The Marnor Campaign

[greenbadge]

Wednesday 1 March

After surviving an attempt to kill them in Crocker's
Bricks and Mortars, the party with Lucius makes their
way back to the Indecipherable Scroll. They talk with
Mina. Besides maintaining the reptile skin book reading
machines, Lucius also does some translations, but he
cannot remember what he has been working on. He keeps
all his notes in a book back in his apartment. They have
no trouble gathering up the book. Sansa notes that it is
chaotic evil and they discover that they cannot access
all the pages. Mina takes the book and Sansa down to
her lab, removes the magic on it, and they note that
has notes on fixing and maintaining the machines and
translations. He is working on a book called "Operations
Manual for the International Data Integration and Control
Necromantic Flux Controller and Fabricator, Model 43.b,
Modification Series C". This upsets Mina, who describes this
book as something that should not be here, originating from
something like an alternate universe. Sansa found Mina's
lab very strange.

Mina also notes that the masonry factory that they
were in is owned by Verlaine who is the brother of Tarmon.
This convinces Odhran to take this to the Town Guard.

There is a note from Xort thanking Gerag for his gift
and reporting on his progress. He thinks he will locate the
the Green Thing in the next day or two. Sansa and Odhran
spend the night at the Old Dorm visiting with Avanzo and
his girls respectively.

Thursday 2 March

Sansa and Gerag take Lucius to the Temple of Poseidon to
try to figure out what might be wrong with him. They tell
them that he has been loosing time and been influenced by an
evil magic book. Gerag arranges for two of Sister Regina's
acolytes to guard Lucius and trains more on the sword.

Odhran and Ekkie go to the Drac's End Town Guard House and
get them to look into their attempted murder. They fill out
a squad to investigate, Odhran gives them passes to the Old
Dorm's opening, and at the factory they speak with the foreman
Chaper. He is upset that someone ran the grinder last night
and he has a crew cleaning it to make it ready for work today.
Also its operator, Lon, has not turned up for work today.
Odhran gives Chaper a pass to the Old Dorm opening and
he gives the address of the Eastern District flophouse
where Lon lives. Chaper is excited to go to a "union
meeting" at the Old Dorm. He goes to lots of union
meetings. Ekkie notices that there is pile of red bricks
like those used to build the lighthouse, the Redblade
barracks, and the Alchemy Factory. Odhran has a sample
of them confiscated and delivered to the Old Dorm.

They go to Lon's apartment and discover that Lon is a
"quiet man", has not paid his rent for March, and disappeared
last night. Odhran tries to get the others denizens to find
Lon, by offering passes to the Old Dorm.

Gerag talks to Mina about the machine in the book that Lucius
is translating. It must require some big necromantic power
source. Odhran meets with Avanzo, and the preparations for
opening of the Old Dorm tomorrow night are going well.

Sansa buys a nice new dress and and she and Avanzo go to the
Salon du Masque. All must wear masks on entering, and they
are told that any pleasure they would like can be indulged
here. They encounter a woman stoned on Black Lotus, an old
man with a glass eye who crudely propositions Sansa, a drunk
young man who claims that his faith in a green rock has been
shattered when its devotees, who live in a pyramid in the swamp,
asked him to kill someone, he propositions Avanzo, and there is
a room with a live reading and performance of the sex scenes of
the Erotic Love Life of Linden The Bard. Sansa has had enough
and they return to the Old Dorm. Avanzo did his best to
promote the Old Dorm, and they did not see The Countess.

Friday 3 March

They meet in the morning at the Indecipherable Scroll. Sansa
tells them about the Green Thing in a pyramid in the swamp.
The others note that this is not terribly helpful as it is
a big swamp, but Sansa thinks her Fairey friends can help,
and she heads to visit them at the Idol That Walks. Odhran
runs about the city drumming up business for the Old Dorm.
He invites Candy and the other girls at the Shy Mermaid,
Trixie the transvestite bouncer, the Sea Lords, the Achronus,
and via Julian the Wizards Guild. Julian notes that whatever
went on with the Wizard's Guild seems to have passed, and he
wants to be able to leave. Odhran says that is fine. Dottie
Danger will play a set with him, but she demands that he act
more professionally.

Gerag and Ekkie go to City Hall and comb through the building
permits trying to figure out if someone is building a large
power source, but they find nothing.

Out at the Idol That Walks Sansa asks the Faireys to look for
a sunken pyramid with a magic green rock with humans inside in
the swamp. They will do their best. She invites the Fire Faireys
to the Old Dorm, most are not interested due to their Water Fairey
girlfriends, but some are intrigued. She learns Mirror Image.

Gerag finds that Xort has turned up at the Indecipherable Scroll.
He has located the Green Thing and it is in the swamp about a half
days boat ride away. Odhran turns up and invites him to the Old
Dorm, but he demurs saying that he has much to do.

Gerag trains with Sister Regina.

The grand opening party of the Old Dorm begins. Ekkie is at the
door collecting entrance fees and honoring passes. Sansa is
there with Avanzo. Gerag the Wise shows up, but soon leaves
noting that there is no path to enlightenment here. Odhran is
a whirlwind of activity. Ningel the alchemist is there, and
participates enthusiastically. Tabios Kenso and some friends
from the Temple of Poseidon seem to be having a good time. The
shipyard Dwarves show up, but seem turned off by the decadence
and leave. The girls from the Shy Mermaid turn up and do well
for themselves. Trixie is there and causes some commotion.
Two of the Achronus siblings show up. No Sea Lords show up.
Bobbin Brandydale of the Last Resort is there and notes that
he will steer patrons looking for this sort of entertainment
to this establishment.

The band Outshine Thy Own fronted by an impossibly thin
dark skinned woman, from the southern continent south of the great desert
does an ode to loneliness and alienation "I Wanna Dance With Somebody".
Dottie Danger and Odhran perform, and it goes well. Then Odhran
performs solo. At this point everyone's memories grow hazy, but
those who are not Odhran are embarrassed by what little they recall.

Saturday 4 March

Gerag is up early and is surprised to be joined by Odhran at the Scroll.
They decide to explore the location revealed by Xort and likely to
be Sansa's pyramid. Ekkie is rather hung over, someone brought goblin
ale, and she will check with her goblin friends, but turns up nothing.
Gerag arranges for a boat. Sansa shows up later after untangling herself
from the Old Dorm. The boat will transport them to the location and
wait 24 hours for them to return for 200 GP.

The journey through the swamp is uneventful. On the boat Ekkie notices
that one of the crew seems out of place. He is a red bearded bald dwarf,
wearing heavy armor, and sporting a fine axe. After a conversation
with Plaarg she takes the dwarf to meet Gerag. "Gerag, this is Wulfgar,
and he is interested in joining our exploration. Plaarg foresees that we
may need help." Gerag asks Wulfgar what his experience is, and Wulfgar
tells him that he has been on many expeditions into the swamp, and explored
many a ruin. Usually they have nothing except beasts, but occasionally there
are more frightening things. Gerag challenges him to spar, beats him
rather easily, but Wulfgar notes that he is far better with an axe. Sansa
looks him over and pronounces no hint of chaos or evil. Odhran sings an
old Dwarven battle hymn, and Wulfgar joins in enthusiastically. They
decide to have Wulfgar join them for their exploration of the pyramid.

They arrive at the pyramid at the end of the day. They see a patch
of White Thistle, which Sansa tells them to avoid. They anchor
here for the night setting watches over night.

Sunday 5 March

At dawn they move a bit up river and find a boulder strewn beach. They disembark
there and make their way to the pyramid. They head up the steps of the
pyramid noting the overgrown gardens along the sides. They get to the top
and see what looks like an altar with a brass relief. While inspecting it
Gerag leans on it and discovers that it hinges open into a tunnel that leads
straight down into the depths of the pyramid.

[greenbadge]

Sunday 5 March

Wulfgar drops a rock down the tunnel, hears it hit stone, and
figures it is 30-40 feet deep. Gerag climbs down on a rope, but
looses his grip, but using his training manages to suffer only
light damage from the fall. A sort of big green slug with tentacles
and a toothed maw begins stirring, and Gerag quickly climbs back
up. He noted two doors leading out of the room at the bottom of the
tunnel.

They begin searching the external walls of the pyramid
for another way in. On the next level down they find a collapsed
section of the wall, and after some effort by the Dwarves and
Gerag they clear it. A room beyond has a stone chest and an
exit. Gerag goes in, but as he nears the exit he hears a click
followed by a grinding sound. He sees a large stone block fall
to seal the other exit. They realize that without tools they
will not get through the block. Ekkie notes that the lid of the
chest is only stuck shut, she opens it, and there is clay tablet
that Sansa is able to identify as a magic scroll of Conceal
Alignment.

Continuing to explore the exterior they get down to the
ground and Wulfgar notes that there is some sort of underground
construction going from the pyramid to the river. On the way
he has also found five small ivory snake headed statues scattered
around the steps of the pyramid. They follow the construction
to the river and see a sewer grate draining into the river.
Gerag is unable to bend the bars, but the Dwarves succeed.
They are in tunnel that is half filled with water and rubble.
At the other end is another grate that is bent open and it leads
to a room that is half submerged with cobwebs above. They
struggle with some giant spiders, one of which bites Sansa
leaving her weakened, which they defeat.

They continue down a corridor to room with a collapsed wall
and a pool of water. Gerag finds a gold ring in the pool, at
the door leading out Odhran notes that Murga's Hammer is vibrating.
Gerag opens the door into a fighting arena and they find something
that looks like a zombie but with coiled wires for fingers and some
metal rods sticking out its back. They do manage to dispatch the horror,
which paralyzes Gerag during the fight.

They head up to the gallery above the arena and into some sort
of work room. Sansa gathers up jars that are made of semiprecious
stones. Continuing to the next room which is divided by a beaded
curtain, they find three Students of the Green Thing gathered
about the Green Thing. They move to attack quickly dispatching
one, but another leaps atop the Green Thing, slicing open his
thigh leading to blood dripping on to the Thing. The dead Student
is surrounded by a cloud of sparks and rises as an Electrozombie.
Sansa uses her Ray of Fire on the Student atop the Thing, he falls
and also rises transformed into an Electrozombie. The remaining
Student is attacked by Odhran who demands that he swear allegiance
to the Golden Succubus, and the Student begs for mercy. Odhran
extracts the pledge and tells the badly hurt Student to flee
realizing that he could also be killed by the electricity damage
being done by the Electrozombies. They manage to dispatch the
two Electrozombies, but Wulfgar is briefly paralyzed during the
struggle.

Sansa Consecrates the Green Thing, and they realize that
it is much lighter than it seems. While it was working to make
Electrozombies they could see it glowing from within and some
kind of moving mechanism within. They decide to take it back
with them.

They are very battered and Sansa casts four heals on
herself, Ekkie, Odhran, and Gerag. They try to follow the trail
of the fleeing Student, but realizes that it leads to the room
with the tentacled horror. They decide not to continue the
pursuit and retrace their way back to the boat. On the way Odhran
gathers some weapons and shields with snake motifs and Wulfgar
gathers up a sack of broken clay table pieces.

They have an uneventful trip back to Marnor on the boat
which arrives Sunday just after sunset.

[greenbadge]

Sunday 5 March

Sansa is very tired and she and Gerag return the Indecipherable Scroll.
Odhran wants to go out on the town, but no one joins him. Wulfgar
heads home via the Dented Helm. Sansa tells Mina that she was bitten
by a large spider, Mina gives Sansa something to drink, she feels
much better, but still has to sleep. Mina and Gerag talk about
Odhran. She wants to find and examine him. Gerag shows her the
Green Thing. She notes that it has International Data And Control
written on it and she notes that like the book that Lucius was
translating, the Green Thing does not belong here. She takes
it down to her lab, where she will place it "beyond".

Monday 6 March

Sansa talks with Mina and hears her unhappiness with Odhran. Her
pearl jewelry is ready at Pearls by Lugo. She picks it up
paying 500 GP for small bracelets and one of her own. The clerk
tells her that Roderigo Lugo has returned to the family island.

Gerag notes that he is wearing the gold ring he found and despite
his plan to take it to the magic shop to get it IDed he never
does. He goes to the Hospital at the Temple of Poseidon and pays
for a Cure Serious. He visits Sister Regina, beats her easily
in a sparring match, but during sword training she notes that
he seems to be regressing. After hearing about his adventure
over the weekend she checks him and notes that he has two minor
curses on him. She suggests a regimen of meditation and
excercise and she will perform and excorcism on Wednesday.

Gerag, Sansa, and Wulfgar talk at the Scroll. Gerag tells
Wulfgar the Mina has the Green Thing, who tells them
that she would like to destroy it, that might be difficult,
and she has put it "beyond". All note that something
is breaking down the barriers between the worlds.

Odhran visits Otto and shows him the weapons that he
got from the swamp pyramid. Otto tells him that they
are valuable as art objects and directs him to Orvis and
The Wishful Moon which are two Merchant District art
shops.

Sansa and Wulfgar go out to the Idol That Walks. Otto and
the Fire Fairies have the gas line up and working at the
Idol That Walks. They are very happy, they are still seeing
the Water Fairies, no children yet, and some of them enjoyed
their trip to the Old Dorm. They are too busy for Sansa
to learn a spell, and Otto tells Wulfgar that he can visit
the shop in the city later for weapons.

Sansa got to the Old Dorm to talk with Avanzo. He is cool
to her, but she threatens him with Mina. He is busy with
the Old Dorm, but promises to take her to dinner later this
week. Odhran was here earlier, and has a business meeting
at Maurice's, the city's finest restaurant in the Merchant
District, this evening.

Sansa and Mina have a heart-to-heart about the fickleness
of men.

Mina talks with Gerga, Sansa, Wulfgar, and Ekkie. She heard
from Dardianna Chroster (aka Mad Donna, aka Dottie Danger) and
Outshine Thy Own and suspects that Odhran may be under the
influence of something bad. She also tells them that Gerag
is likely on to something about a giant necromantic engine as
the Green Thing is linked to one.

Sal arrives and talks with Mina. She is clearly not evil and
they share their concerns about Odhran. She is worried for the
rest of the party as they have been battling things man was not
meant to know for the past few months.

Tuesday 7 March

All, not including Odhran, are having breakfast at the Scroll.
They agree that they need to find Odhran and get him to Mina.
Ekkie will keep an eye on his usual haunts, bars and brothels,
Gerag will try to find Dardianna Chroster, Sal will see what is
up with Lucius at the Temple of Poseidon, and Sansa will inquire
at the Curio Shops, she has books to return, and the Cafe Ilkhan.
Wulfgar will go with her.

Gerag tracks down Dardianna at The Black Rose, a fine restaurant
in the Merchant District, where she works a day job as a waitress.
She last saw Odhran on Friday at the Old Dorm grand opening. She
was disturbed at the effect Odhran's new songs had on Ningel
the Alchemist and at the Old Dorm. She shared her concerns
with Mina and is not going to work with Odhran until he can behave
more professionally. She mentions a number of music venues that
Odhran may have visited (Cafe Ilkhan (Eastern District), The Bilge Rat
(Docks), The Old Whore (Scurveytown), The Old Stage (Eastern District)).
She also opines that he lost focus on his music recently.
Gerag goes to Maurice's and meets the female halfling maitre d'
Portia Gallowgrange. Yes, Odhran was here last night. He met someone
in a private room. Gerag tries to bribe her, she is hesitant, and
he flashes his badge, which leads her to ask him to leave.

Sansa and Wulfgar go to Argyle McGill's Curio Shop to return her
books on demons and school girl pictures. She asks after Odhran,
but McGill last saw him last week when he left some flyers for
the Old Dorm. McGill did not attent, he has other vices. She
asks after something to help run a brothel, and he produces
a brown paper package. She rents it for 2 weeks for 10 GP.

There is no sign of Odhran at the Cafe Ilkhan. Wulgar buys
a flamboyant outfit. They visit the Idol That Walks and Otto
tells them that he did see Odhran yesterday and directed
him to shops in the Merchant District. The Fire Fairies
are intrigued by the package. Sansa leans Delay Poison.

Sal goes the Great Hospital and finds Lucius out of in the psych
ward. The doctor will not let them talk, Sal detects some evil,
and demands that Lucius be released to him as his brother. They
buy this and the cleric talks with Sal. Lucius is very dangerous
and they will only release him if he is taken out of town suggesting
that he go to Sal's elven family. Sal seems to agree. Lucius is in
no shape to travel today. They will make him ready tomorrow.

Back at the Scroll at the end of the day, Ekkie tells them that
there has been no sign of Odhran, but Ningel the Alchemist just
went to the Old Dorm. They troop over there to find Ningel.
Avanzo tells them that Ningel is working here in the evenings,
Sal gets rough, Avanzo says that he never forces his employees,
and Gerag pushes in back to find Ningel. Sansa gives Avanzo the
brown paper package. They find Ningel in back dressed as a school
girl. Gerag grabs her, tells her she is is great danger, and drags
her to the Scroll. Here Ningel tries to escape, but Gerag easily
holds her. Mina gives her a potion which makes her compliant, and
brings her down to the lab. She is corrupted.

Sal thinks Ningel should be killed. Mina thinks that is rather harsh;
she is just whoring herself, and perhaps she can be healed. She
will have to investigate more thoroughly in the morning.

[greenbadge]

Tuesday 7 March

They discuss what to do with Ningel. They decide to put her to
sleep, Mina will look at her in the morning, and they will
meet again at lunch time tomorrow.

Wednesday 8 March

Sansa observes the Town Guard raiding the Old Dorm. She and
Ekkie rush there and are told there were accusations
of illegal magic use, the business is closed, and all within
are being brought to the local Guard House for questioning.
Ekkie notes businesses can be shut for three days and
suspects held for up to a week without charge. From what
the Guard is saying they will probably be released later
today, but they will close the building for three days.
Ekkie will go and see to Avanzo and the girls, and Sansa will
go gather Xort and see if he can figure out what is going

on.


Gerag goes to the Sister Regina's Dojo for an excorcism ceremony,
which involves lots of ritualistic fighting. It seems to be
partially successful with Gerag's Ring of Protection turning
to ash, but the new gold ring is still there. Regina suggests
taking the problem to Mina, and pens a note so that Gerag will
not forget.

Sal picks up Lucius at the Great Hospital. Cleric of Posiedon
Tabos Kenos is there and says that Lucius is some sort of key
that opens the ways between the worlds and thus is very dangerous,
and likely the object of desire by evil cultists. Thus Sal needs
to get his "brother" Lucius out of town asap. They also leave
Sal with a bottle of pills that will keep Lucius out of it for
the next week or so. Sal takes Lucius to the Indecipherable Scroll
where he and Mina hit on the idea of sending him to Sansa's people.

Sansa and Xort arrive back at the Old Dorm to investigate. Gerag
is watching them covertly. Xort can get nothing out on the street,
Sansa leads him around back, and they break in. Xort examines the
place thoroughly and finds only a lingering and decaying presence
of evil magic, as if something unhappy happened here a few days ago,
and has gone. It is likely safe now.

Gerag swings by the Dented Helm and asks after Odhran. They have
not seen him since last week. They do mention that he hired some
Dwarves to work for him, and they will be in when their shift is
over after 4:00. Gerag meets Wulfgar who tells him that he has
some useful information to pass on to Mina.

They all meet at the Scroll at lunch time. Ekkie tells them that
some of the wait staff at the Old Dorm's Grand Opening party
claimed that "bad magic" had forced them to do things they would
not have otherwise done. This led to the raid. Mina notes that
Ningel seems to be the source of chaos corruption, and a quick
look by Xort concurs. Ningel is very dangerous and they should
investigate her shop. Again they stress the need to find Odhran.
Wulfgar gives some information he got from his friends about
The Green Thing. Mina will study it later when she has some
spare time.

Mina removes the remaining curse on Gerag. She is not clear on
the effect, preventing Gerag from doing something he would want to
do in a crucial or stressful situation, but the gold ring from the
swamp pyramid is no more.

Sal and Sansa talk about how to get Lucius to the Lotus Forest. Sansa
knows that the Cafe Ilkhan imports some ingredients from there and
they can talk to them about arranging for Lucius to journey there.

All plus Xort head to Ningel's Concotions in the Old City. They find
the shop looking ill cared for and a goblin alchemist, from the Goblin
Guild that Gerag, Sansa, and Ekkie encountered when they first came
to the city, running the place. He and Ekkie get into a heated discussion
in the goblin tongue, which Gerag can understand. They basically accuse
each other of selling out to the "humans", but both defend themselves
that with the tribe destroyed they were only doing what they had to
do to survive. They search the shop and find something unusual in
Ningel's office. The goblin alchemist tells them it is a drug called
Merge which enhances the sexual experience. It is addictive, and very
illegal. The goblin says that about a week ago Ningel ordered him to
stop producing smoke bombs, sneezing powder, and super glue and make
nothing but Merge. She was often visited by a dwarf and they would
spend time alone in her office. It was after he showed up
that Merge production started. The goblin also mentions that with the
addition of magic the Merge can become even more powerful. They see
Ningel's notebook, Xort can tell it is mostly full of ordinary stuff,
but at the end there is the recipe for Merge and the hand writing
looks altered.

They decide that Xort and the Bloodsalt goblin mage Glitch should look
after the goblin alchemist and Ningel's shop. They close the place
and Xort takes the goblin alchemist with him.

Further discussion leads to the idea that Odhran disappearance had
something to do with the Golden Succubus that he was always going
on about. Sansa and Gerag note that the Salon du Masque, very high
end pleasure palace in the Merchant District, was the former location
of the Golden Succubus brothel that about 50 years ago was the scene
of a horrific mass disappearance/murder. Sansa opines that Odhran
is being held there. An overt attack on a Merchant District business
is a very bad idea, but they ask Ekkie to use her goblin friends to
"case the joint". This will take some days. Sansa notes that the
place is open for business Thursday-Saturday and while there she
observed some patrons stoned on Black Lotus, a drug that supposedly
allows the users to see into other planes.

