11/07/99

Players: Kathi, Chris, JC, Bryan, David, Davy, Kris

Characters: DM & Highspirits, Lew, Illuverin, Erin, Jaret, Caland, A'Tora

As always, Highspirits begins the graceful descent just in time to be comfortably back on the sea as the last of the suns direct rays disappear over the horizon.

Jaret and Erin have the first watch during which Illuverin goes out on deck for some stretching, exercise, and finally juggling practice. He slowly shifts through his juggling routines, starting simple and gradually getting into more complex and animated patterns. It is during a particulary intense set of steps, while weaving through and around the pattern created by the five juggling pads and two ship's pitons, that he noticed A'Tora watching him.

When their eyes meet Illuverin stops dead in his tracks, his concentration and attention diverted so quickly and so completely that he doesn't even the hear the rhythmic thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-clatter-clatter as his pattern of objects, forgotten, fall to the deck.

She smiles leaning over to pick up the piton that bounced crazily in her direction and returns it to where Illuverin stands silently watching her.

"Teach me to do that." She says in that voice men can't resist. "It looks like such fun."

Slowly Illuverin breaks out into a big smile and wonders which god or goddess he has to thank for taking the thought from his mind and putting the words in her mouth.

"My dear." He says with a sweeping bow. "It would be my great pleasure."

For the next several hours the two work together in the dim light. Illuverin takes several opportunities to reach around from behind and hold her closely to him while demonstrating the importance of relaxed shoulders, proper elbow position, loose fingers and that sort of thing. By the time second watch rolls around, which they happen to have together, A'Tora has the basics of the simple three-pad pattern down and they spend the last few minutes attempting the five-pad, five-count, one-pass routine together before taking over for Jaret and Erin.

Illuverin is glad that second watch passes uneventfully and with a smile to his newfound partner afterward he rouses Highspirits and then retires.

The half-elf sleeps through the sunrise and when he finally does rouse himself it is already opressively hot. "Not that it ever went away really." He thinks to himself while considering the last few days.

When he gets up on deck the ship is already high above the sea and he scans the horizon wondering if we'll have the displeasure of meeting the dragon again. His attention is diverted from such thoughts when Caland comes to suggest he use his Decanter of Endless Water to clean up the droppings left by a large owl the ship encountered just after first light.

At first Illuverin doesn't understand but the elven mage sounds fairly confident when he says the bag can really shoot a lot of water out quickly if the holder wills it.

Having no doubt that Caland knows more of magic than himself, Illuverin tries it and is shocked when a powerful jet of water issues forth blasting the stuff off the deck of the ship. He hoses it overboard and then halts the flow looking at the bottle. He shakes it and then takes a normal drink.

"How long can it do that?" He asks Caland.

"As long as you wan't." The elf replys.

"And it won't ever run out?"

"Nope. Well..." the elf says pausing, "not unless it gets smashed or something, then the magic would be broken but otherwise no, the effect is permanent."

Illuverin shakes his head wondering, not for the first time, what it would be like to do such powerful magic. "Oh well. No use going down that road again." He thinks to himself.

Shortly before noon Highspirits gathers us together to go over the things we need to know before we descend and sail into Thay. He has papers, forged to show our being employed by the Tharchness, that will allow us to access the port. Reaching to a scroll case Highspirits produces a map of Eltabbar and we are all gathering around it when suddenly there is a tremendous swirling wind and the map is almost lost.

"Look!" Jaret whispers.

Turning in unison to look in the direction their dwarvish companion faces there are several gasps as the group spots a strange and magnificent creature.

"A Kirin!" Illuverin says. "They're..." His speech stops abruptly when a deep rich voice rings vibrantly his thoughts.

You are well sent and I have come because I know your cause to be worthy.

The Kirin, Dumon, tells us much concerning the surrounding area but also provides even more valuable information when he tells us about the green dragon, Pfrenlinwandrelard who attacked us, the Cult of the Dragon, and the dracholich Adilachnydoligrin at it's center. They are the enemies of our quest and are actively working to stop us and gain the gifts for themselves to be used for evil purposes. As the group discusses this Dumon lays another bombshell at our feet.

I can also grant you one wish.

A night of debauhcery with A'Tora pops into Illuverin's thoughts but only for a moment as he realizes the true significance of exactly what is being offered.

Needless to say there is some discussion but when the possibility of reversing Lew's death comes up we all come to the agreement that it's the right thing to do.

Your companion even now stirs.

