October 7, 2006

Return to Sorcerer's Isle

Having acquired the second Mirror Portal, our stalwart heroes returned home to rest and recuperate. The newer members of the group had all learned valuable lessons in their adventure with their seasoned team leaders, and were eager to get back to Sorcerer's Island so that they could study and apply their experience. Meanwhile, Brecaryn Gentleharp studied the collected notes and maps regarding the Isle of Dread that were left with Beeblebrox by Lashtal the Bard. After a week of recovery, Beeblebrox called the team together for another group dinner. Chyekk had taken Synchromie, Portentia, and Turtle on an expedition to the south, so the team was down a few members. Beeblebrox reminded the party that the reason they were sent after the mirror was to solve the transportation problem: due to the Troubles it was impossible to travel at night. Now that Brecaryn was familiar with the mystical workings of the Mirror Portal, she could transport the group back to Sorcerer's Isle at any time. With that issue settled, Beeblebrox explained the next step in putting an end to the Troubles.

In an earlier adventure, the veteran team members had discovered a jade disc. Leento was told by the Druidic Council that the disc was somehow key to the defeat of the Red Bull that had been destroying all of Chumera's unicorns. The answer to the mystery of the jade disc's function was on the Isle of Dread.

Brecaryn then explained that based on her research, there was a group of natives on the Isle called Tanaroans who caused considerable trouble for past visitors and also controlled access to the Isle's mainland. The Tanaroans were worshipers of the death god Zebu. In order to appease the Tanaroans, the party should bring a Zebuan artifact to present to the Tanaroans and earn their loyalty. In Lashtal's notes, Brecaryn found the location of a Temple of Zebu that had not been stamped out by Lord Phantar. Leento, Malouf, and Snow recognized the name of Zebu as the god that their deranged former party member Raistlin worshiped.

So the party had to go to the Temple of Zebu, get an artifact, take it to the Isle of Dread and give(?) show(?) it to the Tanaroans, and then search the Isle of Dread to discover the mystery of the jade disc, which would then reveal how to defeat the Red Bull. After explaining the sequence of events that had to occur to her party several times, eventually resorting to diagrams and sock puppets, she finally got them to understand, and they were off. Their first step was to travel through North Luka to Betaya, where they could secure a seaworthy vessel.

Journey to the big city

In North Luka they met up with Emcil, the merchant they had previously rescued from an attack by the Broken Bone orcs. In return for providing him an escort (no, not that type of an escort, although Leento does look rather fetching in a dress), Emcil agreed to purchase the necessary horses and wagons to travel to Betaya. Along the way to Betaya, in a seemingly pointless tangent, Snow and Malouf stopped to help another group of merchants who had broken a wagon wheel. Due to their supernatural speed, they were able to repair the wheel and then catch up with the rest of the party who raced ahead on horses due to the fact that the journey to Betaya was a long one and they had to make it there before nightfall.

Unfortunately, as they continued their journey, Flerm, Leiralyn, and Malouf were lured by strange singing into a wooded grove by the side of the road. The singing was by a flock of three harpies, strange creatures with the upper torsos of old hags and the bottom halves and wings of vultures. They attacked their ensnared meal-to-be, infecting Leiralyn and Malouf with a poison that allowed the harpies to possess them. Leaving Brecaryn and Josy behind with the cart and the Mirror, the rest of the group charged into the woods after their teammates. Due to the harpies' possession, however, the group soon found themselves fighting each other. Between the harpies' attacks and their own self-inflicted wounds, the party was in dire straits, with Leiralyn being knocked unconscious and Flerm killed. Brecaryn, watching the battle through the eyes of her new owl familiar, rushed from the cart into the battle, killing one of the harpies with a magical blast, freeing some of the party from possession. After a difficult fight, the group eventually defeated the foul creatures and rushed back to the cart with Flerm's corpse. Ay-yi-yi, what a mess!