Avanzo shows up after being released by the Guard. He admits that
he, Ningel and Odhran were dealing Merge at the Old Dorm. It really
enhanced the business. He had suspicions that Odhran was using
evil magic on the girls and patrons to get them to do things they
otherwise would not, but he was "only following orders". He takes Sansa
to dinner, and she communicates her displeasure with him and that he
should pay more attention to what she thinks should be goiing on at the
Old Dorm. They have Ekkie arrange for a temporary place for Avanzo
and the girls to stay while the Old Dorm is closed.

Gerag visits Argyle McGill's Curio shop and asks after Odhran's
purchases. Odhran did buy The Text of the Golden Succubus when
he asked after a book on the Elder Gods. This was a dangerous
magical book. He also rented a book on Vulthoom, this was an
ordinary book.

Gerag talks with Mina about the Golden Succubus. She knows that
it is a minor Elder God who gathers sexual energy until it can
manifest, then it feeds. Odhran apparently got subverted by
the god because of the book.

Sal returns and tells all the Odhran was seen at the Salon du Masque
on the night that he went missing, Monday.

Thursday 9 March

Bartholomew Hodden shows up at Sal's office to hire him to find
his wife's lover, Thomas Rhymer. He caught the two together, but
Rhymer, a noted opera singer, has gone missing. It is not likely
that he left town, and Hodden suggests that Sal should look for
someone with a big voice performing in town. Hodden offers a
big pay day if Rhymer can be found.

Mina tells them that she has received a note from Sea Lord
Tarmon asking to meet this afternoon. She, of course, expects
this is some sort of trap. She is concerned for the stuff that
is here: The Green Thing; Lucius; Ningel. She is not going to
look at Ningel this morning, her look yesterday was probably
confused by the presence of Merge, saving her magic for whatever
Tarmon might be up to.

Gerag tells Ekkie to get as many of her goblin friends as
possible to get to the Scroll. He also sends a note to
Sister Regina asking her to send as many of the bretheren
as possible to help defend the Scroll.

All but Ekkie head off to the Cafe Ilkhan to see about
getting Lucius to the Lotus Forest. Their guy usually
from there comes on Monday, and they will send him
to see Sansa at the Scroll.

Back at the Scroll, Mina is preparing to leave to meet
Sea Lord Tarmon, who is also head of the Mage's Guild...

[greenbadge]

Tuesday 7 March

They discuss what to do with Ningel. They decide to put her to
sleep, Mina will look at her in the morning, and they will
meet again at lunch time tomorrow.

Wednesday 8 March

Sansa observes the Town Guard raiding the Old Dorm. She and
Ekkie rush there and are told that there were accusations
of illegal magic use, the business is closed, and all within
are being brought to the local Guard House for questioning.
Ekkie notes that businesses can be shut for three days and
suspects held for up to a week without charge. From what
the Guard is saying they will probably be released later
today, but they will close the building for three days.
Ekkie will go and see to Avanzo and the girls, and Sansa will
go gather Xort and see if he can figure out what is going

on.


Gerag goes to the Sister Regina's Dojo for an excorcism ceremony,
which involves lots of ritualistic fighting. It seems to be
partially successful with Gerag's Ring of Protection turning
to ash, but the new gold ring is still there. Regina suggests
taking the problem to Mina, and pens a note so that Gerag will
not forget.

Sal picks up Lucius at the Great Hospital. Cleric of Posiedon
Tabios Kenos is there and says that Lucius is some sort of key
that opens the ways between the worlds and thus is very dangerous,
and likely the object of desire by evil cultists. Thus Sal needs
to get his "brother" Lucius out of town asap. They also leave
Sal with a bottle of pills that will keep Lucius out of it for
the next week or so. Sal takes Lucius to the Indecipherable Scroll
where he and Mina hit on the idea of sending to Sansa's people.

Sansa and Xort arrive back at the Old Dorm to investigate. Gerag
is watching them covertly. Xort can get nothing out on the street,
Sansa leads him around back, and they break in. Xort examines the
place thoroughly and finds only a lingering and decaying presence
of evil magic, as if something unhappy happened here a few days ago,
and has gone. It is likely safe now.

Gerag swings by the Dented Helm and asks after Odhran. They have
not seen him since last week. They do mention that he hired some
Dwarves to work for him, and they will be in when their shift is
over after 4:00. Gerag meets Wulfgar who tells him that he has
some useful information to pass on to Mina.

They all meet at the Scroll at lunch time. Ekkie tells them that
some of the wait staff at the Old Dorm's Grand Opening party
claimed that "bad magic" had forced them to do things they would
not have otherwise done. This led to the raid. Mina notes that
Ningel seems to be the source of chaos corruption, and a quick
look by Xort concurs. Ningel is very dangerous and they should
investigate her shop. Again they stress the need to find Odhran.

Mina removes the remaining curse on Gerag. She is not clear on
the effect, preventing Gerag from doing something he would want to
do in a crucial or stressful situation, but the gold ring from the
swamp pyramid is no more.

Sal and Sansa talk about how to get Lucius to the Lotus Woods. Sansa
knows that the Cafe Ilkhan imports some ingredients from there and
they can talk to them about arranging for Lucius to journey there.

All plus Xort head to Ningel's Concotions in the Old City. They find
the shop looking ill cared for and a goblin alchemist, from the Goblin
Guild that Gerag, Sansa, and Ekkie encountered when they first came
to the city, running the place. He and Ekkie get into a heated discussion
in the goblin tongue, which Gerag can understand. They basically accuse
each other of selling out to the "humans", but both defend themselves
that with the tribe destroyed they were only doing what they had to
do to survive. They search the shop and find something unusual in
Ningel's office. The goblin alchemist tells them it is a drug called
Merge which enhances the sexual experience. It is addictive, and very
illegal. The goblin says that about a week ago Ningel ordered him to
stop producing smoke bombs, sneezing powder, and super glue and make
nothing but Merge. She was often visited by a dwarf and they would
spend time alone in her office. It was after he showed up
that Merge production started. The goblin also mentions that with the
addition of magic the Merge can become even more powerful. They see
Ningel's notebook, Xort can tell it is mostly full of ordinary stuff,
but at the end there is the recipe for Merge and the hand writing
looks altered.

They decide that Xort and the Bloodsalt goblin mage Glitch should look
after the goblin alchemist and Ningel's shop. They close the place
and Xort takes the goblin alchemist with him.

Further discussion leads to the idea that Odhran disappearance had
something to do with the Golden Succubus that he was always going
on about. Sansa and Gerag note that the Salon du Masque, very high
end pleasure palace in the Merchant District, was the former location
of the Golden Succubus brothel that about 50 years ago was the scene
of horrific mass disappearance/murder. Sansa opines that Odhran
is being held there. An overt attack on a Merchant District business
is a very bad idea, but they ask Ekkie to use her goblin friends to
"case the joint". This will take some days. Sansa notes that the
place is open for business Thursday-Saturday and while there she
observed some patrons stoned on Black Lotus, a drug that supposedly
allows the users to see into other planes.

Avanzo shows up after being released by the Guard. He admits that
he, Ningel and Odhran were dealing Merge at the Old Dorm. It really
enhanced the business. He had suspicions that Odhran was using
evil magic the girls and patrons do things they otherwise would
not, but he was "only following orders". He takes Sansa to dinner,
and she communicates her displeasure with him and that he should
pay more attention to what she thinks should be goiing on at the
Old Dorm. They have Ekkie arrange for a temporary place for Avanzo
and the girls to stay while the Old Dorm is closed.

Gerag visits Argyle McGill's Curio shop and asks after Odhran's
purchases. Odhran did buy The Text of the Golden Succubus when
he asked after a book on the Elder Gods. This was a dangerous
magical book. He also rented a book on Vulthoom, this was an
ordinary book.

Gerag talks with Mina about the Golden Succubus. She knows that
it is a minor Elder God who gathers sexual energy until it can
manifest, then it feeds. Odhran apparently got subverted by
the god because of the book.

Sal returns and tells all the Odhran was seen at the Salon du Masque
on the night that he went missing, Monday.

Thursday 9 March

Bartholomew Hodden shows up at Sal's office to hire him to find
his wife's lover, Thomas Rhymer. He caught the two together, but
Rhymer, a noted opera singer has gone missing. It is not likely
that he left town, and Hodden suggests that Sal should look for
someone with a big voice performing in town. Hodden offers a
big pay day if Rhymer can be found.

Mina tells them that she has received a note from Sea Lord
Tarmon asking to meet this afternoon. She, of course, expects
this is some sort of trap. She is concerned for the stuff that
is here: The Green Thing; Lucius; Ningel. She is not going to
look at Ningel this morning, her look yesterday was probably
confused by the presence of Merge, saving her magic for whatever
Tarmon might be up to.

Gerag tells Ekkie to get as many of her goblin friends as
possible to get to the Scroll. He also sends a note to
Sister Regina asking her to send as many of the bretheren
as possible to help defend the Scroll.

All but Ekkie head off to the Cafe Ilkhan to see about
getting Lucius to the Lotus Forest. Their guy usually
comes from their comes on Monday, and they will send him
to see Sansa at the Scroll.

Back at the Scroll, Mina is preparing to leave to meet
Sea Lord Tarmon, who is also head of the Mage's Guild...

[greenbadge]

Thursday 9 March

There is an article in The Shipping News about the
Town Guard's raid on the Old Dorm. They are searching
for Odhran.

As Mina prepares to go to visit Tarmon, they decide
that Lucius and Ningel should be stashed in Mina's lab along
with The Green Thing. Mina closes the Indecipherable Scroll
and sends the staff home. The party prepares some simple
defenses, blocking up windows and dragging tables and chairs
in front of the front and back doors. They are joined by three
of Ekkie's goblin friends and one of Sister Regina's followers.
Ekkie and Sal take up positions outside, the others are mainly
in a central position with a goblin at the top of the stairs.

Sal notes some cloaked folks congregating near the
front door and when one of them appears to be casting a spell,
he hits him with a cross-bow prompting one of the others to
smash through the front door. Ekkie throws a bag of sneezing
powder at the spell caster which incapacitates him, now clearly
seen as a snakeman, and three others enter the
front door. Gerag tries to taunt them into attacking, but
one heads up stairs struggling with the goblin and
eventually the remaining two attack Gerag and Wulfgar
while Sansa peppers them with arrows. Outside Ekkie and
Sal kill one snake, while the spell thrower tries to move
off down the street. Inside the two are killed and all begin
heading for the street. At this point Mina returns cutting
off the recovering spell caster, who screams that he is
sacrificing himself for the Nameless One. As he is being
finished off, another group smashes through the back door
overwhelming the acolyte of Ares who was guarding it. As all
rush to meet the new threat one makes his way straight for
the hatch leading to Mina's lab, and disappears below.
As the fight rages above, the snakeman who went below
reappears carrying The Green Thing and followed by Lucius
and Ningel. Amid the carnage the snakeman places The
Green Thing in a pool of blood, and it starts powering
up as sparks begin to build around the bodies of the fallen.
Mina hits it with a barrage of Magic Missles which
damages it heavily and the sparks fade. None of the
fallen arise as electro-zombies.

The remaining snakemen and a human cultist are
surrounded and dispatched with Sansa using her Ray of Cold
twice. Gerag badly injures his hand when one of his punches
goes awry. The goblin upstairs managed to defeat the snake
who went that way.

Sal checks on the remains of The Green Thing. They
are evil and faintly magical. Mina is distressed that the
snakes were able to find it as she thought the had placed
it "beyond". She thinks advice from someone else, such as
Xort, as to how to deal with the remains of The Green Thing
would be a wise idea. She takes them downstairs and spends
a long time being sure they are safe. Questioning of Lucius
and Ningel reveal that they recall being led downstairs,
and then being woken by the snakeman and compelled to follow
him upstairs. They are sent upstairs under goblin guard.

Gerag searches the bodies, finding very little, noting
that their weapons all have snake decorations and he gathers
a sword for further study. Sansa heals him, but his hand is
beyond her ability to fix.

At last the Town Guard turns up. Sal tells them this
was a battle between rival drug gangs. The Guard notes that
the human among the dead is a known cultist called Thuron. The
party flashes their badges asking that this be kept
quiet. Gerag takes the dead acolyte of Ares to Sister Regina's
Dojo. He was known as Big Red, died honorably in battle, and
a funeral will be held for him tomorrow.

Mina returns from her lab. She tells them that Tarmon
asked her to marry him. She was stunned at such a ridiculous
suggestion, spurned him, and rushed back as soon as she could.
She is exhausted and suggest that all rest.

Sansa collects Xort and he examines the remains of The
Green Thing. He does not really know what to make of it, he
has never seen anything like it, and suggests that perhaps
it could be broken into pieces and scattered. This is thought
a good idea and the thought is brought up to use the Fairey Fire
now out at the Idol That Walks to cut up The Green Thing.

Wulfgar escorts Gerag to the Great Hospital. His hand
is seriously damaged and they put it into a cast, tell him to
take it easy, and to come back again on Monday.

Sal goes out and searches for a new performer with a big
voice. He hears of a new band called King led by a flamboyant
singer with an operatic voice. They have a rising hit called
Another One Bites The Dust. They are performing tomorrow.

Sansa gathers up Avanzo for a visit to the Salon du Masque.
He does not know what to make of this as she did not seem to
enjoy her last visit, but she wants to search for Odhran who she
is convinced is being held there in the basement. They go there,
and it is much as before with various debaucherous activities.
Sansa asks to visit the basement, not their torture chamber
themed play room, but the actual basement. They
accommodate her request providing blankets and pillows. It is
just a basement used for storage and she and Avanzo have a good
time especially after they are joined by two girls.

Friday 10 March

The Town Guard turns up at the Indecipherable Scroll looking
for Sansa as they have reports that she was seen going into the
Old Dorm after they had closed it off. Sansa flashes her badge,
and admits that she and Xort were in the building as they were
trying to investigate the reports of evil magic. She mentions
Ningel being at the Old Dorm, which they find very interesting,
but not where Ningel can now be found. She also says that Odhran
was always going on about the Golden Succubus and her thoughts
on its connection with the Salon du Masque. She tells them that
Odhran got books on the Golden Succubus from the Great Library,
which also interests them greatly. They tell her that they will
also talk to Xort to verify her story, that she has been a great
help to them, and to not leave town.

[greenbadge]

Friday 10 March

Front Page story in the Shipping News
----------------------------------------------
Drug Gang Violence Erupts in Dracs End

The normally quiet area of the western Dracs End
near The Marnor Institute and the Temple District
was disturbed yesterday afternoon by the sound of
the clashing swords. The Town Guard found a
horrific scene at a favorite student hang
out the Indecipherable Scroll. There two gangs of
drug dealing snake men had come to blows and were
slaughtering each other on the streets of the city
while bystanders fled the carnage. By the time
the Guard stepped in to stop the chaos, a dozen
bodies lay bleeding on the stone streets.

This appalling incident highlights the
growing mayhem that is over taking our fair city.
Just last month a Scurvey Town fortune teller was
revealed to be a cultist serial killer. A party at
the home of one of the city's finest families ended in fire
and death. There was a recent night of violence and death
at the city's finest hotel. At the Temple of Poseidon a
medicinal animal got loose and killed staff and patients.
There is strife between two pillars of the community, the
Wizard's Guild and the Town Guard, that has still not been
adequately explained.

Perhaps the cause of this discord have been revealed
by events earlier this week in Drac's End where a newly opened
pleasure palace was closed down after accusations that the patrons
were being influenced by evil magic. Are we entering a new time of
uncertainty and confusion due to an out break of foul magic?
Is this the reason for the strife between the Town Guard
and the Wizard's Guild?

Sea Lord Tarmon, head of the Wizard's Guild, declined
to comment for this story. Sea Lord Holliver, commander of
Marnor's military and indirectly the head of the Town Guard,
noted that the city's security forces had begun taking action
against "threats to our peace and prosperity" and that he
would not let anyone stand in the way of his duty to protect
the city.
----------------------------------------------

Ningel and Lucius are missing. They apparently climbed out of a
window evading the goblins guarding them.

Mina tells them that they have to see Captain Roberts to inform
on Tarmon's apparent treachery. She will take them to visit
his ship this afternoon.

Sansa goes to Lucius' apartment. It seems to have been undisturbed
for many days. She then goes to Ningel's shop and finds it being
run by the goblin alchemist. Ningel has not been here and he
sells he two smoke bombs and a super glue.

Mina takes them to Captain Robert's ship, the Black Dragon. She
tells him with corroboration from the party that Tarmon is in
league with evil snake people. Roberts tells them that Tarmon
is a member of the Merchant faction on the Captain's Council.
They have been blocking Marnor from taking active preparations
against a Moran invasion. The Moran's under Emperor Devit are
clearly planning some sort of military action. Their army has moved
to the northern part of Tasprian Peninsula, which puts it about
a weeks marck from Marnor. Their navy has been expanded, and they
instituted a clever scheme that would allow them to suddenly seize
a large number of transport ships. Captured spies reveal that
the Morans are gathering information on Marnor's defenses, but no
details on if or when they are going to attack.

All of the city states around
the Middle Sea are clearly in danger, but no one wants to cross
the Morans due to their central location and them being the largest
contributers to commerce. The other faction on the Council is
led by Captain Holliver who commands Marnor's military. He has
suggested calling back the privateer fleet, calling out the militia,
and sweeping the city of Moran sympathizers. The Merchant faction
has stalled this calls for action by Tarmon claiming that he has
magical means of defending the city. Perhaps that is why
he is consorting with snakemen?

The Morans stirring up an evil chaos cult does not fit
their MO. They obviously do not want to take over a city being
ravaged by an outbreak of chaos cultists of something even worse.
Roberts would like Mina and the party to meet with Sea Lord
Maeorgan and Captain Nathan Grymes, who are members of the
Merchant faction, along with Captains Roberts and Holliver to
try to convince them that Tarmon cannot be trusted. He mentions
that the Sea Lord Maeorgan is especially sensitive to cultists
as her two brothers were victims of Sea Lord Drac's mad schemes,
and Grymes is a smuggler who is not likely to prosper under
Moran rule.

To meet discreetly Roberts will get them invitations to
the Sea Lord's Hileria Ball, celebration of the return of spring,
on Wednesday. They ask for some sort of token to show that they
are working for the good of the city, and Roberts gives them
1 SP coins that have been subtly defaced.

Back at the Scroll an art dealer called Quelch shows up.
He has a buyer who is interested in the tropical artifacts that
Odhran bought at the Last Resort. He can hook them up for a
small finder's fee. Ekkie knows that the box of artifacts is
at the Old Dorm and she will try to get them out and tells
Quelch to come back again next week.

Sal and Wulfgar ask around after Lucius and Ningel.
They were seen heading towards the docks early this morning.
They can find no evidence that they took passage on a ship
out of town.

Gerag goes to the funeral for Big Red, the acolyte
of Ares who was killed in the attack on the Scroll. Gerag
tells the small flock that Big Red died defending his flank,
fell when he was overwhelmed by enemies, and died a hero
in battle. He is interred with honor. Gerag tells Sister
Regina all that he has learned. She tells him that she will
prepare her flock to help defend the city, and her biggest
concern is the large Temple of Ares which is not proper.
Gerag picks up a cleaver to wield with his damaged hand.

Sansa heads out to the Idol That Walks. There Therion
can teach her Cure/Cause Serious Wounds. He is also willing to
come to the Scroll to investigate the Green Thing. She also
suggests that they should get the Idol back working, but they
point out that they have dismantled it, recycled its parts, etc.
It would take a great deal of time and effort to rebuild it.
Perhaps, Sansa, suggests they could build "flying kill-bots"
to help defend the city?

They remind her that they owe her a birthday present.
She asks for a set of arrows that explode and start fires, and
a quiver to hold them. They will get started on that. They
also owe presents to Gerag, Ekkie, and Odhran.

She also asks after the Water Faireys. Some of the Fire
Faireys are still seeing some of the Water Faireys, but a good
fraction seem to have returned to consorting with whores, and
they crudely proposition Sansa, as Friday is there night
for fun.

There is a long conversation with Mina about the open
questions such as the Green Thing, a Moran invasion, and the
missing Odhran. No firm conclusions are drawn.

Gerag and Wulfgar go down to the Dented Helm to ask after
Odhran. The dwarves he hired to work on the Old Dorm are there, but
they have not seen him since the Old Dorm Grand Opening party a week
ago. Another Dwarf says that he works at Maurice's maintaining the
cooking equipment and saw Odhran enter there on Monday evening, but
never saw him leave. Gerag concludes that Odrhan must have left
by a secret way.

Sal goes to the Old Stage to see the band King perform.
The lead singer is indeed Thomas Rhymer. Gerag and Wulfgar shows
up. Just as Rhymer is singing, a bounty hunter called Calybdous
Snide stands up and calls for Rhymer to give himself up. Sal,
Wulfgar, and Gerag struggle with Snide, trying to subdue him,
while he stabs Sal in the shoulder. Snide gives up, saying that
Sal deserves the collar and leaves. As Sal gathers up the
cowering Rhymer, the very beautiful Imelda Hodden appears
begging that Rhymer not be turned over to her husband due to
their undying love. Sal is not impressed, Rhymer has been
romantically linked with other women, and refuses her offer of money
that she can pay later. She runs off in tears.

Sal takes Rhymer to Bartholomew Hodden who is very pleased.
Sal complains that other folks were hired to track down Rhymer.
Hodden dismisses Sal's complaints with a 2500 GP payment.

Gerag passes by Maurice's and works out that the private
room that Odhran visited on Monday does have an exterior wall.

