A Farewell To Binky

The rest of the day passed without incident, long enough for us to exit the canal and return to open water and sunlight. We stopped to resupply in the port city just outside the canal, on the coast of the inner sea. We had about a day in the port before we headed out to sea. There was nothing we could really think of that we didn't already have.

We did take the opportunity to appraise the diamond we'd picked up from Michael, now that we had sunlight. Shatain & I examined it separately, and we agreed it was probably worth 4,000 - 6,000 gold. I suspected it could be worth more to the right buyer.

The majority of our crew swapped out again. Our guard stayed; they hadn't been rattled by the demon's appearance. Shatain went into town to pick something up that she kept secret from all of us. Brennen & I took the opportunity to bathe and get our clothing cleaned.

I also sat Binky down and asked him what he wanted to do. I'd become fluent in Goblin, and so there was no need to keep him around anymore. I gave him the option of leaving, and he took it. I gave him 10 gold and sent him on his way.

The orb remained quiet throughout the day. We returned to the ship just before sunset. We also picked up 3 hooded lanterns, and I cast a spell on them that would provide a supernatural flame that would never go out. With all 3 lanterns in our cabin, it would always be bright enough to incapacitate the demons.

Once we were in our cabin, Shatain brought out her surprise - a cask of Dwarven ale. We spent a restless night with a close call, but nothing came out of the orb. At first light, Lieutenant Stanley, the head of the guard contingent, came to us and told us we'd be sailing within an hour. We went to sleep once we were underway.

We woke as the room went frosty. I tore the door open and let a flood of sunlight into the room as the demon appeared. I struck it with a burst of holy power, for 21, also blinding it. Shatain's short sword lit up, faintly purple. She struck the demon, hitting for 15. Brennen hit with his axe for 9. The demon was confused, but managed to get out of the room. It went down into the belly of the ship.

We went down with our lanterns; along the way I conjured daylight. We entered the crew main cabin to find a sailor huddled against the wall. He was white-faced, and just pointed in the direction the demon had gone. We went into a storeroom, and found nothing there. We let Lt. Stan know and he got all the crew upstairs.

We prepared for nightfall. I kept a few more spells letting me have daylight and holy energy at the ready. Shatain went below with 3 of the guards with her sword out and radiating daylight. Brennen & I went down on the other side of the ship with the 2 remaining guards, lanterns at the ready.

Shatain encountered the demon first. She was faster, feinted the demon, and struck with her short sword for 20. The demon died, staining the floor black. We'd found it quickly enough that it hadn't had a chance to recuperate.

We thought long and hard about how to contain this thing. During the day, we hoisted the pouch with the orb up to the top of the crow's nest. During the night, between Barclay & I, we could keep the daylight up long enough for the other to rest. Alternating throughout the night would be unpleasant, but it would work.

During the night, we found out that Barclay's first name was Jack. He'd drawn this assignment by getting to familiar with Ezekiel's daughter. A full week went by. We were close to the end of the cask of Dwarven ale. We'd had a few cold spells, but the continuous daylight seemed to do the trick. It seemed the demons could see the environment around the orb, so they would know if we slipped up on our guard.

We stopped at a port city. We decided the best thing we could do is make our weapons able to hit incorporeal creatures. The demons would be able to clearly see our weapons along with the daylight, and hopefully it would be enough. It would take several days to have it done, but the captain was fine with the delay.

It took all day before we found a magic user that would be able to do what we needed. We believed the diamond would cover the cost. His name was Valryd Balarist, and he was more a shaman than a priest. We explained what we wanted to have done, and he was amenable to it.

He examined the diamond carefully, and felt it was definitely a fair trade. Brennen noticed as he had the gem, his features shifted in a weird way for the briefest moment. Something was really, really wrong with this man. Valryd asked for a moment and went to his desk. He cast a spell; I couldn't tell what it was.

Cold, cloying, greasy darkness washed over us. We recognized it then as a blast of unholy energy. Shatain was sickened and took 21; Brennen & I made our saves and only took 10.

