The Witch, the Rider, and the Ku Rog

Saigarn seemed a little winded while we discussed the events inside the orb. The moon was clear and the moon was up. We felt a concussive force wash over us. It wasn't enough to knock us over or anything like that and seemed to be more of a metaphysical shockwave.

I recognized the effect; it seemed like the first encounter we had with the orb and the lich. I believed it was related to the orb. The orb didn't seem to be changed. The hairs on our necks were standing up. Nothing seemed out of place; no mists, no dragons, etc. Saigarn was as concerned as we were. I told him what we knew - it seemed related to the orb, but we weren't sure what it was either.

I settled down to try and contact the witch to see if anything had happened. Shatain & Brennan heard something - 2 sets of footsteps about 50' away in the night. The padding feet continued past our location at a jog. Shatain moved into a stealthy jog, and tried to close on the footsteps.

It was dark, but she caught up with them. The figures were 2 bulky humanoids, about 6' tall. They appeared to be A'aloss. She broke of her pursuit, and returned to us. Saigarn said it wasn't really out of the ordinary - could be training, hunting, or possibly looking for us. Saigarn gave a distinctive whistle to call them over to us; they might have information we needed after all.

Not long after, we heard the A'aloss approaching our position. Saigarn exchanged a few whistles with the pair. We recognized them as 2 of the young elves from the ship; one was Za'vor, the other was A'akasa. They were a little out of breath, but not badly. They reported to Saigarn that the Ku Rog had dispatched a small contingent (50 or so) to hunt us down. They weren't sure they would make it through, but they seemed capable. They were about 2 hours behind us; they had to move slower in the country where it was open season on Ku Rog.

Saigarn was curious how they'd even made it as far as they have. Saigarn asked of the boys had alerted any of the townships - they said they'd only alerted one directly in their path. The Ku Rog seemed to know the best way. We suspected either a paid guide or Zhanna on the ground.

I attempted to use my crystal ball to scry on the army. It failed - I wasn't sure, but it seemed like the attempt was blocked by another magic. I tried again, failed again, but was completely sure that someone was trying to block the scrying. I tried the other guard, and got through - he was in the wilderness, surrounded by at least 15 other Ku Rog, and there was definitely an obscuring effect. My vision through the crystal ball felt extra blurry.

I tried to scry on Zhanna. I wasn't successful, though I tried a couple times. I just couldn't pin down if she was with the Ku Rog group or not. I could try to obscure the orb from scrying, but I would need time to pray for the spell. We decided to move through the forest with protection from normal tracking thanks to Brennan.

We set a hard pace, running for several hours. Every 20 minutes or so, the orb sent out a shockwave. Things changed a little each time. It appeared they weren't perfectly symmetrical. We kept up the run for about 2 hours before Shatain & I dropped out. I tried to settle down and recover some spells, but within about 15 minutes, the orb sent out a shockwave that snapped me out of the needed peace.

I tried to contact the witch again, and this time was successful. She told us the world of the orb was collapsing. The shockwaves would get closer together as the time grew shorter; everything would come out once it became continuous. She warned us we needed to get some place as safe as possible, as quickly as possible.

We ran for O'ritan. We had to stop and rest every 2 hours or so. We had the A'aloss kids spread out to check the range; they got as far out as 1000 yards without noticing any change in the strength of the shockwave from the orb. I decided to stop after our next rest period and see if I could contact the witch again. We were running for O'ritan, and we needed to know what she considered safe.

I couldn't get through, and couldn't recover. The sun was up. We had to walk for about an hour before we could get into a run again. I still couldn't get moving. I distributed my gear out to the rest of the party. Once I finally shed everything, including all my weapons and the breastplate, I could get up to speed.

We got another 2 hours before I had to rest again. It would take a serious rest period before I could run any more. I couldn't reach the witch, either. We rested for an hour, and got into a run for another 2 hours.

It continued in this vein. After a couple more days, we came to a mineshaft. I contacted the witch, and asked about where we should drop the orb. She knew it was the best thing, but she still had her ball & chain. She'd never see sunlight again. We dug a shallow pit above the mineshaft. If we played our cards right, she'd have a moment to kick the orb into the mineshaft, and stay above ground.

We ran. Our veins pumped with acid. About half an hour later, we couldn't feel the pulses. We'd covered about 2 miles, and we could see the orcs closing on the location of the orb. We continued running for another 5-10 minutes before we just couldn't keep going. We looked back, and it was just when the witch stopped holding on.

The land changed. Castles and citadels, weird creatures, new landforms, everything started materializing. There seemed to be an order to it; a large, circular perimeter made out of the mansions, walls, and castles. It finally stopped. We saw a variety of creatures flying above the area. Regardless, it was done. The final circle was about 2 miles in diameter; we were not far past it.

One of the kids pointed to the new city again - it was still moving, reality was still morphing and shimmering. It wasn't collapsing, but it was tightening up a bit and organzing further. We didn't know what had happened to the orcs. They were still inside the radius when the orb gave.

We rested and watched. The A'aloss kids pointed out the very distinctive shape of Zhanna and her dragon, flying up from the city, chased by a huge number of the flying creatures in the air. The battle was intense and furious; eventually they took it down and the dragon didn't rise again.

Not long after, the A'aloss pointed out a tall, thin, black spire that rose at the location where Zhanna went down. It seemed the outline of her dragon, impaled, was at the top. Over the next hour, we saw the orc patrol stumble out, looking beat up and tired. They were defending against incursions from demons & gargoyles from the city. They lost something like 20 Ku Rog. They were still in a tight formation.

The structures continued to swirl and shift, like the buildings were fighting for the center. In particular, we saw a thick patch of forest migrate slowly but surely to the center as the community compacted. Also one of the citadels was moving more rapidly towards the center. In the center, a very large tree was sprouting. It looked like it had keeps in the boughs and other oddities within the branches. After about 2 hours, it seemed the area had condensed to a cone, with the tree and its hybrid aspects merged at the center. We could still pick out the spire with Zhanna's dragon, and many aerial battles; the area had contracted to about a mile radius circle.

The Ku Rog were making their way towards us, without malice. About 300 yards out, one of them moved forward with a white flag, standing out a little from the rest. Saigarn at least knew some of them, and was confident they would maintain the honor of the white flag.

We all went down to the Ku Rog. As we approached, the tight formation of Ku Rog sat on the ground as a sign of truce. The captain moved forward and clasped hands with Saigarn, and asked what we should do now. The Ku Rog captain told us that he had a duty to go into the city and retrieve Zhana. Saigarn said he'd go in, with one of the boys. The other would need to go send a warning.

We told Saigarn and the Ku Rog that we were going back to the trade city. Saigarn hugged us - he wasn't too sure he was going to make it out. He told us he would look for us in the trade city or Valleya. Once of the A'aloss kids came with us, as well as Beefy, one of the Ku Rog guards. Saigarn also told us he'd say hi to the witch for us if he made it to the center.

What's The Blue Book On A Warship?

It took 2 weeks to reach A'aloss. It was a pleasantly uneventful voyage. Once we made port, Saigarn bid us farewell and took the kids back inland. He told us the ship was in our name, and to not worry about the dead - this was the A'aloss way.

We checked into an inn before worrying about selling the ship. We all slept soundly that night, after our first hot bath in weeks, good food that wasn't dolphimari, and a proper bed. The witch visited me in my dreams.

She told me she had a nemesis within the orb, and she sensed that I was powerful enough to bring our party in. She was right; I could now travel into the orb itself. Her nemesis had a temple within the world of the orb.

