; and so on. After cracking a few crates to confirm, yes, they all contained a variety of body parts, the party headed for the only other visible entrance, a large iron door on the east wall. This was locked, but with Abdul el Abdul now joining them, the beefier members of the party were able to smash it open.

On the other side, they found four stone tables, each holding a preserved body. One of which was human, and showed signs of having been cut open and then stitched up again with gold thread. Choosing to not  mess with those, Chaff went to check out a side table that held a microscope, box of slides, and a rack of stoppered vials holding what appeared to be blood.  He took out one of the slides (on which were also drops of blood) and placed it under the microscope and had a look. The vivimancer immediately tore the slide off the stage and proceeded to lick at the blood, then started grabbing the rest of the slides and doing the same. Everyone recoiled in disgust and turned to explore the rest of the room.  Torak noted a short hall filled with mirrors at the north of the room, but no one was interested in examining those too closely.  Kwinsea meanwhile checked out a narrow opening in the east wall, find a space filled with machinery and a circular hole in both ceiling and floor. And Xavier went to listen at a door in the south, on the other side of which he could hear tortured moans.

Wary of disturbing anything in this creepy room, the party waited for Chaff to finish with his blood lust, then head back upstairs and down the rope into the other trapdoor. They had to leave the statue behind, as it had now finished it's animation and was stone cold once more. Down below there was a short corridor leading north, which ended at a closed portcullis. On the other side was a room, containing a crevasse from which wafted the smell of blood, while against the far wall sat a bucket. Abdul el Abdul easily lifted the portcullis, and everyone else started to file into the room. They were surprised when a stone colored spider dropped on them from the ceiling, but were able to make short work of the crawly beast. Exploring the rest of the room, the crevasse they found was narrow and extended well beyond their lights, while the bucket was coated in dried blood. There were also two doors, one each in the east and west walls. The east one was labelled "Workshop" while the west was labelled "Treasure Room". Humm, which to take ....

TOTAL XP
65

GAINS
4 bottles of wine

KILLS
Stone Spider

LOSSES
None

Far Isles Session #23 - That Was Easy!

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 2), with familiar Hermes, and henchman Xavier (Swashbuckler 1)
Chaff (Vivimancer 3), with familiar Dirty Bird, riding hound Stinky Dog, and hench-monster Cephenere the Medusa
Torak (Cleric 2)
Beuford Bumbletoes (Halfling 2)

As the sounds of battle died, Chaff cast a spell and got down to business taking off all his clothes; just so he would be invisible when  his transparency spell kicked in of course. Everyone else avoided him. Xavier and Torak hammered doors shut with iron spikes to keep in the third  attacker, as well as anyone who may lurk in the fourth room. Before much else could be done, the mystery woman disappeared again. And another figure appeared at the top of the stars, accompanied by an overwhelming smell of rot and spice. The figure was old and bent, dressed in pale blues robes and wearing an odd set of goggles on his head. Presumably the Blue Mage. Chaff, by now invisible and feeling a draft, sent Cephenere into action. See turned her gaze onto the Blue Mage and transformed him to stone. Moments later, however, the source of the rotten smell became apparent. A ghoulish/mummy creature appeared on the stairs and ran at Cephenere, biting and clawing until the medusa fell into paralysis. Xavier sprang onto the stair rail and slide down to skewer the beast with his sword, in which he was successful, but likewise took the brunt of the beasts attacks and fell, bleeding and near death. Both he and Cephenere also started to give off a powerful smell of rot.

The Blue Mage

The mystery woman now reappeared, and the party finally got a chance to question their new companion. Her name was Azral, and she was an adventurer like them, part of an exploration ship that sank nearby. She and some of her colleagues made it to this island, where they met Nysul the Blue Mage. He proceeded to charm one of her companions (the one now barred in his room by the party), while she was able to resist the magic and escape. She discovered it was impossible to leave, as all the doors and windows had been arcane locked by Nysul. Azral also found out what Nysul was looking for; company. Her companion, Varso,  and two others already in the tower (the hoplite and Amazon) were his 'guests', there to provide cultured companionship to the lonely old mage. Azral made it clear she wanted to get off the island with the party (and was unconcerned about the fate of Varso). The party didn't argue the point right now, and she joined them in the attempt to find a way out of the tower.

Chaff sent Dirty Bird up the stairs to scout, finding nothing to report. Laying Cephenere, Xavier and the expired Abdul el Abdul aside, everybody else headed up the stairs. There they found a large dining room with a stage. They swiped the silver candlesticks from the table and then went to check out the next room. This was another bedroom, larger but otherwise similar to those on the lower level. A quick search revealed some clothes but little else.Two other doors led out of the room; one opened into a workshop filled with gears and fine mechanical bit and bobs. The other contained a large, cast iron box that looked like a coffin. To it was connected a series of iron pipes which disappeared into the wall of the tower, and at the bottom of the iron box was a small glass bulb. On the wall was a lever, and piled in the corner was a mess of books on necromancy.

While interesting, none of this looked like it was going to get them out of the tower. The party then turned their thoughts to the square boxy peak of the tower. How to get up there? They started searching for secret doors, and Kwinsea found done in the centre 'shaft' of the tower. Opening it, they found the shaft was hollow, extending 30' up and 30' down from where they stood. Inside swarmed a large number of the gold and blue fireflies, and along the walls were about 30 small shelves. On each was a doll or manikin of some sort, a huge variety that moved and clattered about. At the top of the shaft was a trap door, but there was no obvious way to get there. Chaff pulled out  potion of levitation, and after some heated discussion between Troak and Beuford, the halfling agreed to drink it and float up to the ceiling. First, however, Chaff wanted Dirty Bird to have a closer look. The ragged parrot flew into the shaft, and immediately the fireflies swarmed him. The poor familiar was stung to death, and fell to the bottom of the shaft with a thud. Chaff, incensed, pulled out his wand of paralyzation, and shot up and down the shaft to clear out the bugs.