Shatain feinted, but failed. However she did hit with her longsword for 6. Brennen attacked next, hitting once for 12. The shaman attempted to make Shatain blind, but failed. I smote him with holy energy, and the shaman collapsed to the ground. He had been possessed by one of the shadow demons.

I created a magic circle against evil to prevent him being possessed again. I then healed the shaman back up. We believed a shadow demon had been very crafty, and hidden itself in the diamon. He told us he would do the enchantment for free, and we needed to get the diamond as far away from him as possible, right away.

I conjured daylight, and then attempted to dispel the diamond. It failed. Valryd cast his own dispel, and succeeded. The shadow demon appeared, disoriented from being cast back into the diamond. I brought up a hammer of force, which attacked and hit for 10. Shatain hit with his short sword for 28. Brennen attacked and hit critically for 10. The shadow demon attempted to flee. In doing so, we all took attacks of opportunity. Shatain hit for 11. Brennen hit for 3. I hit for 2. The demon died, and stained the floor black.

The shaman was happy to take the diamond, now that we'd cleansed it. In addition, he would hallow our cabin, and give it daylight for a year. We decided to have the spell done in the main hold. It would easily cover the room. The captain was not easily convinced; he was more worried about superstitious sailors than protection past the end of this mission. Together, Shatain & I convinced him we'd be able to remove the effect once we'd arrived at the island.

The shaman arrived. I convinced the captain to let him on so he could see the hold. Over the course of the next week, Valryd enchanted our weapons and hallowed the hold. During the time, one of the demons decided to test its luck.

You Broke It, You Bought It

Ezekiel told us that since we'd broken the orb, it was our responsibility to fix it. We hadn't intended to do so, but we were the ones that interrupted the ritual. Ezekiel told us we would need to take the orb to the Witch, who lived on an island. We agreed to the task for a fee of 5,000 gold in place of our previous contract, and cold iron weapons.

We told Ezekiel about Michael's visit & mission. Ezekiel instructed his apprentice, Barclay, to contact him as soon as Michael Merchants showed up again. We would have to keep Michael talking as long as possible, and figure out a way to signal Barclay.

The boat would stay with us, though we'd have to turn around. There were a few resupply points in the canal with areas were the boat would have room to turn. Over the next day, we had a few scares, but nothing came out of the orb. A couple of times, the room just got very cold and frosty for a while. I changed my spell repertoire to hopefully help us in the event another demon came through. We also moved our quarters next to the Barclay, so we could knock on the wall if Michael showed up. Shatain also rigged up a simple bell system.

In the late afternoon that day, before we turned around, Michael came to us. There was a knock on our door before the latch opened and Michael walked in. Shatain used sleight of hand to ring the bell without alerting Michael. Michael took a seat on a barrel and asked us how we were doing. He then told us that he couldn't get the full amount, but he had 1,000 gold and a large diamond that should cover the rest. We told him about the shadow demon we'd encountered.

Just as I launched into the description of the demon, the door opened from a force effect. Shatain slid the bag of gold and diamond out of sight during the momentary distraction. Michael magically froze in place as Ezekiel entered the room. He told us he'd take care of Michael, and he'd secured a loyal crew & guard; our captain was in the loop and was staying on. I took a moment to show Michael the crack in the orb, so he didn't think we were double crossing him for no reason.

Barclay entered and made sure everything had been well taken care of. After his brush with the shadow demon, he was a little skittish. Shatain borrowed a magnifying glass from him, but our light was too poor to asses the diamond's value. After the Barclay left, we divided up the gold. It totaled to 1112. Brennen took 370, Shatain & I took 371. The room went cold during the count, but nothing appeared to attack.

Another day passed before we reached the lock, with a few more cold spells. We docked and resupplied before turning. The old crew & guards left without a word; they were very tight-lipped. The new crew and guards joined. We were able to speak with the ship captain later, just to make sure everyone knew what they were in for. He told us the guards knew, but he wasn't telling the crew.

