Death Comes Part 2 - Through the Portal

The Crew: Bear [Ian], Dexter [Jamie], Gillard [Kevin], Myrtle [Andrew], Oliver [Jeff], Ouzo [Darryl], Scuttle [Chris], Tu [Shane], with Debbie [Stephen] succumb to the Marmalade and lying about the place.

We were all standing at the bottom of the shaft that Oliver had opened, and that Dexter had burnt out. Black smoke still coiled off the walls and other contents of the room and drifted around. The stone trapdoor had been pulled closed above us and the air was dead still. The smoke was not dissipating, so we were trying to keep low and breathe shallowly. Bear was coughing, as his head was up near the ceiling. 

The charred door
courtesy of Dexter

The room was square, about twenty foot to each side, and hacked roughly out of the rock. There were five barred gates into small cells along one side, opposite the shaft and ladder that we had just descended. On our left a closed and well charred door led off somewhere else, and in the centre of the room was the charred and smoking body of a large skeletal dog. The guard dog!

Myrtle was still invisible and she gave a little squeal from somewhere in front of the door as the electrical trap was triggered. An awful hullabaloo also started screeching as the Alarm on the door handle also went off. She had tried to open the door!

"Why didn't you ask us to check for traps?" yelled Ouzo over the screaming alarm.

"Too slow" replied Myrtle from somewhere near the door, "we can't waste ten minutes here"

"Well, I don't think there are any traps left now" stated Ouzo.

Scuttle was off poking around near the cell doors, so Ouzo slipped his lock picks into the keyhole and fiddled around. 

"You've busted the lock too" Ouzo complained, stepping back from the door.

"Let me" puffed Scuttle as he hurried across from the cells.

Snick ...

A well lit passage lead straight off for about fifteen feet, where there was a four-way intersection.

Dexter's cat Cellar is scared.

Cellar's (Dexter's friendly cat) fur was standing on end like he was charged up with electricity and he was hissing loudly enough to be heard over the screeching alarm noise, and Oliver's black dagger was vibrating in his fist.

"Um, do you hear that?" Oliver asked.

"What?" replied Tu.

"Some kind of chanting, from up ahead there. Can't you hear it?"

The element of surprise definitely lost, we hurried up the corridor towards the intersection, Bear in the lead and itching for battle. Gillard was running hard behind him, not wanting to miss any action.

"To the left" yelled Oliver from the back, "definitely to the left."

"We shouldn't listen to him" muttered Tu, "he's one of them"

Oliver was feeling very strong compulsions to abandon the party and rush forward towards the distant chanting that only he could hear. In fact he occasionally started forward to do just that, but as he tried to push past the others someone would grab him, and he would "wake" up and return to the back.

Scuttle pulled the door closed behind him and relocked it.

"Just in case anything follows" he noted.

The three directions from the intersection all led off to closed doors not too far away. Bear turned left and rushed up to the door there. "I'm not touching it though" he stated.

Myrtle pushed forward and flung the door open. [Myrtle was visible again now. She is also a priestess of VINGT-ET-UN and has a seriously good saving through, against everything, on account of her high LUK stat. She also has a re-roll opportunity so she is the perfect trap triggerer when the party is short of time. Myrtle, or Debbie who is similarly lucky, but was currently prevented from such activities due to her Marmalade status.]

The door led into a very comfortable looking and well appointed Lounge room. It was empty, of people, but there were some nice comfortable armchairs and couches. Debbie slumped into one. There was one other entrance out of this room. A closed door on the opposite wall.

"Oh, look at that" exclaimed Scuttle.

He had noticed a very nice painting of Ophelia Treacle's house on one of the walls. Oliver walked over for a closer look, but of course had no spells except a few more Magic Missiles. 

"Check this out" said Oliver, and spun the painting carefully by the edge of its frame. As the painting rotated through ninety degrees, a different picture appeared in the frame. He rotated it around a full three-sixty and it changed four times. Each ninety degree rotation revealed one of four different scenes.

The visible invisible warrior

But before Oliver could do anything else, Gillard yelled from the centre of the room. A cut short wail of surprise and pain as an invisible figure launched a massive attack at her. She flew backwards and crumpled to the floor unconscious. Bear leapt forward to engage the figure, a man dressed in splint mail armour and wielding a shield and long-sword. He was big, nearly as big as Bear, and tougher looking! Bear's swing was easily blocked by this guy, and his return strike thunked solidly through Bear's own chain-mail armour.

Dexter and Tu moved in for the next melee round while Ouzo sliped around behind. Bear and Dexter both missed, but Tu struck into the joint between the breastplate and vambrace. The fighter jerked back and Tu's sword jerked back with him. It was stuck in his armour. [Tu rolled a 1 followed by another low result that "missed", a fumble. Fortunately, or not, he then rolled a 17 on the fumble table, "Hit so well that your weapon is wrenched out of your hand, Loose weapon. Do normal damage." His damage roll was six, minus four for the armour, dealing two points of damage.]

As the tough fighter pulled back with Tu's sword lodged in his armour, Ouzo struck from behind and sliced him across the back. [Ouzo rolled a twenty followed by a "hit". A critical hit, with seven rolled on the critical hit table. One extra damage and ignores the targets four point armour reduction. Also a nasty enough wound for him to suffer minus one to the rest of his attack rolls for the combat duration.]

The combat went on for another few rounds, Bear unable to get a decent hit, leaving Dexter to wield the killing blow. Oliver did discharge a Magic Missile, but against four points of armour they are not particularly effective, so only one point of damage inflicted.

