Session 10: The City of Doors, Part One

Game Date: Saturday, September 6th
In Game Dates: Lassday, Noctaver 17th – Godsday, Noctaver 18th, night (subjective)

The young girl with the gold key smiles at the adventurers. In what the party expects to be a pre-battle banter, Caspian jokingly asks the girl to give them the key. She bursts out laughing; no one in two thousand years has ever tried asking right off the bat before. She hands the key over to them, and steps aside from the door. The party heads through one last portal, and find themselves...

... on a small rock ledge overlooking the caldera of the volcano. At the end of the rock ledge, stairs spiral down the wall of the caldera to the floor. Above them is clear blue sky, they are at top of mountain! Near center of chamber is a large pool some fifty feet wide... it appears to be a bubbling pool of... hot mud. Here, where the earth reaches into the realm of air, and fire rises to meet the water, all four elements combine. This is the dwelling place of the Elemental Weirds. As the party approaches the pool, a whirlwind of air rises out of the mud, becoming a translucent female figure with deep blue eyes.

“Welcome to the dwelling place of the Elemental Weirds... we are the oracle you have sought. Be at ease, you have proven yourselves strong of heart, brave of deed, and quick of wit. We will not cheat you by answering your question in an unsatisfactory manner. In addition, You must phrase your question by beginning it with the words, “Oracle of Elements, I beseech you to answer me this:” Asking anything else will not use up your one question. However, we are not bound to answer any questions that are not phrased thusly.

Rowan pops the question, using the proper phraseology. The Weird of Air is silent for a moment. “A question indeed. Your answer shall be fourfold. The first answer concerns the road. You must travel to the city of doors. The Artificer's door is within, forgotten by all but a few, but it remains intact. Reaching it will not be easy, but it can be done. You will need the key to his door. A word not heard in millennia will open your way.”

She disappears into the pool, and in her place rises the top half of a beautiful woman, with eyes made of amethysts, and long hair streaked with silver and gold veins, the lower half of her body is a pillar of shifting earth. She tells them, “Be wary, for the path you shall walk is full of chains, and worse than chains. Guard what is dear to you, or risk your soul's treasure lost... Take care whose colors you wear... everyone is someone's slave... The key you must seek can be bought, but at a price you may not be willing to pay. But take the key by force, and the price will increase sharply.”

Then appears a female form wreathed in smoke and made of fire, lower half snakes away in a fiery trail. “Yet there is good as well as evil to be found in the city of doors. You will find allies in unlikely places if you do not allow yourselves to despair. The Mistress of Pain does not fear the wrath of any god, and even the gods may aid you if you can convince them.”

Lastly, a watery female for appears. She says, “I have little to tell you that my sisters have not. Only that the broken can be mended; and all souls strive.”

The party asks a few more questions of the oracle, who seems willing to converse for a while. The oracle even gives hints of the current location of the house of Bel: One in a prison of earth and iron, but a prison of his own making, one is with his master, and one is seeking, always seeking...

When the oracle will answer no more questions, the Weirds open a tunnel in the wall. After about a hundred yards the party comes to an exit out onto the base camp of the mountain where a surprised Kondor is waiting, flexing his muscles. They camp overnight, then proceed down to the small town the next morning.

Back in town, Kartharine seems ill, but shrugs off questions about her health, and quickly teleports everyone back to the Librarium.

Kartharine pays them 1500 gold each for the quest to reach the oracle, and then outlines the next stage of her assignment. Now that they know where the Last Artificer is, the party needs to find him and retrieve him, bringing him back to Kartharine as well. For this she will pay them each 10,000 gold... three up front and the other seven on completion of the quest.

So where and what is the City of Doors, the party asks. Kartharine explains:

“The City of Doors, called Sigil, floats atop the great spire at the center of a Plane called the Outlands. The Outlands is unique among the Outer Planes because it borders all other Outer Planes. As a result, it is the common ground for extraplanar creatures. Beings from infernal and celestial planes, as well as those of law and chaos, can be found here. In addition, deities of true neutrality and those associated with ideals such as scholarship or nature, like Vecna and Boccob, have their realms here.

The Outlands is an infinitely large wheel with a great spire rising from its center. Outlanders consider this towering cylindrical plinth as the heart of the Outer Planes and the axle around
which the Great Wheel is centered. This great plinth is clearly visible from anywhere in the plane; it rises above the clouds themselves and ascends into unreachable heavens. The plane is a broad region of varied terrain, with open prairies, towering mountains, and twisting, shallow rivers. Settlements throughout the area are inhabited by a variety of refugees and natives of the plane. But they are small flecks against the greater wildness of the Outlands.

Far from the spire, magic functions normally. At about 1,100 miles from the base of the spire, the impeded magic trait begins, impeding 9th-level spells unless the caster is extremely able. Closer to the base of the spire, spells of lower levels are also impeded. The limited magic trait starts to emerge at 900 miles away from the center of the plane, making 9th-level spells and spell-like effects unavailable. Closer to the center, more and more abilities cannot be used, and finally even deity-level powers are affected. The heart of the Outlands, and therefore the self-proclaimed center of the planes, Sigil is known as the City of Doors. Portals leading throughout the cosmos lace every district of the city. Situated atop the spire itself that rises above the surrounding plane, Sigil is a ring floating in space, with the city itself constructed along the inside of the band.

Sigil has a number of special traits, one of which is objective directional gravity. “Down” is toward the ring itself. Those who escape the ring suddenly find themselves in open air, often plummeting down the side of the spire. While magic is extremely limited near the spire, magic in the City of Sigil functions normally. Sigil has a huge number of portals, the sum total of which is unknown even to the inhabitants. Portals connect to every known Outer Plane and every Inner Plane. Portals also connect Sigil to other locations in the Outlands. Most of Sigil’s portals require command words or special keys in order to make them function.