A day after we turned around at the lock, I tried something new on the orb at the next cold spell. I set it on the floor, and I created a magical circle around the orb to contain anything that might be coming out. We suspected entities had been leaving the orb without manifesting. A shadow demon appeared, and seemed contained by the spell.

The demon laughed, and the circle broke. Shatain attempted to bluff the demon, but failed. He successfully hit, but didn't do enough damage to get through its damage reducing aura. The demon attempted to summon an ally, but failed. Brennen hit with a 2-handed swing, doing 6. (All damage at this point is after a reduction of 10, and halved due to the incorporeal nature of the shadow). I summoned magical daylight, so that the demon wouldn't be able to hide from us again. We all shied away a bit; we hadn't seen the sun in weeks. The demon shrieked in annoyance.

Brennen swung again, missing with the first swing, but hitting critically with the second for 10. The demon fumbled for the door, and backed out through the wall. We checked the boat, but there was no sign of it. The guards calmed everyone down; the crew was a little disconcerted by the bright daylight emanating from my holy symbol. We assured the guard captain that all was well; we'd driven the beast out.

Over the next 3 days, we had 4-5 cold spells per day. On the third day, one of the demons decided to attack. The room was enveloped in darkness, and the demon attacked me. I conjured daylight again. That made the cabin at least lit, though dimly. The demon was effectively invisible. Shatain attacked, but missed. Brennen attacked nextis 2 swings missed.

Brennen & Shatain waited for me, in hope that I could align one of their weapons. The demon attacked me again, hitting twice for 16 total. I made Brennen's axe good, so he could attack and do damage. Unfortunately he missed with both his attacks. Shatain rang the bell to the apprentice's cabin. She also swung at the demon, but missed.

The demon clawed me again, hitting critically for 12, and again for 8. It missed with its bite. I attempted to dispel the creature's darkness, but failed. Brennen attacked twice, but missed. Shatain attacked and hit, but didn't get through the reduction.

The demon attacked me again, hitting for 10 with 1 claw. The bite and other claw missed. I healed myself for 48, bringing me back fully. Brennen hit for 9, but missed with the 2nd attack. Shatain ran next door to Barclay; he looked terrified when she burst through the door. He was in a state of high panic, but he steeled himself and went in. The darkness was very intimidating, wreathing the room in eerie shadow from my magical light countering the demon's. Shatain was fairly sure the wizard wet himself as he attempted to dispel the darkness. His magic fizzled however; it wasn't good enough to break the spell, and he didn't have another dispel.

Shatain kept an eye on the wizard, ready to keep him from running. The wizard cast daylight again, on Shatain. It was enough to make the demon visible. Shatain hit the creature from behind with his sword, for 4. I conjured a spiritual warhammer, but it disappeared as soon as it tried to hit. The creature hit me for 7, but then stumbled. Shatain & Brennen took advantage and hit; Shatain for 4, Brennen for 9. Brennen attacked again, hitting for 7. His 2nd swing fumbled, letting the demon hit him for 3.

I attempted to make Shatain's weapon good, but the spell fizzled because of the distractions of combat. Brennen attacked again, hitting for 10. His 2nd swing missed. Shatain attacked, hitting for 6. The demon promised to remember us, and teleported away. Barclay ran out of the room.

Binky huddled in the corner until he felt it was safe to uncurl. He'd made it through unscathed. After a few minutes, Barclay returned, and told us Ezekiel had the cold iron weapons we'd requested, but he wasn't happy about it. Ezekiel would join us shortly.

The room grew cold again. For a brief moment, we saw a shadow in the corner near Binky before it went into Barclay's room. We all ran over.

The demon hit Barclay out of nowhere with both claws and its bite, hurting him badly. I charged into the room and smote the demon with holy energy, blinding it and hitting for 26. Shatain critically hit it for 13. Brennen hit for 6, then hit critically for 13. It was still alive, barely.

Shatain struck again, hitting for 8. The demon was still blind and too disoriented to escape. Brennen hit again with his axe, for 7, enough to kill it. The entire floor turned black.