The Dungeon Master had given Portentia a few high level cleric spell scrolls, including a Raise Dead spell, just in case something like Flerm dying happened to the party in its early adventures. Unfortunately, Portentia left the party, forcing the DM to throw in a hasty retcon. Suddenly Josy had received the spell scrolls from Portentia before they parted company! Flerm was ressurected, a little weaker and more cognizent of his mortality, but able to continue the quest. With no more ressurection scrolls in their possession, however, the party was a litte less secure, and a little more wary of a Dungeon Master who would pit a group of newbies against nasty harpies. Little did they know what was still to come...

The party arrived at Betaya just as the gates were closing. After bribing the gate watchman to allow Leento's bear companion into the city, they parted ways with Emcil. The group then split up, with some going shopping and some relaxing at the Belching Wench tavern. Leento and Flerm went to the docks to see about getting passage on a boat.

Temple of the Death God

The next morning Leento and Flerm led the party to the Bobbing Barnacle, the finest ship in Betaya's harbor. They were each led to below-deck quarters, and the ship set sail to the north, along Chumera's coastline, heading towards the spot where Brecaryn believed the Temple of Zebu was hidden.

After settling in, Malouf decided to travel above deck and chat with the sailors:

Malouf: Hello, sailor! I greet you. In my homeland, I am skilled boat-man. It is not good for me to just sit and wait. I would like to help you pilot this craft.

Sailor: ...

Malouf: You do not speak to me?

Sailor: ...

Malouf: Hmm. I do not understand. I may have offended you. Goodbye.

Later, Lerialyn came out of her quarters. She had been travelling for days and was feeling unclean. She went to look for a sailor.

Lieralyn: Umm, can I get some hot water and soap brought to my room?

Sailor: ...

Lieralyn: Ummmmm, hello?

Sailor: ...

Lieralyn: How rude.

After a day of sailing, Brecaryn spotted a beach in the area where Lashtal's map indicated the temple would be, so they dropped anchor and rowed to shore in the ship's lifeboats, leaving the Mirror in the care of their closemouthed conveyors. After searching on the beach, Malouf found a cave hidden behind a large boulder Meanwhile, Leento summoned a pair of pixies from the surrounding Malta Woods and spoke with them, in hopes of learning more about the Temple. Instead Frank and Kim said they knew very little about the Cave but told him that trolls had overrun the forest. Torn between his current mission and his need to protect the woodlands, Leento eventually decided to enter the cave.

The party entered the cave and found a large statue of a hooded skeleton. Behind it were a pair of double-doors. They entered the doorway and saw a priest. They chased him down a series of corridors and found themselves in a large room. In the room was a giant demon trapped inside a pentagram, and a group of priests and skeletons and ghouls. The demon was able to cast spells at the group even though it was trapped. After a long fight, the party defeated everyone except the demon, who seemed to have given up and was now demanding that the party free it. Surely no one would free a demon, and most characters began leaving the room. Suddenly Alana, the chaotic elf, rushed forward and distrupted the pentagram, freeing the demon.

I'll repeat that:

Suddenly Alana the chaotic elf rushed forward and distrupted the pentagram, freeing the demon.

The demon, of course, immediately attacked her and, easily crushing her body, began attacking everyone else. Disgusted, Leento left the room, to the surprise of Malouf who rushed to attack the creature, shouting at Leento to engage. While Malouf, Brecaryn, and a badly injured Snow kept the demon occupied, Leento rallied the remaing members of the group and they charged the demon, tackling it and bringing it to the ground. Malouf administered the final blow with his dark blade, resulting in an awful cracking sound as all the energy in the room seemed to be sucked through the sword and into the lanky barbarian.

After the battle, the party searched the corpses of the priests, finding a few small pendants with symbols of the Death God. It was unclear if these were the artifacts they were looking for, or if they needed to delve deeper into the Temple of Zebu which had already caused them so much hardship...

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