Hide-n-go Sylph
The latest in the Jaystorm saga
OKAY! Here we go! first, a summary of the past month's events:
First there was the War in Satile against the hoarding Malfestians - that's where we all met. Now we know that the Malfestians are being controlled by the Everbeast! Carey Billingsford (going under the name Balan Sheiss) has Satilian troops, some of his army of the White Lion and 3 crimson blades to help him out. There was lots of fighting, lots of snow and we met up with some Mercenaries. We were trapped in a revived ghost for a night and hitched a ride on an Elven airship. From there, our party left to help Sashraddon with her quest in the Rutlands trying to find the Hollow Warrior that seems to be rallying the Dragons to take back their homeland. They managed to find Randi and calm her down enough to keep her from taking her dragon form. In the Rutlands, Forgan learned that his goddess Haltessa sleeps in the Northern Shrine - our bard knew where exactly. So we started up there after Forlumb's coromation and a battle with the Demon lord from the 4th plane of hell. Long story short, Sorrel was broken, the Healer is a pig, Jennifer is part-cat, Gray's family was brought back from the dead and Haltessa was sucessfully revived and has taken her place in the celestial counsel.
Now we have to find the fairy named Sylph to pair her up with the "Angel" Ras Mar. The two of them are soul mates, so to say. Sylph had been trapped in the Vendrill's spire for a long time and was finally freed. Unfortunately, she was left in Malfestus, right in the middle of the Vendrill plague (a plague that destroys the body, the mind AND the soul). That's not a good place for an Illith (a fairly that embodies happiness and pure joy)! She's actually depressed now! That's going to make it harder for us to find her and we have only 5 days to do that. Why only 5 days, you ask? Well, in 5 days, Ras Mar is going to journey with the Jade Brotherhood into HELL. He and the rest of the Jade brothers have the Kassar Device which has to be brought into Agapellack in order to get as close to the Bwel'Cronth as possible before its used. The Bwel'Cronth is holding it's foot in the door between hell and earth, letting all the demons come free and make a new level of hell. That's not good! In fact, it's breaking the laws of the universe! So, in order to get him at his full potential and power, we have to find Sylph and make sure she's OK, then bring her to Ras. However, with all our teleporting advances and other major merits, we still don't have a fool-proof way to find a fairy that doesn't want to be found. Forlumb had already sent one of his servants to Malfestus ahead of us to look for Sylph as well, so if we find him, perhaps he'll have a better skill or at least a better lead on it.
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Before setting on this quest, Gray sought out the help of King Zariss (Forlumb - aslo Sashraddon's father). Forlumb offered the services of the Watcher (yes, the scale 4 dragon that the party in the dream world freed from the Dark Savant) to help our party teleport multiple places so that we can help out in this latest quest before the deadline. Gray sent the healer back to his home and was the test subject to find a cure for Vendrill. Fortunately the Healer was successful. Unfortunately, the cure was not permanent (you'd still be vulnerable to getting the disease) and there are only 3 more doses of it in the world. The animal it was made from is extinct and related somehow to the wolf spirit. The Watcher and Gray returned to the Northern shrine where everyone was waiting and then sent the rest of Gray's family to Satile to help in the War effort. We were taken to Forlumb's palace (along with all of our stuff after selling most of it to the Giants for "white rock", a.k.a. rough diamonds). Forlumb had a thing or two to say to his Daughter when we arrived. He was really angry and yelling alot! Sashraddon was actually shaking she was so scared. He offered to members of our party to stand by her in a trial of sorts. Forlumb would act as arbitrator and Sashraddon has accused herself of personally destroying Darrens, the Capitol of Thel years ago. Gray and Forgan offered to stand by and witness what was to come. They were escorted into a room void of furniture or decorations and were not allowed to speak unless given explicit permission by the king. What they were standing in was no mere room, though. It was the Watcher's "Crystal Ball" that recorded everything that happened everywhere in history all over the world. Forlumb called up the time that this supposedly took place and they all watched as it happened again beofore them. The party that Sashraddon had previously traveled with (played by the Warren Crew) was a bunch of cut-throats who had very little regard for anything outside their personal desires. One of them had acquired a magical whip. A relic actually. It controlled the weather and would bring about a storm if used in the right way. Sashra knew this and didn't stop him. For that she blames herself (and she was also convinced that she craved its power). After speaking to him, she ran into Wolfgang, who she openly admired, and told him that she wasn't even sure how to use it. The storm was summoned and people were dying. Buildings collapsed and trees were uprooted. The city was being destroyed all around! The new king of Thel, (the very same man who activated this relic) cared very little for his people. In fact he didn't care at all. He refused to try to call back the storm as Sashraddon gathered people into the giant cathedral of Ba'klor for safety. She then took matters in her own hands and took the whip into herself and bore the burden of the entire storm onto her own body, saving thousands of lives. Her blood seeped out of her veins as lightning stuck her numerous times and rain pelted her body and winds blew her around. By the morning, the storm had settled and she lay on the floor of the cathedral stuck in her own dried blood. Her companions told her that everyone died and everything was destroyed and that she failed. The Sashraddon watching all of this remembered everything differently. Those criminals she traveled with had her believe that it was all her fault and that she was a failure. She had begun to hate herself so much that she even had suicidal tendencies. She was re-building herself from the inside to be whatever they had convinced her that she was. She then came to that realization when Forlumb took them all to the present day state of Darrens. They had re-built most everything and they turned the Cathedral into an orphanage and named it "The Sashra". Sashraddon knew that she was right and was a good person. She did the right thing and saved many people because of it. What started out as a trial ended up as a redemption. Sashraddon could now begin to search out and eventually gain back her self-confidence and independence. She was now going to try to be more like herself. All this time, she thought violence was the answer - Wolfgang and his party were violent and always sucessful at what they did. She saw that and wanted to be successful too, so she thought violence was the answer. Unfortunately, Gray's face had been taking the brunt of that one. However, now she knows that she can do whatever she wants to be successful as long as she has the right motives. She also had thought that she loved Wolfgang, but in fact she was in love with his success. Another thing that she now knew to be false. She can move on with her life at last! Yaaaay! Everyone who had been waiting out in the Hallway (Elonora, MacCarr and Jennifer) weren't sure what to expect to come out of there. The whole thing started with Sashraddon scared out of her mind and her father yelling at her (and her father NEVER raises his voice!) in front of all of us. When they all came out of there happy, it was a little confusing, but very relieving. But there was no time to waste - we had a quest to finish!
Forlumb offered to trandsport us right to Malfestus into the city that his messenger was last seen. Fortunately, that's exactly the same town that Forgan has a summer mansion: Calicess, the capitol of the province of Morand in the southern part of Malfestus (close to, but south of the equator). Being a member of the house of Tansixes, Forgan had title - not just a knight and Paladin, but a count as well. He also has a mansion full of eager servants! Most of them were topical beautiful women. Just this morning, we all woke up in Kakass, WAAAAAAy to the north where there is very little aside from snow and ice and now we're in Calicess, which is about as close to Bermuda as you can get! Just as we arrived, servant women began fawning over "Master Forgan" with their little Frenchie-Malfestian accents. With the return of the house master, they now had some purpose and more potential for fun, so they were eager to help anyone in any way. And, since this is Malfestus, magic and strange creatures are much more widely accepted! Yaaaay for the freak force! There were girls everywhere. Forgan has at least 40 maidservants and maybe 20 manservants! Sheesh! Gray could not stop saying "This place is SO cool!" However, we could not spend too much time right away - must remember the quest! before leaving, the head mistress of the house reminded Forgan that tomorrow there was to be a ball held by Baron Boryue and that he was invited. Sashraddon saw this as an opportunity to gather information to get further on in out quest or at least to someone who can help. She wrote a reply to the Baron telling him how offended she was that he forgot the Princess of Moray, Brekarium's Sister! But again, this was not until tomorrow night. For now, Forgan knew of a few good contacts to find this messenger that Forlumb had sent (Professor Horace). Jennifer went to talk to town guards, MAcCarr went to the local pubs and bars, and Forgan, Elonora and Gray went to speak with the captain of the Port Authority, the town defender. He and Forgan are good friends. It turns out that he and his men are really bored lately because the Pirates seem to have disappeared!. Also, he has heard that the great Dragon Turtle has been spotted in a reef not too far away. Coincidence? I think not! However, he wasn't much help in our questing, so we decided to visit a local magic shop (run by keepers of the Red Tome) and see if he had visited there. He did, in fact, so Forgan and Sashraddon wrote him a letter asking tht he meet them to discuss these matters (trying to keep everything low-key) and we browsed the shop for a bit. MacCarr and Jennifer were to meet back up with us at the mansion around dinner time. The townsfolk were a happy people. It was so refreshing to be surrounded by warmth and happiness! After dropping off some of the White Rock at the Jewlers to be cut into refined diamonds, we headed back to the Mansion and waited there for Jennifer and MacCarr's return. Instead of just sitting there twiddling our thumbs, we HAD to get a little rest and relaxation. The moment we arrived, the swarms of servants surrounded us asking wht they could do to help. Forgan gathered up a few favorite servant women and heade doff to the bath. Gray had to take a bath as well, but was unaccustomed to anyone else being there with him. Three maidservants waited to bathe him and it took nearly 20 minutes for him to realize that they did not intend on leaving. His shyness was quite evident, but he eventually gave in and slipped in the tub while they had their backs turned. They washed him and massaged his muscles and Gray actually relaxed! Go figure! After the bath, Gray sought out Sashraddon who was in the library reading up on a tourist's view on Calicess. He convinced her to get some relaxations, too, so she sought out some male servants to help her bathe. Elonora had found her way to the beach and ran and ran and frolicked in the ocean. She returned to find Gray and Forgan lounging in charis by the pool under an umbrella. Sashraddon was lying down having her back massaged and truly enjoying it. The servants rinsed the salt water off of Elonora and took her aside to make her up all pretty. Gray and Forgan got foot rubs and dinner was being prepared. The chef was this young Drak girl, also working for Master Forgan. Her features were mostly human, though she has horns and she had a BIG crush on Gray! He had taken that potion of appearance and was now more handsome than any man they had ever seen. He was walking around the pool just wearing a pair of pants, showing off his ripped muscles to the swooning babes. However, being Gray Tarrenson, he didn't realize he was doing it. The entertainment arrived and dinner was almost ready, but MacCarr and Jennifer were still unaccounted for. MacCarr finally arrived and said that Jennifer would be late - she was following a good lead.
