Chapter 9

In which we discover that the session will continue unending until Frelik falls in a pit of danger

Once they’d assured themselves that the goblin-snake threat was averted, the party took a few minutes to investigate the runes on the walls, discovering that the room had been dedicated to the goddess Lamashtuu and the unholy transformation from one creature into another.  The twin pools in the room appeared to have been used to assist in the transformation, though they seemed pretty inactive at the moment.

Yuri, in keeping with his superstitious upbringing, took a moment to pee in each of the two pools as Frelik sighed, “Really?  Why is that every time we find drinkable water you have to go and pee in it?”

Yuri merely shrugged and grinned.

Meanwhile Valeria, allowing her scientific curiosity to get the better of her, bullrushed the barbarian, trying to push him backwards over the halfling’s crouching form and into the lower of the two pools but Frelik seemed to be anticipating her shove and was able to hold his ground.

Davros, peering at the edges of the pool discovered a set of ancient Thasellonian runes cut into the stone there, but they appeared to be scuffed beyond recognition.  He hypothesized that, perhaps, that was the reason the pools weren’t working.

Confidence bolstered by the half-orc’s prognosis that the pools were safe the barbarian took a sip of the water.  Much to no one’s surprise, nothing happened.

Vaguely disappointed, the group pressed on along the corridor in the direction of the entrance.  The wall here appeared to have been breached, and while Cyrano found some interesting scents to pee on in the pile of rubble, there was nothing of value in the heap. 

They followed Valeria through a mystery door across the corridor from the hole in the wall, where they discovered an incongruous Timmie’s.  After stopping for a quick Double-Double they moved on, coming upon a raised wooden platform which overlooked a room whose walls are lined with barred doors, each of which led into a tiny cell.

On the floor a Sinspawn was tormenting something in one of the cells.  On the platform stood a second Sinspawn, who spun to face them with a shriek as the door banged open.  Valeria, standing in the doorway, drew her pistol with a shriek of her own and cracked off a quick shot before darting back behind the rest of the group.

Akura, emboldened by some mysterious idea Yuri couldn’t begin to guess at, darted forward into the room, slamming a solid fist into the closer Sinspawn, though he still seemed disappointed by the blow.  The Sinspawn from the lower level darted up in response, scoring two solid hits on the monk.

Frelik took a solid chunk off of the initial one with his two-handed blade, causing an angry shriek.  As the creature spun to retaliate, Reytard charged forward on his wolf, piercing the thing and running his lance straight through its testicles, killing it. 

Davros moved forward into combat, cranked back and fired his crossbow, nicking the remaining creature’s ear.

Confused, the creature gingerly felt the side of its head and growled, “What the fuck?!?  I don’t even have ears!”

Enraged by the paradox, it attacked the monk in a fit of fury, beating the tar out of him.

Frelik produced a javelin from some mysterious place on his person, hurled it and missed.

Reytard, demonstrating how fine his form was today, charged forth and sliced the creature across the torso and thighs, clearly trying – and failing – to spear its testicles, but killing it nonetheless.

Once it was safe they began investigating the various cages.  All were filled with the decaying humanoid and goblin remains of former prisoners...   Except for the cage the Sinspawn had been tormenting.  Inside this one was a humanoid figure – a young Shoanti man – huddling in a corner, looking severely dehydrated, harried and terrified.

After fumbling with the lock, they managed to get the cage open and offer the young man some water.  Once he’d taken a few sips, Magpie offered to take him back to Yuri’s caravan to help heal his wounds and get him settled in for a much needed rest.

Frelik, meanwhile, moved down along the wooden walkway to open the mystery door at the far end.  Beyond was a short corridor leading into a small room whose walls were lined with various implements of torture, the purposes of some of which the group couldn’t even begin to guess at.

“Hey Valeria, it looks like your house.”  The barbarian chuckled, elbowing the woman.

She looked offended, “No, this is way more like my favourite date spot.”

Mercifully the room was peaceful and devoid of foes.  Two other doors led off of this room, Reytard immediately opened the right-hand one, discovering only some old ancient Thasellonian scrolls behind it.  Frelik opened the other door, which was directly across from where they’d entered, and found  a staircase which led... down.

The party groaned.

Frelik didn’t waste any time descending the stairs – instantly stirring some strange creature in the darkness.  The barbarian’s voice drifted back up to the rest of the party, who were busy rummaging for treasures, “Ah, guys... a little help?  It’s not safe down here!  There’s a weird thing!”

Unfortunately no one in the upper room seemed inclined to respond fast enough and the four-limbed creature stepped forward, swinging at the barbarian.  Enraged by the attack, Frelik drew an axe in his off-hand and attacked back, doing much more damage to the creature than it had done to him.

As the group struggled down the narrow staircase, the barbarian and the creature continued exchanging blows, Frelik appearing to do far more damage than his foe.  Akura made the ill-advised decision to stop in the middle of the staircase to quaff a potion, forcing Reytard to scrabble past him and bungle his charge spectacularly.

With one last effort, Frelik managed to take care of business by piercing the creature through the heart with his scimitar as he lopped the thing’s head off with his axe.  Foe defeated, Frelik doubled over into a sweaty, panting, bleeding mountain of man.  He was so battered that both Davors and Akura felt moved to loan the man a healing potion.

While the rest of the group decided to move on, Cyrano paused, nosing the creature’s weapons until someone bothered to pick them up, discovering that they were all worthwhile items:  a masterwork hand-axe, a silvered dagger, and a plus one magical longsword.

Treasure acquired, they headed down the passage the creature had been guarding.  At the far end they found a spherical room in which a myriad mix of objects floated innocently: a ragged book, a scroll, a bottle of wine, a dead raven being orbited by a cloud of maggots, and a wand with a bent, forked tip.  The walls are covered by red metal sheets coated in seething black electricity which moved and shifted, forming and re-forming runes which bore a strong resemblance to the ones they’d seen elsewhere in this little maze.

Reytard and Cyrano charged into the sphere without hesitation and began to float.  Cyrano immediately doggie paddled them over to the bottle of wine which Reytard grabbed and drank while directing his mount back to the corridor with his knees.

Once they were sure it was safe, the group launched into the room with a chorus of delighted cheers and collected the rest of the items.

“Well, that was a ridiculous room.”  Frelik muttered as they turned their backs on it and walked away.

Returning to the main floor, they did their due diligence, investigating the stairs they’d discovered which travelled up, only to discover that they were blocked by a cave-in just around the first bend.

Satisfied at last that the cave was safe, the group bedded down in the main cavern with the wagon and horses to rest and wait out the rest of the cinderstorm.

Reytard greeted the following morning with a hearty round of vomiting, which promptly woke the rest of the party.  The Shoanti youth was much improved and happy to chat with them over a modest breakfast.

