The Venga Campaign

[cinabro]

Wednesday 21 May 980 Continued
Party = Murga[Dwarf Cleric 5th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 5th], Spike[Human Fight 5th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 5th]

As the light dawns some acolytes of Apollo show up and relieve the party. They
inform of the struggle with the goblins, and find Zeebers at the Swilling Snake.
He tells them what he saw, "Hey, I'm open minded centaur's living with people."
Mr. Spike has learned of a bar where legendary type creatures hang out, The Mad
Phoenix. He and Zeebers head out to the tenement where the "Great Project" of
the chaos cult was supposed to be. It is in the docks area, and they see it among
many other such tenemants where workman leave in the morning, and families come out
to do laundry, play, etc. The one they are looking at shows no activity.

Murga is back at the Temple of Hephaestus and meets with High Priest Dumas who
has spoken to the goblins. They say that they were simply watching the mansion
when they were attacked by the party. They are asking for compensation for the
lost members of their tribe. At the temple of Hephaestus he is told that they
are still working on his device, but that something is messing up the magical
field around here.

Spike and Zeebers approach the building, and the police show up. They tell them
that the building has been empty since the battle, last Monday, and they guess that
most of residents were killed during the troubles. They are keeping watch as empty
buildings can easily be turned into locations of criminal activity.

Murga turns up and tells them of the goblins. Spike and Zeebers are unmoved and suggest
sending a note to Javica to see if she is willing to pay compensation to the goblins.
He also gives to Spike a note from Gatria Solor:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Spike and Friends

I have some news about my mis-guided son. Can you please come to see
me at your earliest opportunity? As usual, I hope I can trust you discretion
in this matter.

Gatria Solor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before Murga heads off again, he detects evil on the tenement. He definitely senses evil,
but also some hint of something other worldly about whatever is in there. They also ask
Murga to check in on Priest of Apollo Thisk to see if his accolytes can also keep watch on
the tenement.

Zeebers and Spike go to see Gatria Solor and are ushered in to see her. She tells them that
she asked an ex-girlfriend of Iltumar's, Lavis Fallomire who always carried a guitar and was
armed, to look for him. A couple of days ago she said that she was able, using an item
of Iltumar's, to track him to a dis-used warehouse in the docks region. They go there and
see a front and rear entrance. They go in the back and find a ruined office, and no obvious
way into the rest of the building. Zeebers finds a secret door, and then is sprayed
with acid from a trap. He is badly hurt and the two decide to retreat.

[cinabro]

Session 36 is short as only two of the players are present. I begin to think we need at least one more player, as the party is too fragile.

[cinabro]

Party = Murga[Dwarf Cleric 5th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 5th], Spike[Human Fight 5th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 5th]

Tuesday Continued

Zeebers and Spike head back to the Temple of Poseidon. The badly hurt Zeebers is cured and
brought to the infirmary for further treatment. He will be here for a bit. High Priest
Dumas arrives and talks to Zeebers and Spike about what is going on. He says that with the
reconstruction and other activities he has not been paying too much attention to what they
have been up to. The incident with the goblins has jolted him. They plan to speak after
dinner that evening. He does some more healing on Zeebers and advises him to take it
easy the rest of this day and over night.

Murga goes off to the Temple of Hephaestus and learns of the disrupted magical
field. They are willing to inquire at the mid-town Temple of Apollo, which the
party is suspicious of.

Spike goes out to some bars and visits the Mad Phoenix, a mythical creature bar.
He finds no centaurs, but does hear aobut the new beer called Hidden Still Goblin Ale.
They fail to notice any connection with their earlier adventures.

Quilord has spent the day learning a spell.

In the evening the party meets with High Priest Dumas. They tell him their story,
but leave out that they have been into the Banewarrens or that they are working
with Javica. He understands their perdictament, and is sympathetic. He advises them to
pay off the goblins and avoid any problems with the authorities. He is left believing
that chaos cultists, like the one he is holding, are trying to get into the Banewarrens
to gather a powerful, and certainly dangerous, magic item. They ask after Alexia, and he
says that there is no hurry in sending her away, to the Elves. She needs some time
to recover and de-stress before they send her off to the unfamiliar and high pressure
environment that she is likely to encounter with the Elves.

Spike goes to the Ghostly Minstrel and asks after Javica. She is not here, but
their message from ealier has been passed on. He comes back and give 250 GP to the Goblins,
telling the rest of the party that Javica has paid. The goblins accept the cash and leave.

Thursday

They go to the tenement in the dock area. They look for watchers from the Temple
of Apollo, but see none. They go on to the warehouse. They enter
at the back, disable the trap, fight, and defeat the three armed chaos creature. They are freaked
out by it, and gather its head and its extra arm for study later. They get to the Dwarf's room,
fight and knock him out. They are disgusted to realize that the tank on his back is fused
into his flesh. They kill him, as being too disgusting and evil to be allowed to live. They
break into the operating room, the Surgeon in the Shadows immediately teleports away, and the
party fights it out with the swift and tough guardian. They defeat it and rescue Iltumar
who is unconscious, he was being prepped for his transformation, and in the storage room
find Lavis Fallomire, female bard, ex-girlfriend of Iltumar, who Gatria Solar asked to
help find the missing Iltumar. She is bound, all of her stuff is gone, but has not been hurt.

A quick search, they do not find the entrance to the Surgeon's quarters, do find
a notebook, that is clearly in some sort of complex code that they cannot make anything of.
They decide to burn the place down, planning to claim that some sort of trap was tripped
causing the fire. No one notices until they are well away. They return to the Temple
of Posiedon, planning to connect with Master Thritas to show him the body parts and
notebook.

[cinabro]

Session 37 advances the Night of Dissolution. After the session I ask the wife of Quilord's character if she would like to join, playing Lavis. She is very enthusiastic. The campaign has a bit of shift as we now have a character with a high Charisma opening some new options Next up will be her backstory.

[cinabro]

Backstory for Lavis Fallomire, human female bard

Venga is an unusual city. Located far to the north of the middle
sea around which humans first settled when they came to this world, it should
be isolated and provincial. Yet it is not. The Morans from their great
city on the Talian Peninsula conquered all the lands around the Middle
Sea, and took Venga as the northern most outpost of their empire. They
recognized its importance as the gateway between the wild lands to the
north and more settled lands. The Elves had long lived at the southern
end of Lake Venga, and the Dwarves dwelled in the Pelian Mountains just
to the east. Venga was important to them as it was one of main bases
from which thousands of years ago armies were sent into the Wild Lands
to finish off the Fell Creatures that had invaded the settled lands. This
tragedy, the armies were overtaken by madness and twisted to chaos and
evil, led to the unsettled times that we see today. The members of
those armies came back as the Twisted Ones, who still plague the world.

The Morans built the great bridge and cleared the Nor River from
Venga down to the Middle Sea at Marnor such that barges from Venga
can travel all the way down the River and connect with the civilization
and commerce of the Middle Sea. Thus began Venga's rise as the cultural
center of the north. As a crossroads between the Elvish Lands to the
West, Dwarvish dwellings to the East, Humans around the Middle Sea,
and Halflings who settled in the rich Venga Vale, this isolated city
of the north became one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the
Empire. Its University not only trained great mages, but also some
of the greatest artists the Empire had ever seen.

When the Empire fell under a flood of barbarians and civil war,
Venga was spared by virtue of its strong walls and ties to its neighbors
who recognized that Venga could not fall if there was to be any hope of
sparing civilization from the Fell Creatures of the Wild Lands. Thus
Venga endures and its devotion to that which makes civilization worth
fighting for remains.

One of the highest achievements of the University of Venga is the
melding magic and art by the School of the Bards. This craft takes years
to learn and is only open to those few who can are both master musicians
and have an aptitude for magic. Those trained at the University of Venga
are reputed to be the best in the world. You were fortunate to join
the school. You remember as a young girl, auditioning for the intimidating
faculty of the school as they asked to sing, play, and make the cat do
tricks. That last bit was the hardest, and the bored grey beards finally
took notice when the cat did a back flip as you sang to it. Professor Vess
Hanley got down off the podium, and said, "That was very good, dear. I
think you will have a long career ahead of you." Even as young girl of 12
you realized that things were going to change drastically. You almost became
a stranger to your family over the next years as you spent long days at the
University with Professor Hanley honing your voice, playing, and magic craft.
You remember the first time you performed in front of an audience and you
realized that you could bend them to your will, the first recorder that
you painstakingly carved from a block of wood that you had to infuse with
some of your own blood to make it hold the magic that your playing would alight,
gathering the wood for your guitar on a quest into the wild lands to find
the magical Swamp Ash tree that grows in the lands of the Blood Elves,
the painstaking hours in the work shop delicately building the guitar,
and the applause that broke out when you finished your final original song
singing and playing on the guitar that had become almost a part of yourself.
Vess was so proud as she hugged you after the performance and solemnly placed
around your shoulders the fine cape that is the symbol of a Master Bard.