"Gosh" said Oliver, "I nearly shot that at you Dexter. I suspect that I will become an obstacle soon if something isn't done about this strange mental compulsion"

[Oliver was having to roll a saving through against magic every time he tried to do anything. A fail would mean that his will would be overcome by the evil emanations from MALECHAI, and he would likely act against the party. Or head off towards the room on the other side of the door to peruse whatever evil purposes MALECHAI had in mind. Not good.]

"Better lay me out" suggested Oliver. 

Oliver took a seat in one of the other comfortable armchairs and Scuttle obliged, rendering Oliver unconscious. Scuttle looked up with a big grin. 

"Wanted to do that for ages" he stated.

Oliver's dagger drops to the floor and and slides along the floor on its own. It scutters across to the door, where it lodges against the crack, vibrating and chattering against the door. It wanted in!

We wanted in too. The low chanting that Oliver was hearing earlier could now be heard faintly from the other side of the door. Whatever was going on in there seemed to be be heading to a crescendo. Myrtle flung open the door and steeped back. The fighters prepared for action.

Another dark shrine to MALECHAI. The centre of the room was dominated by a black stone altar. A body lay slumped across it, blood leaking across the top of the altar, and a huge shimmering figure of a women stood on the far side, her arms raised towards the roof, and chanting in some unknown language.

Oliver's dagger leapt forward across the floor and thunked against the base of the altar, splashing up a small wave of blood, which seemed to get absorbed by the dagger. It's vibrating could now be heard, a sharp and high-frequency humming.

The strange woman's chanting reached a loud finale.

A firestorm erupts from the room

From the doorway, Dexter, Ouzo, and Tu fired off magical arrows. Only Ouzo hit. 

Then the fighters rushed into the room to take her out, just as a massive fireball of flame exploded from the altar and blasted out of the room, through the doorway, and across the lounge. 

Bear toppled back and fell to the floor unmoving.

Ouzo toppled back and fell to the floor unmoving.

Dexter toppled back and fell to the floor unmoving.

Scuttle toppled back and fell to the floor unmoving.

Gillard was already on the floor,
and the flames washed over her unmoving form.

Debbie slumped further down where she was sitting,
 in her armchair, unmoving.

Oliver was unconscious on another armchair,
and the flames also washed over his unmoving form.

"Umm" stated Myrtle, smoke rising from her singed hair, "I have no spells left"

"Umm" noted Tu, smoke puffing off his armour, "There are no more potions"

A quick check revealed that there was nothing left alive in the altar room, but that no one in the party had actually expired.

"Thank VINGT-ET-UN" exclaimed Myrtle.

Myrtle rushed across to the altar and tied up the body of the woman which was lying on the ground next to the altar. Tu then rushed over and stabbed her through the heart with his magic sword. Her body crumbled into black dust which swirled up into a shimmering column, hung suspended in the air for a few seconds, and then collapsed back into a pile on the ground.

"Shit" exclaimed Tu, as he raked through the dust and pulled out a hairclip, a dagger, and a ring. 

Myrtle cautiously used a piece of cloth to wrap up Oliver's dagger and drop it into her backpack. It had stopped vibrating as the explosion went off, and wasn't looking as black and nasty as it had previously.

From the body of the fighter in the lounge, Tu recovered a key and passed it to Myrtle.

"Better get some spells back" suggested Tu, looking down at all the unconscious party members.

"No connection to VINGT-ET-UN" complained Myrtle, "No resting or spells possible"

They looked at each other, slight signs of panic dawning in their eyes.

"Let's try back down here" Myrtle suggested, heading back to the four-way intersection of passages and going left. Slipping the key into the lock, she gave it a quiet turn and eased open the door. 

An unoccupied study, no other way out, and nothing of use to be found. 

The door back into the original entry room was locked, and not by this key, no way out there.

The door at the end of the third passage was locked. The key didn't fit there either. No way out.

"Soooo ..." wondered Tu, looking at the painting on the wall of the Lounge.

The four scenes that could be revealed there included Ophelia's house back in Toluene, the Penstoke farmhouse where Hayley Price lived with her husband and two kids, the Ravished Incubus Inn at Trino, and someone's study. 

The picture shows a study!

"Where is that study?" wondered Tu, "I don't recognise it"

"Nope" replied Myrtle, "we have never been there"

It seemed the safest option. Even though we did not know what might be there, we did know the others were either destroyed or definitely had occupants.

"If I'm not back in five minutes" stated Myrtle, "Chuck everyone through and follow"

Myrtle set the picture to the unknown study, reached out, and touched the centre of the picture.

"Pop"

Tu nervously waited five minutes, and then started dragging bodies across to the painting, lifting them up and cautiously laying their hands against the canvas. He slung the splint mail, shield, long-sword, and other miscellaneous items recovered on various members of the party and sent them all through.

Giving a last look around the room, Tu laid his own hand against the canvas. "Pop"

Myrtle had appeared in the study depicted by the painting and had immediately touched the painting on the wall behind her. No effect.

The room was empty, and slightly dusty. No one had been in here for some time! Peering out through the window Myrtle could see a pretty normal street. A few small houses were visible across the other side of the street. And no people. It was daytime. Off to the left it looked like the outskirts of a town, and not much different off to the right. Myrtle was sure she had never seen this place before.

"Better make some space for the others" she thought, "Less than five minutes"

Then the unconscious started appearing, one by one. Myrtle dragged them across the study floor and arranged them comfortably in the recovery position. Once Tu appeared she was ready for a decent rest and spell recovery. Tu stood watch.