Dinner was superb! The best food we had ever tasted!
After dinner, a hand-written message was delivered from Professor Horace to Forgan to meet him at a certain location in the morning. He and Sashraddon were going to go together. We arranged who was going to sleep where and where we are going to meet in the morning. Then, the servants came out and jumped in the pool and took off their clothes! WOO HOOOOO!!!!! NAKED TIME!!!!! MacCarr was in the pool taking a bath as well and everyone decided to jump in and play! FUN FUN FUN!!!!
....wasn't there a quest here somewhere?
That night, Gray couldn't sleep, so he earth-teleported to Collakra to check on the status of his Castle and make sure his family got the horses they needed. When he got there, he found a little more than he expected. He met a small goblin thta had been on a quest to find Gray. He was hiding behind a pile of wood, paranoid that there were people hunting him. He did not know how accepting the Collakra population can be, but Gray tried his darndest to get him to mingle with the locals. They were more than eager to meet a goblin that spoke Satilian and other languages! This goblin, unfortunately was not the only one who came looking for Gray. A knight came demanding one-on-one combat with him a few days ago. The knight waited and challenged again, but took the lack of an answer as an insult and a refusal for honorable combat and then left, proclaiming that he would be returning to avenge the souls that Gray had sent to hell (including his wife) and he will bring a standing army with him and they shall burn Gray's castle to the ground before it is completely built. Now that sent Gray into a minor panic of sorts. There were people like this goblin coming here looking for a safe place to live because of Gray's good reputations and they are all being threatened by those who are after Gray and want to come kill him. After speaking to town guards and trying to beef up security and alertness, Gray had to return to the quest at hand. He teleported back and tried to get some sleep.
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About an hour before dawn, Forgan was woken up to go meet with this Horace in the designated meeting place at dawn. Sashraddon was to join him, but was not ready yet. After pestering by servants, she fianlly emerged, covered in a light velvet cape - her sunburn was AWFUL! Still, they headed out and saw that the sunrise was pinkish red in color. Storm clouds were rolling in, but nothing dreadful seemed afoot. They arrived and waited...and waited...and waited... Eventually, they saw the Defender of the town, Matthew ride up with some men to the area and stop. Forgan emerged from a hiding spot to find out what the problem was. Evidently, the Defender also got a note saying to meet at this spot - they had kidnapped his wife and would kill her if he did not arrive. The note that forgan had was in the exact handwriting of the note for the Defender. Still, nobody came. Forgan called out to Horace and there was no response of any kind. The Defender grew more impatient, anxious and angry with every passing second. He sent out men all over to find his wife and put the town on high security. Forgan and Sashraddon wandered the streets looking for clues or hints and eventually went to the Defender's ship, the Mallory for any answers. The first mate, who is now in charge, was moving the boat die to the oncoming storm. Forgan and all the other locals thought this odd since a ward had been placed over a decade ago to prevent any tropical storms from entering. They had been charting the ocean floor and found that there have been some changes and dissappearances of some of the reefs. There were actually 2 of the mages that put the ward up in the first place on the ship to oversee these actions and what is to come. They mentioned that they are from the order of the Red Tome and that their local shop had just been burnt to the ground not even 2 hours ago and they found the owner of it also killed in the fire. This is the very same shop that they heard Horace visited a few days ago.Hmmmmm....then it began to storm...
Back at the mansion, the rain had started to pour. Elonora and MacCarr spent time playing instruments and fooling around. MacCarr had a pretty bad sunburn, too. He had never been burnt by the sun, but Gray heard his panic and came to heal him. He then headed down to the beach to train in the oncoming tropical storm. As Elonora and MacCarr were enjoying some downtime, they heard a thump in one of the horse stalls. Elonora went to check it out and found Jennifer had climbed through a window and was covered in all sorts of muck and blood and her clothes were torn. She also happened to be carrying a man with her who was unconscious and also covered in gook. As elonora tried to help her, Jennifer would not allow any servants to know she was here. As Mac went to get towels and fresh water and robes, Jennifer explained that this man she was dragging along had held a knife to her throat last night. However, when he was seen by the men that were hunting him, they thought that Jennifer was an accomplice of his. Now these men who call themselves the Order of the Silver Cross are hunting Jennifer as well as this guy. She had to go through the sewers adn the swamps to escape them and she was looking worse for wear. She cleaned herself off and took off her dirty, wet, torn clothing and began to rest in order to heal her wounds. Elonora cleaned off the man she carried and noticed a giant bump on his head, which is why he is currently unconscious. Jennifer's work, for sure. This man seemed fairly young and had around his neck a giant silver cross on a silver chain. It wasn't long after they were cleaned and robed that Sashraddon and Forgan returned. Sashraddon went down to the beach to get Gray and the rest let Jennifer sleep some more since she didn't get to do so last night. Once everyone was together, Jennifer was woken up and so was her new friend and we were all filled in form everyone's perspectives and experiences to gather up a plan of action. The guy with Jennifer was named Bryan and was offered a membership into the Order of the Silver Cross - the oldest order of magic users in Malfestus. He had overherd them one night however speaking about him - wondering if he would be able to sustain the cross long enough until they could pass it on to Horace....wait a minute! OUR Horace?! Bryan was "being fed" to it in a manner of speaking. After the cross had been put on his head, it has become impossible to remove, but he ran from them anyway. Why they haven't caught him was another question. If they are powerful mages, why not just trap him in a "hold person" spell or "web"? We all eventually came to the assumption that he had thoughts of killing himself in order to kill it. He's holding it for ransom in a way....But in the middle of our conversation, a maid came into the stables where we all were and informed Forgan that he had a guest seeking counsel with him. He excused himself to go meet this guest,Yorn Vonnor, who turned out to be a member of the Order of the Silver Cross and was on a manhunt for Bryan. These guys never mingle or meet with people outside their order! Forgan knew very well that this guy had powers to know that Bryan was just outside in the stables, but turning him in would be passing up a chance to connect with Horace and hopefully clear things up. Not only that, but turning him in would be basically killing him slowly AND we'd hav to turn Jennifer in as well! No Way Jose! Forgan outright lied and said he did not have the resources to help this Order and their search. He then quietly got up, turned around and left. Forgan walked him out, making sure he did not go into the stables, and they were met with his associates: a man covered in spiked platemaille, a frog man with bright red slimy skin with yellow and black dots, a lizard man and a couple of other freak thugs. He was annoyed with Forgan's attentiveness and left hurriedly. During the meeting, Forgan had written a note for the head Mistress to give to the party telling them to leave now and he would meet them in a specific place. They got the note as the maid pushed it through the window and headed out quickly. Bryan was turned invisible to hide him, but the rain nearly gave him away as some guards had stopped them in their path. Luckily, Gray's charisma convinced them that it was far too secret to reveal in the streets, hinting that it had to do with finding the Defender's wife.
This was all so perplexing about what to do or where to go from here. What do we do with Bryan? Why would Horace kidnap the Defender's wife and burn down the magic shop? What connection does he have with the Silver Cross? Who broke the ward that kept out these storms and why? How the HELL are we going to find SYLPH!!!?????
Well, since Horace was sent by Forlumb, we asked Sashraddon if she can contact her father to maybe get a little bit of an idea of what's going on. She tried....but couldn't. Everyone in her family has a pendant they wear and can contact eachother with those. For some reason, she was being blocked from all the others. We were still unsure where to go next. Forgan met up with everyone where he said he would and we tried to come up with a plan from there. We didn't want to take Bryan back to Forgan's place to make it a target, but we had to do something! The only real plan any of us had was to see the Emporer of Malfestus. He is old and ailing, but must surely know something of the Silver Cross and could have some leverage on the situation. Not thinking that the Emporer's palace was smack dab in the center of Malfestus and heavily infected with Vendrill, we opened up a portal with the gloves and Forgan and Gray had already gone through before we could stop them. They yelled for us to stay put and close the portal, so we did. Now Gray and Forgan are in Vendrill territory! Alone! And the rest of us had gotten all dressed up for the occasion and everything. Well, in the meantime, Sashraddon and Jennifer went off to research everything they could about the Baron whose ball we were all going to attend tonight. Elonora was left with Bryan to try to evade the Silver cross until something else could be done. He wanted to talk to the dragon turtle that was seen out by a reef, so Elonora simply agreed and thought that anything's possible. She'd be ready to flee if need be. And the need did come about - however, not because of dangers regarding the dragon turtle, but becasue of the men on the reef that had docked their sailboat there and were shooting arrows at them! The Dragon turtle was there (or seemed to be) and was just floating there docile (or dead) in the water not far from them. Elonora managed to turn around and they were safe again, but they didn't get close enough to see who these men were or why they were shooting at them.
After entering Vendrill central, Forgan and Gray decided to find the emporer and see what they could do regardless. Guards were posted everywhere and were much more heavily armed than ever. These Vendrill zombies become rather viscious monsters in their later stages. With Forgan's reknown in the royalty and nobility of Malfestians, he managed to find out that the crowned prince, heir to the throne of Malfestus (whose father, the Emporer is dying of old age) has the disease himself. Luckily, Gray had the cures with him at the time and was able to give one to the prince. The two of them waited for a time to see if either the prince awoke or the Emperor granted them audience, but after only ten minutes, Gray got quite impatient and earth-teleported back to Calicess. Forgan was left alone to push around his nobility and try to get somewhere. Not may people would see him, nor did they seem to want to make the time for him. After hours had passed and no sign of the Prince's recovery or any word one way or the other from the Emperor or his other family members, Forgan decided to find someone to teleport him. He was pointed toward a rude man who refused to waste his time on such matters. After haggling and more passing of hours, Forgan agreed to pay the man whatever he asked (500 Goldpieces!) and was sent back - 10 hours after he first arrived! He returned directly in front of the Baron's manor at about 9:00 that night, already dressed in his formal armour from his "visit" to see the Emperor.
