Journal - Kellerot's Twisted Realm

Twisted Isle

We boarded the Saloroc warship at night, the oarsmen making good time in relatively calm water. They swung around to the southwest of the island in an attempt to mask our approach, and then made the run in to shore just before dawn. We could see shapes in the water skitting away from the oars; they were like fish but seemed wrong in some way, deformed or moving oddly, and we only saw them as we drew close to the beach. The ship powered onto the beach, finding the sand to be surprisingly shallow and soft... but as we crossed the beach line and the bow rose out of the water we passed through a curtain of illusion, similar to the one around Ulric's house, and instead of a barren island we found ourselves on the edge of a densely forested region. The forest felt very wrong, again in a similar way as before, and the trees looked dead or dying but nevertheless created a thick barrier, and the sky was dark as if dawn had never come... darker even than the night we had traveled through.

Arad and I both had newly crafted symbols around our necks, mine a form of the Elvrahum burrow I had seen at the temple with a small piece of soil contained within it and set with rubies. Arad's was in the form of a metal basket on a chain with a large glowing diamond within it, which he called the star of life. Arad touched his instinctively as we made the transition from the light sea air to the dark, dank hidden realm on the island. The hill didn't seem to change much, remaining devoid of life and greenery, it was just the surrounding area. The trees were a combination of rotting leaves and dead trees, but all were still standing. It was eerily quiet, with no sounds or animal calls, but there did seem to be a worryingly random rustling from within the dark forest that just didn't seem natural. No sign of dawn could be seen, and it just felt like the sun would never penetrate this place.

I tumbled neatly over the edge of the ship, landing lightly on the sandy beach, followed by Arad who was saying a prayer to the Creator. Falcor jumped down last, drawing his sword instinctively at an unseen but perceived threat. The Saloroc were clearly nervous at the stark transition, probably not having seen anything like it before. Despite this they swore that they would stay as agreed, saying that the Red Skull Clan would not run from the dead! We left at once, deciding that trying to finish what we had come here to do as quickly as possible was all that we could do to assist our allies. We followed the beach east until it met the ridge of the hill, and started up towards the peak. None of us wished to enter the forest if we could help it.

After about an hour of gentle climbing an evil looking gigantic bat thing, bigger and faster than the others we had encountered, glided over our heads utterly silently, perhaps twenty feet above us or lower. We readied bows, looking around but unable to see anything in the complete darkness. Then it passed overhead again, this time from behind and lower - about ten feet up. Falcor stood between us and prepared to swing with his sword should it get closer, while we loosed arrows... but there was no indication that we had hit it. The third time it approached it stopped in the air, hanging without ever beating its wings, then out of each wingtip, magic missiles flew and streaked into my chest, which caused great pain. Falcor muttered a quick spell behind me as I jogged forward to get a better shot, loosing an arrow straight at it... but the arrow veered off at the last moment as if were protected in some way.

Realising it was useless, I put my bow away as I continued to jog forward, whereas Falcor ran forward and jumped impressively into the air, getting just high enough to slash at it with his sword at the apex (almost fifteen feet up!) before coming down heavily and crying out slightly as he was winded. The cut was good, though, and blood splattered out. I pulled out some foxfire and called on Karmana's will to guide it onto the creature, outlining it with a soft green shining light, making it easier to see and hit in the pitch darkness. Arad called on the Creator and summoned spears that leapt from his hand towards it, but they didn't appear to affect it. Still, it seemed unwilling to stay and suffer more, for it flew off, still silently, and we saw its glowing outline receding into the night away to our left (roughly north). The whole thing had happened in strange silence, almost as if unreal, but Falcor broke this feeling with some quick commands to draw bows and keep moving.

We continued for another mile or so, until I noticed on the edge of my vision some kind of red dots, pairs of them... like glowing eyes! I whispered to Falcor so that he was aware, and although we continued I kept a careful watch. The things became bolder and it was clear that there was at least one heat source coming in and out of our vision range, and most likely more than one. They were predators of some kind and they were hunting us! The next time I saw it I loosed an arrow, and I got lucky as I could barely see the shape of it but I heard a thud and a muffled yelp that confirmed that I had struck true. They seemed to withdraw after that, but we were not so stupid as to relax. Sure enough, a little farther on we were charged by four big cats with glowing red eyes, and an unnatural glow from their jaws as well. They bounded out of the dark straight at us, about six feet long apiece.

They closed the distance in no time, and I just managed to drop my bow and draw a sword before they were on me. I dodged a rake from one's claws, feeling another pass behind me and its claws raked at my armour, but thankfully didn't penetrate. I could feel the weight of the powerful blow, though, and turned to keep the cats in front of me. Arad had a similar experience, just avoiding damage due to his armour. We both noticed that their breath stank of death and rotting corpses. My own swing was late and went wide... they were fast!

Arad loosed arrows, hitting with both, and Falcor cut into one of the cats attacking me, then stabbed one near Arad in the throat, ripping it out and dropping it. He swung back at the first one, cutting it open and halving their numbers. Arad smashed one with his hammer but then we heard a war cry from behind us as some pale looking orcs charged at us, wearing a panther symbol on their shields and wielding scimitars. Thankfully Falcor had removed enough of the cats from the fight that we were able to shift and not expose our backs, so their attack was either dodged or parried and it became a mess of a melee. I slashed one of the cats, opening a decent wound but unable to finish it as it danced away. The other cat raked Arad, keeping its claws in him and pulling him in closer, but he managed to block its attempt to bite him (the stench was terrible though). Arad swung at it, landing a good hit and followed up with a thrust of his sword to finish it off.