I asked her about the security of the orb... she said that would be a concern. The dragon had been hovering over the inn. It was drawing a bit of attention, but less than we would have expected. We could try to leave the orb with Saigarn, but we weren't sure if the dragon rider would attempt to compel him to take it to the Ku Rog.

The next morning, we entrusted Sam the carpenter with repairing the ship and negotiating its sale. He was in the best position to do so. We then went to the bar where we'd first recruited the A'aloss crew and asked around until we found out where we could find Saigarn.

Shatain found that Saigarn had sent the kids home, but hadn't left himself. He'd gone to a Ku Rog bar across town. The walk was about 20 minutes, the last 5 minutes or so spent in the Ku Rog section of town. We were definitely drawing some looks, but we weren't picking a fight and we were armed and competent.

We reached the inn, only to be stopped by 2 large Ku Rog bouncers or soldiers. They told us the inn was closed. We told them we were here to visit Saigarn... they chuckled, said we must be here to pay off the rest of his debt, and waved us in.

We stepped in to what appeared to be a gambling den. It was fairly calm, for what we'd expect for a Ku Rog gambling den. Heads slowly turned as we stepped in. I immediately stepped up to the bar and ordered a round of ale for the bar. The bartender accommodated us begrudgingly, and asked why we were here. We told him we were looking in on a friend. Saigarn walked over as we got our filled tankards. The first sip was a little rough... it tasted like low quality ale spiked with hard alcohol.

We asked Saigarn if we were interrupting him, but he told us he'd concluded his business, with a nod to a particularly large Ku Rog in the corner. We asked if we could ask about a bit of business, and didn't feel we were in the best place to discuss it. He walked with us back to the A'aloss side of town, to a small, quiet inn. We refilled our tankards and sat down to conversation.

We told Saigarn we'd received a request from the witch to help her inside the orb. He was a little surprised - as far as he knew, entering and exiting the orb wasn't that easy. I told him it was within my power. He told us he had no problem doing this; he'd want to take it inland a few days march where he'd be more comfortable. He wasn't particularly worried about the dragon rider.

He did tell us that General Isador did have a spy network in the city, so if he didn't know we were there already, he would soon enough. We told him that was a concern, but we felt helping the witch was something we needed to do.

He asked us to march with him until nightfall, and he'd take it from there. It was early in the morning, so we could get him well outside the city. There were no problems on the march; the dragon rider seemed to drop into the city. We suspected she was talking to the General Isador's contacts in the city.

We didn't see the dragon for the rest of the day. We stopped in several small villages along the way and stopped to refresh ourselves frequently; Saigarn seemed to know everyone in the countryside. Night came, and before long we halted. Saigarn told us he was ready when we were.

Shatain, Brennen & I linked hands and I shifted us into the orb. We appeared on what appeared to be the same stone table where the witch had been imprisoned on the island.

There wasn't a lot of light, but it seemed like we were on the inside surface of a sphere; a hodgepodge of different building all seemed to be crammed together wherever we looked in the landscape. It seemed to be very large, with the stars replaced with torches and bonfires from various settlements. The whole island seemed to be here.

We looked around in wonder. The witch told us that it was quite remarkable; as near as she could tell, each time land was added, the sphere grew larger. Land had been steadily added over the last thousand or two years, and she didn't know if there was an upper limit. It seemed to replicate her home when she entered the orb.

She quickly got onto business. She told us 4 plots down (she pointed in a given direction) was her greatest enemy. She believed it was a former wizard of Oritan that had fallen into undeath. He was interfering with her creations. We would find him inside the temple. She wasn't entirely sure of his abilities. She knew he was particularly powerful with illusions, so we should expect trickery. She also believed he was locked to his plot of his land, as she was.

She had ensured most of his minions would be... otherwise engaged, but he would still have a small personal retinue. I believed we would also be encountering demons. She told us the shadow demons seemed to be attracted to the light of the lighthouse. She played with it, and eventually got them to go down and merge with the fire elementals. Her army was impressive, and growing. Her enemy was destroying them any time he got a chance. His army was mostly demons of various sorts.

Our magics felt much more powerful here. Everything would hit harder. I asked about ointments that would help me prepare spells to pierce illusions - the witch sent her minions to gather the ingredients. I settled down to prepare my spells accordingly. At the end of my meditation, the witch's minions had returned with 2 ointment preparations.

We asked about daylight... she told us that there was a day time, but it didn't affect the enemy's power. We told he we were ready. 3 large eagles landed on the table; she told us they were loyal to her, and would carry us to the edge of the mage's land. It was far safer than crossing the territories of other inhabitants; they tended to be rather territorial. She gave us slabs of meat for each of us to feed our eagles. We did so, and they picked us up to carried us into the night.

They dropped us off about 50' in front of the entrance to the temple, then took wing into the sky above. The building was about 50' wide and 120' deep, and reached 80' into the night sky. There were spires and peaks and other trappings. The temple was on what appeared to be a the top of a mountain; it was at least about the top 2000' of a mountain.

The night was dark. I cast light on my holy symbol, illuminating the immediate area. We approached the door. There were brass knockers, but no apparent locking mechanism. Shatain checked for traps, but didn't find anything. Brennen stepped forward and opened the door.

The door opened with a bit of a creak. Brennen opened it far enough for us to enter, and walked in. The room beyond was dark. I followed him, and Shatain entered behind us. There were about 12 pillars on each side, and six side areas on each side. The alcoves were deep enough that they might conceal doors. There didn't appear to be a 2nd floor; 80' up was a ceiling that appeared to be covered with gargoyles. The inside space was about 40' x 70', and it seemed like there was a hallway at the end of the room where an altar would be.

Shatain went into the room scouting for traps. She made no sound whatsoever. She looked back at us about half-way into the room, and motioned that the room appeared to be clear. As she did so, we heard a creak of stone wings above us; the gargoyles seemed unsettled in their sleep.

Shatain stayed ahead of us as Brennen & I moved carefully into the room. We did our best to remain silent. About 15' into the room, I made a small misstep; the gargoyles rustled, but didn't come down. We waited a minute or two before continuing. I made a few more missteps, but we were able to get across with only a couple more steps.

Through the hallway, we saw a slightly mind-bending sight. There was an upright, convex disc about 120' high in the center of the room, edge on to us. The walls of the circular room were covered in dark, murky water, as though gravity behaved differently inside. The convex disc was 30' thick at its middle. On one side we could see an inky blackness in a well of some sort. On the other side was an old man in robes sitting in a throne. The chair was oriented so that the convex faces of the disc were 'down', and the man was facing towards the ground, relative to us.

I cast True Seeing on myself. The old man was about 60' away, and now I could see was no old man at all. It was a hulking, greenish-black monster. It was roughly humanoid, squatting where the old man would be, and had huge claws. The beast was a demon - a glabrezu. On the other side of the disc, where there had been darkness, we could see 6 babau demons chained in a circle on the opposite side from the glabrezu.

We decided we couldn't fight this monster in this world. The demons were far too powerful in this world for us to take them on. We moved stealthily across the door, and almost made it without waking any gargoyles. They shifted a little, but right at the door I made enough noise to wake 2 of them up. We exited and closed the door, waving to our eagles. They spotted us and picked us up just as the gargoyles burst out of the doors.

The eagles were fast enough. The gargoyles gave chase for a few hundred feet, but eventually we made it out.

We went back and discussed our options with the witch. She explained that casting the Glabrezu out of this realm would cost her a significant amount of her power - however, she could cast many spells on us that would make us more effective in combat. We went through the list, and between her powers and mine, our chances looked good.