The Chair

The coast now clear, Beuford floated up to the trap door and opened it up. It did indeed lead into the square room. Inside was a comfortable captain's type chair, a panel with three buttons (blue, yellow and red), and a wooden chest. In the ceiling was a square pane of glass looking out at the sky. Beuford lowered a rope and everyone climbed up and proceeded to look around. Kwinsea carefully opened the chest and found a mound of gold coins. Meanwhile, Beuford floated up to the window and smashed it.  The halfling then rose up through the opening; it was not arcane locked, and it seemed the party had found a way to get out. Beuford dropped a couple of lengths of rope down the side of the tower for everyone to climb, but he himself decided to ride in style and summoned the ebony fly.  Azral was quick to head out of the tower, followed by Torak. Kwinsea and Chaff decided to head back and get Cephenere, Xavier and Abdul el Abdul, and go out the front door once Beuford opened it for them. When they got back to where the three had been laid, however, they found the medusa  was missing. Xavier repeated she had shaken off the ghoul-things' paralysis and wandered away. Chaff, broken-hearted, called out for her, but the monster-henchman did not reappear. So he and Kwinsea carried Xavier, while Stinky Dog carried Abdul el Abdul, down to the entry level. There, they came face to face with Cephenere, who now turned on them and tried to turn them to stone. Chaff once more whipped out his wand, and the medusa was paralyzed. Beuford now sauntered in and chopped off her head, then headed down to the kitchens to get some salt and wine with which to preserve it. Coming back, he reported Cephenere had turned the kitchen staff to stone so they'd have to make their own dinner. Chaff meanwhile, carried the rest of Cephenere up to the room with the iron coffin and placed her inside. He pulled on the lever, which started up a great chugging vaccum pump. After a few minutes it stopped, and the glass bulb at the bottom of the coffin was now filled with an oily yellow-green liquid. Chaff decided not to open the coffin to see what was left of Cephenere, but he did take the glass globe of liquid.

Everyone now headed outside, where they all confronted  Azral. Torak had caught her trying to make a run for their boat; it appeared she was willing to abandon them on the island and get away alone. They tied her up and Chaff took to lead in interrogating her, demanding the ring of invisibility she had (he'd spied it earlier when she'd turned invisible) in return for her freedom. Azral was not willing to give it up, so they stripped her of all her belongings (including a vivimantic spellbook), and tossed her into the tower. Kwinsea meanwhile used the crystal heart to animate the statue Nysul, and between he and the ebony fly, the party carried all their loot, invalids, and a week's supply of salt pork back to the boat. 

TOTAL XP
4579

GAINS
Ring of Invisibility
Spellbook  (1/Read Magic, 1/Blood Rapture, 1/Echo Location, 1/Elasticity, 2/Instinct, 2/Leeching Touch)
Nysul, the [Stone] Blue Mage
4 Silver Candelabra (4x30gp)
2000gp 

KILLS
Nysul, the Blue Mage
Cephenere, the rogue medusa
A whole swarm of magical glowing fireflies
1 Ghoul/Mummy Hybrid

LOSSES
Cephenere

Far Isles Session #22 - The Blue Tower

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 3)

Kwinsea (Aquamancer 2), with familiar Hermes, and henchman Xavier (Swashbuckler 1)

Chaff (Vivimancer 3), with familiar Dirty Bird, riding hound Stinky Dog, and hench-monster Cephenere the Medusa

Torak (Cleric 2)

Beuford Bumbletoes (Halfling 2)

The party sailed cautiously towards the village, and were soon intercepted by a flotilla of tribesmen in dugout canoes. They surrounded the sailing boat and raised their spears in defiance, while somehow still paddling their canoes. When it became obvious they weren't about to immediately attack, the party tried to communicate with them. Their language was pretty much indecipherable, except to Torak who recognized some words and cadence from ancient sacred writings of the Drowned God. Curious! He was able to make it known that the party wanted to see the chief, and after some time a man dressed in some sort of fish scale armor arrived, paddled by four rowers in a big canoe. Torak opened negotiations, offering excess weapons and wine in return for food. It took some time to convince the chief to cooperate.He was more interested in getting the party to go away, as he seemed to fear something of or about them. However, the sight of shiny steel brought him around, and the natives loaded down the sailing boat with fish from the superabundance they carried in their canoes.  But the chief then made it clear the party was not welcome to stay any longer. Torak did ask the chief if he knew of any towers around. In answer, the cleric was directed to two possibilities; a tower floating on a cloud to the south, or a tower of lighting to the south west.

"Fish for a Week"

Taking leave of the tribe, the party raised sail and headed south towards the cloud tower. In less than an hour, they'd reached a chain of islands which the chief had not mentioned. In addition, on one of the larger islands stood a strange blue tower. Since it was right in front of them, the party decided to check out this tower instead, and brought the boat into the swampy shore. Tying up to a convenient swamp cypress, they jumped into the knee deep water and started to slog towards the hill on which the tower stood. After about an hour of trudging through the waters, the party climbed onto a low rise that was mostly out of the water. While walking dry shod was nice, they were also met by an overwhelming smell of rotting flesh. They found the source; a 10' wide pit filled with skeletal and half-rotten human remains. Some looked fairly fresh, others long dead. And as they watched, out of the pit crawled three  giant clawed hands which skittered over to attack. The party took care of them, but moments later a quartet of skeletons emerged. These were dispatched as well, but it was decided sticking around here continually fighting undead was not an option, so they dropped back into the swamp and headed towards the tower once more. After another hour or so, they climbed up onto the grassy hill and stood at the base of the blue tower. It rose straight until, halfway up, two wide rings encircled the tower, while the top it terminated in a square box. From the windows came faint sounds of occupants, including that of music. Chaff had Dirty Bird fly up to the tower entrance.  The ragged parrot observed a blue door with a sign, painted in a bright floral design, which said simply "Welcome".  That made everyone nervous, so the party sat on the grass and had a picnic of raw fish while they discussed how best to approach the tower and it's inhabitants.

"Welcome"

In the end, they decided to just go on in. Inside the entrance they found yellow velvet curtains forming a passage, at the end of which stood a door.  The room itself (as would be most of the rest of the tower) was lit by a swarm of weird blue and yellow fireflies that flitted overhead. Chaff had Cephenere look behind each curtain, and she reported a table with books behind one and musical instruments behind the other. Rather than investigate this at the moment, the party passed through the door instead. There they found a harpsichord, a glass table and chair set, and a set of stairs going up. On the table was a pretty flowery teapot and trio of tea cups. Abdul el Abdul sat down, followed by Torak and Xavier. Once the three were seated, a pair of white gloved hands appeared, floating in mid air, and holding a white card. On it was written "Delightful Conversation". The three took the hint and waxed politely on the matter of the day, although Abdul el Abdul struggled a bit talking about anything but fighting and slaving. Torak and Xavier found the tea quite good as well, although Abdul nearly chocked to death on the bitter brew.