The orcs continued fighting, and a scimitar just slid off Arad's armour as he escaped from the cats claws, but one bit into Falcor's thigh. I finally connected with the last cat with a swing of my long sword, and it fell with a sudden howl that ended in silence. Falcor struck back at his attacker, landing good hits and following up with another stab to finish it off. He then slashed at another wounded orc, putting that one down too. Arad stabbed one, but was slashed badly by a scimitar in return. Falcor moved over to help Arad, one blow being blocked by its shield, but allowing Arad to swing past its defence and stagger it backwards. I was struggling to connect as well, not quite having the reach to get around its shield as easily.

Falcor was cut by another scimitar blow, although not badly, but I was not so lucky and was hit by two blows, with one getting past my armour. Arad crushed one of the wounded foes with his hammer, then stabbed another deeply. Falcor stabbed that one in the back, finishing it, which just the two left fighting me. My swings were still blocked by their shields. Falcor took a moment to cut the head off one of the bodies, so Arad did the same with one near him and then they moved to assist me (priorities?!). Falcor cut into one from its rear, and Arad finished it... but then he was attacked from behind by one of the slain foes that got back up from the floor!

Falcor stabbed my last attacker from behind with ease, but mainly because it was busy slashing me with a deep wound! I managed to stab it back, and Falcor finished it with a powerful swipe. Just when I thought I had some breathing space, though, the cats awoke and leapt to attack, clawing me from both sides! Falcor cut another head off and I slayed one of the cats AGAIN. Arad and Falcor cut more heads off, but Falcor pointed out that the heads were moving even when severed... we had to get away! More cats started moving, and I was able to kill the other reanimated one. Arad decapitated both an orc's and a cat's body, and Falcor removed the head of the one I had just felled. I ran up the slope, trying to put some distance between me and the bodies so that I could tend to my wounds. Arad was clawed and bitten by another reanimated cat, but Falcor stepped in and stabbed it with a killing (if that was really the right word here) blow to get it off Arad. Falcor decapitated it to slow down its recovery. Meanwhile I was trying to call on Karmana to heal my wounds, but there were only very faint signs of life in that place so it didn't do as much good as usual.

With the immediate threat gone, the others lobbed the heads they had severed away from the bodies as much as possible. Arad called on the Creator, using his new star to help with a strong connection; the diamond strobed with light as he treated my wounds, and they melted away until I was feeling hale again. He also treated his own wounds and Falcor's before we continued as quickly as we could. Thankfully we were able to reach the top of the hill without being molested again, finding that there was a depression where the peak should have been, about a hundred and fifty feet across and about fifty feet deep.

The ground inside the depression was rocky with dried mud and dead grass, and we could see a couple of dead trees below us. The darkness made it hard to see much else, but as we descended it became clear that there was something, although low to ground, in the centre at the low point. We decided to circle around the edges first to make sure we weren't missing anything, checking one particularly steep bit carefully but finding nothing notable. After that we reached the bottom, finding a circle of protruding stones almost like a stone circle, but low - at most two feet high. Were these the crenellations of the top of the tower, and if so had the whole thing sunk into the ground?

As we drew closer a ghostly apparition appeared about thirty feet in front of us, like an animalistic wild orc, stocky and advancing menacingly. Falcor screamed in fear, turned and started to flee in terror, stumbling slightly on the uneven ground. More of them seemed to phase into sight making four, they acted as if they were screaming with rage and ready to strike but there was no sound at all. Arad called on the Creator to drive the unnatural creatures away, and his symbol strobed with light once more... but it had no discernible effect on them. We knew that Kellerot was a lord of deceit now, so I didn't believe that these were real, just an illusion or trick to scare away anything that approached. I walked forward confidently, doing my best to ignore them, even brushing through one, which had no adverse effect, so my confidence was redoubled and I carried on calmly.

Falcor had sprinted off in fear, though, though there was nothing we could do about it at the time. One of the apparitions floated up to me and completely enveloped me as even more appeared, to the point where I was looking through it from the inside! Arad swung his hammer at one, but it passed straight through meeting no resistance. I continued walking straight through the "ghost" and up to the edge of circle. It was obvious that the stones had once been masonry and that they were deeply embedded in the ground, confirming that they had probably once been a part of the tower.

Falcor had left our sight, and was probably still fleeing into the darkness. I hoped that he was ok, but had no way of reaching him or communicating with him (we did not think that using our mental powers would be safe here). Arad jogged into the circle, where we noticed the apparitions would not follow us, and he tried to use the Creator's power to drive off the new arrivals; again came the pulsing flash of bright light, but again it had no obvious effect. I tried to reassure him that they did not exist, and we were safe as we met in the centre. The apparitions closed around the circle, but did not cross to the inside at any point.

Fortunately it was only a few moments later that Falcor came back within our sight, having got his fear under control. He was still nervous at approaching, but we shouted reassurance - Arad that they could not enter the circle, and I that they were not real and couldn't harm us. He sprinted across to join us in the centre, making it without incident, so we were back together at least. We couldn't see anything on the ground except the stones, and there were no obvious hidden entrances or changes in the ground that would suggest a specific place to look. Arad suggested digging, but we had no tools - just a few pots and pans!

I asked them to wait a moment and decided to use the ability Karmana had gifted me to swim through the soil. I dived into the ground, finding that I could "see" what was around me a short distance away. I located what had clearly once been the top of the tower about ten feet down, and started searching in a circle until I located a trapdoor. At that point I knew that I did not have the energy to stay underground for much longer, heading straight up and emerging back into my friends' view on the exact point at which we would have to excavate. I passed on what I had seen and the likely depth we needed to get to, which seemed like it might take a good while to reach.