When Gray returned, he found MacCarr there alone. Mac told him where everyone had gone and Gray flew off to try to save Elonora from flying into the mouth of the Dragon Turtle. They met on the beach as Elonora had just returned. She told Gray of the men shooting and that the Turtle wasn't doing anything and he went to tell the crew of the Mallory and try to find out what is going on. Elonora didn't want Bryan to be at Forgan's place, so she wandered the streets a bit. Along the way, she called out to Verril, the Raven spirit. He answred her, but was very faint and far away. Something was trying to keep him out. He had very few answers, but did know that these silver crosses are in fact alive. One of his followers was involved with the order in some way. She asked him about the wolf spirit for making more cures to Vendrill, but the only way ANYONE could contact the wolf spirit was through his avatar, Jason. Elonora and Bryan passed by the man in the spiked plate maille, but he was very docile and didn't bother even flinching as he watched us pass. Not too long after, we were caught up in a net that had been camoflaged on the street. Villagers on rooftops were pulling it up and tangling Elonora in it, but Bryan could get away. He ran, but was soon captured by a mob of villagers and dragged down an alleyway. Elonora tried to track him, but the trail became mixed up with all the other footprints in the mud and he was lost. She headed back to tell the bad news. As she returned, everyone was getting ready for the ball. A carriage was brought around and plans were discussed. Sashraddon used her ability with Kylos to alter Elonora's body to full human form so that she could sneak around and get any incriminating evidence we could that thei Baron is connected with the Silver Cross. Through that, perhaps we could find Horace and he can hopefully help us find Sylph. We're also hoping that if we find the Silver Cross, maybe we can find out who kidnapped the Defender's wife.
The carriage arrived and the Baron's servants welcomed and announced everyone in the carriage as they emerged. Sashraddon was also greeted with such fanfare as dancers and trumpeters playing a song written just for her. Gray was told to leave his sword in the carriage. There was a ward placed over the two ballrooms that prevented any sort of violence within them. Guards took the weapons of anyone who carried them along and held them in a safe. Jennifer went under the name Erika for the evening and she joined Sashraddon in the hob-nobbing. Gray kept his eye on Sashraddon all night long. On the ride to the ball, they discussed that the Silver Cross probably had their eyes on Horace, knowing he was a fairy of sorts. Fairies have access and knowledge of the use of Kylos - a power much like magic, but not magical in nature. Anyone who would detect magical things could not detect Kylos. It is known in Malfestus that Brekarium, who was a lord in Forgan's territory was half-Fairy. It is also known that Sashraddon is his sister. The Silver Cross may want to use her and Horace to "feed" these crosses the powers of Kylos that are built-in with their Fairy anatomy. With the uses of magic AND Kylos, they could control most anything! Needless to say, Gray was quite concerned for the safety of his Princess. They meandered their way through the ball and met all sorts of fake un-interesting people. The Baron was MOST interested in Jennif..uh...Erika for most of the entire night. Which wouldn't be too bad if he weren't big and fat and smelly and annoying. He was a master of beating around the bush and saying many words and never giving any kind of answer to any kind of question. Forgan, once he finally arrived, spent his time chatting with the Baron's son, Don. He actually got Don drunk! They were drinking fine wine and talking at length about girls and girls and girls. Forgan tried a few times to slyly pump him for information and even made an attempt to get him to steal the papers for us (made it seem like a joke) but Don saw nothing bit T&A.
Forgan: What about that girl over there?
Don: Which one? The blonde with the huge nose?
Forgan: No! No, the one with the rack and the ass!
Don: AH!!! Very nice! Very nice indeed!
While all of that was happening, Elonora snuck out to the bathroom and waited for an opportunity to knock. Gray had lent her an armband that would allow her face to look like anyone else's and a small glass disk that could look into any surface that was at most 6inches thick. A maid came into the bathroom to change the water and towels for the guests and after failing at convincing her to switch places, she bonked the maid over the head and took her outfit. Elonora hurried down the hall and began to search the mansion. 200 rooms and 3 floors! Yikes! She made her way up to the 2nd floor with little incident and saw witht he disc that there was a guest in one of the bedrooms reading and writing in a journal of sorts. He seemed and odd fellow - perhaps someone we could make use of. She stole some bedsheets and barged into the room to "make his bed" and clumsily "bumped into" his bookshelf spilling the books everywhere. She read them as she picked them up - there were titles about Agopolak, "the Silver and the Dark - how they Conjoin", "Beyond Magic", "Dragons", and even an Elven book "the 9 hellish planes" and how to bring them up and send them back! He shooed her away and then shrunk his bookcase to pocket sized and hid it away from her. As she was about to leave, a CYCLOPS was standing there in the doorway! He was not as big as most - actually human sized, but dressed in peasant clothing with one big eye in the middle of his forehead! She scooted out of there and he closed the door behind him. She then made her way up to the third floor, passing the supply closet along the way. She saw where the main bedrooms were and also saw a few guest bedrooms up here. One was already taken. She opened the door and snuck in, listening if something was inside, but there was a growl, so she left. There was also someone in the gallery down the hall with a lantern. She passed by quickly and was about to enter the main bedroom, but she heard someone down the hall and decided to try to keep from getting caught. It was that figure witht he lantern - he was wearing a heavy grey robe with the hood pulled over most of his face. He asked her if she was a personal servant and she said she was new and simply lost. After being intimidated, she stuffled down to the supply closet waiting for him to pass her by. He didn't. She then gathered up a few things and "dropped" them so that they'd roll down the hall. He was still at the top of the stairs, but he was talking to someone now. It sounded like Gray. They were talking about delivering someone...she ran off before they started to come downstairs. Elonora managed to make it back downstairs with no incident and wove her way along a hallway and found servants bathrooms. She changed back into her dress and looked like herself again and snuck out the patio door. She eventually made her way through the crowd and got back together with the rest of the party. She told them what she found and Gray knew immediately that Brennin was involved. He tried to use his powers to sense evil intent and his paladinic aura told him to look away before something bad would happen. He told that to Forgan, who then tried the same thing. The same thing happened to him. It was as if something was aware that they were looking and threatened them. Wahtever bad thing was going to happen would have if they kept trying to sense this presence. They never did get any sort of clear answer. Gray and Elonora were going to try to get as much of this done as they could and soon.
Gray took Elonora to the cart they arrived in to get his sword. Inside, when nobody was looking, he cast speaking of woe on the both of them to turn them invisible. It didn't work at first, but eventually, we both started fading away. It was really taxing on gray - his heart was racing from it and it felt much more difficult than normal. She grabbed his hand before it completed so that she could show him the way to the master bedroom. They needed to find these incriminating documents and there seemed to be a desk in there somewhere. He floated with the use of his helmet to make very little noise and she took him through that patio door again (which she managed to unlock with a pipe cleaner and hair pins) and they reached the third floor fairly easily. Brenning and this man in the grey cloak (Who must have been Yorn, from the Silver Cross) were not there anymore. The coast was clear and the door was opened. There was a noise from within, which had them startled a bit, but then found out that it was Don - in his father's bed with that girl (the one with the rack and the ass). Elonora started right in on the desk drawers - trying to unlock them. She managed to get one opened - there was a pile of blank papers, but somewhere in the middle, there was a long string of numbers. That was set aside for later. Underneath that drawer was a small chest of gold. They knew there had to be papers kept here somewhere. Behind the desk there was a marble mural with marble figures entwined in it. Elonora found a switch underneath the desk that made these figures move. Gray happened to catch it out of the corer of his eye - it was mesmerizing. Thankfully his aura again told him to look away from it and he warned Elonora of the same. They each had a different number of fingers that they held up in a certain order. She hit the button again and they were in another different position, but this time, they moved to the left, not the right - counterclockwise instead of clockwise. Between the two of them, they figured out the combination from that paper and the marble mural melted away to reveal an iron door. There was a keyhole there, but Elonora checked for traps. She found two and basically disarmed them, but missed the third. A magic trap that caused horrible icky pain to shoot through her entire body. It still wasn't opened and now Elonora was an arthritic gimp and couldn't do much of anything. Gray had one more trick up his sleeve - he took out a magic crystal shard and jammed it into the keyhole. That turned the door mostly to crystal! He told her to leave ans he was about to smash it and see if he could get what they needed out of the vault and then fly away off the balcony. That's just what he did. Elonora left and he made with the smashhedy. He went in with the glass disk and found a few lock-boxes with documents in them. He took the one that he thought would be most useful, wrapped it in his invisible clothing to hide it as best as he could and then flew off to the carriage. He hid the bod under his jacket and turned hismelf visible again, leaving these things in the carriage. Elonora finally made it down and made her way to the carriage. Gray turned her visible again and tried to heal her, though it did no good. She waited in the carriage until it wore off. Gray went inside and found the party again. Jennifer was still in the arms of the Baron and quite sick of him. Sashraddon still couldn't get much information out of him, and Forgan couldn't gain too much of his attention for too long. Soon thereafter, a servant came to find the Baron and whispered something to him. He then excused himself and left the ball alltogether. Probably to check out the broken safe or his son doing the nasty in his bed....actually, probably both. Jennifer then headed out to the carriage. She took out a set of lock picks and began to work on the lock box. She opened it and looked over the papers. They were what we wanted. They stated that he bought a tract of land and the co-signer was....Horace!!??! Wait a minute! There were also documents confirming an agreement to murder the current (guy whose position he wanted - I forget the title). ALSO co-signed by our good friend Horace! Either the Silver cross anticipated his capture or he's already become a member! EEK! That ain't good! However, we have evidence to incriminate this man! Somehow it can help us get where we need to. Perhaps it can also help bring the Defender's wife out of the woodwork and into the open!
The next plan of action was to corner Baron Boryue and milk him for as much information as he can muster! We've got the blackmail and he's got the connection with the silver cross. If the word got out of his assasination plans, nobody would vote for him or support him.