She increased our strength and constitution, gave us a barky coating that made our skin more resistant to attacks, made us very resistant to magical attacks, made our weapons temporarily magical, and gave us the ability to pierce most illusions.

We took flight again with our eagles. After the brief journey, we arrived back at the temple. Outside, I made our weapons aligned with good, and cast a variety of magics to further increase my combat effectiveness, including doubling my size.

Finally, I gave a pebble an aura of silence so we could run across the room. Everyone was ready. I opened the doors, and we ran through the gargoyle room. We left the stone in the hallway so that we would not alert the gargoyles during the combat, and entered the room.

I jumped into the room, trying to rotate as I did so to move with the gravity. I hit the floor hard, on my side. Shatain was next to me. Brennen fired an arrow to keep the immediate attention off of us. He hit with a sunforged arrow for 15; the Glabrezu was definitely aware of us.

Brennen continued with his barrage, hitting with his 2nd and 3rd sunforged arrows for 30. The Glabrezu appeared in front of Brennen, and attacked. 1 pincer hit for 17; it bit for 12, but missed with his 2 smaller claws. I hit with my 2nd and 3rd attack for 44. Shatain bluffed the demon, and attempted to backstab, but missed.

Shatain attacked again, hitting with her 2nd attack for 36. Brennen drew his axe and attacked, but missed. I attacked again, hitting with all 3 attacks for 62. The demon died. Brennen took its head.

We ran through the outer room with the silence stone, leaving the rest of the complex undisturbed. Outside, I healed Brennen up and we flew back to the witch.

The witch was very happy when we returned, and admitted she was mildly indebted to us. We rested. I found that though my magic was much more powerful here, it seemed to take twice as long to regain my spells every time I needed to - I couldn't stay here for long.

The witch told us she would contact me if she needed again. Our service complete, I transported us back to the normal world. It was still dark; only 4 or 5 hours had passed while we were in the orb. Saigarn had continued traveling and broke his light jog as we appeared. He told us all was quiet; if the Ku Rog were pursuing, they were far behind. He returned the orb.

Footprints in the Sand

We continued our march after an uneasy night's sleep. Upon reaching the coast, Brennen noticed a wide swath of tracks in the trees. After discussion with Saigarn and further analysis, we concluded the tracks were from a raiding party of lizard folk. Not much was known about them; they lived in cities in the deeps, were fiercely territorial, and had a penchant for raiding the land.

This was a major concern for our plans. We could immediately sail in the ship we had, but it would be unpleasant. The ship's carpenter told us we could build a smaller, simpler ship appropriate for our numbers with about two weeks of work; that would be the ideal option. Alternatively in about 2 days we could build our 2 longboats into a catamaran that would be manageable, but possibly deadly in rough waters.

While we discussed this, Brennen examined the tracks further. He put the number in the raiding party at 12. That would be a solid fight, but nothing we couldn't handle. However, every time we lost a crewman, we added time to our voyage.

We could abandon the ship altogether; Oritan wasn't too far distant. We could march there if we really needed to. That put us in an odd position because of the dragon rider. We currently had tension between the Witch and the dragon rider. If we went to Oritan and let the Witch run amok killing the wizards, then we wouldn't have her as a potential ally. That would leave the dragon rider in a position to take the orb, since without the Witch's presence, there was no reason for the dragon rider to have us carry the orb.

In the end, we decided our best bet was to ambush the lizard folk raiding force, and then set sail as quickly as possible. Hopefully that would keep the lizard folk at bay until we left their waters. The tracks were from the previous night.

We built some basic fortifications - we built a U of untrimmed trees around our camp, with the open side facing the beach. That would focus the fight on us, and keep the non-combatants reasonably safe. We would rest the remainder of the day, keep a fire going at night, and sail the next day.

We set up a guard rotation. Shatain was on first watch, I was on second, and Brennen third. Early into my watch, I spotted quiet but distinct shapes sneaking in the night. One of the A'aloss spotted it too. It was roughly 10 - probably the same party. The A'aloss were immediately awake, and with their approval, I threw a pebble with light on it onto the beach.

They were approaching in a semi-circle, with varying sizes. They all had what looked like small octopi in their hands - they threw them at the camp. 6 landed in the bushes, but 4 landed in camp. They immediately started scampering towards the nearest living creature. In the case of the 4 that landed in camp, they actually landed on someone.

1 hit Shatain. She failed her save against the creature, and became disoriented, with a temporary loss of 4 Wisdom. The 2nd landed on Steven, our hunter/fisher, who also failed his save and took 6 points of Wisdom loss. The 3rd landed on an A'aloss; he made his save. The 4th landed on our town drunk, who made his save. It would take 2 successful saves to fight off the poison. The octopi latched on with their tentacles, and released an airborne toxin. They didn't seem to be particularly dangerous otherwise. The octopi that missed were crawling through the brush to get to us.

The A'aloss loosed a volley of arrows. The lizard folk's natural armor was tough; only Saigarn's arrow struck home, hitting L4 for 6. Philip struggled against the octopus, but couldn't get it off; the other fisherman chipped in & got it off. Shatain removed the octopus from herself, made 1 save against the poison, and stabbed it with her wounding dagger for 7. That octopus died.The lizard folk in the light scampered out of it; 4 of the lizard folk moved in and threw nets. Brennen got netted. 2 of the A'aloss and Philip got netted as well. Brennen got free of his net, and shot L3, but missed. I used a burst of holy energy to hurt and blind 4 of the lizard folk. L1, L2, and L4 failed their saves; they were blinded and took 20. L3 made his save, and so only took 10.

1 of the A'aloss was able to get out of his net; another was not able to. The 2 remaining A'aloss fired at the blinded lizard folk. They both hit, hitting L1 for 2 and L2 for 6. Saigarn drew his sword and attacked L3, missing with the first attack but hitting with the 2nd for 13. Brennen fired at the blinded lizard men, hitting L1 once for 14. L5-L10 got close enough to throw their nets over the brush. L11-L12 were in the background, calling orders. Sam, our carpenter, and Steve the fisherman got netted; the others missed, landing in the trees. Philip, Steve, and one of the A'aloss all failed their saves. L3 attacked Saigarn, hitting with its trident twice for 16 total. I delivered another holy burst of energy; L1-L3 failed their saves, took 19, and were blinded. L4 made his save, and so only took 9 and was not blinded. Yoric hit an octopus critically, cutting it directly in half; Philip managed to rip his octopus off and killed it; the rest of the villagers missed the remaining octopi. The 7 remaining octopi attacked. 2 got onto villagers; the tailor missed his save. Shatain attacked L3, with a sneak attack since it was blind, and hit for 28. L3 died.

The lizard men pressed their attack. L6, L9, L10 were clambering through the brush. L4 attacked Shatain, hitting for 13. An octopus got on Willy and one of the A'aloss. Willy, Steven, and both A'aloss made their saves; Nick, Cory, and Philip failed theirs. Steven & Philip killed their octopi, the A'aloss kids were still entangled. Seve & Yoric attacked the one unattached octopus, but missed. Shatain bluffed L4, and critically hit with the wounding dagger for 21. I placed a maximized spiritual hammer on the biggest of the Lizard men that I figured were the leaders; L11. It hit with its 2nd attack for 10. Brennen moved up to L4 and attacked with his axe, hitting for 14. L4 died. The 2 A'aloss with octopi on them tried to remove them again; 1 succeeded, and killed that octopus in the process. Saigarn went to L11, but missed his attack. The 2 free A'aloss fired at L12, hitting for 7 & 8.