Fortunately Falcor had a trick up his sleeve, and warned us to stand back, brandishing the wand he had recovered. He spoke a command word, at which point soil started to throw itself away from the spot I had indicated, eventually forming a perfectly shaped hole with earth all around it, revealing the trapdoor beneath.

Tower of Darkness

I jumped into the freshly excavated hole, digging out the ring on top of the trapdoor with my dagger, and tried pulling it... but it didn't budge at all. I shouted up that it was stuck, and Arad passed down arope for me to loop through so that they could try from outside. Falcor was strong enough to move it... except that he managed to pull the ring right out of the wood, rather than open the trapdoor! The heavy ring smacked me in the face as Falcor staggered back when the rope went limp. Still no better off, I swapped places with Arad, who applied the direct approach with his hammer instead. It only took a couple of blows and the wood splintered, the stone holding it crumbling and collapsing underneath Arad. The dug hole widened rapidly, like a sinkhole, and Falcor and I scrambled to stay away from the edge and on our feet.

Arad fell straight down twenty feet, landing heavily (and painfully) after falling through thick cobwebs and dirt in a circular room about fifteen feet across. He had landed beside a cauldron inside a pentagram, itself within a circle inscribed on the floor. He could hear skittering movements above and around him, worryingly. I called down to check he was alright, receiving a positive response, then took a moment to light a lantern so that we would be able to see clearly when we descended. He had spoken prematurely, though, as spiders literally looking like skulls with legs and fangs started to drop on him and swarm towards him!

One of the spiders bit Arad on his neck, having landed on his shoulders. Arad swiped in panic at it, his sword swipe connecting but not well. Falcor jumped down, slowing his fall with his mind and landing softly, then started stabbing and cutting at the spiders. He was connecting with most of his blows, but knew that it wasn't doing as much damage as it would normally. More spiders swarmed down towards Arad and Falcor, and both of them were bitten... although they didn't seem to do much serious damage on the face of it. I jumped down to join them, also landing painfully even though I was able to soften the blow with my tumbling skills. I heard a terrible wailing and moaning, like a hundred souls being tortured, emanating from the cauldron. I struck quickly at a spider, hitting it, but getting the same sense as Falcor that it wasn't doing as much damage as normal.

We all felt a cold emanating from the spiders, which we associated with the undead we had fought previously; Arad grabbed his holy star, held it aloft, and spoke a prayer loudly to call on the Creator to drive the creatures away. There was a pulse of light, as before, but it did not seem quite as strong... perhaps his link with the Creator was having to stretch farther in some way here? About a half dozen of the skull spiders were driven back and away, so the Creator still had some power here. Arad collapsed after this, though, dropping to the floor!

Falcor kept fighting, landing more blows but still unable to damage them as much as he would like. He also spoke to Arad's mind, finding that he could respond. He was paralysed but not unconscious, and his mind was still able to act even though it was foggy from (presumably) the poison in his system. Worse, though, was that I saw a flaming winged demon with a flaming whip and spear climbing out of the cauldron! Falcor shouted that it wasn't real, asking for help, but its weapons just barely scraped off my armour so I was not convinced! I did manage to land an attack on it, cutting deeply... the spiders would have to wait.

Thankfully Arad came to and stood up, back in the fight but surrounded by spiders. Falcor landed two more powerful blows, finally sending one spider to the floor, legs curling up in its death throes. Unfortunately he was bitten twice, feeling venom being injected into at least one of the wounds. I continued fighting the huge demon, landing another good hit, but it struck with its spear into my shoulder and levered my right arm off! The stump burst into flames, which at least cauterised the wound so that I was not bleeding to death! I screamed in terror at the wound, but had no choice but to continue fighting for my life.

Arad smashed a spider clinging to Falcor, swatting it off him without a scratch on his armour, and it stopped moving. Falcor stabbed another spider, but was bitten again in return. Arad was able to help, though, moving around outside the circle to line up another hammer swing at the other spider on Falcor's back, finishing that one off too. One more was clinging to his legs, and Falcor tried to turn so that Arad had a clear shot, trying to stab it himself as well, but finding that it slid off the dome of its skull.

I was stabbed by the demon's spear again, in my torso, and was barely able to stand. I still managed to stab it before it could pull back, but I knew that I wouldn't last long at this rate. In desperation I tipped the cauldron it had come from over, and an evil-reeking sludge oozed out, but sadly it didn't affect the demon at all. The demon whipped around my legs, drawing me in, and the last thing I saw was its spear skewering me through my chest.

The others were still fighting the spiders, Arad shouting "hold still" and swiping with his hammer, landing a good hit but leaving it just barely hanging on. Arad tried to grab it instead, but couldn't get a good grip. Falcor was finally able to stab it cleanly, killing it, but then he collapsed unconscious. Arad took a moment to pull my body out of the circle, but then noticed that some of the spiders were coming back to life! Two of them twitched and skittered to their feet, attacking Arad, one biting him again. One of the reanimated spiders headed for Falcor's twitching body, starting to wrap him in dark and sticky web-like strands, as the other attacked Arad ineffectually.

Arad smashed one spider to the floor again, stopping it from working on Falcor's body, as Falcor started to come around. Falcor grabbed his weapons and started scurrying backwards across the floor screaming "get gone you horror"! Another spider twitched back to life and also focused on Arad. Some fangs scraped off the armour on his thigh as Arad brought his hammer down on another spider, which curled up again. Falcor seemed to come to his senses a bit more, rolling out of the circle he had backed into, and standing up with his weapons ready.