Sigil is a trader’s city. Goods, merchandise, and information come to it from all across the planes. It does a brisk trade in information about the planes, in particular in the command words or keys required for the operation of particular portals. These portal keys are sought after, and usually travelers within the city are looking for a particular portal or a portal key to allow them to continue on their way. Sigil is controlled by a number of factions, all of which may be politely described as “philosophers with clubs.” These factions are categorized along the lines of traditional alignments, and they control different parts of the city and different services therein. The ultimate ruler of Sigil is an enigmatic being known as the Lady of Pain, a floating female humanoid with bladelike hair. The full extent of the Lady of Pain’s abilities is unknown, but it is widely assumed that her power equals or exceeds that of the deities.”

As the party digests this new information, Kartharine offers them three choices on getting them to Sigil. First, she can plane shift them to the Outlands. Where they would appear can be... erratic, given the suppressive morphic field of the Plane, but the spell would get them the closest to the spire: within a day or two's journey at the most, but most likely much less. Second, Kartharine can cast Gate to Outlands, but only into a portal town. This is safe (er), but puts you at the edge of the Plane's magic supressing field, 900 miles away from the spier. It would be at least a month's travel from the portal town to the spire, if they couldn't find a faster way to travel. Lastly, They could try and find a wizard with a Sigil key. These are the only way to plane shift into the city directly, all other methods of magical travel fail when attempting to get into the city. Kartharine doesn't have one (hey, there has to be SOMEthing she doesn't have...), but knows of who does, a wizard by the name of Mandure), up in the northern reaches of Duinseach. This will take the longest, at least a month of travel, and in the fell of winter at that. Mandure has a small tower fortress in Cardinia and keeps a small standing force, but isn't evil per se. Also, there's no guarantees Mandure still has the Sigil Key. On the up side, Mandure can be bought. The Wizards of the White Hand also have a Sigil Key, but trying to take it from them would be suicide.

Kartharine tells them that for this quest, time is not necessarily of the essence. With the book, there were others after it. No one knows of the continued existence of the Artificer, to the best of Kartharine's knowledge. Vaniri agents may still be on their trail, but it is unthinkable they would follow the party into the Outlands, even in the unlikely even that the Vaniri learned of the party's destination. Kartharine says with quiet certainty that the book is now safe here.

Deciding to go with the plane shift spell, the party shops for items that will be useful in areas where magic doesn't work. Once they have everything they think is reasonable, the party plane shifts. The feeling is intense, and only Rowan has ever felt anything like it before, when her soul was ripped from it's resting place and brought back to her body.

The party emerges into darkness and midair. Everyone falls perhaps twenty feet to the floor of a large stone cellar. A mass of soft, sticky yet crunchy stuff breaks their fall for the most part. These turn out to be eggs. Drider eggs. And sure enough, a bunch of driders and monstrous spiders swarm into the chamber moments later. Combat without magic is tricky, but the party overcomes their foes without becoming too seriously wounded.

They exit the cellar through a trap door that leads out into a dusty street that is mostly deserted. The air is stiflingly hot, with no breeze. Curiously, the sky is bright, but there is no visible sun. Eclipsing half the sky is the spire. It's close, but the thing is so huge it makes distance seem a bit tricky. Atmospheric distortion makes it seem as though the spire curves as it ascends into the heavens and is lost to view. Across the street is a cafe of sorts, and under the shade of an umbrella a male and a female sit, having a conversation. As the last of the party emerges from the trap door, the man gets up, bows to the woman, and leaves.

The woman looks toward the party. Aiden, who was eyeing the woman's form under her flowing blouse speculatively, does a double-take when he sees that the woman has the head of a tiger. The woman is drinking delicately from a teacup, apparently not bothered by the heat. The party recognizes her as a rakshasa, a race of powerful, shape-changing sorcerers

“LOOK OUT!” screams Althea. Lumi yelps as well. Everyone dives out of the way as a form comes hurtling down out of the sky and slams into the ground where the party was just standing with an explosion of dust. The body bounces a good thirty feet back into the air, then finally crashes to rest a few yards from the shaken party members.

The corpse is obviously dead. There doesn't appear to be an un-pulverized bone in his body. Dressed in strange clothing, the man has a large pouch affixed to belt, and a purse containing 200 gold. The pouch has about 11 keys of various sizes, shapes and colors. Some look like keys, others look like flat wafers made from some hard but flexible material, and painted strange colors.

The rakshasa, named Sehrix, laughs, but not mockingly. She gives them some free advice, and tells them to take the keys, but leave 13 gold on the body. It's a customary burial price. The keys, though, are worth small fortune in right hand, and worth large fortune in the wrong hands.

Sehrix gives them some basic information about how things are in Sigil. There are the factions controlling parts of the city, and their quest would probably be best started in either one of the neutral or law-aligned sectors. Aside from the merchants, there are the Lockmen, who specialize in the trade and lore of the keys, the Charons, the ferrymen who drive their strange craft from the city at the base of the spire up to Sigil, and the Gnostics, of which Sehrix is a member. She shows them the gnostic's symbol, an inverted triangle with an eye in the center. The gnostics trade information for information, using a complex system of valuation to determine what kind of information is worth what.

She tells then that the closest Charon outpost is about a half-days journey clockwise around the spire. The party finds the outpost, a large area with a few scattered warehouse-sized buildings, and a few men talking with each other. Near the men are several large, boxy metal platforms with steel skirts covering the undersides. Most have railings around the sides, and seats bolted to the platforms, and a podium at one side full of levers and buttons.

The party haggles with the men, and finally take the ferry of the Charon who offered the least amount. After everyone straps themselves into a seat, there is a roar, and the ferry shoots heavenward. After a ten-minute ride, they come within sight of the ring, the sheer size of which takes their breath away. The ferry lands them on a metal platform in an area that seems largely devoid of people. As the party heads down the ramp towards the nearest street, the mtal ramp drops away under their feet!