The next few years were spent trying to scratch a living as a performer
and part time adventurer. It is not clear in your head what is worse facing
some Fell Creature intent on your death, or an audience which is hearing your
latest composition for the first time. Both are terrifying and rewarding.
You became quite popular often playing for the towns gentry led by the
three families the Frangela, the Fenkari, and the Calmoni. They dominate
the commercial life and are those that run the city. The current mayor
is Donal Fenkar. You also occasionally played at the dives of the Packet,
that large suburb across the great bridge to the west of the city where
the alcohol is cheap, the patrons include goblins and orcs who can stick
to the law, and there are as many calls for encores as there calls for you
to show more skin. Surprisingly in one of these dives you are approached
by someone you had met at a high society function just a few days earlier.
Iltumar Solar was a bit younger that yourself, but he gushed with praise
over your music and you agreed to see him.

It was not much of a romance, while you clearly liked Iltumar, he
seemed to be more interested in something else. He would often talk of his
dissatisfaction with the present order. He described it as a corrupt oligarchy
that did not deserve the power that it wielded. On the other hand he did
not seem to favor some sort of democratic system, as was popular among
the students at the University, but exposed some sort of anarchy which
"would allow individuals the ultimate freedom to transform into that which
maximizes their underlying potential." Exactly how this could be an organizing
principle for a society was beyond you, and the more Iltumar expounded on
it, organization seemed to be about the last thing Iltumar was interested in.
He was far more interested in talking politics and trying to convince you
to go meetings of "a club of those who are working to bring about a better
world," for which you fortunately had no interest or time, than in what
interested or excited you.

In truth things changed when you finally met Iltumar's mother, Gatria Solar.
She recognized you immediately from a society function where you had entertained,
and seemed to like you. She often secured jobs for you as an entertainer at charity
balls or elegant house dinner parties, and you found yourself working, and even
better being paid, regularly. Gatria is good friends with Lady Fenkar,
the mayor's aunt and matriarch of the Fenkari, and your highest paying gig
was at a Fenkari party just a few weeks ago. It was a small price to tolerate
the occasional "date" with Iltumar and listen to his increasingly strange
ideas. Gatria herself told you that she thought you were a good influence on
her son, and a big improvement over his usual choice of girlfriend.

The events of the past weeks have been a blur. They began with an
apparent coup led by the deputy mayor, the head of the Sorcerer's Brotherhood,
and supported by twisted Elves from the Wild Lands. You spent most of the
time with your family in their modest dwelling in working class section of
the city, your father, Harley, works the docks, and your mother, Andrea,
and sister, Tracy, in a shop. There was no work for any one in the troubled
times, and you rejoiced along with the rest of the population of the city
when the Battle of Venga ended in defeat for the usurpers, and the
restoration of the mayor.

You saw Iltumar after the battle and accompanied him to the ceremony
honoring the following and the celebration that followed. He was exultant
that the coup and its aftermath had opened the door to change, while you
were actually quite pleased that many things would remain the same. He
spoke of his coming "transformation" which would aid the cause of change
making him into some sort of warrior for change. In truth you thought he
had completely lost it, and you resolved to get on with your life.

It was just a few days later that you got a note from Gatria Solar
asking you to come see here at once. There she told you that Iltumar has
gone missing and gives you a note that he has left behind:

Mother

I cannot be what you want me to be. Thank you for all that you have given me,
but I go to live a new life with a new body.

Iltumar

Gatria begs you to help find Iltumar. You recall some Iltumar's things, remembering
a jacket that he usually wore, and a torn piece of it that you have. It was but a
simple thing to have a spell cast to locate the jacket that once joined the piece
of cloth. It led you to a disused warehouse in the docks. You sent a quick note
to Gatria and gathering your sword and guitar you resolved to bring Iltumar
to his senses.

Of what happened next perhaps the less said the better. You entered the building,
and found yourself struggling with a horror. Something that was once human, but
now had an extra arm attacked you and despite your best efforts you were
defeated. Later you found yourself bound in some sort of storage room. With you
was Iltumar, who exulted that you were going to join him in a transformation, which
will be done by some one called The Surgeon in the Shadows. He has apparently mastered
techniques based on chaos magic to warp and enhance humans into the sort of creature
that defeated you. Iltumar welcomed such as transformation, while you feared that
this was to be your fate.

You were soon joined by what you guess to have once been a dwarf, who had some
sort of metal bottle that was attached to the flesh of his back. The Dwarf prepared
you for examination, which involved him taking all of your things, including your
beloved guitar and weapons, stripping you naked, and strapping you to a wheeled
table. To your eternal disgust Iltumar helped. You were wheeled in to a small
bit of hell; a room filled with incomprehensible machines, spattered with and
smelling of blood. In this was what was evidently the Surgeon in the Shadows.
What you observed was a tall figure cloaked in voluminous robes. His(?) face
was concealed behind an metal mask and his hands were fine metal claws with at least
ten fingers on each hand. He stabed you in the arm with a very thin knife that was
connected by a tube to one of the machines, and poked, prodded, and measured
you for what seemed like an eternity. He wrote often in a book. At the end you heard
his terrifying voice, which never rose above a hissing whisper, as he said, "You will
make an excellent assistant. Your hands are capable of the fine manipulation and
control that I require." When he was done he called for the dwarf who wheeled you
back into the storage room, and bound you again.

You are not sure how long you spent in that room with the obviously mad
Iltumar. He ranted about the coming "Night of Dissolution," whatever
that might be, and that his friends would soon be using the "Kaledeiscope
Temple that they think is theirs, but is really ours" to destroy law and
usher in pure chaos. You wonder what you ever saw in this obviously mad man.

At some point the Dwarf came back in, telling Iltumar that he needed
to be prepared. He was strapped to a rolling table, and wheeled into the other
room. The Dwarf promised he would be back for "fun times" with you.

Fortunately the next thing to come through the door was a party of
adventurers. There is a large man bearing a strange gear headed mace, an
overly talkative Dwarf cleric of Hephaestus, an Elf mage bearing a red staff, and
small limber man who moves without noise. You are beyond relieved when they
untie you, and take you out of the warehouse, apparently where you have been held
prisoner. You begin to realize that in your terror you have not slept for you
do not know how many days and your last memory before passing out as you carried
by the large man is of smoke and flames starting to rise from the warehouse as
you are carried away.

[cinabro]

Thursday Continued
Party = Lavis[Human Bard 5th], Murga[Dwarf Cleric 5th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 5th], Spike[Human Fight 5th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 5th]

Back at the Temple of Poseidon. The Healers there note Iltumar's bald spot and Detection
of Magic and Evil reveals something wrapped about his brain, but not much about how it
works. This is also inspired by Murga, who does the original Dectect Evil and gets
others excited. They suspect that this is causing his raving madness. Lavis tells them that
Iltumar was working for change, and planned to become a "warrior of chaos". He also
was pleased by the coup and spoke of the Night of Dissolution which would herald great
change. He also mentioned the Tower of Kaliadioscope that
"they think belongs to them, but really belongs to us." She tells them that he actually
helped to restrain her for her examination by the Surgeon in the Shadows who poked her
with a long knife, and took some blood. She sleeps peacefully the rest of the night.

Zeebers and Spike go to Gatria Solar. She is out for the evening, but they wait.
They search around and find nothing out of the ordinary. When she returns they tell her
that they have recovered her son, that he is OK, asleep, and she can see him the morning.
They try to tell her that he is mad, but she wants to see him any way.

They stop by the Ghostly Minstrel and ask after Javica. She has not been here,
and the box in which they leave and receive letters has taken theirs away, but none
has come back.

The party is healed up by the Healers at the Temple.

Friday

The Healers do not know what to do with the raving Iltumar. To cut out the
thing in his head is likely very dangerous to him. They will do some more investigation.

Gatria Solar turns up. She thanks the party and Lavis for recovering her son.
Lavis mentions that everything she owns has been stolen. Gatria tells her to go buy
whatever she needs and that Gatria will cover the cost. She is shaken by seeing her
raving son. She makes no decision about what to do with Iltumar, and asks to be brought
back home. She tells Spike that she is devastated. Her husband was killed during the
Coup and her son is now lost. She will need some time to decide what to do.