Arad was bitten on his head, with the spider latched on behind him. He tried to scrape it off, failed to get a grip the first time, but then managed to flick it to the floor and followed up with his hammer, killing it again. Falcor kept moving away from the fight, which was unlike him, to the far side of the chamber. He tried to protect his mind with a mental exercise and got slightly more control over his fear. He steeled himself and ran around to me, moving my body away from Arad and whatever threat he could see that was terrifying himt. He shouted "come back", seeing that my eyes were open, but got no reaction.

Arad smacked a twitching spider before it could get up, smashing its skull covering into pieces and pulping the creature inside. He shouted over to Falcor: "these are undead, six are held by the power of the Creator, there are three I am dealing with, but the rest is in your head. I am not attacked"! Falcor didn't seem convinced, but instead focused on shouting at me, but I was still completely unresponsive. Falcor then looked around and noticed some difference in the stone floor near where he dragged me from... but it would take him closer to the spot he was afraid of.

Arad managed to pulverise another one, shouting that there were two left to deal with and then there would be no threat. Falcor did run towards Arad, but was still shielding himself from some perceived threat; he searched the floor for what he had noticed, finding a stone that looked like it might open, and used his dagger to lever it open. He grabbed and hefted the stone away, revealing a spiral staircase leading down. He shouted "here" so that Arad knew he had found something.

Arad shouted: "Falcor, you are unopposed, grab Garret and take him down, I will cover your back"! As if to emphasise his point, he pulverised another spider, leaving just one that was not running in fear. Falcor got hold of me and dragged me down the stairs, calling back to Arad to grab my swords, shifting me on to his shoulder once he was out of the room. He met a spider coming up, and quickly tried to stand on it; our combined weight was enough to crack its skull once he pushed down on it, and he managed to keep his feet when it collapsed. He saw another spider coming up a little farther on.

Arad somehow managed to miss the last motionless spider with one swing, but his second smashed it to pieces. He scooped up my swords as he thought his hammer back into his belt, almost dropping one but controlling it as he ran into the stairwell. I started to come around, slowly realising that the demon that had "killed" me was an illusion.. but then saw a skull spider scurrying up and around me, feeling its horrible legs as it landed on Falcor from above. Falcor shouted back to Arad: "more down here, bring the swords, come quickly"! He tried to stab over his shoulder at the spider, landing a hit but not doing much to it.

Falcor kept moving, despite the spider on him, and entered a small room on the next floor with no obvious exit. He put me down then slammed his shoulder into the wall, trying to crush the spider, but it shifted as he did so and he only managed to hurt his shoulder instead. Arad started chanting, holding his star aloft, as he entered. I screamed, a horrible dream about enslaved elvrahum still fresh in my mind, shouting: "Are we free?! Where are we?" and then "My arm! My arm!" but found it intact. Confused, but knowing there was still a threat, I frantically threw my pack down and pulled out the morning star. I felt slightly dizzy and sick, but kept my wits enough to stay focused. I could soon relax a little, though, as Arad once more used the power of the Creator to drive the spider away and up the stairs behind us leaving us alone for a moment.

We took the chance to talk about the dreams or visions we had seen... Falcor saw the death of my people by the Sarn, which I knew had happened, whereas I saw them captured and taken by the red hand clan. Strange... He said that they all died, they were slaughtered, it was the Sarn, so much blood. Great, now I wasn't the only mental case in the party. I wasn't sure what was real any more. Instead I focused on the moment, seeing that they were both badly injured, I used the power of the crown to heal them. Falcor picked me up in a big hug in thanks. Told you he was mental.

Arad healed me in return, although my wounds were nowhere near as severe as I had first feared due to the illusory nature of the demon. He advised us that we needed a bigger space so that he could offer us protection from the evil here. Falcor looked around for an exit and almost immediately spotted a concealed door. He heard nothing, although that didn't mean much in this place. Falcor spotted a mechanism and pressed to click the door open, allowing me to pull it the rest of the way. There was a decrepit, rotten, but once fine bedroom inside with cobwebs everywhere... but not like the ones we found above us, thankfully. A door to our right was closed, there was a large wardrobe beyond the door, an arrow slit or narrow window on the far side with just darkness beyond. In fact there was no light at all. An old desk sat under the window. I asked with little hope whether anyone had picked up the lantern I had placed down in the last room, but nobody had of course. Instead Arad called on the Creator to create light, causing Falcor's breastplate to shine like a target for any creature in the vicinity.

I stepped into the room and dropped straight through the floor! It was almost twenty feet down, and the landing was painful although I was able to roll to soften it a little. This new room was once a sitting room, with rotted once-fine tapestries and broken furniture and a door to the north, barred from my side. There were three windows, only two of which were blocked by earth an the other opened into a dark nothingness. I called up to the others to watch their step. Arad tapped at the floor with his hammer, and it seemed solid to him, likely a really good illusion. He inched out with his feet to find the edge, and almost fell forward when he reached it but managed to stop himself as Falcor grabbed him. Falcor then started to tie a rope around Arad to help lower him.

As I was looking at the strangely open window a couple of things flew in, almost like congealed smoke with wings, they were smallish not counting their wings and were able to pass through the narrow window with ease. One of them spat a ball of soot at me, which exploded in my face, blinding me. The other one attacked then disappeared (not that it made any difference to me as I couldn't see anyway). I dropped the morning star, drawing my swords and slashing in front of me, but not connecting.