My hammer fell again, hitting L11 for another 10. I blessed our group. L1 & L2 moved well away from the camp. It appeared that the remaining force was withdrawing; L12 threw a blob at an A'aloss, but missed. Brennen dropped his axe and fired his bow at L12, but missed. The 2 free A'aloss fired at L12 again, but missed. The netted A'aloss tried to get his octopus off, and finally succeded. He also killed it. The 2nd A'aloss that had been free helped the netted A'aloss out but wasn't quite successful. Saigarn attacked L11, but missed with both attacks. Shatain stuck with L11 & Saigarn, but missed her attack. Willy made his 2nd save, but couldn't get the octopus off. Nick & Cory failed their saves, and couldn't get their octopi off. Yoric & Seve tried to get the free octopus, but missed. Steve & Sam tried to get out of their nets, and were slowly making progress. The unattached octopus jumped on Seve, but Seve made his save and wasn't affected by the poison.

The lizard men retreated. Shatain tried to stab one of them, but missed. My hammer continued its work, but I didn't think it killed poor L11. Once they hit the water though, they were gone.

We got everyone out of the nets and killed the rest of the octopi. We also found out the toxin wore off quickly; the effects dissipated within about 10 minutes. Saigarn figured we had about 24-48 hours before the lizard men would decide to leave us alone or come back in greater numbers.

We went to the ship, and got underway immediately.

I've Got Ninety Nine Problems, But An Alchemist Ain't One

We decided Josh's death was best left without cause. We sent Shatain to tell Saigarn while Brennen & I prepared his body for burial at sea. This extended our supplies a little, but not by much. I was able to eat the first fish the A'aloss prepared for me; I'd have to keep experimenting a bit, but that would extend our supplies some as well.

Brennen & I went to Saigarn. He knew the supply situation well. We discussed port options - the Volu trading city would be safe enough in Saigarn's view, but I didn't think it was a good idea to straggle into that port. We decided to put in at the border between Doreav and Volu. There was a safe stretch of forest at the border (just outside the Demon Forest) where we would likely be able to do some hunting and rest for a few days before continuing on. It would take a day longer than putting into Volu directly. Our current supplies would barely sustain it.

We were at quarter rations by the time we put in at Doreav. We secured the ship as best we could, and all of us put ashore. We quickly fanned out into the forest. The crew all knew that if they encountered Doreav, they should be told we have problems and money.

The dragon & rider landed a ways away. They'd taken the first deer we captured; the rider apparently cooked and ate it. She left what she couldn't eat for us. Everything was fine with the meat, so Brennen portioned it out among the crew to get us ready for the next day's hunt.

The next day, Brennen came across some well-concealed tracks. They were made by a highly skilled Ranger. We looked out for signs of decent game along the way. We didn't find much. After following the tracks for a few hours, we came across a small camp, also well concealed. Brennen was hard pressed to get much detail, but he figured it was 2 people.

By the third day, we'd pretty much stripped the area of the game we'd been able to find. Saigarn proposed we move farther inland. I cast my view high into the air, to get a look at the lay of the land. I found a small lake farther upstream from our current camp, and we decided to make our way there.

During our march, Brennen thought he spotted a person in the forest; 300' out on our left flank, it was hard to tell. I peeked out magically, but didn't spot anything. I also went up in the air, but still couldn't find anything. Brennen & I made sure to keep our hands clear and moved towards where we'd seen movement. I called out our peaceful intentions, cycling through several languages as we moved.

About 200' into the forest, we barely spotted the scout. He rose out of a fully camouflaged position and complimented Brennen's eyes. He told us we brought a dark menace with us. We told him he sought the help of the Doreav with that if possible, but our primary concern was getting enough supplies to get us to A'aloss, or at least a little surplus beyond Volu.

The scout told us we should continue on our path and camp at the lake; he would return with an answer. We returned to the party and continued the march. Fortune favored us; we found a good sized deer, and managed to bring it down. This was large enough to feed us and have some leftovers to make jerky.

Over the next week, hunting and fishing went well. Fresh food and water did a long way to rejuvenate us. The dragon and rider neither helped nor hindered us. Finally, the Doreav returned, in force. 30 emerged from camouflage at our camp.

They asked if there was a leader of the group. I stepped forward with Saigarn. They spoke in Selvesian. The Doreav with the darkest skin stepped forward. We noticed the elves fell distinctly into small, medium, and large categories. The one that stepped forward was pretty medium. He stepped forward until there was about 5' between us.

The leader asked us about the dragon & rider. I gave him the highlights of our journey with the orb. They were not interested in helping us kill the dragon & rider. We negotiated on price for a bit, but settled on 1000 gold for enough food to get us to A'aloss and beyond.

The Doreav returned in about 3 days, with all the food we needed. It was mostly salted meat, but more than we needed. They included some dried fruit and vegetables, enough to keep us healthy for 2 weeks along with the meat.

As we packed up camp, a small band of Doreav returned. We weren't sure if they were the same or different, but one of them was a woman. Her skin was slightly darkened, and the other 4 scouts appeared to be our escort. She was medium sized. She told us she was a spirit walker.

She was interested in the orb, and asked if she could see it. We retreated to a copse of trees. I showed her, and after she examined it for a bit she asked to hold it. I could tell she was trying to determine if the item was important enough for her to step in. I couldn't really get a connection to the orb, but I decided it was worth the risk.

As soon as she took hold of it, she connected well with it. I saw the fire shimmer around the orb. We heard the dragon land and start coming towards us. It took a bit of yelling, but I was able to get her out of her trance. She returned the orb and the dragon stopped its approach. She told me it was beyond her power. She told us the orb was an abomination of magic; destroying it would release the wide variety of creatures inside. It was too dangerous to destroy and too dangerous to exist. Her first thought was to drop it in the deepest ocean we could find, but of course something would eventually find it. She recommended we lock it up in the deepest darkest hole we could find and keep secure.

I took the opportunity to ask a bit about the Doreav. They didn't have their own language; they spoke a dialect of Selvesian. Also they weren't a distinct race as such. The size difference was due to the different races of elves that had joined to form the Doreav.

We returned to the camp, and told Saigarn why the dragon had become a bit agitated. We continued about our business, packing up the camp. We'd been assuming the rider was a lich, but it seemed she might simply be a powerful necromancer. We'd never got a good look at her.

Saigarn thought it might be time to talk to the dragon. I agreed, and removed my armor and weapons. I decided to first try to connect with the orb and seek the druid's advice or opinion.

I settled under the same copse of trees where we'd spoken with the Doreav spirit walker. With a little concentration, I was able to get the connection. The war was ongoing, but had calmed somewhat. It seemed the Witch was a major player; she was getting the fire elementals to merge with the shadow demons.

I asked to speak with her. She was busy, but she had time to talk. I caught her up on where we were and what we'd been doing; especially the dragon and the rider. She asked to see through my eyes. I allowed it; she immediately took possession of my body, and knew all my spells. She used my magical sensor to look at the dragon and rider.

She'd known this necromancer; she'd been a promising spirit walker.Her journey for greater power had taken her first to Emilgar, and then to Ku Rog where she became fascinated with blood magic. She was the most valuable necromancer the General had at his disposal. Her name was Zhanna, and she knew the witch was in the orb. That was why she wouldn't try to take it from us. We could be assured that Zhanna more than likely wanted to take the orb to the General.