Some three hours later Myrtle was able to cast a full suite of Healing spells and bring everyone around. Still injured in the case of Bear and Ouzo, but all awake and alert.

Oliver was feeling anxious about his dagger. 

Myrtle reported that it had been left on the other side of the portal.

The room was searched. Letters mentioning a bunch of familiar witch's names were found. The usual suspects. At least they were not here themselves.

The house was searched. Scuttle found some sweet smelling small bags, there of them.

"Don't open those" yelled Myrtle.

Too late. A small puff of powder and Scuttle's head vanished.

Fortunately it was just invisible, which caused much hilarity.

The mistresses red dungeon

The customary cellar below the kitchen contained a well appointed mistresses dungeon! Red themed.

Which also caused much hilarity. You can imagine!

Dexter stretched out on the back of a couch, and literally purred!

More papers revealed that this was the home of an Elizabeth Winchester.

A name we had not come across before. 

She had the coven symbol on the door so we added her name to the list of confirmed coven members.

Once we were absolutely certain the house was empty and not trapped, we settled in for more rest. Oliver and Myrtle undertook another full round of spell recovery.

Scuttle hunted out all the nocks and crannies, including a secret compartment in one of the desks.

A fancy looking letter opener and four vials of liquid. The vials were investigated and revealed to be two of Healing, one of Remove Paralysis, and one of Diminution. 

Dexter and Myrtle ventured out into the town to see where we were.

Panma apparently. With a large REAL church and barracks. 

Into which we moved after vacating witch's house.

We also hear that there is a magical wanted poster that has just appeared on the town guard notice board. An accurate likeness of Oliver, with a complete and accurate description. Five thousand gold reward. Report to Annie Wallace to collect. Another name we don't know.

The local master of the Panma Wizard's Guild (more a single room Bed and Breakfast place than a real guild) was so pathetic that he was unable to assist Oliver in his training, [Oliver was ready to advance to level three and needed a level five Wizard to "train" him.] so the party decide to move on to Gazebo.

Panma and its locale 

Gazebo was just a few days away, had a decent Wizard's Guild. And we could always double back to Penstoke. Penstoke was where the the farmhouse of Hayley Price was located. She was the Penstoke based witch that we had found, but bypassed, some weeks back. It was her farmhouse that was the initial image on the portal painting we discovered in the underground lair on the Saucy Lake island. 

Tu figured the witches had fled from us to that location. "I told you we should have gone there first" he crowed.

We snuck out of Panma and took the two day joinery to Gazebo. While camped out overnight around half way there, we observe five-six humanoid figures that passed nearby. They were hunting for something, maybe us, but we let them pass. The rest of the night was uneventful, as was the next day. We did encounter a mounted patrol of suspicious soldiers just outside of Gazebo, but Oliver keeps himself hidden, and Ouzo doesn't speak,

"Why is he rolling in the dust?" askes their captain.

Sure enough, Dexter is laying down on the road and rolling in the dust.

"Touched" whispers Myrtle.

And they rode on.

We take a couple of rooms in an Inn and keep a low profile. 

Oliver slips into the Wizard's Guild for his training.

Three uneventful days pass.

...

Death Comes Part 1 - A View From Above.

The crew: The Big One [Ian], The Skinny One [Jamie], The Little She [Kevin], The Pretty One [Andrew], The Dark One [Jeff], The Sneaky One [Darryl], The Little He [Chris], The Elf [Shane], with The Blind One [Steven] succumb to the Marmalade and lying about the place.

“Find the intruders” mistress commanded.

Watch the intruders” mistress commanded.

“Follow the intruders” mistress commanded.

“And tell me” mistress commanded.

That witch was so bossy, and sometimes my avian brain could not grasp her instructions. But since we had bonded, I was much better at understanding her. This should be pretty easy; find, watch, follow, report. No problems.

Swooping down from the tower

I swooped down from the top of the watch tower where I maintained my local nest, her instructions still ringing in my head. Her impressions were very strong, she sure was in a thunderous mood. Something must have upset her dreadfully. Probably these intruders.

The upper was dark and cloudy today, and there was wet in the air. A blustery wind was rumbling in from Klibward, rolling over the top of the rim and tumbling down into the crater. It was pushing the surface of the lake into waves and tearing the tops of the waves off and tossing the wet into the air.

A tattered column of black smoke was rising from the end of the island. But it was shredding into streamers as the blustery wind pounded on it. Things were happening. I would start my search there.

Tucking my wings in tight, I dove down towards the smoke and caught the hot air billowing up out of the cave. As I spiralled up and around the outside of the smoke column, I spotted a group of people scattered around the cave entrance. These must be the intruders. Found!

Two nasty gargoyles

They were clustered around two piles of shattered rocks in the small clearing outside the cave. But they seemed agitated about something. The Elf was gesturing up at the sky, away from where I circled, towards the middle of the island. Probably at the two gargoyle sisters who were streaking down towards them. That would agitate me too.

The Elf and the Pretty One flung some missiles towards them, and then the Big One, the Little She, and the Elf all stepped forward to meet them. The Sneaky One and the Little He were lurking in the fringe of the green nearby and began moving cautiously through the green around to the opposite side of the clearing.

The Dark One was standing near the smoking cave, peering into the smoke, and coughing violently as the wind puffed clouds of smoke at him. The Dark One appeared to be distracted though, muttering strange words, and occasionally straightening up and staring directly towards the centre of the island and the distant alter. Strange, there no way he could see that far through the forested hillside.

The Blind One sat on the ground, head down, arms clasped around her knees.

