Chronicle - Sutur

Gateway from Malek

With the giants and wargs dealt with, we took a moment to look around the room we had entered. Nearest to where I now stood was a depiction of Artemis above the wall; to my right was Ares, to my left Zeus and behind me Cerberus. On the ceiling was a pegasus in flight. Beneath Zeus was shown a dwarf cutting through enemies to reach a dwarven female, with a mountainous scene in the background. The symbol of the female dwarf was partially obscured by chiselling. Under Artemis was a great battle being fought at a mountain and minas, with dwarves fighting the forces of evil. Orcus' wand was being torn from the top of the tower by Renash and Hasfast, who was wearing his 3-pointed crown. Another dwarf was with them, but we didn't recognise his symbol; they were all celebrating a great victory. Under Cerberus was Orcus with his wand being confronted by Renash, Brolgar, Hiramatsu and another samurai. Under Ares, Renash was holding up the ring of water whilst confronting a balrog, but was also missing a finger; the Balrog's whip of fire was stretched across the roof. This was certainly a 6th age room.

On the floor was another riddle to answer.

Four Brothers
The first runs and never wins.
The second eats and is never full.
The third drinks and is always thirsty.
The fourth sings a song and is never good.

We quickly realised that this related to the four elements, Water, Fire, Earth and Air in that order. It was also worth refreshing our memory that Zeus was similar in position to Odin, Artemis to Frey, Ares to Loki and Cerberus to Fenris when considering the alignment of the rooms. Whilst considering the meaning of the room, we realised that most of the room was 6th age and positive, but one wall referred to history and was negative (under Cerberus). We had to apply some positive energy to the wall, which meant steaming it.

Whilst that was happening, Lanzi tried an idea he had discussed with Melai, holding my collected chronicle pages up to the codicil; to my surprise, the pages locked into place by some dweomer, becoming the 7th age history in progress. Lanzi was the one to produce the steam, holding up something shiny whilst mouthing an incantation before breathing steam over the image of Orcus. A portal was revealed, with stairs beyond leading down and spiralling left. Melai warned that there was evil ahead, so we should be prepared for battle.

I called on Odin to protect us from evil and Lanzi created mirror images. We made our way down the stairs, pausing only to let Hintzu disable a deadfall trap that Melai discovered. We carried on for about half an hour, with Melai warning that the sense of evil was getting stronger all the time. The steps were very well hewn, and the air was now thick and warm. Finally we reached a short passage with a hovering ball of light in front of a stone door with a metal handle and beneath a vaulted ceiling. There were symbols that we could not read, so Melai used dweomer to comprehend languages.

We recognised the symbols of Zem to the left, Balem above and Hamar to the right, but we were still unable to decipher all of the runes. The only words that seemed to make sense were "death", "embalming" and "bringing back to life". Lanzi suspected an illusion, so asked us to back off whilst he tried to dispel magic.

Suddenly Melai ordered us to run, and the power of her crown amplified her command so that most of us were unable to resist! Fortunately, Lanzi was able to complete his dweomer and the spell removed whatever influence was exerted on Melai. She rescinded her command, and we returned safely to the base of the stairs.

Now the light had disappeared and the gibberish had been replaced with glowing runes. Unfortunately we still had no idea what they said! Hintzu, helpfully, confirmed that John could not read them either. I cast the runes to seek Odin's guidance, which took a few minutes. As I was doing so, Hintzu backed into the shadows, covering our rear. Unfortunately he was so well hidden that Morwath didn't see him and almost tripped down the stairs when he walked into him! Despite the comedy antics, the augury was clear; despite the risk there was only one way to our destination, through the portal ahead.

We discussed the risk of this unknown doorway. Melai suggested that Morwath was expendible, so he should go first, although I'm not sure he agreed! Morwath had been towards the rear with Hintzu, but he came forward now and then announced that he could read these strange runes! The language was an ancient one, apparently, but he read out the inscriptions one by one. To our left it stated "Seek thee not the path of death unless thou art ready." To the front it read "I want your soul, tell us how best to take it to our own." To the right it said "Weigh thy heart against that which Ma'at allows for your will to be forsaken."

Another important conversation had taken place at some point whilst here, which I record now despite not relating directly to the door. Both the sword and the gem had come from negative planes, but were positive artefacts, so it was no wonder that the Prime was filled with negative influence; worse, we had brought another such artefact, the hearth, to the Prime (and fortunately removed it again, but not to the Abyss where it belongs).

