No matter where you go, there you are.
Fafnir found a way down to the cellar under the ruins. We followed of course and came to a dark room. Pockets gave me his everburning rope which I tied around my waist and we saw 2 passages out. We took the one that was roughly straight ahead. Following we passed one door and opened one at the end of a hall. There was light and what we saw was amazing. The room was littered with lifelike statues of orcs. There were 2 exits, one was barred with what I was told to be non harmful runes. So Pockets opened the other door. He was turned to stone as a medusa attacked us. I shot arrows at it while others tried to cast spells without looking. I just stared at it and shot. Finally it was killed. Drusilia called an angelic being and he took Pockets away to restore him. Fafnir opened the other door and we went down a flight of stairs. At the bottom we were attacked by 2 stone structures. One we defeated but we had to run from the other. At the top of the stairs we re-barred the door and waited for the next day because most of us were out of spells.
We woke and went down to the next level again. Ghelt and Pockets were able to dispatch the second stone minotaur. Dru found an iron key in its crumbled hand and Pockets used that to open the door which revealed another way down. Following we came to a room with benches in it. Fafnir sat on one and it clicked so I waited in the hall. After a bit he sat on the other two and the door at the other end opened. Following the path split, one way was too dangerous for us to go so we followed along the other and came to a very large steel plate on the floor. Pockets jumped it only to have the floor on the other end give way under him. When we got him out he looked a little beat. We were able to cross by having members jump it and stand on the further end of the floor to keep the trap from pivoting open. The hall split again and we went left to fight this creature. For some reason Pockets shot Fafnir and I figured we needed to knock him unconscious, but he snapped out of it in time and we noticed the creature was dead. There was 2 exits we went to the left and came to another room were Pockets set off a trap. A stone door closed the entrance and the room started filling with water. Then a water elemental appeared. After a little fight Dru teleported us to the temple of Pelor in Greyhawk. We healed up and Fafnir teleported us back. Pockets again set off the trap and we fought it for a bit before it was sent away by Dru. We’re resting now this is getting interesting.
Earthday, Wealsun 6, 592 CY
Shortly after we sat down to rest, a little clarity came to me and I realized I could transform the elf in the cell back to flesh. We went and did so. Unfortunately, though he transformed back, he was apparently dead. I cast “speak with dead” on him, more or less to find out who he was and how he’d come to be there. His name was Thereval, and he had been a high elf ranger from Greyhawk. His party had been killed fifteen miles south of Redcastle by orcs, who for some reason, dragged him back to the ruins. Already dying, the last thing he had seen was the surprised looks of horror on the faces of his captors as they met their fate, and of course, the gaze of the medusa. Asking him if he wished to be raised, he said that he did not— he was at peace.
Our night was uneventful and we tossed around ideas on how to pass the stone minotaur during our breakfast. We then tried several things: Pockets used marbles, and then a weasel from his bag of tricks to distract it (all flattened by the golem). We wanted to get it out from the stairs it was guarding so that Fafnir could disintegrate the floor under it. It refused to budge. In the end, Ghelt just kept hitting it with her sword (while I kept healing her wounds from the monster’s retaliatory punches) until it finally crumbled and fell. I found an iron key in its hand, which I gave to Pockets. He immediately chose the door across from the stairs. I suggested, since the Medusa did not seem to phase Aramil at all, that he be the one to look first. Aramil reported that he a saw another stairwell going down.
We followed the stairs down into a small hallway with three benches and two torches, and a door with no hinges. Fafnir plopped down on a bench while Pockets looked at the door. We heard a “click” from under Fafnir. Pockets saw mechanisms under each bench— before we could figure out if they were a trap, Fafnir had moved and sat on each of the other benches. They both “clicked,” and then the door clicked open as well.
We moved through the door and into a passage with an iron plate covering a good portion of the floor. Pockets deftly leapt over the plate— unfortunately, the trap was the stone on the opposite side. It tipped and dropped him below the plate and onto several spikes. Fafnir flew over and dropped Pockets’ “everburning rope” down to him to climb up. Pockets looked severely drained. I did what I could for him, promising to heal him completely as soon as I could.