Saturday 11 March

Sansa notes that some Water Faireys have spent the night
at the Idol That Walks with some Fire Faireys. She and Therion
goes with Sansa to the Scroll.

Sal shows up and pays Gerag and Wulfgar 125 GP each for
their help in catching Rhymer. He then goes to the Wizard's
Pouch, bigger on the inside, and buys some scrolls.

Wulgar goes to his brother's shop. As usual they berate
him for not working, but take in his warning about an impending
Moran invasion.

Mina talks with Therion about the Green Thing. She tells
him it comes from a place that stands at the far side of the regular world
as from where Fairey is. Thus Therion is likely to find it
completely alien. They talk more about how the Faireys could
help defend the city.

[greenbadge]

Saturday 11 March Continued

Shipping News in the Entertainment Section
----------------------------------------------------------
Noted Opera Singer Thomas Rhymer in Hospital

Thomas Rhymer who has impressed all with his big voice
in the recent production of The Great Kranu From the Deep
at the Marnor Opera House was admitted to the Temple of
Poseidon last night. He was taken there by employees of
Hodden Shipping who found him along the Street of Dreams
in the Merchant District. He was incoherent and had
apparently suffered a severe beating. Doctors at the
hospital said that Rhymer faced a long period of
recovery, and it was too early to tell if his voice
was OK, but that he would have severe scars on his
face. His career on stage is likely over.

Rhymer and Bartholomew Hodden had been linked
when Rhymer was caught in the company of Hodden's
wife, a former show girl, Imelda at the Last Resort.
There the three were involved in a very public shouting
match with Hodden threatening bodily harm to Rhymer
while being restrained by the embarrassed wife. Rhymer
subsequently dropped out of sight.

Hodden had no comment on this unfortunate event,
and we have been unable to confirm that his wife is resting
at the Hodden mansion. The Town Guard said that they were
investigating the apparent assault on Rhymer, they had
no leads, and appealing to the public for information.
----------------------------------------------------------

Therion is willing to investigate the Green Thing
despite Mina's misgivings. He spends a great deal of time
below, and comes out saying that Mina was correct. He can
tell that it is some sort of powerful magic device, but he
cannot figure out what it is meant to do or how it works.
He also thinks it is unlikely that the Fairey Fire will
have any effect on it. He suggests dropping it into
the deepest ocean, a bottomless pit, or something similar.

Sal casts Summon Familiar and gets a magical
weasel that he calls Wilhelm.

Gerag visits Sister Regina's Dojo to practice and
prey. He is still not able to practice the sword due to
his damaged hand.

Sunday 12 March

Sansa again visits the Idol That Walks and learns
Color Spray. The Fire Faireys note that Otto took careful
notes on the parts of the Idol that they dismantled and they
still have most of the raw materials. If they did nothing
else for a month they could get it walking again. Flying
Kill Bots are at the advanced prototype stage. They mostly
work, but they still need to put more time and effort before
they could have something usable. Sansa seems to ignore
all this and asks how soon they will have her quiver of
exploding fire arrows ready.

Gerag visits Otto in his shop. The sword from the
snakemen attackers is pretty ordinary. It is a generic,
cheap sword with snake decorations added after completion.
It could have come from anywhere and is not worth very
much.

Monday 13 March

Invitations to the Sea Lords Hileria Ball on Wednesday arrive
for Mina, Gerag, Sansa, Sal, Wulfgar, and Ekkie. All the
invitations include a guest.

Gerag goes to the Great Hospital. The cast on his hand is
removed, they tell him to continue to take it easy, and
to come back again Thursday.

Ekkie meets with Quelch. She has gathered up the tropical
artifacts from the Old Dorm and shows him some samples. He
thinks the buyer would be pleased and asks for a 10% commission
to set up a meeting at his Merchant District gallery after
the Holiday. He also suggests that Captain Horngold, who will
also ask for a commission, should be there to tell the story
of gathering the artifacts from the cannibalistic tropical
natives. That should raise the price.

Gerag invites Sister Regina to go with him to the Ball. She
is happy to accept. Gerag goes to the Bloodsalt and helps
Glitch.

Sal invites Dixie, a waitress at his local diner, to the Ball.
She is happy to accept and he gives her some money for a nice
dress and a make over. He also picks up a piercing axe to
go with his dueling sword.

Sansa visits Avanzo and invites him to the Ball. He is happy
to accept.

Tuesday 14 March

A package arrives at the Old Dorm and is directed to
Ekkie. It is for Odhran and from Roderigo Lugo. There is
a note:

Odhran

Please accept this small token of my thanks for the service
you rendered at the Last Resort on my last visit to Marnor. If you
are ever in need please do not hesitate to get in touch with me,
my family, or any of our shops and I assure you that we will do our
best to render whatever service you may require.

Roderigo Lugo
The House of Lugo
The Islands of Abarat

In the package is a large pearl. Sansa freaks out and eventually
establishes that the pearl is not evil, but is magical. Gerag
gets a hold of it to prevent Sansa from smashing it.

Ekkie's goblin friends report back on the Salon du Masque. It is
far more secure than one would expect for a pleasure palace. There
is security at the front and back door, and all the other possible
entrances, windows, chimneys, etc., are barred. Unless there is
something very valuable within, they suggest moving on. Perhaps
someone on the inside could learn more. Sal and his weasel should
investigate after the Holiday.

Gerag takes the pearl from Roderigo Lugo to Xort. A quick look does
not reveal what the pearl does, but he will look into it further.
They talk about Odhran; Xort has not seen him, and misses that crazy
dwarf. They talk about Ningel. Her shop seems to have been well run
until recently. He will think on what he can do help find those two.

Ekkie procures dresses for her and Sansa for the Ball. They look
good.

Gerag procures a light mace that he gets painted white, to go with
his red robes of Ares for the Ball.

Wednesday 15 March

It is the end of winter, welcome to spring festival called Hileria.
There is a big parade, a carnival in the Eastern District, and many
wear either costumes or very bright clothing. Almost everything
is closed. The harbor is dyed green. Gerag visits the Bloodsalt
where they too are enjoying a rare day off, and he tries to find a
good location for his own Temple of Ares.

In the evening there is an elegant ball at the Sea Lord's
palace. It is the most prominent building in the Old City. They
are met by Thomas Fleetfoot, the Sea Lord's halfling chamberlain, who
bids them to enjoy the food and drink, tells them that the Sea Lord will
give a brief toast, and afterwards there will be music and dancing.
They can see a raised dais in the center of the large room where there
is one large chair and twelve smaller. These are for the Captains Council:

Sea Lord Marilese Maeorgan - a tall woman with long black hair. She
bears a large sword as a symbol of office. Her family is among
the richest merchants in the city. She had two brothers who
had been on the Captain's Council and were killed during Sea
Lord Drac's attempted coup, and she became Sea Lord via the
strength of her family's influence. She is not in a dress,
as most ladies at this affair, but no one would mistake
her for a man.
Captain Dirwin Arnig - Dwarf Head of the Gem Cutter's Guild, who
looks as if he has just left his workshop.
Captian Liam Blackhammer - old man; tribune of the people.
Captain Xavier Gordon - Pirate whose ship is the Bloody Sea.
Captain Nathan Grimes - Rich merchant who seems to think
the city equals the Merchant District. He is rumored
to be a smuggler of illicit drugs and dangerous relics.
Captain High Priestess Lorilee of Poseidon - She is soft on
opposition to Mora, where there is a major Temple of
Poseidon, but opposed to Cultists.
Captain Enoch Holliver - Military man who is strongly opposed to
Mora. He is also well known to have designs on becoming
the Sea Lord. Big, burly guy.
Captain Jacob Lydon - Debauched pirate; ship is The Gambit. He is
accompanied by two half naked girls and clearly drunk.
Captain Marcus Roberts - Pirate/diplomat. Ship is the Black Dragon.
Mina is his date for the evening. She looks smashing in
gold with red trim. He was key in bringing
down Sea Lord Drac by supporting a band of adventurers who
were investigating Cultist activity. He has gathered lots
of evidence that the Morans are going to make some sort of
military move very soon.
Captain Hector Torian - Old pirate whose ship is The Sea Ghost.
Captain Tarmon - Notable by his absence. He is represented by Rodsul
Dartus, deputy head of the Wizard's Guild, and his brother
Verlaine who owns the masonry factory where the party was almost
killed, Crocker's.
Captain Garth Verellion - Pirate whose ship is The Christina.
Captain Tench Prescott - Active pirate whose ship is Poseidon Saber.

They see some other folks that they know at the Ball: Glitch, the goblin
mage; Chancellor Whitmire, ancient elf of the Marnor Institute; Captain
Horngold seller of curiosities from the tropics; Otto weapons dealer
and protector of the Fire Faireys; Achronus siblings Kythra and Rymor;
Bartholomew, cuckolded husband, and Imelda, beautiful, young, adulteress
wife, Hodden; The Countess, always masked proprietor of the Salon du
Masque; and Portia Gallowgrange, the halfling maitre'd of Maurice's, the
fine restaurant in the Merchant District.

A young man called Bedwyr approaches Sansa and says that his aunt,
High Priestess Lorilee said that Sansa was an adventurer. He
does not want to study for the priesthood but wants to adventure.
Sansa tells him to try to take the mask off The Countess. He
approaches her from behind, makes his move, The Countess is far
ahead of him, and delivers a blow that lays Bedwyr out. She
stands over him in a ready crouch on the balls of her feet,
before realizing it is some sort of joke. She then makes
light of incident and offers to dance with the dazed boy.

They also meet Melikor Maeorgan, the Sea Lords father,
and clearly a very rich man, and Torston Roth, the very snobby
head of the Merchant's Guild.

Dixie has had too much to drink, and Sal, who has
brought Wilhelm on a leash, releases the weasel to gather
information. Sal is looking very good in all black with
splash of color provided by a red rose. Sister Regina looks
exceptionally good in simple red robes of Ares. Wulfgar
looks very good in his fancy dress.

The Sea Lord makes a short speech welcoming
spring which ends in a toast. The band, A Rad Dun Run,
plays their hit Hungry Like The Wolf as dancing begins.

Captain Roberts comes and invites the party to
meet the Sea Lord. Also there are Captain Grimes and
Captain Holliver. Mina tells them about Tarmon's invitation
to her and his strange proposal of marriage. Gerag
then recounts the attack by the snakemen and a known cultist
on the Indecipherable Scroll. Mina also points out that
the party under the guise of "Gerag the Wise" with the help
of Xort fixed the broken Eldritch Gun despite interference
and failure by Tarmon and members of the Wizards Guild.

Maeorgan says that it seems to have been a mistake
to depend on Tarmon's promise to defend the city from a
Moran attack that Roberts has made clear is a real possibility.
She asks Grimes' opinion, and he agrees. She apologizes
to Holliver for not taking his advice earlier but she thought
it was part of his efforts to dispose her. Holliver says that he
may have had such designs, but now is the time for them all
to work for the good of Marnor. The Sea Lord directs her
aides to draft a decree to recall the privateers, call out
the militia, and sweep the city for known agents of Mora. It
will be promulgated first thing in the morning. Also an emergency
meeting of the Captains Council will be called for first thing
tomorrow. If Tarmon does not show up for that, then it is
quite likely he really is working against the interests
of the city.

As the meeting breaks up the Sea Lord asks Gerag to
remain behind, and Sister Regina is being ushered in.

[greenbadge]

As the Hileria Ball turns into a wild dance party,
the band suddenly falls into a confused silence.
A man in a long brown robe tied with a dirty
rope is standing in front of the band.  He is unshaven
with long hair.  All is in stunned silence, and in a raspy voice he speaks,
"Heed me well! The words of the old should not be ignored.  In the ancient scriptures of Yig it is
written:

The Yellowed Sign once again shall appear.
Then the time for Yig's revenge will be near.
Beneath the finger of evil that points to heaven.
One must pay heed to the calling of the brethren.
Search below the waves for that which was unmade,
And return with the serpent carved of jade.
When the music is unleashed upon the land.
The icon of jade alone shall stand.
The end of that which comes from outside.
Contained within the serpent deep inside.

Remember these verses well citizens of Marnor.  The
prophecies of Yig do not lie."

Guards finally appear and as they reach to grab him,
he transforms into a snake, which slithers across
the floor, and dissolves into a curl of smoke.

Sansa is excited to see another Snake Person!  [It is not
a snake person, but an actual snake, but it is Sansa's world
and the rest of us are just visitors.]  After she calms down
[oh yeah, right], Sansa wants to do some research.
First she  will ask Mina about Yig and the jade serpent carving.

Mina says, "Yig is another diety of the snake people.  I
think he was supposed to be the nice one.  I have never
heard of the jade serpant."

Next Sansa would like to go to the university and talk to
Professor Cloimser, the expert on cults and such.  Then to
McGill's Curio shop to see if he has any books on
that subject.

Gerag rushes into the ballroom to check on the disturbance.
Gerag cannot believe his eyes, but does not see anything
that illuminates what is going on.  After he sees the "snake"
dissolves into a curl of smoke he rushes  back to check on
Sister Regina and The Sea Lord.

Sister Regina also saw nothing unusal and is ignorant of Yig.  She
is on careful watch.  The Sea Lord is angry and is busy
yelling at the guards and telling folks that is best that they
clear out of here.

Sal scans the room trying to see the reaction
of other people, and then examines the area where
the man spoke and disappeared for clues, magical or otherwise.

He does not notice anything special in the crowd,
but when he inspects the area in front of the band he notes
that all the instruments of the band members have snake logos
on them.

Wilhelm uses the distraction to steal some food from
the buffet.  He is spotted rooting about the buffet and when
someone tries to grab him, he says in his highly refined voice,
"Do you mind?  I am just trying to get some food while it is
still hot."  This causes a scream and another surge of panic
which Wilhelm takes advantage of to slip away.

Wulfgar elbows the guest next to him and laughs..."Great
entertainment, huh?"  At the same time he scans the edges of the
room for anyone leaving or entering.  He notes that just after
the man turns into a snake, Torstan Roth, the snobbish head of
the Merchant's Guild, makes a hasty exit from the Ball.

The Ball breaks up in some confusion.

[greenbadge]

Wednesday 15 March (Hileria) Continued

Bedwyr approaches Sansa. He tells her how wonderful The Countess is,
that she has given him a pass to visit the Salon du Masque this weekend,
and he really wants to join with the party on whatever their next
adventure is. Sansa lets him tag along.

Wulfgar gathers up those two to follow Torstan Roth. He heads out of
the Sea Lord's palace and is met by a fine coach. It moves slowly
into the Merchant's District. Sansa tries to attract his attention
by shouting, but he ignores her. The coach takes him to the Merchant's
Guild House along the water. Guards prevent their entry. Wulfgar knows
that Roth has a shop that sells fine wine and exotic food stuffs. There
is a rumor that he is into mining too. Sansa asks to see Roth, the
guards tell her to come back during business hours to make an
appointment or to go to his shop to buy wine. She tips him a GP.

Sal tries to talk with Sea Lord Roberts, trying to convince
the Sea Lord to pay them to investigate. He tells Sal to come
see him tomorrow afternoon at his ship. Sal talks to the band
and they reveal that their instruments were a gift of Sea Lord
Tarmon and that Tarmon introduced them to N'Tal who helped
them write their hit song. N'Tal also helped other Ate Eez
Pop bands write songs. They are fixated on women. Wilhelm
shows up with an crystal ash tray with the Sea Lords crest
on it. Sal takes it.

Gerag takes Sister Regina home. They talk about his idea
to open a Dojo in the Bloodsalt. She thinks that is a good
idea. They also agree that they should investigate the
Temple of Ares. She is not good at that sort of stealthy
thing, but will help however she can.

Upon returning to the Scroll, Mina notes that someone has been
here. They penetrated through her magical perimeter barrier,
broke into her lab (these she notices) and took the Green Thing.
She tells them that the papers she got from Wulfgar told her
how to deactivate the Green Thing. She pulled it out of its
hiding place, thought she deactivated it, and put it back
into hiding. The thing is wily and probably tricked her again.

Mina spends a long while doing a ritual to track down the
Green Thing. It is at the Wizard's Guild House and guesses
that Tarmon and company have taken it. She needs to rest
and suggest that the others do like wise.

On the way home Wulfgar notes that the Town Guard is out
patrolling much more heavily than normal. A squad actually
stops him and tells him that tomorrow a dusk to dawn
curfew will be imposed.

Sansa, who made Bedwyr guard the outside of the Scroll
where he fell asleep, sends him home. She takes his
pass to the Salon du Masque and tells him to come back
in a day.

Thursday 16 March

Party via a note from the Harbor Patrol learns that Ningel and Lucius were
captured at the Lighthouse. They are being held there. There is a long
discussion on what to do next with Sal noting that many things demand
their attention.

Xort shows up at the Scroll. He has identified the pearl from the Lugo's
as a Pearl Of Power. The bearer gets an extra first level spell slot. It
is a valuable magic item.

The party heads down to the docks. Ekkie remains behind to start
scouting out the Wizard's Guild and meet with Captain Roberts
in the afternoon. There is confusion in Marnor. Rumors are flying
that an invasion is imminent, the town guard is sweeping the streets
and gathering up random people, and the harbor is in confusion with
ships not being allowed to leave.

No ships or boats are moving. Wulfgar takes them to the Lobstermen's
Guild telling his friends there they have help get them to the
lighthouse. It takes some time and between the Lobestermen and
the party's badges they are able to secure a boat out the lighthouse.
It is late afternoon by the time they get there.

They are met by Roscoe Thornbrae and his
son Roscoe Jr. They are members of the halfling family that runs the
lighthouse. They tell the party that they have been ordered to not
light the beacon and to keep watch for incoming ships. They can relay
messages to the shore via a semaphore and light system. They found
Lucius and Ningel wandering about the island yesterday. They had
apparently made their way here via a row boat. They are being held
by the family in the lighthouse. They are very reluctant to let the
party into the lighthouse, offering to bring Lucius and Ningel to them,
but Gerag is insistent. They see the very ornate lighthouse up close,
and inside a pile of liquor crates. Gerag tells them he is not
interested in their illicit activities he just wants to find Lucius
and Ningel.

They find Lucius and Ningel having tea with the family in
their living quarters on the second floor. They are confused about
how they got here, have been having dreams about a green rock, feel
it calling to them, wants their blood, and then to feed. Gerag knocks
them out, ties them up, and forces some liquor down their throats.
They also separate the two amid talk of the Keymaster and Gatekeeper.

They have a look from the top of the lighthouse and can see
far out to sea. They also note a black stone building on the south
edge of the island. The Thornbrae's say that this is the outpost
of the Wizard's Guild and it sits on some high cliffs over looking
a rocky beach. The wizards would go there regularly to do water
based spells, etc.

They decide to take Lucius and Ningel back to town. They
have no trouble getting there. As they sail back they notice
the yacht, the Thunder Child, of Torston Roth making its way out of
the harbor. Besides harbor patrol ships and their own it is the
only one moving in the harbor.

They split up and take Lucius to Sister Regina's dojo.
She will have some of the brothers guard him 24/7. Ningel is taken
to the Idol That Walks where the Fire Faireys are happy to take
her and keep her out of trouble.

Back at the Scroll they have news that a dwarf body
wearing armor like Odhran's was found in the harbor yesterday.
It is badly decomposed and has been in the water for more
than a couple of days. Gerag goes to the morgue to investigate.
The body looks like Odhran, and Gerag asks that it be burned.
They will do so and send the ashes to him.

Mina and Ekkie tell them news that the military raided
the Wizard's Guild, and Captain Roberts says that Tarmon died in
the struggle there. Also the town has been flooded with ads for
a concert in the Field of Honor, the big square at the center of
the Eastern District, tomorrow by Gel King Sonny.

They worry about what to do. Sansa rests. Gerag goes
to see Xort, and Xort tells him that he has been asked by the city
to investigate what the heck was going on the Wizard's Guild.
He also thinks that Tarmon's house needs to be investigated as
soon as possible as it is unlikely that the Tarmon's "death"
is final. Gerag rushes back to gather up the party to do this.

Sal tries to engage the military and Town Guard who
are patrolling the city, but gets no where. He attempts to find
Gel King Sonny, but has no luck. He is an Ate Eez Pop artist.

They head off to Tarmon's house which is just outside
of town to the west. As they make their way they see some figures,
one very large and a number of smaller ones,
emerge from the sewer and head towards the house. They get a
glimpse of long noses and beady eyes and are reminded of the
intelligent underground dwelling rat race called the Skaven.

As they hurry towards the house they hear a sound the likes
of which they have never heard before coming form the sky above them.
They see round metallic object land next to them, a hatch open,
and out steps two large figures encased in articulated metal armor
with black glass face plates. They are followed by a man in
vaguely oriental robes who speaks to them in a strange voice.
The metal object disappears. "Greetings fellow surface
dwellers. I wish you a pleasant dark cycle. Is that the
house of the 'untranslatable expletive' Tarmon? I have
business dealings with him. He owes me something."

The party responds that they too are owed something
by Tarmon, and perhaps they should go together to try to
retrieve what they are owed. He agrees and they all head
off towards the house. They knock on the door and it is
opened by a classic butler in a morning suit. "Good
evening. How may I be of assistance at this late hour?"
They tell him they are looking for Tarmon. He tells them
that the master has not returned this evening, but they are
welcome to wait inside. "Unfortunately the living room
is rather full..." they note the sounds of a struggle
from a room on the left, "...perhaps you would like to
wait in the dining room with some other gentleman who
are also seeking to meet the master?" They note that the
butler has a very unusual appearance, with skin that
is very smooth and uniform color.

As they shuffle ahead to the dining room, they
glimpse the struggle in the living room where a creature
that looks like a man with an octopus for a head is leading
a squad of lizard men versus a man whose skin is jet black
flanked by two creatures that look like man sized black
dragons with hands and standing upright.