Everyone but Rowan falls, but the Ranger, with cat-like reflexes, twists in midair and manages to grab the edge. The ferryman, who had stopped abruptly before the trap was sprung. He rushes over to try and kick Rowan into the pit before she can climb out. He succeeds, but Rowan manages to pull him in as well.

The trap door snaps shut above them as they hit the cold hard floor 30 feet below. Immediately the room fills with a paralyzing gas that overcomes everyone but Rowan and Caspian. Barely able to keep on their feet, they stagger towards the metal door at the end of the room. In walk two men in masks that cover their heads carrying large clubs. Caspian overpowers one, and Rowan kills the other, but finally succumbs to the gas as she does.
Caspian makes it out of the chamber into the next room and shuts off the gas. He finds a lever that turns on fans that clear the room of the paralyzing agent, and slowly the party begins to recover. They tie up the driver and the surviving slaver.

In the far room with the gas controls, a third person walks in, demanding to know what's taking so long, when he sees the party has overpowered his partners. Before he can escape, Aiden kills him with a pair of scorching rays. They find from interrogating the ferryman that he was getting a percentage to take the occasional group to this platform, where they'd be gassed and wake up in one of the labor camps in the Outlands. He says they wouldn't have been killed, just made to work. It wasn't anything personal. The party debates how best to deal with the two. Ultimately, however, a furious Aiden takes the ferryman's head off with a stroke of his greatsword. Rowan dispatches the other bound slaver, and the party quickly set off into the city as the last glow in the sky fades into night...

Letters from Badger!

The following are the two letters from Badger written to Rowan that have been received thus far.

Letter #1:

Kingsday, 8 Grimander

Dear Rowan,

I miss you!!!! It's so weird traveling with just Grumble. We bought a pack mule in the next town up from Brindinsford, a small place called Pothietown. It was nice enough, I suppose. I was just happy no one needed saving or anything bad was happening. But Zook can't carry me and all the gear we need, and neither can Brunhilde, so we got a mule. I named her Socks. Grumble doesn't like her as much as I do, so I feed her most of the time.

Sometimes I almost wish there was some problem or crisis or bad guy to deal with... nothing much to do on the road but think and remember. I think Grumble worries that I'm drinking too much, but he always worries about me. I saw him staring at a suit of gnome-sized full plate armor with a weird look in his eye; it make me laugh so hard imagining myself clanking around like one of those wind-up toys my father used to make us when we were little. Anyway, he did get me something much more practical, though... a set of super-durable thieves' tools made from adamantine, but they're the most intricately made tools I've seen. They're really pretty as well as functional. I gave him a big hug. I wanted to give him something. I found this empowered spell shard, and it totally works with Grumble's axe! He was pretty pleased that his axe now does even more cold damage.

Anyway, we're resting and resupplying in this mining town called Chapel Crest. It's the last primarily human mining town in Pythia, we'll be entering dwarven lands in another week or so, weather depending. Grumble says that'll be for the best, and we can go a lot faster moving underground, since the weather up in the mountains is getting bad pretty fast. We're already in the foothills of the mountains now, and there's frost on the ground every morning. Kartharine gave us a map of the lands East of the Dwarven Mountains. The whole place is just called 'The Blasted Lands.' Explorers and other folks go there from time to time, but Kartharine says it's not a safe place; even she doesn't have all that much reliable information about that area. She gave us a recommendation for a few dwarven loremasters who would probably help us. But she and Grumble talked for a long time, and they seemed to think the soul gem of the last dwarf king would be out in the blasted lands.

I wonder if we'll hire on more adventurers to join us? It would be nice to have other people to talk to, and some new faces, but on the other hand, I don't know that I'm ready to trust anyone new, either.

Oh, man! I've been writing Grumble all this time... he's going by Morkalek now. He's been a bit different ever since Brindinsford. I dunno... he seems a lot more sure of himself. He's growing out a beard, too! It's so weird.

I wish I could scry my family again to see how they're doing, but I don't think this town has any wizards or sorcerers who'd help me out. I'm writing letters to my brother as well as you. Well, Grumble's muttering something about turning down the light so he can get some sleep; we're setting out at first light. I'll write more again soon, I promise! You keep well, Rowan. Good luck with whatever new adventure you're mixed up in.

Love,

Badger

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Letter #2:

Godsday, 23 Grimander

Dear Rowan,

Well, I got my wish, kind of. We are now a party of four. We were traveling in the same direction as some other folks out of that last town, Chapel Crest. One was this dwarven girl, a cleric of Moradin. Her name is Hanna, which is short for something that I can't pronounce without hocking up something in the back of my throat. I don't even think I've seen a dwarf as pretty as she is. Then there's Elody. She's a human, about my age, and is something called a candle-caster. She seems to be pretty good at magic, whatever it is. They're looking for a friend of theirs named Sir Oko or something like that, and Kaden, who is Elody's twin brother.

We weren't rude to these girls (well, Grumble was, but that's just him), but both of us kept our distance at first. We set up separate campsites a ways away from each other on the road, and all of that. Finally when some really stupid gnolls jumped us a few days later, Hanna and Elody came to fight with us. Grum- I mean Morkalek maintains that we didn't need their help, but Socks got hurt pretty bad, and who knows what would have happened if Hanna hadn't been there to heal her. I was suspicious of the two of them for the first few days after we started riding together. It's taken me a while, but I can't always be seeing Bel and Scarlet Claw assassins everywhere. They're both really nice. I think Morkalek is just annoyed that he has to travel with another bunch of girls. Elody is a wizard with braiding hair, she's taken to doing mine every morning. I turned her hair orange and red one day just as a joke, and she loved it! I've been turning her hair a different color every day ever since.

Hanna said she had a dream that her god Moradin told her to help Morkalek and me, and that she would find what she sought. I don't know... I really want to believe them, but I think it's just going to take time before I can really relax around them.