I asked the witch about the food and the Volu on board. The Witch didn't know much about the Volu, but she could identify the culprit if given control of my body again. It would require physical contact. I wasn't sure how high a priority it was. When I asked about the food, the witch indicated this was similar to the corruption that tainted the Volu. The infiltrator likely intended to force us into port in Volu. She agreed I should warn Saigarn and re-arm myself.

I broke contact and returned to camp. I picked up my gear and returned to the trees with Saigarn and Brennen. While I put on my armor and hung my weapons, I told Saigarn what we'd learned. He wanted to be sure I trusted the Witch; I assured him that I did, though I will wasn't completely certain that it was safe. He agreed it was our best plan of action anyway. If we lost more people in the fight, then we could always build a smaller boat.

Confident in our course of action, we discussed execution. We would tell the crew we were going to do quick physicals to make sure everyone was fully rested, and if everything checked out, we would be on the move.

I couldn't re-establish the connection in the orb. I could try again in an hour or so, which seemed about the right time to check out the food.

I returned to the trees, and tried again but failed. I told Saigarn we'd need to spend the night, and I could try again in the morning. He told everyone to settle in.

The morning was no better. We were about a day's march from the coast, so I told Saigarn we should get moving and I'd try again in the evening. The day passed uneventfully. I tried again once we stopped for the mid-day break. I still couldn't get it to work. Our march continued, until we stopped for the night.

Finally, I was able to establish the connection. The Witch asked if I was ready. I told her that she should establish a cue for Brennen & Shatain to know who the target was. The Witch told me that it would be very immediate and obvious, since the Volu would know as soon as she did. It might even know before she did if the Volu had any magical training.

We told the camp we were going to go through brief physicals to make sure everyone was ready for the next phase of our journey. We stepped just a little outside of camp, with the A'aloss kids nearby doing weapon maintenance. Shatain & Brennen were close at hand, doing minor tasks with their weapons close.

Things were a little different with the Witch in control. My walk and speech were slightly different, and the surge of her magic was very odd. We started with the elves, which of course were fine. Jayden said he was fine, but the Witch walked on over. She was fairly up front with him - she told him that the corruption of the demon forest was a subtle thing. She could cleanse it with my holy power, but if he had something to say, this was the time.

It caught Jayden off guard, and the camp paused. Jayden acquiesced, but warned me he had seen many things in his life. Through our connection, I sensed an incredible corruption. It was like there was a demon inside him; it was unfathomable that he'd kept this hidden. I saw a wicked smile & glimmer in his eyes. He didn't start a fight, so we let him be for now.

Brennen & Shatain checked out clean of course. We moved on to Robert. He tried to rebuff me as well, but the Witch told her that this was the will of the captain, and mutiny was punishable by death. Robert didn't move. He acquiesced, with a little encouragement from Saigarn. She touched him on the cheek and neck, as she had Jayden; it was a little creepy.

His soul was veined with corruption. The Witch told me he was very likely a Volu. He didn't start a fight, so we released him back to camp. He stood there and weighed his options. Eventually, he walked back to camp, grabbed a pack, and started to walk off.

The Witch nodded to the captain. The captain nodded at the kids. They drew their bows, along with Brennen. Robert turned back, and said he was going to leave; we didn't have to do this. The A'aloss and Brennen fired; he died with 6 arrows in him.

Willie came up next. He was shaking; he was also completely fine. So was Nick, Steve, Sam, Philip, Cory and Seve. Yoric had a bit of a taint, but completely normal for a native of Emilgar. She warned us he shouldn't even step into Volu; he'd be corrupted within a week.

The dragon was much closer than usual - about 200' away, and very curious. We left it unmolested.

I put away the orb, and turned to Saigarn. I told him that Jayden was very, very corrupt, and would likely kill us all given the chance know that I knew. He was definitely powerful enough to have corrupted the food. His corruption was almost mind numbing.

In Dwarven, I commanded the A'aloss to kill the first mate. He morphed into a giant best, and charged straight at me.

Shatain immediately tried to bluff Jayden, but failed. She attacked, but missed. Jayden bluffed me successfully and attacked, but in the process of shoving Shatain out of the way, he swung wide and intersected his wrist with the line of Shatain's failed attack. His hand with the dagger came off, and bounced off my shield just before he crashed into me face first, breaking a tooth off in the wood. The hit was for 24.

Saigarn hit as well, for 11. Brennen hit with his axe for 13. I struck critically for 11. Brennen attacked next, hitting twice for 19 and 16. I conjured my spiritual hammer (maximized), which hit for 10, but missed with its second attack. Saigarn hit critically with his sword for 19.

Saigarn struck again, hitting for 22. My spiritual hammer fell, but missed. I hit twice, for 11 and 9. Jayden fell. He started to recover, but Saigarn pinned Jayden into the ground with his longsword. Brennen stepped in with his axe, and removed his head with a clean coup de grace.

We turned to the crew, but they clearly knew what had happened. Shatain went into the bushes after Jayden's dagger. I went to Robert and took his ring. It was a ring that would let me charm someone 3 times per day.

The A'aloss looked a little upset that we'd hogged the glory, but Saigarn kept them calm. The dragon was still keeping an eye on things, but had backed up a little. There was no need to bury the bodies, but we took their provisions and split up their gold.

Honestly we were surprised Jayden's blood wasn't black.

The Fish Will Kill You

We were able to salvage about 2 months worth of supplies from the captured boat. Sleep was still an issue, but morale improved with the quality of our food. Brennen had found a tome to increase his stamina on the pirate vessel, and was working through it as he could. Everyone was working 20 hour days; along with the supplies and my healing magic, we were surviving.

We had about 30 days of sailing before we reached a port. Saigarn was pretty good at keeping the crew in line and minimizing conflict. The A'aloss kids maintained a fairly cheery disposition; they were the happiest members of the crew. Some resented their attitude, some took it as an additional morale boost.

We were back into deeply magical waters. We were seeing things on an almost daily basis, but thankfully there were few encounters. We were still very careful on what we pulled up when fishing. Merpeople would occasionally mess with out catches; tangling the nets or filling them with sea junk.

The pirate vessel was several days behind us, floating without masts in the open sea. One of the crewmen became violently ill. It seemed he had food poisoning. Somehow he was the only one sick. I was able to verify he was poisoned, but I couldn't tell the exact source. I was fairly certain he'd be fine for a few hours; at this point he just needed rest. I couldn't afford to leave him on the sidelines, but I could safely investigate the source of the poison before curing him magically.

The first barrel I investigated was salted fish; it was poisoned. All the rest were, too. It seemed like all our supplies were spoiled and/or poisoned. It was definitely decay accelerated by magic. I couldn't be sure, but it seemed necromantic. Something wasn't adding up though. The magic was... not standard. I tried to purify the food... it seemed to resist the spell. This was very unusual. I was able to overcome it and get the magic at least salvageable. Even so about 1/3 of it was unusable.

Talking to Saigarn, he recommended returning the one crewman, Cory (a tailor in his forties) to full health before interviewing the crew. Cory was quick to point the finger at Jayden. We suspected this might be a byproduct of the magical waters we sailed through, but wanted to be safe. I made sure to conduct the interviews in a non-accusatory manner. I was looking for any indication of possession or a malevolent magical item. I checked each crew member for magic and poison as I cycled through the crew.

In between interviews, I purified additional quantities of food. That day, I was able to salvage about 3 weeks of food. There were 2 batches of food I could try again the next day. And of course, we were adding days to the journey by pulling crew out of their positions for interviews.