“My name Shadfrar of the Sklar-Qua clan.” He explained, “I was out hunting with a group of friends when we were forced to retreat from a massive scorpion.  We fled straight into the ambush of a group of goblins and their monstrous minions.  All of my friends were killed but they kept me alive, tormenting me for no other reason than their enjoyment.”

“Where’s home?”  Davros asked, “We’d be happy to escort you back to your people.”

“Assuming they won’t kill us on sight, that is?”  Frelik asked.

“No, there should be no risk of that.” Shadfrar replied, “My tribe is semi-nomadic, but I can track them I’m sure, they were headed that way.”

Conveniently, he pointed in the direction the group needed to travel. 

The next day and a half passed uneventfully, with Shadfrar teaching the party many tricks and quirks of the cinderlands, showing them how to stay fed, watered and safe from the various plant-related dangers of the desert.

On the second evening, they caught sight of a group of hide tents and firelight in the distance.

“That is my tribe.”  Shadfrar exclaimed, “I am sure you will be welcomed there, come spend the night with us!”

After a very brief hesitation the party agreed and they headed for the distant camp.

Chapter 8

Wherein the party can’t seem to stop wetting themselves

Having successfully defeated the angry mushroom, the group decided to celebrate by peeing in a corner... until someone pointed out that the room was round. So they decided not to pee at all. Ever. Again. Except for Yuri, who missed the memo and peed down the well as the monk opened the door on the other side of the round room from where they’d entered.

Beyond the door another narrow corridor extended fifteen feet ahead, ending in another door which opened onto a spiral staircase which went up.

“Okay guys,” Frelik muttered, “nobody said anything about stairs. Can we go back and wait out the storm yet?”

Davros sighed and headed for the stairs but Reytard stopped him, “Perhaps we should clear out this level first and prevent anything coming up on us from… behind?” He winked.

After a moment’s contemplation Davros rolled his eyes and nodded, “Fine, let’s check the rest of this level first.”

They returned to the statue of the Runelord of Envy and headed down the next narrow corridor to their left. There they found another small, oddly shaped room with a dais and altar against the left-hand wall. As Reytard and Frelik approached the opening to the room, they could hear a high-pitched, violent discussion rising from within; voices chittering as though they were arguing about something.

Failing in their attempt to sneak, Frelik, Reytard and Cyrano rounded the corner into the room to find five goblins who had leapt to their feet, scattering dice as they took up their dog slicers and horse choppers. A crude jack-o-lantern sat on the altar bearing the barely recognizable face of a goblin.

The nearest goblin levelled a polearm at Reytard and yelled, “Hey! Who are you!”

Before Reytard could act on whatever foolish plan he’d come up with Davros stepped into the room and said in goblin, “We’re sheltering from the cinderstorm. What are you doing in here?”

The goblins made interested noises and looked him up and down, “We were sent here to guard for our master.”

“What are you guarding?” Davros asked.

One of the goblins said, “We’re protecting our master who is – “

Another goblin clapped a hand across the first one’s mouth, “Don’t tell them our master’s in the next room!”

“Can we speak with your master?” Davros sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Our master is great and powerful. His name is Orpheus.”

Davros pointed to his goblin-snake tie, “Does he look like this.”

Upon seeing the tie the goblins exchanged worried glances and shifted back and forth uncomfortably.

Magpie waved his hands, “It’s not what you think, it’s an illusion.”

They didn’t seem to believe him, instead addressing Davros, “Why you make that? Why you wear that?”

“Because we’re devout worshippers.” Davros lied, “And this is my homage.”

Without so much as a moment’s hesitation the goblin’s nodded in unison, “Oooh.”

“So can we see the great and powerful Orpheus?” Davros asked.

“Yes, of course, he will be pleased.” A goblin nodded, banging on the door.

A distant voice called out, “What?”

“There’s someone to see the master!”

“What?”

“The master!”

“What?”

“Let us in!”

The door swung open a crack and a goblin head popped out, “What?”

“People to see the master.”

“Hey master! People!” The interior goblin shouted over his shoulder as he pulled the door open.

The group entered a huge room which resembled nothing more than an underground cathedral with spiky runes on the walls and polished skulls balanced on spikes. On the main level was a round pool, the far end of the room was a raised dais with a triangle-shaped pool filled with some sort of bubbling liquid which burbled quietly. Next to it stood a goblin-snake wearing a gold crown and a red velvet cape, gold rings adorning its tail - Orpheus. A sinspawn stood on the dais across the pool from Orpheus.

The room seemed to be mostly dedicated to Lamashtuu, the runes on the walls looking mostly like they were dedicated to transforming creatures into other creatures.

As the group entered the snake addressed them in common, “Well now mortals, welcome to Orpheus’ domain. Have you brought tribute?”

“Yes.“ Frelik muttered, “I’ve brought ‘gifts’.”

“Yes, we’ve brought tribute.” Davros nodded.

“Hmm. That is wise.” The snake muttered, as the sinspawn eyed the group strangely. “One of you will bring forward what you offer me and set it at the base of my dais.”

Frelik pushed his way to the front, reverently approaching the dais, before drawing his scimitar at the last second and swinging it at the sinspawn and missing.

“Horror and betrayal!” Shrieked the goblin snake, “Kill them! Kill them all!”

A shot rang out from the hall in response, followed by a goblin scream and a wet thump.

Davros hurled a sticky bomb, successfully nicking both the snake and the sinspawn.

Reytard whirled and attacked the goblins behind him, too angry and confused to deal with the snake-thing.

The snake backed off and hissed, his eyes blazing red before a fan-shaped blast of flame burst from them, raking the party.

Davros caught the brunt of the flame attack, which even managed to set his armor on fire, leaving him looking a bit like used-up charcoal.

Olivine, never one to be outdone, responded with her own fan of flame, catching the two goblins standing in the doorway - who promptly darted forward into the room to attack the Halfling, too terrified of Olivine’s dog to take their frustrations out on her.

The sinspawn landed a solid bite on Frelik’s arm, but otherwise couldn’t seem to get through the barbarian’s defenses.

Valeria loaded another bullet, blowing the head of one of the goblins into a fine red mist.

Davros, meanwhile, hurled a bomb at his own feet for no apparent reason, gave up, and drew his mace.

Reytard managed to put down another goblin as the goblin-snake backed off and lashed at Davros, landing a solid bite and yelling, “You’ve been poisoned, my friend, POISONED!!”

Davros simply looked down at his tie then back up at his opponent, “Funny, that’s what he said too.”

One of the goblins shrieked and swung at Reytard, but Magpie got his katana underneath the weapon, snapping it in twain. With another shriek the creature began looking around for a way out.