But a few days later, we entered the dwarven tunnels, and there was an ambush by some ogres! Can I say that I hate ogres? I hate ogres. They caused a cave-in, trapping us for most of a day until we dug ourselves out, tracked the ogres down, and kicked some ogre ass. I think I started trusting Hanna more after watching her frantically dig Morkalek out from under the rocks that got him, and healing him. As much as it pains him to admit it, it's a lot easier to get by with a cleric and a wand of cure wounds than it is to get along with just a wand. And Elody is pretty useful as well, for a magic user. She's definitely not Heidiana. I think she's younger than I am. She's shy around people, but she never complains and always does her share of the work. I want to like her, but I still can't forget how people have gotten under our guard before by seeming so helpful and good. I wish I could cast one of those spells that lets you see things the way they really are, or detect lies, or anything that could prove that they are who they say they are.

Being underground for days at a time is weird, but I'm getting used to it. We've got at least another month of traveling before we can take some older tunnels east and out the other side of the mountains. I'll keep mailing these letter to you as long as we're in dwarven lands; we've been stopping in these underground towns a lot, and they almost always have mail service of some kind. They're really... different. You kind of have to see them to understand, I'm not sure I could describe it well enough to do it justice. Elody says she just pretends she's in a regular city at night. One thing that is nice is that everything is so much closer to gnome size here! There are also quite a few gnomes around, I haven't spoken this much gnomish since I left home! Oh, the gnomish food... Evidently it's really popular over here, though of course no one makes a fricasseed apple cake like mom. The gnomes here have actually heard of Turen locks! I bought one of the most expensive ones for myself; it was one of my brother's designs, though not one of his newest. I pick it once a night before going to bed.

So aside from being the most homesick I've probably ever been ever... I'm doing okay. It's nice to have people to talk to, even if I don't trust them completely yet. I hope you're doing well too. You're probably out on some excellent adventure somewhere, killing things and breaking hearts. Morkalek hasn't killed anything in days... it's like watching him go off alcohol all over again. Midwinter Night is coming up in less than a month! Hard to believe that this time last year I was still trying to be a locksmith, and never thought I'd ever need to set foot outside Blackreach, except maybe to go to the Addunhome to visit family.

Okay, I should wrap this up. Morkalek says to tell you “hi.”

Love and hugs,

Badger

Session 09: The Knight and the Mountain

Game Date: Saturday, August 30, 2008
In-Game Dates: Marksday, Noctaver 2 – Lassday, Noctaver 17th

Before the shadow mastiffs recovered from the fireball Aiden threw at them, Rowan had shot two arrows into one of them. Caspian charges, meeting the beast head-on. With a single savage swipe of his sword, Caspian cuts the evil beast in half. Lengthwise. Aiden, meanwhile, gets off another spell, and punches two searing rays through the remaining mastiff, killing the beast before it even knew what had hit it.

Rowan spies a trail that other undead have made, leading off in the same direction as the ones they ran into. Deciding that getting the book back to Brindinsford was their top priority, the party moved on, leaving the trail on undead behind them forever.

That night around the campfire, Rowan is on guard duty when she notices that the forest has gone completely still. She draws her bow, shouting an alarm, and hears a twig snap directly behind her. She wheels around, drawing her bow.

Some sixth sense warns her as she sees the low sinuous body moving towards her. She catches a hint of pale yellow eyes before spinning away. She feels jaws clamp into her thigh, and she screams, warning everyone that their attacker is a basilisk. She hacks at it without looking directly at it, and is soon joined by Caspian. Aiden backs out of range of the creature's deadly gaze, and fires two precise bolts of fire, one into each eye. Blinded, the basilisk is just a large, lizard, and dies under the party's swords.

The third day after the basilisk's attack brings them to the gates of Brindinsford around noon. The weary adventurers trudge from the south gate all the way to the other end of the city, to the university and the Librarium. On the way they pass the central city square, where a huge statue of five persons has been erected atop a large fountain. Rowan's likeness on one of the statues is obvious to everyone; it's a good sculpture. Rowan seems a bit embarrassed, and urges them on to the Librarium. There, they hand over the book to Kartharine, who says she'll have their reward money delivered to their inn, and to come back to the librarium the next day if they're still interested in working for her. She also mentions to Rowan that the Baron wanted to see her when she arrived.

Lumi goes to the temple of Pelor to see how the repairs are progressing, Althea goes to see Bruge and Chylra, and Aiden and Caspian secure lodgings for everyone at the... Shield and Shingle Inn! Oh, the irony.

Lumi reaches the temple and has a strange sense of deja-vu... a figure who looks like Father Tilok kneels before the altar in the main sanctuary, just like in her dream of Pelor... but this time, as she approaches, the figure turns, and it IS Father Tilok! Lumi runs up and crashes into the man, hugging him fiercely. They talk for a bit, and end up back at the inn, where Tilok meets the other party members.

Rowan visits the Baron as requested, and to her surprise, finds not only the Baron, but the crown prince, Anadan as well! The crown has authorized Andan to offer her a knightship under the royal crown. Simultaneously, the Grand Duke of Pythia has also authorized the Baron of Brindinsford to do the same. Rowan, learning that her father had been knighted under the royal crown, decides to accept the offer of the prince. The baron assures her that there will be no hard feelings from the Grand Duke because of her decision.

The next day, having received their phat lewt, the party goes shopping! Rowan makes the mistake of telling Aiden and Caspian about Shooma's, and the two head down

with a laundry list of lethality. Rowan orders some magical improvements on her armor, and Lumi decides to make her mace into a weapon so infused with holy power that little teenage wights will whisper stories about it at undead sleepovers to scare each other. Shooma does fast work for a lady who always seems to be sitting in her rocking chair and smoking her pipe, but even she will need about a week to finish everything up.