Murga has the idea that if Iltumar is Polymorphed to something amorphous,
it may be possible to extract the evil thing. He and Quilord go to see Master
Thritas. Thritas is happy to see them, and they give him the head and arm from the
chaos warrior they took from the Surgeon in the shadows. He notes the control device
in the head and metalized bones. He notes that it seems something like the thing
that attacked the city just before the coup. They buy a polymorph other scroll
and take Thritas to the Temple of Poseidon. He looks at Iltumar and thinks that
while Murga's idea is good, it is unlikely to be successful. The "control device"
is grown into the host, and becomes part of it. Indeed, Iltumar is turned into
pond scum, and the control device is not separate. He is returned to his natural
form and remains in isolation here. They also give Thritas the notebook that they
gathered from the Surgeon in the Shadows. It will take some time to decipher.
Lastly they ask Thritas about extracting information from Borloch. Thritas tells
them that Borloch has confessed to his treason, but has successfully convinced
just about all that he was acting under duress forced by Ugo and Vintor. He does
not think Thritas will have much to tell them about any contacts that they
may have had with the chaos cultists who are doing this. Note that they do
not give him much context about what is going on.

Lavis sees her family, she was missing for 3 days and they were not very
distressed. They are happy to see her. She goes shopping and collects a suit
of Elven Chain Mail, a magical Broad Sword, and some
special wood for the construction of a new guitar.

They meet for lunch. Spike suggests that they need to go the great project.
They stop at the mid-town Temple of Apollo, Thisk is not present, and they ask after
the watch on the tenement, but are told that they know nothing about it. They do
know about the watch on the Banewarrens entrance, nothing to report. The party is
convinced Thisk is dirty, and that they have to act fast as he will now be tipped off
to their work.

At the tenement. They avoid the Violet Slime and do not disturb the open
Cocoon. Murga detects evil and he finds a bunch of stuff on the first and second floor.
At the rear they destroy the as yet unopend cocoon.
They go to the strongest source and fight and kill the two Dretches. Lavis recognizes
them for what they are. They see the table, and collect 3 vials of the black Askora poison.
A quick attempt to figure it out, pouring some remnants out and sniffing it, reveals nothing.
They chop the heads off the demons and pour holy water over the remains. They then
head for the Thralls in front and fight in kill them with Zeeberr getting a critical
hit from behind on one of them. Lavis, Murga, and Spike are lesserly poisoned in the
fight.

[cinabro]

Session 38 is introduction of Lavis, and further on the Night of Dissolution. Back up to the semi-ideal five players for a short time.

[cinabro]

Party = Lavis[Human Bard 5th], Murga[Dwarf Cleric 5th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 5th], Spike[Human Fight 5th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 5th]

Friday Continued

They decide to clear out the ground floor before heading up. They find
the prisoners who tell them that a few weeks ago they were gathered up, stuck
in here, and inadequately fed and watered. A few were taken out and not seen
again, and they cannot account for some others. The party smashes open a
window and tell the prisoners to go to the Temple of Posiedon for help.

They head up stairs and find the clerics fighting over the body
of a dead skaven cleric. They slay them using levitation and command,
and find the letter indicating strife and suspicion among the chaos cults.
They find the last mansect and dispatch it. Spike finds the Gibbering
Mouther, but manages to get back out of the room before it can attack.
Zeebers throws in the Vial of Whirlwinds in the room. It destroys
the Mouther and tears up the walls of the room.

They find the hole to the sewers and follow it down to the sewers.

They find the new door, and Zeebers notices the trip wire,
that connects to an alarm bell. As they pass in, Quilord stumbles
and trips the wire. As they enter the Temple they see a ratman,
fling a smoke bomb to obscure their view of the other side. Murga
casts some protection and they spread out. As the smoke clears
they see the line of rats who begin firing on them. Quilord
casts an Ice Storm which mows down the rats except for a few
giant rats who are dispatched by the fighters. As they cautiously
explore the temple the other half of the rats starts to come out
of the corridor into the Temple. Quilord mows these down with
Chain Lightning, except for a few giant rats that Spike dispatches.
As that happens a Rat Ogre appears and is swarmed by Murga,
Zeebers and Quilord. The clerics break out and are knocked out
by Murga using Command and Hold Person.

[cinabro]

Session 39 is a blast. The Vial of Whirlwinds is revealed to be great fun, and Quilord's staff is used as heavy artillery to smash through many ratmen. The Night of Dissolution campaign gets pretty twisted by me.

[cinabro]

Party = Lavis[Human Bard 5th], Murga[Dwarf Cleric 5th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 5th], Spike[Human Fight 5th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 5th]

Friday Continued

In the Temple amid the carnage. They loot the bodies taking some ammunition, guns,
hand weapons and armor. They leave stuff that is not magical. Lavis drinks a Cure
Serious and they decide to press on exploring. They explore into the clerics quarters,
and then into the sewer tunnels. Quilord gathers up a spell book. They
exchange fire with the two rat guards, who flee
but are cut down by long range shots by Quilord and Lavis. They then head into the
tunnels and waste 30 minutes wandering in them, before heading back to the Temple.
They head to the Rat guards chamber, and they find nothing
of value. They camp in the cleric's chamber with the plan of recovering their
spells and continuing to explore. They set watches with Lavis up first.

She sees some folks coming up from below who are checking up when no one
from the upper Temple checks in. It is a woman and two Ratmen.
They begin shooting at the party. Lavis shoots back and wakes the others. Quilord
walls them off behind a Wall of Force. The rats to delay them here, while the woman
disappears down the stairs.
Zeebers sneaks around and drops the Vial Whirlwinds at the top of the stairs. The
two rats are consumed. The Wall of Force comes down, Zeebers gathers the Vial,
and they continue below.

They descend the stairs and orcs are summoned among the party.
Zeebers flies to the tower door, and is hit by the woman. She closes the door and retreats
to the walls. Zeebers looks over the walls and sees two mansects and two rat ogres heading
to attack. A long complex fight begins. Quilord tosses a fireball that kills two rat ogres,
hurts a mansect, and a dwarf who has appeared from a secret door. The mansect fights it out with
Spike and poisons him multiple times before going down. The party falls back and Quilord
begins flinging fireballs at the woman who is deadly accurate in response with a bow. She hits him twice forcing
him to retreat up the stairs to drink a Cure potion. Zeebers chases after the Dwarf who
retreats into the Tower. Zeebers tosses in the Vial of Whirlwinds, but the Dwarf manages to
get out of the zone of effect and retreats through the Tower to join the woman. Zeebers
then flies around the tower getting a glimpse of the other side and tries to attack the
woman. A quasit appears and attacks Zeebers, but is killed by Zeebers. The woman
badly hurt by two mear miss fireballs, and the Dwarf retreat . Zeebers sees that they are
gone, Murga gathers up the Vial and
they retreat back with the party. Zeebers notes that the Vial is no longer warm and shiny.
Spike is very ill, and Zeebers gives him a Cure potion, which helps,
but he is incapable of doing much else.

They retreat back to the tenemant where they are greeted by the Town Guard
who have occupied the place. The Guard demands to know what the hell is going on here.

[cinabro]

Party = Lavis[Human Bard 5th], Murga[Dwarf Cleric 5th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 5th], Spike[Human Fight 5th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 5th]

Friday Continued

In the Temple amid the carnage. They loot the bodies taking some ammunition, guns,
hand weapons and armor. They leave stuff that is not magical. Lavis drinks a Cure
Serious and they decide to press on exploring. They explore into the clerics quarters,
and then into the sewer tunnels. Quilord gathers up a spell book. They
exchange fire with the two rat guards, who flee
but are cut down by long range shots by Quilord and Lavis. They then head into the
tunnels and waste 30 minutes wandering in them, before heading back to the Temple.
They head to the Rat guards chamber, and they find nothing
of value. They camp in the cleric's chamber with the plan of recovering their
spells and continuing to explore. They set watches with Lavis up first.

She sees some folks coming up from below who are checking up when no one
from the upper Temple checks in. It is a woman and two Ratmen.
They begin shooting at the party. Lavis shoots back and wakes the others. Quilord
walls them off behind a Wall of Force. The rats to delay them here, while the woman
disappears down the stairs.
Zeebers sneaks around and drops the Vial Whirlwinds at the top of the stairs. The
two rats are consumed. The Wall of Force comes down, Zeebers gathers the Vial,
and they continue below.