Waving his tie and making mocking noises about being poisonous Davros swung his mace at the snake, missing horribly due to all his taunting. With another mutter, Orpheus backed off and blinked, muttering something dire sounding before a blast of flame once again burst from his face.

After a few more exchanges Frelik finally managed to put down the sinspawn as Reytard killed the last goblin.

Upon seeing all of his subjects dead or unconscious, Orpheus shrieked, “No! My empire!” Plonking off the dais and lasering people with his gaze he continued, “Die, accursed fools, die!”

Valeria loaded another bullet and fired at the ‘emperor’, her bullet striking the snake in the head and blasting it backwards, leaving the tiny gold crown to hover momentarily in the air before dropping to the ground with a rattle.

Chapter 7

In which we learn that it’s not a real session until Frelik goes down (in combat, people... combat)

Day three dawned and closed with little of note happening, other than the fact that they advanced farther... oh, and of course Yuri managed to write another one of his many and very delightful epic ballads.

On the fourth day, about mid-afternoon as the group approached a water feature - which bore a striking resemblance to one they’d seen before – a giant beetle burst forth from the sand chittering angrily as it positioned itself to attack.

With lightning quick reflexes and a disgusted cry of, “Burn you ugly thing!”  the gnome spurred her dog forward, levelling her hands as a blast of flame burst from them, singeing the beetle slightly but doing very little else.  Olivine looked disappointed, “Aww.  It’s not on fire.”

Akura dismounted with a muttered command of “Stay” to his horse and began to move around the rear of the bug.

Davros hurled a bomb, entangling the creature as Frelik, inspired by Akura’s performance, leapt of his own horse, waved his arms around over his head and shouted, “Stay!” 

With a terrified whinny the horse turned and bolted.

“Damn.”  The barbarian muttered before charging into combat.

Reytard levelled his lance and charged as well, thrusting the tip deep within the beast just next to its eye.  With a shriek the beast lashed out at Frelik in retaliation, slicing the barbarian with its vicious mandibles.

Olivine hurled some of her jelly-like electric green acid at the thing, but again did very little damage, though it did draw the bug’s attention her way.  Seeing his opportunity, Akura leapt on the thing from behind, slamming a fist into its carapace as Davros hurled another bomb.  With a flash the bug disintegrated.

Threat averted, Reytard sighed heavily and rode out after the barbarian’s horse, chasing it back and forth through the group until he eventually got bored enough to calm the creature down and return it to Frelik so they could continue to travel.

That evening, the barbarian roasted the beetle over an open fire and feasted on its tender insides as the rest of the party ate their rations and resisted the urge to vomit.

Mid morning on the fifth day, as they passed a small ruin with a pair of faceless, ancient Thasillonian statues standing guard, something large, low and shiny burst from behind one of the statues, screeching.

“A scorpion!”  Reytard yelled, “A big one!”

Davros, who had been toying with one of his many bombs reacted quickest by hurling the small object in his hand at the scorpion, singeing the carapace and sticking the thing to the ground.

“Time to make friends!” Reytard shouted with mad glee, spurring his wolf forward and charging gloriously with his lance – only to have the tip glance the creature’s hard outer shell.

Akura charged next, but missed as Frelik leapt violently from his horse again, somehow managing to get it to stay put this time, in spite of the cavalier’s loud and obvious sigh.  Frelik struck the creature solidly and it screamed with an almost human shriek.

Olivine advanced and lifted her hands, spraying the thing with a line of electric green goo which hissed as it ate away at the scorpion’s carapace.  With another shriek the creature lashed out at Reytard, grappling the Halfling in one of its claws.

Davros hurled a bomb, missing horrendously for the first time since Yuri had met him.

Taking care of his own business, Reytard used his one free hand to swing his sword at the creature that was trying to get him in position to sting him with its tail as his wolf, Cyrano, snarled and chomped at it.

“I’ll save you, Reytard!”  Akura shouted, whirling into a flurry of fists and feet as he clobbered the thing into submission, surprising everyone when he managed to actually kill it.

With a demented grin, the barbarian cut the claws off the creature and carried them until camp, boiling them in one of Yuri’s giant pots for dinner.  Curiosity finally got the better of Yuri and he shared in Frelik’s exotic meat feast as they kept watch together (since both their partners were still lying, green and vomiting, in the back of Yuri’s wagon after consuming Frelik’s earlier cat-steaks).

As they ate they noticed nothing of interest.  Unfortunately, as it turned out, that wasn’t because things were safe but simply because they weren’t paying close enough attention - as they realized when a pair of gargoyles dropped out of the sky, one of them scoring a hit across Frelik’s face before the barbarian had time to react.

Kicking as many people awake as he could manage, Yuri retreated to his wagon, determined to guard his prized possession (as well as the supplies and two sick party members).

Doing a credible kip-up, Akura went from sleeping to charging in the blink of an eye.  He neared one of the creatures and struck, only to have his blow bounce off its stony hide.

Reytard mounted his wolf, who was instantly alert being the well-trained battle mount that he was, and charged the creatures.  He hit, but it didn’t seem to do much damage... seeing as how magic was needed to pierce their hard skin.

One of the gargoyles struck out at the barbarian again, who went down with a shriek, the sound waking Olivine.

Akura hurled a flask at the gargoyles, splashing the creatures with a shower of magical flame as Olivine positioned herself, lifted her hands and unleashed a blast of rippling fire, blasting the creatures.

Frelik, looked a little grey, but mercifully didn’t seem to bleeding out so Akura threw another flask of sparkling flame at the creature - followed immediately by another blast of fire from the gnome who scored a solid hit.

Planting his feet, Reytard proved his less than stellar cognitive skills by taunting the gargoyles before him - who were more than happy to oblige his challenge by smacking him in the face.

Finally waking up, Davros hurled a bomb at them, burning them soundly and sticking them solidly to the sand.  They shrieked in frustration.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Valeria chose that moment to leap out of the back of the wagon with a savage war-cry, looking much healthier than she had for days as she drew her guns and charged.  Unfortunately she was slightly less than effective.

Olivine, on the other hand, blasted them with another column of fire, doing a very effective bit of damage as Davros hurled another glue-bomb at the creatures, finally finishing one of them off.

The remaining creature began to panic.  Akura grabbed the magical spear from Olivine and stabbed the creature.  It shrieked and struggled harder against the glue from Davros’ bomb.

Valeria levelled her pistol and attempted to fire but at the last second something tiny and winged resembling a desert bee flew up her muzzle and the gun merely clicked, failing to do anything.

Olivine hurled some of her electric green goo and the remaining creature’s skin hissed as it burned.

With a hideous shriek the creature broke free of the gluey mass and attacked the monk but Davros’ next bomb finished it off, leaving the two gargoyles very well cooked and quite dead.  Frelik immediately tried to find some part of the gargoyles to eat - until Davros stopped him.