We finally approached the door itself, and Eudora made herself invisible in case of danger. Hintzu was hanging back from the group, expressing doubts that we should go through, and it was indeed Morwath that opened the door. Beyond was a medium-sized room with some strange symbology, which we determined to be 3rd Age.

Lastar's Retreat

To our left was the Sun god of the Egyptian mythology, Ra, beneath the god was a depiction of the base of Lastar's tower; an oriental man was studying books and showing something to a figure resembling Bavarik but much younger. Opposite was lion woman figure, clearly another god, beneath which was a ruin with a man in a grey cloak kneeling before Orcus, who was holding his wand; Orcus' left arm was touching his cloak. To our right was Ynyswydrin being killed by Orcus beneath an evil looking beast-headed man figure. Behind us was an Egyptian woman arching over (bridging) a smaller man beneath. Depicted under this was Orcus handing over a staff to Daudrag. On the roof was a lady within what looked like a spinning star.

There was a semi-clad female sitting in the centre of the room, surrounded by nasty looking jaguars and pillars around them with torches providing light. All of the room was brightly painted and there was lots of colour, gold and gems. The floor was polished marble, and the whole place reeked of opulence.

Melai reacted first, raising a wall of fire and stepping into the room. Morwath followed, but I was concerned with Hintzu's behaviour, so I went back for him and called on Odin to strengthen his courage. There was no reaction from the woman to our entry, and it seemed that the vivid colours that seemed so real might actually mask a statue beneath. Lanzi scanned the room, detecting a hidden door in each wall, and it was possible that with the door closed behind us that the whole room would appear to be sealed. Closer inspection revealed that the doors were visible from close up, but blended in cleverly with the background from a distance.

Melai decided to raise walls of force around the statues as a precaution as we investigated further. Judging from the arrangement of the room, the bridge woman was roughly aligned to Odin, the Sun god to Frey, the lion woman to Loki and the beast like creature to Fenris. From the carvings in the previous room it sounded as if the left path was towards a final battle, the right path just bad, so we elecetd to continue straight on.

We started moving around the sides of the room, but five mummies suddenly appeared around us! Fortunately I had my hand on Odin's holy symbol and quickly called on his power to banish them, destroying them instantly! My triumph was short lived as the statues in the centre of the room started to move and a sense of fear crept over us as the woman looked around. Fortunately it did not deter us. Some of the walls of force were taken down and an intense radience, god like radiance, shone from her and her beauty was stunning. We suspected that this was an avatar! The jaguars lept to attack first.

Hintzu grabbed me, stopping me from uttering a prayer; it seemed that the radiance had affected him more than the rest of us. Melai raised another wall of force before attacking with Agan, but actually destroyed the woman with the power of her mind before she even landed a blow! Morwath was mauled by the cats, and Lanzi came to his aid with a lightning bolt, killing one of his attackers, and then killed another with magic missiles. I call on Odin to bolster Hintzu's courage once more; it seemed to work as he immediately charged to attack, landing a heavy blow that caused it to yowl and back off. Melai approached from the other side and finished it off with a clean blow to the neck.

Hintzu moved up to a door, checking for traps. Melai reported that there was still an emanation of evil all around us; she placed her hand on the door and the frame began to glow before sliding open to reveal a passage. Torches sprang to life, revealing a thirty foot long corridor leading to a darkened room beyond.

There were four statues in the centre of the room, and we advanced to see more. The nearest was a man over ten foot tall, brown skinned and strong looking. He carried a pole arm of some kind and it was raised as if to strike the floor. To our left was the Sun God, Ra posed as if in combat, bird headed with a large, red stone set in a circlet on his head. The farthest was a lion-headed female whirling around with robes flowing and arms outstretched; the sense of movement was perhaps more than just a good sculpture as there seemed to be some actual movement around her. To the right was the beast-headed humanoid with an embalmed body stretched out at its feet. The beast had a cleaver-like weapon in its hand and was posed in the act of chopping at the body. There was a circle of runes in the centre of the statues, but the walls and ceiling were unmarked.

Lanzi scanned the statues with his gem of seeing and I handed my light gem to Hintzu to illuminate the room more brightly. There were what looked like clouds hanging around the female figure and they were revolving slowly whilst dripping water onto the floor. Winged creatures flitted through the air around the figure of Ra.

Melai stepped into the room, and almost immediately four mummies stepped straight out of the stone wall opposite us. A blade barrier flashed lethal metal across the corridor we stood in and flame struck down from above onto Melai and I. Whilst I was putting the flames out, Melai ran forward to engage the mummies. Hintzu initially tried loosing arrows, but they had no effect on the undead. Lanzi raised mirror images to protect himself, which was wise because I was unable to force them back by calling on Odin.