Tea party over, everyone headed back to the entrance. Chaff tromped over to the books. There he also found a large armchair, an item Cephenere had failed to mention. The vivimancer looked at the books: a massive tome titled "The Complete Epic Works of Galstar the Great"; a slim cheap volume called "The Maiden and the Warrior"; and a third faux leather tome  "Thoughts on My Rule, by Vortex the Destroyer". Each seemed stuck to the table until he sat in the chair. Chaff selected the second book, and found it to be a rather tawdry tale that brought a flush of embarrassment to his face. As he settled back to read, he also found himself sinking deep into the chair. So deep, the rest of the party noticed he nearly disappeared, only to claw his way free just before being fully engulfed. None of this stopped Kwinsea, of course, who sat gently and ladylike into the cushions and choose the thick tome, which was filled with delightfully poingnent yet eminently readable drama.

Passing next behind the other curtain, they noted once more that Cephenere had left out important information. Namely, in addition to the musical instruments, a set of stairs descended  from this room. Everyone ignored the musical instruments, and headed down below. This room was much more utilitarian than the ones above, consisting of kitchen, storage and some straw mats. There were signs someone had just used the kitchen, with fresh food and signs of meal preparation. As the party started to poke around, Torak heard sounds behind some of the crates and barrels. There emerged four figures; one looked like a native from the dugout canoe tribe, another some outlandish barbarian (now wearing a chefs apron) and two townsfolk. Torak spoke to the tribesman, and learned the four were servants of "The Blue Mage",  a most wonderful and wondrous master. Questioned further, he revealed their master always had guests coming and going, but the servant could not say from whence they came or to where they finally disappeared.

Taking that information in hand (and trading some fresh fish for salted pork), the party headed back to the tea room and then up the stairs. Reaching the top, Torak in the lead was startled when he heard a female voice whisper in his ear "Turn back, and try to escape while you still can!" He shook his head to clear the voice, and the party moved on. But the voice returned. None the less, the party pressed on, and upon reaching the top the stairs found themselves in a torus shaped corridor that wrapped around the centre of the tower. Several doors led out from the half of the corridor they could see, and Abdul el Abdul marched up to the closest and opened it. It was a bedchamber, and an occupied one at that. Inside sat a woman, frustratingly trying to play a harp. She was dressed in a fine gown, but he did not look comfortable in it. Startled, she turned to the party to ask, in rough Common, who they were and why they were interrupting her practice? During the ensuing short conversation, they learned she, Xuna, was a guest of the Blue Mage, could not really say from whence she'd come, and she was practicing her harp to entertain at the evening meal. It would appear all the guests were expected to contribute to the ambiance of the social gathering.

Xuna on the Harp

At this point, there appeared next to Torak a young woman. Tall, pale, and dressed in black, she grabbed the cleric and yelled at him: "YOU MUST GET OUT OF HERE WHILE YOU CAN!". And seeing the newcomer, Xuna screamed at her, saying "YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE GONE!" This overwrought exchange was all too much for Abdul el Abdul, who slammed the door shut. It did not stay closed for long though, as the woman burst out of the room, now carrying a net and trident, and ran past the party. Abdul el Abdul tried to lop her head off as she went by, but she ducked and sped on. He pursued, and caught her at the bottom of another set of stairs. As he stabbed at her, down the stairs bounded a half dead looking panther which pounced on the fighter. And just to add to the chaos, two of the other doors on the floor opened; out of one stepped a Greek hoplite in bright bronze armor, and out of the other came a greasy looking fellow in leather. They charged into the fray, and soon a running battle raged around the corridor. Chaff sent a reluctant Cephenere into battle, and she turned the cat and woman to stone, but not before the cat tore the life from Abdul el Abdul. The medusa then circled around to where Kwinsea and Xavier battled the hoplite, and she likewise turned that shocked warrior to stone.  The leather clad man, meanwhile, retreated back into his room and barred the door. A sudden silence then fell over the scene of battle ....

TOTAL XP

819

GAINS

Fish

KILLS

3 Giant Crawling Claws
4 Skeletons
1 Greek hoplite
1 Amazonian warrior in a party dress
1 Undead-ish cat thing

LOSSES

Abdul el Abdul

Far Isles Session #21 - Treasure!

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 3)

Kwinsea (Aquamancer 2), with familiar Hermes, and henchman Xavier (Swashbuckler 1)

Chaff (Vivimancer 3), with familiar Dirty Bird, riding hound Stinky Dog, and henchman Mumbles (Specialist/Thief 1)

Torak (Cleric 1)

Beuford Bumbletoes (Halfling 1)

Pulling open the trap door, the party found themselves staring down a shaft and into an eerily lit room. The floor of the room was covered in sand, and appeared to writhe and undulate. Chaff had Mubbles grabbed a few rats from the cage he carried, and dropped them down the shaft. This led to two smashed rats, as the 'floor' rose up and used a sandy pseudopod to smash both rodents. Chaff decided this would be a good time to use his paralyzation wand, which froze the thing in place. Abdul then lowered a rope to climb down, but to his shock he could not climb into the opening! There seemed to be a force field or something stopping him. After some experimentation, the party learned they had to just step into the opening to be levitated down (and up). Which in short time, all had done.

The semi-circular room was empty but for the sandy creature on the floor (which Abdul proceeded to slice and dice with his sword). Everyone started to search for secret doors, and Beuford found one in the middle of the straight wall. However, he couldn't open it. It took quite a bit of trial and error to discover they had to touch a piece of stone to the door to get it open. On the other side was the wizards bedchamber. And a plain and dull bedchamber it was. A few pieces of stone furniture and that was it. In the closet Chaff found some funny mineral fibre robes which he decided to wear for a bit. Torak discovered a book, bound in granite covers with pages of black slate, sitting on the desk. He opened it and found the writing to be gibberish to him. Kwinsea, however, recognized it a magical writing, and so cast read magic. The book was titled "On the Witching of Stone", and contained a number of stone-affecting spells and detailed notes on the making of a stone golem.