The next two days – six and seven - passed uneventfully, Frelik and Valeria successfully hunting meat to help feed the party.

On day eight, as they rode hard across the pass, they sensed a telltale shift in the winds which heralded an ember storm; a giant maelstrom of flame that would sweep across the cinderlands, obliterating any life foolish or unfortunate enough to be caught in the open.  Trying not to panic, the party rode hard until they came upon some shelter in the form of a small complex of caves, the first of which was large enough to house Yuri’s wagon and all the horses safely.

From the first cave they could see that there were a series of smaller caves leading back off the first.  Knowing that the horses and goods were safe, the group decided to wait out the firestorm by exploring.

Olivine waved her hands and four orbs of light sprang to life above the group, lighting their way.  As they stepped around the first corner, a creature that looked remarkably like the lust sin-spawn they’d face in the ossuary moved from the shadows to block their path, its jaw opening and shifting to reveal a maw much bigger than its face.

Akura hurled his final vial of sparkling alchemist’s fire at it.

Valeria fired off a shot, cracking the creature in the shoulder as Frelik charged in behind the bullet, slicing the thing open from collarbone to crotch with his blade.

Investigating the spot where the creature had been standing, Frelik discovered an opening into another cavern.  The next room was dominated by a statue of a heavy-set woman holding a mirror and a halberd.  It looked much like one of the statues from the runelord room in the ossuary; the runelord of envy.  Behind it and to its left were rough-hewn hallways.  To the statue’s right was a dead end.  The halberd in the statue’s hand looked real and very valuable.  Frelik yanked it out of the statue’s hand and handed it back to Yuri to hold.

Frelik pressed on down the narrow hallway behind the statue on his own, finding a door at the end which he cautiously pushed open.  Inisde he found a small, round room with a pool of water in the centre.   The floor was covered in blood and a single goblin corpse lay sprawled on the floor.  On the opposite side of the pool a mushroom-like creature shifted and growled.

Akura approached Frelik’s back just as the barbarian shut the door and replaced the latch saying, “There’s a crazy mushroom thing in there.  And I know a thing or two about mushrooms; you don’t want to eat them if you don’t know what they are.”

“What’s going on down there?”  Valeria shouted from the mouth of the hall.

Frelik shouted back, “There’s a fucked-up mushroom thing in there.”

“Sounds like a Violet Fungus.”  Davros called back, though how he knew that from what little information he’d been given was a mystery to Yuri, “Draw it out into the hallway and we’ll kill it.”

Without hesitation the monk darted back down the hall as the barbarian opened the door before following, taunting the creature to chase him.

It obliged, lurching half-way down the hall into a flurry of ranged attacks and bombs, most of which blew chunks off of it.

“Go ahead guys,” Davros shouted, “It’s tangled!”

On that news Akura darted past the mushroom and attacked it from behind as Frelik charged it from the front.  After a few swings they managed to put it down, reducing it to a pile of inert vegetation.  Yuri half expected the barbarian to slice of a chunk of the creature for some future mushroom soup, but Frelik surprised him by demonstrating a rare moment of intelligence and leaving the thing to rot.

Chapter 6

In which the party learns about the many and varied perils of drinking

The following morning found the group slightly rough around the edges, seeing as how Frelik had decided that his mission was to spend a full thirty of his newfound gold pieces on drinks for everyone in the temple of Caden Kailean’s pub... and had been extremely successful in fulfilling his vow.

Luckily they had very little to do before returning to the Godsmouth ossuary that evening to meet with Priestess Nerisia to collect the rest of their payment.

Once the group was – mostly - successfully assembled in the tiny side chapel, late as usual, Valanthe wasted no time in getting to the point, “Oh, that pesky Tengu… I suppose we’ll begin the meeting without him.”

“I’m sure he’ll show up when he’s ready,” Valeria muttered.

“Well, no matter.”  Valanthe replied, laying the rest of their payment out on the table, “And, you folk did such a fine, efficient job with that I would like to present you with another task.  We have received word from another sect of Pharasmans in Mendev that we must send a valuable artefact to them post haste.  I would like to hire you to escort it there.”

“Wait.  Mendev?”  Valeria asked.

“Yes.”

“Isn’t that by the world-wound?”

“Yes.”

“When my kin travel that far east, they do not return with good stories.”  The barbarian pointed out.

“I am aware.”  The priestess nodded, “Your travels will take you up from the cinderlands, through the pass and across the hold of Belksan into Ravenscrow.  From there you will follow the river through Ustalav and then skirt the world-wound, which as you know is a dangerous area filled with demons of every foul description.  Then you will cross the barbaric land of Numeria and straight on into Nerossian, the capital city of Mendev.  The journey is about a thousand miles, all told.”

“Will we get horses?”

She shook her head, “I can provide you with five hundred gold pieces each up front though… and another one thousand each upon delivery.”

“Aren’t there a lot of religious nuts in Mendev?” Valeria asked.

“There are indeed quite a lot of crusaders in Mendev, given its proximity to the world wound.”  The priestess acknowledged.

“Why not just pay a wizard to teleport it?”  Akura frowned.

“We do not have a local wizard we trust.” Valanthe replied simply.

“Do we get to know what it is we’re transporting?” Davros inquired.

“No. “  Valanthe shook her head, “Though it may be of special interest to you to know that our high priest in Mendev is a powerful seer and healer known as the eyeless one.  He may well be able to help you with any various... problems you may be having. “ She glanced pointedly at each person in the room in turn.

“What makes you so confident that the small group of us will be able to get the artefact to its destination safely?” Frelik asked.

“We’ve had consultations with some of the more powerful seers in Kaer Maga from the Augur temple - an order which operates out of the Downmarket.  They have assured us that this is for the best.”

Yuri frowned, the creepy trolls who read the future in their own entrails?  What useful information could those freaks have?

“To help you on your way,” Valanthe continued, “I have found someone who may be able to function as your guide.”

A short and rather dashing figure emerged from the shadows and bowed.

“His name is Reytard,” the priestess explained, “and up until recently, he has been fighting in the crusades in Mendev.”

Magpie chose that moment to wander into the room, just in time to hear Valanthe say, “If you have any further questions please let me know, otherwise I will have the parcel ready for you first thing in the morning.  Feel free to take a few days to prepare before setting out, but I would like you to set out within the week.”

With that she swept out of the room, leaving the group to fill Magpie in on what was being asked of them.

Once the information had been passed on, Valeria turned on the newcomer and said, “So… do you actually have any guiding skills?”

The Halfling shrugged and grinned, “Sure.  Plus I have this map.” He held up a neatly folded piece of paper.

Valeria shrugged, “Works for me.”