Next our movement was hampered by a wall of thorns, allowing one mummy to close with me; when it touched me I was drained of health and collapsed, passing out. Lanzi launched magic missles, hitting one of the things. Hintzu sent a sheet of flame from his mouth, burning a couple of the mummies, but also setting fire to the thorns! Melai cut one down and sliced at another, fighting hard to keep them back.

Hintzu, probably feeling guilty, dragged me out of the fire but not before my cloak had been destroyed and a ring was left behind, snagging on the thorns as he dragged me. Lanzi, sensibly, dispelled the magic in the area, clearing the thorns, fire and blades. More was to follow, though, as one of the mummies spewed a great cloud of insects that filled the entire area with biting creatures, and four skeletons joined the fray from nowhere. The skeletons hurled fire at Melai and attacked her. Morwath decided that a tactical retreat to escape the insects was the wisest course of action.

Melai was still fighting hard, killing another mummy and a skeleton. Lanzi, unable to use dweomer due to the insects, decided to join the fight; he grabbed a torch from the wall and ran forward, landing a perfect strike on a mummy's back with great form, but doing no damage as the thing was immune to the normal fire. Both were burnt in return fire, but Melai killed another two of the skeletons as Hintzu also joined the close melee, downing the last skeleton. The last mummy disappeared, although we were still wary of danger.

Melai healed herself as Hintzu rested, and then they started dousing the mummies in oil to burn their remains. Morwath returned with a bubble of protection around him that repelled the insects, being quickly joined by Eudora. Lanzi used his mind to kill an area of insects, then raised a wind wall in the short time he was able to chant. He spotted the last mummy, just as the wall behind him was turned to mud. Luckily he was unaffected by the deluge and Melai stepped up to kill it; it may have just come back to life!

Lanzi decided that the bodies needed burning, so summoned a huge fire elemental. Unfortunately he did not share his plan, and the elemental appeared right in front of Melai! Morwath, who still had some blades between him and us, took a potion and turned into a gaseous form, allowing him to pass safely but slowly. Melai, with a cool head, joined Lanzi instead of attacking immediately, encountering two mummies as she did so; it was not clear whether they had recovered from wounds or just joined the fight, but one disappeared at the sight of her.

Morwath cleared the area of blades, but was still gaseous and could only wait for the effects to wear off. Flames engulfed Lanzi from above, but he was unaffected by them. Melai engaged the one mummy she could see and killed it quickly. The fire elemental engulfed its body, destroying it, and went on to discover another, which it also destroyed. Hintzu kicked the charred remains just to be sure. Finally, the insects disappeared, and Hintzu created a glimmering in the air to see whether there were any invisible foes in the area, but without finding any.

Melai took a moment to heal herself as Lanzi dropped the wind wall he was using to deflect insects. There was no sign of any threat, but we were nervous due to the missing mummies. The runes on the floor read:

A cloud is my mother,
The wind is my father,
My son is the cool stream,
And my daughter's the fruit of the land.
A rainbow is my bed,
The earth my final resting place,
And I am the torment of man.

The answer appeared to be "rain", which we thought might link to the statue with rain around it. Hintzu, though, had noticed my condition; he leant close, commented on my bad breath, but realised that I was still alive, just unconscious (although my armour had helped my recovery). Lanzi came to assist, using keotones to revive me, which allowed me to heal myself and Hintzu while we were temporarily safe.

Melai, meanwhile, had been working on the riddle and formed a channel between the pool of water around the female statue and the tiller of the earth opposite. Water flowed over to the earth, and as it reached it the statue moved, striking the ground with enough force to move the stone. Sprouts of a plant poked out of the earth that was revealed.

Lanzi dispelled the blade barrier and Morwath's gaseous form so that we were all back together. The plant that had been revealed was growing at a rapid rate, and figs were appearing. Lanzi shone his headband light through the water surrounding the wet statue, causing a small rainbow to form. As it did so, the statue whirled around and Ra's gem erupted with light, causing a large rainbow to form across the room. I picked several figs and placed them within the remains of the body that had been cut up. After a moment a crack of sound marked a movement in the floor and it slowly revealed spiral stairs leading down.