Sashraddon and Forgan managed to haggle and intimidate their way up to the Baron's chambers. After intimidating the guards at his personal doors, they ran into the Baron having a "family moment" with his son Don and the woman he had slept with. Trying to stay focused and get his attention, they insisted that their issue be adressed immediately. After kicking out the girl and his son, the Baron came into the study to hear them out. There had been a maid up here that was cleaning up the shards of crystal left over, bu the mural now covered the broken safe. Sashraddon showed him the papers and after looking them over, he ponted out that they were a forgery and worth no merit. He acted calm and colletcted as they grilled him and tried to corner him. He wasn't telling them any information they wanted to hear. After a while more of pestering and trying to back him into a corner, the Baron used the mesmerizing marble mural to "calm" them down. Not a few moments passed, as an arrow flew through the open balcony doorsand shot the Baron through the neck. The mural stopped and he fell dead instantly. The arrow was barbed and indistinct. It seemed to come from the balcony across the way (where his wife's bedroom is) or the roof above it, but there was noone to be found. Gray, who had been hiding underneath the balcony listening in this whole time, flew over there to try to find the culprit. He tried breaking through the glass balcony doors on the opposite wall and managed to force his way into the bedroom where the Baroness was sleeping. She called for guards and he flew off up to the roof. After calling guards for help, Forgan nad Sashraddon joined him on the roof. They could see that the guards were beginning to evacuate the ballrooms and crowds were pouring out the front door. Jennifer went to check out any signs of suspicious people and Elonora flew up to the roof to join her friends. After some deliberating and figuring out how to get back in to find Yorn and Brennin, Sashraddon got us through a window in a hallway. They went to the room with a few interruptions from the guards and saw that all Yorn's possessions had been removed from his room. Nobody was around except guards. We demanded that we know who was staying here and where they had gone. A guard took us down to the kitchens to talk with the maids - they are the only ones who know anything about the guests other than the Baron. We found a couple of the Baron's personal maids and asked who was staying on the third floor. They said it was Yorn Vonnor - nobody else. They also said that he and all the other guests had left about an hour ago (about the time that Elonora heard Brennin speaking with Yorn). Now, with Yorn gone, the Baron dead and Brennin nowhere to be found without a trace to follow, we had to find another way to get to the silver cross and get to the bottom of this. As we were trying to re-group and figure another plan of action, word spread that Matthew, the Defender of Calicess was now taking over this investigation.
Emily! Was SHE in here?
Forgan found the head mistress and asked if she had seen anyone by the description of Emily. After some thought and recollection, she remembered seeing her arrive yesterday with a man in glasses named Horace...HORACE?! She did not know where they went from there, or even if they left. Well, at least it was something....A few minutes later, the heavily armored man in the spiked plate maille arrived with a message for Matthew. He said (after we were telling Matthew that the Silver cross was all behind the kindap of his wife and the murder of the Baron) that they found his wife and she is safe in the forest to the northeast outside of Calicess. She was hurt badly and could not be moved, so he had to come get her himself. He then went on to say that Horace was the one responisble for her kidnapping and abuse and he was being held in custody there as well. He even gave the Defender specific directions of how to get there. Over hearing it all, Forgan planned at least to follow the Defender to protect him from any potential attacks. Then we all got to talking a little and thinking - Brekarium was the one who deemed this guy with the title od Defender. There is a very good chance he was given the power of Kylos to defend it better and keep up wards and such. If he were to leave Calicess to go to this forest to find his wife, the city would be completely undefended and vulnerable to any attacks. We can't have that happen! Gray had another idea - he went into the carriage alone and was going to attempt to make contact with Brenin's mind. They were still linked in a way. After a few attempts, he finally made his way in. He could see what Brennin saw and hear what Brenin heard and thought. Because he tried a few times and had failed, Brenin knew he was trying to get in and made sure to look at a plain wall and block his perpiheral vision. Unfortunately, Yorn, who was still with him, said "Come on, what are you doing? We have to get the ceremony ready". A-HAA! Brenin finally managed to push Gray out of his head, but we now know that there's a ceremony taking place tonight somewhere. MacCarr had mentioned yesterday after dinner that there was a werehouse downtown that was being rented out and nobody was allowed to know by whom. It was highly secretive and heavily guarded. That might be the place - important magical ceremonies often need big spaces that are guarded to prevent anything from happening that could interrupt or disrupt its intricacies. After convincing the Defender to stay home tonight and make sure the town was defended (just in case), we went back to Forgan's mansion. Gathering some quick supplies and disguising ourselves (well, the conspicuous ones) we headed downtown to the warehouse. There were doors on the front and back and along the sides. Looking in the windows, nothing could really be seen. It appeared empty and dark. Looking through a side door with his glass disk, Gray saw a figure lying on the ground, apparently turning over in its sleep. We were going to enter there. Elonora got went to pick the lock and found a trap waiting for them to spring. Luckily it wasn't triggered, but she couldn't disarm it. Jennifer gave it a try and accidentally sprung it and screamed for everyone to get out of the way. She ducked and rolled, Forgan and Gray flew off and Elonora tried to back up (with Sashraddon on her saddle). Luckily, as Gray was flying off, he managed to call out to Venna to protect his friends on the ground just as the bomb went off! Nobody was doing to good after that. Our ears were bleeding, surroundig buildings were burning and we were all burnt to a crisp. A full corner of the werehouse was now a pile of rubble. Posing as onlookers, Gray, Forgan Sashraddon and Jennifer went in to investigate There was lots of smoke and a few barrels of fish (from Forgan's Fishing Co.), but everything else was either burned or not there in the first place (even the body was not found! Then again, it WAS right by the door...)
It was becoming clear that we were all being sent on a wild goose-chase. No time to waste - we headed straight for that forest. After not being able to be let out by the guards (who had this town locked up tight) we flew over the wall and followed the road straight towards the forest. We had to walk off the road and down a hill of tall grass. It was near a small trading town off to the west. As we got closer, Elonora was enchanted by something trying to ward her off from going in there. Eventually Sashraddon took off the enchantment and they headed forth. A voice spoke to all of them telling them they were not allowed to enter. Again, it was Elonora that got the first warning - she was teleported straight to that town, near the docks. Jennifer soon followed. Everyone else just charged in. Since when does this party follow the rules? Jennifer and Elonora simply ran back into the forest themselves. It wasn't long until we met up with the brute in the spiked armor and Frog Man. Gray and the armored man fought in honorable combat and Forgan took on the Frog man. Gray and his opponent exchanged blows and deflected them almost evenly. After a bit of a battle, Gray managed to weave himself around this guy and find a soft spot. Gray was victorious, but when the man's mace fell to the ground, a mild earthquake shook the ground around them! Forgan fought the frog man who cared nothing for honor. It attacked Jennifer with a shock of lightning from it's gauntlets but before it could do more harm, Forgan ate its head.
CHOMP!
Elonora had summoned a flock of Ravens while this transpired and commanded them to seek out the Silver cross. She commanded half of them to disrupt the ceremony and the other half to come back for us to lead us to the ceremony. We then pushed forth after gathering a few goodies from our fallen foes. After walking a bit, it appeared as if Forgan were fading away. He seemed kindof wobbly and strange - like a funhouse mirror image of Forgan. He saw everyone else moving farther away though we were really together. Elonora reached out for his hand and she too became all wobbly and strange. It was as if Forgan and Elonora were now in their own little haze. Eventually, everyone else trailed off. Forgan and Elonora decided the quest was still important ans they needed to push forth. They actually arrived at the ceremony and began disrupting it and destroying everything. Forgan caused a fog cloud as Elonora began shooting things. He chopped down a tree and then she cast Fireball. The two were about to fly off just as the minions were coming to attack. All of a sudden, we were faced off by this black and white and grey form with holes for eyes and a glowing golden form of a sword in its chest area. It froze Forgan and Elonora from moving. It was really angry, but it wasn't an evil being. It was probably about to do something horrible to us, but in front of the two flew a dog who growled at this form and then we were left in the town, again by the docks. The dog seemed wounded, but it got up and walked down to the water. Dumbfounded with the nights events, Forgan and Elonora followed the dog as it opened a tunnel in the water and walked right in. They still followed and once they reached the lake floor, the tunnel closed off and they were in a bubble. The dog then dissappeared.
Meanwhile, Gray, Sashraddon and Jennifer were travelling through the forest. It got darker and they seemed to be having problems seeing much. Then they were each enveloped in complete darkeness. No noise, no surroundings. They didn't even seem to exist outside of thought - no body or voice. There was nothing. The three were stuck in theis pergatory for what seemed like hundreds of years
Hundreds of years of Nothing
Thousands of hours of not existing
It seemed that it was an eternity since they felt, tasted, heard or saw anything.
Until Gray saw something. Two grey eyes in the darkness - it got closer. Those eyes belonged to a dog. That dog Gave Gray his body back. It led him to Sashraddon and then to Jennifer. They all shook and were panicked. It had been forever! The dog led them out to the town, down the pier and into the water like their companions. It still limped and whined, but saved us all. Gray healed its physical wounds, but it had much more scarring than that. We all slept in the bubble that night on the soft, squishy wet ground of the lake floor. The three who escaped the void refused to speak of it. It was about 2:30 in the morning when everyone finally got to sleep.
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Day 1 |
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Day 5 |
We all started to wake up around noon the next day - light doesn't filter through lake water really well. As we all awoke, we were talking with this dog which we assumed to be Horace. We told him one bark for yes, two barks for no. Are you Horace? Bark. It's Horace! Yaaay! We all found eachother! Now what? It was obvious that this bubble of Kylos under the water was keeping the Silver Cross at bay and they really wanted Horace in the first place! Horace barked again and the mirror appeared in front of him - he took it in his mouth, laid it down in the mud, studied it a bit and began digging - gathering mud. He was making an identical mirror out of Kylos! That one will be sure to work! After he was done, Horace shifted his form to that of a man with salt & pepper hair and very odd clothing. We began to ask him what he knows. It turns out that Brenin was the one who kidnapped Emily and he killed her! Not only that, but he now has Sylph AND he made a deal with a Kraken (an intelligent GIANT squid - scale 4!) in the ocean! It wanted the city for itself. The Dragon Turtle was actually defending the city from the Kraken and Brenin and his group killed it! Reefs were removed for the Kraken to fit and take over completely and the wards were broken. Could anything else go wrong?! Horace said that he needed a storm as soon as possible - a storm that could carry the winds of the Holy point - the point where all the winds gather. With those winds, we would be able to find the whereabouts of Sylph - find out where Brenin took her or what he's done with her and with the mirror, we could see her. We couldn't wait down here any longer. We woke up Jennifer who we thought was sleeping - she was already awake though. She had been enjoying cutting herself with a sharp rock just to feel the pain. Just to feel. She was gone! Off her rocker! There was no helping her now. Elonora used her gloves and brought everyone back to the Mansion.