In the dining room they encounter a squad of Skaven
bearing unusual fire arms, including a very large and burly
rat, and led by what is obviously some sort of wizard. "Greetings
friends. Are you owed something by the wizard Tarmon? It
seems he owes many." After some discussion, interrupted by
the butler asking if they would like some tea, they all decide
to work together to try to recover what Tarmon might owe them.

They head into the hall and the struggle in the living
room seems to have come to an end, with the octopus head
and company emerging triumphant amid the dead mini-dragons
and black man, and it immediately orders an attack on the
Party/Skaven/Spacemen. The two in powered armor make short
work of the lizard men, sending the octopus head fleeing. The
lead space alien pulls out a small hand held device which whirs,
and he says that what he seeks is upstairs. They find stairs up,
as they hear another knock at the door.

Upstairs they find a corridor and four doors. They
open the one on the near right. There is an un-naturally beautiful
woman clad in lingerie in a bedroom. "You're not my Tarmy. Perhaps I
can do something for you?" she says with a hint of seduction in her voice.
No one falls for her act, and they shut the door and move on.

On the far right is the empty master bedroom. On the night stand
is a large red gem. The Skaven Wizard rushes in, and grabs the gem.
"Perhaps I will just take this and call it even. If you do not mind
gentlemen, I will be on my way." The Skaven make their way out
down a set of back stairs.

The Party/Space Aliens move on to the door on the far left.
It seems to be a magic lab, and they see Radsul Dartus, second
in command at the Wizard's Guild, rummaging frantically about the
lab. Cupboards and drawers are open and much is strewn about the
floor. Gerag rushes in and lays out Dartus with a strike. The
Head Space Alien uses his device to locate a ceramic disk amid the
mess, and picks it up with a big smile.

Gerag is carrying Dartus out, while Sansa and Sal open
the remaining door. It is a bio lab, and there is very large
"man" within who asks what they want. At this same moment a man
with red skin, horns on his head, and cloven hooves for feet walks
up the stairs. He is accompanied by a troupe of imps. "It is
terribly distressing that one cannot trust someone to honor even
the most straight forward of contracts. I suppose if one is
willing to sell what Mr. Tarmon was selling, honesty is not to be
expected. It is a sad commentary on the state of the world.
I believe that," indicating the disk that the head Space
Alien has, "belongs to me."

This activity seems to disturb "Igor" who rushes
the door. Sal shoots him with his heavy cross bow. "Don't
shoot him. That will just make him mad," opines the beautiful
women who has dressed and is leaving her bedroom. Indeed the
cross bow bolt bounces off of "Igor" and Sal thinks better
of this fight, slamming the door closed, hearing a loud thud,
and joining the others in fleeing the house. A struggle has
broken out between the Devils and the Space Aliens which starts
the upper floor of the house on fire.

At the door way out Sansa fires a Ray of Fire to get the entire
house burning. The party flees the burning building, with Sal
remaining behind to dissuade any one from trying to put out
the fire. He notes the metal disk arrive and crash into the
second story of the house, remain for a short time, and then
fly off. He also sees Tarmon's mistress, the butler, and a dog like
creature come out of the rear entrance of the house and move off.
He directs Wilhelm to follow them. "Sure thing, but hold this,"
Wilhelm says as he hands Sal a large orange garnet, and disappears
into the darkness.

The fire brigade shows up, and Sal is able to convince
them to simply let the building burn.

Gerag realizes that he has missed his appointment at the
Great Hospital to check his hand.

[greenbadge]

Thursday 16 March Continued

Gerag searches Dartus and the only unusual thing he finds
is a packet of sneezing powder which he takes. Wilhelm catches
up and says that the pretty lady, funny smelling butler, and scary
cat-thing went to an apartment building in the Old City.

Upon arrival at the Scroll, Mina joins them in questioning
Dartus. He tells them that he was at Tarmon's trying to find a small
non-descript item that had to be joined with a previously prepared
vessel to bring Tarmon back to life. He got interrupted by folks
knocking on the door, he panicked, and then the big orc, indicating
Gerag, rushed in and hit him. After some discussion they realize
that the small ceramic disk that the head space alien picked up was
likely what Tarmon had prepared. The item had to be mated with a
vessel that was in the bio lab. He also admits that he helped
Tarmon steal the Green Thing from the Scroll.

After some threatening he tells them that Tarmon was working
with snake people to revive some sort of device that is on the
light house island plus performing some sort of ritual with the
Ate Eez Pop acts to "defend" the city. He claims that while he
was disturbed by this, "he was only following orders." They work
up the story that Dartus was not involved but was growing
suspiscious of Tarmon's activities. He realized that Tarmon
was up to something bad when unsavory people began showing up
at Tarmon's place. The concert by Gel King Sonny should be
stopped, the Green Thing should be returned to Mina, and the
party should investigate the island.

They will turn him to Captain Roberts in the morning.

Friday 17 March

Front page article in the Shipping News
----------------------------------------------------------
Sea Lord Maeorgan Calls For Calm

Sea Lord Marilise Maeorgan suggested that all citizens
remain calm in the face of rumors of war. In a statement
released by the Sea Lord's palace she explained that
the city had received credible intelligence of a foreign
power preparing for war, and reasonable preperations are
being taken to deter any attack on the city. The military has been
placed on alert. The harbor has been closed to commercial
traffic. The militia is being called out. All privateers
have been asked to report to the Admiralty to coordinate
with the Navy for defense. The Town Guard has declared
a dusk to dawn curfew.

No comment has been forthcoming on a rumored attack
by the military on the Wizard's Guild Hall or the death of Sea
Lord Tarmon, Head of the Wizard's Guild. Just two and a
half weeks ago there was a raid by the Town Guard on the Wizard's
Guild Hall that was quickly resolved, but never explained.
Members of the military are guarding the Hall.
----------------------------------------------------------

Back page article in the Shipping News
----------------------------------------------------------
Yesterday the body of a dwarf was found
in the harbor. The harbor patrol reports that the dwarf
was wearing white armor with a red circular pattern. The town
guard suspects that this is the noted musician Odhran Aiodos
who they have been seeking in conjuction with the accusation
of the use of illegal magic and dealing the addictive drug
Merge at the Drac's End pleasure house, the Old Dorm. Any
one with any knowledge on this matter is urged to contact
the Town Guard.
----------------------------------------------------------

Denizens of the Scurvey Town flop house where Lon, operator
of the rock grinder that almost killed the party, lived, arrive
at the Scroll looking for Odhran. Gerag meets them, they claim
they know the location of Lon, he pays them a small sum, and
they indicate an even more down scale flop house in Scurvey
Town.

Dordalus Sellic, factor for the Pearl Merchant Lugos, shows up at
the Scroll looking for friends of Odhran offering to help with his
burial, any help that the Lugos can give to Odhran's friends, and
help to find out what happened to Odhran. Sal talks with him,
and tries to dissuade him from investigating Odhran's death
hinting that he would find out things about Odhran that no one
would like to know.

There is a note for Ekkie from the merchant Quelch that he has
arranged a meeting for the sale of the tropical artifacts for
Monday at his Merchant District gallery Tropico de Nopal.

A jar of ashes that were supposedly once Odhran arrive at the Scroll.

Ekkie, Gerag, and Sal take Dartus to see Captain Roberts.
He buys their story and will see that the Gel King Sonny Concert is
cancelled, the Green Thing goes back to Mina, and that the party can
get out to the island. He has no news.

Sansa goes to see Professor Cloimser at the University. Yig
is the God of Knowledge for the snakepeople. The Jade Serpant is some
sort of artifact of Yig that is effective agains the Eldar Gods, and
the Yellow Sign is obscure but thought to be a good thing. There is
a rumor that the pirate Black Dog stumbled upon a submerged ruin that
sounds like a temple of Yig. There is an old crew man of Black Dog
called Gareth who lives in Scurvey Town and has been telling people
for many years that he knows the location of Black Dog's treasure
which sounds as if it was hidden in the Temple of Yig.

Gerag, Sal, and Ekkie go to the Wizard's Guild Hall to try
to collect the Green Thing. Xort is there. He is going through
the stores and trying to figure out what the heck was going on
here. They warn him about Dartus, not to be trusted, and when he
hears that they are planning to head to the light house island he
remembers that there is a recent report on an expedition there.
It describes the rocky beach noting a ruin that has become the
lair of some predatory animals, a treacherous set of tidal pools,
a river, and a large cave. Within the cave is an outer chamber
with a waterfall, and a gateway guarded by a metal guardian leading
to the inner chamber. Within the inner chamber are cenotes, deep
shafts filled with water, a ruin, and a big machine. The report
mentions plans for a return expedition.

Xort lets them take the Green Thing away. They are careful
to wrap it up and not touch it. It looks as if some repairs were
attempted on it. They have no trouble getting it back to the
Scroll and Mina works to put it "beyond".

They decide to move on the island asap. Gerag goes to see
Sister Regina and trains on the sword. Maybe two more sessions
to completion. He notes that she and her acolytes are carefully
guarding Lucius, and Gerag warns her to be careful with him. He
also warns her that things are likely to be highly stirred up in
the next day or two.

Bedwyr shows up and wants to join their expedition. He has a
short sword, but no armor. Sansa spars with him and concludes that
he is not hopeless. She takes him to buy a suit of studded leather
armor. Gerag goes to the Wizard's Pouch, bigger on the inside, and
buys two potions of water breathing for 800 GP. Sal gathers some
stuff for the expedition.

They are easily able to get a ship out to the island. On the
way Odhran's ashes are scattered in the harbor. They
are met by the halflings who escort them to the Black House at the
southern end of the island, but they decline to accompany them
further. It is getting dark as they arrive there.

They note the ruin that is the Black House. They see the
burned out upper floor and a rusted metal pointing mechanism with
a melted crystal beneath it. They head down the ramp with Bedwyr
carrying a torch. They can see the ruins of the cliff dwellings, see
the treacherous tidal pools, and the stream. They work their
way along the wall and find the entrance to the cavern. Within they
see the large waterfall and the stream that blocks their way. Ekkie
is tossed over by Gerag and she secures a rope to aid in crossing
the swift stream. All get across fine, except Wulfgar who stumbles
and is dragged along the rocks suffering some minor damage. They
see the twin entrance to the inner cavern. The one on the left has
a lethal looking, rusted metal statue. After some hesitation
they go through the right entrance. They see the cenotes,
machine, and ruins at the back of the cavern. The cavern is lit
by purple glowing fungus.

They approach the machine and see a blade trap guarding
an entrance. Gerag walks around the back and sees a ladder
leading up to a platform which has a stairway leading further
up which leads to a door. Sansa goes to the rear of the cavern
and looks at the ruins, seeing a collapsed colannaded building.
Ekkie disables the blade trap but there is still fear to enter
the metal corridor beyond. Gerag climbs up the ladder to the
platform. From this vantage point he sees gold glittering in
the cenotes that are visible to him.

[greenbadge]

Friday 17 March

Finally they enter the machine. Gerag finds a pit trap,
which they avoid by jumping around. Sal finds a secret
door to a horrible, skull filled Shrine. Sal takes the
head from a strange rusted idol there. Ekkie notes the spear
trap and they rig a rope to climb over. They break into
a room full of bubbling vats of foul smelling fluids, and
decide to not mess with the obvious controls. They see
an ominous blue vortex that try not to get too close. They
get to the Iron Guardian at the bottom of stairs up, and decide
not to mess with it, and head up the stairs. There they fight
the Steel Guardian, note that it seems to get hotter as the
fight goes on, and manage to defeat it. As it collapses and
explodes, the imp that apparently powered it appears and bows
to Ekkie who struck the killing blow. They gather some
pieces of the guardian. Sansa hit it with Cold Rays and
had to heal Gerag and Sal. She realizes that her Cure Serious
Wound is super powered.

The get to the infernal machine and are confronted by the
Guardians. They tell them that they are here to prevent
the machine from being used and that they have been trapped
for so long that they cannot even remember. They hint that
someone has come recently to try to use the machine, and
that the machine is waking up. They also suggest that
something from Yig, which the party assumes is the Jade Serpant,
is needed to destroy the machine. They decide to retreat
and go for the Jade Serpant.

On the way out they encounter three copper disks
with spider-like legs which they manage to defeat. Sal
gathers some of the ancient coins from the detritus that
was near the Steel Guardian. Once out they explore the
ruins. They scrape off some of the fungus and Bedwyr is
mesmerized by the strange geometric paterns. As they
explore an Electro-zombie comes and attacks them. They
manage to kill it.

They make their way back to the boat and get
back to the city and head to the Scroll and their homes.
It is very late, in fact early the next day. Bedwyr found
his first adventure frightening but exciting. He wants to
go again.

[greenbadge]

(After a long delay due to real life we get back to the Campaign)

Saturday 18 March

This morning The Shipping News has a story about the death
of Countess Matilda. Sal thinks this may be suspicious and
Sansa is certain that Odhran was involved.

Wilhelm hands Sal a brass gear. Sal recalls the orange
garnet from Tarmon's house. He detects magic on it, finds
nothing and tosses it on the shelf of things Wilhelm has
gathered which includes an ash tray with the Sea Lord's
crest.

They gather at the Scroll and head to Masthead Lane in Scurvey
Town to find the pirate Gareth. He is there and they take
him to a dive called The Black Crow. After paying him 300 GP
he tells them the location of Black Dog's treasure, the likeliehood
of traps, and the evidence of the Temple of Yig. Sal buys
a potion of Control Water. Gerag trains on the sword, and Sister
Regina notes that he has one more session to go. Sansa trains
Bedwyr some more and reluctantly agrees to Gerag's suggestion
to try to recruit some Water Faireys to help out. Sal and
Wulfgar visit the Lobsterman's Guild and procure a magical
folding boat that will be available tomorrow.

Sansa finds that the Fire Faireys will not let
her into the Idol That Walks. She leaves them with a sample
of glowing fungus from the underground ruin, and they tell
her where to find the Water Faireys. There they tell her
that they cannot help as Black Dog's cave sounds as if
it is in salt water. They suggest talking to Mom, aka
the River Nor, or perhaps the Sea Elves. They will check
up on the odd behavior of the Fire Faireys and suggest
that ocean spirits can be made friendly by offers of valuable
blue things. When Sansa gets back to talk with the others,
she recalls that Ningel, the alchemist turned whore apparently
by Odhran, was left at the Idol That Walks.

Sunday 19 March

There is a note from Xort at the Great Hospital to Gerag at the
Scroll:

Dear Gerag

I have found in the records of the Wizard's Guild evidence
that they were working with cultists from fallen Valdosa
on some insane scheme to defend the city from attack.
They often met at 14 Graymalkin Lane. Please investigate
as soon as possible. I was planning to do so myself when
some netherworld dwellers showed up at the Wizard's
Guild Hall demanding payment from Tarmon for some bargain
he had made with them. We fought them off as best we
could, but I fear that they made off with most valuable
of the magical teasures the Guild had accumulated. I
was badly burned in the struggle and am confined at the
Great Hospital.

Your friend, Xort

Wulfgar shows up with the magic collapsible boat. They
head off overland through the swamp making their way west
on the coast. They get to the big stones and have to wait
about an hour waiting for low tide. They take the boat
out, and get into the caves.

The water is treacherous and as they enter
into the main cavern Sal, Ekkie, and Wulfgar are thrown
into the water with the others in the boat. A giant
crab attacks, and they manage to destroy it and not
drown. Bedwyr is very deft at keeping his feet on the
boat while fighting the crab. They get to the main beach
and see a sword stuck in the sand. Sal detects magic on it
and finds that it is magical but cursed. They decide to
leave it alone.

They follow a path to large doors with snake
decorations, apparently the Temple of Yig. Bedwyr is
strangely able to read the inscription which talks
about the will to endure pain. He claims to not
know how he knows this. Sal and Gerag try to stick their
hands in the snake mouth, but the pain is too much for
them. Bedwyr is successful, and the doors open.

They enter the temple of Yig. Bedwyr is able
to read the graffiti, about Yig's unhappiness. Gerag
shares water breathing potions and they descend to the
flooded lower level. They see a golden amulet hanging on
a snake altar. Sansa detects that it is protection
magic. She takes and wears it and a shadowy snake
attacks.

They defeat it and descend antoher level in the
Temple seeing that the water for some reason does not fall
into the third level down.

[greenbadge]

Sunday 19 March Continued Exploration of the Temple of Yig

They continue down to the third level which is strangely water
free. Bedwyr sees the ghostly form
of the high priest, and they speak with him. He tells them he needs
the Fangs, Venom, Scales and Amulet of the Serpant. Sansa is wearing
the Amulet and the others lie else where in the Temple. With those
he can complete a ritual and give the servants of Yig their rest. If
they help him he will give them the Jade Serpant.

Upon reflection, Gerag tells Ekkie to keep an eye on Bedwyr. He
clearly knows far more than he should.

They continue to explore and encounter the training master
in the gym. Gerag manages to Stun him and they kill him while
he is stunned. Gerag takes his spear and Bedwyr dons his armor.

In the infirmary they see and talk with the two patients. They
tell them that the avatar of Yig is a giant snake on the ground
floor and are dispatched from their suffering.

They encounter the acolytes who attack. Sansa aways them and they
melt away.

In the prayer room they see glowing eye on the wall and a book.
Sansa casts Protection From Evil on both. Bedwyr notes that
the book is the Way of Yig and would probably be valuable.
They let Bedwyr study the book and he tells them that the armor
he is wearing are the Scales of the Serpant, the Venom is
a black poisonous liquid, and the Fangs are some sort of
magical weapon.

They find the ramp down and manage to defeat a Wraith.

They proceed down to the next level. They find the mad
snake man who has covered his room with "Beware bretheren,
for Yig will abandon us" and is muttering repititively.
They manage to answer his riddle. He tells them that the
Venom of the Serpant is hidden in a statue of Yig on the
other side of the Temple. On the way they enter the
dinning hall and struggle with four shadow serpants.
They defeat them. Sal gathers some crockery with Yig
decorations.

They find the statue of Yig and Ekkie locates the secret
compartment with the creepy looking bottles filled with
black fluid.


They descend down to next level.

[greenbadge]

Sunday 19 March

Down on the next level they see yet another snake statue with
glowing yellow eyes illuminating a set of wooden double doors
that as far as they can see cannot be opened. Exploring about
Sal finds an egg hatchery and gathers an unbroken egg and after
a bit of a burn a Hot Rock. They find a room with rotted pillows
and a Jade Statue of Yig. Sansa checks it for magic and find
nothing. It is apparently not the item they are seeking. Bedwyr
messes with the snake statue in the hall and finds that the eye
lids are hinged. He closes them and a giant zombie snake moves
to attack. Sansa manages to away it while the party swarms
over it. They dispatch it, it crumbles to dust leaving behind
gleaming white fangs which they gather up as the Fangs of the
Serpant.

They note doors leading out of the sunken tower that
obviously lead to ocean and a foul smelling room that contains
a horde of zombies that they slam closed and spike shut. Wulfgar
also gathers a Hot Rock. They head back up and see the high priest.
He tells them the jade statue they have is just a rock, but with
the Fangs, Scales, Amulet, and Venom he can put the servants of Yig to
rest. They turn over the items and need to help him complete the
ritual. They try to coerce Bedwyr into doing it, but he is
frightened. Finally Sansa volunteers and she and Bedwyr are
cut by the Fangs, their blood is mixed with the Venom and poured
on to the Scales with the Amulet. The High Priest thanks them,
begins to fade, the Jade Serpant appears, and water begins
pouring in from above.

They quaff some potions of water breathing and make their
way up as the tower begins collapsing around them. Bedwyr is
struck and knocked out, Gerag carries him further, and they get
back to the caves as the top of the tower falls into a pool of water
that bubbles up from below. Bedwyr is badly hurt and Sansa heals
him. He is need of rest, but they decide to get back to
Marnor as quickly as possible.

They leave the caves, not exploring futher and return to
the beach. It is dusk which seems later than it should be. They
decide to camp out on the beach rather than going through the swamp
at night. They set watches but are not disturbed.

Monday 20 March 981

They make their way back to Marnor. On the way they see an old, water
mill, that is strangely tilted, yet the wheel continues to turn. They
decide not to investigate and press on.

They return to Marnor and go to the Indecipherable Scroll. They tell
Mina of their adventure and she notes that the Jade Serpant is very
powerful. Bedwyr is put to rest here, and they worry about telling
his Aunt, the High Priestess of Poseidon, what has happened to him.

Gerag goes to the Temple of Poseidon/Hospital and is healed up.
Sal sells the Crockery of Yig for 500 GP. Old stuff with
snake decoration is valuable. Wulfgar gets healed up by
Sansa and returns home with his Hot Rock. He finds that it is
very useful, like a permanent portable fire. With his metal
working skills he fashions a cage for it that allows it to
be moved around safely. Even his brothers are impressed and
it is clearly quite valuable.

Sal visits Xort, who is still recovering in the Hospital.
Xort tells him that he was badly burned by those that attacked
the Wizards Guild; Sal does not notice anything. Xort asks if the
party has investigated 14 Graymalkin Lane stressing that this place
is the source of cultist activity in the city. Sal gives Xort
the egg he took from the Temple of Yig, noting he is not sure what
it is, and asks Xort to investigate his Hot Rock. Xort is intially
quite impressed with the Hot Rock.

Ekkied manages to make a meeting with Quelch and seel
off the Tropical Art that Odhran had purchased. She turns a
hansome profit.