They descend the stairs and orcs are summoned among the party.
Zeebers flies to the tower door, and is hit by the woman. She closes the door and retreats
to the walls. Zeebers looks over the walls and sees two mansects and two rat ogres heading
to attack. A long complex fight begins. Quilord tosses a fireball that kills two rat ogres,
hurts a mansect, and a dwarf who has appeared from a secret door. The mansect fights it out with
Spike and poisons him multiple times before going down. The party falls back and Quilord
begins flinging fireballs at the woman who is deadly accurate in response with a bow. She hits him twice forcing
him to retreat up the stairs to drink a Cure potion. Zeebers chases after the Dwarf who
retreats into the Tower. Zeebers tosses in the Vial of Whirlwinds, but the Dwarf manages to
get out of the zone of effect and retreats through the Tower to join the woman. Zeebers
then flies around the tower getting a glimpse of the other side and tries to attack the
woman. A quasit appears and attacks Zeebers, but is killed by Zeebers. The woman
badly hurt by two mear miss fireballs, and the Dwarf retreat . Zeebers sees that they are
gone, Murga gathers up the Vial and
they retreat back with the party. Zeebers notes that the Vial is no longer warm and shiny.
Spike is very ill, and Zeebers gives him a Cure potion, which helps,
but he is incapable of doing much else.

They retreat back to the tenemant where they are greeted by the Town Guard
who have occupied the place. The Guard demands to know what the hell is going on here.

[cinabro]

Session 40 is an epic fight. Spike goes down via poison. Quilord duels with a woman with a bow and he slinging fireballs. She rolls real well to save from the fireballs and to hit, and Quilord is fragile. This makes the fight even, and both have to withdraw. Zeebers is disconsolate when the Vial of Whirlwinds is consumed. He will spend the rest of the campaign waiting for it to get recharged. Everyone is hurting, and on the return to the surface they find irate authorities.

[cinabro]

Party = Lavis[Human Bard 5th], Murga[Dwarf Cleric 6th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 5th], Spike[Human Fight 5th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 6th]

Saturday

Town Guard immediately takes Spike to the Hospital, aka the Temple of Aescapulus
when the party shows them their hero of Venga badges. Captain Escolar asks what should be
done, and they are told to keep watch, but not go in. They can find the party at
the Temple of Posiedon. Murga stays with Spike.

The party rests at the Temple of Posiedon where they each get a Cure Light Wounds.

To the hospital where Lavis thinks to offer the doctors a vial of the black poison.
They say that this will help Spike heal faster as they can analyze and use it to make an
anti-venom. They also ask if a poison can be manufactured, and the doctors do not know.
They are told to come back Monday. They also learn that Iltumar is here, and that they
think he can, in a long time, be healed. Spike will be cured in 3 days.

Note and bank check to Spike from Javica to compensate the goblins. Note that the check is
drawn from something called the Inverted Pyramid. The note is very terse, simply
saying that it is best to pay them to keep things quiet.

Quilord goes to see Master Thritas. He would like the spell book identified.
Thritas tells him that he thinks he can make link back to the maker of the Chaostech
they got from the Surgeon in the Shadows, but will not do that unless the party wants
to go investigate further. He does encourage them to continue to investigate the
chaos cults rather than waste time on the Banewarrens.

Zeebers spends some time at the Temple of Posiedon getting stuff IDed and
buying some cure potions.

Lavis works on her guitar and talks with her advisor professor Vess Hanley.
She tells her of the bad break up and her encounter with the Surgeon in the Shadows.
Tells of her adventures and encounters with the chaos cults. Hanley knows about
them and ID's the symbols of the Shattered Square, Crimson Coil, Brothers of Venom,
and finds in very strange that they can all be working together. She will look
into the Night of Dissolution.

Spike when he awakens sends a note to Alexia and Javica.

Murga is told that his Compass will finally be ready tomorrow, but that it
costs 4000 GP.

At the end of the day they meet up at the Hospital. Spike should be out on
Tuesday.

Back page article in the Venga Valiant
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tenement Collapse
=================
Yesterday a tenement formerly inhabited by dock workers and their
families partially collapsed. The building which had a number of apartments
was abandoned except by squatters since the troubles that beset our city
less than two weeks ago. The town guard had noted that the windows of the
building were boarded up recently and there followed no activity
at the building.
The buildings owner cannot be found. Captain Estolar of the Town Guard said
that the guard had placed the building under watch which was common practice
for abandoned buildings in the docks. Former deputy mayor Borloch, now Head
of the Reconstruction Commission, said that this incident would lead to a
program of inspections of buildings in the city to try to insure that dangerous
structures were identified and pulled down before any danger grew too large.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday

Murga's magical item compass is complete at the Temple of Hepheastus in Venga.
Master Smith Imburgh tells Murga that something is very wrong with the magical
field around here and the item does not work very well. Needs 4000 GP of materials.

Party uses the Compass and see what they expect.

Quilord tries to get more charges into the Staff of Invocation. He finds
that it costs 600 GP to charge it (3.5 level spell), and he casts some of his own
3rd Level spells on it to get some (75% effect) new charges.

Alexia visits Spike. She tells him that she is preparing to travel off
to the Elves to learn magic. She does not know anything about chaos cults.

Monday

Spend time spending and shopping. Zeebers is very busy selling and buying
stuff.

Tuesday

Spike is released from the Temple of Aescapulus.

Javica returns to Venga. She sends a note to the party. She and her friends have
located a key to the Banewarrens at the country estate of the Frangela. It is shaped
like a human hand and is made of brass. The party
should go get it. She gives them a ring that will guide them to Banewarren control
items. Neela, now dead, was a Frangela, and the head of the clan is the chief
justice. Lavis has some connection with them via her performing career. The party
is more interested in heading back to clear out the chaos cults rather than the
Banewarrens thinking that not much is happening there.

[cinabro]

Session 41 is lots of social interactions and setting up for further plot development.

[cinabro]

Party = Lavis[Human Bard 5th], Murga[Dwarf Cleric 6th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 5th], Spike[Human Fight 5th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 6th]

Tuesday Continued

After learning that the Order of Aescapelus cannot make anything of the
mansect venom, Lavis brings what they have to the Sorceror's Brotherhood. Master
Thritas sends them to Master Alchemist Irdis who will try to make something, an
anti-venom and a mansect poison is requested, based on the two vials of serum that
they give him. He tells them to come back on Monday to see what he can do.

After a discussion among the party they plan to head back to the Chaos Temple
tomorrow and talk with Captain Escolar about adding some Town Guards to help them
out. Escolar does not know any other way into the Temple and is willing to help out.
Murga and Spike join the Guard as they explore the sewers. Quilord learns some
spells, and Lavis works on her guitar. Murga is able to locate
a tunnel above the Temple, and using the Lyre of Building is able to dig a tunnel
down to the big cavern. They are not noticed and they set up an attack for first
thing in the morning. They collect Zeebers and he flies down. He realizes that
they are behind the wall, and sees someone manning one of the walls. The plan is
to launch a diversionary frontal assault by Spike with five guards. The party
plus five guards and Captain Escolar will come down the tunnel and strike from
behind. Spike will make lots of noise as they attack to alert the others.

Wednesday

The battle goes well. Two of the Town Guards are killed in the frontal
assault by Dire Rats, but Zeebers and Spike surround the Dwarf who leads some ratmen
in a flank attack. In the rear the Archer is held by Murga and then burned by
two fireballs from Quilord. The rats are routed and one manages to flee, but
the others are killed. Lavis collects the bow of the Archer which has survived
the fire.

Captain Escolar is happy to secure this area, while the party explores
deeper. Murga uses the Compass and sees some stuff which entices the party.
They head into the tower and up to the second floor where they encounter the
spider. It tries to trap them with flung webs, and Quilord sends a fireball
which explodes in the web, but does not start a fire. The spider retreats up
realizing that the party is too tough for him alone. Zeebers tries to fly
up and cut at the web, but he gets trapped in it. The spider ignores him
and the party cuts him down. They decide to move on and do their best to
seal up the second floor to trap the spider.

[cinabro]

Session 42 is back to the big dungeon of the Chaos Cult. This time the party gets behind the rampart and the sequel to the epic battle is a cake walk for the party.

[cinabro]

Party = Lavis[Human Bard 5th], Murga[Dwarf Cleric 6th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 5th], Spike[Human Fight 5th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 6th]

Wednesday Continued

After some discussion the party decides to chase after the fleeing rat. They
find the empty rooms, loot the room of the Dwarf, see the pool, and the disused room
of the rat ogres. They get to the Chaos Beast alter, spend some time trying to figure
out what the glowing means, Murga looks at the altar and sees the seam. They decide
to ignore it and go on. They encounter the two demons and dispatch them rather easily.
They ransack their chambers and find the secret door. They see the stairs down just beyond
the door. They decide to Hold Portal that door and explore
the prison. They avoid the two diases as too creepy, but Murga does try to cast an
Unmend on one of them, but it has no effect. They get to the prison, and dispatch
the ogre who was running it. With the keys they start opening cells. They rescue the
two town folk and halfling fighter El. The troll and ogre they leave in their cells.
They go back to the tower room and leave the townsfolk with the town guard. El is eager
to join them and she draws them a map showing the location of the "floating chaos altar"
and the long corridor that leads to the "Metrarch machine". She advises them
away from the door to the left and they take on the devil in the old temple. Spike
does most of the work killing it, they see the stairs down, and decide that they will
head down the long tunnel to the Metrarch machine.