Apparently the damage to Pockets was more than physical— his wits seem to have departed as well. We came to a door which he opened— the room contained a few columns, and a tentacled creature sticking out of a well in the center. Fafnir cast a spell at the creature, and Pockets spun around and shot an arrow at Fafnir! I was worried that Fafnir would retaliate, and Aramil and Ghelt realized that Pockets was not thinking clearly— they kept him occupied while we finished off the creature, at which point Pockets was in control of his faculties again. He climbed down the well and found a spear. I cast a detection spell on it— it radiated magic, as did the bow we’d taken off the medusa.
His confidence returned, Pockets led us into a small room through a door off this room. As we followed him through, he tested the door on the opposite side of the room— the door we had walked through was cut off by a divider that dropped behind us (with Fafnir still on the other side), and the room began to quickly fill with water. A huge water elemental appeared as well, and hit Ghelt so hard I saw her going under. In a panic, I yelled to Fafnir and he destroyed the new blockage. Rather than try to find Ghelt under the still rising water or risk the water elemental hitting her again, I used a word of recall to take us safely to the temple of Pelor in Greyhawk. We appeared soaked as gasping in the vestibule. I helped heal Ghelt, and asked for the clerics to restore Pockets’ wits. They hesitated, as Pockets is not a worshipper of Pelor, but he quickly donated 500 gold pieces, which the clerics greatly appreciated— they restored him on the spot. I must say, that’s not how we help people in Smallville, but I suppose in a bigger city it is expected that one would seek help from their own church. I asked for Tomas, but he was down in the catacombs. Fafnir wanted to get back to that water creature apparently, as we were suddenly teleported back to Redcastle, the gnome grumbling that we had to walk all the way back down to that chamber. We noticed that the floor was damp throughout that level.
Oddly, as we walked back in the water elemental’s room, Pockets did the very same thing to the door as he had the past time, and the water started to pour in again, along with the water elemental. This time, I cast a banishment spell on it, which thankfully worked— though I am not sure if it was the fear of Pelor’s sun symbol, or of the bar of soap I was brandishing, that allowed me to dismiss it. Here is hoping that tampering with the door won’t produce an endless supply of elementals, as I’m not equipped to deal with another, and swords and arrows don’t seem to do too much damage to a water creature....
Now I try not to believe in bad luck. I try not to buy into the idea of a bad place. But man, this place is creeping me out. Maybe it is just the effects of returning from stone. Maybe it is something to do with how they did that, or where I was. But I tell you nothing has gone right since my return.
Battle, I fought my best against that thing and didn’t even chip a tiny stone off if it. Thank the gods that Ghelt could fight as long as she did, it was beginning to look real bad.
Checking for traps, HA! I couldn’t have done worse if I was blindfolded. And have you ever started something just to realize as you pass the point of no return that you messed up bad? Like leaping over the trap and you realize this is the real trap. As you miss the fake trap and hit the real one, all you can think is ‘I am so stupid,’ as you crash into the spikes.
Then you have to put up with the wisecracks from the mages. If I could lift my left arm without pain, I would smack them both.
Then there is that one spot where my mind got taken over by an evil creature. The only bright side of that one was that I got to shoot Fafnir, not that that is a good thing. But it makes him think a little.
I would tell you more, but I am currently trying to get myself out of another trap I fell into. This day will never end.
Well, we have continued on into the dungeon. It seems that the stone golem was on it last legs, as a couple swings from Ghelt put an end to it. We then proceeded to explore further.
Pockets seems to be having a lot of trouble since being returned to the flesh... for one thing, he has been finding traps by the “whoops, I set it off” method. This just isn’t a method that lends itself to longevity. For another, he seems to have lost any willpower he once had. I came to this realization as I was removing the arrow that he had shot into my shoulder! It seems that he had been affected by the “mind control” powers of one of the creatures we were fighting! I can only hope his bad luck streak ends soon. If not, he may run out of luck altogether.
