Date: 5/8/99

Players: JC, Kathi, Chris, Nancy, Davy

Characters: Rio, DM & Dre, Raagnar, Sarana (Natasha), Tensil
 

   Several hours after sunrise there is some commotion in the forest as the creatures Rio had set to the task of alerting him to intruders carry out their work with noisy efficiency.   Raagnar, Dre and Sarana arrive mid-morning and after several minutes of handshakes and hugs the group spends an hour or so getting reaquainted.   Lothar seems slightly in awe of Raagnar and Dre but takes immediately to Sarana and her cheery disposition.   When the subject of family comes up Glow goes up to get Arial who hasn't yet come down for introductions.  When she returns a few minutes later and says that she can not find Arial anywhere Rio begins to worry and starts toward his wife who is heading inside to look there.

   All of a sudden what appears to be a crystal shard is dropped at Rio's feet and looking up he sees a small sparrow.   It twitters at him and then heads off to resume its business.   Examining the shard without picking it up Rio can see that there are glyphs written on one side.   The druid's face becomes ashen as he reads the elvish runes.

   "She has your daughter and will kill her next."

   Picking up the shard to see if there is anything else written on it he finds more runes on the reverse.   When he reads them aloud a Rainbow Bridge sprouts from the shard and rises up toward a dark cloud that is overhead.   All of a sudden Rio and Dre, Raagnar, and Sarana, who were within 10 feet of him, rise rapidly into the air and are somehow transported along the arc of the rainbow.   It happens so quickly that by the time Rio can look over to Glow she, and the land itself, are far below.   After only a few seconds they find themselves standing on the cloud itself.   Ahead of them, on the cloud, is an odd castle-like structure with six towers colored red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.   Behind them the rainbow fades away and they can see the ground far below.

   Estimating their height to be about 1000 feet Rio again looks at the shard he still holds in his hand.   Turning it over again reveals yet another set of runes but this time Rio does not read them aloud.   It's a simple rhyme that is obviously the reverse of the "up" invocation and the druid puts it safely away in an inner pocket.

   "Well that was interesting." Sarana says checking herself and new familiar.  Natasha, the cat, hops out of her arms and begins to head away toward the edge of the cloud behind them.   When she gets close to the edge her paws begin to sink into nothingness and she wails in terror and returns at full speed to hop up onto the bard's shoulders.

   Turning their attention to the structure ahead the group heads toward a crystal gate that is between the yellow and green towers.  It has no visible means of opening and Raagnar bangs on it several times but nothing happens.   Dre can find no method of opening.    It occurs to Rio that the shard may be the key and he looks for anything that might indicate a keyhole.   Finding nothing of the sort he shrugs and simply touches the shard to the gate.   When he does it slides open noiselessly revealing a chamber that is 50 feet wide and 75 feet long.   There are three normal doors on the left wall, two on the right and a set of double doors on the far wall.   There are also two suits of armor, one on each side of the wall, and as they advance into the room the one on the left speaks in a booming voice.

   "Who dares enter the keep of Arenia, goddess of beauty."

   Other than the loud reverberations nothing else happens and after a few tense moments Rio goes to examine the first door on the left.   He calls to Dre who listens at the door and reports something moving around quietly.   Raagnar also comes over to investigate and when Rio comments that he is unwilling to leave any area uninvestigated in the search for his daughter the barbarian opens the door and steps inside.   As he does he is attacked by two stone gargoyle like creatures.

MELEE

   During the battle two more creatures fly in through a hole in the roof and join the battle.   These however are fleshy rather than stone and seem to be easier to hit.

   A few rounds into the battle Sarana yells to get out of the room.   Whirling around Rio sees the bard backing out of the doorway going back into the main chamber.   He is set to follow but Dre is surrounded and instead of leaving the room Rio goes to attack the creatures on her hoping to clear the way so the half-elf can escape.   Unfortunately, a whole new group of humans in armor comes bursting through the door and into battle.   Rio casts Hold Person on the large man in front and he freezes in his tracks, two handed sword clenched tightly in his hands.

   The battle continues for several more rounds.   Just as they dispatch the last of the fighters Sarana, a male elf, and a dark-haired human woman come into the room.   Rio immediately casts Detect Evil and scans them all.   None are evil but when he looks at the dark-haired woman her face, the one from his nightmares, is oddly blank and expressionless.   Sarana introduces the elf as Tensil, a mage who was trapped here by the same power that has taken Arial.

   "Her." She says pointing to the woman.   "Or the real one anyway.   This one is an illusion created by Tensil"
 
   Tensil has obviously been beaten nearly to death and Rio, seeing the limp, bruises, and possible cracked ribs, immediately casts Cure Critical Wounds on him.   He also casts Cures Serious Wounds on Dre who also took some fairly heavy damage in the battle.

   Tensil says that if Arial is being held anywhere it's probably in the purple tower that contains the throne room and he takes a few steps toward the door back to the main entryway chamber they had originally come into.

   "Wait!"  Rio says.   "Let's find out for sure.   Gather around for a moment."   He casts Protection from Evil 10' Radius and then Locate Object concentrating on Arial's clothing.   He does get an indication of direction, meaning that they are within the range of the spell, and it seems to confirm Tensil's hypothesis.   "Let's go."

   The group returns to the large chamber and is heading toward the double doors at the far end when a man comes screaming from the far door on the right and bolts past the group with blind panic in his eyes.   For a moment Rio is concerned that whatever scared him might come out to attack us but Sarana eases his fear.

   "Don't worry." She says watching the man flee with some amusement.   "We set several of the guards to the task of removing... whatever that thing in there is.   Hopefully they'll do us the favor of eliminating each other and it will be just one less thing we have to concern ourselves with."

   The druid chuckles and looks from Sarana to Dre to Raagnar.   "I have missed you guys."   He says smiling.

   Sarana winks at him.   "Come on." She says.   "Let's go find your daughter."

End of Session