[cinabro]

Session 43 is classic dungeon crawl.

[cinabro]

Party = Lavis[Human Bard 5th], Murga[Dwarf Cleric 6th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 5th], Spike[Human Fight 5th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 6th]

Wednesday Continued

Planning to head down the corridor towards the Metrarch machine, they think
if anyone knows anything about Metrarch. Lavis knows it as a famous Twisted One who
was a giant and ruled a swamp in the Chaos Lands. Long ago some heroes attacked and killed
him. He fell and a great pit opened, that remains to this day. The swamp is very
dangerous and is avoided by any one who wants to live when they go to the Chaos Lands.

They head down the long corridor. They explore a side passage, find nothing,
they see the battle between the Minotaur (spiral) and two Priestesses (snake) and
despite the pleas of the preistesses they attack them seeing the Chaos symbol on
them. They kill one while the minotaur kills the other. The minotaur tries to
bargain out with some healing scrolls, but they see the symbol on him and Murga
holds him. They kill him.

Further down the tunnel they encounter the Rat Patrol. Quilord kills two
soldiers and hurts the mage with a fireball. The rats fire a volley, doing some damage,
and then go invisible. The party moves forward cautiously, the rats appear around
them with the mage using Burning Hands hurting Quilord, Zeebers, and Spike. They
strike back with Quilord felling the mage with Shocking Grasp, and the others eventually
killing the others. They note and gather the grenades on the sergeant.

Further down the corridor they ignore the side corridor and get to the big
iron door with swamp plants and swamp creatures on it. Zeebers finds no traps, but
notes that the door is warm. He opens it and they go in. They see the giant
machine. They fight with a mansect at the top of the machine, and it poisons El
and Spike. Murga uses delay poison on Spike, and they dispatch it. It made
lots of noise. They note that it is tougher than the ones they faced in the
tenement and that its shell has a metallic sheen. They see more climbing up
the scaffolding from below. Quilord launches a Fireball which hurts one mansect,
they decide to retreat, Quilord launches an Icestorm trying to kill more mansects
and damage the machine. He does fell a second mansect, but does minimal damage
to the machine. Murga tried to study the machine to see any way to
damage it.

They retreat back to the large cavern without trouble. They have to take
El and Spike to the hospital soonest to deal with the mansect venom.

[cinabro]

Session 44 is another dungeon crawl ending with the discovery of the McGuffin. Dealing with the Metrarch Machine from the Night of Dissolution will keep things going for some time.

[cinabro]

Party = Lavis[Human Bard 5th], Murga[Dwarf Cleric 6th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 5th], Spike[Human Fight 5th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 6th]

Wednesday Continued

In the cavern, the Town Guard insist that El and Spike get taken
to the hospital. The party complies. He will be healed on Friday, El will
be here until Monday.

When the party gets back to the Temple of Poseidon Quilord has a letter.
Quilord gets a response from Thorakil. Warning that something very chaotic is stirring.
More important than finding Ingelt. He shares the general contents of the letter with the party.

Murga speaks with Father Dumas. He tells him of the Metrarch Machine
and convinces him that he should try to motivate the authorities to do something,
such as stopping the playing of Metrarch. Unfortunately the party has no
evidence of their suspiscion that machine is some how gathering energy when
the game is played. Murga and the others do convince him to bring it up at
the Council of Zeus (meeting of all the high priests) and to preach against
the game in his sermons. They are unsuccessful at convincing patrons in a
local bar to stop playing the game. They have grand plans of trying to
convince newspaper folks, Spike knows a reporter, to write tabloid stories
(Metrarch Turned Me Into A Mansect!) about Metrarch. Lavis spreads the rumor
at the hospital that Metrarch has something to do with the Mansect poison.
Murga sets up a meeting with Master Thritas who is not available today.

Lavis works on her guitar.

Thursday

Note from Thisk inviting them to the mid-town Temple of Apollo as his tunnel
watch has turned up something useful.

Spike is in the hospital.

Quilord is learing a spell.

Murga and Lavis using his compass and his knowledge of the underground
tunnels, head down to where the two rivers join. They cannot convince
themselves that the machine is under the river or the Watchtower. The
most unusual thing they find is a bar called the White House. They go
in and it is soon obvious that it is a brothel. Murga hires one of the
girls. She is very accomodating to his "fantasy" of being an evil
cleric but both his spells, Detect Evil and Command, fail to get anything
useful out of her. He fakes being satisfied and returns to the bar.
Lavis encounters two of the women in the bathroom and Fascinates them while
telling them that she has interest in working here. They describe a good
working environment for a prostitute. In general they are treated well by Jewelette, the madam who
runs the place. The establishment is owned by Aggah Shan, who they say
has an office in the basement, and whom they have never seen. They do
say that some folks have gone down to his office and never returned.
He also owns similar establishments (The White House (in the docks area
and serves dockworkers and traders), The Blue House (near the lake shore
for those in the fish business), The Red House (near the market square
serving merchants and artisans), The Gold House (in the northern part
of the city and very exclusive and expensive serving nobles, officials
and the very rich)). Nothing in the Packet and his establishments are
at the higher end. The girls mention that there is a Priestess of
Aphrodite (forbidden) who sees to their health and needs. They also
mention that they believe that their activities with clients are some
how recorded and used for blackmail. Lavis cannot
bring herself to ask if they know her father. As they
leave they notice subtle symbols for Hades, Lord of the Dead, carved
into the bar and in some of the art work. In general the main religion
honors, but does not worship, the Lord of Dead.

Zeebers spends the day selling things. He retains a Broach of
Protection (raises AC by 2) which he gives to Quilord, an Elixir of Hiding
which he keeps, and two Glass Globes full of a green glowing liquid that
the normal folks cannot identify.

Murga talks with Master Thritas. They talk about Metrarch. Thritas
does not know if the game is magically active. He has to investigate Murga's
speculation that the game is being tapped at a small level to power the
machine. No one has any clue what the purpose is. He knows of Aggah
Shan. He is a crime lord who runs four brothels (White House, Blue House,
Red House, Gold House). Via the White House he has infiltrated the
docks (bribes and free access to women) and is able to smuggle anything
in and out of the city. He also fences high end items and sends things
down the river. He is not human as he has been around for 100+ years.

Thritas ID's the glass globes as hand grenades used by the Ratmen.
He ID's the bow that Lavis has been using as Sneak Attack bow that acts
like a Rogues sneak attack ability (+4 to hit, triple damage) when the
target is unaware of the attack. He also has the Vial of Whirlwinds and
will see if he can figure out how to recharge it.

Lavis sees her advisor Vess Hanley. She does not know anything
about the big machine. She has played Metrarch in bars and such. She recalls
that it appeared perhaps one and a half months ago and she mentions the
White, Blue, and Red Houses as the first place she encountered it. She has
a gig on Saturday and she can try to see if energy is being extracted from
those playing Metrarch.

Zeebers goes to the mid-town Temple of Apollo to meet with Thisk.
He is met by the halfling Faldon who escorts him to see Thisk. Zeebers
notes that someone is waiting within an interior room, and refuses to
go further. Faldon attacks him in the main sanctuary, and Zeebers flies
up. The brothers, Thisk's thugs, pile in to the room while Faldon
tries to block a door. Zeebers fells Faldon with cross bow shots, and
then goes invisible, hiding near a window. They bring Thisk and another
humanoid type who cures Faldon. As they search around the room, Zeeber's
feels like they are eventually going to find him and he breaks out through
a window.

[cinabro]

Session 45 is a bunch of role playing as we advance the plot. Zeebers does real well to survive an ambush, as one of the groups working against the party decides that they are becoming too much of a nuisance.

[cinabro]

Party = Lavis[Human Bard 5th], Murga[Dwarf Cleric 6th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 5th], Spike[Human Fight 5th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 6th]

Thursday Continued

Zeebers flys up and lands on the top of the mid-town Temple of Apollo. He
sees the four thugs leave the temple and head down for the lake shore followed
by a dwarf and a 1/2 orc. These last are dressed as paladins of Apollo.
He tries to discreetly follow them, but the dwarf
makes him, and he slows down as he tries to avoid being seen and get ahead
of the dwarf to see where the others are heading. Zeebers tries to fly down
and take the Dwarf by surprise, but he responds quickly and lands a heavy
blow on Zeebers who retreats to the roof tops taking a healing potion.