There was a rapid flurry of combat in the clearing and the Big One toppled back and crashed to the ground with a reverberating thump. At the same time, the Sneaky One launched from the green and stabbed his pointy into the back of one of the gargoyle sisters, and retreated back into the green.

The Pretty One stepped over the top of the Big One and engaged with the gargoyle sister. The Pretty One was wielding a large black staff that had suddenly appeared from nowhere.

There was another rapid flurry of combat and the Little She toppled back and rolled to the ground, her pointy flying from her hand and landing near the edge of the green. Little She did not move.

The Little He slipped out of the green and retrieved the pointy. Then Little He slipped back into the green and out of sight.

There was another rapid flurry of combat and the Pretty One toppled back and slumped to the ground. The Pretty One’s leg was badly mangled, strangely bent, and was gushing blood. The Pretty One was not moving.

At the same time, the Sneaky One and the Little He suddenly appeared from the green again and jumped at the gargoyle sisters. The Sneaky One stabbed his pointy into the neck of one gargoyle sister, and the Little He stabbed Little She’s pointy into the thigh of the other.

One of the gargoyle sisters toppled, the pointy locked firmly into her thigh, until she hit the ground and shattered into a pile of rocks. The Little He cackled hilariously and retrieved the pointy from the pile.

The Elf then engaged the remaining gargoyle sister while the Sneaky One and Little He fluttered around the fringe of the mele taking swipes when occasion permitted.

At one point the Little He stumbled and fell into the Sneaky One and Little He’s arms got tangled up in Sneaky One’s legs. So comical. [Chris rolled a 1 on his attack roll, followed by a second roll that would have missed. A fumble. His D20 fumble roll was 7, “Stumble into ally. Both at -4 OV next round”. Chris, the Little He, was at -4 OV for the next round as well, so would be much easier to hit, if the gargoyle went for him.]

During the fight, the Dark One had spun around from the cave mouth and purposely strode off towards the centre of the island. I stayed to watch.

Eventually the battle concluded, the last gargoyle sister being overcome and finally shattering into another pile of rocks. The Elf rushed over to the Pretty One and wrapped her in some white cloth, which immediately stained red.

The Little He rushed over to the cave and did something in the cavemouth with two jar things that he pulled from his backpack.

The Sneaky One dragged The Pretty One out of the clearing and into the green, while the Elf did the same for the Big One and the Little She. The Blind One staggered over to join them in the green.

“Follow them” the witch had commanded. Most of them were clustered here in the green, and the Dark One was on the move. I would follow him now.

Leaving the updraft of the smoke column I glided above the Dark One as he strode purposefully along the narrow trail towards the centre of the island. As he started the shallow climb towards the top of the rise and the witch’s altar there, I spotted the Skinny One ahead, crouched in the green at the side of the altar clearing.

The blood stained altar

The clearing was otherwise empty. The altar had been recently used, fresh blood pooling on the top of the alter and trickling along the carved gutters and down the sides. The witches had been busy. The Black Pit was closed.

The Dark One crested the rise and went straight to the alter. He obviously did not see the Skinny One, but the Skinny One tracked his every move. As the Dark One crouched down at the side of the alter and placed his short pointy into a carved depression in its side, the Skinny One emerged from the green and crept hurriedly forward with a jar thing in each hand, and a smouldering stick hanging on his belt.

Just then a large boom sounded from back towards the cave and I noticed a new concentration of black smoke reinforcing the rising column. Something had exploded back there, but I was watching the unfolding events just below and could not worry about that.

The Dark One was intent upon his short pointy and paid no attention to the distant boom, or to the Skinny One’s approach. Seconds later the Dark One moved across to the Black Pit and effortlessly raised the solid black stone panel, revealing the shaft of the Black Pit dropping away into depths.

The Skinny One was right behind the Dark One at this point and the Skinny One hurled both his jar things down into the Black Pit and they clattered into the darkness. The Dark One definitely noticed this, and he swung his short pointy towards the Skinny One who swayed back out of the way.

The Skinny One then blew on the smouldering stick and tossed it down into the Black Pit after the jar things, and threw himself backwards. The Dark One moved forward to attack him again but was blown off his feet as a huge explosion blew a gout of flame and smoke up out of the Black Pit. The shockwave of heated air radiated out from the Black Pit and tossed me up and away from the alter clearing, tumbling over end for end.

As I tried to regain a stable flight posture, I noticed the Dark One and the Skinny One both pulling back from the second column of black smoke billowing out from the Black Pit. They spoke briefly and then turned towards the cave and hurried off that way together.

Good, the two groups of intruders were likely getting back together. I would follow these two and see what has happened back at the cave.

Halfway there, the Skinny One and the Dark One met the Elf, who was dragging the Pretty One, with the Little She draped over the Pretty One’s body, along the ground towards the alter clearing. They all spoke briefly and then the Elf turned back towards the cave. The Skinny One and the Dark One assisted the Elf, and they dragged the Pretty One and the Little She back down the trail. I could not understand what they were doing.

Smoke billows from the island cave

As they arrived back at the cave clearing, with me gliding along above and behind them, I spotted the Little He throwing some more jar things into the mouth of the cave. This caused another great explosion of noise, flame, and smoke to billow out from the cave and roil up into the sky.

Just before the explosion I had noticed some shadowy figures appearing at the cave mouth. I suspect that they were the mistress’s allies. Probably the Orc troop that mistress’s sister had living at her big nest. There was much screaming in the cave, but it quickly fell to silence.

The Sneaky One was throwing some cloaks over the heads of the fallen ones. They had all been dragged together into a group, their heads all touching in the middle. The Elf had strangely lit up a fat smoke stick and was puffing out small clouds of smoke, and then he thrust it below the cloaks.