As the party entered one trap filled room, it filled with water and we were suddenly being attacked by a water elemental. Drusilia, fearing the worst, decided to teleport us all back to Greyhawk!! This didn’t seem to me to be the best choice... after all we have a timeline to follow here... it’s not like the void is going to just stop eating the world while we hang around in Greyhawk. Luckily, I still had a teleport spell memorized, so I was able to send us back to Redcastle after some healing. This time, Drusilia banished the water elemental, which worked out much better. Of course, Pockets then immediately fell into a pit trap, but this is becoming a normal occurence.
One other thing to note... We were unable to teleport directly back into the dungeon. Apparently there is some kind of anti-magic field preventing that. This meant that after teleporting back, we had to repeat our steps through the entire dungeon. Hopefully this time we will make it to our goal without having to leave again... If not, we will be wasting even more time.
~=Fafnir Flamebrewer=~
After some discussion we opened the trap door Pockets fell into and one by one we all jumped down. We found ourselves in a small room up to our waists in water. Dru was nice enough to give some light and I decided to munch on some snacks while Pockets did his thing. Eventually a way was found to leave and we walked northwest down this passageway. We came to another large room. I stayed in the hall while Pockets looked around when this cage closed the opening. Pockets and Dru were in the room; the rest of us were in the hall behind this cage door. This beast walked out and we started to fight. That’s when Fafnir conjured up 3 strange looking dire bears. The next thing I was able to see was the dead creature, after the bears left of course. Pockets was able to open the gate and we searched for a bit finding only mirrors and four doors. There was a different elemental behind each door; we defeated all of them. After a little trial and error we discovered we can walk through the mirrors. That’s when Pockets disappeared for a bit. Dru and I eventually found him after going into a mirror. The three of us looked around for a bit then were attacked by another Pockets and I was shot in the back by another me. I’m still a little unclear about what’s happening now, there seems to be Ghelt and Fafnir, but which ones are they? They’re standing by what I believe to be the false Dru. I’m currently invisible and I don’t quite know what to do. This could be bad.
Dearest Grun,
Once again, everything got hectic enough that I’m writing you several notes, days after the event!
We began the next morning with a trip to the stone elf. Drusilia wanted to try to turn him back to flesh - apparently she does have the ability, but feared that the statue of “pockets” had been too burned and melted during the battle to restore him to both flesh and health! Although the elf turned out to be dead, she had a chance to use a speak with dead spell, and learned all she could about him (not much).
Finally, we got back to discussing the minotaur. While we did so, “pockets” snuck down the stairs and checked the place out, and returned with the news that the thing was still quite alive and well - I think we’d all hoped it was back to being a statue in the corner. “pockets” still thought he had the means to distract it, borrowed my mithril axe so that we were all well-armed, and we all headed back down the stairs.
We started with a mage-handed marble, floating it around the thing’s head, but it was ignored. Pulling a weasel from “pockets”’ bag of tricks worked better; he threw it down the hall, and the minotaur turned and smashed the poor thing in a flash! That was the opportunity for us to attack it from behind. We got a couple of shots in, but wow, did it hit hard! I fell, but Drusilia cast a spell from the steps and I was quickly back on my feet. “pockets” and I were at the front, Drusilia and Aramil were sending light and fire spells over our heads, and Fafnir just wanted to know if it was dead yet. Irritated, I hollered, “No!” He offered to send us a fireball, and I hollered, “Yes!” Then I prayed he understood sarcasm. We were fighting in a narrow hallway, after all!
After quite a battle, the thing finally died - the whole hall shuddered with the sound of its fall! We found an iron key in the remains, while “pockets” announced that, of the three doors in the room, he liked the central one the best. The key fit, and vanished. “pockets” opened the door and suddenly decided to check the locked state of the others.. which of course were still locked. The new door held another staircase, so “pockets” collected his marbles from earlier, and we descended.
Strangely, we came to what looked like a waiting room - benches, lit torches, and everything! As we peered through the doorway, Fafnir decided to sit right down, and we heard a “click”. We feared the worst. “pockets” checked out the other benches, and the rest of us searched the room and the locked door at the end. Fafnir got up; nothing happened, so he sat down on the next two in succession! Of course, we heard two more clicks, so I gave the door a shove - and it opened.