There followed a rousing round of introductions to acquaint Reytard with the rest of the group before they returned to the matter at hand.

“Well, the price seems right” Frelik sighed, “but I’m not sure I want to put my faith in a bunch of masochistic trolls…”

“They do have an excellent reputation.” Davros pointed out.

Unable to refute that logic the group dispersed for the rest of the night, Akura to his cell in the temple, the rest of the group back to the Common House to drink and carouse until the wee hours.

As Akura made his way to bed he was shouldered out of the way by a tall figure with scaly green skin and bloodstained white robes, who stumbled past him on his way out of the cathedral clutching his belly and looking very much like one of those prophetic trolls Nerisia had been talking about.

As the evening wore on Valeria, Frelik, Olivine, Yuri, Reytard and his wolf companion Cyrano, get more and more drunk and Magpie wandered the pub, hunting for shiny objects – some of which may have belonged to other patrons. 

As the Magpie made his fifth or sixth round of the bar a group of very drunk Lizardfolk seemed to take particular offense to the bird-man’s presence.  Valeria, who was sitting in a chair against the wall, gasped as her eyes widened, “I think we might be looking at trouble ahead.” She muttered, gaze flicking between the trouble brewing with the Lizardfolk and a table full of rowdy goblins who were starting to get rather rambunctious in another corner.

A clunk and splash from the Lizardfolk’s table was followed immediately by a loud, slurred, “What’re you doin’?”  Punctuated by the angry scrape of a chair on the floor and a surprised squawk.

Valeria drained her beverage and pushed to her feet, yelling something unintelligible at the tableful of Lizardmen.

And from there all hell broke loose.  A moment later every single conscious patron was gleefully joining in the violence - regardless of their level drunkenness. 

Akura chose that moment to wander in, “Hey guys, seems tense in here, what’s goin’ on?”

No one bothered to explain as Frelik stood up and started moving around the edge of the room towards the altercation.

Reytard leapt dashingly (and miraculously, given the amount of ale he’d consumed) onto the back of his dog shouting, “Cyrano!  Let’s face this problem eye to eye!”

As he rode across the room like an avenging knight there was a hideous crash from the corner where the goblins’ table was located... and suddenly that side of the bar was much better lit.  Yuri groaned.  Wonderful.  Now one of his friends was about to get them killed and part of the bar was on fire.

Magpie rushed towards the Lizardmen, babbling in rainbow of languages as he tried to talk them out of a fight.  Unfortunately, some combination of the sounds and gestures he made only notched their rage up to a near uncontrollable level.

Seeing her opportunity, Valeria grabbed the chair she’d been sitting on and charged across the room, attempting to break it over the back of the lead Lizardman.  Her attempt was, shockingly, unsuccessful.

Stumbling drunkenly, Frelik crashed a shoulder into another Lizardman, throwing him through a few chairs and shattering them to splinters before the creature came up hard against a table, landing a few claw scratches across the barbarian’s shoulder.

Another pair of random bar patrons decided to join the fray, hefting their empty tankards and stepping forward, one of them cranking Valeria across the head with the silver mug mumbling, “Don’t take kindly to fights in ‘ere.”

Reytard, spurring his wolf forward, swung his club upside the head of the man who’d spoken, growling, “And I don’t care for your opinions.”

Yuri barely had time to shout a warning before the goblins surged forward from their corner of the bar, which was now a solid conflagration, lit torches and burning chair legs in their hands as they cackled with glee.

With a shriek, Valeria tried to kick her assailant in the face.  She missed horribly, swaying dangerously on her tabletop as she shouted, “Son of a bitch!  Keep your head still!”

Across the bar, Davros burst out of one of the side rooms, half-clothed and wild-eyed as he surveyed the scene before him.  With a yell the alchemist drew one of his tiny bombs from somewhere and threw it, blowing three of the goblins to bits and threatening the rest with a similar fate if they didn’t calm the hell down.

Next to him the gnome, who had merely been glowering at the Lizarmen up until this point, climbed up onto the tabletop and levelled her hands, swaying slightly as she did and muttering, “Nobody hurts my friends!”  Olivine shrieked.  The ray that shot from her hands struck one of the Lizards squarely in the chest and he staggered, suddenly too weak to even hold himself up.

Inspired by the gnome’s actions, the barbarian picked up the man he’d tackled, one hand between his legs, one hand on his shoulder, and slammed the man downward into the top of the table he’d crashed into, smashing it and knocking the Lizard unconscious.

And just like that the battle was over, the remaining Lizardmen holding up their hands and babbling as they backed away from the party.  The rest of the patrons rushed to the bar to find something to quench the burning corner of the bar while the remaining goblins, seeing the situation turn against them, bolted, fleeing through the back door shrieking and cackling.

“Put that away!” the barkeep shouted as Valeria brandished her pistol at the bar in general, “Everyone calm down and get some sleep.”  Slamming one more round down on the bar he growled, “This is it, after this we’re all gonna get some rest.  Aaright?”

Everyone nodded, chagrined and, other than the loud grunts coming from the room Davros had disappeared back into, the rest of the night passed uneventfully.

The following day was filled with much shopping, wheeling and dealing as they acquired mounts and provisions for the long journey ahead and unloaded their remaining precious items.  Yuri, with his share of the money, purchased a horse and covered wagon which looked just like the one his mother had driven him around in as he was growing up.  After a mild amount of begging, he agreed to carry the group’s provisions as well as his own.

After some subtle inquiries about where to purchase some new weapons they were sent to Karthagos, a bloat-mage.

Up on the wall behind his counter was a golden-mithril throwing axe in a glass case with a tiny sign that read: if you must inquire about the price, you cannot afford it.

“What’s so special about that axe?” Frelik asked.

“That axe has a very long and storied history.  It dates back to the wars against the whispering tyrant and was used by one of Aroden’s champions to help defeat one of the tyrant’s greatest creations: a ghostly, multi-eyed creature.  It is a very heavily enchanted item and well out of your price range…. But surely that is not why you are here.  What can I do for you?”

He was indeed the right merchant for them to visit.  He took care of all their requests within minutes.

From there it was over to Tarheel promenade where a pair of men from Iridian Fold kept a suite of rooms... rich, spacious and richly decorated rooms. 

Davros took the lead, holding out the set of Iridian armour to a man dressed in very similar accoutrements.

“Thank you for returning this.”  The man rumbled, “Did you find any of the other items?”

“What other items?” Magpie squawked, looking unbelievably guilty.

“The daggers, chains, the usual… it is a well-known kit.”  He looked disapprovingly at the bird-man.

“Oh.”  The Magpie chuckled nervously, “Yeah, just gimme a sec.”

After some painfully slow rummaging through his pack, the bird-man returned both daggers and the short sword.