Black Pudding

The aquamancer scooped up the book for herself and the party headed for the door in the south wall. Abdul opened it, and found on the other side a small circular room. In the centre was a 10' diameter tub or well. Around the walls stood 5 pillars, each holding an object. Abdul strode boldly into the room and approached the tub, out of which shot an oily black pseudopod which struck the unfortunate warrior a mighty blow. He returned the favour with a swing of his sword, lopping off the pseudopod, which fell to the floor. Which unfortunately also turned to attack him, as did another smaller blob formed when Mubbles got into the fight with his spear. And on top of that, Abdul now noticed his armor was starting to dissolve. Luckily the rest of the party now got into the fight, and a barrage of oil and beams from Kwinsea's prismatic ray gem, topped finally by a blast from Chaff's wand, ended the fight. However, not before both Torak and Mubbles fell to the slimy monster. Torak, thanks to some quick first aid, avoided deaths door. Mubbles, however, was not so lucky, and once more Chaff was henchman-less.

Wounds bound and Torak made comfortable, the party checked out the pillars.  They found a range of monetary treasure (gold coins, pearls and a flawless emerald) as well as a stone skull and small ebony fly. Both these proved to be magical. Beuford, the holder of the fly, read the word written on the bottom: "vespis". Speaking it out loud, the halfling summoned a huge fly the size of a hippogriff! Beuford was impressed.

The party climbed back to the main tower and then discussed what to do next. The consensus was to stay in the Magic Isles and explore some more. The logic being the more magic items they recovered for Nalco, the more likely they'd get to keep some of the better stuff. But that required camping out for a few weeks while Torak recovered, which would put their food situation in peril. Torak did weakly note he could use purify food and water on the stuff stuck in the whales' baleen, to feed them on the trip back. Keeping that as a revolting backup plan, Abdul el Abdul and Beuford decided instead to spend time hunting and foraging to gather up a cache of food. Meanwhile, Kwinsea was going transcribe some spells from the book, and Chaff had other plans. He went back to the medusa, Cephenere, and managed over the course of several days to convince the monster to join the party (and not turn any of them to stone) if they freed her from her bonds. A plan that made the rest of the party at least a little nervous.

Village on Stilts

Abdul el Abdul and Beuford had little luck finding food, so once Torak was fully recovered, the food situation was still dire. The party decided to head east towards the next group of islands to explore, hoping to find a source of supplies or quick loot. Sailing around, they found an island floating a foot off the surface of the sea and one covered in a petrified forest. And tucked inside a wide shallow bay on a third island, they spied a village of some sort, built on stilts over the water. Well, that seemed like a good place to look for supplies at least ... 


TOTAL XP

8255

GAINS

1000gp
10 pearls (500gp each)
A Flawless Emerald (1000gp)
Ebony fly
"Magic skull"?
On the Witching of Stone - Spells: 2/Erosion (A), 4/Transmute Liquid to Crystal(A), 5/Wall of Stone, 5/Stone Shape, 6/Flesh to Stone. Plus instructions on how to make a stone golem  for half normal cost and time (6 weeks, 40000gp, user must be 9th level)

KILLS

1 Adult Sandling + ~100 Juveniles
1 Black Pudding 

LOSSES

Mumbles

Far Isles Session #20 - Statues, Statues Everywhere

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 3)

Kwinsea (Aquamancer 2), with familiar Hermes, and henchman Xavier (Swashbuckler 1)

Chaff (Vivimancer 3), with familiar Dirty Bird, riding hound Stinky Dog, and henchman Mumbles (Specialist/Thief 1)

Torak (Cleric 1)

Beuford Bumbletoes (Halfling 1)

The party breezed through the kitchen, rustling through the pots and pans but found nothing. They did notice the statues in the room behind them had stopped moving once they'd left the space. Passing from the kitchen through a door in the east wall, they entered a room crowded with large blocks of stone in a variety of colours, shapes and sizes. Various woodworking tools also lay about, and a large block and tackle hung overhead.  After satisfying themselves there was nothing of interest to be seen, the party headed through a door in the south, thereby making their way all around the lower level of the tower. This room was notable for the inch of stone dust covering the floor, and at the centre, a pair of unfinished statues. They depicted a pair of classical warriors, one male and one female. As the group entered the room, the male statue turned and spoke: "Oh do come in. I've been waiting so long for someone to come and free me. Could you do that please?" The statue gestured to his feet, which were just barely still attached to the block from which he's been carved. The female, meanwhile, simply turned and gazed unemotionally at the party. She would require much more work to free, being still unfinished from about mid-calf down. Under questioning, the statue (whom Abdul el Abdul dubbed "Clarence") could give little information, just that he had been carved by "The Master" long ago. Abdul el Abdul decided to risk freeing him, went into the previous room for some tools, and hammered Clarence free. The statue jumped down and pledged his service to his rescuer. The party decided to not bother with the female at this point, as it would take too much time to free her, and they were uncertain as to her demeanor.

"Clarence"

With level one explored, the party headed up the sarcastic stairs to the next floor. After briefly checking out a couple of rooms that seemed to be servant or guard quarters, Abdul el Abdul  had Clarence beat down the next door, out of which floated gentle flute music. Glancing in, the party spied a small table with two chairs. On the table were a pair of wine bottles and a pair of very plain goblets. Standing around it were four statues. These were wondrously detailed, and depicted a female elf, dwarf, and human, while the fourth was some type of fairy or elfin creature. When the party entered the room, the four started to dance around the table.  Abdul el Abdul boldly strode over to a chair, dodging dancers along the way, then sat and poured himself a cup of wine. The plain cup transformed to now show the carved likeness of the dancers. And it got mouthy, mocking Abdul in an increasingly sarcastic and nagging way. He resisted the urge to smash the cup and tried to extract useful information from it, but to no avail. Chaff, seeing that Abdul did not fall over dead from the wine, not so boldly followed him in and sat down for a drink. His cup had the same less than ideal personality. Regardless, these seemed to fit the criteria for interesting magical items as requested by Nalco, so the pair of cups were wrapped in a sack and carried away. Along with the wine, of course.  The last room on this level was a wizardly storage closet, with a multitude of shelves and hundreds of clay jars containing various dusts, powders and liquids. Abdul el Abdul found a jar of glowing paste, which he used to put warpaint on the increasingly depressed Clarence. Kwinsea grabbed an unopened jar to save for a latter surprise, and Torak found a nice jug full of liquid that reminded him of his great god Brall; it smelled of death and half rotten fish.