Ezekiel arrived moments later, with a bundle of cold iron weapons. There were 20 arrows, a short sword, a battle axe and a warhammer. It was immediately apparent that these had cost Ezekiel a lot of coin - they were all masterwork quality pieces, and judging by the gold inlays and gems, came from someone's treasury. They were quite functional though, and would be a great help if we were attacked again. Shatain's short sword was a Demon Slayer - we had a potent surprise if the shadows decided to attack again.

Shiver Me Artifacts

We discussed our options for dealing with Michael Merchants. We discussed a few options, but we figured the best bet would be to convince Michael to let us return the orb, on the condition that we would then rejoin him and return Jaedan's soul.

As our discussion wound down, the room grew cold. We saw frost on our breath. We ran up to the deck and told our guard contingent. The air grew frosty there as well. We told the wizard it could be a lich (though we were pretty sure we'd killed it) or a necromancer.

The wizard screamed, as we saw a massive shadowy shape lift him up. It was a great beast with wings and fiery red eyes. I knew the demon was resistant to most kinds of weapons.

I unleashed a torrent of holy energy, but the demon resisted enough to only take 9. It disturbed the demon, causing it to miss its next attack on the wizard and drop him to the deck. Shatain distracted the demon with a bluff, depriving it of its maneuverability, and stabbed it for 18. It seemed only some of the damage got through. Brennen attacked with his 2-handed axe, hitting twice for a total of 30. Only 10 seemed to get through.

The monster caused magical darkness to encompass the ship. It was now effectively invisible. Shatain stabbed at it, guessed well, but only did 4 after the beast's damage reduction. Brennen missed with his axe in the darkness. I conjured a magical warhammer to attack the demon. I got it in the right place, but it missed.

Brennen swung again, but still missed due to the darkness. I fired a burst of supernaturally bright light at the demon, but missed & hit Brennen instead. Shatain bluffed the demon in the flash of light, but missed with her attack. The demon magically feared us; Shatain & I ran as far as we could within the confines of the boat. Brennen stood his ground.

Brennen swung his axe, missing once but hitting with his second attack for 10. The demon focused on Brennen. The coldness and darkness went away - the demon had teleported away.

A minute or so later, Ezekiel appeared on the deck, staff and wand at the ready. Brennen told him briefly what had happened. The crew reassembled. I healed us all with a burst of holy energy.

Ezekiel asked to see the orb. I took it out... it had a small crack in it. He believed the demon came out of the orb.

Mulligan

The fight was not going in our favor. Shatain pulled out a handful of smoke bombs. She warned us in Dwarven to close our eyes and run. She threw them down; not as many burst as she wanted. It was enough for us to run. Brennen grappled past one of the Ku Rog, and got out. I bumped into Brennen but got out as well. Shatain got clear without incident. The smoke was growing larger and thinner as we broke clear. The Ku Rog were a little confused but in general seemed to know where we were going.

The Ku Rog were distracted enough for Shatain to get off another smoke bomb. We ran to the forest. We got far enough away that the Ku Rog didn't seem to want to pursue us. We made it about 1000' before having to stop. I healed Brennen for 34 and Shatain for 24. We could see the Ku Rog were dropping some of their armor and picking up their bows.

Brennen put up a spell to hide my tracks and his. Shatain barreled off into the forest to lay a false trail. The Ku Rog didn't pick up any of our tracks. About a mile out from the Ku Rog camp, Brennen found us a small sheltered area where we could rest.

About 45 minutes into our rest, a strange fog crept over the forest. Brennen suspected it was supernatural, but couldn't put his finger on it. Over the next 10 minutes or so, the fog became noticeably thicker, and seemed obviously supernatural. After I completed my rest, the visibility was down to about 20'. Binky was not happy.

We searched for high ground, but it appeared the forest was uniformly foggy. Visibility dropped down to about 15' while we searched. We heard a deep, inhuman voice in the fog. It said that we were not safe here.