Was he trying to burn his comrades?

Then the others all poked their heads under the cloaks too!

I circled into the fringe of the rising black smoke and rode the updraft to gain some altitude. I circled a few times before there was a great stirring from the intruders. They all leapt up, even the Big One and the Pretty One. The Pretty One’s mangled leg looked fine now. She unwrapped the blood red bandages from her leg. There were no wounds.

What was that smoking stick?

The intruders then all rushed up the trail towards the altar. I follow.

They gathered at the Black Pit, a small quantity of smoke still drifting up out of the shaft. The Pretty One took a drink and disappeared!

The others were all peering down into the Black Pit.

The Sneaky One was running around the clearing dragging some bushes across the ground. Had he gone mad? Ah, no, he was brushing away all the tracks that they had made. Very clever. If I was not circling above watching it may even have been brilliant.

After about five minutes the intruders started clambering down into the Black Pit. First the Elf, followed by Little She, the Skinny One lowered the Blind One in and followed, then the Dark One, Little He, the Sneaky One, and the Big One last. He glanced around the clearing before lowering the solid black stone panel down behind him with a thunk.

I glided down to the ground and landed on that stone. All was quiet. I could no longer follow. Mistress would be pissed.

The angry mistress

<Sigh>

Sound an Alarm

Present: Myrtle [Andrew], Bear [Ian], Debbie [Steven], Dexter [Jamie], Oliver [Jeff], Ouzo [Darryl], Scuttle [Chris], Tu [Shane], and Gillard [Kevin]. Full house.

Sound an alarm! Sound an alarm!

Your silver trumpets sound.

And call the brave and only brave,

And only brave around

Myrtle Rust's diary:

Peering out the windows of the kitchen into the rain-soaked courtyard, just before dawn, we had seen the band of orcs return - with our horses' carcasses and all our camping gear. Even my poor palfrey "Lady", and my precious lamp-black stove.

Myrtle's palfrey
(now deceased)

As it was nearly day-break, the orcs hid away in their barracks - not that they needed to in this weather. Overcast is safe for orcs. Only direct REAL's light burns them.

 

In the palisaded courtyard area was the mansion itself (where we were), stables, and two barracks. One for the orcs and their wolf-spawn, and one for the humans.

We had cleaned out most of this mansion, and the witches' tower. There was just a set of stairs going down from the kitchen. This stairway stank of rotting meat.

"Oh dear, ghouls perhaps?" I said.

Oliver shook his head; his boline knife was not vibrating. 

So, we headed down there. It was a torture chamber complete with various machines, accoutrements of pain, and lots of blood. The most recent blood was a few days' old, but that wasn't where the stink was from. It came from a side passage off the main chamber. 

That passage went a short distance, and then turned and passed behind the back wall of the chamber. The charnel reek from here was eye-watering. But to enter that passage, one had to step over a channel in the floor which was filled with a thick black liquid. Our greatest minds could not identify it, so we did some experiments; it burned like acid and ignited like lamp-oil. 

Oliver took a tiny drop off to one side and ignited it. He returned with singed eyebrows.

So we collected some functional samples: 12 vials' worth. These would be good weapons.

Reeking passage

Bear and Gillard went down the reeking passage, but they only got a few steps before they both came rushing back, faces white as sheets, utterly terrified. So, we decided it was safer to let sleeping ghouls (or whatever) lie, and not explore any more down that dreadful passage. 

Oliver's knife was still not vibrating. Maybe it was worse than ghouls, then.

Outside it went light - morning. It was a thick overcast day, and was still raining heavily; still safe weather for orcs.

Three men approached the kitchen - presumably the breakfast squad - one in armour and two not. As it was day, I supposed that the undead - that we had bested - would normally make themselves scarce. Or maybe the men breakfasted with zombies?

Bear, Tu, Dexter and Gillard squatted down behind the table. I hid in the corner. Everyone else hid in the lounge. 

The guards were completely surprised, and the fight was short, but they still inflicted damage on Dexter and Bear. The last guy screamed and screamed, but I cast a Silence on the room which shut him up. 

Myrtle sleeps

I now had only one spell left, so I cast it, a Cure, on Dexter, then went upstairs to one of the empty bedrooms to recharge. Oliver came too, with Gillard to guard us. Oliver and I went to sleep. We figured the other witch guards would send someone else to check on the breakfast squad, and our fighters might be able to pick them off, in dribs and drabs, before a big force arrived. Maybe Oliver and I would get some rest to get some spells. Maybe. [ Priest spells recharge with 15 minutes of Calm, then 15 mins per spell-level; for Myrtle it is 5 first and 3 second, so that is exactly three hours. Wizards eat grapes which recharges them, then they need the Calm and 5 mins per page; spells tend to be D4+1 pages per spell-level; Oliver's full charge is about 4 hours. If you get interrupted early, you get whatever you learned first.  ]

40 minutes passed. Scuttle snuck out into the wet compound and made his way, hidden, to the human barracks. He sneaked inside and saw four guards finishing putting on their armour. They never saw him, but headed to the kitchen - presumably to demand why they had yet to have their breakfast. These four were all armoured, and determined. So much for "dribs and drabs".

Painting of "the woman"
(maybe a portal)

So, Oliver, Gillard and I were in the bedroom; Ouzo and Tu were in the sitting room guarding the magical painting of the woman (they were worried the painting was a portal); Bear, blind Debbie and Dexter guarded the kitchen; Scuttle was outside.