The stairs leading up to the third level were animated like the lower stairs, but these were depressed more than insulting. Little could be learned from them before the party reached the top. At least this floor was a different layout. They emerged into a north south corridor, and several east-west passages branched off. And moving past them, up and down the hall, were more statues of various forms and styles. They were all very highly detailed, At Kwinseas request, Abdul el Abdul tried to stop one so she could use the crystal heart and gain another henchman. The fighter thus discovered that the statues were all suspended on a series of near invisible wires and pulleys that moved them around the tower. He cut one down for Kwinsea, who inserted the crystal heart and named the new stony henchwoman, Velma.

Moving on, the first room they entered was covered wall to wall in mirrors. In the centre was a stone slab to which was chained an emaciated female figure. The  figure kept it's head turned away form the door, but spoke pleadingly "Please, release me. Have mercy and let me go". Looking now, they cold see it was a medusa, and very much in poor physical condition. The party questioned her, and found she had been captured by the master of the tower many years ago. He used her to turn people to stone in order to add lifelike statues to his collection. As she pleaded to be released, the party withdrew to discuss what they should do. Abdul el Abdul wanted to leave her there, arguing releasing a medusa would be lunacy. Torak, however, wanted to let her go. In the end, the majority agreed with Abdul el Abdul, and the keening monster was left chained in  the room.

Throwing open the next door revealed a room empty but for a pair of animated statues; a vampire apparently sucking the blood from the neck of an elf maiden. They paid no notice to the party until Abdul el Abdul had Clarence go over and poke at them. At which point the pair separated and sprang to attack poor abused Clarence. Kwinsea sent Velma in to help, and most of the rest of the party crowded in the room to fling missile weapons (except Beuford and Xavier who choose to stay out of trouble). The battle rapidly went downhill for the party, and after a number of mighty blows, both Clarence and Velma lay smashed on the floor. This forced the party to retreat from the room, Abdul el Abdul taking several heavy blows as he tried unsuccessfully to retrieve the crystal heart from Velma's remains. Now out of the room, the party thought it might be best to give the room a pass, although Kwinsea really wanted to recover the crystal heart. However, as they talked, the two hostile statues tried opening the door to continue their assault. Beuford and Abdul el Abdul grabbed the door and held it shut. Chaff lit his pistol match-cord and blasted a hole in the door. He then stuck his wand of paralyzation  through the hole and released a charge. One statue seemed to go down, and Kwinsea then finished off the last by blindly shooting her prismatic ray gem through the hole.

Cockatrice

Recovering the crystal heart, the party pushed on to check out the rest of the tower. They found rooms filled with animated (but uncommunicative) dwarven statues, another vampire/elf maid pair, and a room with a pair of emaciated and ragged caged cockatrices. Abdul el Abdul was tempted to find a way carry off a caged cockatrice (the magical bird being prominent on his family coat or arms), but the logistics of the operation deterred the party. They did however, take a throw-covered picture or mirror they found in one room. They were very careful to tie the cover on, as the room also contained three very lifelike statues with frightened looks. It seemed logical that the picture/mirror had turned them to stone.

Having explored all of this last floor, the party was perplexed and annoyed that they had found no sign of the wizard's private chambers. They decided to head back down to the first level and search for secret doors. On the way, Kwinsea politely questioned the sarcastic stairs regarding "The Master" and where he would spend his time. It wasn't an easy conversation, but it seemed his private chambers were accessible from somewhere on the main level.  That lead their thoughts to the room in which they'd found Clarence, with the thick layer of stone dust on the floor. Perhaps there was a hidden trapdoor? So back they went and started searching. Abdul el Abdul pushed the  animated statute of the female warrior aside to check for a trap door below, but was rewarded with nothing but a blank look from the stony amazonian. Torak, sweeping aside the dust however, did find that which they sought; a trap door in the floor ...

TOTAL XP

128

GAINS

Mouthy magical goblets (2)
Bottle of Wine

KILLS

2 Living Statues

LOSSES

Clarence and Velma, the erstwhile animated statue henchpersons

Far Isles Session #19 - To the Magic Isles

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 3))

Kwinsea (Aquamancer 1), with familiar Hermes, and henchman Xavier (Swashbuckler 1)

Chaff (Vivimancer 3), with familiar Dirty Bird, riding hound Stinky Dog, and henchman Mumbles (Specialist/Thief 1)

Torak (Cleric 1)

Beuford Bumbletoes (Halfling 1)

It was a tense voyage from the crystal caves back to the anchorage. Yorik was almost apoplectic with rage when he found out the party had destroyed the Kalandrian cosmic computer before he got a chance to probe it's memory banks for the lost knowledge of that advanced civilization. Only Rold's cooler head, and the reluctance of the crew to tangle with hardened adventurers, keep him from ordering everyone thrown over the side in mid ocean. But once back at the anchorage, the party was booted off the "Loreman's Passage" forthwith. And they were joined by Beuford and a couple of other crew members who had gotten a little to friendly with, in Yorik's words, "the enemy"; Xavier the swashbuckling sailor and Mubbles the mostly mute mate.

Now stranded ashore, the party made the rounds of the anchorage to see what was going on.  Ships at anchor and associated rumors and job opportunities included:

• "The Magnificant Marios" - A merchant, Marios is a bit full of himself, can't be trusted, and has prices higher than anyone else. But he usually has a few potions and scrolls for sale.
• "Nalco's Rowboat" - A tiny rowboat with a cabin on it is the home of the mage Nalco. Rumor has it the inside of the cabin is actually a full wizards tower. Nalco sells scrolls and potions, can ID magic items, and can provide anything alchemical. He is also looking for a party to go explore "The Magical Isles", a weird archipelago of cursed islands, bizarre wizards, and lots of neat magical stuff. He wants magic items, not interested in the  gold, and will supply transportation. 
•  "Serpents Revenge" - Back at the anchorage again, having bought the commission from the "Divine Providence". Left and came back again, but the crew is staying well away from the rest of the ships and not being social. No indication if Thorgrim actually found the lost ship or even went looking for it.
• "Divine Providence" - The captain, Yorgam of Tarsk, has had a terrible time finding an away crew (probably because he is a bit of an ass). Sold his  original commission to the "Serpents Revenge" and lured an away crew aboard with promises of a better deal. This time has a commission to find a different lost ship, but this one is loaded down with gold nuggets.
• "Two for Trouble" - Sailing for the bronze door in the jungle. Looking for an away crew. Standard split of treasure, but captain gets first pick of magic items and lotus.