Tuesday 21 March

Gerag notes a strange article in back pages of the Shipping News:
----------------------------------------------------------
Bizarre Attack in Scurvey Town

While this reporter has seen many strange things in Marnor
over the years, the reports from Scurvey Town yesterday
rank among the most strange I have ever heard. Dorotia
Penetia, a "hostess" at The Windy Castle a Dreaming
Street establishment, reported that she was accosted by
a small wooden human who hit her from behind knocking
her down. The thing jumped on her back and stung her
with some sort of stinger that emerged from its torso.
At this point Taxios Bitsios, a longshoreman, intervened
after hearing the screams of Ms. Penetia, and knocked
the wooden thing to the ground. Then he claimed that
the creature sprouted wings and flew off.

Both Ms. Penetia and Mr. Bitsios were held
over night by the Town Guard to sleep off whatever
it was they had ingested, but even in the morning
they stuck to their strange story. Ms. Penetia
did have a puncture wound on her back that the
Town Guard was unable to explain.
----------------------------------------------------------
They immediately think of the Fire Faireys. Sansa vows
to investigate.

Ekkie has a letter from the Town Guard. The Old Dorm is
no longer under investigation and can be reopened. She will
try to gather up the girls and Avanzo. She also notes that
she has yet to hear about the deposition of Odhran's
estate, but that should come soon.

They decide to meet down at the docks at 12:00 to bring

the Jade Serpant to hopefully shut down the Dread Machine.

Gerag goes to visit Sister Regina and gives her the Spear
of Yig, which can shoot lightning, and trains on the sword.
She tells him that he has completed his training on the sword.
He stops at an armorer and purchases a suit of chain mail
for Bedwyr.

Sal goes to purchase some scroll, etc.

Sansa and Wulfgar head out to the Idol That Walks to find
out what is going on with the Fire Faireys...

Gerag, Sal, Bedwyr will advance a level to fifth, fifth and second
respectively.

[greenbadge]

Tuesday 21 March

Mina tells them that the Jade Serpant is a powerful
healing device and thus can heal the damage that allows
the creation of the electro-zombies by the Dread Machine,
but that the use of it will cause a terrible curse, in
that one would turn into a snake man and become devoted
to Yig. She knows of something that would counteract that
curse, the Dove's Harp. That was lost when when the Serpant
Empire fell, thus it is likely in the ruins of the snake man
city that used to be here. Most think that is beneath the
ocean, but she suspects it is underground and the source of
the snakemen that constantly plague the city. Perhaps
Captain Sondek, head of the Sewer Patrol,
can be some help with that?

Sansa and Wulfgar arrive at the Idol That Walks where they
hear the sound of work and see some Fire Fairey's repairing
the entrance. They say that a woman in a mask showed up and
demanded to see Ningel. She would not take no for an answer
and broke in. There she confronted Ningel, and then knocked her
out. She then did something that brought down some crawling
electricity that destroyed some of their "special" projects,
including the flying, blood sucker. Also the woman gave them
some passes to the Salon du Masque to make up for taking away
Ningel. Sansa wants to take those as it will keep the Fire
Faireys away from the Water Faireys, but they note that some
of them are with the Water Faireys, but others prefer working

girls.


Sansa decides to spend some time communing with the Fey Lands
via the Fairey Fire. She sees a green patch that is being
taken over by a black-tentacled thing. She then sees a
faceted geometric thing which arrives and engulfs the
black thing, drags it off, leaving the battered
bit of green to heal.

Wulfgar talks Sansa out of heading straight off to confront
The Countess and they meet with the others down at the docks.
There Wulfgar arranges for a boat out to the Light House.
Just as they are preparing to leave someone notices that the
Light House light has gone out. This leads to unsettlement,
panic, and delay in heading out to the Light House. They
do not get there until dusk. No one is there to meet them, and
they begin to worry. They make their way to the Light House up
the path.

They encounter an Electro-Zombie on the way to the Light House
and manage to dispatch it. They note that the EZ is amorphous
rather than a risen dead person. As they get to the Light House
they see two more EZs attacking the door. They see the Thornbraes
on the second floor harrying the EZs with sling bullets. They
attack and manage to defeat the two EZs. Sansa has to heal Gerag.

The Thornbraes tell them that earlier today the EZs showed
up and they have been busy defending the Light House. They
saw more EZs than this and are certain that more EZs are around.
The party asks them to re-light the Light House, it will
take an hour, and send a message for help to Marnor. Two
of the clan, Plus and Minus, join the party to help finish
off the EZs.

The party heads to the cliffs and makes their way down to
the beach. As they make their way across the beach, they
encounter five EZs who have surrounded them. It looks like
a tough struggle with a key event being Sal awaying two
of them. They kill the three remaining, Sansa has to heal
the battered Wulfgar and Sal, and they try to find the two
that were awayed, but fail.

They head into the cave and avoid any further exploration
heading straight into the Dread Machine. They avoid all
the traps, do not mess with anything. They note that the
Steel Guardian seems to be "growing" back and is about
half complete. They get to the Converter and as the Guardians
come out to confront them, Gerag releases the Jade Serpant.
They see the serpant grow and be insubstantial, push through
the Guardians, and coil around the Converter. The ghostly
snake bites at the Converter, and they can see the Converter
ripped apart. The Guardians attack the Snake and tear it to
pieces. At Gerag's feet are the crumbled remains of the Jade
Serpant. The Guardians then raise their arms and begin glowing
with inner fire and gradually turn into glowing balls
of light. All except Sansa begin fleeing, while she
tries to embrace the light. Sansa collapses.

The Dread Machine is coming apart and all are fleeing. Gerag
grabs Sansa, but gets seriously hurt as he carries her out.
Plus Thornbrae falls, and despite Wulfgar's effort to rescue
him, Plus is crushed by the collapsing Machine.
As they retreat back to the Light House, they encounter
one of the EZs and kill it. They get to the Light House and
find that a squad of Marnor Marines have arrived. There
are no healers or magic users, but some soldiers. Sal who is
relatively unhurt, gathers them up to hunt down the remaining
EZ. The others, all pretty battered, head to the dock to
take the boat back to Marnor.

[greenbadge]

Tuesday 21 March Continued

Sal tells the Marines that brigands, not zombies or Morans, were
responsible for the light house going out. He takes one squad
to hunt down the remaining EZ. The other secures the landing.
It takes them all night to hunt down and kill the remaining
EZ and one marine is killed. That marine does not rise as
an EZ.

When the rest of the party gets to the dock
they see the harbor full of small ships apparently
fleeing the city. There are some
fires burning in Marnor. They decide to wait it out
at the light house and spend the night there resting.

Wednesday 22 March

In the morning Sansa is awake, but a bit confused. She no longer
knows the spell Detect Evil/Chaos/Good/Lawful and her eyes change
color with her mood.

Minus Thornbrae decides to join up with the party. He wants to
see more of the world than just this little island.

The party decides to head back to town. The Marines will garrison
the island against invasion, and send a courier back with the
party to report.

They head back to the Indecipherable Scroll. They see some mess
from the disturbances over night. The Scroll is locked up, but
when they knock, Mina answers and lets them in. She notes that
when things went a bit nuts last night, she closed up and set
wards. With things quieting down now, she reopens. She will look
into Sansa to see if she has any serious damage.

Bedwyr is up and feeling better. He wants to revisit his family,
but does want some of the party to go with him to explain his
new career choice as a adventurer to his aunt.

Ekkie receives a letter about the disposition of Odhran's property.
Sansa is now the owner of the Swampland, Gerag owns the Old Dorm,
and Mina and Avanzo gets a large amount of money.

Gerag, Sal, Minus and Bedwyr head off to the Temple of Poseidon,
Hospital, to see Bedwyr's family and look after Xort. There they
see the mess caused by the riot. They meet with High Priestess
Lorelei. She tells them that she blames the Cult of the Pirate God,
who has always been a strong rival to Poseidon here, for taking
advantage of the situation and getting the crowd to attack the
Temple of Poseidon. She is saddened that paladins of Poseidon
in armor and with swords had to fight with citizens armed with
clubs and torches. After hearing Bedwyr explain himself and
Gerag tell her how important he has been to their effort, she
says that perhaps adventurer is a better calling than priest
of Poseidon. In the future he can be a Paladin for the God.

The Hospital is overwhelmed at the moment and can only spare
some Cure Light's for the party.

Sansa talks with Mina. She tells Mina that the explosion was
caused by the Jade Serpant. Mina notes that Sansa can still
do magic, they do a test, and that she has picked up a magical
flaw which causes her eyes to change color. It would be hard
to get rid of. There might be other effects yet to be revealed.
While in her underground lab, Mina notes that the Green Thing
here is not the actual Green Thing, but a copy. In a rage
she destroys the copy, noting that the real Green Thing is now
much less dangerous with the Dread Machine gone. She reiterates how
much she hates that thing. She advises Sansa to take it easy
the rest of the day. Mina will send a note to the Fire Faireys
and have them come and visit.

Gerag and Bedwyr visit the Town Guard and ask about what else
happened last night. They learn of the below:

Back page article in the Shipping News
----------------------------------------------------------
Publicity Stunt at Marnor Opera House?

Even amid the chaos that gripped the city in the wake of
the interruption of service by the Lighthouse, some
members of Marnor's entertainment community could
not resist the temptation to take advantage of the
situation to stage an elaborate publicity stunt.
Members of the hard pressed city guard were called
to the Opera House yesterday evening. There they
found that venerable theatre decorated for the
upcoming production of The Southern Ocean, the classic
musical tale of a romance set in a tropical island
outpost of the old Moran Empire during war time.
Authentic artifacts from the tropics have been
placed in the lobby of the old theatre making it
into an extension of the action on stage.

Apparently to draw attention to the impending
production Rickard Burbage, the artistic director
of the Opera House Company, called for aid from the
Town Guard claiming that a "revenant" from the tropics
was attempting to break into the Opera House. Burbage
claimed that the "revenant" was attracted by the relics
being used in the play and as decorations.

Officers found what they characterized as an "old, bum from
Scurvey Town" smashing his way through the front entrance
of the Opera House. They then described an arduous struggle
with the man who apparently was wrapped in bandages to
conceal his identity. He was also wearing a brightly colored
flowered hat to bolster his "tropical" bona fides. Despite
their best attempts to persuade the man to desist in this
publicity stunt gone too far, the Guard had to resort to
harsher measures. The unfortunate man was set a light
when an attack by torch went awry and his costume
bandages caught fire. He was last seen screaming in pain
and fleeing towards the water front. Witnesses on the
docks, much distracted by other things going on yesterday
evening, reported a burning man jumping into the harbor
just down the street from the Opera House.

Burbage disavowed all knowledge of the attacking man,
and claimed that while he and his company were dress
rehearsing the famous native summoning dance scene from
The Southern Ocean he heard a pounding on the front doors
of the Opera House. Investigation revealed an "ancestral
spirit" just as described in the play coming to seek
"vengeance" on those who have disturbed the tranquility
of the tropical paradise. The production has been beset
by problems, most recently the hospitalization of
Thomas Rhymer, the noted singer. Rhymer had been slated to
take the lead in The Southern Ocean, but was found
severely beaten soon after his affair with Imelda Hodden,
wife of the noted magnate Barthelomew Hodden, became
embarrassingly public.

The Town Guard has no leads in either case, and their
spokesman said, "With the riot and all those in holding
after the attack on the Temple of Poseidon, we have far
better things to do than investigate the salacious
behavior of the rich and the over dramatic."
----------------------------------------------------------

They also leave a note for Captain Sondek with the intent
of trying to learn about the Snakemen under the city.

Gerag and Bedwyr make their way to visit Sister Regina.
There Gerag warns her about The Countess and asks after
Lucius. They are still guarding him carefully. He seems
to be happy when they give him some books to read, and has
been no trouble. Regina will look into The Countess.

Bedwyr needs better weaponry and after a talk, he starts
training on the Trident. He does very well with the weapon,
picking up an affinity for it. Sister Regina lends him one
for future use.

Sal and Minus find Xort at his home/shop. Xort returns Sal's Hot Rock.
Xort has fashioned a box for it that allows it to be carried
around safely. Xort tells them that the egg is a snake person
and because of the long time it was stuck in the Temple
of Yig that it is likely to hatch and mature quickly. He
also saw what happened at the Temple of Poseidon and agrees
that the Cult of the Pirate God led the attack on the
Temple of Poseidon whipping up popular fury that the Temple
of Poseidon is soft on Mora. It was an uneven fight and
the Temple/Hospital was never really in great danger.
Xort asks after the party's investigation into 14 Graymalkin
Lane. He notes that the snakes should have taken advantage of
the troubles last night, but they apparently did not. Perhaps
they are lying low in the wake of the fall of their partner,
Tarmon? Sal tells him that they will get to the investigation
of 14 Greymalkin Lane as soon as possible.

All head back to the Scroll. The Fire Faireys are there visiting
with Sansa. They tell them that Ningel clearly had a bad effect
on them, and their memories are kind of hazy of the time she
spent with them. They apologize that they have not been working
on the birthday presents that they owe Sansa, Gerag, and that
crazy Dwarf. Gerag asks for a Fire Javelin and they say they
will get to work on that.

They have a discussions about Odhran and the Mummy. Ekkie notes
that the tropical items were simply sitting in a box when they
had them, but that those that bought them pulled them out, and
maybe that was happened to attract the Mummy.

They decide to explore 14 Graymalkin Lane first thing tomorrow.

Sansa throws some heals. Sal takes Ekkie, Bedwyr, and Minus out
on the town, but they note that things are a bit subdued in the
wake of the troubles from yesterday.

Thursday 23 March

They head out early to 14 Graymalkin Lane. They find a neglected
looking mansion on the edge of the Merchant District. Looking closely
they notice that the windows appear to be fake and they cannot really
see into the interior. Ekkie checks the door, is certain there is a
trap, but when Gerag smashes it in there is nothing. Inside they
find one big room filling the mansion, there is a second door leading
out the back and some steps leading down. Sansa puts a light on
Bedwyr's trident and they descend. At the entrance they find a circular
thing in the sandy soil that looks like the same thing that many have
seen in Mina's lab. They spend some time looking into it, but it
seems inert.

They descend in and follow Sal's rule of always turning left.
Bedwyr is hurt by a rock fall trap. They find a store of coins
in secret room. They go into a room with metal box with glass
window. As they enter a giant worm smashes through the wall,
crushing the box, and attacking them. Sal gives Gerag
a Strength boost which lasts two hours. It hits Bedwyr,
but does not manage to lay eggs in any one. Sansa heals
Bedwyr. In a small room next to this one they find a box
filled with small jars containing a clear, thick
liquid. Sal grabs a few jars. Out into a big room they
see stairs leading down.

[greenbadge]

Thursday 23 March Continued

The party heads down to the second level. They explore
a room with big mishapen pillows and cabinets.
Sansa takes three bottles of brown liquid found
within the cabinets.

Into a room with three strangely
dressed humans inside glass cabinets filled with
a slightly green liquid. The humans all have black
pants and boots. One has a yellow shirt, one blue,
and one orange. There are six metal cabinets
too. Sal detects magic, finding some on both the
glass and metal cabinets. Ekkie checks a featureless
metal cabinet for a way in and becomes obsessed. There
is a panel made from a strong, light, clear
material on each of the glass cabinets. There
are some buttons. Wulfgar tells them that the
material is rare and hard to manufacture.
The panel also reminds them of things they have
seen in Mina's lab. Bedwyr presses a button on
the tube with the orange shirt. The fluid begins
draining out of the cabinet, two of the metal cabinets
open and two beings made of metal and moving on wheels roll
out of the metal cabinets and up to the glass
cabinet. When the fluid is empty the
glass cabinet opens. The human within does not look well,
all wrinkled, and slumps to the floor. The two metal
beings move up to the human, some arms come out and touch
the human. Finally the metal beings roll back and a
red light begins flashing.

Eventually the other button is pushed. The metal beings
push the human back into the cabinet, it closes, it begins
to refill with the greenish liquid, and the metal beings
roll back into their cabinets which close behind them.

They repeat this process with the other two cabinets for
same result. The blue shirted human had a sort of back pack
and within they find seven scrolls. They take these,
and move on.

They go into a room that has three glass tubes. Within
the tubes are similar panels to the other room. Sal
enters one of the tubes, and presses a green button,
fluid starts to fill the tube, but Sansa grows distressed
and presses another of the buttons, yellow, and the fluid
drains out.

They break into a locker room and kill worms with
big teeth menacing six naked men and women who
were apparently showering when the worms burrowed through
the wall. They talk and establish that these are the
Lumnites who are fighting with the Mutants. They
do not seem to understand sexual reproduction, and
the party tells them that they have come from above.
They meet the Lumnite leader and he tells them that they did see
some snake people pass through some cycles ago. They went
through the "place of battle" and passed into the territory of
the Mutants. They outfit a expedition of five Lumnites
armed with "laser rifles", "laser pistols", and swords
to escort the party into the territory of the Mutants
where there is way below. The Lumnite squad
is led by Jouliz, who has a yellow shirt, while the
others have red shirts.

They are led up to the upper level, pass through some
corridors and rooms. They note one room where they are careful
to not fully open the doors. There is a room with a lizard
thing that they feed to get by. They see a room with
a glass window where strange moving images and music is playing.
"Come and knock on our door..." They are told that it is a message
from the Immortals. They think it tells them that there should be
more women in their group and they working to make that happen.
They pass through a room where heads of four Mutants are on
spears. Three look normal but one has a sort of lion's mane
around his face.

Beyond is a large domed room with wooden barriers and
rocks. The Lumnites call this the Place of Battle and they
are distressed that their barriers have been wrecked, presumably
by the Mutants. Beyond lies the territory of the Mutants and
they begin moving more slowly and urge the party to be quiet.
They pass into a room with a crude wooden barrier covering one
entrance on which is scrawled "Sittern Dbul Byaa!". The
Lumnites warn them that going that way is dangerous as it
is the lair of frightening things that bring death.

They pass into the limestone caves and bear left,
which makes Sal happy. They pass through a cave partially
flooded with water, an empty cave, and a cave with a large
crevasse and a rickety wooden bridge over it. The Lumnites are
unsure if this is the way down as there records say the
way down is a hole in the floor off this direction. Gerag
creeps to the edge and he sees large, man sized, insects
with nasty looking mandibles at the bottom of
the crevasse. They decide this is not
the way down, and cross the bridge one by one.

In the next cave there is a sink hole in the floor
and they begin to descend down to the lower level.

[greenbadge]

Thursday 23 March Continued

Gerag goes down the sinkhole first, he falls at the end, but
since he has no armor he does not make much noise. The
others make their way down. Just before the last two Lumnites
make their way down, a struggle breaks out with the
Mutants in their living quarters in the next room. They note
that some of the Mutants have extra arms or legs. One armed
with a primitive bow has over sized eyes. The Mutants are
clothed with primitive skins and bits of cloth, and seem to
have blue skin. The Mutants are either striking with clawed
hands or primitive weapons. The party forms a defensive line in the
narrow corridor between the two rooms and try to draw
the Mutants in. They note that Mutants have women and children
in the living quarters. They also seem to be calling for
help. Some more Mutant men arrive, and launch an attack on
the defensive line sacrificing themselves trying to break
through. Bedwyr goes down and has to have his wounds staunched
by Sansa. The women and children flee out and the Mutant
men begin to withdraw. During the fight the Lumnite women used
their laser rifles to good effect. The party does not pursue the
withdrawing Mutants.

The Lumnites are thrilled by their victory. Eight mutants
lie dead. They want to press on saying that the Mutants will
sacrifice themselves to defend the "little ones". This disgusts
Sansa who tries to explain that the little ones are children who
will grow into adults. They debate what to do about Bedwyr who
is too hurt to continue. The Lumnites seem content to take
him back up to their territory. They also describe the way down
as following the only path forward, leading to a place with many
choices. They should go left where there is a lake. On the other
side of the lake is passage below. Some sort of dangerous lizard
thing lives in the lake. Below is a wild place, natural like
the Mutant caves, that leads to a built place like the Lumnites
quarters. They think a way further down is there. It leads to the
Great Cavern where the Snake People likely went. They ask that if
the party finds any gifts from the Immortals, by which the party
understands things of strange technology, that they be shared with
the Lumnites.

The Lumnites depart with Bedwyr. Sansa heals Gerag who
was battered holding the line, and killed many of the mutants.
At one point he felt his sword grabbed by an invisible hand and
pulled. He flung it away and continued with his deadly hands.

The living quarters are unusual looking very primitive. They
note the presence of green, tropical leaves. It is not at all clear
how they got here, underground, and even if there was a way outside
these sorts of tropical plants do not grow around here. Also they
notice that the dead Mutants do not actually have blue skin, but are
coated in some sort of blue ointment. There is a big vat of the blue
ointment in the living quarters.

They press on passing through a couple of other chambers that
look like more living quarters and meeting rooms. They get to a passage
on the left and enter. It is a large room filled with low banana trees,
clearly the source of the tropical leaves. A waterfall comes from the
cieling, feeding a swift river running out of the
chamber. Gerag goes forth to investigate where the river leaves the
chamber. When he gets there Mutants appear out of the trees to attack.
There are many, around 20, with one of them dressed in robes and armed
with a knife. The party withdraws to the entrance and tries to indicate
that they only want to pass through. The mutants do not press the attack,
and the party continues down the corridor. They enter a place with four
corridors coming together. They go left and see a cavern with a large
lake.

[greenbadge]

Thursday 23 March Continued

They enter the cavern with the lake. Sal tries to jump across the
narrowest part of the lake and gets most of the way across. He
is attacked by a white, giant ape creature who comes from below.
The others shoot from the shore and it is driven off. Sal
had a rope which they then rig as a bridge across the lake.
All make their way. Wulfgar is last, he is not wearing his armor,
and he falls and is attacked by the thing. They attack it again,
and see its bloodied body sink to the bottom..