There was a hallway to the right, and one to the left. The floor was dusty, and “pockets” headed in to look for traps. He decided that the traps to the left were too much for the party, and we turned right with him in the lead. Unfortunately, the place was well designed; when he found a trap, and leapt over it to disarm it for the rest of us, it turned out there was a trap on the other side, too. The floor tipped up and dumped him into a pit, and we all heard him scream! Fafnir cast fly on himself, and we got “pockets” out, but he was terribly weakened by whatever stuff had been spread on the spikes in the pit. We did work out how to weight the pivot (with ourselves, one at a time), and all made it safely across.
Next thing I knew, we’re arguing about whether to heal and restore “pockets” right away, or wait a day to see how much he healed on his own! I was worried he wouldn’t survive the next day without healing! “pockets” got bored and went exploring, and Drusilia sat down to pray while I stood guard. She gave him a partial healing when he returned to tell us that the next room had a bad thing in the middle. He described a tangle of tentacles in a well, and talked Fafnir into preparing a fireball for when he opened the door.
This worked well, except that in the middle of holding the door open for the spellcasters to attack the thing at a distance, “pockets” got a little odd. I don’t know how the thing hypnotized him, but he turned and attacked Fafnir! Aramil tried to stop his friend, while I tried to pull the door shut in the hope that it would help. I remember being forced to attack my friends by an evil being! We got tangled up in the doorway, but luckily, Fafnir was able to send magic missiles over us, and killed the thing outright. “pockets” immediately stopped fighting, and we explored the room and the well. “pockets” got a spear from the well, and Drusilia checked that and the medusa’s gear for magic (which involved shooting a door a few times, very subtle!).
The door we tried led down a short hall. The next door opened to a new room, but as we entered, a solid stone door slammed down, and water began to pour in! Ring of swimming or not, Grun, to be trapped in a closed room filling with water was more than I had bargained for. And then, the water elemental arrived. Aramil’s glowing rope went out and I waded, literally, into battle. Aramil tried his fireballs, Fafnir suddenly disintegrated the door, and I got hit a few times and went under. I heard Drusilia shout as I fell, and we all were suddenly back at the Temple of Pelor in Greyhawk!
“pockets” tried to heal me, which was a little disturbing, but Drusilia quickly took over and eventually we healed everyone up. Fafnir teleported us all right back to Red Castle, we descended to the hallway (which was wet but not full of water, thank Moradin), and “pockets” provided me with a pair of goggles before he walked right in and set the room off again! Of course, the elemental returned, too, so I headed into battle with arrows flying over my head and “pockets” and I got hit a few times. Drusilia stood up behind us, holding her holy symbol and a bar of soap high, and banished the thing outright. What a relief!
“pockets” turned back to the next door, the floor dropped out from under him, and he was gone.
I’ll continue this later, Grun.
With love,
Ghelt
Earthday, Wealsun 6, 592 CY, continued
Apparently, Pockets got caught in another trap and went down a water slide as I was banishing the water elemental. Fafnir cast a spell to see what was where Pockets was last seen— he saw a latch on the other side of a trapdoor with a wet chute. No Pockets. We got Watch to use mage hand to prop the trapdoor open; Aramil then used his rapier to prevent it from closing. Of course, he now has a much shorter rapier. I used a sending spell to see if Pockets was even still conscious, as it was taking us way too much time to get the trapdoor to stay open. His only reply was to drop down 500’ of rope. We didn’t have that much rope, so we took Fafnir’s lead and all hopped on the chute ourselves.
After a plunge downward for a space of several seconds, we came out in a cavern with 3’ of water in it. Fafnir (who must have been treading water) saw two sets of “holes” 18” apart going up the far wall. Pockets and I went over and checked the wall— the holes went up to the ceiling. We couldn’t see a door, but we pushed on the ceiling where the holes led and opened a trapdoor. We found a 15’ ladder resting in a corridor and lowered it down for our companions. Our collective guessing determined that we were about 385’ below where we had started out.