At the Librarium, Kartharine receives them in the levels beneath the main library floor. Kartharine's study is about what they expected, a large room crammed with books, scrolls, and other rare items, some of which radiate power even to those unacquainted with magic. She has the Book of the Artificer open on her desk, and has a small mountain of reference material open around it. It's obvious she hasn't slept, and has probably not eaten since receiving the book the day before. She tells them she may have another assignment for them if they're willing, but the specifics will have to wait until she can study the book some more. So the party has a week to do some well-needed chillaxing.

Except for Rowan, who reports to the temple of Pelor at sundown to begin her overnight vigil in preparation for taking her vows of Knighthood. She surrenders her armor and swords to be blessed, bathes in sanctified water, and dons the traditional garments of the knight to be: black hose and shoes to represent death, a white tunic to represent purity, and a red robe to symbolize nobility.

What Rowan dwells on and meditates on while spending the night hours in the temple where Pelor himself took human form and gave her life again is a secret only she will know.

In the morning, she reports to the temple sanctuary. Everyone is gathered in the pews: her party, the nobility of the city, community leaders, and Sir Allayne, the paladin of Heironeous. Rowan presentws herself to the crown prince, and is sponsored by Bruge (who turns out has been knighted himself) and the Baron. Rowan kneels before the altar as her swords are laid on a velvet cushion upon the altar and blessed by Father Tilok.

She then gives her assent to the following vows:

“Do you, Rowan Liadon, daughter of Larren, son of Ruaeil, swear to be vigilant, to always have your weapon at the ready, to never put aside your arms except to sleep at the end of the day?”

“Do you, Rowan Liadon, daughter of Larren, son of Ruaeil, swear to be fearless in battle, never to cower in the face of danger unless magicked by evil? To never bypass the dangerous trail while on quest for fear of meeting powerful enemies or meet with monsters, savage beasts or spirits?”

“Do you, Rowan L, daughter of Larren, son of Ruaeil, swear to defend to your uttermost the weak, the orphan, the widow, the innocent and the oppressed, even unto death?”

“Do you, Rowan L, daughter of Larren, son of Ruaeil, swear to be punctual in heeding the call of your lord, and to never to be accounted late when engaging a fellow knight?”

“Do you, Rowan L, daughter of Larren, son of Ruaeil, swear that upon your return from any quest or adventure made under errantry of the crown, to provide a detailed account of your activity whether for good or for ill?”

“Do you, Rowan L, daughter of Larren, son of Ruaeil, swear that following a loss at a tournament, not to seek personal redress of honor without the approval of your lord?”

“Do you, Rowan L, daughter of Larren, son of Ruaeil, not to keep two swords on your person without being willing to fight two opponents simultaneously?”

Finally, Rowan speaks the oath of fealty she memorized the night before: "Here do I swear fealty to Fall, and to the crown of the Seven Realms, offering my honor, my service, and my sword in need or plenty, in peace or war, in living or dying, from this hour henceforth, until the crown release me, or death take me, or the world end."

The prince, smiling, picks up Rowan's longsword and rapier. "And I, Anadan, crown prince of the throne of Fall, do hereby gladly accept your vows and your oaths, and your service. This does the crown swear unto you, Rowan Liadon, daughter of Larren L, son of Ruaeil Liadon: that never shall the crown bid you to compromise your honor with errantry unbecoming a Knight, but to uphold your name as you shall uphold the crown, rewarding success with honor, fealty with favor, devotion with kindness, and oath-breaking with vengenace. May all Gods of Law and Good take heed and bestow their blessings upon she who has undertaken these oaths and vows this day.

“Since you are not born of Fall, this special dispensation shall be placed upon you: You shall be free to undertake such quests as you deem worthy of your attentions to whatever place those shall lead, so long as these quests do not represent a credible danger to the crown. If the crown should have need of you while you are under another quest, you are commanded to either lay aside your present quest, or if your honor demands it, complete your present quest with all possible haste. Do you agree to this special dispensation?”

Rowan nods. “I do.”

Anadan strikes Rowan's shoulders with flat of both blades, saying, “I dub thee Lady Knight. Rise a Knight, Lady Rowan.” Anadan hands the swords to Bruge, who steps forward to Rowan and buckles them onto her sword belt. The baron steps forward and places over her robes a tabbard emblazoned with the royal eagle of Fall.

The prince raises his voice as Rowan turns to face the audience. “Lords and Ladies, assembled honored guests, you have heard and witnessed these vows. Now I present to you Lady Rowan Liadon, Knight of the Crown of Fall!”

The applause is thunderous, and Rowan breaks her fast at a feast in her honor. The party and Rowan eat and drink their fill, party hard, and head to bed, feeling fat and happy.

The next day dawns. The day before, Tilok had mentioned that the town was underwriting the cost of teleporting him back to Miel in return for performing the ceremony. Since the teleportatoin circle lasts for a while, Tilok invited Lumi and Rowan to come with him, since they had time to kill. Morwen could teleport them back or do something similar if they needed to. Rowan and Lumi are thrilled by this idea, and convince the boys into coming with. Althea decides to come along, having never been to the place, but having heard of it.

But before they step through the portal, Rowan pipes up to Kartharine, who didn't set up the teleportation circle, but came to see them off. Rowan explains about what happened to Hiediana, as far as her sudden recovery and departure from the hospital in Miel. Kartharine responds that victims of the mindrape spell may have had their memories altered, and may now think of their enemies as friends, and their friends as foes, etc. It's impossible to say exactly what damage was done, but that Rowan should be very wary should she ever encounter the young sorceress again.

The rest of the party is confused at this point, wondering what the hell is going on. Rowan asks if it's all right to tell her companions about the “house” that seeks her destruction. Rowan thought that even saying their names might have somehow attracted their attention. Kartharine doesn't discount this danger, even though she says that it's not likely to do so.