They proceed down the steep tunnel and enter a room with
frogs with big sharp teeth. They dispatch the frogs and note
the hole around which the frogs were gathered. Sal was badly hurt by
one of the frogs, and has to rest and be healed by Sansa.
As they rest with Sal a pink wading bird with large, toothy
jaws, a Flamingodile, moves into the room and is dispatched
when Ekkies chops off its head. They go that direction
and smell jungle and hear flowing water. They enter
a cavern with a swiftly flowing stream surrounded by thick
vegetation. They note the cavern is illuminated by light
stones in the cieling. They can hear a water fall to their
right. Exploring along the stream bank, they find a skeletal
corpse, and Sansa takes a ring with a blue stone from its
finger. They explore and see a flock of about 10 Flamingodiles.
They set up fire positions and pick off 7 of the birds before
the remaining three fly in to attack. Minus goes down
and is badly injured while the remaining birds are killed.
Sansa has to heal him, but Minus is too hurt to

They decide to hole up at the far end of the river where
the water fall enters, and they can climb up next to the
falls and see a long way down the river. While exploring
Sal finds a chest behind the falls. It is filled with silver
pieces and a big red gem that Sal pockets.

Their plan is to rest here to regain their spells and see
if Minus can continue.

[greenbadge]

Thursday 24 March Continued

Sansa throws her final spell of the day to cure Gerag. For dinner
they cook some dead flamingodile on Sal and Wulfgar's hot rocks.
Sansa tries one of the bananas and notes its healing properties.
All eventually eat one and have good effect. Gerag gathers a bunch
of them for later use. Gerag is also able to catch a fish which
seem abundant in the stream. Sansa hopes that Minus will be able
to function in the morning, but she is not sure.

Sal takes the first watch and sends Wilhelm to explore. Wilhelm
reports back that further down the stream is another exit besides
the one they came in. It leads to room filled with webs. Beyond
that the stream feeds into a pool with a vigorous drain at the
bottom. During the first watch a flock of four flamingodiles
attacks and the depleted party struggles to dispatch them.

Friday 24 March

Gerag takes the second watch. During his watch a flight of out size
bees attacks. While they manage to fight them off, Gerag is stung
and poisoned by one of the bees. He is not only badly depleted,
but poisoned and in serious need of rest. Sal gathers up the
remains of the bees in hopes of manufacturing some sort
of poison.

Wulfgar takes the third watch. He sees a large spider with
two of its arms human-like making
its way towards the party. It is chortling about the fun it
will have with the captured party members. As Wulfgar arouses the
others from sleep, the spider disappears from view. Sal casts
Detect Evil and locates the very obviously evil spider and
directs effective missle fire on the spider. It retreats.

When morning comes the party decides that this place is too
dangerous to rest up and that they have to make their way back
up to rest either among the Mutants or the Lumnites. Minus and
Gerag are unable to fight and clearly need at least
another day of rest.

They make their way back up, and encounter a patrol of Mutants
on the next higher level. Sal is finally able to make sense
of the Mutants primitive talk, indicates that the party means
no harm, and offers the Mutants a roasted flamingodile. The
Mutants are very pleased by this, and return with what the party
presumes is the Mutant leader, who is the only one they have seen
wearing actual clothes. After some discussion the party is led
to one of the smaller caverns serving as living quarters. The
Mutants give them more bananas and noting Gerag's swelling some
of the blue paste that they indicate he should smear on his
wound. The bananas continue to provide healing, the paste seems
to cure Gerag's poison, and Sansa throws a bunch of cures to
get every one back up to strength. Sal makes a mash of rum
and banana which he gives to the Mutants. They like it.

The Mutants have posted guards at both exits of the cavern
and besides an attack through the wall by a few cave worms
that the party and the Mutants easily defeat,
they spend the day resting and deciding what they will do next.

Saturday 25 March

They head back down and to the lair of the spider. They
find a web filled room with the giant spider in the middle.
Again the spider seems to relish taking the party captive.
As the party rushes to attack, the spider webs out half of
them, summons a swarm of spiders, and shakes off an attempt
by Sal to turn it. Sansa thinks better of using a Ray of Fire,
but puts up a Spiritual Weapon that hits the spider. The
spider then offers a bargain, trading its "dinner" in
return for letting the party retreat. They take
the bargain and are given two humans wrapped in spider
silk.

They free the two humans who tell them that they were
captured by the spider, who then tortured them mercilessly,
and fed off their blood. One is Tol'Ak, a Mutant, a young man
who offended the Mutant leader and was tossed into the stream,
fell to the lower level and was taken by the spider.
The other is Tellerin, a woman with pale skin and unusual
kit. Wulfgar recognizes that her kit is derived from
various sorts of fungus that grows underground. She tells
them that she is a member of the Tribe of the Mushroom Forest
which is in the Great Cavern which is below. She was part of an
expedition exploring above which was set upon by "small demons", she
fled, and was captured by the spider. The two refuse to be
separated and Tellerin suggests that she can lead them to
the Great Cavern where, indeed, there is the City of the
Snakemen, among other wonders.

She leads them back to the hole that they found surrounded
by vampire frogs. It is a tight squeeze, one at a time,
through it, but it leads to a short section of worked
corridor that ends in a door. The door is stuck closed;
Gerag has no trouble getting through it. Just beyond the
door is a large diamond shaped room lit by torches. As they
make their way across the room, Gerag is suddenly attacked
by an acid soaked psuedopod, and they realize that it is
a Gelatenous Cube. They surround the horror, grabbing torches
to attack and dispatch it. Within they find a key ring with
10 keys on it.

Tellerin leads them through a large square room with big double
doors on one side. She warns that the "little demons" lair
beyond those doors. Following a corridor out of that room,
making a turn, they come to stair way leading down. They
can smell damp earth down the stairs.

Tellerin leads them down the stairs which twist and winds
for a long way. Eventually it comes out into the Great
Cavern. They are stunned by its size. It looks to be
15-20 miles across and 10 or so miles wide. It is 150 feet
tall, they are about half way up the wall, and the cieling
glitters with light and crystals. The
floor is covered in dense jungle. At the center is a lake
fed by a water fall from the ceiling evidently from the drain
in the stream on the next level up. To the right against the
wall is the Mushroom Forest, three or four miles away. To
the right of the lake, in front of them half way across the
cavern, they can see a swampy region. Beyond,
against the far wall, they see what appears to be a glacier.
To the far left they see a stepped pyramid structure,
The Ziggurat, rising above the surrounding jungle. Behind
them and to their left, in a part of the Cavern they
cannot see, Tellerin tells them is the Forbidden City of the
Snakemen.

They plan to make their way to the Mushroom Forest to meet
Tellerin's tribe.

[greenbadge]

Saturday 25 March Continued

Tellerin tells them it will take most of the rest of the day to
get the five or six miles to the Mushroom Forest. The jungle
is very dense, paths get overgrown very quickly, and they have
to hack their way through the jungle. She warns them of
patrols of "red furred ones, slaves of the snakes", "giant
bugs with swords", "wrinkled ones", "immortals from beyond",
"living stones", and "jungle giants". They get to the Mushroom
Forest. Gerag gathers a small brown mushroom. Eating it now
would induce sickness, but drying it, and brewing tea produces
a healing drink. Tellerin tells Sansa of the various kinds
of mushrooms that are beneficial as food, healing, or magical
benefits.

They get to the Mushroom Forest with its towering funguses.
The tribe of the Mushroom Forest appears, they are very
stealthy moving among the stalks and caps. They recognize
Tellerin, and she tells them that these folks have saved
her and her new man Tol'Ak from the evil spider that lives
above. They escort them through the forest to their
village which is in the heart of the Mushroom Forest and
hard to spot if one does not know it is there.

Lludr, their leader, thanks the party and says that the tribe
owes them a debt for the return of their lost sister. First
there will be a celebration. The whole tribe turns out, there
seem to be about 100, and the food is various mushrooms plus fish
and game. Gerag is treated as the leader, Ekkie is clearly his
woman, Minus is treated like an honored guest and one of the
tribal women serves him personally. Sansa, Sal, and Wulfgar
are seated behind the others and guarded carefully.

The tribal elder, Raulgok, steps forward and recites the
story of the Tribe of the Mushroom Forest:

The ancestors of the Tribe were slaves
of the snakes in their great city by the sea, Vallosia. They were
oppressed and abused. It was a time of suffering. The Tribe endures.

Then came the Great Convulsion. The Star That
Fell came and carried Vallosia and its environs beneath the earth to
form the Great Cavern. The snakes took to fighting amongst themselves
some continuing to support their ancient scaly gods while others took
up with the Immortals from Beyond. Amid the chaos the Tribe was able
to escape climbing out of the pit into which Vallosia has fallen. Other
slaves of the snakes remained in Vallosia thrall to the snakes or the
Immortals from Beyond. Others joined the Tribe in their exodus from
fallen Vallosia and also made their way into the Great Cavern. Some
are friends of the Tribe, others enemies. The Tribe endures.

The Tribe made
its way across the Great Cavern to the Mushroom Forest where they found
succor among the gifts of the gods and that which keep the snakes at
bay. Others came to the Great Cavern, which proved to be center of the
Universe, seeking the Star That Fell. The Small Ones (he points at
Wulfgar) from their World of Ice and Fire. The Wrinkled
Ones from their world without water. The beautiful ones (he points at
Sansa and Sal) from their green world beneath the clouds. And countless
others. The Tribe endures.

Some have come and stayed,
and some have come and gone. The Tribe endures. Some have gone beyond
on the wings of the gift of the gods. The Tribe endures. Others went above
where they found the Bearers of the Light that Burns. The Tribe endures.
Others went below where they found the World Within. The Tribe endures.
Now we drink the gift of the gods. The Tribe endures.

In front of each is a small glass with dark, foul smelling liquid. All
drink, Sansa, has to be prodded, but eventually she does.

The party members feel as if their insides are being torn out, and then
the rest of their body slowly catches up. They open their eyes and
find themselves in a dimly lit chamber with close, foul smelling air.
There are stairs up and across the room stairs down. Both are blocked
by a wall with eight strange symbols on them. Sal pokes at the door
leading up, it opens revealing an alien landscape. They are on
a balcony on a pyramid that rises above a dusty plain. The sky is
purple, and the sun is dim. To the west is a craggy mountain range,
the south is dark lake, and to the east what looks to be a large
mushroom forest. Strangely the horizon is much closer than they
have grown accustomed. The pyramid seems to be made of metal, but it
is clearly old with many pits and stains.

On the plain to the north of the pyramid is cairn of stones with
a tattered banner stuck in it. To their horror they see two groups
of what appears to be a cross between human and ape, weilding primitive
weapons, and covered with strange tattoos converging on the cairn. Each
has 30-40 warriors. The two groups begin a fearsome struggle with the
one that came from the northeast getting the better of the one that came
from the northwest. The loosers flee leaving half their number behind.
The winners tear into the flesh of the fallen loosers, tearing out and
eating their blood dripping hearts, and strips of flesh torn from their
bodies. Their own dead they carefully put on the cairn. They take the
banner and head back to the northeast.

Meanwhile below Sal detected magic, and finds it on the "door", something
much stronger but flickering on and off beyond the lower door. The magic
is strange, like nothing Sal has seen before. Pushing the same symbol
the "door" below opens and Gerag and Wulfgar enter the chamber below.
There a skeletal figure with dried flesh hanging off its bones sitting on
a golden throne. Its head is thrown back and its mouth is open in a scream.
Rays of light in a rainbow of colors flow from the figure to the cieling
of the great domed room. Besides the throne there is a short, round pillar
floating above the floor, on which sits a shard of dark glass with green
edges. The rays flicker on and off intermittently. Gerag, thinking of the
Green Thing, takes the green stone and the rays go dark. The green stone
detects as magic. They explore the domed chamber and find nothing of note.

Sal, who seems to know some astronomy tells them what he knows. In the
center sits a strange cylinder shaped object that burns perpetually at one
end and is a frozen in ice at the other. The world they know is on
the outer surface of this cylinder. It is thought that the cylinder
is hollow with a world within, but no one really knows. Wulfgar mentions
that the Dwarves have a legend that as one delves deep there are
many more caverns like the Great Cavern, and eventually if one goes
deep enough a new world can be found below. In orbit around the
cylinder is the moon and 12 "Dragonstars". Further out is the burning
world, the sun, with its small satellite known as Mercury. Further out
are the two sister worlds. One shrouded in clouds, Venus, and one
red, Mars. Beyond is the "Smoke Ring", a torus of gas and countless
small worlds. Beyond are the giant worlds with their many satellites.
And finally in the outer part of the system are the balls of rock and
ice. Occasionally one of these moves into the inner part, inside
the Smoke Ring, becoming comets, bringing danger and strife. Beyond
at distances inconceivably vast lie the stars each of which apparently
harbors a system of worlds like, yet not like, this one. Sal guesses
that they have some how been transported to one of the worlds of the
Smoke Ring (the small sun and the purple sky). None of the party
has ever heard of such a thing.

Apparently they are trapped here, with no obvious way back.

They decide to leave the pyramid, it is not difficult to
climb down, there are many pocks and pits, with the aid of rope.
They make their way to the mushroom forest to the east. To
their relief it is clearly much like the Mushroom Forest of
the Great Cavern. They set up a camp and gather edible mushrooms
as night falls.

Sunday 26 March

They make their way south along the edge of the mushroom forest,
away from the cannibalistic sub-humans, and towards the lake.
Around midday they are attacked by two flying lizard like
creatures with maws full of sharp teeth. They defeat them,
and butcher them for their meat. Near the end of the day,
they detect a group of subhumans hiding among the stalks
trying to ambush them. They spot them and turn the tables.
There are about a dozen of them armed with clubs. Two
have strange weapons in their hands. One emits a ray
of fire that hits Gerag, and they note that attached to it
is a green stone similar the one they took from the metal
pyramid. When about half of the subhumans have gone down,
the others flee to the east into the depths of the forest.
They loot the bodies, finding some valuable mushrooms,
and other stuff. They find a good place to camp. They
estimate that in one more day they will reach the lake.

[greenbadge]

Monday 27 March

They make their way to the shores of the lake. It smells
bad and is irritating to their eyes and noses. They see a skiff,
it looks like cart without wheels, just off shore submerged in
the water. They manage to get it out with a grappling hook on
the end of a rope and Sal lowering the water with his Control
Water scroll. They detect magic and note a control panel like
the one on the doors in the metal pyramid. Sal hits the rune
that opened the doors and the skiff powers up and rises up a few
feet. Further messing with the runes they find the one that makes
it go forward and another that makes it stop. There is a sort
of joy stick that controls its direction.


With night falling they decide to head back to the forest
and camp. During the first watch subhuman raiders attack, and they
decide to get away on the skiff. They fell four of those who attacked
out of the darkness and head back to the metal pyramid. Cautiously
they make their way in the darkness. The skiff gives out and stops.
A quick look reveals a dead green stone under the control panel.
They swap in the one they took from the metal pyramid and continue
to the Metal Pyramid.


They are at a loss as what to do next. They realize they need to
understand the technology they have found here if they are to have
some hope of getting back.


Tuesday 28 March

An airship, The Serene Verity, is seen in the sky of the Purple
Planet. Sal uses his flashlight to attract its attention.
It comes to them, and they are hailed by the captain, Toren
Fosus (human male). He clearly notes that they are not
from around here. The air ship comes here, which they call Naat, to
trade for green stones with the overlords, who rule over the
sub-humans. The overlords are the apparently intelligent survivors
of Eris, the planet that used be here, before a war with the
Martians. The Martians launched a weapon that destroyed Eris, and left
the smoke ring in its place. Bits of old Eris, like
Naat and the Overlords, remain. Their old technology, such as the skiff,
green stones, and energy weapons, is very valuable as no one
knows how to reproduce it any more. They trade the overlords
things like green vegetables and other items that they
clearly remember from long ago for green stones, which are
valuable power sources.


Sansa talks with the navigator, Omekal Enroth (female
elf) who tells Sansa that she is from the Elven home world,
Venus, which is completely forest covered. She is clearly not
telling Sansa something important. Sansa frightens her by
telling her that the party lives by taking what it wants.


Captain Fosus suggests that the party should raid an
overload stronghold to gather a store of green stones and tech.
He knows of a number. There is a giant pyramid carried around by a horde of
sub-humans that is constantly belching smoke which occasionally
forms up an image of a city. Also there is a great pit where the
giant desert worms congregate. One of them has an enormous
green stone. He suggests that these two places are not worth
the trouble. The third is large wooden pallisade with 100's of
sub-humans, a wooden tower where the overlords, floating heads
on robot bodies, live, and a stone stronghold. They will split
the take and the party will be transported to Zothique, the
capitol of the Confederation of Asteroid States. There they should
be able to find passage to the inner part of the system on either
a Dragon Empire Wyvern Coach, a Dwarf Steam Rocket, or an Elven
Sun Sail Ship. An airship can only operate in the Smoke Ring
where there is air.


The airship has a gas volume below which is a wooden hull.
Two projectile weapons are on either end of the hull and there are two
engines to either side of the hull. There are cloth sails and rudders
too. On top of the gas volume are two other weapons in some sort
of crystal domes. It is not clear what these do. There seems to
be about 20 crew. About 10 are cargo handlers/marines. There are
some dwarven mechanics who run the engines, some riggers who man
the sails, and some officers.


They decide to raid in the darkness with the party moving in
the skiff to the strong house, while the air ship will lay off the
main gate and attack if the party needs a distraction. Wilhelm
will remain on the air ship while the party attacks the strong house
to communicate via his connection with Sal.


The plan devised by Gerag and Sal is to stealithy bring
the Skiff to the roof of the Strong House. Sal will enter via his
scroll of Gaseous Form. If there are guards inside he will take them
out with a scroll of Sleep, while the others will rush the entrance
when Sal opens it. If the large horde of sub-humans who live
in conical huts within the pallisade are aroused, the air ship
will attack.


They attack just after dark. They are able to get the
skiff over the wall without arousing the sub-humans watching
the wall. It lands quietly on the stone strong house. Sal goes
gaseous, but because of the thick stone walls of the strong house,
he has to go through the thick wooden doors. The
mist arouses the attention of the five sub-humans who are
guarding inside the strong house. Sal materializes, hits them
with Sleep, three go down, but the other two attack. Above
the party hears the commotion and rushes the door. They find it
barred closed. Wulfgar using his axe and Gerag battering begin
to destroy the door, while Sal holds off the two attacking
sub-humans. The party breaks in, Gerag helps Sal finish off
the guards, and he and Sal begin gathering wooden boxes, big
and small. The rest of party begins holding off a growing horde
of sub-humans who were awakened by the commotion and are rushing
to the strong house. Sansa holds them off by launching some
Rays of Fire, much to her dellight. Minus pilots the skiff,
and comes down to get all aboard. A messy struggle breaks out
with some sub-humans on the skiff, the party trying to jump on,
as Minus pulls away. Gerag is dangling off the side, helped
by Wulfgar, while the others finish off the isolated sub-humans
on the skiff.


They fly off and meet the air ship which had remained out of sight.
They have gathered 18 little boxes, 16 of which have green stones,
and 2 have short range plasma torches. They have gathered 9
big boxes which contiain 4 mines, grenade like weapons, 3 ray
guns, and 2 laser rifles. All of these, except the mines,
need to be powered by green stones. Captain Fosus is delighted.
Normally he comes here and is lucky to leave with some green
stones. He tells them that the green stones can be recharged by
being exposed to sun light.

He suggests to them that there is another famous location
of ancient technology worth exploring, the nearby asteroid of Cincor.
He calls it The Eggs. The party demurs and The Serene Verity sets
course for Zothique. They Purple Planet of Naat is left behind and
the sails are unfurled as they make best speed. They should be to the
capitol of the Confederation of Asteroid States in about a day.

[greenbadge]

Tuesday 28 March

Journey from Naat/Purple Planet to Zoothique/Rock of Bral. They hear lots
from the captain and crew of the Serene Verity:

From Captain Fosus:
"Don't go the embassy of the Dragon Space Empire. It is forbidden
to travel from Kylindo into outer space and if they know you did
this they will take you and make you tell them how you did it. They
are not shy about the use of enhanced interrogation techniques. They
also have a monopoly on magic items, and will be distressed that you
might have found a way to get around their monopoly."

From the Cargo Handlers/Marines:
"Mars is for the ambitious or desperate. The Martians are a decaying,
decadent people, and everyone else, Dragons, Dwarves, Elves, Europans,
etc., are trying to grab their own piece. Folks go there to search for
ancient Martian-tech or the more ambitious try to become war lords and
rule a Martian city state. Or one can become a Radium miner."

From the Cargo Handlers/Marines:
"The Elves do not allow any non-Elven ships to visit Venus.
They are constantly recruiting for people to work on Venus, sun silk
harvesters, lift wood cutters, servants, etc. No one knows any
non-Elf who has ever returned from Venus."




From Captain Fosus:
"Zoothique is also called the Rock of Bral. Bral was a space pirate who
founded a settlement on the asteroid many hundreds of years ago. Cozar was
a pirate/trader who foresaw that the Kylindo system needed a neutral
trading hub in the wake of a anti-pirate sweep by the Imperial Elven
Navy, and about 50 years ago he took over the Rock of Bral that was well
located and resourced (water, wood, farm land) and located in an middle
orbit that took it close to all the other interesting points in the
system. His daughter, Fruna, was an excellent diplomat and formed the
CAS (Confederation of Asteroid States) to unite against the predations
of the Dragons, Dwarves, Elves, Europons, etc. Her son, Prince Andru,
rules now."

From Captain Fosus:
"You cannot foul the air on the Rock. No burning things etc. It is
the quickest ticket to become a picker on the Prince's underside plantation."

From Captain Fosus:
"Zoothique has a Noble Council, land owners on the Rock, Council of
Captains, wealthy merchants, commercial enterprises (Houses (family
owned) and Companies (publically owned)), and free traders, like
ourselves."