The party also picked up a few other potentially useful/interesting bits of information:

• The abandoned shantytown is a little less abandoned this time. A group of adventurers has set up a bit of a tavern/gambling racket. Rotgut ale made from ... well, you probably don't want to know.  Along with the few refugees who didn't leave before, and a few others that have drifted in, it's almost looking like a little village. A dirty, ramshackle an generally lawless one, but a village just the same. 
•  Many of the sailors report encountering an increased frequency of ghost ships.
• Pirates have been encountered lately, but not coming from the mainland. They seem to hail from some as yet undiscovered lands to the east.
• An excessively drunk sailor claims to have see a huge floating island of seaweed, miles across, populated by mermaids and unicorns.

Weighing the options, the  party decided Nalco offered the best combination of loot and excitement. So they mooched a ride over to his rowboat, and indeed there was a full tower inside that cabin. Nalco, they found, looked and sounded like a 13year old boy. That was a bit odd, but he seemed to know his magic stuff. Nalco repeated the offer; he wanted unique and powerful magic items. The party could keep the gold and any minor magics such as potions and scrolls. And depending on how much they brought back, he might even let them keep some of the good stuff. When asked, the adolescent mage was a bit vague on the details of transportation, telling the party to essentially wait and see.

Deal sealed, the party went shopping for supplies; Nalco indicated they'd have to supply their own basic items such as food and water. Chaff was able to turn the eyes of petrification into store credit with Nalco, who provided a continual light coin and identified Chaff's wand (a wand of paralyzation) in return. Chaff also snagged a new spell, bonewarp, for his spellbook from Marios. Kwinsea meanwhile went on a bit of a dipsomaniac bender, and had to be physically restrained from marching off to pick a fight with Bellaphrone the Incontatrix. 

Transportation

A few days later, the party met with Nalco again, ready to head out to the Magic Isles. The mage now had a small sailing boat in addition to his own rowboat, and he turned to two vessels towards the open sea. Once out of the anchorage, Nalco pulled out a huge brass horn. He blew it, and after some time, a great baleen whale surfaced next to the rowboat. The mage explained the leviathan would carry them and the sailing boat to the isles and deposit them there. Handing the horn to Abdul el Abdul, Nalco explained they needed simply to sound it again to summon a whale to bring them back. Once the party was in the sailing boat, the whale proceeded to open it's maw and float the vessel onto it's tongue. There, amid the smell of whale breath and rotting krill, the party passed a number of days, feeling the beast moving through the depths. And were suddenly blinded by bright sunlight when it vomited them forth at the end of a chain of islands; the Magic Isles presumably. As the whale dove and left them floating there, Abdul el Abdul used his directional crystal and estimated the Magic Isles were probably 4-5 days voyage somewhere to the north-east of the anchorage.

Of the Magic Isles themselves, a half dozen were in view. Chaff sent Dirty Bird aloft and  observed a few more nearby, and then hints of additional islands towards the south-eastern horizon. On one isle, a black stone tower could be seen. Otherwise there was no sign of civilization. After some debate, they decided to check out the largest island, which lay between them and the isle with the black tower. The large island was long and narrow, essentially a long mountain ridge fringed by shallow salt-marshes and grassy dunes. Getting closer, they spied the remains of a road running through the dunes. And both heard and saw a mass of crocodiles in the salt marsh between them and solid ground. The maneuvered the boat around the reptilian beasts, and sent Xavier and Mubbles over to side to haul them ashore. Once there, they tied up the boat and headed east on the ruined road. After about an hour, they came to an intersection. The road continued along the shore and a branch climbed the mountainside towards a low pass. At the intersection they also found a freshly mounded pile of sand. Abdul el Abdul checked out the path, and found faint signs of booted feet, probably weeks old. They had come from the east, and returned that way in lesser numbers. After an hour long detour up to the pass (which revealed nothing but a better view of the black tower across the channel), the party gathered once more at the mound.  The party guessed the mound was a grave, so Mubbles was handed a shovel and told to start digging.  He uncovered a body, wrapped in a shroud. Xavier decided to show off by grabbing the shroud and whipping it off without disturbing its contents. Said contents were a body, a few weeks past it's prime and still dressed in armor. It was also missing a leg, chewed off by something it would appear.

Just what chewed the unfortunates leg off became clear momentarily, as a growling sound was heard from the nearby salt marsh and three hungry crocodiles slithered out of the mud and grass.  A fumble of attacks ensued, and Beuford once more had the distinction of getting chomped first. Chaff ended it all quickly, however, by dropping a web spell on a pair of crocs, while the third turned and headed back to the salt water. After carving the up the reptiles and rooting around in the grave for loot, the party reburied the remains and proceeded east. Eventually the road came to at a spot that looked like it once held a dock or a jetty. There were signs again that a group of people and and boat had been here weeks before, but nothing remained of interest today. So the party marched back to their own boat (after discovering that the old road petered out a few hundred yards west of their landing sight), and sailed around the island until opposite the lack tower. It was getting late, so they hauled ashore on the north side of the large island (less swampy and crocodile infested than the south side)  and made camp for the night.

After an uneventful night, the party boarded boat and head for the isle of the black tower. It was rocky with no obvious landing point, but they were able to get ashore and tie the boat to a good solid rock. Exploring the island, they found it was pretty much bare of plant life. There was a faint path leading from the tower to a flooded quarry, and scattered along that path were large numbers of long-rotted logs. As for the tower itself, it was about 50' high, with no windows. Scattered around outside were about a dozen partly dressed stones that looked like they came from the quarry. With nothing else to check out, the party headed for the tower. There they found a set of double doors, flanked by a pair of huge statues in the form of amazonian warriors holding large maces.  Torak cast detect magic, and to no ones great surprise the statues and the door glowed. They also now noted a small brass bell above the door. Kwinsea cast a cantrip to ring the bell, at which point one of the statues animated. It reached for the bell and rang it seven times, after which the doors opened. Nervously, everyone filed through the portal and into the tower.