At the Temple of Posiedon on the lake shore, Quilord is disturbed by something
crashing through the main doors into the main temple. He goes out and sees
a centaur/lammia. As the centaur starts charging him, he casts a Hold Person
on it, which sends it skidding to a halt next to the salt water pool containing
the Blessed of Posiedon, which the priests call Herman, a large tentacled
sea creature. Lavis arrives and the two of them work on dumping the Lammia,
which they now recognize for what it is, into the pool. The thugs arrive at
the front door and Quilord hits them with a Chain Lightning, while Lavis meets
up with Murga who arrives in the midst of the fight. Zeebers figuring out
where the thugs are heading flies up and gets to the Temple. He tries to
get in behind the thugs, but they are felled by another Chain Lightning from
Quilord. Lavis gets her bow from Murga and moves to fire at any others concealed
behind a pew. Herman kills the Lammia, while the 1/2 orc and dwarf pile through
the front door. The 1/2 orc turns to fight Zeebers and does some serious damage
to him, while Lavis plugs him from the rear doing lots of damage using her bow.
Murga mixes it up with the dwarf who is finally stopped by a Hold Person from Murga.
Quilord lifts him using a floating disk over Herman. The 1/2 orc falls, the dwarf
recovers, but suicides by diving into Herman's pool.

Acolytes of Posiedon arrive from elsewhere in the Temple and ask what
the heck is going on. They send them to fetch High Priest Dumas right away. The
Town Guard shows up and ask what is going on. Zeebers says that these attackers
came from the mid-town Temple of Apollo, and with Dumas' support the Town Guard
send some folks to watch that place. Dumas suggests that they head up to the
Temple of Zeus and get to the bottom of what is going on the mid-town Temple
of Apollo.

Things slow down considerably as High Priests are fetched, etc. A major
road block is that the High Priest of Apollo is unavailable as he is communing with
the god. They decide that tomorrow morning there will be an emergency meeting
of the Council of Zeus. Back at the Temple of Poseidon, Dumas gathers the faithful
and acolytes and they spend a fitful night waiting for trouble that never comes.
Lavis stays there getting a room in the Temple, deciding not to share a room with
Alexia. Murga does lots of healing and accolytes of Poseidon also heal.

Friday

Spike released from Hospital and turns up at the Temple of Posiedon having missed all
the excitement.

Vess Hanley sends a note to Lavis saying that she has swapped gigs with
a friend and that she is playing at the Red House, one of Aggah Shan's
establishments, tomorrow evening. She asks Lavis to join her, they will
meet at the University around noon to begin rehearsing for the evening gig.
Lavis sends a note agreeing.

The watch on the mid-town Temple of Apollo reports that the doors are locked,
which is unusual, they see lights and hear noise coming from the tower, and they
swear that they saw some large thing get pushed out of the tower and disappear
before it hit the ground.

Emergency meeting of the Council of Zeus. They hear about the Banewarrens and
are convinced of the reality of this legendary place. They guess that perhaps
Thisk has been corrupted by a Banewarren item. The party asks about Kalrecent,
who is a known Paladin of Apollo and has been recovering at the main Temple
of Apollo. Zeebers says that Thisk and company attacked him at the mid-town
Temple of Apollo and he says that Thisk was accompanied by some sort of
goblinoid that brought a fallen thug back from the dead.
The party volunteers to go in and explore the mid-town Temple of
Apollo, they will go in this afternoon, and the Council will provide them
with whatever they can to help in the short term. Murga specifically suggests
scrolls of Consecrate.

[cinabro]

Session 46 is another epic fight as the dice tell me that one faction strikes hard against the party. I printed a very nice Temple map and we had great fun moving miniatures around on the map playing out this fight. Why, oh why did I ever let Quilord start with a Staff of Evocation? The thing is just too powerful. At least he is running down its charges. The party should have taken a much harder hit with Mr. Spike down and out. As it was it was pretty close for Zeebers and Murga.

[cinabro]

Party = Lavis[Human Bard 5th], Murga[Dwarf Cleric 6th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 5th], Spike[Human Fight 5th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 6th]

Friday Continued

The party gets Cure Moderate Potions, Murga gets a Consecrate scroll, and
Quilord gets a Project Image. They head off to attack the mid-Town Temple of Apollo.
They invade the bottom floor from many directions (Lavis and Murga the back door,
Zeebers via the broken window, Spike and Quilord through the front doors). They
find the entrances barred or forced closed. They wander about the first floor
and find nothing.

As they go up they find the halfling recovering in his bed. They
gather him up and send him down to the guards on the first floor. They encounter
the Basilisk, Spike fights with it and is turned to Stone. They dispatch the
Basilisk and Murga uses a high level Devine Favor scroll that he had to beg Hephaestus
to reanimate Spike. This works and Spike notes that it is not a good idea to go
face to face with a "stoner". Murga uses his magical compass and sees large somethings
on the floors above. Murga does gather a magical organ from the Basilisk, which he
calls the gizzard. On the top floor Murga takes out the Bugbear with a command, and
Holds Person on Thisk after he has set the Disintergrator on Overload. As Thisk tries
to make his way over the side, the Hold Person stops him, he falls over the edge,
and is killed has he tumbles down to the ground. Zeebers kills the Bugbear. As the
sound from the Disintergrator grows Quilord hits it with a Dispel Magic, and Murga uses
two Unmends on it. Spike runs down the stairs, Zeebers flies off the far balcony, Lavis
tries to see what Thisk was trying to do and realizes that there is a one way portal
below the balcony, eventually she climbs down, suffering some damage as she falls the
last bit. The thing eventually explodes doing some damage to Murga, and a little
to Quilord and Lavis. A fire starts and despite the party's efforts to get the
Town Guard to deal it, most of the tower of the building is destroyed.

Meanwhile Spike gathers some stuff from Thisk and once he grabs the dagger
begins to hear its story which condenses to it is one part in three of a staff designed
to control the Banewarrens. It fell into a Twisted One elf hands, who formed the Pact
Lords with a Beholder, Illithid, and Black Dragon. The portal leads to their
pocket dimension, called the Quaan. The dagger wants to be reunited with its other
pieces one of which she thinks is in The Quaan, and the other is in the Banewarrens.

Based on this the party wants to get back together with the Council of Zeus
as soon as possible.

[cinabro]

Session 47 is the party striking back using a chapter from The Banewarrens. They begin to see what a mess they are facing.

[cinabro]

Party = Lavis[Human Bard 6th], Murga[Dwarf Cleric 6th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 6th], Spike[Human Fight 6th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 7th]

Friday Continued

The clerics outside the Temple are unable to heal Murga, Lavis, and Quilord.
They suggest that they immediately go to the hospital. There they are told that
whatever has hurt them is resistant to magical healing. They advise that they
should avoid taking further damage and that in a few days, they should come back
on Monday, they should be OK.

They go to the Temple of Zeus to meet with the Council of Zeus. The Council
meets after dinner. They listen to the story of the dagger. The party asks them about Metrarch game.
They cannot figure how such a small amount of energy from the game could actually
power anything useful. Why go to all that trouble? Maybe they are doing it in
more than one city? The church will investigate in all the near-by cities.
The church will also guard the tunnel that leads to the Banewarrens. Finally
they will find a way to get the party in and out of The Quaan, with help from
theh Sorceror's Brotherhood, whose help they find distasteful to ask for.
They will keep in touch via Dumas.

The party checks out Thisk's equipment, but find nothing unusual.

Fire at Gornan Slann's city home, the Haverfeld Asylum.

As they go out they see the fire. Lavis and Murga decide to head to
the Druids and see if they can be cured with their methods. They head off to
the south of city and eventually get to the Sacred Grove of Duris. They wake
him, and he checks out their wounds. He notes that they have been infected
with something that absorbs magic and thus prevents the healing from working.
He gives them a purgative tea that will cleanse them of the poison at a higher
than normal rate. Instead of being unable to magically heal in four days, it
will be reduced to two days.

Spike and Zeebers go to investigate the burning asylum. They do not notice
much of anything. The Town Guard is doing nothing to fight the fire, but are simply
keeping people from entering the perimeter. They have checked with Slan's people, and
are told that no one is there. Spike heads back to the Packet and finds the place in
pandemonium over a fell creature attack. He stops in at the Howling Owl and spends
the night with a working girl.

Quilord recharges his staff.

Upon returning to the city, Murga heads up to the burning Abbey. He uses his
badge to get into the grounds, and uses the Lyre of Building to destroy one wing of the
Asylum. He thinks he is both helping the Druids (returning lands to nature and causing
trouble for Slann).
He tells the Town Guard that using his Dwarven knowledge that this site is unstable,
and that no one should build anything there.