From the Marines:
"Best advice is that they should work their way back towards Kylindo
in steps. To an inner asteroid (Zoothique is a middle asteroid),
Mars or Venus, Mercury, a Dragonstar, the finally the Moon. They
are likely to arouse attention, they are clearly unusual, if they
try to book passage to a Dragonstar or the Moon."

From the Marines:
"There are stories of ways to travel across space via ancient
Martian or Erisan tech. Some also say that the Europans can
do this too. Don't go to the Europans; no one knows any non-
Europan who has ever returned from Europa or working for the
Europans."

From Captain Fosus:
"Why don't you go to the offices of the Trading Company? They
are always hiring mercenaries to go on their expeditions
and guard their ships. They are the largest commercial
enterprise in the Kylindo System and are staunchly neutral
in all matters political."

From Captain Fosus:
"If that does not appeal to you, then I know a guy. Captain
Ocaba of the Flowghost, a small space merchant. He regularly
heads to the inner system, likes money, and would likely be
willing to give you passage."

The party has 10 Green Stones, a Plasma Torch (1d8, 10/20/30), 2xMines (grenade), a Ray Gun (1d8, 30/60/90), a Laser Rifle (1d8, 50/100/150), and the Skiff.

Wulfgar learns from the Dwarf engineers that Dwarven-tech, which drives
the engines and powers the lower guns, is based on steam. On Mercury
they mine Sun Stone and Ever Ice. The former is from the side of Mercury
that always faces the sun, and latter from the side that is always in
darkness. The two are brought together to make steam. Work is available
in the mines on Mercury. It is hard, but the Dwarves treat their employees
well.

Wednesday 29 March

They approach the Rock of Bral. They see the gossamer sailed Elven
Sun Sail Ships, the Dwarven Steam Rockets made of spheres, a few Martian
Ether Flyers, some Europan Saucers, a few Star Ships, and many
Air Ships similar to the Serene Verity. Captain Fosus tells
them that the Elves fire explosive shells and at close range
some sort of burning liquid. Dwarves use explosive steam rockets and at
close range steam casters. Martians fire radium rays, and use
explosive radium shells at close range. Europans fire disintegrator
rays. He warns them to stay away from Mind Flyer tentacle ships
or Beholder, organic usually with gaping maw and eye stalk, ships.

They see The Rock of Bral. The underside is a forest and farmland.
The city side is in three tiers. The crowded low city around the
docks, the middle city, and the upper city dominated by Prince
Andru's castle and a lake. They note that most of cargo is food stuffs,
materials for ship construction, there is ship construction yard
next to the port, and luxury goods.

The Serene Verity is met by a Bralian Navy skiff, and enter in
the harbor. Captain Fosus suggests that they stay at the Laughing
Beholder, a tavern/inn run by a friendly Beholder known as
Large Luigi. He warns them not to flaunt their new tech, its
value will attract attention. They cover the skiff in tarps.


They go to the Laughing Beholder, successfully keeping the skiff
hidden, and are suprised to see the large Beholder cheerfully
serving breakfast and chatting with the people in the tavern.
Large Luigi speaks to them, they book three rooms and storage
for their skiff for a week. He notes that they look like
a classic mercenary company (2 fighters (Gerag and Wulfgar,
2 shooters (Sansa and Minus), a sneaker (Ekkie), and a smart
guy (Sal)), and need to make a name for themselves. He recommends
the Trading Company as the best bet. He gives them other tips.

Sansa makes her way to the townhouse of The Fireball Alliance.
They tell her that they provide magical help for expeditions.
She tells them that she can do a Ray of Fire, which she
demos for them, and that she can do healing and use a
sword and bow. They seem impressed and she tells them
that she can be reached at the Laughing Beholder.

Sal, tipped by someone on the Serene Verity when asking on
where to acquire magic not from Dragon Empire monopoly, goes to
the Royal Theatre and asks after The Juggler. He is told
to visit a location in the Middle City at 6:00. He rents
a room and storage area in the Low City for a week. He
returns the Jugglers Den and finds what looks like the
home of a troop of poor actors. He tells them of his
interest in some magical scrolls. He is ushered into
a back room where he meets a pretty woman. Besides his
interest in scrolls, he also tells him that he and his
friends are skilled investigators. She tells him that
perhaps she can find him some work. She seems to
imply that it is difficult to collect magic items.
He tells her that he can be found under the name
of Wilhelm at the Lauging Beholder.

Gerag meditates on Ares and sees a vision of the House
of Tempus. It reminds him of Sister Regina's Temple
back in Marnor.

Wulfgar visits the Dwarven quarter. They also warn him
off of Mercury, hard work and a long time to train.
They also tell him to avoid the Elves. They do know
folks who have been to Venus, but the Elves treat their
staff like slaves. They also say that as of right now
there is no way to get to the inner part of the system.
The Dragon Empire has stopped all traffic to the Moon,
claiming that there was some sort of fire. That makes
no sense as the Wyvern's really only need an open field
to land. The Dwarves sell Steam Grenades and Steam
Rifles. If one was interested in bigger things, Steam
Cannons, Steam Throwers, or Steam Propellers they would
be happy to arrange a meeting. They will not sell
Steam Rockets to non-Dwarves.

Ekkie sat in on the court proceedings in the Low City.
There is a Low Magistrate and she noted that most of
the cases seemed to be decided on who had the most
money.



Thursday 30 March

They meet at breakfast to talk and exchange stories.

Sansa heads to the Great Market in the Middle City.
It is very crowded and close. She finds a book seller
and buys a rare book on the Erisan-Mars War. It is from
Mars and is printed on a strange material that they have not
seen before. She also finds a beautiful Elven dress,
made on Venus and including some Sun Silk to make it move
in the sunlight. The seller tells her of the Elven
quarter where there is a fine Elven restaurant. Sansa
is unable to find find Clerical Books and is directed to
the Curio Shop in the Middle City. Sansa finds that
her arrows, including some special fire starting ones,
have gone missing.

Briefly the war was roughly a thousand years ago. It came to
an end when the Martians launched some sort of weapon that
broke the planet Eris apart and left in its place the Smoke
Ring/Asteroid Belt. Apparently the Erisans did something to
Mars and it began to turn into a desert at the end of the war.
Currently the Martians are decadent and feeble and Mars is
being carved up by all the others.

Gerag goes to the House of Tempus. It is like a frat house
with a sparring ring. Gerag is treated well, allowed to
train, spars, and looses. They tell them that they are a new,
within the last decade, cult worshipping the Warior Tempus,
and they are eager to go on expeditions and "clean up the system".
Sal donates 5 GP.

Sal and Ekkie head to the Trading Company. It is located in
Low City warehouse where there is some attached offices.
They meet with Rayim. He asks after the nature of their company
and on what ship they came in on. Sal describes the
group and says that they came in on Serene Verity. Rayim is
aware that Captain Fosus is selling some Erisan Tech and
seems to know that Sal's men helped to procure that.

He tells them that jobs like that, high risk but high
reward, are available, but that he is unsure of their capabilities.
Maybe they could look into why the supply of lobsters, that
used to come from Port Greely on the asteroid called Tinarath,
has dried up? They fetched high prices as they are so hard
to come by. They need salt water and most of the water in
the CAS is fresh, Mars has no water, the Elves export little
from Venus, and the Dragons charge ruinious tarrifs to get things
form the Inner System. Tinarath has a salt lake that for many
years supplied Zoothique. A few months ago, they stopped selling.

A few weeks ago a couple of Bralian merchants went to see what
was going on. They have not returned. Rayim promises 5000 GP
if they return the merchants and start the lobster flowing
again, and 2500 GP otherwise. He will book them passage
first thing in the morning. Meet him on the Trading Company
dock at first light tomorrow.

Minus visited the halfling quarter which is a bunch of warrens
between the Low and Middle city. They are fairly insular,
but they know everything as they are employed as cooks for
just about everyone. They tell him, that something has
definitely gone wrong in the Dragon Empire. Besides the
travel ban, the guards of the Dragon Embassy here has been
reduced after they were called back to the capitol. The Elves
are "rat bastards" who treat all non-Elves with disdain. There
are a whole bunch of them here on the Rock. Can they help him
get anything. Anything at all? They have ways.

They meet at lunch, and Sal tells them of their impending job.
Sansa is dubious. They extend their rent for another week.
Sal goes out to gather adventuring supplies.

Sansa and Ekkie go to the Curio Shop, and Sansa gets a book
on the History of the House of Cozar, the family
which founded modern Bral.

Sansa and Ekkie visit the Elven Grove and the Elven Restaurant
The Haughty Epicure. They assume that Ekkie is Sansa's servant
and she is made to serve Sansa. Sansa visits the Elven Grove,
a stand of large trees in a park-like setting, and is able
to commune with Fairey. She picks up a spell. She tells
the Elves that she is a healer. She tells them she is
staying at the Laughing Beholder.

Sansa pays the outrageous bill and leaves a big tip "for
the staff". Ekkie is not pleased with how she was treated.

[greenbadge]

Friday 31 March

Zootheque/Rock of Bral:
They talk to Large Luigi about the location mentioned in Sansa's
book. He can only identify a few of them and suggests a Martian
would likely know the location refered to by those archiac names
since the book was written on Mars. There are some Martians
here on the Rock.

Captain Zayn of the Calm Candor tells them it will be day
long journey to Tanarath/Port of Greely. The Calm Candor
is much like the Serene Verity but not as well armed, and
lacking a large contingent of marines. It is a ship of
the Trading Company.

The captain tells them that he finds Port Greely vaguely
creepy and the people there are insular. They used to
have no trouble buying the lobsters and other food products,
fish and agriculture, but a few months ago they stopped
selling the lobsters. They continue to trade the other
stuff, but it is barely worth the effort.

Gerag notes that he does not like space travel.

Saturday 1 April 981

Port of Greely/Tanarath:
They arrive early morning at the Port of Greely. They see the
asteroid with a salt lake, and small port town surrounded by farms
and forest. There are few islands in the lake just south of the
town.

They land and they see some crates of food and fish on the dock
which they gather up and replace with some trade goods. There
are two townies, who look unusual, on the dock carrying crates of
lobsters and entering the Yawning Gourd. The whole place looks
decripit and neglected.

The Calm Candor quickly exchanges the cargo, and Captain Zayn
tells them he will return in a week.

They enter the Yawning Gourd, are
ignored by the two lobster men, but are served by the bar
tender, Marsh. He gives them a lunch of beer, shrimp paste,
poor bread, and fish head soup. Sansa praises the bread
even though she finds it foul.


Marsh tells them that the people of Port
Greely have become disgusted by the decadence of the rest
of the Ring of Smoke and are keeping the lobsters, which
are sacred, for themselves. All decisions are made by
their high priest, Merlokk, who may be found at the Fane,
which is large stone building at the center of the town.
They rent rooms for too high a price. They do not
even bother checking the rooms and head to the Fane.

n the way they note the unusual emptiness of the
streets. They are immediately disturbed by the Fane. The tentacled
creature motif of the knocker, the crude letters proclaiming
"Esoteric Order of Mother Hydra", and the clear sign that
new symbols and decorations are painted/carved over old ones
on the outside of the Fane. There are a number of empty pillories
surrounding the Fane. They pound on the door and ring
the bell calling for Merlokk. There is no response
and they enter.

The interior is perhaps even more disturbing, with the green
stone altar carved in a horrific pattern surrounded by
wooden pews. They note again that
the Fane has been been remade and Sansa notes the signs of the
Moon Goddess are occasionally visible beneath the new symbols
of tentacles, etc. The moon goddess, Selene, is a member
of the standard pantheon but her worship is discoraged on
Kylindo as she is thought to encourage barbaric behavior.
They explore the ground floor noting
an armoire with a moth eaten vestment for a priest of the
moon goddess. There is back door that is barred on the
inside and stairs leading up. Gerag, Ekkie, Minus, and
Sal head up the stairs which Sansa and Wulfgar remain below
watching out the front door.

On the second floor they see what looks like a class room, with
a desk and a sofa surrounded by a few chairs. There are a bunch
of religious items with the tentacle motif on the desk. There
s a step ladder that leads to a trap door in the cieling. They
hear heavy foot falls from above. Sal looks through the desk and
finds a listing of the town's residents noting their alterations
(hairlessness, webbed digits, round eyes, neck folds, functioning
gills, etc.) One sheet catalogs recent births and those with
few traits are marked for "Blessing by Mother Hydra". Gerag
ascends the step ladder to examine the trap door. As he looks
at it, runes turn a blnding white and a blast of cold and ice
fills the room. All are badly hurt and Minus is seriously hurt
and unconscious. They call for Sansa who asks them what is going
on, and berates them for not checking for traps. She heals Minus,
but he will need some days of rest before he can do anything useful.

Gerag and Sal ascend to the third floor and see a 10 foot tall,
cloven hoofed creature confined in a Septagram. It tells
them that he was summoned here by a sorceror who has since
died and is now tormented by the priest Merlokk. He asks them to
break his prison by extinguishing the candles and making a gap in
the Septagram. He will grant them whatever they want once
he has killed the priest. Sal, who calls himself Sansa,
and Gerag, who calls himself Ekkie, are not falling for this.
They ask him why he was summoned and what happened to the
sorceror, but the creature tells them he does not know as
the ways of the mortals do not interest him. All he wants
is his release. Sansa ascends and begins a dialog with the demon.
She tells him that she desires to return to her home. He
tells her that he can do that by traveling through his realm.
All she has to do is free him. He seems to offer her a position
as his consort, but she starts comparing him to the fire faireys.

This is all interrupted by Wulfgar who tells them that
a bunch of Townies have gathered in front of the Fane
and are calling for the party to stop their desecration
of their Fane and come out. They are armed with knives,
gaffes, and fishing nets. Gerag grabs some pews and
wedges them to block the front door. Sal looks out the
back door and sees a bunch of Townies gathering
in the narrow alley there. He throws one of the Mines
into the crowd felling five of the Townies and injuring
a few others, and bars the door. They hear determined
pounding on the front door, clearly the Townies have
improvised some sort of battering ram.

The party does their best to improvise a defensive
position around the front door, and the Townies
burst in. While they take down a bunch of them,
they are overwhelmed, knocked unconscious and captured.

Sunday 2 April

Port of Greely/Thanarath:
The party comes to in stocks outside the Fane.
They are all badly battered. Dawn is just beginning
to break. A decripit old man, Zephaestus, is releasing
them. Their gear is piled near-by and they gather it up.
Zephastus leads them to his hovel, drinking constantly
from a bottle of rotgut. He tells them that Merlokk
came a few years ago and took over as high priest changing
the old ways of moon worship to the worship of the Mother
Hydra. Most of the town has succombed and is being
transformed into fish creatures. They think he is insane
and are afraid of him.

Three merchants came a few weeks ago. He told
them that they had to see Merlokk. Merlokk has a shrine to
the Mother Hydra out on the islands and spends most
of his time there. He sent them there, and they have
not returned. He will give them his skiff and they
can go out to the islands.

They have to hide in Zaphaestus' root celler
when some Townies come searching for the Party. Minus
will need to remain here to recover. The others go to
Zaphaestus' skiff. He tells them the islands are about
10 miles south of the town. There are a few islands and
Zaphaestus does not know on which one Merlokk can
be found.

They head out to the islands and land on the eastern-
most one. They explore and note the presence of abandoned
cabins. On the northern island they find the wreck of another
skiff, clear signs of a struggle, and evidence that bodies
were dragged off. They sail on to the southern-most island.
There they are attacked by Stirgies which they manage to beat
off. They see the Lighthouse at the southern side of the island,
and decide that they really need to rest up another day, as
Sansa is out of spells. There is a great deal of argument over
who should be healed first and when.

The wind seems to be against them and it takes a long
while to get back to the first island, but they do and find
an abandoned cabin in which they hope to spend a restful night.

[greenbadge]

Monday 3 April

Port of Greely/Thanarath:
After a night bothered only by some wild boars, they sail over to
the tower. As they are disembarking they are buzzed by Stirgies,
but they hide under water and under their boat to avoid the horrors.
Sansa throws a bunch healing to prepare for the tower. Sal detects
Evil and seems something big and unpleasent in the middle of the
ground floor. They enter and see the rusted cooking pot over the
dark cooking pit. They surround it and move in fighting with
the Gibbering Mouther. Sal tries to Turn Black Magic, but is
not successful. The thing latches on to Gerag, but its cacophonous
song has no effect. They kill it.

They cautiously head up the stairs and gather up a back pack full
of stuff. They head up to the light room. They are unable to
decipher the inscriptions, but note that the stone is still warm.
Sal finds an Ice Wand and is able to figure out its mechanism.
They head out, test out the wand, and head to the remaining
island.

They land at the southern edge of the forest on the east side of
the island. They make their way north along the coast, sticking
to the forest. They get to the hills, and climb towards the crest
of the nearest hill. They are attacked by a flock of Stirgies
which they manage to dispatch. At the crest they can see the
ruins of a temple complex. They make their way there.

They see and explore one of the empty out buildings, and see
broken statues of the moon goddess. They head into the Temple
and Sansa illuminates it with a Light Spell. As they head towards
the stairs down, the Fishmen guards launch a volley of tridents,
and a struggle breaks out with Sansa welding the Ice Wand. They
gather a key from the guard captain and head through the horrid
entrance dedicated to Mother Hydra.

In the main room they find the barrels of live lobsters,
a wine cellar (Sansa takes a bottle), an armory,
and a barred door. Gerag enters that and sees an alter
to a tentacled god, piles of bones, and avoids an attack
by a slime monster. He quickly closes the door. They
decide to avoid the door that is boarded shut, and the
doors that are warm to the touch. They head down
a corrider and trigger a tear gas trap. Wulfgar is badly
affected and is near death. He will stay behind to guard
their rear while they head down the stairs to what
they guess is the lower level.

[greenbadge]

Monday 4 April

Continuing in the Temple of Mother Hydra. They descend into the
room with the pool. Sal approaches the bridge when Ekkie senses
that something is not quite right. Tentacles rise out of
the water and attack Sal. Gerag rushes up to help while
the others fire missle weapons at the horror. Sal is controlled
by the thing and begins attacking Gerag. Wulfgar hears the
commotion and joins in with his heavy cross bow. Ekkie uses
a laser rifle, but exhausts its charge. Eventually they
defeat the beast and it sinks into the pool.

Gerag was hit a couple of times by the creature and his skin
starts to need constant moisture, and begins to turn transparent.
Clearly he has been infected by the creature and is transforming
into a fish man.

They are very battered and decide to hole up in the armory
for long enough to let Sansa recover her spells so she can
heal up the depleted party. They take precautions of setting
up noise making traps at the bottom of the stairs and the one
remaining door that they have not explored.

They basically rest through the night shift. They hear the
trap at the bottom of the stairs go off during the night, but
apparently it frightened away whatever approached.

Tuesday 5 April

Sansa casts some heals on Gerag and Wulfgar. She can do nothing
for Gerag's condition and councils that they need to get him
back to civilization as soon as possible for help more powerful
than she is capable of rendering.

Heading down the remaining corridor Gerag falls into a pit
trap and is mildly hurt. They break into a room with six
fishmen who are enjoying a lobster repast and chewing on some
purple leaves. They seem to attack fanatically at the intruding
party and after a tough fight are dispatched. They party gathers
some gold medallions bearing the likeness of the tentacled goddess,
and move on.

They see the extravagent throne room of Merlokk who welcomes them.
There are four horrid clay statues, a basin bearing an octopus,
and bunch of lobsters that Merlokk is clearly snacking on.
Sal cautiously approaches trying to bargain to re-establish
the lobster trade but gives up on the discussion and launches
a very effective strike with his heavy cross bow. Merlokk casts
a mirror image and they are suddenly confronted with six of the horrors.
Sansa fires a ray of fire which reveals four of the images as false,
Garag rushes up to attack one, Sal hits another image with his cross
bow, and they can focus on the real Merlokk. He does some manipulation
of his sceptre and one of the clay statues animates and swats Wulfgar
aside with one mighty blow. Sansa can see that Wulfgar is at death's
door and she must heal him now. Gerag strikes a final blow on Merlokk,
the statue grows inert, and Sansa heals Wulfgar. He is badly hurt,
will be unavailable for more than a week, and must be carried.

A quick exploration reveals Merlokk's office and they find a journal
recounting Merlokk's meeting with Mother Hydra, their gradual
take over the town over many years, and the revelation that more
than 1/2 of the towns folk have begun to be transformed into
fish men. There were 20 full fish men and they have accounted for
10 of them, 4 guards in the ruins of the temple and 6 outside
of Merlokk's throne room. They also gather up some treasure,
coins, jewel encrusted goblets, a big gold tentacled medallion,
and a scroll of heal serious.

With further exploration they find six prisoners inside in a cell.
Three look to be towns folk and three more are the three officials
sent from the Rock of Bral to investigate the stopped lobster
trade. All are clearly turning into fishmen and are far more
advanced than Gerag. All are incoherent and uncooperative.
They leave them some lobsters.

They decide to return the armory, hope that Gerag begins
to recover, and continue to rest up.

Wednesday 6 April

Gerag is clearly getting worse. They explore the rest of the
complex finding nothing but ruins and the water filled well.
They make their way back to the town on the skiff. They find
Zephestus and tell him what transpired at the temple. Minus is
recovered and able to help out. Zephestus
tells them that he knows some of the town folk who have not
been turned, and many of the out lying farmers have not
fallen to Mother Hydra. He will arrange a meeting
first thing in the morning.

Thursday 7 April

There is a gathering of those who have not been turned. Sansa
preaches to them on the worship of the Fey which goes over well.
They launch an attempt to retake the town, and it goes well with
the more ardent supporters of Mother Hydra rounded up and confined.
Without leadership they are lost, confused, and easily cowed.
Sansa cleanses the Fane and consecrates it to the Worship of the
Fey. They are not sure what to do about the demon in the attic,
but simply lock the trap door.