Upstairs, just as Falcor was about ready to lower Arad, a weird thing lumbered into sight from around the corner. It was a vaguely humanoid form with flesh hanging off a collection of bones, every bit of it not quite matching making a hideous mish-mash of a rotting form. Falcor ran forward, but started sinking very slowly (he was using a mental power to stop himself falling quickly) so he turned back and grabbed the floor near Arad. Gutted I missed seeing his legs dangling through the ceiling! The flesh creature growled and a putrid stench washed over Arad briefly. Arad called on the Creator to banish the flesh thing, sending light pulsing from his star again. It worked, as the thing needed to get away from him... unfortunately the shortest way of doing that was to jump down through the floor to where I was!

I leapt forward wildly, feeling a swipe just passing behind me, but then when I landed I smelt something else... not having seen the flesh creature I didn't know what it was, but it even smelt ugly. I thought I felt it swiping near me, so I swung back, connecting with my short sword but only slightly. Falcor was lowering Arad to help, although he did it a bit quickly so he lost his footing when he landed. Thankfully he recovered quickly and untied himself. Falcor followed by falling really slowly, shouting to Arad to get out of the way.

My sight stared to return, and I could see vague shapes... including the thing that had attacked me, although not in detail. It seemed to be turning, so I slashed at its leg, cutting it off and causing it to collapse to the ground in a heap. Another shaped moved towards me, but thankfully I recognised the voice as Arad shouted "behind you, and a little to your left!" As I turned I was raked by a claw, but only superficially. It was still hard to see the forms of the smoky things. The other one reappeared, spitting a ball of soot into Arad's face, blinding him as I had been.

Falcor conjured a yellow orb and threw it into one of the creatures, definitely connecting but not seeming to affect it in any way. I slashed into one as it swooped down to attack Arad; my sword went straight through it, with the smoke reforming behind it, but it deep seem less well defined in shape, so it had been affected in some way. Falcor was scratched on his face, but not deeply, and stabbed the thing with his dagger, again affecting its shape. Arad, unable to see, spoke a prayer of protection, hoping to keep himself safe until his vision returned. It certainly seemed to work - one of the things swooped down straight at him, but at the last moment recoiled and struggled upwards away from him.

Falcor was cut again, more deeply this time. He retaliated, connecting with both his weapons... but only his dagger had any effect, the sword passed straight through as if through actual smoke. Now both of the things were attacking Falcor, but he dodged away from one and his armour protected him from the other. I was struggling to reach them as they were flying too high for me, so I had to wait for Arad to move forward, his sight returning. He swungs at one of them and landed a good hit, its smoky form exploding in a small fireball. The flames washed over Arad, but he was protected by the power of his hammer. The other one decided that this was a fight it couldn't win and flew away out of the window.

I retrieved my morning star, thanking my friends for coming to my aid. Arad had a rummage in his part of the room, and found some crescent moon gold earrings amongst the detritus. I went over to the window and look out... and down - it was about forty feet to ground. We seemed to be in a vast underground space, in which I could only see the sloping wall to one side - the rest was dark beyond my ability to see. I caught the occasional glimpse of a heat source at ground level, but not enough to tell what might be down there.

I checked the only door for traps, not finding any, then lifted the bar for Falcor to open it. There were stairs leading down in a curve and I checked the first few steps very carefully after the "false floor" trick in the last room. To help us move on, Falcor tied a rope to me, wrapped it around himself, and then tied it to Arad, each with about fifteen feet of rope between us so that we had room to move around. I went down first, reaching a small landing but finding no foes. I checked for traps, then tapped the floor before crossing to a door on the far side. There were no traps there either, and I couldn't hear anything when I listened.

I gave a thumbs up to Falcor and he swung the door open... but it was a trap! Undead legionnaires were waiting with spears pointed at us. Falcor and I moved forward to attack but we all suffered damage before we could get close. I only took a glancing blow, but Falcor took a nasty stab to the gut. I smashed my morning star into one, but heard Arad chanting behind us, asking the Creator to shatter the foes. They turned to flee - making perfect targets! Arad was shouting about "attacking will break the spell..." blah blah. I didn't want them to flee anyway! I screamed a quick response: "these foul things must die!" and charged to attack.

Two more came from our left flank, not having seen the light of the Creator, and attacked Arad. He tried once more to use the Creator's power to force them away, but they seem unimpressed. We all rushed to help him, with Falcor landing a good hit with his dagger as Arad struck the same one with his hammer. Falcor also struck a blow with his sword, but edged weapons were not as effective on the skeletal creatures. I smacked the closest one with my morning star, and it responded unusally by dropping its spear and trying to pick me! I managed to slip away from its grasp.

Arad's armour protected him from a spear thrust, but then two of the undead fleeing from him surprised us by walking straight through one of the walls! Falcor struck another blow, and Arad followed up with a thunderous strike that went straight through the thing from top to bottom, bones falling and splintering to either side. The one I was fighting tried again to grab me, and although I dodged his first attempt, he rushed forward and pushed me to the floor. Unable to avoid him, he grabbed hold and lifted me into the air, turning to run off with me. Both Falcor and Arad landed blows on it, but it wasn't enough to stop it and it carried me through the wall after its brethren.

Undead Legion Barracks

Arad sprinted through the wall after it and me, so the stone was clearly not real! He found a hidden passage with doors on both sides, but saw the fiend moving rapidly down it with me struggling to get free. I finally forced my way out of its grip, dropping to the floor in the corridor. Falcor followed at a run, passing us and attacking the one that had dropped me... we saw that there were even more of them here! He landed a couple of hits and I got to vent my anger and smashed the one that had carried me off. Arad started chanting again as Falcor's armour deflected a spear thrust. Light flashed once more from Arad's star and the new undead backed off, Falcor just watching them retreat.