The Kirin rears up on it's hindquarters and the wind rises suddenly. His hooves strike sparks as he strides off into the air and he is visible only for a moment before vanishing into the ether.

Good hunting.

It takes a second or so but with the Kirin's disappearance the spell his presence seemed to hold over us vanishes and Illuverin hears Erin's excited exclamation.

"Well come on." He says in his unique northern accent. "Let's go check on Lew."

Lew is sitting on his bed sneezing and gets a rather confused look when we all appear at his door. "What?" He says looking from one to another. "All I did was sneeze."

It turns out that Lew's memory is kinda fuzzy concerning the battle with the stirges and Illuverin decides that it's probably just as well.

---

Highspirits brings the ship down before we're too near the city and we put into the harbor under normal sail. It's sunset by the time we're docked and Highspirits, disguised of course, presents the papers to the harbor master. Making sure we all have the medalion's given by Estarria we head toward the city and enter at Fishermans Gate. After presenting our papers to the guards they give us a cursory routine search and let us pass. Turning, we walk along the outer wall of the city until coming to the canal. Looking back as they wait Illuverin sees that not only human guards walk the walls, but also ghouls, skeletons and other unpleasant things.

Finally a gondola arrives and ferries us to the other side and we make our way to the festhall where our contact is to meet us. As we round the last corner we can see a fight outside that is being broken up by the city guard. The human guards are standing around watching the ghoul guards break everything up in the grim and grizzly fashion of the undead. Waiting until they've dispersed we then enter the festhall.

A blonde bar wench gets as far as asking us what we want when a brunette literally knocks her out of the way and down to the floor replying. "Better than you, bitch." The blonde seethes for a moment and Illuverin wonders if there's going to be fight but the brunette doesn't flinch and the other girl crawls away.

"Come gentlemen. A more private place has been arranged." She leads us to a private room and excuses herself. Caland and Jaret are looking carefully around the room when she returns with a tray, laden with drinks, which she puts on the table. Then she closes the door and returns to the table placing upon it a small obelisk produced from somewhere in the folds of her cloak.

After verifying that the emblems we wear are indeed of Estarria she tells us that the obelesk is an anti-scrying device and that she is the contact we are here to meet. She tells us that the Machine is located at the Crypt of Red Hall in one of the crypts of the first Tharchness and is able to draw us a good map showing the best way to reach it through the city. We are to use one of the back entrances, reserved for the city guard, and go immediately downstairs. She is also able to provide two red robes so that two of us may be disguised as Wizards of Thay.

Deciding that the best approach is a direct one we hit upon the plan of having Caland and A'Tora, disguised as red wizards, accompanying Lew, Illuverin and Erin, as mercenary, who are escorting a prisoner, Jaret disguised as a gnome, to the crypts for imprisonment.

Exiting out a secret door into a back alley we leave the festhall and get a gondola to take us to a point near the Crypt. Going around to the back entrance Illuverin makes a show of prodding the prisoner at swordpoint through the open door which is guarded by skeletons. Once inside we see a staircase off to one side and head straight for it. Going down we pass unchallenged through another door guarded by skeletons and find ourselves in a shadowy passageway lined with cell doors. At the far wall is a gnome (Giblet, whom some of the group have encountered before) chained to the back wall and as we aproach he begins to speak excitedly.

"Erin. Oh Erin you've come to rescue me." Then he sees the red robes and begins to wail. "Oh no! If Erin's turned to evil then there's no hope for the world." He cringes away from us back against the wall.

Before any of us can say anything a guard comes out one of the doors bellowing. "What's going on out here you worthless little...."

When he sees Caland and A'Tora in the red robes his eyes get very wide and he nearly falls all over himself apologizing for his condition. Seizing the opportunity Lew uses this to our advantage.

"Never mind your condition." He says in a superior officer tone of voice. "All that is required of you is obedience. We've brought another slug to join his sorry kin. Get your keys we'll be taking him there now."

"This one too!" Erin says pointing his sword at the gnome chained just ahead. "I want them all together."

The guard begins to protest but Caland, with the slightest lifting of a red robed arm, seems to change his mind and he quickly retrieves his keys to unlock Giblet. Then, when he sees that we are waiting for him, the guard leads us back into his quarters where he opens a secret door in the wall. Continuing through a small cooridor we come to another door, which the guard opens and goes through. As he does Illuverin notices him reach for a certain spot behind the door frame and as the half elf crosses the threshold he looks back, smiling as he sees the "safety" mechanism the man triggered. We pass through a T intersection and again take a set of descending stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs the group enters a large room and turns toward the right. It is then that two skeletons, with charcoal glowing eyes pop out of the wall to attack us.