We found several more people that were getting sick; 3 of the villagers. Willie (in his 60s), Robert (our adventure guide) and Nick, a boy in his twenties. I neutralized the poison in Willie first, and interviewed him. Willie thought that if anyone poisoned the food, it would be Josh. As with Cory. Josh was an herbalist that ran an apothecary in the town; he wasn't exactly classically trained either.

Robert hadn't seen anything weird, but he also thought Jayden might have been involved. I cured the poison in his system. He had a magical ring, but the aura was faint and he assured me it was only to give him the upper hand in negotiations. That aligned with what we knew of him; he always seemed to be a little more hard to bluff than normal.

Nick also hadn't seen anything weird, He'd fished these waters most of his life, so he was pretty confident he hadn't brought anything on board by accident. Brennen delayed the poison in him as well. He didn't have any suspicions about who might have done it (if anyone did.) He also told us there were fish in these waters that could contaminate supplies, but not of the level we've been seeing. Not that he was ruling anything out, but it wasn't inside the realm of his experience. He also felt if it came from the sea, people would have been killed rather than spoiling our supplies.

We took an hour before the next two crewmen; Stephen & Sam. Stephen was in his thirties, and was known for some hunting & fishing. He was a good crewmember, generally solving problems rather than creating, and did his job well. Stephen suspected Robert had poisoned the food, if anyone.

Sam was our carpenter and engineer. He was definitely Brennen's favorite on the crew, and an integral part of our crew. Sam hadn't seen anything odd, though he was aware of the fact that we had some odd people and everyone was hallucinating on and off between work & magic.

We had a few hours without interviews. I cured Nick, and rested again. About 5 hours later, I started feeling nauseous, as did Shatain & Brennen. I cured the three of us, and rested again.

Phillip was our next interview; he was in his fifties, and had a reputation as a full time drunk and a part time fisherman. However, he was the comedic genius on the boat. He did his work with a little encouragement, and kept people laughing. He was in an unusually long spell of sobriety, so he had no idea what was going on; he'd seen pretty much everything during the voyage due to withdrawals. We figured it would take too much work to poison the food. I cured him.

Brendan was a fisherman in his thirties, without a lot of personality. He had a dog, but hadn't brought it along. He wasn't very exciting or excited, and didn't have any suspicions. I cured him.

Yoric was one of our original sailors, and was from Emilgar. He had an accent and was a bit creepy. Emilgar was one of main sources of necromancy in the world, and he had some odd religious views. He didn't have any suspicions. I cured him. He had a magical necklace; it was a powerful charm against evil. I didn't ask him about it.

We rested again, and no one else was getting sick. Seve (our other veteran C'oritan sailor) did not get sick; neither did Jayden, the A'aloss, and Josh the hedge wizard. I was able to purify the remaining 2 batches of food, but that only got us another 4 days of food. We were pushing the limits of endurance. We would have to put into port in Volu, and Saigarn did not want to stop there. The A'aloss hated Volu, though the city was a reasonable trading port.

I talked to Saigarn, and made sure he was OK with me interviewing the A'aloss. He wasn't crazy about the idea. I explained I was trying to be as fair as possible, and I would keep it brief. He agreed it was a good method, and promised to send them down.

After a rest, I interviewed Jayden. He wasn't surprised; I emphasized I was trying to put him through the same process as the rest of the crew. He commented that he was happy I was being fair about it. I also told him at this point that I figured this was the lich's doing; it wasn't normal lich magic, but it seemed to be forcing us in the direction she wanted us to go. He also had a magical dagger. After some cajoling, he allowed me to examine it (while he held onto it.) I assured him I would keep his secrets. There were 3 separate enchantments; conjuration, evocation, and necromancy.

I traded him my ghost-touched cold iron warhammer in trust to examine the dagger more closely. The evocation component would cause bleeding wounds that required magical healing to stop. The conjuration was ghost-touched, like my warhammer. The necromancy was an effect that significantly increased the damage from a surprise attack. I passed back the dagger, complimented him on the quality, and assured him of confidentiality. He thanked me and I moved on.

I spoke with with Seve briefly. He didn't have anything to add, other than that there were a lot of odd things in this water, and like others, he wasn't sure if we'd ever pin this on anything. He admired my effort though.

Josh was our final human interview; the hedge wizard. He seemed to have a little poison in his system, though nothing serious; he had a pouch however with a very significant amount of poison in it. He seemed a little nervous, though not really out of the ordinary. He had no magical items. For some reason he believed the A'aloss might have been to blame for the sickness. He pointed out they seemed to really enjoy playing with the magical fish. I told him the A'aloss were up next, and assured him they were going to be questioned just like everyone else. He didn't seem to believe me.

I asked him point blank about the pouch of poison. He told me he didn't know what I was talking about. I pointed at the pouch and explicitly told him that I was willing to do whatever was necessary to find out what was in it. His composure broke, but he kept up with the store that the didn't know what was in it. I warned him I could destroy it with a thought. He turned to leave, and started running when I cast the spell to neutralize the contents of the pouch.

He ran right into the A'aloss. Saigarn had sent them down for their interviews. They immediately restrained him. He struggled harder, and it seemed like they took a little more time than they needed to, but they got him subdued and tied. He was beat up pretty badly, but nothing life threatening. I healed him up so that he wasn't in pain.

I sat the A'aloss down, within earshot of Josh. I asked them the same questions. They had no poison or magical items. They told us they had been eating certain fish, and it was keeping them in better spirits, but it would be lethal to humans. They said some C'oritan natives (like myself and Seve) might be able to handle it. They told me that Josh had been an annoyance; he was constantly trying to get into their circle, and find out any secrets of the fish. They knew he'd got his hands on at least some of the organs.

I took Josh's pouch. It was a small array of alchemy tools, and an unidentifiable paste. He wouldn't tell me anything about it. I thanked the A'aloss, asked them to share a bit of the magical fish with me next time, and sent them on the way. After updating Saigarn, I searched Josh's bunk.

Josh turned out to be hiding an small, amateurish, but passable alchemy lab. He had the organs from the fish in various states of preparation and decay. I called down Robert; he told me it looked like Josh actually knew his business a bit better than he let on. The preparation would make a mild sleeping poison. It would kill in a high enough dose, but it wasn't likely the reason the food had gone bad.

I thanked Robert and went back to the captain. He ordered the materials thrown overboard, and told Robert his life was only spared because the crew was so thin. Saigarn made it clear that if he cooked alone, or was found with any other implements, he would be killed immediately.

We untied Robert and sent him back to duty. His pride was broken. We might have made an enemy, but more importantly he was back to work and the threat was neutralized.

I went down to the hold and pulled out the orb. There was a faint shimmer of fire within it. I could barely see it. I felt an intense connection to the orb, and knew there was a large concentration of chaotic energy inside, and likely a pitched battle. That made sense - the fire elementals had gone somewhere, after all.

I was thinking about calling out the witch to get her take on events, but decided this wasn't the best time.

I reported back to Saigarn and life returned to normal. About 10 hours later, Robert came off shift, went down and came back to grab Jayden. He told us someone killed Josh in his bunk. Saigarn detailed me to investigate.

There was very little blood; his neck had been broken. It looked like he'd been attacked by an animal that had taken him by the neck and shaken him to death. There were some abrasions from teeth, but nothing indicating a normal beast. Brennen checked for any tracks or other sign.

Brennen found enough - he determined the culprit was a wererat. Someone on board was a Volu. We knew the A'aloss hated, loathed, and despised the Volu. This would start a witch hunt if we let the information get out. The A'aloss were the only ones we could rule out.