Taking them, the armoured man turned and walked over to a cabinet on the far wall, pulling out two heavy-looking sacks, hefted both carefully in his hands and tossed one to Davros who caught it easily, glancing inside it and grinning as he whispered, “Another eight hundred gold guys!”

“Was there something else you needed?”  The imposing, armoured man asked.

“No no.”  Davros said smiling nervously, “We’ll see ourselves out.”

With a nod, the armoured man turned his back on them and glided out of the room, his chained compatriot following him after one quick glance back at the party as they hurried out.

The next few days were spent in drink, gluttony and debauchery as the group waited for their ordered weapons to be ready and carefully packed their kits in preparation for their thirty day trip.  On the fourth day they passed by the Godsmouth Cathedral to pick up the artefact (which was safely secreted away in a hidden compartment of the driving seat of Yuri’s wagon, exactly where his mother had once kept their money and precious family heirlooms) and set out into the cinderlands.

A mere three hours into the journey, in the midst of a flurry of face-palming as Reytard attempted to guide them while holding the map upside-down, Akura cried out and pointed off to their left at a huge, awesome shape looming on the horizon.  It bore a pants-crapping resemblance to a giant shark on four stubby, solid legs.  The group tensed and froze, but the creature didn’t seem to notice them, continuing to graze peacefully.

Valeria half-drew her pistol but Frelik reached out to stay her hand murmuring, “I vote we only attempt to kill animals we can eat… at least in one sitting.  Okay?”

With a grumble, Valeria re-holstered her pistol and continued to watch the creature as they moved on, moving as silently as possible, trying to get past it without drawing its attention.  Much to their relief, after a few minutes it lifted its head and darted off into the distance away from them, clearly having sighted something else it believed was food.

Mercifully, they encountered nothing else before camp that night, Magpie and Yuri took the first watch, Valeria and Frelik had the second, Reytard and Davros third, and Akura and Olivine last.

The night and following day passed peacefully and without event.  Then, on the evening of the second day, during Valeria and Frelik’s watch, nearing midnight as they sat next to the low-glowing fire, passing Valeria’s flask back and forth, they noticed something approaching the camp through the darkness.  Something large and cat-like.

A moment later the creature was upon Frelik as a second one came around the pond they were camped near to attack Valeria.  Near the wagon a commotion erupted simultaneously as two more of the huge cats began harrying the horses that were tied to the wagons, clearly trying to make a meal out of them.

A gunshot ripped at the darkness, rousing the rest of the party (well, except for Reytard) as Valeria fired at the cat coming towards her.  The sound was followed almost immediately by an enraged roar as Frelik began foaming at the mouth and drew a dagger, swiping at the cat which had attacked him.

The cat Valeria had fired at turned and fled into the night as the one grappling with the barbarian snarled and took a second swipe, scoring a solid hit.

Behind the wagon, the horses screams intensified as Akura leapt up onto the roof of the wagon to see what was going on.

Shouting at Frelik to “Stop playing around and finish the thing!” She dashed towards her horse, cut the reins with her sword and hit the side of the horse before slamming to the ground with a grunt next to the sleeping form of the Halfling, who finally stirred and awoke.

Roaring, Frelik sliced again with his dagger, nearly cutting the cat in half as he finally finished it.

Magpie pushed to his feet, picking up a rock and waving his hand over it.  It began to glow and he threw it up over the wagon towards the whinnying horses.  Demonstrating a surprising agility for the middle of the night, Akura reached out and caught the stone, illuminating the scene of the cats attacking the horses.

Clamouring over Valeria, who was still on her knees, Olivine climbed up to join Akura on top of the wagon as Davros hurled a bomb just past the two cats, entangling one and singeing them both.  The un-entangled one took off like a shot into the night as the entangled one tried to follow, limping off slowly.

Taking the moral high-ground by not attacking a retreating foe, Akura dropped off the wagon to check on the horses.  Luckily only one was badly wounded, unconscious but not dead.  The monk managed to pull out some amazing healing skills and stabilized it, but it was still unconscious.

Valeria, on the other hand, tried to chase after the remaining cat and sink a sword into it but missed horribly.

Frelik collapsed onto his butt, panting and dabbing at the blood all over him.

Magpie rushed over to the horse, applying a healing spell to it and returning it to consciousness.

With a grimace, Olivine held out her hands, a wobbling ray of light emanating from her and striking the fleeing cat.  It stumbled, obviously weakening.

Davros moved over to the horse, helping to calm it as the Magpie continued to help it.

The remaining cat whirled, raking two claws across Valeria’s face for trying to hurt it.  Davros stepped up next to the gunslinger and put a hand on her arm, saying, “Just let it go.”

After a moment’s hesitation she holstered her pistol and spun on her heel, muttering, “Not worth it anyway.” before walking over to check on her horse as the cat slunk off into the night.

After having healing the horse and the barbarian, the group returned to bed to rest up for whatever the next day held.

Chapter 5

In which the party finishes what they started and learns the value of occasionally indulging in a little intense pickle

After a moment Frelik popped back to his feet, panting and frantically scanning his surroundings as though still looking for a fight.  Luckily his brain managed to override his barbarian instincts just long enough for him to realize that the violence was ended.  Valeria tried to explain what had just happened to the confused barbarian as Davros went back across the pit to investigate the lab.

Magpie glanced at their new prisoner and cawed with dismay.  Attention drawn, Valeria frowned at the woman’s less than healthy skin tone and called back over her shoulder, “Oh Davros, you may want to come have a look at this, she looks like she may be your type.”

Even from across the chasm Davros blanched, “Her skin is about the colour of dead.”

The woman made no response, standing quietly in the corner.  Davros approached and pushed back her hood.  Her skin was, as they feared, rotting and putrid, what hair she had hung lank and lifeless around her face.  She wears much makeup – more than Yuri cares for on his women – and enough perfume to choke on, but she is clearly no longer living.  Yuri shuts his eyes against the hideous sight of this once-beautiful woman now rotted but still standing.

“Who are you?”  Valeria asked softly.

“My name is Esme Verisi.  I was… sick and Svilennius offered to help me.  He says he tried to help me but before he could succeed I died so he brought me back.”

“Oh?” Valeria cocked her head, “And do you believe that?”

“Look.” She says, throwing her hood back to reveal the full extent of her decay, “Of course I’ve died, he was working on something to help reverse this.”

“The death? Or the rotting?” Valeria asked, snide as ever.

“At least the rotting.” She retorted.

Keen to help the woman, Davros searched the Alchemist’s corpse and the lab, uncovering multiple wondrous items as well as all kinds of useful tools and a magic spear.

A few people claimed items they thought might be useful and Davros secreted away the rest.

Magpie turned to the woman, “How long have you been down in this forsaken crypt?”