MELEE

Illuverin ducks the first blow scrambling ahead to get away and let those better equipped deal with these monsters. Advancing in the direction the guard had been heading Illuverin comes to a junction. Ahead he sees another crypt room, to the right and empty dark cooridor and to the left another cooridor dimly lit at the end with a strange pinkish glow. Then from the left he hears a small gnomish voice warning that the snakes are coming. Illuverin tenses, trying to shut out the sound of the battle behind him, and listen carefully for any other voices or sounds.

By now the guard leading us down here, Lew, Erin and Jaret are fully employed by the battle with the skeletons. Looking back Illuverin sees Caland and A'Tora headed towards him having slipped around the battle. After a brief discussion the three of them decide to head left.

[At his point it is important to note that during the battle with the skeletons Erin is teleported, by one of the skeletons and quite against his will, to a location further down into the crypts.]

As we follow the corridor the pinkish glow grows gradually brighter until we come to a room with a glowing pink dust devil whirling madly about. As we approach it begins to come toward us and Illuverin can see gently dancing points of light within.

"Get back!" A'Tora commands. "You are powerless against that." Illuverin gladly gets behind his companions, especially when he sees both calling the forces of heavy magic into play. Suddenly the air crackles with energy and a roaring wind rises from behind us. At first Illuverin is unable to decide which is the stronger magic but after a moment the dust devils progress stops and it is pushed back against the far wall, compressed but not disbursed.

"Come on... while we've got the chance." Caland leads us through at a run and as they pass Illuverin is sure he can hear in his mind the howling of the damned.

They come through another small corridor into a room where Erin is engaged in a battle with the nastiest looking purplish-black snakes Illuverin thought he could imagine. Big ones with human heads and faces. Illuverin begins attacking the creatures with his bow selecting the enchanted arrows. Caland and A'Tora each begin another spell and Erin is elbow deep in gore, swinging his sword with deadly efficiency. After a few minutes all but one of the creatures have been dispatched. The one surviving had the bad luck of being on the receiving end of one of A'Tora's spells and had escaped after being reduced to only 20% of it's original size. There is great cheering coming from behind a portculus where a large group of gnomes has been watching the battle.

As we enter this room it becomes obvious by the markings on the wall that we hace reached the Crypt of the Tharchness. Illuverin goes over to address the lock on the portculus. He finds and removes a rather nasty needle trap and then makes quick work of the lock itself. Unfortunately he is no match for the portculus itself and Erin is called over to raise it, which he does making it look easy. We ask the gnomes, who are truly the worse for their captivity, if they know where the machine is. Leading us back into the room where the battle took place all they can tell us is that it's here somewhere.

Armed with this knowledge, their elven eyes for detail, and the magic of Caland and A'Tora we are soon able to discover the machine's location. It's not at all what Illuverin expected but he has no time for investigations as Caland produces the scroll we have carried so far for just this momnet. As he reads it the machine seems to get kind of silvery around the edges, then it grows transparent, and finally, just in time with the last word spoken and the scroll itself consumed, the machine is gone.

"Now lets get the hell out of here." Illuverin gathers eight of the gnomes around him and gets the Stone of Recall out of his pocket. "Don't be long." he says to Caland and Atora.

"We wont, don't worry." Caland says.

Illuverin nods and dashes the stone to the floor. There's an odd rushing sensation as the crypt around him fades only to be replaced a moment later by Highspirits cabin on the ship. He immediatly cautions the gnomes to silence. "The ship may be being watched. We need to get you down into the hold as unobtrusively as possible. Come on."

They step out of the cabin just in time as the next group appears to take their place. Outside visibility has been reduced to about twenty feet by the thickest, most blanketing fog Illuverin has ever seen. He can not even see the ships docked nearby much less the docks or any of the city. Then Highspirits tells him they're already under way and Illuverin doesn't feel quite so worried, glad that they're past manuvering through port. Within a few minutes everyone has returned to the ship and there is time for a collective sigh of relief. Jaret has been badly wounded. Lew and Erin not so badly but Highspirits is able to help al of them with a few healing spells.

After a while we break through the fog which closes like a wall behind us. A'Tora casts another Gust of Wind to speed us along and we sail throughout the night. At first light Highspirits sings his magical prayer and the ship takes flight again.

It's hot and Illuverin is tired but their mission is behind them, a success. Now all there is to do is get home.