Those four guards came into the kitchen and saw the mess from the slaughtered kitchen squad (we had neglected to clean up the blood and bodies, left arrows in the walls, broken crockery and overturned tables). Bear pulled back to the lounge doorway as the guards engaged. He just parried, just to delay them. Two headed for him, one took another door to outflank, and one ran outside. Dexter shot off to alert us all.

Tu ran down stairs to help Bear, but just then, Ouzo heard a door close in the witches' tower (next to sitting room), then footsteps (two of) running down the spiral stairs. We thought we had cleared that entire area out, so this was a worrying development.  Ouzo followed the noises down the spiral stairs to the sub-basement, and then through the tunnel towards the island in the lake. He heard the voices of two women. Rather than risk being noticed, he returned.

The guard who ran outside, ran past Scuttle lurking there. Scuttle tried to back-stab him and failed. The guard swiped at Scuttle and briefly chased him. But the guard was more focussed on rousing the whole place, so he carried on his mission - with some raucous shouts: "Intruders! Alarm! Alarm!"

Uncle Tom Cobley 
and his dire wolf

More guards emerged from the barracks. And some rushed to the orc barracks and got them up too: 18 orcs, 2 wargs, and 1 dire wolf and orc leader. Add this to four more human guards from the palisade, all the guards' dogs, and Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

Gillard woke Oliver and me, and we rushed down stairs, just as Bear was dropped, unconscious [ with a critical ]. He was about to get his throat cut, but Tu shot the guard. I rushed to Bear.

In the short rest, I had managed to recover two (first) spells only. And Bear's damage needed a 2nd level heal. But I did have two magical cigars. So I lit one and blew the smoke in Bear's face. Not only did that fix the cracked skull, but it totally healed him. And everyone else in the room. (Luckily, all the guards were dead at this stage, otherwise they would have been healed too!).

With the huge forces amassing outside, we decided it was now too dangerous to stay in the mansion, so we rushed back to the tower, down to the sub basement, and then back through the tunnel to the island. Vingt et un smiled upon us, and we didn't meet the witches, and we made it to the entrance cave where the tunnel emerges on the island.

I sent Scuttle out to reconnoitre the Malechai altar, hidden. He returned very soon reporting that a human had just been sacrificed by three witches. He also pointed out that there is a trapdoor next to the altar (which we obviously missed last time). 

In the sky, there were four gargoyles circling. We had not seen these before; a step up from the wyverns? They obvious spotted us, or spotted Scuttle, and two of them landed next to the cave entrance, and went into statue form. Gargoyles can watch in statue form, but are impervious like this.

At the same time, the orc force had sallied down the tunnel behind us. No retreat that way.

Expecting this, we had set up a Heath Robinson trap with the oil in the tunnel, but due to lack of time and competence, it wasn't very successful when it went off.

The orcs milled around at the base of the steep stairs which opened to our cave. And shot arrows up at us.

Unsure what to do, we had two options: head to the altar and try to fight the witches and gargoyles, or stay in the cave to fight the orcs and guards. So we voted formally: 

• "Stay in cave": Myrtle, Oliver, Bear, Gillard. 
• "Go to altar": Dexter, Tu, Ouzo, Debbie. 

Oliver's boline "fit to burst"

Dead heat ! (Scuttle was marmalading at this time, so he got no vote). To break the impasse, Tu changed his vote to Stay.

Oliver’s boline knife was now vibrating fit to burst. It was also very very black. He guessed this happened when the sacrifice took place, maybe. In fact, he had a strong compulsion to head directly to the altar. Bear was assigned to chaperone him. Each time Oliver felt like wandering outside, Bear would condescendingly turn him around and usher him back - like a good chaperone.

Dexter is a ranger and rangers get some sneaky skills in forest areas, so he decided to sneak to the altar himself. Five minutes later he returned. The altar was deserted - no sign of the witches, but he did find the trapdoor. He tried it - locked. He didn't want to stay out of cover too long, in case he got spotted from the air.

Down the orc tunnel came a mocking retort: "Surrender Oliver and we let you all live and leave. Stay and die."

We of course declined their generous offer.

Then, how we laughed when the orcs started to hurl flasks of the acid-oil up the stairs into our very cave. This put paid to the "stay" vote, as the acid-oil did not burn very cleanly, and it was hard to breathe in the acrid smoke. So we had to leave.

Outside, the two statue gargoyles animated, and engaged. It was a tough battle and we did prevail - with injuries, but then the second two gargoyles landed.

We cannot get out. The end comes. 

Drums, drums in the deep.

They are coming....

A View From Below Part 2 - The Witches Retreat

The crew: Bear [Ian], Dexter [Jamie], Gillard [Kevin], Myrtle [Andrew], Oliver [Jeff], Ouzo [Darryl], Scuttle [Chris], Tu [Shane], with Debbie [Steven] succumbing to the Marmalade. Tu [Shane] and Scuttle [Chris] left early and so were effectively also suffering from the Marmalade malady for these part two events described below.

A huge flash of light

“A huge flash of light just flared up on the island” whispered Ouzo from above.

Wow, look at that. The glow is just fading now. I wonder what that means? Obviously, something is happening over there … but no one was over there! Maybe someone arrived, or left! Gosh, the witches have arrived on the island via some form of Teleport device. Maybe that is what the alter does. I should have investigated the damn thing after all.

The others eventually came to the same conclusion, so we rushed back to the flagstone room to lay an ambush. We could surprise them and pick them off as they came along the tunnel and arrived in the room. I could hide just by the entrance and Backstab a witch once she arrives, nice and easy. Cool.

We set up and waited. And waited, and waited, and waited. For over an hour.