Now the rest of the party is confused and slightly alarmed. Father Tilok politely excuses himself from the room. Katharine lays out a brief history of the events of the Demon Wars before the coming of man. How the demon lord Oruk-Thrun established a foothold in this world, and the war that was fought to defeat him. She tells of the necromancer Tasseldwyn the Accused trying to re-summon Oruk-Thrun centuries later, and his subsequent defeat as well.

“Tasseldwyn had servants, who scattered, but were eventually all accounted for and slain,” continues Kartharine. “But the servants of Tasseldwyn were powerful as well. Tasseldwyn's chief lieutenant Kovan was the most accomplished of them all. He had servants of his own. Most of these he slew and raised as undead slaves, but his chief three servants were still mortal. Three siblings the were, two brothers and a sister, the last of the ancient Elven House of Bel. The oldest, Hemen, is believed to have perished when his fortress of ice in the far north was destroyed with him still within it. The other two, the sister Rannah, and the youngest, Amroch, are still at large. All of them have gained a measure of immortality, and have the ultimate goal of fulfilling Tasseldwyn's plans. They are not all-powerful, but they are utterly evil, and have had long centuries to plot and scheme... Rowan here, and her former party, have thwarted one of Amrich's designs, as well as disrupting a plan of Rannah, though I am less sure what she intended to do here when the portal was opened. But even so, the House of Bel has many other irons in the fire.

“However, before you get too terrified, the information I have gleaned through various sources tells me that most of Rannah and Amroch's energies have been spent attempting to locate their missing brother. I have less substantiated information that leads me to believe they are also experiencing... other difficulties. Beings and creatures who wish to bring about the world's end are not necessarily cooperative with their efforts. So you may have earned a reprieve from the machinations of the House of Bel.”

Still processing this new information, the party, along with Father Tilok, steps through the portal to Miel.

The next several days are restful for everyone. Rowan has barely stepped out of the portal when she waves to the rest of the group and sets off for Potter's smithy. The sound of his hammer ringing on the anvil greets her ears as she approaches, and when she sees him, it's like nothing had changed. Potter's eyes light up when he sees her, and he crushes her to him in a fierce embrace, which they hold for a long time, punctuating it with a kiss.

Stroking her hair, he looks into Rowan's eyes. “We got the news here a few weeks ago about everything that happened in Brindinsford. I wanted to go there so badly, but I couldn't leave. Some folks said you'd been killed, others said you were still alive, and I didn't know what to think. I finally heard you were all right, but it was a rough week for me. What happened? Most of the stories we heard were kinda sparse with details, or the details were so outrageous none of us could believe them...”

Rowan strokes Potter's rough-shaven face with her hand and smiles.

“The story can wait a little longer,” she says.

Lumi heads back to her church, greeting her old friends and fellow clergymen. Everyone has missed her bright and cheerful presence, and is delighted to see her back. Lumi goes back to her old temple duties almost like she'd never left. And yet... Miel seemed smaller somehow. It was still home, with all the old sights and smells and sounds, but a part of her had changed in the short two months away from her home.

Althea spends a great deal of time at Morwen's, as does Caspian. Althea performs daily in the common room. By the second day, Morwen has to order almost twice as much food as normal to cover the influx of customers visiting her establishment wanting to hear the beautiful bard perform. Caspian's abilities as a duskblade greatly intrigue Morwen herself, and she watches with interest Caspian's demonstrations of his fighting/ casting abilities. There may have been a hint of interest in Caspian's non-magical abilites, but where there might have been a spark, there is nothing.

Aiden ostentatiously hangs out near the square where the girls from the local finishing school are wont to take their meals. He... makes a few new acquaintances. Suffice to say Aiden enjoys his stay in Miel very much. Oh, yeah.... oh, yeah.

The aches and pains of traveling fade from the party's bodies. Their minds and hearts relax, free of resThe days go all too quickly. Winter is almost here. Lumi has just finished helping the other priests re-insulate the temple and attached cloister when Father Tilok calls her to his office. He asks her if she'll be returning with her companions to Brindinsford, to which she replies that she will.

Father Tilok smiles, as if he already knew what she was going to say. “I had a dream where Pelor came to speak to me,” he tells her. “He told me that although I had done a fine job of raising you in the church, that you were not my child, but his, and that his plans for you called you outside of these dusty walls. He told me that I had to let you go.

“I never married, and now the church takes up most of my energy anyway. I'm not complaining, mind you, I love my life, and wouldn't change it for anything. But you, Lumi, were the child I never got to have. I wanted to tell you, before you left again, that I am so proud of you, and that I'm sure you will do wonderful things in your time abroad. I worry about you every day, but I'll do my best to trust that Pelor will keep you from harm.”

Father Tilok hugs Lumi tight, his eyes bright with unshed tears. After a tender moment, Tilok stands up and says, “I wish I could give you something that would protect you from any and all harm, but I'll have to settle for something a bit less practical as a parting gift.” Father Tilok opens a drawer and picks up what appeared to be a tiny glass vial on a thin chain.

“Did you know that the Deion Miel, the man who founded this city, was a priest of Pelor? His remains are interred under this temple, which he helped build. This crystal vial,” Tilok hands the necklace to Lumi, “is a reliquary, containing a fragment of his finger bone, and a chip of stone from the cornerstone of the temple. So. You can carry around with you both a piece of the temple here and the hands that helped build it. You'll always carry our home with you, wherever you go.”

Tilok cleared his throat. “But I have something for you aside from just sentimental relics. Follow me, please.”

The priest led Lumi down into one of the older storerooms. In the corner was a suit of dusty splint mail, a rack with a few weapons and a large shield emblazoned with Pelor's symbol, and a trunk. At her questioning glance, Father Tilok smiled. “It's my old adventuring gear, or what's left of it. I have no use for it, but this one thing I think would be of use to you.”