A giant snout appeared in the fog. A greenish dragon, its head about 10' off the ground, seemed to be grinning in front of us. It was a little bigger than an elephant. My limited knowledge of dragons told me that this was probably a bad situation. The dragon moved its head to about 5' away from Brennen, and repeated its warning that we weren't safe. Then it sniffed us.

The dragon asked us why we were in the area. We told the dragon we were running from Ku Rog and a lich. The dragon growled at the mention of a lich. Though tempted to eat us, the dragon was curious why the lich was here. It was less than happy that there was fog in the area. It decided the lich was more interesting than eating us, and told us to be on our way.

We moved about 500 yards, back towards the Ku Rog camp. Along the way it seemed that the dragon was stalking us. Considering visibility was down to 15', it was impressive that the dragon was only 40' away and pretty much staying completely silent. It didn't follow us a great distance however.

Shatain climbed up a tree, as high as she could go. About 40' in the air, the fog wasn't any thinner. From my knowledge of the arcane, it seemed like this was a ritual involving multiple casters; this wasn't the lich acting alone.

We continued on back towards the camp. After about 10 minutes, we heard keening, moaning sounds. It seemed there was an infestation of undead in the area now. We slowed down a bit, but were prompted forward again by the dragon's voice. The undead keens and moans were not getting louder, strangely, and we hadn't seen any actual undead.

We figured we were within about 100' of the camp. We could see glints of fairy fire in the fog. It seemed pretty similar to what we'd seen around the lich's staff earlier. Then we saw shambling shapes in the fog. The shapes appeared to be Ku Rog zombies. We stopped.

The dragon crept closer, until it was very close to me. It asked why I smelled of wizard. I told it how we'd been sent by a wizard to see what the Ku Rog were up to. The dragon told us to keep moving and find out what was going on. It told me to stay.

Shatain & Brennen crept forward until they could clearly see the zombies. They didn't seem to be aware of their condition; they were going about their normal daily work.

While they moved forward, the dragon asked to see the crystal. It looked at the item in my hand very closely; I could feel its hot breath on my arm. It asked the name of the archmage that had sent us - I told it Ezekiel.

Brennen & Shatain continued into the camp. The zombies didn't even seem to notice their presence. They stumbled on the lich. It seemed to be in the middle of a ritual. There seemed to be a fractured hunk of glass, suspended in a soft lightning bolt surrounded by light and color. The fractured glass seemed to be trying to come back together. It was roughly the same size as the orb. It didn't seem like the orb could really come back together.

The dragon was interrogating me about Ezekiel. I told the dragon everything I could, since that wasn't much - he was an archmage from Solaria that had sent us down to see what was going on with the Ku Rog attack on the giant.This wasn't terribly surprising - dragons were known to be inquisitive creatures.

Shatain asked the dragon why it wanted so many answers. The dragon reasonably pointed out that we should want the answers as well. It told us to look around - the fog kept going. It seemed like the lich might be in the middle of an attempt to bring an area into the Shadowlands. We weren't sure why, but we knew we were at the epicenter.

We were pretty sure the lich was trying to pull something out of the orb, or had already and was trying to contain the rest. Likely the lich had been playing both sides through Zurykavlen to get hold of the orb.

We debated shooting the lich. The dragon asked for my recommendation. I decided the best course would be for me to move up and view the ritual myself. We felt a small shock wave roll across us.

We all moved up, to about 25' away from the lich. With the swirling lights, we could see it. The orb was still encased in a sphere of soft greenish blue lightning. I didn't recognizer the spell, but I believed the lich had intentionally fractured the orb and was keeping it under control to extract something, though there was probably more to it.

There was something shimmering around the lich, some kind of spiritual protection. The dragon reminded us that whatever the consequences of breaking the containment on the shattered orb, it was pretty likely that the lich would kill or enslave us once the ritual was done.

We knew the staff was the lich's focus; it had used it to draw out the souls of the wounded. Brennen & Shatain would attack the staff after I attempted to dispel the lich.