Back page story in the Venga Valiant
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attack on the Temple of Poseidon
================================
Yesterday afternoon there was an attack on the Temple of Poseidon by a group
of vandals. Late in the afternoon, when the temple is normally quiet, a mixed band
of humans and non-humans arrived at the temple and burst in apparently bent on stealing
the treasures of the Temple. They were met by some members of the faithful who
defended the temple with vigor. The Town Guard showed up and gathered the bodies
of four humans, known to the Town Guard from earlier encounters with the authorities,
and a half orc who was dressed as a devotee for Apollo. High Priest Dumas said that
he had no idea who these people were, and why they would attack and try to steal
from the Temple, as Poseidon would provide to any in need. As night fell devotees
of Poseidon were maintaining a watch on the Temple to ensure the safety of the
Temple.

Saturday

Note to Spike from Javica suggesting that they talk as soon as possible
at the Ghostly Minstrel. Suggests that they move quickly on the Banewarrens as
with knowledge of it starting to leak out, she obviously knows some of what
transpired at the Council of Zeus, there is likely to be some sort of stampede.
It has also been awhile and the other folks interested in the Banewarrens are
going to take advantage of the distraction.

Spike goes to meet Javica. He tells her the story of the dagger. Hearing
of the involvement of the Pactlords she suggests that they move quickly to get the key,
she has pointed them to the country estate of the Frangela, told them it looks like
a brass hand, even given them a ring that will help them locate the key,
that she and her friends will help them with a way in and out of The Quaan, and
give them some measure of protection while there. She notes that she has no idea
what either the Pact Lords or the Skaven might want in the Banewarrens, the
possibilities are endless, but neither of them are signatories of The Compact,
and thus are unconstrained as what they can do, while her friends cannot
overtly take action on the Banewarrens. She will be in touch.

Spike communicates this to the party at lunch. They want to move on The Quaan.
They make plans to meet at the Red House for Lavis's show.

Murga spends the day learning a spell.

Quilord searches about with Murga's Compass. He is trying to locate portals.
He finds that the one at the Temple of Apollo is gone, he notes that Murga and
Lavis are magical sinks, which is unusual. He also encounters Alexia and
notes that she is scarily powerful. He does not find anything else unusual.

Zeebers and Spike head to the main jail and find the halfling, Feldon
Renlein, in the infirmary. He tells them that he has been working for Thisk
for about six months. His main job was to keep folks from realizing that Thisk
was no longer running a legitimate Temple. He kept people out of the Temple while
Thisk was out doing other stuff. Thisk some how learned of the Banewarrens
and worked with other servants of the Pactlords to break in. He then used
Kalrecent and another adventurer to explore. There was a creepy Black Snake
who gave Thisk orders from the Pactlords and at the end a gangly black haired
guy who seemed to have extra eyes. One of his last jobs was to arrange for a place
for the "centaur" to stay near the Temple. He also mentioned that Thisk did
business at a Packet bar called the Swilling Snake, which Zeebers recalls
tracking goblins to, and met a man who was likely Thisk, who then went and
talked with the "centaur". The last job was to try to stop the party. He does
not really know what went wrong as he has little memory of the day they attacked
Zeebers. They leave with the halfling asking for some consideration. He will
get little. They sell treasure. They are unable to get a clear ID on the wand
they took from the bugbear at the Temple and leave it
with Master Thritas.

Lavis spends the afternoon rehearsing with Vess. Vess spills that
she used to be in a band. They had a big hit 15 or so years ago and they toured
the world and else where. She married, had a couple of children, and
became a Professor at the UofVenga where she has taught music for the last
ten years or so. She continues to write songs and do solo shows around
town to keep her craft sharp. She knows a lot about what is going on around
here. She tells of the tension in the city, and that she has no insight
on the recent events in the Packet and with Slann. She suspects that the
city has come to some sort of accommodation with Aggah Shan. Those that have
gotten into his business have simply disappeared.

The party heads to the Red House. Spike engages a working girl and
notes nothing of interest besides her until the next morning. Quilord and
Zeebers sit quietly at the back and learn little. Murga sits with a halfling
working girl, but leaves learning nothing. Lavis notes that the decor has
overt symbols honoring Aphrodite, and subtle symbols honoring Hades. Vess
and Lavis have an excellent
show. Lavis talks with some of the girls who explain that the Blue and White
House are the lower end establishments, serving the docks and fishing industry,
the Red House is the medium end serving the commercial heart of the city,
and the Gold House is for the rich serving their sexual needs of any sort they
want for the very highest price. Here they have entertainment here on the weekends
as the business crowd likes a break from the buisiness lunches and
dinners plus
female entertainment of the week. They know nothing of what happened in the
Packet yesterday, but note that that sort of thing does not happen within
the city, where the town guard protects these places. None of them have met
Aggah Shan, but he does have a basement office there. They note that the
madam, Stanya, and the head of security do see him regularly.

Lavis takes a break and hustles Murga out as she guesses that Vess's
ability to magically trace the energy flow is being disrupted by the two
of them. This works and Vess notes that energy is being drained from people
playing Metrarch, but that it is so small she cannot imagine why someone
would be doing it. Lavis notes a powerful magical presence behind the bar and
watching the show.

At the close of the show Lavis tries to sneak in back. She does get around
a bar tender, but is unable to find any secret passage. She is handed a note
that Aggah Shan enjoyed her show and wants to see her. Stanya prepares her,
helping her do some make-up, telling her to not be nervous as he will not
actually do anything to her. She meets him in a back office, not where she
guesses he watched the show. He is shrouded in black, and Lavis is unable to
see his face. He talks in a hissing, quiet voice. He tells her that he enjoyed
her show, that it has been a long time since he has been in the presence of such
a lively person, and offers her food. She partakes, but he does not. He tells
her that he is sustained by what happens in his establishments due to poor choices
he made long ago. She tries to charm him, but he resists. He seems amused by
this and tells her that he would like to see her again.

He has some of the security staff escort her to the UofVenga where she
meets up with Vess Hanley.

Front page headline in the Venga Valiant
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fire at Gornan Slann's Suburban Home
====================================
Late yesterday evening a spectacular fire broke out at the home of Gornan
Slann, noted Packet business man. The home is perhaps more famous as the
former Haverfeld Asylum, which has been closed for more than 25 years.
Local residents noted strange noises coming from the building earlier during
the day of Friday 30 May, but they described this as not unusual. They attributed
such noise to Slann's long announced, but often delayed plans to completely restore
the building. Late in the evening the noises became much louder with the sounds of
screaming being punctuated by the impossibly loud sounds of a large pendulum clock.
Old timers recall that the entry way to the Asylum featured such a clock, but
it was known to be inoperative at the time of Asylum's closing.
Soon after smoke and fire was seen and parts of building began to collapse. The Vengan
Town Guard and Fire Brigade made the journey from the town to the Asylum to
try to help, but upon their arrival all they witnessed was a partially collapsed
ruin. No inhabitants or victims were evident. The building was immediately
condemned as unsafe and the grounds sealed off to prevent any of the curious from attempting
to enter the ruin. Members of the Town Guard were stationed at the entrance to the
grounds and were seen to turn away many who tried to get a closer look.

No word has been heard from Gornan Slann on this. His representatives
report that he was not at the Asylum but that he usually spent the weekend at
his country home of Castle Ravenloft. They in fact have received regular
communications from him and are not concerned for his safety. They had no
comment on what would be done with the now wrecked Asylum.

The Town Guard had no comment on whether the fire at the Asylum was
connected to the other unusual events in the Packet on Friday that are described
in another story in this edition of this newspaper.

Fell Creature Attack in the Packet
==================================
Friday evening saw an attack by a form of Fell Creature not seen
before. It was a typical Friday well known Packet bar, The Dancing Cooper,
with a large crowd enjoying a freshly brewed batch of ale and watching
the entertainment when screams were heard from the upstairs area. Upstairs
at the Cooper is a well known location for the exotic dancers who provide
private entertainment for their most ardent admirers. When bloody patrons and
entertainers came down the stairs, brave members of the crowd armed themselves
with make shift weapons and headed up. To their horror they found a pair of
flat, flying creatures about the size of a bed sheet that had engulfed and were
draining the blood from two unfortunate victims. The attack by the crowd drove
off the two creatures and subsequent actions by the Town Guard drove the
creatures north towards the Wild Lands. Unfortunately two victims,
an exotic dancer known only as Strawberry and a patron known as John Smith,
died from their blood loss. Steve Cooper the owner of the Dancing Cooper
reported that nothing like this has ever happened before, and expressed
sympathy for the injured patrons. He declared that today ale and entertainment
would be half price at the Dancing Cooper and that all would be welcome.
He urged patrons to contribute to fund being established to defray funeral
expenses and compensate the family of the slain entertainer Strawberry.
The Town Guard are mounting a vigil at the northern border of the Packet
to insure that the unusual fell creatures would not trouble our city again.

