No matter where you go, there you are.
Home at Last!
We have finally left the cursed city of Arun-tosa, and returned to Smallville. I didn’t really think we would ever make it back, but good luck seems to have been on our side.
We managed to find the chamber containing the Heart of Nerull and no sooner did we get there than we were attacked by Arkon and his minions! (Including our one-time companion Korin, who appeared to have been turned into a golem!)
Being without any useful spells, there was not much I could do other than watch helplessly. Luckily, Valon had the sense to remove the heart from its resting place, which weakened the Arkon’s hold over Aruntosa enough to allow Aramis to teleport in and fight him! It turns out, that without the Heart on its altar, Arkon was no match for Aramis. After a short battle, the lich was downed.
Unfortunately, the room began to collapse at the same time as the lich! Aramis created a portal for us to leave through, and we all ran for it, stopping only to gather what treasure was in our path. There was much treasure that we were forced to leave behind. We escaped just as the chamber collapsed, and found ourselves outside of Smallville.
After having a drink at the Rat’s Egg tavern, and dividing our loot, we have all gone our seperate ways for the time being. Aramil and I are planning on studying up on some of the new spells we have found. (Aramil also seems insistent on playing with swords, but I am ignoring that behavior, in the hopes that he will outgrow it.) I am not sure what the others are doing, but they may be enjoying the “Carnival” which is currently in Smallville. I shall be sure to lock my doors while it is in town. Carnies can be interesting folk, but some of them have a habit of being “interested” in other peoples things as well. I wonder if Pockets would fit in?
In any case, I hope the rest of the group won’t be too anxious to get moving... I have some serious studying to do. Maybe I could even mix up a few more potions.
~=Fafnir Flamebrewer=~
Let me see, I am still a little off kilter from the portal trip, but I shall try to remember as best I can. I remember rushing to the fallen temple with the key. I was going to offer to place the key, with mage hand, but Valon did it with a spell. Then there was some confusion about which way to go. Eventually, probably more from dumb luck, we notice that the seal on the floor had changed and become a portal. This was not the one to mangle my mind, but let me tell you, elvenkind was not meant to travel that way.
To the lich’s lair we went; there were a mummies. This locked most of the party in place, at least until Drusilia used her new holy symbol on them. Then seen it, the fear and confusion in the party’s eyes. I don’t know if the lich did it to them, or if it was the sight of the four armed, umm, well it kind of looked like a halfling. As soon as the little critter was there, he was attacked by some sort of ghost, that is when I knew we would win the day, the lich lost control of his own troops.
Me and Drusilia went for a pile of loot, searching for a weapon to help kill the lich. Didn’t find one. But, Valon figured out what to do, quickly running to the jewel and snatching it. It was then that “the Angel” came and fought the lich. It was good to see him, specially since it took most of my attention trying to save Drusilia from some slime she fell into. On the bright side, we all got to see her in a new way. All I got to say is I didn’t expect that tattoo.
Anyway, “the Angel” killed the lich and opened a portal for us to escape; yes this is the one that made me sick. Valon made me go through when there was clearly 20 to 30 seconds left to grab some more items. When my head stops spinning I will point that out again.
So here we are, in this little place they call a town. Smallville, never a more accurately named town. At least I see some trustworthy people, a carnival. I should be able to make a little money here. I hope my new friends don’t take exception to a man earning a little money on the side.
Finally! We’re out of the City of the Dead!
After our short break in the massive tower in the City, we made our way to the temple. Drusilia, Ghelt and Fafnir had all been there before, but the rest of us had yet to travel there.
We entered the temple and immediatley went into the basement, where we stopped before a seal marked with a visige of Nerull. Drusilia said the seal would steal health from whoever crossed it, so rather than walking across it. I used Mage Hand to send the small key across the seal and into the door. On its way across, the key began to glow, to the point that Drusilia was complaining about the brightness from her Detect Magic spell, then the light faded. Drusilia walked across the seal, and anounced that she didn’t get hurt.
We then came upon three corridors side-by-side with an inscription in the split:
The bold shall be crushed The righteous thwarted The sinister flayed The path best known Is never as it seems
I puzzled about it a bit, and figured that the bold would go straight, that Righteous had a base of right, so the right passage was for righteous. And Drusilia pointed out that sinister also means left. I wondered if we would be immune to effects from a hall that didn’t describe us, so I went down the sinister tunnel, followed by Aramil. Winds started through the passage, and we were nicked by small grains of sand, hence being “flayed.” So, either I was wrong or Aramil is evil (neither is really beyond reason).
Ghelt and Fafnir solved the puzzle, though, realizing that the passage we had just come through was the one we would know best. They went back to the seal and dissappeared, and the rest of the party quickly followed suit.
We teleported to a large room with two altars, one that was surrounded by treasure and a moat of disgusting green goo, and one at the far end of the room that was fountaining blood onto a small black object. The Heart!
Four mummies barred the way, though Drusilia was able to make short work of them. Then, the Lich, Arkon, showed up with several henchmen, and the now distorted body of the halfling Korin. Drusilia used her holy symbol to blind several of the henchmen, and I took off sprinting for the heart. I managed to grab it and started to sprint back. The lich roared in rage and motioned his slaves to attack me. Ghelt managed to block their path, hacking them down as they tried to pass.
Aramis suddenly appeared, attacking the lich with righteous fury. The duel only lasted a few seconds, the lich cast what seemed like 10 spells, then Aramis shreding the lich with his silver greatsword. When the lich died, the power that held Arun-Tosa togather corroded within a few seconds, and the room began to shake itself down around us.
Aramis opened a portal, which we crawled our way through. It teleported us back to the town of Smallville, a blessing for the weary adventurers we were. Aramis restored our health, and we set off back to Smallville for a few days rest before we head to the Temple of the Void to destroy the heart.
I had to gave my cloak to Drusilia, who had fallen into the slimy green moat, and as a result had had most of her clothing eaten away, along with some of her skin (ouch). Fafnir seemed only interested in waving gold pieces at her the rest of the day.
For now we are back to a quiet town, hopefully it will stay that way for a few days, even if we are here....