The Black Tower

Inside, they found themselves in a rooms that seemed to take up 1/4 of the tower. A set of stairs wound up the outer wall, and the room itself was filled with statues. All of human warriors, and all moving. Most simply swiveled about on their pedestals, swinging weapons and turning. Two marched back and forth in front of a door in the north wall. Torak's detect magic showed that all (surprise!) were magical. Kwinsea and Xavier walked over to the door, and the two pacing statues suddenly stopped and blocked their way. It looked like they would have to deal with them if they wanted to go any further on this level. But the party was afraid that the rest of the statues might attack if they interfered with the guards at the door. So they came up with a plan. Chaff would web the door guards while everyone else stood watch from the stairs, covering the little vivimancer in case of a disaster. When they climbed the stairs however, the party was surprised to find they could talk. Each riser has a gargoyles farce carved in it, and they were quite mocking and insulting.  After numerous comments about the party members weights, body odor, and manners, Kwinsea did manage to speak respectfully to one stair. It revealed that there was nothing beyond the door but a kitchen. Nobody believed that, so Chaff cast his web. That entrapped the guards, and none of the other statues seemed to  change. So taking leave of the chatty stairs, the party bashed the webbed  statues, then bashed through the door. On other other side of which was indeed a kitchen ...

TOTAL XP

545

GAINS

none

KILLS

2 crocodiles

2 Living Statues

LOSSES

none

Far Isles Session #18 - The Kalandrian Cosmic Computer

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 2)
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 1), with familiar, Hermes
Chaff (Vivimancer 2), with familiar Dirty Bird, and riding hound Stinky Dog
Beuford Bumbletoes (Halfling 1)

After a nights rest on board the "Loreman's Passage, the party was ready to head back to try their luck finding the cube of the gear in the third set of caves. Warily eyeing the slippery narrow stairs cut into the cliff, they elected to send the over-impatient Beuford ahead with rope and grappling hooks to set a static line. Then it was up the stairs and into the caves, which were very similar in construction/ shape to the first two entrances they'd explored. The first chamber was empty except for ankle deep shattered crystal all over the floor. Moving carefully, Kwinsea cleared a path, finding a silver ring in reward. No one found anything else of interest, however, so they moved on. They came next to three way intersection, in the centre of which stood a triangular prism, two feet wide and extending from floor to ceiling. Chaff examined it closely, but found no inscriptions, and also noted that it appeared to be part of, rather than sitting on, the floor.

Taking the left tunnel, they followed it around a bend and emerged into another chamber. This one was empty and unadorned, but for the narrow tubes they could see behind the semi-transparent walls. Closer examination showed that a fluid of some sort pulsed though the tubes. For some reason that discovery made the party uneasy, so they backtracked to try the other direction. They came once more to a three way intersection and prism, and turning right, encountered yet another. Puzzled by the prisms, they non the less pushed on into the next chamber. A jumble of crystal spars filled the centre of this room, looking like some form of bizarre sculpture. Abdul el Abdul sensed a trap, noting that if he squinted his eyes and twisted his head the right way, it almost looked like one of the crystal mantis' that had given them such grief. That was enough for Chaff, so he and Abdul el Abdul lit their match cords and  fired at the mass. Which was good, for once the smoke cleared, they could see the sculpture was indeed a mantis, and it advanced with it's deadly appendages swinging. It lashed out at Beuford and struck the little warrior with both arms, picking him up and raising the halfling to it's maw. Beuford, however, lashed out and stabbed it in the throat just as it bit him. The mantis fell dead to the floor, but the halfling still clung to life. Chaff gave up his ride and allowed Beuford to be slung over Stinky Dogs back as the party pressed on to search for the cube.

Fluid Filled Tubes

Passing through yet another three way intersection with a prism, they came next to a small chamber with an unexpected rectangular pillar at the centre. They were not able to examine it closely at this time however, as on each side stood a brace of brittle bones. When Abdul el Abdul stepped into the room, these advanced with spears lowered , so the party backed up a little to form a defensive position. With Beuford slung over the dog, Chaff had to take his place in the front line. Which did not work out well, as the little vivimancer was a soft target. As Abdul el Abdul struck again and again at the creatures, they in turn struck again and again at Chaff. He soon had to retreat, bleeding from multiple wounds. He tried to send Stinky Dog (and Beuford) forward to block the way,  but the mutt would have none of it and instead fled in terror into the darkness behind them. Which meant Kwinsea had to step into the breach, muttering something about "stupid land creatures". It was close, but oil, sword and trident did triumph in the end. After unsuccessfully calling for Stinky Dog, the party went on to examine this pillar. It was not part of the floor as were the others, so Abdul el Abdul grasped it and tried turning it. And it did indeed turn. At the same time, a portion of the west wall slid away, revealing a very small room. Looking inside, Abdul spied two small chests, similar in design if not nearly as ornate as the ones recovered in the caves of the guardian. The party hauled these out, and after a check for traps, pried them open. To their glee, one was packed with a mass of gold and crystal jewelry, and the other with gems.

Packing away their new found wealth, the party moved on again. In the next chamber they entered they found five of the regressed Kalandrian. These, however, seemed to have merged with the walls. Looking closer, they could see more of the fluid filled tubes in the semi-transparent walls, connected to the Kalandrians. That was creepier even than  the room with just the tubes, so they choose to retreat without disturbing anything. Heading back to one of the intersections, they took a new branch tunnel which led into a room filled with a large pool of liquid. The floor slopped down towards the pool, so they had to be careful not to slide in. Which was good, for when Abdul el Abdul threw in a rope, it came back  completely crystallized. The same happened when Kwinsea and Chaff dipped objects in the water. The trio also noted that a strange cube floated on the surface at the far side of the pool. Abdul el Abdul pulled out his trusty grappling hook and tried to snag it. His first throw missed, but while pulling it back he snagged something at the bottom of the pool. He hauled the object to shore and as it emerged they could see it was a backpack. It was sealed shut, so Abdul el Abdul carefully cut it open. Inside was a mess a mundane gear, as well as a potion bottle and a longsword with a hilt of blue gem and a blade of black crystal. The fighter claimed the fantastic sword, and Chaff snatched up the potion (which he tasted and discovered was a potion of levitation). Looting done, Abdul el Abdul threw the grapple once more and this time hooked the cube. When pulled to shore, they could see at once that this was the missing key to the gate, the cube of the gear.