I dispelled the spiritual shield, which it now appeared to have been the containment for the orb. It definitely broke the lich's concentration. Brennen attacked the staff with his axe, hitting critically for 25. The staff clove in two. The lich definitely knew something was going on. Shatain stabbed the lich for 14.

The lich imploded. A huge wave of energy rolled out as we ran. When we stopped to look back, there was a pile of clothes where the lich had been, along with the sundered staff and the intact orb. The fog was lifting, and the dragon was gone. The zombies had lost their animation. It seemed likely the dragon had been part of the world the lich had been trying to bring into conjunction.

We camped in the same place the mage had dropped us off. All was calm and peaceful; there were no insects or other wildlife for that matter. Around 7 in the morning, Ezekiel appeared in our camp.

After we told him our story, he agreed to a 2,000 gold finders fee for the orb, along with our promised pay and passage through the trade tunnel back to Valleya. Ezekiel took us past the giant and into the cavern. It was a long walk down a deep spiral staircase. There were a few landings and rooms along the way. Eventually we reached the canal. Ezekiel left us in the secret passage while he went to secure a safe boat.

Brennen looked around for tracks. From what he could tell, this passage was infrequently used. The most recent tracks seemed to point to the time when Michael Merchants disappeared. Tracks said the tracks started in the canal and went into the passage, but didn't come back down.

Ezekiel returned after about an hour. Brennen relayed the information he'd found in the tracks. Ezekiel was thankful; we didn't have any evidence of Michael's death. We suspected once he realized he was up against a lich, Michael secured the orb as best he could (behind the giant) and teleported out. Ezekiel suspected the lich had been weakened before we attacked.

4-5 hours later, our ship arrived. It held a contingent of soldiers along with one of Ezekiel's apprentices. Ezekiel advised us not to stop along the way; we wouldn't be paid for days spent gallivanting in towns. Ezekiel disappeared, with a sigh of relief from the soldiers. They weren't unprofessional, but it was pretty obvious they didn't care for Ezekiel's company.

In the night, the locked door to our cabin swung open. A staff led the way, light at its tip - Michael Merchants had returned. He closed the door behind himself and threw the latch. He sat down and invited us to talk.

He needed the orb. Zurykavlen had his brother's soul, and would trade it for the orb. Michael confirmed with us that he'd had to leave the orb when the Ku Rog showed up. We told him we'd destroyed the lich and the Ku Rog in alliance with it.

We asked Michael about what he thought was going to happen. Michael believed as we did that Zurykavlen would use the orb to somehow reforge the Ku Rog, changing the way their race worked. Michael didn't particularly care about the end result; he believed it doomed to failure. The blood magic in the Ku Rog was too strong.

Further Michael didn't think they'd get anything out of the orb anyway. It was a failure as an artifact, and nothing was going to change that. Brilliant arcanists throughout the years had tried to make something out of the orb, but no one had been successful.

Shatain suggested that perhaps the magic of the artifact had evolved or matured over its thousands of years in existence. The orb was layered in magic; traditional arcane magic wrapped around deeper spiritual workings inside. Students of the orb suspected this was the reason it didn't work - the 2 magics didn't mix well, and they'd been forced together during the orb's creation. In the end, the attempt had just been a failure.

We talked about other permutations - Michael strongly felt Ezekiel didn't really care about the orb, but it was supposed to be in Valleya's vault, so that's where it needed to be. What it really came down to was that Michael was going to take the orb to Isador. He wanted to persuade us to give it up. Whether he could talk us into it or not however, he didn't intend to leave without it.

General Isador's faction and the lich's faction were involved in the original split between the general and the Ku Rog nation. General Isador wanted to change the race; no one really knew what the lich wanted.

In the end, we didn't feel it was worth possibly destroying the ship over. Michael left, promising to return with 2,000 gold or his best offer. We could accept that as a civilized compromise to fighting. Fighting a wizard on a wooden ship rarely turned out well for anyone concerned.