There was a lot of conjecture about the Volu. We knew they had traders of all races that lived in their city. The common wisdom was that no one should stay in the city for more than 6 months; that was long enough to catch the curse. We knew people disappeared there all the time.

This was its own unique, odd magic that was completely undetectable. Calling them wererats was a bit of a misnomer; there were many mutations within the Volu. Brennen was certain the jaws were truly massive to get around even Josh's scrawny neck. If the jaws were proportional, the hybrid form was 7-8' tall. The only thing we could do is talk to Saigarn and hope for the best.

Frost on the Water

Our ship was running the bare minimum crew. None of us were slipping more than 4 or so hours per night. I was using magic to purify our food and water as needed, but we only had so much. The rations were doing well enough along with catch from the sea. I was also using magic to keep the crew refreshed; we were able to keep the ship maintained and moving, but the possibility of starvation was always in the background. I could keep the crew going until they died, but they couldn't keep up the pace forever.

After about 3 weeks on the sea, we spotted another vessel. It became apparent it was going to attempt to intercept us; it had begun a wide slow turn to realign its course with us. Over the course of the next day, we set up cover for archers and prepared for a fierce battle. The other ship was better crewed, and had their share of archers as well. The dragon and rider was not currently in sight.

We found the ship to be well-equipped with shields and other defensive gear to put up. There weren't many of us, but our defensive position was good. I cast out a magical sensor, and located the captain on the aft deck. It looked liked he had an evil cleric with him. I notified the archers of this. Shatain had the potion of black tentacles ready. It looked like about 50 scruffy crew on deck.

Brennen fired 2 volleys of 3 at about 400', but didn't hit anything. The A'aloss fired as well, but only a few shots. He waited another minute, waiting for them to close about another 100', and fired another volley. 2 of the 3 arrows found their marks, knocking 1 pirate each off of the front line. The A'aloss opened up again, and took down 2 more pirates. Brennen continued firing, killing 1 pirate outright. His 2 additional arrows missed. The next volley hit 1 out of 3 as well, dropping another pirate down. The A'aloss continued firing as well, taking down 1 additional pirate.

At about 200', I checked with my magical sensor again. The cleric was still on the aft quarterdeck. A few pirates were dead, a few more were badly wounded, but they were pretty calm.

Brennen fired, dropping 2 more pirates. The A'aloss took out 2 more. The captain of the other ship issued some angry orders and they hunkered down farther, effectively removing any chance of further shots.

As the boat reached 180', I cast out a hammer of force to start attacking the cleric on the opposing ship. It attacked successfully, hitting for 8. The hammer struck again, hitting for 8 again, but missing with another attack. The cleric attempted to dispel the hammer, but failed. I also smote the back of the ship, including the cleric, captain, and as many crew as possible. It looked like the cleric failed the save, and took the full 15. The crew stayed down, so I couldn't tell how it affected them. The hammer fell again, striking for 4 and 6. I also dropped another burst of holy energy, hitting anyone that was evil and failed their save for 23.

The hammer fell again. It struck twice, killing the cleric. The dragon swooped in behind us, and landed on the aft deck of the pirate ship. It looked like a deliberately destructive landing; the captain was knocked aside, and the wheel house was destroyed. It used its breath weapon, finishing off the crew that were already injured, and quickly killing the rest of the crew.

Shatain lobbed the potion of black tentacles as the dragon prepared to lift off again. It hit the dragon, consuming it as it exploded and grew. The rider dropped to the deck as quickly as possible, but shortly the deck of the ship was covered in thick black tentacles. Remaining crew were grabbed and thrown; the rigging was dismantled quickly.

The ship was still on a bit of a collision course. Saigarn whipped the crew into action, doing his best to avoid a collision. It wasn't enough. The stern of the pirate ship clipped our stern; the tentacles grabbed a bit of our rigging, but we were able to avoid the worst of the collision.

Our crew cheered, though they were a little weirded out. Saigarn corrected our course to stay close to the ship so we could board it once the tentacles disappeared. The dragon reformed as the tentacles dissipated. The rider reappeared, somewhat haggard. He regained his mount and took to the air.

The dragon went about 100' up into the air, and then started gliding back towards our ship. This was not an attack run; we'd seen that. I told everyone to hold their fire but be ready. It landed gently on the aft deck.

The rider spoke. It was a woman. She told us that she'd toyed with us enough; we had something she wanted. We would either take it where she wanted or she would kill us. She strongly recommended we take the supplies from the other ship and get to a port. She would not clarify where she wanted us to go.

We boarded the opposing ship. The whole deck was covered with dead bodies; about 60. The dragon's breath weapon was frost; the bodies were gently smoking as ice evaporated. We checked the ship carefully, but there were no survivors; not even rats. The food was untouched and cold.

We retrieved the supplies and started looking for loot. There was a lot of miscellaneous gold and silver household goods. There was a chest with a little over 4,000 gold in it. Total haul including searching the bodies was about 5,000 gold.

I checked the body of the cleric. He had a rod that would let me maximize a lower spell three times per day. There wasn't much else. On the body of the cook (a mean looking, nasty man), I found a magical cloak. The cloak was hideously ugly; bright orange, with splotches and multicolored patches. The cloak would help the wearer avoid many of the pitfalls of life; avoiding explosions, resisting poisons, and increasing mental toughness. However, unless the ugly side was out and uncovered.

We split the gold evenly between us and the crew. There was about 4,000 gold worth of cargo; olives, silk, various good that we would need to sell off.

It's Raining Cockatrices

We rested for a few hours while we waited for the fires to burn out. As we started to think about trying to identify the magical items we'd obtained, and possibly interrogating the necromancer's spirit, we noticed something. Coming in from the Northwest, about 1000' away, we saw the shape of a dragon. It looked like it had a rider. We couldn't tell exactly what kind of dragon it was, but it was dark. The nearest land it could be from was A'aloss, but we weren't sure where it was coming from. It didn't look like it was coming directly to us.

The dragon flew over the town and the witch, staying at a height of roughly 2000'. It finally looped around and headed for the tower. We closed up around the door of the tower. The dragon banked back & forth in lazy swoops, affording the rider a clear view of the grounds. On its second swoop over us, I noticed the dragon had reins, bit, and bridle. The dragon appeared to be undead; most of its flesh was intact and it appeared to be flying naturally. The rider was heavily swathed in thick, dark robes. The robes were well-maintained and expensive, not tattered.

The dragon looped back around. The rider ran a knife along his arm and sprinkled some drops on the ground near us. I believed it wasn't a spell as such; more a magical effect of the blade. Another necromancer... I didn't recognize the monsters, but they were some kind of winged beast. There were about 10 of them. It didn't take long for them to orient themselves and start coming towards us, while the dragon circled overhead.

Shatain went for the tower; Brennen & I followed. We ran down the stairs, set out our lanterns and set the trap. We heard the creatures enter the tower, and start going down the stairs. They triggered the pit trap pretty quickly, and came tumbling down in a gaggle. They couldn't untangle to fly, and 6-7 tumbed into the pit trap. Some of them landed on top of the others that were already pinned. We also hear a few more coming down.

Shatain stabbed the first one to poke its head up, and hit it for 27. Her 2nd attack missed. 3 were into the room with us. C1 bit Shatain for 5, and removed 2 point of his Dexterity. We recognized these as cockatrices. C2 bit at me, but missed. C3 bit Brennen, doing 3, but avoided the poison. I waited for the others to appear in the room - 6 were with us. I dropped a burst of holy energy, but unfortunately they weren't actually evil creatures. Some took 6, some took 3. C4-C6 attacked Brennen; he took a total of 15 and 2 points of Dexterity. Brennen attacked C4, hitting for 16 and again for 15.