Forgan immediately went to find Matthew - he was at his house writing feverishly in his captain's book. He said that he was communicating with the Mallory - they were being attacked by these creatures and in the midst of a terrible storm! Half the boat was not theirs anymore! Men were dying left and right! Then Forgan gave him the bad news about his wife. He couldn't handle it. he completely lost it and collapsed crying on the floor. Forgan managed to muster up his courage - he had to show Emily his strength and avenge her death. He still thought it was Horace, but Forgan assured him it was Brenin that killed his wife and the Baron. They were all to meet on the beach to do what they needed to from there. Back at the mansion, we got Jennifer to the maids and informed them that she may need to be tied down to keep from hurting herself. Sashraddon thought that it may be best for her to stay and rest some too - sleeping on muck didn't do too much for her health. Everyone got washed up and we told Mac of the things that transpired while he was here. Horace kept looking for a storm and asking for a storm, but Mac couldn't conjure one and the Raven couldn't bring one for another 4 hours. We were up a tree without a paddle (whatever that means).
While we were all trying to figure out what to do, Gray and Sashraddon were trying to console eachother and get a firmer grasp on reality. Gray was dead-set on this quest - finally a goal to reach for! Sashraddon didn't want him to go, but knew she couldn't keep him from going. She also knew she wasn't up for it - she'd just be in the way. They looked at eachother for a while and Sashraddon admitted her love for Gray. He returned it with a kiss. They held eachother for quite some time until she knew that he had to go and she needed to take care of herself and Jennifer. She went inside and began to get some sort of breakfast. Everyone else headed off to the beach. As the group met up with Matthew, they looked out onto the ocean towards the storm. That's where the Mallory was. That storm was soaking in all the winds from the Holy Point and Horace could not find Sylph that way. Elonora tried a last resort and tried contacting the Unicorn spirit (which she had an encounter with back in Satile) for any sort of help. The unicorn came out to play and Elonora frolicked with it a bit, running up and down the beach. It liked her, but didn't really help the situation. She re-joined the others, Horace made another bubble and they transported over to the Mallory. The winds were howling and the boat was a wreck! The waves and the water washed men right off the deck. The ones that remained had to fight giant crustaceans with their giant powerful claws. Gray looked ahead and saw that the boat was headed for a giant whirlwind! We'd all die instantly if we hit that! He and Elonora made their way towards the wheel and were knocked to their feet as they crashed over a giant wave. Mac was thrown overboard with his giant bone spear. I hope he can swim! The Kraken was also under the ship, grabbing up men with its tentacles and dragging them under the waves. Gray still hadn't reached the wheel and we were still headed straight for the Funnel! There was no other option - Gray prayed to Venna for a miracle and she began to slow the storm. The funnel immediately dispersed and the winds began to die down. The ship was tossed about on the waves still and the rain still poured, but all the conditions seemed to be lessened for the time. The Kraken was not too pleased at this. He thrashed about under the ship causing large swells that the ship could not handle. The party was tossed about the ship and thrown overboard. Forgan managed to stay above water and make it back to the deck. Gray and Elonora had joined MacCarr in the deep blue sea. The waves and the current were strong enough to toss them about until they could not tell which way was up. They struggled and swam until they found a calmer part of the water and began to make an ascent. Just at that moment though, some underwater folk came to arrest them. They held out shackles to trap Elonora and Gray. What would that do?! Neither of them could breathe! What good would shackles do?! After a bit of a struggle, the wrist cuffs were clamped onto their wrists, which was good because that allowed them to breathe underwater. However, it was BAD because now they're being held slaves underwater! Slaves to the Kraken! Once they were dragged down to the bottom of the ocean, they joined up with a whole herd of enslaved people of all races. MacCarr was one of them! Oh no! Although our shackles could help us breathe, speaking was still quite taxing and caused us pain and discomfort. The Kraken swam over the group and "said" telepathically to all of them that they were now his slaves and potentially his food if he wished. What a crappy fate for the heroes! Fish food?!? Elonora contacted the Raven and managed to convince him to free them and bring them to the beach. He also told Elonora that Horace had found Sylph and went after her. At least we know he's not down here with the rest, nor was he killed by anything on the deck! whew!The three of them arrived to see that a tidal wave had hit the entire city of Calicess! Most of the buildings were partially underwater and damaged.
During that excursion, Forgan helped the crew of the Mallory take their ship back. The storm died down to the point that the armored soldiers could come out on the deck and fight off the crustacean beasts that littered the ship. Their other concern was with the tentacles of the Kraken itself that raked the deck with spikes and strength. Forgan made it to the head of the ship and got a message sent to Matthew saying that the ship survived and asking if he had seen his companions - Gray, Mac, Horace and Elonora. As Forgan was about to join the soldiers in their fight with the Kraken, he heard a great cheer coming from the men as something large swam off underwater. They had victory for now and needed to dock the Mallory for repairs. With the masts and sails missing, it would take most of the day to get back to the shore. Forgan let the mages of the Red Tome (who were there helping the wounded) rest for a while. He then asked them to help him return to his beloved city, which they did. However, that did not transpire until nearly sunset.
On the beach, seeing the devastation, Gray panicked and flew off to find out how Sashraddon was fairing. The maids were trying to clean up the broken glass from the tidal wave, gathering the horses back into the wrecked stable, and trying to keep Jennifer from beating the snot out of them and herself. Sashraddon was in her room trying to sleep after the tidal wave hit. Gray arrived and began to help the maids with Jennifer. He got through to her a bit and managed to get her to focus on something instead of lashing out. He then headed down the hall to see his favorite Fae-dorn. She was pretty sick. Her breathing was labored and her face was pale. Gray was really worried, but there was nothing he could do. Gray healed her already with his Paladin abilities, but she wasn't getting any better! He couldn't tell if she was sick from sleeping in the muck or if she had Vendrill. He couldn't waste one of the cures on her if she didn't have it, but he couldn't tell for sure. During this time, Elonora headed out to find Matthew, the Defender. She told him that the Mallory was still afloat though she did not know its condition. She asked if he would send a message to Forgan letting him know we are all right and so is Horace. From there, she went back to Forgan's mansion Gray called to her to check on Sashraddon. She found nothing out of the ordinary other than signs of a sinus infection and a bad cold or the flu. Gray asked her to find a healer or a priest of Darwin to come take a look at her to divine to see if she has the plague or not. She headed right out to find if anyone was available.
Gray couldn't panic about Sashraddon too long before a riot happened outside the house. He went to see and saw that the maids were being taken by the fish people! Other mer-folk were there with those crustacean monsters and men riding giant snails. They apparently snuck in now that the whole town is flooded and they were here to make the civilians of Calicess slaves to the Kraken. Forgan's house-guards were trying their best to ward off these monsters, but there were too many of them. Gray joined their fight and wiped the floors with them (even though the floors were all underwater) All but one maid was saved... wait a minute! Sandra was the one who they took! Gray flew off in the direction that the fish people were headed with their catches and looked for her. He found her and promptly killed her captor. Forgan lost only 5 guards in his entire house.
The maids had suggested a certain healer to Elonora and told her how to get to his place. When she arrived she saw a sign to re-direct her. He was in the center of town. They were setting up a temporary first aid station there for all the wounded from the tidal wave. Elonora didn't even get to meet this guy before the town was overrun with attackers from the water. Matthew had arrived by then, thankfully and was kicking fish butt. His soldiers were getting hit pretty hard, but with the Kylos abilities given to him by Brekarium, Matthew was holding his own very well. Elonora was out of her league - these creatures were attacking from all sides. They were slapping shackles on everyone they could, throwing them in giant nets and dragging them off to the sea. MAC! Where's MacCarr?! Elonora when to go find him and he was atop a hill, fighting off creatures left and right with a giant plank. He single-handedly killed 30 of them! Between he and Elonora, 400 people were ushered to safety on that hill. The battle finally ended when the fish people were satisfied with their capture and they left. The water drained from the streets and the houses just as the sun was setting. The town was in ruins and very few of its people remained. Some of those who were on the hill seemed quite ill. In fact, the people who were as sick as Sashraddon were all nobility of sorts. Very odd... MacCarr had been hurt a bit by these monsters - lots of small wounds all over him. Thankfully, the people from Calicess were so thankful for his heroism, they patched him up pretty good. Elonora wandered the streets looking for any stragglers or wounded and came across Gray with Forgan's guards. We reached the center of town together where Matthew was digging graves for his fallen soldiers. Forgan's guards were sent out in pairs to search the city for any survivors or anyone that needed help - they were to be taken to the Mansion to be treated. On the way back to Forgan's place, Gray saw a paladin of Vorex. They spoke a bit about those sick people throughout the town. He asked if the priest knew the cause, and he didn't. Gray demanded that he contact his god for guidance or for an answer here. The priest returned saying that it is in fact the plague. There were at least 40 people left in the town that were infected with it. Even more had been dragged under the waves and are now spreading the disease in the ocean to its inhabitants there. Gray rushed back to the manor to see Sashraddon again. She looked even worse. She was showing the signs of Vendrill and wasn't waking up. Gray cradled her in his arms and poured the cure down her throat. By now, Elonora and Mac had returned and were hanging around in the stables as usual. Forgan went to find Gray and passed Jennifer on the staircase. She was still completely and hopelessly crazy. Her mind was so damaged by this experience of being locked away and not existing that she simply could not get a grasp on reality again. He tried to help her, but she freaked out when he got near her and then wandered off talking to herself. Not knowing what else to do, Forgan kept on pressing forth. He saw Gray cradling Sashraddon in his arms and just rocking back and forth. Gray demanded that Forgan leave the room. Forgan saw the empty flask of the Vendrill cure and knew that she had it. Not knowing what else to make of all this turmoil, he went to his room to meditate and pray to Haltessa
In the midst of his prayer, the priest of Vorex arrived at the mansion with two assistants at his side. They were to inspect the people in the house for Vendrill. They needed to cleanse the town of this plague before it over-ran everyone they had or before it spread further outside their town. Since Forgan was so deep in concentration, the priest entered without contest and found two of his maids had been infected. They were to be taken down to the temple and burned before they could spread it further. The priest and his companions also came to the stables to check Mac and Elonora. They found the plague in its very early stages in Elonora and tried to bring her down to burn her. MacCarr then told them about the cure that Gray found with the healer and that it wasn't necessary to burn her. Then they all ran off to consult about it and check their resources. Soon after, Forgan regained his composure and checked on Sashraddon. She was still sleeping, but much better. He went downstairs to talk to Mac and Elonora. She told him that she was infected with the plague and to not get any closer. Forgan kept coming, reassuring her that it was all right. Haltessa gave him the power to cure it for an entire night. He laid his hand on her chest and she could feel the warmth and healing coming from him and she was cured! He flew downtown to see who else was infected. He spoke in private about this gift to the priest there. The priest told him to save who he will but to do it fast as the plague takes little time to fully run its course. Forgan saved his two maids and three nobles. He made them swear that they would tell nobody of this gift, but only to thank Haltessa (one in the room nearly converted right then and there!). From there, he flew off to the Regent's house. He definitely had Vendrill! Everyone who had it seemed to have been at the ball! This had to have been planted. He arrived at the scene a few minutes too late. He already died. The attending maid had Vendrill from having such close contact with the Regent. She must have spread it to her family as well! After burning the Regents body (the worst stages of this plague manifest themselves AFTER death!), Forgan went off to help the maidservant's three children and her husband who were all grief stricken over the death of the Regent. They all had the plague. Every individual that Forgan healed this night took away a little bit of him. He made that sacrifice four more times for this poor woman's family and then headed home.