He removes from the trunk what appears to be several square yards of heavy canvas. Curious, Lumi follows the priest back up the stairs and out into one of the courtyards. He spreads out the fabric on the ground where it forms a circle not unlike their portable hole. He motions Lumi to take a few steps back, and says, “Arglefraster.”

The fabric rises from the ground as if pulled by invisible strings, forming a tent that looks like it will fit five or six people, if they're friendly. Smiling, Tilok motions Lumi inside the tent. Lifting aside the tent flap, Lumi gasps. Inside the tent is a room perhaps twenty by thirty feet. A wood stove burns cheerily in the center of the room, the smoke rising up a wide iron pipe to disappear out a vent in the roof of the tent. Against one wall is a table laden with food and drink. Off to either side of the room are six doorways. Each leads to small but completely adequate sleeping quarters, complete with comfy-looking beds. Amazed beyond words, Lumi heads out of the tent.

Father Tilok smiles. “The tent always stays the same temperature no matter what the weather outside is like. With winter approaching fast, I thought you and your companions could appreciate it. It's doing no one any good just sitting in my trunk, but it has too much sentimental value for me to sell it. Oh, and incidentally, the tent also does this,” and Tilok says another seemingly nonsense word, and the tent blends in perfectly with it's surroundings, becoming all but invisible. Then he speaks “Arglefraster” again, and the tent collapses back into a flat piece of fabric.

Lumi takes the tent, gratefully. She says her goodbyes to her friends at the temple and to Father Tilok, and heads to Morwen's where everyone has gathered, ready to leave for Brindinsford. On the way, she runs into Potter, who almost forgot to give something to Rowan...

Morwen informs then that she's not going to teleport them back to Brindinsford, since the materials to do so cost about a thousand in gold, but she has another method that will get them there by morning... a flying carpet!

It proves hard to sleep on the carpet, and it's cold as the inside of a frost worm, but more windy up in the night air, but the party does arrive in Brindinsford a little after dawn the next morning.

They land in the university grounds and send the empty carpet rippling back to Morwen. Kartharine greets them, and says that she was just about to send for them. She's made some headway, but not as much as she'd like. She does, however, have a new quest for the group, if they're willing. Their assignment is to find and bring her the author of the book they brought her, the Artificer.

“But wasn't that book written thousands of years ago?” asks Lumi.

Kartharine nods. “What information I have been able to glean indicates that the Artificer is not dead. But I don't have much to go on other than that. So to locate him or her or it, I need you all to come with me to the Island of the Western Foresthome. Near the top of one of the volcanoes on that island is a temple almost as old as the world itself. Within is the most powerful oracle that I have ever heard of. The oracle has a rule, only one question per group per lifetime. I... already asked the oracle my question. I need you to enter the temple and ask in my stead, 'Where can the Last Artificer be found?'”

“Why do I get this feeling it's not going to be that easy?” mutters Aiden.

“It won't be,” responds Kartharine. “There are challenges to be overcome. Four of them, to be exact. And they are different for each party, so my own experiences will be of little use. All I can say is to keep your wits about you, and you should be able to overcome the challenges. Once you have the knowledge we seek, I can decide from there what the best course of action to take is. I can't really determine what payment would be suitable for you for this task until I know more, but I promise you all adequate compensation. Do you accept?”

The party agrees, and after picking up their new weapons and armor, join hands with Kartharine, and the world vanishes around them.

They find themselves standing in a city street, populated mostly by elves. Seeing a party of heavily armed strangers appear out of nowhere, many of the bystanders are understandably alarmed, though they relax when they hear the party only seeks to get to the oracle. This town, Nundai, sits nestled into the base of the mountain of the temple. Kartharine arranges for accomodations for herself to wait for the party's return, and the party finds a guide, a heavily-muscled tall elf named Krondor.

Once outfitted with climbing gear and heavy clothing, the party begins their ascent. Most of them do pretty well, but Althea quickly finds that she hates mountaineering, and the reverse seems to be true. They reach a broad plateau about a third of the way up that serves as a base camp for most climbers. Krondor begins to lecture them about how to survive on the mountain at night, but Lumi just grins and unrolls her tent. “Arglefraster,” she says.

The party praises her and Father Tilok loudly as they explore the inside of the tent and enjoy a hearty dinner, warm fire, and soft beds. Krondor seems almost disappointed that he won't need his extensive knowledge of survival in the harsh weather of the mountain, but readily accepts the offer of a room in the tent.

The next day dawns clear and cold, and after a healthy breakfast provided by the tent, the party renews their ascent, their muscles sore from yesterday, and not doing much better today. Althea is pretty sure she's never going to climb anything other than a staircase after this. Around late afternoon the party finally arrives at the opening of a cave, which Krondor informs them is the way to the Temple. He says he'll wait for a day and a half down at the base camp, but after that he'll head back to town.

The party heads into a cave, which winds into the mountain for several hundred yards before ending in a carved stone door. Carved into the stone of the doors is a warning that reads in the native language of each of them. Typically, it's written in rhyming couplets. The poetic lines are fairly standard warnings, once beyond the doors the only way out is to complete the challenges, you only get one question, and make sure the question is important enough to risk your life, yadda yadda yadda. Welcome to the Temple of the Elemental Weirds.

Shrugging the party opens the doors and walks onto a small stone dock where a small sailboat is tied up. An underground river rushes along into the darkness of the mountain. Since the doorway has vanished behind them, the party gets into the boat and unfurls the sail. There are oars and oarlocks as well in tho boat, but for the time being the party is content to sail downstream.