Gerag continues to grow worse. The Calm Candor is due back
in two days, Saturday.

[greenbadge]

Thursday 7 April

Port of Greely/Thanarath:
Sal and Wilhelm using Merlokk's diary and whatever local knowledge
they can try to find a cure for Gerag. They are not successful
but do note that Merlokk's diary reveals a plan for an assault on
the inner part of the system by the Tentacled Horrors who inhabit the
ice balls of the outer system.

An early section of Merlokk's diary speaks of a visit by Qlatyrq
who encountered Merlokk within the ruins of the Temple complex
on the islands within the salt sea which the young, impressionable
boy had stumbled upon after being the only survivor of a ship
wreck during lobster gathering. To the reader it is clear
that Qlatyrq some how glamored the boy, but Merlokk speaks
of the majesty of the alien he encountered who was some
manner of Tentacled Horror.

Qlatyrq spoke of the wonders
of the outer parts of the Kylindo system; pure icy worlds
inhabited by noble creatures who feed on the brains of
the lesser races. It convinced Merlokk to supply him with
some victims, which the horror used to power some sort
of ritual call home. Qlatyrq also spoke of the
comming Splendid Synchrony which would open the ways between
the outer and inner system. This would allow for the
Absolute Purification of the Ring of Smoke, Mars, Venus,
Mercury, and Kylindo. Merlokk was gifted with the infant
Mother Hydra which he had to host in his own body,
feed a steady diet of blood, and would grow to be a
"purifier". If Merlokk worked hard, by the time of the
Splendid Synchrony his community would be pure and rather
than being obliterated by the Absolute Purification it
would be a forward base for the effort. Merlokk would be
rewarded with an even greater role in the new mileu that
would arise after the Splendid Synchrony and the Absolute
Purification.

Merlokk had an only redimentary understanding of what the
Splendid Synchrony is, but the diary does mention that
Qlatyrq told him that hidden within the Codex of Celestial
Signifiers is a guide to how to recognize the coming of
the Splendid Synchrony. The diary does not mention
that Merlokk ever consulted that tome.

Qlatyrq departed from Port Greely/Thanarath in a manner
that is described absurdly in the diary. It dematerialized
into a cloud of rainbow colored lights, formed into some
sort of beam, and streaked away into the sky. This was
accomplished after performing a very complex ritual which
included blood sacrifices and powering by some green power
crystals that Merlokk had obtained at great cost from
selling items taken from the defiled Fane of Selene in the
town. It had spent many years guiding Merlokk and over
seeing the transformation of the people of the town
into the servants of Mother Hydra.

Gerag tries praying, but Ares is indifferent to his plight.

Thinking on it they realize that they probably have enough time
to save Gerag. He was infected a few days ago, while the others
were infected two or three weeks ago and remain mostly human.
They do tell the villagers about the folks turning into fishmen,
in hopes that they can do something about it.

Sansa gathers the villagers. She asks that they help cleaning
the Temple, but they are indifferent to this. She summons
Fey Kin, and some small Water Sprites turn up. They are non-verbal
and communicated that they have been living in fear, but that the
fear has been lifted. They will help the folk of the town,
especially by helping to keep their boats safe in return for
regular "presents". This seems accetable to all. Sansa asks
if they can help Gerag. Sadly they cannot.

Sansa informs the others that she plans to stay here and found
her Church of the Fey here in Port Greely. She directs that
the party take a barrel of lobsters back to The Rock of Bral/Zothique
and that they send some men from the Trading Company back to
negotiate the terms of resuming the trade.

Saturday 9 April

Port of Greely/Thanarath:
The Calm Candor and Captain Zayn return to pick up the party.
He is delighted that things have worked out well. Sansa also
wants to make the Port of Greely/Thanarath a vacation destination
and tells Captain Zayn to invite visitors. The party says
good-bye to Sansa and begins the journey back.

Sunday 10 April 981

Zoothique/Rock of Bral:
Front page story in the Rolling Stone
---------------------------------------------------
Black Dragon Emperor Missing

Disturbing news from Selene is that the Black Dragon Emperor
did not attend the regular meeting of the Dragon Empire Council
scheduled for the lunar-solar conjunction, aka Thursday. The Gold
King demanded an explanation, and was told that Emperor Mirsoth
was "indisposed". The Reds and Whites called for calm, but
expressed dismay that The Council meeting was quickly adjourned
in a chaotic scene. There are reports of disturbances on Selene
involving fighting among partisans of the Golds, Blacks, and Reds.

In possibly related news, the Dragon Empire has announced that
all travel to the Moon, the Dragon Stars, and Kylindo is
forbidden. Any ship entering the inner system will be destroyed
on sight.

In more disturbing news there are reports that fighting has
broken out on Mars between the city states of Haviling, closely
allied to the Golds, and Herrschaft, formerly Baltarith, the
center of Black power on Mars. Conflicts on Mars have an
unfortunate way of escalating as intersecting webs of
alliances draw more and more participants into struggles.

The next scheduled meeting of the Dragan Empire Council is
on 6 May, and we all hope that the current uncertainty is
resolved without conflict. Conflict is not conducive to
the conduct of commerce.
---------------------------------------------------

Monday 11 April

Zoothique/Rock of Bral:
Party returns and Rayim is delighted that the Lobster Trade will
be restarted. Sal and he begin negotiating about how to heal
Gerag. Rayim says that the Trading Company has some folks on
retainer who can do the major healing required. He will arrange
it for tomorrow. At that point they can decide on payment.

The party returns to the Laughing Beholder and learn of the
events on the Moon. They meet the Halfling, Linrin, who has
been waiting here for nearly a week. He has a note for Sansa.
Sal tells the halfling that Sansa is on a spiritual quest, and
that Ekkie is her lawyer who is empowered to look after Sansa's
affairs until she returns. Linrin gives the note to Ekkie:

I saw you in the Haughty Epicure after I finished my
sandwich and you gave me your beautiful smile. You were
wearing a green dress with beautiful sun silk highlights.
Unfortunately you entered the Grove before I could
speak with you. Please favor me with your company at
the Man O'War at a time of your choosing.

Audian Aurliana

The Man O'War is one of the finest restaurants on the
Rock, in the upper city, and Linrin tells them that Audian
is a captain in the Imperial Elven Navy.

Sal tells Linrin that to entice Sansa's return, she
will need some "presents". Linrin quickly figures out the
scam, and makes a deal getting 30% of the proceeds.
He takes a note back.

They meet Yumemi, from the Fireball Alliance. She tells
them that they have a job for Sansa and her friends.
A star farer ship has come into the system, entered
into orbit in the Ring of Smoke, but has since gone
silent. No one knows if it needs rescuing or if
it is salvage. If so it is likely to have lots of
valuable star farer tech. They propose a 50-50 split
between the party and the Fireball Alliance. The
Fireball Alliance will provide transport, provision
for a week, and one of their members, Yumi for short,
will accompany them.


They agree and plan to meet Wednesday morning, at which
point Wulfgar should be up and mobile again.

Tuesday 12 April 981

Zoothique/Rock of Bral:
Rayim takes Gerag to the Polyglot Temple, like the Fools
Market back in Marnor. He takes him to a Martian whose
religion is based on ancestor worship. He puts Gerag
on a platform and bathes him in Radium rays. He tells
them that the infection has been killed, Gerag will need
to rest for a day, and he should be OK tomorrow.

Sal and Rayim negotiate and decide to call it even
covering Gerag's Radium treatment as payment for
their work in restarting the lobster trade.

Sal spends much of the day selling off treasure retaining
only the Purple Lotus leaves, as no one knew what to
make of them, and Merlokk's Diary. Money is split among
the party members.

Wednesday 13 April

Zoothique/Rock of Bral:
One of The Juggler's men is at the Laughing Beholder asking
after Wilhelm. Can Sal and friends explore Wharf #5 and a
possible secret connection to the Warehouse known as The Scrabble?
There may be ligitimate reasons for a secret connection, but
many of the other possibilities are decidedly nefarious.
Sal says they will investigate after their work for the
Fireball Alliance.

Gerag is looking much better, but is still feeling bad. They
take him back to the Martian, who inspects him with some sort
of silver metal wand. He says that Gerag just needs more
time to recover. He can give him a stimulant that will make
him active for the next 8 hours or so, but after that he
will have to rest for a good long time. He does this,
noting that it is all part of the service to the Trading
Company. Gerag is up and moving after drinking the potion.

They meet Yumi at the docks and begin the long journey
to the star farer ship on a small skiff piloted by Yumi.

Wednesday 18 April

They approach the star farer ship. It is a hemisphere with
to top half being crystal and seeming to contain a city. The
bottom is bunch of technological stuff. They can see the damage
to the dome, some black thing has pierced it and some sort of strange
ship docked underneath. They are directed to land in a docking bay
by a mechanical voice. They are led by the voice and light
patterns on the floor to Alpha Sector, warehouses, where they
encounter and fight a box monster. They kill it, but as they
continue to explore it reconstitutes and attacks again. This time
they notice that the wheel assembly is the same and
target their attacks on the wheels. They defeat the
monster destroying the wheels. They notice that the boxes
are covered with a black powder.

They approach the small building amid the warehouses. It
is guarded by two floating, egg shaped security robots.
The robots tell them that they have no access to the
command and security center, and look as if they know their
business. Sal tells them there is clearly some sort
of emergency, but the robots deny this. The party asks
about commercial activity, are directed to the Zeta,
manufacturing, sector, and escorted there by one of the
security robots.

There they see the varied automated factories. They
randomly choose one, are let in, and begin hearing
a long, boring spiel about the manufacture and use
of water evaporators. They are also told that the factory
is fully automated and the crew only comes to fix problems.
As they look around they note that one of the factories is
clearly damaged, with a bunch of ball shaped items spilling
through a broken door. They thus realize that the
problem here has been going on for some time, and
the crew is likely in trouble. They ask for
directions to the living quarters.

They are directed to the Gamma Sector, note that it is
deserted. They ask after apartments that are unavailable
and are directed to one which has "an unexplained power
drain". At that building they see a black tube coming
from Alpha Sector, passing through an apartment window,
which is totally black. They force open the door of the
apartment and see that it is filled with some sort of
black mist. Sal begins carefully exploring in the
darkness and finds himself attacked by some tentacles.
Gerag, who has smashed the windows, and the others
enter to try to fight the horrors. Eventually they
trace the tentacles to two mounds of tentacles within
the main room of the apartment. While they are
dispatching those horrors, Ekkie hacks at the
black tube. She is not certain she did any damage,
but her efforts did throw up a large cloud of
black "smoke". Sal lit the tube on fire within
the apartments as it branched into smaller and
smaller sections. The black cloud does seem to
be disappating only to be replaced by smoke from
the buring black tube. The smell is so bad that
they are driven from the room. A klaxon goes off
and the mechanical voice says, "Please evacuate
the building for your own safety. A fire has been
detected and the automated fire suppression system is
not responding. Help is on the way....Please evacuate
the building..."

[greenbadge]

> Wednesday 18 April
>
> Star Farer Vessel:
> The party quickly abandons the burning apartment building following
> the instructions of the voice and lights on the floor. They see boxy
> robots on treads with a sweeper and a sprayer arm arrive to fight
> the fire. They follow the black tube and it leads back towards the
> Alpha Sector. On the way Gerag notes that the air is stale in this
> place. Also the lighting here is like twilight provided by lights that
> are on the lattice of metal beams holding up the crystal cieling.
> They note that Ekkie made a dent in the tube, but cannot see that
> she did any real damage.
>
> The tube leads to one of the large warehouses in the alpha sector.
> Near it, it is dark, and the large door is open, unlike the other
> warehouses. They cannot see anything within
> as it seems to be pitch dark. The lights above are out. They begin
> exploring in the darkness and are attacked by tentacles which appear
> out of the darkness. Some of them get lost in the darkness, Minus
> waits outside and keeps watch. They eventually get to the center
> of the tentacles and fight with the large mass of tentacles at
> the center. As this happens, two security robots turn up, and accuse
> them of being in an unauthorized area. Minus and Sal manage to delay
> them, but eventually begin fighting with the bots. They eventually
> manage to kill the mass of tentacles. This causes the bots to stop
> and go inert. After brief moment the bots wake back up and seem
> to have forgotten that the party are intruders. Wulfgar, Gerag,
> and Ekkie are badly battered by the fight. During the fight Yumi
> gets stunned into unconsciousness by a hit by one of the arms of
> one of the security bots.
>
> They ask about medical care and are directed to the hospital in
> Theta sector. There Gerag is identified as being most in need
> of help, is led into an operating room attended by two medical
> robots. The others are led to an operating theatre and they can
> see Gerag and the robots below them behind some glass windows.
> Gerag disrobes and is strapped onto an operating table. The bots
> then tell him that he is scheduled for a quadrupole amputation
> as a cart pulls up with four robotic limbs. At first Gerag is
> for this, but then realizes that the bots intend to cut his limbs
> off without any anesthetic. The party above smashes the window
> and begin firing at the bots, who seem confused and ask why they
> are interfering with a standard medical procedure. Eventually
> Gerag frees himself, and punches one of the bots into wreckage,
> while the others have shot the other one up. Gerag notes that
> the bot he wrecked is full of black powder. The voice tells
> him to remain while a new bot is dispatched to replace the ones
> that have malfunctioned.
>
> A new medical robot turns up, and diagnoses that Gerag is
> badly injured and needs healing. It jabs him with a needle
> that cures some of Gerag's damage, and councils that he should
> rest for the rest of day, and come back again tomorrow for
> further healing. Gerag asks that he gets healed more, and the
> bot says that it can do that, but that Gerag would be
> sleeping the rest of the day. Gerag declines. The bot
> also heals Ekkie and Wulfgar.
>
> After a discussion the party decides that the star farer ship
> is infected with this wierd black powder which has caused
> things to go very wrong. They decide that they should return
> and report. They ask for directions back to their ship, and
> are led there by the voice and lights in the floor.
>
> They get to their ship and are very distressed to find that it
> is covered in black dust. While their ship does not have electrical
> equipment like malfunctioning things on the star farer ship, the
> infection would likely spread if they brought it back to The
> Rock of Bral/Zothique. They ask the voice to clean and
> disinfect their ship. They recall seeing another ship docked
> beneath the star farer ship and ask to be led there. The lights
> and voice take them back up to alpha sector and then down a different
> elevator to a different docking bay. They note that when the
> elevator gets to the bottom, it takes an uncomfortably long time
> for the door to go green and open. In the bay they see a cigar
> shaped metal ship. There is a door in its side near the middle.
>
> They go up to the door and there is a big palm button. Ekkie
> inspects it and notes that it is not trapped, and should open
> with a push. Gerag and Wulfgar take the lead and do this. They
> see that the entrance is full of green ropey tendrils. Using
> Gerag's Plasma Torch, they clear the entrance way. This has
> exhausted the green power stone used to power the Plasma
> Torch.
>
> They go into the sleeping quarters and see six empty bunks. They
> continue on to the galley and note that one of the machines there
> is infected with yellow fungus. The room is filled with a bunch
> of small snake like tentacle things and it is a desperate
> struggle to dispatch them. Yumi shows them that she has the
> ability to do healing, using it on Gerag.
>
> There is a final door to the
> command area. There they see four men in strange suits seated
> at controls. They realize that they seem to be readying the ship
> for take off. One of the suits turns to them, and lifts
> its visor revealing a mass of green tentacles. The four fungus
> zombies attack using some sort of pistol at long range, and
> a long tentacle up close. They dispatch the horrors realizing
> that they were immune to Ekkie's Laser Rifle.

[greenbadge]

Monday 18 April Continued

On the Star Farer Vessel:
They pick up the four Rail Gun Pistols that the Fungal Zombies
were welding. They give one to Yumi, and Sal keeps the others.

They talk to the voice telling it that this ship is badly in need
of disinfection. It tells them that a cleaning crew is on the way.

They ask after their own ship and are told that cleaning is in
progress, and that since they are associated with an infected ship
they should report to isolation. Being tired and battered they
decide to do this and the lights on the floor lead them to the
elevator. They go back up, but not has high and are led to small
living chamber. They are scanned when they enter, pronounced
infection free, but are advised to remain here for at least
four hours to be sure.

Yumi notes that there is a great deal of valuable tech here. For
example the Rail Gun Pistols are quite valuable. Also for example
is the food stuffs, packaged, nutritious food that lasts forever,
water evaporators are very valuable on Mars, the desert planet, and
any of the medical equipment. Most of them take advantage of
the time to rest.

Sal goes out and messes with a cleaning robot that is diligently
scrubbing away at the corridor leading to the isolation unit. He
leads it around and prefers talking to it rather than the big voice.
He convinces it that they are colonists and need food, a water condensor,
a set of communicators (6), a computer, and some souveniers. They
are told that all this will be loaded on to their ship and are wished
good luck on founding their colony.

They head up, Yumi has convinced them that they should attack the
Command Center and fly the ship to Zothique/Rock of Bral and then
loot it there. At the Command Center there are two of the egg shaped
security robots who continue to deny them entry as civilians. She
continues to try to convince the voice that there is some malfunction
and the only way to fix is to let them in the Command Center. The
round and round argument ends when two fungal zombies, the last two
crewman, show up and begin firing at them with their Rail Gun Pistols.

After a painfully tough fight, they defeat the two horrors, but Yumi
has clearly been infected by fungus. She and Minus go to the
Hospital while the others gather the two Rail Gun Pistols,
and go to their ship. The ship is cleaned,
and there is a feint smell of a nasty dis-infectant. Three big crates
of food have been loaded and they man handle the water evaporator into
the crew room. Also there is a box of souveniers (pens, t-shirts,
and plastic bags emblazoned with a star farer logo). There is some
other random things: a set of six linked short range communicators,
six sets of cold weather coats, two night vision goggles, and a
mystery box. They give Yumi and Minus the night
vision goggles so now all of them can see well in the dark.

Sal tries to coax and manhandle a cleaning robot on to the ship,
but is not successful. The bot will not follow him on to the
ship, and is too heavy to be picked up or pushed around.

Sal also tries to convince the voice to report the infection.

At the hospital Yumi is treated for her infection. They advise
her to take it easy for the next day.
They are able to make their way back to the ship which is
preparing for launch.

The voice wishes them success on their new colony and launches them
out into space. They make their way back to Zothique/Rock of Bral
and Yumi tells them it will take 2 days.

Tuesday 19 April

On the Wandering Nancy in the Ring of Smoke:
Yumi has them undergo weapons training. Minus is excellent on the
Ligtening Gun and Gerag is excellent on the Radium Bombard. Both
are Skilled gunners on these weapons. The others are OK with
Wulfgar acting as the engineer, Ekkie manning the other Radium
Bombard, and Sal as the fill in. Yumi is an expert pilot.

They open the mystery box, and find that it goes off on the
amunition for the Radium Bombards, and the mechanism of Lightning
Gun. They decide that it is a Martian Tech detector.

Wednesday 20 April

On the Wandering Nancy in the Ring of Smoke:
As they approach Zothique/Rock of Bral Yumi spies a medium sized
dirigible moving across the space lane. She is certain it is
a pirate and begins to manuever to get around it. Since it is larger
it probably has a contingent of marines, so she does not want to
get too close and risk being grappled and boarded. She turns with the
sun on her rear quarter, the Wandering Nancy has elf made sun sails,
to gain speed. As they close the dirigible fire with its heavy bombard
and Yumi is able to avoid the shell. Yumi fires the Wandering
Nancy's dwarf steam rockets and begins to run by the dirigible. It gets
off one more shot, which strikes the hull of the Wandering Nancy,
doing some damage. The Wandering Nancy opens the distance with the
speed of the Steam Rockets and the dirigible drops out of site to

They put in at Zothique/Rock of Bral, telling the Bralian Navy of their
encounter with the pirate. The Bralian Navy says they will investigate.
They also get some advice on where to sell the stuff they have gathered.
Gaspar's Reclaimations, Gamelon's Curios, The Trading Company, and House
Zudrick.

Yumi goes to the Fireball Alliance and tells them what they encountered.
They will organize a punitive expedition as they have heard of the black
fungus before and know how dangerous it is. Also they will arrange for
an auction of the very valuable food and water evaporator that they have
found. They advance the party 3000 GP and talk of 10's of thousands ofGP after the auction.

Sal meets with Linrin, the halfling helping to scam the elf war ship
captain who is pining for Sansa. Sal gives Linrin the orange tree and
Linrin will find the party some place to live. They decide to
send another message expressing delight at the present and stringing
him along for more.

Gerag, who is still quite battered, gets healed by Yumi, who also heals
herself. Gerag visits the House of Tempus for some training and
learns of the interesting ruin on the asteroid called Lethe.

Thursday 21 April

Zothique/Rock of Bral:
The Juggler herself shows up at Large Luigi's asking after Wilhelm.
She talks with Sal showing him an invitation for a auction at the
warehouse known as The Scrabble for some alien tech, a demonstration
is promised, that is scheduled for that evening. She gives him
the invitation, which is a ticket to the auction, on the promise
that he and his friends will investigate.

The invitation:

Auction of Star Farer Tech Trove Location

A large star farer ship has been abandoned in the Ring of
Smoke. The ship is very large, and a demonstration of an
example of an actual piece of tech taken from it will be
given before the auction. The location of the ship is known
by the CAS authorities, and we urge those serious about bidding
in this auction be prepared to quickly take advantage of winning.
Please meet at The Scrabble at 10:00 PM on 21 April.

Only those bearing an invitation will be allowed to enter
accompanied by a reasonable sized entourage. All weapons
will be checked at the door, and returned at the close of
the auction.

Payment in full is due at the close of the auction.