Through the night, as everyone was sleeping, exhausted from all the crap that's been going on, Gray awoke with a shock. He heard Venna scream out in pain as he felt a searing wound in his chest. It would not go away and he called out to her in prayer asking what was wrong. He saw the image of the Kraken attacking the holy point. The giant stone spire where the winds are born crumbled and fell into the sea as beams shot from the Kraken's eye. Without the holy point, there will be no more weather. No wind, no rain, no clouds....nothing. Without the wind, we would not be able to find Sylph! Perhaps Horace already has, but last we heard, Brenin already had her. Without a breeze or a current, ships will be stuck in the ocean and birds will tire easily from flapping their wings. Until it is re-built, the pain will always be in his chest and the weather will not exist. After accepting this as his next quest, Gray forced himself to rest for the night on the floor next to Sashraddon.
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The morning came without any more incident. Now don't go thinking that it was an uneventful morning just yet. The sun rose and nothing exploded, but give us a break, it was early yet. Elonora awoke and headed into the kitchen to see if anyone was around and about. Sashraddon was getting some breakfast and she looked very well. She said that Jennifer was tied to her bed, but it was probably for the best. We were going to go up and wake Forgan to find out what he learned last night and Sashraddon used her Kylos to transform Elonora to human form again so she could use the stairs. Sashraddon and Elonora spoke about having Vendrill and they decided that Forgan must have some stories or a plan if he had that healing power last night... They arrived upstairs and met up Forgan and then with Gray in Sashraddon's room. As Mac listened in through the window, they worked on their next plan, recapping what they already know. Elonora contacted the Raven again who helped out a great deal. He told her where to find Horace (who was seeking out Maelstrom, the sword of the wind), he told her basically that she could contact the wolf spirit when the Vendrill antidote was used next. The spirit of the animal that was used in this potion was one of the first wolves ever on the Earth. When the person drinks it, the wolf's spirit from in the body is attacked by the Vendrill in the host's body. The Wolf spirit then comes to save its own kind by attacking the plague and taking the spirit back with it when it leaves. So it is there when it is actually "healing". Contacting the Wolf spirit may help to bringing about another cure for it, though the Raven HATES the Wolf. He also said that the one blocking everyone from "sensing" things or keeping Sashraddon from contacting her Father was Bvorchek'norr, a great Dwarven Diviner. She's paranoid about all the possibilities for the future and is keeping a close eye on us. She's allied with Brenin and shares with him all the prophecies and their meanings. Only she knows what they all mean. We couldn't let that stop us or defer us. She's already watching everything we do and she can't keep the Raven out no matter how hard she tries. At least we have a plan of sorts. We know where to find Horace and we had to get there. What to do with Jennifer though? We had to take her to see Sashraddon's mother, Daria. She is a very powerful psychic and hopefully could heal her mind.
We gathered our things and took the items we've collected to be identified. Using the gloves and saying goodbye to Sandra the Drak Girl, we all teleported to Morrayto see the royal family. We arrived and were informed that the King has fallen very ill - an illness of the mind. The queen calls out to his mind and there is nothing. He lays there still. The Watcher is acting Regent now and we were given audience with him as our magical items were identified. Jennifer and Sashraddon went right over to see her mother and found out about Forlumb that way. MacCarr went off with the man who will identify the items to learn more about them. The Watcher told us that the King was this way after rescuing his son Brekarium and the rest of the Tarrensons from Sorrel. He did so by breaking the Watcher's crystal ball and gaining access to the monolith that controlled it. It was very long and complicated, but now he is in this state. Gray had stormed out as we described what Sashraddon and Gray and Jennifer went through and he went to find her. She knelt before the bed, but was very strong considering the circumstances. Gray bowed before the King before they left, holding Sashra's hand the whole time. We gathered up some equipment and found out the powers of these items we brought. The sword from the extra-planer Frog-man was actually a living sword. It eats whatever it attacks and stores the damage it does for a later attack, getting more powerful along the way. The royal palace was generous enough to donate healing potions and arrows to assist us along our way and we re-grouped to go forth on the rest of our Journey. After acquiring more knowledge about the dark conjoined, (the 2 new Hollow Warriors), the Watcher transported all of us to the place where Horace was last seen.
We all ended up on a mountaintop where both Gray and Forgan had been before. It was evident that the Vendrill's spire had passed over this place. Where there used to be lush evergreens, there were burnt out husks and torn down logs. The small villages that used to span the countryside were decimated and smoldering. There was only one path to follow and no guidance from here on in. So, we took the road heading North. Along the way, we joined up with different bands of travelling merchants heading north as well. They spoke of how they would make a bundle on the supplies they're going to sell because most everything is in high demand up north. We reached a large pass between 2 mountains. It was a giant iron wall with gates at the base for people to pass through. However, there were guards posted at each gate looking over each person that went through and their possessions. With the problems of the Vendrill's spire, the last thing that the guards up north needed was ruffians to make things worse. The lines were so long! The party waited in line for about an hour discussing possibilities and what we should do next. We did learn that the wielder of Maelstrom, the sword that calls upon the plane of air, has gone further north on some sort of quest with his brother (a high priest of Vorex) and a group of his best men. They left three days ago and nobody has heard from them since. The guards at the gates refused to let us through before anyone else, so eventually we paid our way through the line. Elonora had taken this time waiting to contact the Raven. He said that Horace didn't find Sylph but was now being hunted by something WAY over our heads - a Zaird! We couldn't help him. Also, the raven said that there will be winds today - it seems that T'horne, the Dark God, has taken over the weather! We just had to find Sir Marcus Roy, the wielder of Maelstrom, who can perhaps use the winds of his sword to cut through the tainted winds of T'horne and hopefully find Sylph (if Sir Roy knows how to do such a thing...we sure don't). Speaking to a man in line with us, we heard some stories about the Vendrill's spire and what it did to these places. The man spoke of a winged skeleton that shot what we gathered was shadow-flame out its mouth but was chased off by Sir Roy on his giant dragon steed, Uurreg Lallentor. Malestrom shot out a white light (probably spirit flame) that counteracted the skeleton yet didn't kill it. Finally, once we got through the line and the guards let us know that all weapons we carry would be documented as ours and if they were used improperly, Forgan would be responsible since he is everyone's "sponsor" in the group. We started to travel further north and Elonora summoned some ravens to find and take a message to Sir Roy. They turned out to be a pain in the ass, but the message was written out and carried off in the mouth of one of the birds. She had to shoo the rest away before they were shot with arrows for eating the merchants' grains and foods. It would be some time before we heard any more from that one....if at all! Until then, we had no choice but to move forward and onward. The day was mostly spent travelling along with the others who were heading north on the same main road. Some of the others who travelled alongside of us and some who had been there a while told us of a Vennan Druid who was gathering people together and encouraging them to leave behind their possessions to worship the Goddess. They were all encouraged to help him build her a temple and were herded out towards the East. This was not normal. Druids rarely interact with people never mind convert masses like that...something strange was afoot. By sunset, we came across a band of men. There was a knight who apparently was a follower of Ba'klor and his squire and they were accompanied by an elf. The knight had strange bony structures on his face which he explaned as a transformation he voluntarily had done upon himself to aide him in his quest. They offered us dinner in the small alcove they decided to make camp in. The squire was an anxious fellow - he never took off his armor and would not take time to relax with the rest of his party. Forgan spoke briefly with them and they mentioned they were on a quest of their own as were we, though no details were exchanged. After a bit of chit-chat, it was clear that they would be of no help to us and Forgan politely excused himself so that we could make better distance up the road. There were more rumors of Dragons to the east - the same way that this Vennan Druid had taken his followers. There were also legends of a fairy pond in these montains off to the east as well. Very odd...
After more travelling, we arrived at a fork in the road. The sun had completely set by now and most of the caravans had set up their wagons and tents for the night all along the road. Forgan's curiosity grew stronger about the knight of Ba'Klor. He drank a potion of clairvoyance and "spied" in on them. He began to panic as he saw the knight attacking the squire! The knight had tentacles growing out his back and the rest of his body was horribly deformed and it was clear that he was a creature transformed by Vendrill! It clawed at the squire and pulled at his armor. The armor had a Haltessan symbol on it that began to glow as the creature tore at it. The elven companion of theirs was also an abomination - he had a horn out his forehead and was eating the raw flesh of the squire's fallen horse. Forgan panicked and relayed all of this to us and demanded that they go save him! By this time, we were nearly 30 miles away. There was no way we could go there in time - the gloves were already used today. Sashraddon volunteered her kylos abilities to send both Forgan and Gray who wanted to help defend this innocent. She used all her strength and passed out once they were both sent.