We walked down the corridor about 50’ and came to a large chamber containing four doors and a portcullis. And then, ouch! another door, right where I had been standing. I jumped into the chamber with Pockets, while the rest of the party was stuck on the other side of the trap. Fortunately, my friends were able to cast spells through the bars of the door, for a basilisk came out from behind the portcullis, intent, no doubt, on petrifying the lot of us. Fafnir summoned some dire bears (which had some decidedly unnaturalness about them— I think I saw tentacles). The bears fought the basilisk until it died, and then the bears just went back to wherever Fafnir summoned them from. Pockets set to work opening the various doors in the room. In turn, we fought off a fire elemental, an earth elemental, a water elemental and an air elemental. Investigating the area behind where the basilisk had appeared revealed two short corridors ending in steel mirrors. Each elemental’s door also provided us with a short corridor ending in three steel mirrors each— fourteen mirrors in all.
We tried various things to smash the mirrors— suddenly Fafnir stuck his head through one and reported seeing a silvery corridor beyond it. Pockets decided to walk through one of the mirrors beyond the fire elemental’s passageway. After letting Fafnir and Ghelt know what we were up to, Aramil and I followed Pockets, both of us worried that he was getting into trouble where we couldn’t see (and help) him.
We followed the trail of items Pockets had purposely dropped in the silvery hallway. We walked through an area that looked like a tomb, and another that looked like a finely decorated hallway with a desert landscape theme. I intended to go back a ways and find Fafnir and Ghelt, when suddenly I saw Pockets in front of me! I had just left him, so I turned to look behind me and I could see Pockets and Aramil down the hall. Suddenly the Pockets beside me took a shot at the pair behind me. As I attempted to grapple the Pockets impersonator, I felt the sting of Aramil’s arrow hit me from behind. I turned back to yell at him in time to see a second Aramil begin to attack him! Pockets II got away from me, so I used my favorite elf-fu maneuver on him and brought him down. As I was trying to subdue him without causing harm (after all, we needed to know what was going on!), my own doppelganger arrived and used a flame strike on us. Pockets II took the brunt of the spell and died. Dru II continued to attack, while the forms of Fafnir and Ghelt (the real ones?) arrived in the hallway....
Well, we found Pockets. He had fallen down a big chute. Naturally, rather than trying to pull him back up, we all chose to follow him down.
Luckily, there was an exit from the underground cistern. When we followed it, we ended up in a room with a not so friendly creature - a basilisk! I summoned some dire bears to fight the thing, so I wouldn’t have to. That seemed to do the job, and soon everyone was able to come out from hiding.
We then began to open more doors. Earth, Wind, Fire, Water — these are the elementals we fought. No treasure though, just a bunch of mirrors. Everyone was at a loss. The mirrors detected magic, so I went ahead and stuck my head through one of them... they lead to some sort of “hall of mirrors”. This didn’t look like a fun place to me or Ghelt, but the rest of the party buggered off into one of the mirrors.
I am not sure where they went, but it has been a little while.
Oh, wait, it looks like Ghelt is getting ready to look for someone to rescue. Here we go again.
~=Fafnir Flamebrewer=~
The battle ended, successfully, with Ghelt pulling the “imposters” out of the mirrored realm, at which point they disappeared. Pockets was still confused by the whole incident and ran back into the mirrored realm. After resting, our remaining heroes trudged back through, following Watch, who successfully tracked Pockets—who had died while apparently trying to rescue Valon from the clutches of Durll and his minions. In a heated battle in which Aramil also made the ultimate sacrifice, our remaining heroes fought Durll and his horde of demons and assassins. Drusilia summoned five hound archons, who surrounded Durll. In the resulting battle, Durll showed his true form, that of a 15’ tall demon, and with a roar he was returned to whatever Hell had spawned him.
Dru and Ghelt were able to revive Valon, who had brought news that the Void had been “dealt with” by some powerful wizards and order had been restored in the City of Greyhawk and throughout the region. Ghelt, Drusilia, Fafnir and Valon returned to Smallville with the bodies of their fallen comrades, to live in the quiet peace of the tiny town until the next adventure beckoned....