Back page story in the Venga Valiant

Fire Damages Temple of Apollo in Mid-Town
=========================================
Yesterday afternoon a fire broke out in the Temple of Apollo in
mid-town. The Fire Brigade was quickly summoned by members of the Town
Guard. Sloiy Orsiy, who owns a warehouse that abuts the Temple said that
he heard a loud bang from the upper floors of tower of the Temple. He then
went out and observed a Priest of Apollo lying motionless at the
base of the tower, and quickly saw the upper stores of the Temple
consumed by flames. The fire was put out but the tower of the Temple was
completely destroyed. Fortunately the fire did not spread to other
buildings in the crowded commercial center of our city. Kodios, High Priest
of Apollo, expressed dismay at the damage to the Temple and the death of
Priest Thisk. He had communed with the god, and foresaw an improved and
repaired temple. He asked the faithul to be abundant in their prayers and
sacrifices to the god.

Front page headline in the Packet Pulse
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vengan Authorities Slow to Respond to Packet Emegencies
=======================================================
Yesterday evening two incidents reveal the lack of interest the
Vengan city authorities have in the safety and well being of the residents
of the Packet, Venga's western extension. A fell creature attacked the
patrons of a well known Packet establishment, the Dancing Cooper, resulting
in two deaths. The creatures were only driven off by the brave actions
of the patrons of the establishment. One patron, who declined to give his
name, said, "It was horrible. The girls were screaming and in one of the rooms
these two bedsheets had wrapped themselves around a couple who were struggling
to get out. The bed sheets had teeth and we attacked them with clubs
and knives. The sheets flew out of the window, but Strawberry and the John were
dead. The Town Guard did not show up until half an hour later." Representatives
of the Guard later claimed that they had responded promptly to reports
of trouble at the Dancing Cooper, and that they had driven the animated sheets
north of Packet into the foot hills of the Wild Mountains.

A few hours later a fire broke out at the home of leading Packet business
man Gornan Slan. It was hours before the Town Guard and Fire Brigade showed
up to investigate by which time the building, the former Haverfeld Asylum which
Slan has been restoring after years of neglect, was completely involved in fire
and beyond help. Apparently their only action was to seal off the estate
and prevent anyone else from going in to help. Gornan Slan, who was apparently
not at this Vengan home yesterday, expressed his sadness at the loss of
the historic building, and vowed to rebuild in a manner that would "bring
acclaim to the Packet and its citizens for years to come."

[cinabro]

Session 48 is again a bunch of running about advancing the plot. The Caron Campaign intrudes on this campaign with the fire caused by the other party. Note the sort of interaction with NPC's that is at last enabled by having the high Charisma Lavis as a party member.

[cinabro]

Party = Lavis[Human Bard 6th], Murga[Dwarf Cleric 6th], Quilord [Elf Wizard 6th], Spike[Human Fight 6th], Zeebers[Human Rogue 7th]

Saturday Continued

Vess notices that Lavis is being escorted by Aggah Shan's men. She tells Lavis
to meet her for lunch Monday as they have to talk.

Sunday

Mr Spike sleeps most of the day, and cannot recall much of what happened last
night after he went up stairs at the Red House. This seems strange to him as
he did not drink that much. He tells Zeebers to get Murga and Quilord to help
him.

Murga and Quilord try some spells on him (Detect Poison, Slow Poison, Detect
Magic), but find nothing. He just seems to be very exhausted.

Lavis, Murga and Quilord finally can heal their wounds from the explosion,
and Murga heals up himself and Lavis.

Glowing review of Vess and Lavis concert at the Red House in the Venga Valiant.
Mention that Vess will be there again next week.

Lavis works on her guitar.

Monday

Master Alchemist Idrus is not able to make anything of the mansect venom. Still
it is very interesting. Can they bring a live mansect for further experiments?
He will be eager to help, by offering broad spectrum poison protection. He gives
them two Potions of Cure Poison, and will be working more this week to produce
more. He should be done with three more by Friday.

Spike sends a note to Javica. They will meet tomorrow.

El is released from the Hospital. Interested in joining the party if they are going
to move again on the Chaos Cultists. The healers at the hospital note that Lavis,
Murga, and Quilord are now OK.

Lavis goes to meet Vess, and they have lunch. Vess was Aggah Shan's
"girl" for awhile. He liked her music, supported her carreer with bookings and
such. He would have her play for him, and liked to be present when she was
writing songs. He gave her a room and studio space at the Red House. Eventually
he confessed to her that he was sustained by stealing energy from living things.
He started by draining people, but it was too dangerous, made too many enemies,
and he learned that strong emotions could also be stolen.
First he used terror, but that led to too much stress
and strife. He then learned that sexual energy is also
very effective. This led to him moving out of the
usual business of organized crime, and becoming the
main procurer in Venga. She has since verified all this
by studying city records and archives of the news papers.

After a few months this finally came to an end when at one
of her concerts, two of her ex-lovers fought, one killed
the other, and the town guard took the suvivor off to the mines.
She stormed into her room, smashed the mirror, to reveal Aggah Shan,
and threw her self on him. She felt like she was falling
into a deep well, and got colder, and colder. She woke
up many days later in the hospital. Aggah
Shan financed her world tour, which she left on
very soon after she got out of the hospital. She was away
more than a year, and suspects that it saved her life.
She came back, married, got a job at the University, and
had children. She has not seen Aggah Shan again, but
regularly exchanges letters with him, and he continues to
support her music career. She thinks that if he asked she
would not see him, but she is not really sure. Her husband, who she met on the
world tour, does not know this story, and she has never told anyone.
She guesses that he is some sort of psychic vampire. She also has hints from him
he has recently completed some sort of project that
allows him to feed on something else. She cannot see
how the Metrarch game could be useful unless there was
some sort of big concentrator that captured all the energy from
the whole town. She is telling Lavis this so that she knows
what she is getting into.

Lavis describes the Metrarch Machine, which Vess thinks might
be the "concentrator" that would be needed.

Vess invites Lavis to dinner with her family, showing her
a scene of domestic bliss.

Lavis communicates the story to the party. Hilarity ensues
as the party assumes that Spike was drained by having sex
with Aggah Shan. They talk about destroying the Metrarch
Machine.

Lavis works on her guitar.

Tuesday

Spike sees Javica at the Ghostly Minstrel. He tells her about
the Metrarch Machine and the supposed connection to Aggah Shan.
She is not sure, saying that she is busy with getting the party
to The Quaan. She will look into it.

Murga talks to the Priests of Hephaestus, to try to get a scroll
with a Major Destruction spell on it. It will take four days to make.
Zeebers tries to find more Cure Poison potions, but is stymied
as everyone points back to Master Idrus.

Message from Captain Escolar that something is going on in the Chaos Temple
and can they meet him there. They will be waiting in the ruined tower where
the Town Guard has set up a sort of office to guard the Chaos Temple. They
enter and get into a fight with the two spiders who have disguised themselves
as Captain Escolar and his Sargent. They kill one, but
as the other climbs up, Murga uses the Lyre of Building to try to dislodge
it, but this causes the ruined tower to collapse. The spider gets out the
top and hits Quilord with a Lightning Bolt, while the attacks from the others
and Quilord drive it out the top. After some confusion, they explore up
with an image from Quilord and they find that a fissure in the roof leads
up to the sewers. They realize that it is hopeless to track the spider as
it can shape shift to a town guard and essentially disappear. In the rubble
they find a bone ring on the dead spider.

They would like to explore more of the Chaos Temple, but are a bit drained
after the fight and healing, and plan to do this tomorrow. They head up to
rest and recover.

Spike sends a note to Javica about the events in the Chaos Temple.

Wednesday

They get a note from the Town Guard saying the Captain Escolar and Corporal
Kepner were found dead.

Aggah Shan invites Lavis to see him at the Red House this evening.

Lavis works on her guitar.

They meet up with El to have her join the expedition to the
Chaos Temple.

They set up a password among themselves as they are concerned
with a shapeshifter running about. (Bucket with counter sign Vermin).

[cinabro]

Session 49 is chock full of stuff. I completely mangle the Night of Dissolution plot and again they survive an ambush by something very dangerous.

In the real world this Murga's player last session. He decides to concentrate on his PhD. I am ambivalent as I am his advisor. This leaves Spike's player as the only original player. We decide not to look for a replacement as the end of the campaign is in sight, and we plan to move on to something else after its completion.