June 22nd 216 Investigation into the slaughter of the Colorless lodge members gave few clues. Evidence suggests there was a cunningly laid trap with a fake portal or maybe even a fake vision. The deaths bring the number of free unallied chosen down to 2, since Zelestine appears to have been not only killed but captured/ destroyed spiritually. The group spends a few days jumping at shadows and selling gear from the Wilders. A bit is sold, but the market can't handle the raw amount of funds that the goods are worth. It is worth noting that Alex spends each day drinking heavily until passing out. He is frequently heard to say, "Like to see them give me dream visions now. Gods better pick some other loser..." June 25nd 216 Alex disappears. Party suspects the worst. Kidnapping or dream visitations. Find out that he became a dragon and flew off. Before too much is done Alex shows up again and says that the party has been asked to meet with the high lord Executioner of the Temple of Weejas. Wintermoon and Swiftwind both like the idea of heading that direction mumbling something about a gathering of the clans. A little prying by Jaenelle reveals that the gathering should result in thousands of people setting up camp for a month with traders from all over the realms present. It seems a great place to ditch some gear and the promise of work is interesting. Before heading off to Tegholt the party spends a week of down-time to allow Wintermoon to acquiring new spells. Alex flies back to the lich to inform him of the party's acceptance and imminent arrival. June 30nd 216 Party travels to Tegholt on their horses. July 1st 216 Party arrives in Tegholt. The city is almost empty of trade, most traders having headed out to the growing gathering of the horse tribes. Alex informs the party that the ponderous skull and its inhabitants will also be found near the growing campgrounds of the plainsmen. July 2nd 216 The party ride out to the gathering and go immediately to the shrine of Weejas to speak with the lich. The lich is also known as the High Executioner. Jaenelle recognizes him as Kiri-Joleth, a former god of Justice. Now believed dead. This is the same lich that the party saw on the road driving the temple to the south. Kiri-Joleth reveals that Gulthias has in a lair out upon the plains quite near the gathering of the plainsmen. The temple is here ostensibly as part of the Lothian delegation to the gathering, but also to provide backup/support to the party. Gulthias's lair is the Tower of Black Wing, which was originally built by the order of Ashardalon. Within the tower resides the Heart of Ashardalon. This artifact of great power has been awoken or empowered by Gulthias. It appears that within the tower Gulthias has greater powers of undeath. (Probably responsible for the Guerillon vampire the party saw) Lothian attempts to infiltrate the tower have failed. An imp flew by and reported on the general layout, but undead teams were dominated by the force in the tower. The lich is afraid to commit more powerful agents since he doesn't want the Gulthias to get access to more powerful allies. The party is thought to be a reasonable solution due to their past dealings with Gulthias and their hatred for undead, (The lich smugly says) The party spends some time debating the issue. The gathering is still almost a month away, but already it is the size of a city as large as many the party has seen. Many different branches of the horse tribe are present - Red-horse, Swift, Longrunner, Gral, Irukt, Gold-horse, and Fallon among them. Other tribes are present as well - Dragon clan, Dog tribes, Buffalo, etc. Most of the group goes to enjoy the welcome of the Gold-horse clan (Swiftwind and Wintermoon's clan.) Many curious things are seen: swarms of imps around the temple of Weejas, Devils around the clan of Parched Sands (who are reported to have a blue dragon hiding somewhere in their camp, in case the other clans object to their demonic allies.) Dusty is seen peddling goods from his shrine on wheels. Other than that there is a plethora of merchants and con-men interested in dealing with the coming plainsmen. Some merchants have even set up buildings, one with a small bar. In the streets the party witness many ritualistic challenges as men compete for prestige, but most battles are bloodless as the clan laws severely punish bloodletting at the gathering. July 3rd 216 The next day the party agree to be teleported to Gulthias' tower. Kiri-Joleth and a vampire mage from the temple do this in two trips. The area around the tower is a chasm thousands of feet deep. In the center of the chasm stands the tower, shaded from sunlight by the high cliff walls. The day is cloudy and dismal with storms looking likely later in the day. Party uses a wand of levitation they acquired from a representative of the Lothian Artificers back at the gathering. The intent is for everyone to float down to the bottom of the depression. Korvath summons an Archon minion of Pelor "Eloran?" and cuts a deal for her assistance inside the tower. Alex uses his engineering skills and creates two pairs of wings for him and Moge to glide down. Alex and Moge wish to try to gliders, but they still allow the others to go first so someone can scrape them up if they make a mistake. Halfway down the cliff the levitating group encounter the first problem when a bolt from the sky fries Korvath, Murgen, and Swiftwind. At about the same time a huge head floats out of the tower and comes slavering up at the party. The Head whistles through the air and Eloran valiantly tries to pull the party out of its way only to be ripped into shreds by the creature's massive tentacles each with an appalling 30 foot reach. Alex and Moge begin their rapid decent even as the gibbering head tears into the levitating party. Swiftwind quickly gets mauled and others are in peril of getting destroyed. Seeing the plight below Moge abandons his wings and drops several hundred feet smashing into the creature with the force of a falling building. The two go plunging towards the earth where the creature manages to crush Moge with its last act of malice. The party comes down and scrapes up what is left of their ally and retrieve him from death's door. The head creature is very thoroughly dead. (Moge punctured its air bladder as well as what seems to have been its lungs with his crashing thousand foot drop.) The angel is gathered into a pile, but not even a majority of the pieces can be found. Korvath curses himself for having killed one of god's agents finally and irretrievably. Murgen, Moge and Alex fly up to look at the top of the tower, but there is little to see besides the corpse of a dragon. Alex spots movement on the corpse and the group douses the body with oil and lights it on fire. Several undead burst from the flesh only to perish in the fire and sunlight. Unwilling to delve too deeply, the party limps back towards the informal "town" formed by the upcoming gathering. SESSION END evening of July 3rd 216 NEXT TIME : Eloran's return EXPERIENCE TOTALS (Session 25) ----------------- Korvath Moge Alex Wintermoon Swiftwind Jaenelle Murgen 46303 48196 48531 45001 45001 45001 16659