The Black Blade

Although tempted to return right away to the ship to rest, the party decided to check out the last few tunnels, assuming one would lead them back to the great crystal spar chamber and thence to the circular gate. First letting a platoon of the round 6-legged cave maintenance creatures pass by, and after following a few false leads, they came at last to a long twisted tunnel. At the entrance to the tunnel, they found a  2' tall crystal spike sticking out of the floor. Inside flickered a faint purple flame, while around it sat two human skeletons. They were long departed from the lands of the living, but they seemed to stare intently at the crystal and purple flame. Which Chaff immediately covered with a sack to keep anyone in the party from becoming so enchanted. The party then pressed on, finding one of the purple flame crystals every 10' or so, which they took great care not to stare at directly. They did, however, after some travel emerge once more into the crystal spar chamber. But chose not to press on, deciding instead to return to the ship and recover from their hurts. Heading back to the cave entrance, they encountered and had to slay a regressed Kalandrian before reaching sunlight once more. There, they found Stinky Dog (with Beuford still attached) patiently awaiting them.

Back on board the "Loreman's Passage", the party slipped Beuford back into his hammock to fume away for a few weeks of recovery from his near death experience. The others likewise took a couple of days to recover from their battles before heading back with the cube. Examining their maps, the party selected the shortest route they could find to the circular gate . This happened to take them past the still petrified Grog, so Chaff once more gave up his mount so Stinky Dog could carry Grog, thinking the ex-goblin could be useful in a fight if paired with the crystal heart.  However, they were able to pass through the entry caves and traverse the spar cavern unmolested, and before long were standing at gate. Chaff inserted the cube, and the gate responded with it's usual sounds of gears and mechanisms moving. This time when the sound stopped, however, a small round opening appeared in the centre. Peaking inside, they could first of all see that it was occupied by a human skeleton lying it's back. In the ceiling above the body were five silvery buttons inscribed with Kalandrian writing. There was some trepidation about getting in the tube, the presence of a dead body never boding well. However after removing the skeleton (and looting it of a wand and scroll of ward against undead) and testing the tube with a re-animated Grog and the familiars, Kwinsea was finally willing to crawl in and read the lettering. Four were labeled as "UP", "DOWN", OPEN, "CLOSE", which were pretty self explanatory. The fifth was cryptically labelled "FLASH". Once more no one was willing to try any of the buttons to see what happened, so Grog and Dirty Bird were placed in the tube, and the hyper-intelligent parrot given instructions to try all the buttons except "FLASH" and come back to report.

The door to the tube closed, and after some time, Grog and Dirty Bird returned. The parrot reported to Chaff that the tube descended for several minutes. Upon stopping, the bird opened the door to reveal dodecahedral room whose walls glowed with a soft blue-white light. Floating around inside were a half dozen dodecahedral objects, each about fist sized and sprouting long hoses or tendrils. Since the familiar reported the objects did not seem concerned with their visitors, Kwinsea decided she and Hermes would decend next. When they emerged into the room however, the floating things swarmed around the aquamancer and attached tendrils to her skull. Kwinsea got the distinct impression that her mind was being read, a procedure repeated with each  party member as they arrived. While unnerving, it didn't seem to cause any harm.

With the party now fully assembled, they exited the tunnel at the opposite end of the doceahedron. It opened into a seemingly endless plain, the expanse of which glowed with the same soft blue-white light. Far in distance a structure could be seen, so the party headed towards it. It actually did not take as long to reach as they thought it should, and the party found themselves in front of a latticed geodesic dome constructed of silvery wire connected with gems. Inside were two low round platforms, each about a foot in diameter. Kwinsea walked over to the far platform and stepped on top, only to be rewarded with an intense blast of electricity, and the aquamancer and her familiar dropped dead to the floor. Chaff, after just a moments hesitation, stepped on the first platform. Thankfully there was no blast this time, but instead the gems joining the cage began to glow and the whole structure began to hum. Moments later, a holographic figure appeared on the other platform. It was Kalandrian, and the figure reached out it's hands towards Chaff. "Greetings" it spoke in perfect Common. "You have accessed the repository of all knowledge gathered by Kalandria before the great fall. What do you wish?"

The Kalandrian Cosmic Computer

Looking at his fallen comrade, the vivimancer asked at once if Kwinsea could be brought back from the dead. The figure reached out an arm towards her body, and blue rays extended from its fingertips, engulfing the dead mage. The rays lifted the body to it's feet and then vanished, leaving Kwinsea and Hermes blinking in the unexpected light. As this was happening, the party noticed the light in the gems flicker and dim a little, and a faint smell of ozone wafted by. Assuming that meant there was not much time left to access the memory banks before it shut down (or worst), Chaff quickly asked next for knowledge of a spell to allow him to see and identify magical emanations. As the gem flicker and ozone smell increased, Abdul el Abdul stepped on the platform and asked for knowledge to help him to increase his  martial proneness, while Kwinsea asked for help in harnessing the power of the prismatic ray gem so the headaches and confusion it caused could be controlled. All three received the enlightenment they needed. But just as Kwinsea stepped off the platform, the whole wire and gem frame began to spark and flame, and the holographic figure stared to fade from view.

Assuming that didn't bode well, the party fled back to the dodecahedral room as the dome exploded in a spray of sparks and electrical discharge behind them. Up to the caves they returned, and once more emerged into the sunlight without encountering anyone or anything. There, they summoned the ships boat and returned to the "Loreman's Passage" with tales of wonder to tell Yorik.


TOTAL XP
4424

GAINS
Silver Ring (10gp)
14 Pieces of Gold and Crystal Jewelry (2800gp)
29 Assorted Gems (975gp)
2 Crystal Skulls (10gp each)

KILLS
8 Brittle Bones
1 Crystal Mantis
1 Regressed Kalandrian

LOSSES
Kwinsea & Hermes (temporarily)