Then the door at the end of the corridor opened, revealing a fleshier, larger undead legionnaire. About the same time, Arad heard skittering as some skull spiders come around the corner on the ceiling behind us. He was bitten by one from the wall beside him, and another dropped onto his back. Falcor charged through to attack the large foe to our fore, forcing his way through by brute strength to stab it. I smacked the skull spider on the wall by Arad, but not quite forcefully enough to crush it. Arad called on the Creator again, forcing the spiders away into the shadows.

Falcor was fighting alone for the moment, stabbing his foe again. I smashed the skull of a downed skeleton to dust, just to be sure. Falcor was striking true with almost every swing, but again his weapons did not do as much damage as normal. Arad turned again to the Creator in an attempt to drive it off, but this time it failed. Falcor stabs again, and also landed a heavy blow with his sword; such strikes would have felled most foes, but not this one apparently. As I approached I saw the dragon symbol of gold on black marking this foe as one of the first legion twats we had fought before. Two others fell back as Arad moved forward, and I smack my morning star heavily into one as it retreated.

Arad tried to convince me that they were being controlled by another, greater mind, but I'd heard that bullshit before and all he did was stop me from destroying a nest of undead! Arad struck at the big one with his hammer, connecting well, then caught it with the back swing and smashed it to the floor in a mess of flesh and bones. Again he shouted: "hold your actions, they will not attack you; they are controlled by another being, so allow my Creator's power to keep them from us". He turned to open the nearest door, revealing a well appointed room that was old and decrepit like the others. It did seem that some effort had been made to keep this one straight, though. The tapestries were slightly less rotten, and beside the door was a shield with the first legion symbol covering it. There was a bed, an iron bound chest, a desk, and a chair.

Arad called for me to handle the chest, imploring me to leave the undead as he would keep them at bay. I was too busy charging at them to really hear, though, unfortunately being stabbed with a spear as I smashed my morning star into the closest one. Arad shouted "he will not attack you, the power of the Creator will hold him at bay"! Yeah, I get it, just shut up and fight already. I replied: "I don't want it held at bay, I want to smash it to pieces!" Falcor was interested in the chest, using his boot to try and break the lock, connecting well but not able to force it.

Arad moved towards me, forcing the undead back, so I struck a blow as they retreated. Then he tried to grab me, but I slipped away, pulling my arm free. But then he did something despicable, dominating my mind by force of will and I couldn't move of my own free will. I also felt a probe from another mind, a darker one... Arad commanded me to check the stupid chest for traps, the greedy bastard, like that was more important than destroying the foul undead. I was forced to move towards the room with the chest in, but walked slowly whilst trying to resist the control. After a minute or so a new, more powerful, mind forced its way in and instead compelled me to attack Arad! Fortunately I missed with my swing, and he tried to tackle me to the floor.

My mind recoiled from the new intrusion, and I was just about able to force it out, just in time to get slammed into the floor by Arad and stunned, my head hitting the stone floor. I had a massive headache and started shouting at Arad that he had put us both in danger by exposing our minds. Falcor picked up my morning star, asking Arad to leave me alone. Arad was losing it, though, shouting that he would "stay until he understands". So this was the true nature of a servant of law... obedience over free will, compulsion for those that would not submit. I found the very idea of it repellent.

We then, all of us, had a long and heated conversation, well argument I guess, about the undead and our goal, as well as their belief that they were trying to protect me. I begrudgingly agreed not to chase down every undead creature we met that was not able to fight us - but only if we hunted down and destroyed the mind that was controlling them, the one that had intruded on us already I supposed. I would not leave the island until it was destroyed, whether they stayed or not. Arad was at least contrite enough to ask the Creator to heal some of my wounds, especially as he caused some of them!

Falcor, as he stepped forward towards us, juddered as if we blinked but without actually blinking. Something definitely happened to him that seemed wrong. He almost stumbled forward as he finished his step, but managed to stop himself. He dropped the weapons in his hands and put his arm out, dropping it to my shoulder and said "you are one of the six". Then he put the other hand on Arad's shoulder, saying: "we are three, we are bonded. We have to move together. For the sake of Karmana, for the sake of the Gods on high we must stay together". He seemed to be in some kind of religious fervour now, going on: "I understand some of the suffering of your folk, having seen it, but that strengthens us so we will fight together for your cause. But you cannot forsake yourself and leave our bonds. That way is lost. There are six, we are three, we are bonded. We must restore the forge, must overcome all six. As much as your heart desires the death of those around you, you cannot leave us and we must fight together. I am told this by Milada". At that he bowed his head as if the name brought back a memory. Well that was weird.

But I felt Karmana's spirit willing me to follow him, feeling energised as I had thought her unable to reach into this place. I went pale for a moment, realising that there truely was a greater goal that we should pursue here - that foul mind that had forced me to attack Arad, and that it should be Kellerot that was our focus here, not these petty minions. Then I felt flushed with health as Karmana's warmth flowed into me, encouraging and welcoming my thought. I apologised to Falcor, in shame, vowing to stay together whilst the undead were not a threat to us. Arad also embraced us, also apologising for going too far.