Ouzo fell asleep twice as we were waiting, and Bear kept shuffling his feet and moving around, very noisily. Debbie’s eyes glazed over after only fifteen minutes, and she started humming. Myrtle had to prod her to keep her relatively silent.

In the end we decided that enough waiting had happened and obviously there was no one coming through the tunnel from the island. Maybe it was someone leaving the island? Ha, they have run off, the cowardly hags.

The spiral stair

Back up the spiral stairs to the lounge. I checked the door that we had wedged shut, the one that led into the rest of the witches retreat building. No traps. Ouzo had a careful check as well and confirmed my assessment as correct, of course. No traps. I pulled the wedge and Ouzo tweaked the lock.

Snick … and we open it a crack.

It opens into a largish sitting room, decked out with couches and armchairs and little coffee tables. There were no lights lit in there, and so Ouzo and I slipped in. I looked around at the pictures on the walls while Ouzo shot across the room to the only other door, on the far side.

Interestingly, one of the pictures was of the same female witch that appeared in the magical paining we had found back in the Toluene mansion house. The one that tried to suck Gillard into itself. I won’t be touching that painting thank you very much. Ouzo thought it must be a magical doorway, perhaps back to Toluene.

Ouzo opened up the other door to reveal a long and dark corridor stretching off. Each side held a series of closed doors, and about halfway along on the left was a staircase heading down.

The noisy boys waited back at the sitting room, under strict instructions not to fiddle with the paintings! Tu slumped into one of the armchairs and the low rumbling drone of snoring was almost immediately reverberating around the room.

A long corridor with doors

We slowly checked each door along the corridor, first for traps, and then silently peaked inside. Lots of empty bedrooms, full of interesting stuff. I tried to slip in and have a good ruffle through, but Ouzo insisted that we move along quickly to clear the level. He might not notice that I don’t immediately follow. But what if he finds someone in a room, he will need me to help. And actually, he’s pretty useless at checking for traps. Oh, and what if he finds a nice piece of loot and he’s all on his own. No, can’t have that.

Six empty bedrooms and a bathroom. But where are all the bloody witches? The bedrooms were mostly unused, so were they even here? Of course they are, we have seen at least five of them over the last few days. Although, I never saw them myself. Stupid telescope. Maybe Dexter was mistaken? No, Myrtle was looking too. Mmmm, when she stretches up and leans forward to peer through the eyepiece. I wonder if we could set that up in the tower, just to check out the compound …

Ouzo and I were standing at the top of the stairs, the next direction to explore. He looked down at me and raised an eyebrow. I looked back towards the sitting room where the others were waiting, then down the stairs into the unknown. Then back up at Ouzo.

With a grin and a nod, we started off down the stairs.

Wooden stairs are sometimes tricky. I always use the side of a stair, just next to the stringer. Much less likely to bend and creak treading there, keeping the weight off the middle. You’d think Ouzo would know that too. But he started straight down the middle. As I went to grab him by the belt, his foot settled on the first tread down.

Creeaaaakkkkk

Crap, that sounded like a bell going off in the darkness. No one up here, but who knows what might be waiting at the bottom of the stairs. No option but to check it out quickly now. We’ll need to alert the others if anyone had heard us.

Ouzo mumbled an opps and then moves to the side. Duh. Down we went, silent as the grave for the bulk of the decent. And quite likely to the grave if there is anyone waiting at the bottom! In the foyer space. Since it’s a foyer space here, with three doors leading off in different directions.

The leering creature

Ouzo looks off to the right while I look off to the left. A door. We each take a step towards the doors in front of us. Mine looks boring, but by the sounds behind me Ouzo’s one opens up. Spinning around I can see through Ouzo’s legs and spot an ugly figure walking through his door towards us. Whoever it is, same very scary and half rotted male dude, stops and looks straight at Ouzo, then turns and hurries back through the door.

Shit, shit, shit. Ouzo immediately runs back up the stairs, quite silently this time I note, with me right behind him. He takes two steps at a time, and since I can’t he gets a bit ahead. As I get to the top of the stairs he is just entering the sitting room where everyone was waiting for us to scout out the rest of the place. He’s not exactly yelling, but it’s pretty easy to hear the panicked desperation in his voice.

I figure I can just wait here at the top of the stairs, and they’ll all be along momentarily. Sure enough, the party clumps out of the sitting room and clatters their way along the corridor and down the stairs. Pretty sure they didn’t even notice me, except perhaps Myrtle. She gave me a glance as she rushed past.

Ouzo was going on about the “huge” guy he saw.

Bear was out in front, rattling like a steam train at full head. Dexter and Myrtle close behind, with Oliver at the rear and little Gillard flapping her halfling legs like crazy to keep up. She was waving her magic armour piercing short sword around and muttering about waiting for her or regretting it.

I follow at the very rear. Down the stairs and around towards the left-hand door, away from the direction where the figure we saw hustled off to. Leaving the rear exposed, where I was. Shit.

I slipped into a shadow at the base of the stairs and kept an eye on that door, while everyone clattered through the other door and headed off into a long corridor heading away. Just before their door swung closed, I followed, but cautiously, and always watching the door behind where I expected that hulking figure was likely to emerge. But no. Thank heavens.

After following the very noisy fighters along a long corridor, around a few corners, and along an even longer corridor, I could see them at a closed door in front of me. No time for trap detection I guess as Myrtle cautiously reached out for the door handle… pop … and just disappeared.

Oh, one of those! Everyone else reached out for the handle and disappeared as well, so of course I followed. Pop.