Forgan arrived first and attacked this hideous monster. It had already broken the squire's sword into pieces and broken his arms. As Forgan struck his first blow, the squire had a chance to escape and began to crawl away. Gray arrived and attacked the Elf (if you could still call him that) and after a few blows, the foe was defeated and Gray went off to help Forgan and help heal the squire. Blood and guts were spewing everywhere as this monster put up a fight and it was amazing that neither of our heroes were infected with Vendrill. Forgan attacked it again, as it refused to die. It came at Forgan with a giant bone spike coming from its elbow and impaled him! It drove right through! Fortunately for Forgan, Gray took the damage (he has a power to sacrifice himself in place of a friend) and was killed! This is the third time Gray has died, but there didn't seem to be anyway this time to bring him back. With Venna being injured by the destruction of the Holy point, he could not call on her for any favors and Sashraddon had the ring that prevents death once. Forgan could do nothing. Sashraddon had regained consciousness back at the fork in the road and soon felt the loss of her love. She could not stop crying. Elonora tried calling out to the Raven to see if he could help, but there was no answer. Was this the final death for Gray Tarrenson?! As Forgan healed himself up a bit, he approached Gray, calling out to whomever could restore his life. The squire, who was healed up a bit by now from these paladins was confused at what was happening. He apologized over and over about how he could have stopped this all from happening. He knew what was wrong with his knight but was too frightened to say anything. Forgan was so angry and frustrated at what happened, he sat there holding Gray in his arms. Very little time passed before they had a visitor. A small Dwarven woman approached them from apparently nowhere. Her hair was all snarled and wild. Her eyes looked in different directions much like a chameleon's would and just as untamed. This HAD to be Bvorchek'Knorr! She was completely insane. She muttered different things about three streams one way, but two over somewhere else and about a baby born into death screaming. She ranted about someone she can't see and mentioned that it was the King. She can never see him, but his brother is going to die she said. After lots of confusion and handing over a strange handkerchief to Forgan who she labeled as "pure" over and over, she managed to bring Gray back to life! She left right after that. This makes tonight the third time Gray has been brought back from the dead! Within a few minutes, guards came to see what the commotion was all about and Forgan warned them to stay away and that the plague had taken these knights and the bodies were being burned. They guards from the wall brought a mage back to Forgan and Gray and transported them back to the fork in the road where the rest of the party mourned. Sashraddon was so overwhelmed with Gray's death that she didn't notice his life returning to him! Forgan approached the camp with Gray not far behind. Everyone was absolutely shocked to see him alive again! Sashraddon ran into his arms and kissed him deeply just before she smacked him. She demanded that he never leave her sight again and then proceeded to kiss him again. She would not stop kissing him, but in between kisses, he managed to ask her to marry him. She responded with incessant kissing and stripping him of his armor as they walked off to find a quieter place out of plain view. Ohmygosh!
GRAY GOT LAID!!!
Forgan was getting a bit uneasy with those two "wasting time" when there was a quest that needed completing within 24 hours, but Elonora and MacCarr shut him up for the time. After about 3 hours, Forgan and Mac noticed something large fly overhead heading East. Forgan flew up to greet it and saw that it was Sir Roy and Uurreg Lallentor! YAAAAY! That’s who we were looking for in the first place! Somehow, Forgan got his attention and Sir Roy sent his brother to gather up our “troops”. Forgan went over to the two lovebirds and tried to hurry them to get up. After a bit of grumbling and annoyance at having to move,they finally began to get up and dress themselves. The priest of Vorex, Athas, had been preparing a portal to take us straight to the battle and we arrived just in time. He pointed off to the east and said that there were at least 50 people wielding clubs and other primitive weapons, and to the north was where the really bad guys were. We tried to spit off so that we weren’t one big target, but as we moved off, Elonora and MacCarr became entangled in the underbrush. Gray and Sashraddon approached this “Vennan” temple (mostly just made of logs in a tee-pee fashion) and Sashraddon used her Kylos powers and dropped a giant boulder right on the middle of it! Athas had found himself in a battle with lightning elementals and none of us could help him, though he held his ground very well. The party saw a giant lightning elemental making its way out the front door of this building and not knowing how to hurt something made of electricity, Elonora shot it with a fireball. Well, that sure didn’t’ kill it or even slow it down, but the sparks and flames began to ignite the building. Now not only was it crushed, but a blazing inferno as well! At about that time, Sir Roy and his steed flew in to set the rest ablaze. There were bad guys running everywhere! Gray and Forgan picked up the fight and knocked them down one by one as they made their way into the bonfire of a building (or what was left of it). Forgan’s extra-planer sword was having a feast! It dug deep into the enemy and kept evolving as the damage made it stronger. Veins began appearing as well as eyeballs and teeth! This thing was alive!!! It eventually grew to 12 feet long, not including the hilt!!! Sir Roy had joined up with the Paladins to help fight with Maelstrom (he jumped through the roof!) and the three of them managed to pretty much wipe the floors with villains. Marcus was kinda skeeved by Forgan’s sword being alive and looking at him and all, but accepted that he was on the side of good. They were all working together and doing very well…that is until they got to the one in charge. It was the same Deamon lord that Gray and Elonora fought up in Kakkass – the Root guy! But now he was nearly invulnerable. His wounds instantly healed and he could not be touched! It was insane!
Meanwhile, Elonora and MacCarr headed over towards the group of 50 “villagers with pitchforks” and realized there were more than 50 by now. Half way there, something landed on Elonora from out of nowhere! Lecavian?!?! What the heck is that gnome doing here?! He said he was summoned here to help out Sir Roy and his brother. Elonora reached back and grabbed him by the ears and flung him into the fray. He kept flying and turned himself into a fireball and blew up about 40 people! He used lots of magic (creating a giant golden snake, hurling spikes through the ground to impale people and making Elonora scale 2 so she could stomp things) After a few rounds of combat, the party was victorious…at least on this field…
Sir Marcus Roy faced off this Deamon lord for a while, trying his best to hurt him. However, it wasn’t long before a portal opened up a portal to the plane of lightning where all these elementals were coming from) and out came a scale 3 lightning elemental! Forgan, not knowing what else to do, swung his living sword at it. As it impacted, there was no more room in the weapon to store the damage as it critically struck, and the energy it ate went directly into Forgan himself and he promptly passed out! By the time the dust settled, the Deamon lord was gone. He hurt the party pretty bad, but Gray helped exorcize the lightning elementals from the fight with Athas. Now, Athas was there to help heal up his brother and Gray and Forgan could take care of them selves. After a few minutes of recooperation, Gray managed to remember to ask Sir Roy if he could use the sword to find Sylph, which he did. The sword flew up into the air and snt out winds in all directions to locate her. He didn’t seem fazed by the idea of fairies at all, for that rumor of the fairy pond was truth. He was actually there and gathered some vials of water from the pond – water entirely made of Kylos. It could heal ANYTHING! Even Vendrill, aparently! After a short rest and a little breather (at this point it was about midnight), the sword lowered itself and showed the image of sylp and pointed us in the right direction!!! THERE’S STILL HOPE!!! One day left……can we make it? let's find out!!!
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It was just after midnight that the party, Sir Marcus Roy, his steed Uurreg Lallentor, and his brother Athas has fought a Deamon lord and hoards of minons. Forgan had just defeated a lightning elemental at least twice his size and is currently passed out, shaking from time to time from the electricity surging through his body. Sashraddon also passed out from fatigue. Her use of kylos to teleport Forgan and Gray, added to her dropping a kylos boulder on the temple, added to her 3 or more hours of sex just wore her out. Sir Roy used his sword Maelstrom to help us find Sylph with its powers of air. Just as he did, there was something there to keep him from telling us just where she is or how we could get to her. Tohorne was throwing us MORE things to fight! First, there was a dome of darkness that enveloped Sir Roy, Athas and the dragon. Coming from within it we could hear all sorts of battle and fighting. Elonora dispelled the spell that caused this darkenss and we could see what we were up against. Air elementals, monsters with long, bladed fingers, giant horned and armored brutes and more! Sir Roy was met with a man who seemed to be made of a cloud, weilding a broken sword with swirling red light coming from between the cracks. Marcus stood his ground while his brother Athas was being attacked by both horned beasts at the same time. Elonora managed to distract one of them to chase her, but it ended up guiding her to more of Tohorne's troops! Giant Centipedes were tearing out trees by their roots and throwing them onto and next to the burning temple. They were making a blockade to confine the party. We were outnumbered and already exhausted - we all knew that we needed to escape. This cloud guy fighting Sir Roy dealt him some nasty blows and some strange purple beam came from the sky and took away some of his powers temporarily. Gray managed to get another horned beast away from Athas who was pretty bad off, but he too was hit with a similar beam. He helped Athas heal up some of his health after defeating this beast. Marcus was struck a deadly blow by this sword of evil and a voice was heard saying that he would be favored greatly today by his lord, then proceeded to attack Gray for the hopes of more favor. Athas, upon seeing his fallen brother, called out to his God, Vorex for help. He knew he could take more damage than his brother Marcus, so he took his wound upon himself (much like Gray did earlier tonight for Forgan). Vorex also struck fear into the hearts of all the enemies attacking for a short while. Athas fell to his knees from the pain and Gray immediately helped him heal his wounds further. MacCarr, who had been watching over our unconscious member of the party, picked them up and headed west through the forest to escape while they could. Elonora joined up with them and helped Mac with the carrying. Gray helped get Marcus and Athas onto the back of Uurreg Lallentor, the Dragon and they flew off. After healing both of them further, Sir Marcus Roy convinced his steed to fly them to the Iron Wall to announce the forces coming their way. Meanwhile, MacCarr and Elonora reached a thinning of the forest where they saw the Tohorne Air force at the ready, also struck with fear for the time being. They used the cover of the trees to stay safe and travelled North until Forgan awoke. Not knowing what else to do, Forgan suggested they head back to the wall as a rendez-vous point. Hopefully that's where the rest of the party was headed. Luckily it was! Elonora borrowed Forgan's belt and grew large enough to carry MacCarr and Forgan took the still unconscious Sashraddon and we flew back to the wall.