“It is hard to say exactly,” Esme frowned, not a flattering expression on someone whose face was rotting, “It’s been about a week since I came to.  Svillenius thought he could bring me back, but failed several times.  So I do not know how long I’d been unconscious.”

“Who were you before?” Valeria asked, “Well, who are you still, I guess.”

“I was studying magic in Korvosa when I caught a wasting disease and turned to Necromancy to try and cure myself.  I came here to consult with the Necromancers of the Ankar-Te district, but I soon realized had neither the time nor the money to get this cured.  That was when I met Svilennius, who was eager to try and help me… I think the poor fool was in love with me.”

“He was.” Valeria nodded.  “Was Svilennius an evil person by nature or did he simply go insane trying to create undead things?”

“Having semi-succeeded with me he tried the experiment on others, trying to perfect it and see if he could find a way to stop the rotting and bring someone back to life.”

“So why did he attack us the moment we entered the room?” Valeria demanded.

“Actually, I believe you shot first.” Akura pointed out.

Esme ignored him, “He was jittery.  He was expecting the Pharasmans to come down and evict him at any moment.  He was a former cleric of their church, now in exile and was always paranoid that someone was going to come down and get us. I imagine you startled him.”

The party stared at her in mingled confusion and awareness.

She tried to explain, “He believed that using alchemy to revive the dead was less blasphemous than using negative energy, so had been working on a way to revive the dead that way.  His efforts got him cast out of the church of Pharasma as a heretic.”

Davros, shaking his head sadly as he flipped through Svilennius’ notes, sighed, “It looks like he wasn’t even close to reversing your condition Esme, I’m sorry, you’re going to rot out.”

She seemed sad and resigned, but not overly surprised by the news.

“We can’t leave you here.” Davros continued gently, “But if you like we can either show you a hole in the wall by which you can escape, or we can take you up to the church of Pharasma to see if there’s any way they can help you – or put you out of your misery as quickly and cleanly as possible.”

“If you’re willing to turn a blind eye,” the woman replied, “I will certainly take my chances in the city.”

“There’s a tunnel.”  Davros nodded, “Though we can’t guarantee where it leads.  I won’t begrudge a soul a chance for survival.”

With a rotted smile the woman nodded and thanked the group before disappearing off the way Davros indicated.

Satisfied that she was safely away, and indeed going the direction he told her, Davros returned to rifling through Svilennius’ lab, pocketing anything that looked useful or valuable.

As Davros had finished his ‘shopping’ trip, Frelik flapped his left arm around saying, “Ah, guys, I don’t think my arm’s supposed to bend this way.”

Without a glance Davros tossed him a vial from his pouch and they headed back into the maze of tunnels to double-check any doors they’d missed - in the interests of being thorough, of course, and not just seeking more loot.

The first room they entered contained a strange statue which, although it was clearly made of stone, glowed with a golden-green iridescence.

“That’s a statue of the Peacock Spirit – a deity of mind, body and soul.” Davros muttered.  Yuri tossed him an irritated glance, wondering if this encyclopaedia impression thing was going to become a regular occurrence.

In the base of the statue Davros noticed what looked like a small door.  Cautiously he reached out and popped the hatch open.  Inside lay a single green feather which Davros secreted away for later.

Carrying on around through the halls proved rather uneventful and they soon found themselves back at the statue of Lissala.

Valeria, ever obsessed with loot, reached up to pull what looked like a feather out of the statue’s hand.  There was a single, blinding flash of light and Valeria swayed once on her feet before shaking it off and tucking the feather away.

Returning to the embalming chambers they’d first explored, they rang the chime the priestess had given them, coaxing open the one door which had been magically sealed against them.  The room, which they realized belatedly must have been dedicated to envy, was empty save for some simple, rough-hewn furniture.  The group shared a pretty strong sense of foolishness.

After some squabbling, the group finally agreed to a watch order and bedded down to rest again, regaining their strength for whatever lay ahead.

A good eight hour rest later, the group once again re-evaluated what else they needed to accomplish in these catacombs before heading back up to the surface.  After a brief - and fierce - debate all but Frelik decide that they feel duty bound to clear the undead creatures from the room of the runelords (one of which had already soundly trounced them once before Yuri refrained from mentioning).

They began with the crypt of wrath again, pride still stinging from their previous defeat at his hands Yuri suspects. 

Magpie threw open the door and began making a speech into the hole, attempting to draw the creature out as the rest of them (except for Frelik who stood in the back, face-palming) stood ready for whatever came through the door.

“Once again you dare disturb my wrath?!?!” A familiar voice shouted, “Come in and face me.”

“No!” the group shouted in unison, “You come out!”

“I will not.”  The creature replied, “I can wait you out!”

“That’s not very wrathful.”  Frelik muttered.

“I cannot leave this crypt!”  It retorted.

Whipping out a wand which he maintained could do nasty things to anything undead, Magpie positioned himself to fire it off as he asked, “Why not?”

“Honour binds me to defend it!”  The thing replied.

When no one else had a good reply to that, Valeria let out a long-suffering sigh and stepped forward, firing her pistol into the darkness.

As the ball clatters into the creature’s armour he shouts, “Aha!  At last, a worthy challenge!”  He belts Valeria with his ranseur and finishes with a dire warning of, “Flee mortals!”

Magpie responds with a vicious flash from the wand in his hand which leaves a small, smoking hole in the skeleton’s chest.  When he raised the wand the second time the creature scored a hit on Magpie, though he still managed to get another searing shot off before retreating a step.

With a harsh cry Akura leapt forward, fist swinging.  And missed.  Davros elected to applaud sarcastically instead of helping – at least until Akura’s dirty look silenced him.  With another swing, pointed gaze still fixed on Davros, the monk put a fist through the skeleton’s torso and severed its spine.  It dropped to the ground, lifeless. 

After a careful study of the tiny room the guardian had occupied they discovered a secret door, behind which were buried the bejewelled corpses of some of wrath’s wealthier devotees.

The next door, that of lust, has no guardian behind it.  Instead there is only  a grouping of bodies who are remarkably well-preserved given their age – though the wonder of their preservation are overshadowed by the lewd and graphic positions of the bodies.

Picking through the pornographic tableau, Frelik managed to extricate quite a lot of jewellery to add to the party’s coffers.  He kept one necklace, which he held out to Valeria with an evil grin, “Here, I got this one for you.”

Disgust written on her face, Valeria took the thing in a handkerchief muttering, “Thanks…” before tucking it away.

The next room, Sloth, is much like lust’s except with the obvious omission of the lewdly positioned bodies.  In the centre of this room is a mound of something, in the weak light it looks like either a squat stalagmite or a mound of greasy fat.  As the group cautiously approached the thing it stirred, rising and shifting into a greasy, humanoid figure.  It lunged forward, one of its claw-like appendages catching Davros in the chest.