C2 attacked me, biting for 3; I wasn't affected by the poison. I summoned a hammer of spiritual force; it attacked C2 twice, hitting once for 7. Shatain bluffed C1, but missed with her attack. C3-C6 all attacked Brennen; he took 10 total, and was able to resist the poison. Brennen swung at C4, and killed it with an attack for 23. He then attacked C5, hitting for 16. C1 attacked Brennen but missed. C5 attacked late, hitting Brennen for 5 and taking another 2 points of Dex.

Shatain bluffed C1 again, and hit for 23 again. C1 died. Several attacked Brennen again, hitting for 10 total again. He resisted all the poison. C2 attacked me again, but missed. Brennen attacked C5, hitting for 19 and missing with his 2nd attack. My hammer hit C2 twice, for 15 total. My own attacks missed.

Shatain bluffed C6, and hit for 16. My spiritual hammer missed with the first attack, but hit on the 2nd for 10. I struck with my warhammer, missed, and fumbled on the 2nd attack. C2 attacked as the opportunity presented but missed. C2 attacked again, but missed again. C6 attacked Shatain, biting for 3. Shatain resisted the poison. Brennen attacked C5, hitting for 21 and killing it. Brennen then attacked C6, but barely missed. C3 bit Brennen for 2, and 1 point of Dex.

My spiritual hammer struck C2 again, hitting for 5, but missing with the 2nd attack. I attacked with my hammer, but missed critically. The beast bit me for 3, and I resisted the poison. Brennen attacked C6, hitting for 16. He critically missed his 2nd attack. C6 bit back for 4, but Brennen resisted the poison. Shatain bluffed C6 again, and hit for 16, finishing it off. C2 attacked me, but missed again. C3 missed as well.

C3 attacked Brennen & hit for 3. Brennen resisted the poison. Shatain bluffed C3, but missed with her attack. My hammer hit C2 with its 2nd attack for 3; my hammer hit for 11 on the 2nd attack and killed it. Brennen attacked C3, hitting for a total of 32. My spiritual hammer hit C3 twice for 12, and I hit it again for 9, finally finishing it off.

Brennen was pretty badly injured, and slow. Shatain was doing OK. I healed some of Brennen's Dexterity damage, and healed us all up to full. Peeking outside, we could see the fire elementals continuing to burn everything in sight. The dragon was still looping with its riders above us. We went back inside. I regained my spells, swapping out a few so I could heal Brennen & Shatain's Dexterity all the way back up.

Around nightfall, the fire had pretty much burnt out. There was a broad swath, around 100' wide or so, directly to the center of the island, about where the witch was. The destruction hadn't reached out much farther than that, and thankfully the town had been spared. We stayed to the edge of the burnt area and headed towards the witch. The dragon flew over us a few times, kind of keeping an eye on our progress.

There had been a light rain. The ground was still hot, but not really burning. It took us until about midnight to get to the witch's table. The stone table was lightly singed, and the orb was in the middle. There was no ball or chain left on the table. It seemed everything had just gone into the orb.

Brennen & Shatain heard rustling from the Northwest in the bushes. It didn't seem to be a critter. We drew our weapons, and we heard the voice of Robert in the bushes. He told us not to shoot and carefully exited the brush. He seemed a bit surprised to see us.

He'd received a note, telling him to collect the orb. He had no idea where it had come from; no one in his shop knew either. When pressed, he produced the note and handed it to me. All it said was to collect the orb and take it off of the island. I clambered up onto the table and took the orb. Brennen discussed any possible value of the cockatrice bodies; Robert offered us 200 gold for all 10 bodies.

Part way back to the tower, we could see the dragon & rider heading in to land. It seemed like the rider was staying away from us for the most part, so we decided to return to the town and assemble our crew. We arrived a few hours before dawn.

Everyone in the town had torches & lanterns going; it was very bright. There were a few people, looking very cautious, on porches. They asked us to stop about 30' away from the town. A man in his mid-40s, with a longsword & crossbow, was the one talking to us.

He told us about the events of the day - which we'd of course mostly seen. He told us a lot of the townsfolk were ready to leave the island. We said we were looking for crew, so that aligned well. He directed us to the inn; most of the people that wanted to leave were there.

There were armed guards at the inn. They let us in after a brief inspection. The townsfolk were discussing the pros & cons. They quieted down when we entered. We told them that the dragon didn't seem interested in confronting us; we could likely leave with minimal danger. Many of the townsfolk seemed ready to go. We told them we would row out to the ship and be back within an hour or so and talk more once we knew the status of the A'aloss & remaining crew. An older man stepped out of the crowd and told us that he knew how to captain a ship.

It seemed the man did know the basics; we offered to take him with us when we rowed out to the ship. As we conversed, Brennen believed the old man used to be a pirate. We weren't too concerned; he might be old, but he'd probably know how to fight the ship.

The A'aloss had lanterns burning brightly on the ship, and they spotted us pretty quickly. They welcomed us aboard after we identified ourselves. The kids woke up Saigarn, who was looking pretty groggy & stiff.

We asked about the status of the ship. Saigarn told us there was about a day's worth of repairs left. With more hands, it would be a lot faster. We introduced Saigarn to Jayden, who had volunteered to be our captain. Saigarn told us that the supply situation was bad; we'd need to bring in a full stock from the island. We could do some coastal hunting, but most of the nearby coast was the Demon Forest, so the game was a little suspect. Jayden walked through the ship with Saigarn, reviewing the remaining repairs and prioritizing them.

Saigarn told us he'd like to come back to town with us. We got back in the boat, and headed back towards town. Jayden told us that he wasn't sure how many people from town would accept his captaincy. We mentioned having Saigarn be the captain, with Jayden as the first mate. Jayden decided it would be best if we just didn't mention him and Saigarn would be the captain.

We entered the inn and explained we needed at least a dozen crew, but we could take pretty much anyone that could go, and we needed supplies. The unofficial leader of the townsfolk called on the people that wanted to go to stand up.

Only 6 stood. We continued extolling the need to leave the island; Oritan was likely coming, on top of the witch no longer being imprisoned and the dragon. We finally persuaded an additional 8 people to come. We told the townspeople we'd be back and forth throughout the next day while we gathered additional supplies.

Just before dawn, we picked up our 14 from the beach with their gear & supplies, and took them to the ship. The day passed uneventfully. The dragon continued to make long low sweeps over the island, occasionally returning to the tower. Robert decided to join us at the last minute.

We eventually hoisted anchor and sailed out. The dragon followed us, but stayed at a distance. We fished as much as we could. Jayden was very good as a quartermaster; he wasn't really in charge, but he was very helpful with everything going on to keep the ship moving. It seemed he was a little harsher than Saigarn, so having him as a consultant seemed to be the better option.

The dragon stayed with the ship the whole time. Every now and again, the dragon dipped into the Demon Forest for a few hours before returning to its observation post.

I had time to figure out the use of the magical items. The mace was unfiinished; it had a strong necromantic aura, but didn't actually do anything. It seemed it was intended to become a life draining mace. The chain shirt had a resistance to energy drains, and wasn't otherwise evil. The rubies from the mage were elemental stones containing fire elementals. The potion was an oil of black tentacles. We'd have to be careful with those. The wand was a wand of Scorching Ray, with 20 charges. I gave that to Shatain, as she was the only one who could use it.