Sashraddon was brought down to a safe room where she'd be guarded until we could return for her. Marcus told us where Sylph was hiding. It was to the east - there are dragon breeding grounds there and she was inside a sanctuary underground! After a bit of debate about it, Elonora asked the Raven if he would keep the party unseen by the wards placed around the place. MacCarr was a bit disappointed at being left behind, but cast “tounges” om himself and spoke to Uurreg Lallentor and asked him all about dragon stuff and prepared us a bit better to go there. Since he was accepting of humans, other dragons were not as friendly to him, so he’s never been, but he knew more about it than anyone else. This was an ancient, holy, magical place and more dragons have come recently to visit it and...uh....utilize it. It took 2 hours flying to reach the place and by now it was nearly 5 in the morning. The sun would rise in a couple of hours and we would not be able to use the gloves until that point anyway, so we thought we could stay there and learn more about it before we leave with Sylph. Well, we arrived and saw that this place was not meant for anyone without the ability to fly. Every opening was high up and at least for something scale 4 with no stairs or slopes leading up to them. We flew into the first opening and found that it was a temple of sorts - it led into another room with a giant altar. Someone had been here recently, for there was one set of footprints that were fairly fresh in the dust here. They lead in, seem to stop and sit, then they lead right back out. It was apparent that nothing had been disturbed and there was no sign of any sort of Fairy here at all. The Raven told Elonora that it was in fact Brenin who was here, but he's not sure what he did while he was here nor, how he left. Forgan did know just by being here though that this place is sacred to Haltessa! Nice! It was in such a sad state though. It was absolutely ancient - columns had fallen and were crumbling to dust. There were scale four statues that were nothing more than piles of rubble now. There was an underground river rushing on the other side of a caved in entranceway and murals and reliefs that were fallen and hidden behind other debris. Forgan and Gray checked the river area for Sylph, seeing if he had escaped through there. They made it through the rubble and saw that there were ancient markings on the wall. Forgan waded through the water and stumbled upon a small chest that was rotting away in the river. As he attempted to pick it up, it crumbled apart, revealing its treasures - a hand-written bible of Haltessa and a pendant of the religious symbol of Haltessa, both in perfect condition. He took some of the water and filled a flask with it and blessed it. Finding nothing else, they returned to the main sanctuary. Elonora had been looking around the rubble and debris and found a basin, much like the one in Kakass. It wasn't crumbling like the rest of the surrounding stone, so Forgan and Elonora lifted it together and placed it atop the crumbling altar and the stone underneath it held fast. Forgan then took the water from his flask and poured it into the basin. It filled up faster than natural and some poured out towards the East wall, dissolving away dust and rubble, revealing a relief of a dragon's face that covered the entire wall. There was a break down the middle, almost as if the face was a set of doors and its eye-sockets were hollow. Forgan compared this door to a mural on the northern end of the room that had been fairly well preserved - Three dragons - two with light coming from their heads. One with a black stone in its mouth, and one with a white stone in its mouth. The third was a giant head of a dragon - one black eye, one white eye. That one was split down the middle in another depiction, revealing a man who was being armed and armored by a small girl. Gray and Forgan rummaged through the 2 piles of dust that were apparently once statues. In one pile, Gray found a giant gem the size of his own head and nothing was in the other one. It had apparently fallen down a crevice. Gray climbed down and loosened it from it from its imprisonment and handed it over to Forgan. This one was a black opal. Forgan flew up to the eyes with these uncovered stones and placed them in the sockets. The doors opened and revealed another room. This one was unharmed by age.
In the middle of this room, there was a scale-4 kneeling bench. There was a mural on the wall depicting a young girl holding out a sword and shield to masses of people and a stone slab that was about the size of a door for humanoids. Above the door it said that anyone who made the pledge was allowed entrance. Forgan, the eager Paladin that he is, flew to the top of the kneeling bench and vowed to protect Haltessa all his life. Sure enough, the door slid open and we went in. This room was the ancient treasury of the Dragon Knights!!! On the wall there was a mural of sorts that coincided with different pedestals. Behind each pedestal was an image of a dragon intertwined around a human. Each dragon and each person were different, but for those pedestals still covered with items, it was clear that these were the actual weapons of the Dragon Knights. Gray found the golden armor and golden sword of Targeis, the ancient Gold Dragon. Since we were allowed entrance, it was alright for each of us to choose one station and take the items there. Forgan found a water dragon who weilded a trident in human form and took that for himself to use. Elonora chose a crossbow from a black dragon, which also had a cloak of dexterity. We all knew once we had chosen these weapons what their powers were, almost as if the weapons themselves told us. (Well, they WERE made by Haltessa herself...I wouldn't be surprised). Gray decided, now that the sun was coming up and the gloves could be used, he was going to contact Brenin psychically. He got a general feeling of where he was by the breeze, the thin air and the surrounding sounds. And left before he could say too much.
Gray had been playing with his new sword and putting on the golden armor when we all heard movement coming from the sanctuary area. Gray knew that the sword could give him the form of a dragon once a day for about an hour, so to help us out, he took that form before they all found us. Four dragons had arrived and were appalled at what they saw. They saw this re-creation of Haltessa's shrine an atrocity! We should have not meddled with ancient holy matters, as far as they were concerned. Elonora gave dragon-Gray her saddle bags as one of the dragons gave her human form. They were taking us to trial for our crimes. We were all flown further south into the breeding grounds and into a giant cavern that resembles a Dragon's Maw. Inside were dragons of all kinds and we were kept waiting to see Fahs Aulan, the judge. While we waited, all sorts of dragons were speculating why we were here or what we were going to do. We were wondering how long this is going to take or how we'll get to Brenin now! It was nearly 7 in the morning! Before entering the trials, the party saw the Dark conjoined there! AAAAH! First Justin, then Ophelia, both basking in their scale-4 glory looking the party up and down like a meal. (for refernce, check the image gallery) That's the second time a scale 4 monster has wanted to eat us in the past week! I hate it when that happens. We were finally allowed in and given counsel. Two humans from the Order of the Foreign path were called in to act as our lawyers. We explained to our counselor that we were here with Haltessa's permission to remove someone who didn't belong here. We meant no harm and offered a few gifts to Fahs Aulan, the bigoted Judge. Our counselor did wonders for us (even when the effects of the Golden sword wore off and Gray turned in to his normal form again) and got us off with being exiled rather than executed! THANK YOU!
Now that we were exiled, we had to be chaperoned until we could gather up our stuff and do what we needed to do before we were completely out of the territory. What we needed to do was get to Brenin and take Sylph back! So, we were dismissed from the courtroom and escorted deep into the mountain by the Foreign Path members. They agreed that Fahs Aulan was unfair and not human-friendly. He actually wants the Order of the Foreign path the be denied access to this sacred place. They are wary to leave – they know how corrupt Justin and Ophelia are and how much influence they have over the other Dragons. They’ve actually convinced other dragons to start coming here thought it is not their natural mating season! (They’ve been holding all sorts of demonstrations or something….ick!) He said that they often take their alternative forms and still show the same haughty nobility attitude. Ophelia had apparently taken the soul of the Watcher’s mate into a crystal located on her chest! That is NOT cool. While the lawyer was going over these things with us, he was also going over paperwork that needed to be negotiated or signed. His “secretary” brought to him a document that was written up just yesterday or last night, allowing Gray Tarrenson of the Ishwar and his army entrance to the sanctuary on the terms that he agreed to not touch or disturb anything within and he would leave right away. Gray?! He never asked for such a thing!….wait a minute…Brenin wouldn’t do that, would he? He wants to be everything that Gray isn’t! He wants to be as separate from Gray as possible! Now why would he go and do a thing like that…? That couldn’t be answered by anyone here for sure and it geared us up to get out of here faster! An air dragon and a woman named Ashley arrived to take us where we needed to be. The dragon was here in the hopes that he could find a mate. This dragon was SO COOL! He offered to help us fight and had a very good sense of humor! Ashley was pretty cool herself – she held the attitude “We’ll win, naturally. We’re the good guys, right?”. The plan was that we were all going to just teleport right there, but the dragon was much too large for her spell. Gray offered to ride in on the Dragon and Ashley would teleport the rest of us – sort of a two-sided attack…but then Elonora announced rather suddenly and hurriedly that she had to “go”. The dragons asked if the place she needed to go was within the area and she didn’t’ think so, so he allowed it. Before she left, forgan blurted out “You’re going into the Vendrill’s spire, aren’t you!?!?” and she didn’t reply. Gray let her take her leave and they proceeded on without her.
Ashley and Forgan arrived on the montain top where “Gray Tarrenson” was with
his army building a fortress (that they told the dragons was to defend the
area). By now it was apparent that Brenin was posing as Gray so that he
could gain the help of the Ishwar, and to convince Sylph to come with him –
now that Gray doesn’t look like Gray since that potion of comliness he took.
Forgan had taken Elonora’s rings and she gave her cloak to Ashley, so they
were slightly powered-up for this battle. The two of them pelted the troops
with all they had, summoning animals and throwing fireballs left and right.
Gray arrived on the air dragon and started fighting as well. Their defenses
were strong and held fast. Eventually, Ashley used a spell of hers to turn
parts of the fortress from stone to mud. They managed to get in, but
getting Sylph was a different story. Gray used the gloves of teleportation
to get himself to Agapollack and make sure Ras Mar hadn’t left yet since it
was about sunset now. Unfortuanately, he and the Jade Brothers had already
made their way in and fought their way further in. They were doing very
very well! WOOO HOOO! Meanwhile, the rest of the party found Sylph!
YAAAY!!! She was in the fortess, still convinced that Brenin was Gray so she
was avoiding us and staying in the fortress. Also, Sorrel showed up! Wasn’t
he broken? Evidentally, he was being piloted by Wolf Murdoc from the Old
Campaign!!! So now, he was a good guy (?) and chasing after Brenin who still
had Sylph right with him. The First Disciple, (the one who fought Forgan at
Haltessa’s revival and Mr. I-want-to-be-Tohorne's-favorite-follower) then
blasted Brenin (or something like that) and took Sylph. She passed out and
he was about to run away with her and all his glory. Forgan once again
faced off with him and dealt enough nasty blows so that his sword was
gaining power again. Forgan swung his sword into the belly of the first
Disciple and ATE his liver! *AWP!* Yum yum! Tastes like…he’s almost dead!
All he needed was the finishing touches of Haltessan holy water
and...manifique! My favorite flavor of evil! It seems that the tide is
turning favoarably to the good guys! They woke Sylph up and managed to
re-convince her that we were the good guys. With Sorrel after Brenin, that
brings him out of the picture for a little while and now the First Disciple
is completely gone. The battle was slowing down quite a bit
and they asked Sylph if she could help them find Gray. So she took them to
Agapollack! ACK! They mentioned that they didn't want to leave Sashraddon
behind at all, so then Sylph transported them back to the wall and they
picked her and MacCarr up. Then everyone (including the Dragon who really
didn't fit)went into the wall. THEN they all (minus Ashley) went BACK to
Agapollack! They saw that the Kasser device was broken (the one that they
were trying to fix in that battle before Kakass)and they found Ras Mar –
fighting the Bwel Cromth by HIMSELF! EEEK!
I THINK that’s where we left off…the game was at least 14 hours long…straight through!…TO BE CONTINUED (oh, and check back for any changes that may be made due to any written inaccuracies) ^_^