Everyone was standing in a kitchen, weapons raised alertly, with Ouzo crouched at one of the three doors leading out of the kitchen area. He held up three fingers and waved at the door, then jammed one of his door wedges under it.

Oliver was waving his magic black dagger in the air and muttering about Undead.

Spice racks on the kitchen wall

I took at look at the collection of pots and spices on the shelves beside the fireplace. Their spice collection is pretty comprehensive. Oh, saffron and annatto! Cool, I’ll have those ones. Into the backpack with you two!

And look, there is a small staircase heading down into a cellar over there in the corner. Maybe there is one of those MALECHAI alter things down there. I head towards the stair, but it absolutely reeks down there so I back off. Ewww.

Bear crashes through one of the other doors out of the kitchen, with Myrtle and Oliver right behind him. But before anyone else can follow, the wedged kitchen door is thumped heavily from beyond, and begins to slide against the wedge. Ouzo nearly trips over backwards as he stumbles back. You should have seen his face, priceless.

Almost immediately the door springs open and a wispy translucent woman wielding a shimmering blue sword floats through and moves towards Gillard. Dexter, Gillard, and Ouzo spread out and attack. Gillard takes a mightily hit from the blue sword and staggers back. [Gillard receives a “critical” hit from the creature and rolls a three on the critical table which inflicts one extra damage, imposes a negative one to all attacks for the rest of the combat, and causes her next attack to be at the end of the next round]

I’m sure they’ll cope fine, and since I can head the sounds of battle from the door where Bear, Myrtle, and Oliver have gone, I peer through behind them.

They are in a large dining room with a huge central table, thirteen chairs, and an array of glass doored cabinets around the walls. The door on the far side is swinging violently and Bear has engaged with two haggard looking men. One of which is the figure Ouzo and I previously saw.

Oliver is waving his magic black dagger in the air and yelling about Undead. But he quickly snaps off a Magic Missile into one of the men. Myrtle is swinging her black obsidian staff around to no avail, while Bear is taking hit after hit from the undead creatures.

I slip under the big dining table out of sight. Oliver backs off into the doorway to the kitchen, but there is still battle raging in there. I can head the sound of blows being exchanged.

Looking up at the underside of the table I don’t see any drawers, which is a shame. Best place to get into drawers and things, from below.

Bear is covered in blood at this point, and Myrtle has shrunk her staff and put it away. She casts a Heal, which I think is most opportune as Bear took another hit and temporarily swooned and slumped towards the ground. Myrtle and Bear back towards the kitchen door, where Oliver has now disappeared.

From the kitchen there is a large clatter, of a dropping sword, and the sounds of fighting from there die away.

Bear has switched to pure defensive mode now but is still taking blows from these two undead things and is being forced back. Blood is spraying about from cuts all over him. Yuk, and in the dining room too.

Myrtle casts another Heal.

And then the rest of the fighters burst through the kitchen door and assist Bear.

Looking around I don’t see much of interest, although there are some nice-looking landscape scene paintings on the walls, and some fine-looking knick-knacks in the wall cabinets. In fact, that dark stone statute of a small cat looks really interesting. If I could just get that cabinet door open … ah, yes, I see. Snick. Sweet.

But what’s happening in the fight now?

Gosh, those things must be tough as! Both still up and making progress against the fighters. Even Tu has pulled his sword and is having a hack. Bear, Gillard, and Dexter are bashing away to little effect, although Gillard is slipping the odd swing past their defence and making mince work of their legs. Dexter is wielding a shimmering blue long sword!

Oooh, Ouzo is slipping behind for a backstab attempt! I guess I can give that a go too, since they obviously need a bit of sneaky help. I’ll get that other one.

Just as Gillard chops one of the creature’s legs off with a great blow of her short sword, Ouzo launches onto the creature’s back and thrusts his dagger through its neck. [Ouzo makes a critical hit with his backstab, rolls a four on the critical table which means the blow avoids its armour, and the creature staggers forward and looses its next rounds attack] It goes down in a crumpled heap.

I leap silently off the dining table and make a successful backstab on the final creature, and it drops to the ground. Another timely intervention by myself!

Everyone pauses and looks around at the doors. No noises from the house. We may have been lucky, very lucky.

Myrtle is out of spells; Oliver has one left. No more Healing! Everyone is groaning, mostly cut to pieces, not many hit-points to go around.

The witches kitchen

After a minute or two of self-inspection, we all gather in the kitchen, and then cautiously peer through the forced open door to where the wispy woman came from. Some sort of sleeping room with three cots. Seems like even wispy woman had to sleep. And why would undead creatures need to sleep? The room was definitely unnaturally chilly, evil chilly!

Oliver uses his last spell to Detect Magic. The whole room he reckons, and the shimmering blue long sword.

We undertake a quick search of the remainder of the retreat. We had actually been into most of the spaces by now, but we discovered an empty lounge room and drawing room on the ground floor.

We gathered back in the kitchen. One hour to light reckoned Oliver.

The third door lead outside into the grounds and just then we spied the night patrol of Orcs and Wargs returning across the grounds to one of the barracks buildings. Everyone ducked down below the windows while Myrtle peeped out.

She exclaimed that they were carrying the decapitated heads of our horses, and a whole lot of equipment that looked like our camping gear from up on the ridge.

So, the undead creatures were finally dispatched. I had performed a mighty backstab that felled the last one just before it wiped the party out. But do they thank me? No.

We were crowded around the top of the stairs in the kitchen that led down into darkness below. A foul spell was wafting up on the unnaturally chilled air that was rising from the depths. What the hell could be down there? And where were the other witches?

Where are they?