“Stupid lemure!” Davros muttered, firing his crossbow at the thing’s face, doing only minor damage.

Following suit, Valeria cracked a shot off at it, but the bullet only sinks into the fatty body, not appearing to do any damage.

Running past Davros on his way towards the creature Frelik snatched the ranseur they’d collected from the wrath room off the half-orc’s back and swung it at the creature with a savage cry.  With a sweeping, slashing cut the barbarian sliced the devil in two, as it crumbles and sizzles away into nothing, leaving an empty room.

Up next was gluttony - apparently one of the barbarian’s favourites.  Inside they found a pair of humanoid creatures, their skin hanging off their bones in huge folds, like bodies that had once been tremendously fat but were now emaciated and wasted away.  They growled, maws opening to reveal glistening, ghoulish fangs.

Ever quick to react, Valeria is the first to move, firing a shot into one of the creatures which blew a small chunk off it.

Wielding a wand over his head as Frelik gets too engrossed in his own display of prowess to swing, Magpie fired a blast of energy at the creature in the rear which fizzled and did nothing.

Making an unhappy noise in the back of his throat, Akura leapt forward, sinking a fist into the near creature and handily finishing it off.

“Duck!” Valeria shouted at Frelik.

The barbarian obeyed without question and Valeria’s glowing bullet struck the second ghoul right between the eyes, splattering its brains all over the opposite wall.

This room is even less treasure filled than the others.

The next door, pride, revealed a long corridor of polished wood with plush red carpet and alcoves stuffed with bodies wrapped in pristine white linens.  In the distance, the light music of chimes can be heard.  The hall is pleasantly warm and surprisingly not dank given that it’s a crypt.  Magpie shook his head, “Ugh… so much illusion.”

Frelik stepped through the opening first.  Which was likely a poor choice.  As soon as he crossed the threshold a flash of colours engulfed him and he dropped to the ground, unconscious.

A skeletal figure detached itself from the opposite wall, dripping blood on the red carpet as it approached the prone figure of the barbarian.

“Ew.” Akura muttered, moving warily into the hallway.

With a grunt Davros hurled a bomb over the monk’s shoulder which exploded into a blast of flames and vines which wrapped themselves around the thing’s bony ankles.  The damage from the fire, however initially effective it seemed, was apparently not worth much as the creature hadn’t started putting itself back together almost immediately.

With a hiss, covering the monk in blood and spit, the creature swung at him – and missed.

The monk responded with a fist, knocking the creature’s head off and causing the thing to collapse.  Much to everyone’s dismay, the body had already started re-assembling itself when Magpie shouted, “Stay down!” laying a cure spell on the thing which finally got it to stop moving.

In one of the alcoves of this room they found two vials and some more riches, but very little else.

After a few minutes the barbarian popped back to his feet, swaying a bit as he frowned, “Was I unconscious again just now? And why can’t I see?”

“Give it a minute.”  Someone muttered as they guided him to the next room.

The next room, envy, is eerily cold; tiny ice crystals riming every surface.  On the far wall was a brownish mold.

“That’s brown mold.” Magpie muttered, “It feeds on heat – particularly warm bodies.  We could kill it with cold, but fire will just make everything terrible.”

Carefully shutting the door on it, they resolve to bring it to the attention of Pharasma’s clerics and leave it at that.

The crypt of greed is a dusty, alcoved room.  There is definitely the glitter of gold, taunting the party in by the light of their torches.

Frelik, voluntold to explore the room first, steps in only to be struck in the shoulder with a glaive on a pivot which swung down from the ceiling to surprise him.  With a muttered curse, he drove a spike into the slit, preventing the blade from coming out again.  The worst part was, all the jewellery in the room was fake; gold-plated costume jewellery worth only about fifty gold pieces all told.

Done with the rooms, the group moved on to the final set of double doors; the only ones in the room they hadn’t opened yet.  Beyond was yet another tunnel, sloping down deeper into the earth.

They instead chose to follow the hole that went up; the one they suspected the Tengu from earlier had entered by and the one they’d sent the undead Esme out through.  It wandered up, down and twisted this way and that.  In the distance they thought they could see light so they kept on going.  Soon they emerged into fresh air, only to discover they were standing in the mouth of one of the other faces of Kaer Maga’s walls - nine-hundred and fifty feet in the air up a thousand foot sheer cliff.

Unwilling to scale the cliff as a way to get back into the city, the group agrees that pursuing any of the downward routes would likely be unwise and agrees to return to the Godsmouth Cathedral to report their findings and their success.

First trying the secret knock the priestess had taught them – to no avail – they rang their trusty chime again and stepped back through the door, allowing the heavy door to close and seal behind them.

It was early evening in the ossuary and all was quiet, Pharasman priests preferring to do the bulk of their work at night.

They worked their way back up through the labrynthine levels of the Ossuary until they found a low-ranking acolyte who recognized them, greeting them with a relieved cry, “Oh!  The cryptmistress will want to see you at once!”

He led them back to the tiny chapel they’d met in three days prior where they were soon attended by Valanthe Nerissia herself.

“So, I assume you succeeded?”

“Minus some mold?  Yes.”  Davros muttered.

“We discovered who was stealing the bodies,”  Magpie squawked, overriding the general hubbub of voices as everyone tried to deliver their own version of their adventures all at once.

“I believe you may know of him?”  Davros added mildly, “He was an alchemist named Svilennius.”

“Ah.  Svilennius.  Yes, he was one of our brotherhood – before his heresies.”

“Well, he never really stopped with the heresy.” Valeria added snidely.

“Very well.  And you’ve secured that level of the ossuary?”

“Yes.” Davros replied, “With the exception of three passages which we’ll detail for you later.”

“And behind the statues of the Runelords,”  Magpie added, “In the crypt of envy there is a brown mould in need of killing.”

“We didn’t have the tools to defeat it.” Akura added apologetically.

Valanthe nodded sagely.  “Very well.  We’ll have to send a group down to verify that you have indeed cleared the level of course, not that I do not believe you, but you know how it goes…”

The party nodded with understanding.

“Oh. On a more positive note.” Magpie added, “We found these holy symbols and vestments of Pharasma down there.”

Offering them the money for discovering Svelenius up front as a sign of good faith, she explains that the rest of their payment will have to wait until she has confirmation of their success and offers to pay for the vestments, holy symbols and accoutrements as an added reward for their hard work.

After equitably dividing all their ill-gotten gains between the six of them the group parts ways to take an evening off for themselves, agreeing to re-convene in the morning and discuss what to do next.  Given what a successful team they now made, they were eager to embark on more ah, business ventures together.