Arad offered to kill some of the undead together with me, together rather than apart, as a sort of peace offer I think. I agreed readily of course, so I charged with him towards the nearest pair of legionnaires. Arad missed with his first strike, but as the target moved across my own swing crashed into its side. Arad shouted back to Falcor that the others would advance on him, but that they should not attack unless he first attacked them. I crashed a strong blow into our target's shoulder, and Arad struck its chest. It sagged under the force of the blows, but somehow stayed standing. Both of the foul things tried to retaliate, but they seemed weak and didn't come close.

Falcor attacked behind us, stabbing one twice with his dagger and slashing the other twice with his sword. The blades had less impact, though, so he was still struggling to put them down. The things started to fight back properly then, Arad's armour stopping a blow, but Falcor and I getting stabbed, although they were only glancing blows. Arad swung one final time at our foe, this time dropping it, and Falcor smashed his sword into a rib cage, dropping one too. Arad stomped on the skull of the one we'd downed, cracking it under foot, and hearing the splintering sound Falcor also smashed a skull under his boot.

We turned our attention to the last foes. Falcor landed two strong strikes and his foe went down. Arad hammered our foe and I moved to its flank, stabbing and smashing with both my weapons, but it kept its feet. Another stab scraped off its bones, but my morning star struck clean and it collapsed. Falcor smashed one skull and I the other, and we were done for a moment.

Falcor advanced towards the end of the side corridor, finding what looked like an abandoned room with a curved wall, crap and cobwebs everywhere. A weapons rack was just in front of him with a single long sword resting on it. A short corridor led to a barred door on his right. He approached the weapons rack, but as he came closer it morphed and grew teeth and a long tongue, lunging at him! Instinctively he thrust his dagger into the thing, but then it seemed to stick fast and he couldn't pull it back. The mouth lashed out with its tongue, hitting him in the chest, but his armour absorbed the worst of it. He struck out with his mind, and that seemed to help as the creature lolled passively, tongue hanging down. He followed up with his sword, a heavy swing that connected well, but then left the sword held solidly in place as well!

Meanwhile, unaware of Falcor's predicament, I had opened a door back in the first corridor, revealing what was possibly an old bedroom. A rusty iron chest was sat in a corner, but otherwise it was all deteriorated beyond use. I opened the chest, and as I did so fire burst all around me! Thankfully the crown protected me from any harm, and Arad's hammer kept him safe even though he tended to stand back whenever chests were being opened. I found two glass bottles with cork stoppers and wax inside, one a viscous dark blue liquid, and one completely clear. There were also two rubies, and two scrolls tied with silk ribbons. We moved back into the corridor, and Arad opened a door on the other side, revealing what looked like an old library.

Falcor was still trying to wrest his weapons free, managing to pull his sword away, jerking backwards as he did so such was the force required. He was still struggling with his dagger when we reached the library. I shouted for him, suspecting that he would be interested in the library, but there was no response. A little concerned, Arad went to look, seeing him wrestling with his dagger stuck in the weird sagging weapons rack creature as Arad turned the corner. He was not impressed that it had hold of his favourite dagger! Arad charged up to help, swinging with his hammer... and getting that stuck too. Sigh.

I joined them, and they explained the strange problem they were facing. I retrieved some spears, at least willing to try getting someone else's weapon stuck in it, but Arad booted it in frustration and got his foot stuck! I stabbed one spear into it, offering the other to Falcor, and sure enough that got stuck too. At least I didn't care about it, although I wondered if Arad had to pick between his hammer and his foot which he would go for... Strange that it affected a foot as well as the metal weapons; maybe it was a glue of some kind? If it were then perhaps a solvent would work? Water, alcohol, oil, or something more exotic?

We tried water first, but it just ran straight off, although Arad tried a drop of holy water and it bubbled a little and then seemed to solidify, fixing his boot even more firmly in place! Arad tried wine next, as he was the only one with any alcohol. As soon as it splashed onto the surface it bubbled violently and a pungent smell filled the air... more importantly his boot came free almost immediately! He hurried to apply some to his hammer and Falcor's weapon, freeing them just as easily. Falcor also managed to free the long sword he saw there originally, which seemed nicely balanced.

I turned my attention to the metal vertical bars forming a gate to the right of where we had entered this circular room. It was secured with a very rusty iron padlock and behind it was a short corridor ending in a closed door. I decided that there was no point trying the lock itself as it would have seized with rust, and instead smashed the padlock off with the hilt of my sword, pulling the gate open with a loud and piercing screeching sound. We all winced, but Arad walked over to help force it wide enough to enter comfortably, asking me to check the door.

As I went about checking the floor for any traps, I remembered to tell Falcor about the library we had found, and this caught his interest. He and Arad set off to the south as I completed my search. I didn't find any traps but I had worked out that the floor was very weak, being planks of wood unlike the stone around it. Falcor went straight to look at the library, but Arad stopped at the room the chunky legionnaire had emerged from, calling for me to help with the chest. I headed back, but at the same time Falcor heard an ominous click as he moved towards a bookcase, the floor sinking slightly under him. The door to the library slammed shut and there was an audible clunk.

He reached out with his mind to say that he was trapped, so I ran to the door and found that a bar had dropped into place to seal it from this side. I was able to lift it off easily and throw it to the side, pulling the door open... thankfully to find Falcor looking hale and without any other movement in the room. He was reluctant to move, though, in case doing so might trigger something else. As I stepped into the room to check, a mouth appeared above the fireplace (part of the stone) and started shouting loudly "the soul stealers are here, the soul stealers are here, summon the guard!" - obviously some kind of magical alarm system.