And sail. And sail. And sail. Hours go by, and nothing changes except the various rock formations and patches of eerie luminescence on the ceiling of the tunnel. Everyone rows for another hour, and they pick up speed, but it doesn't seem to make a difference... the tunnel just stretches on and on. Finally the party decides to try something else. Tying a rope to his waist, Caspian decides to investigate the water of the river, which proves to be only a few degrees above freezing. Swimming down with all his might, Caspian goes some forty feet before his head breaks the surface. Following a moment of disorientation, he realizes he is still in an underground tunnel. A few yards away bobs a boat just like the one he was just in, but empty. Aside from his comrades being nowhere to be seen, the important difference between the tunnel he swam down from and this one is the presence of a glowing blue-white portal perhaps forty yards away from the prow of the ship. Large enough to swallow the whole ship, the bottom of the portal just barely dips into the waterline of the river. Caspian swims over and onto the ship, but no sooner does he stand up than he reaches the end of the rope. He cuts himself free and begins rowing for the portal. Reaching it, his world dissolves in a brilliant flash of white light...

Rowan pulls the rope up when she feels the tugs, and panicks when the rope begins coming up far too easily. She get to the end of the rope, obviously sans Caspian, and notices that the rope has been cut. She takes the rope and dives in herself, swimming furiously downward. She breaks the surface just in time to see Caspian steer the boat into the portal, though silhouetted by the portal's glow, she can't be positive that it's him. She calls to him, but he's already gone.

She treads water for a moment, and a creaking from behind her makes her turn to see another boat, identical to their own, drifting down the river towards her. Rowan dives back down, and breaks the surface on the other side where everyone is waiting with baited breath. Rowan tells them of her discovery, and everyone grabs their things and jumps over the side. Althea does all right, Lumi swims pretty well, but Aiden seems to get stuck about halfway and panics, his lungs burning, and despite himself, he takes down a lungful of icy river water... Rowan, realizing something is dreadfully wrong, finally manages to grab him and hauls him to the other surface, but he appears to have already drowned. Throwing the warmage onto the boat, Rowan calls for Lumi's help. Lumi and Rowan hold Aiden's legs up and drain the water from his lungs, then the gnome uses a combination of magic and rescue breathing to revive Aiden. Coughing and sputtering, Aiden sits up. Relieved, they head into the portal as well.

When the light clears from their eyes, they find themselves in a hemispherical room some seventy feet in diameter. At the far end stands wheat seems to be a humanoid statue, but at their end stands Caspian, who seems to have just arrived as well. Aiden hits him in he face.

There appears to be no way into or out of the room. As the party starts across the room, the statue suddenly seems to pull rock from the floor around it, growing in size until it towers over them, swinging fists the size of a draft horse at the adventurers. They hack away at it for a while, doing some decent damage. But before they can get in a killing blow, the thing sinks into the ground. As it does so, Rowan sees the faintest outline of a door in the stone creature's torso. She swings her sword through that area, and realizes the damage done by her sword stroke is an illusion!

After sinking into the floor, half a minute of tense silence goes by before it reemerges, fists swinging once more. Caspian, at Rowan's urging, charges and jumps for the outline of a doorway, and sails into it's body and disappears. One by one the party jumps into the creature, Rowan being the last person through.

The next room is a long, dark, hot, rectangular chamber. The party stands on a ramp sloping downwards for some twenty feet. Then it's another hundred feet or so to the door on thew opposite end of the room. To either side of the door are square holes in the floor some fifteen feet wide. The one on the right is uncovered, and about a foot below the floor, a pool of molten rock bubbles with quiet menace. Above it, fastened to the ceiling are a set of arm and leg manacles. On the left, there is a metal cover over the pit of magma, which glows a dull red from the heat. Above the red-hot cover, some ten feet off the ground, a woman in leather armor hangs from the shackles. The arm and leg manacles hold her body horizontally and face-down over the cover. She raises her head as she hears the party arrive and screams for help.

Caspian and Aiden start forward, but as they reach the bottom of the ramp and start down the chamber, there is a low rumbling, and red light spills onto the ceiling. She screams at them to stop moving. Apparently, the further they walk along the chamber floor, the more the cover under the woman retracts. The group thinks quickly. Caspian decides to run down the hallway under the effects of his expeditious retreat spell, jump up grab the woman and dimension hop her out of her manacles and onto the safety of the floor, then do the same himself.

The consequences of a mistake are obvious, but no one else can think of another plan. Aiden runs along the corridor with Caspian, but where Caspian jumps for the woman, Aiden runs straight for the door between the pools of magma. As the two dash down the passage way, the cover rolls backwards with a shriek of tortured metal, which almost drowns out the scream of the woman in chains as the heat from the magma hits her.

Caspian leaps, grabs the manacles in one hand and the woman in the other, and teleports her to the floor below. She gasps as her blistered hands hit the stone of the floor. Caspian tries to focus and do the same himself, but the terrible heat of the magma makes it impossible to concentrate enough to cast. His skin feels like it's on fire, and it's all he can do to hold on. With a last, desperate pump of his legs, he tries to swing himself over the pit and to safety. He almost makes it.

Caspian lands on the very edge of the pit, his arms windmilling as he totters between life and death. With the quickness born of desperation, Aiden casts gust of wind and blows his friend away from the pool of molten rock and to safety. Above them, the manacles have begun to glow from the heat...

Lumi heals their burns while the woman introduces herself as a Rogue named Ellie. She was part of a group that tried to reach the oracle over 3 years ago. She and her group got stuck in a room full of quicksand, and the last thing she remembers before waking up in the manacles above that lava pool was choking on a mouthful of sand.

Grateful to be released and alive, she shows Rowan a thing or two about searching for traps on doors. This door, however, appears to be neither trapped nor locked. The six of them enter the now-familiar glowing portal on the other side of the door.

The first thing everyone notices when their eyes clear is that they are in a room that seems to glow with a soft white light, perhaps thirty feet wide by 40 feet long and 15 feet high.

The second thing they notice is that Ellie is no longer with them.

The third thing they notice is the elf girl standing next to a door seemingly made of gold at the far side of the room. She smiles sweetly at them. Around her neck is a leather cord, from which hangs a golden key...