Arad came in at that point, saying that he thought he knew what it was and to leave it to him. Phew, what would his clever solution be, a prayer, a magical artifact, some clever trick... oh, no, he just smashed it with his hammer! It took a couple of blows but it cracked and then crumbled, leaving an eerie silence after the cacophony before. Falcor had spotted part of the bookcase that outlined a door, and pointed it out to us, still not moving. I couldn't find any obvious mechanism on the floor, besides the one already activated, and meanwhile Falcor pulled at the books he could reach, sweeping them off the shelves until he found one that was attached to a mechanism. We heard a click and the door popped slightly open into the room.

I could see faint runes above the fireplace, but Arad claimed not to be able to see any. I ducked into the fireplace anyway, as Falcor opened the door he had found, revealing a cupboard sized nook with four iron-bound chests inside. He called on me for assistance again, so I stepped back out as nothing seemed to have exploded.

Wait as Arad says he will call on the Creator to help him find traps. Notices spent trap on mantlepiece, no active traps around Falcor, and can sense there is some kind of trap where we are looking, near or on chests.

Nobody else can see runes, so I copy onto paper. Arad moves forward and sees glyph on floor - that is the danger. Chests are fine.

Not sure how we can overcome this. Throw a book, no effect. Move legionnaire body in and chuck onto glyph. Floor explodes and wave of heat and flame washes out. Cloud of grey green smoke follows, choking Falcor a little, but recovers.

Smoke eventually clears. Arad checks other chest while we wait and shatters lock with hammer. Doesn't find anything of value. Falcor goes into space, flips lids open. Silver, gold, rotten pouch, ivory scroll case, small cigar shaped gold case with star in circle and Ulrik's mark, gold handled comb and brush, silver mirror, gold earrings in shape of hearts, clasp of bone in shape of tree of life, pale blue gem.

Scrolls not legible to Falcor so calls for Arad. Tosses me case because symbol relates to crown possibly. Arad grateful for scrolls.

Decide to carry case rather than open it here. Falcor can't even see symbols that I've copied from fireplace onto paper! Weird dweomer here.

I start searching other bookcase, one book falls open and spider expands into massive beast that attacks me!

Arad gets behind it. Tries to climb on me and venom dripping from fangs, but manage to duck away from initial lunge. Arad hits it with hammer and sword. Liquid spurts out as he stabs it, manages to dodge it and fizzes angrily on floor.

Manage to keep spider off again, backing away. Arad still on its rear hammering it hard, splits it open in places, and have to dodge spurting acid blood.

Thrust sword into eye cluster, killing it, but have to dodge back quickly just to escape its body as it went into death throes.

Arad and Falcor interested in gold and books... but I'm more interested in getting out before the spider. I shout a warning and Falcor notices spider twitching. Run for door, and I bar it behind them just in time. Thump.

Open door on other side, whiff of sea?! Decrepit old bedroom, but nothing looks like it would smell that way. Strange. Others smell it too.

Arad realises that he left his backpack in room. Doh! Falcor warns that broadsword and chainmail of big legionnaire have dweomer. Arad take them to carry, but won't wear it... on floor until he gets backpack though!

Try to call on Karmana, but no connection here - we are in a different place. Just throw bar off door and jump to right as it swings quickly open, spider emerges and heads for Arad really quickly. Bites him but venom doesn't seem to get him.

Arad looses an arrow at last moment and kills it (again) - manages to dodge body. Falcor puts arrow into it as well, ripping through it in a burst of acid blood that sprays on Arad! Loses a pouch. Trousers burn holes below knee, burning skin.

I ran in to grab Arad's backpack, bringing it back to corridor. Arad rushes up and pours wine from backpack all over legs to stop burning. I could have offered water!

I start to drag spider back to room, but separates into pieces. Fairly happy with this so drop it and move back. Arad picks chainmail and broadsword up, now carrying a fair bit.

Falcor investigates smell that we avoided. Found a six foot square tapestry that is intact and the source of the smell. Picks it up. Seems like it is more than it seems.

As I reach out for it I sense a strong connection to Karmana, and a sense that it was pulling me in, but manage to pull away. Warn others, but may be a way out if we need it?

Go back to chests to retrieve blue stone and decayed pouch. Arad picks up pouch and starts coughing uncontrollably, dry retching. Cannot help him, so have to wait for several minutes until he starts to recover. Offer water for sore throat.

Head back to gate and dodgy floor. Rope around me and I edge along wall to door. Open it to reveal stairs down. Arad jumps across, followed by Falcor. Rearrange kit and rope and progress down.

Corridor after stairs turn right, many doors on each side. Stairs in far corner. Check traps all the way down, Falcor follows closely.

Get to bottom and look right, seeing two undead legionnaires! They attack, but Falcor stabs one as they close and we block or dodge their attacks. Falcor lands heavy blow with sword. Arad uses Creator's power to force them back.

Two more burst out of door to our left as Falcor moved right. One stabs into my shoulder, so I crack it with morning star. Arad forces those ones back too!

Edge to door, watching warily - Arad not willing to let me attack. Open door, looking for more threats. Trashed room but nothing seen - corner though.

Falcor gets attacked! We both run to aid. Falcor defends himself, stabbing one and cutting at it as a follow up with sword. Arad swings large hammer, landing a good blow and causing it to sag.

Falcor stabbed by both foes. Ouch. Retaliates with sword blow, landing well but edge as always has less effect. Arad hammers again into rear, smashing it to floor. I smash other one down from behind with morning star.

I swing at skull, cracking it but still intact. Arad does the same with other one, but shatters into pieces. Falcor jumps up, landing on skull and collapses under weight.