We descended into a familiar looking small room with a single door and poetry on the floor that matched with that we had seen previously, adding to the epic poem. As usual, the verse sparked some debate, and I was to note down for future reference that a ninety degree shift in the elemental influences seemed to occur between pantheons of each religion; the order of these shifts was chronological, starting with the Egyptian, then Greek, the Norse and finally the Oriental.

Melai took the lead once more and opened the single door to reveal a highly decorated room beyond. The gods depicted were Egyptian again, with an earth tiller to our left, Ra opposite, the lionness woman to our right and a bestial creature behind us. Below the earth tiller were two dwarves talking to each other, one of whom was Kalasar and he was holding out Lastar's staff. The symbol of the house of Findor was on the base of the wall between them. Below the lionness woman was a human resembling Bavarik in ceremonial garb with a gorgeous woman on his arm and courtiers kneeling around him in what was recognisable as the church in Sutur. Behind us was a depiction of Frastor's discovery of the gem shard and his use of it to save Minas Olga, shown in panels of a time sequence. The last panel showed beams of blue light coming from the gem.

The room itself was full of undead surrounding a pit fiend or balrog winged creature. A fireball was hurled at us, but Melai absorbed it; this was followed by a cold blast and a meteor swarm! The large beast disappeared as we were checked by the force of the attack. I called on Odin to banish as many as possible, and a good portion of the undead were destroyed by his power. Morwath sent lightning into the room, followed by a fireball from Lanzi and another (slightly smaller) one from Hintzu; between them they killed all the remaining visible foes.

I advanced into the apparently vacant room, with Hintzu and the fire elemental beside me. Melai created a wall of force around us, sectioning off half of the room, but then dropped ice on our heads! Just as we were wondering whether her mind was afflicted, Lanzi warned of undead all around us and summoned a massive hand to guard himself. It was as if madness had taken them, but I trusted my friends and called on Odin to give me true sight so that I might see things as they really were. Creatures had appeared behind us, and both Hintzu and Morwath were immediately engaged in melee. The winged beast was indeed still here, and wrapped Melai in its tail, and I tried to aid her; I landed a good hit but I could not banish the creature. Melai was far from helpless, though, as her sword hand was still free, and she thrust Agan into the heart of the beast, killing it in one blow.

Hintzu killed his opponent and Lanzi raised a wall of fire to keep any further creatures at bay. Melai, now free, stepped to Morwath's aid and slew one foe as Hintzu finished another. Although Lanzi was firing magic missiles seemingly at random into the room, the rest of us could not see any more danger. We calmed him, and whatever had affected his mind seemed to have ended so we were united once more. Dropping the dweomer still blazing in the room, we were free to read some runes that were beneath the figures around us, with Morwath interpreting.

To our right it read "Should an archmage return, Sutur shall be theirs". To our rear it read "No artifacts should be traded for power". To our left it read "Poke your fingers in my eyes, And I will open wide my jaws, Linen cloth quills or paper, My greedy lust devours them all". This was a 2nd Age room, and the last riddle could be answered by "scissors". However, some influence on minds still seemed to be apparent. Melai was arguing strongly that we should not proceed further into the room, and remained at the threshold holding Hintzu back. Lanzi used the power of his mind to jump into the room, staying close to the fire elemental and I. Melai, though, was still unwilling to move forward and raised a wall of force that divided the group. Hintzu didn't realise this, though, and loped forward at his usual fast jog only to bash into the invisible barrier, bloodying his nose. Morwath spoke soothingly to her and finally convinced her to drop the wall just to let him speak the answer to the riddle near to the wall, but with no effect.

After some discussion we realised that the one depiction of a bond being broken was the Frastor tale, so the physical act of placing material in a mouth was the key to the riddle. Lanzi produced a small piece of linen that he placed into the mouth, which came alive and chewed at the scrap. A small door opened between the scenes in the wall revealing a narrow flight of stairs leading down; gnome sized, perhaps? Again we found a small room with more poetry and a riddle marked on a small door. The riddle read "what belongs to you but others often use it more that you do?" After some thought we decided that the answer was your name. We each spoke our own name in turn to enter the door, although the fire elemental did not do so well at this task, so Lanzi dispelled it!

We continued down a narrow passage until we reached another door. The air had grown thick and stale, but warm. Beyond this door was a large room with six pillars supporting the ceiling. Four sarcophagi were spaced around the room, and two large fire pits gave flickering light to the centre of the room. Braziers stood around a pentagram at one end near to a couple of bowls of water. The image of Ra was to our left, the lionness woman ahead, the beastman to our right and the earth tiller behind us. It appeared at that time as if the walls were blank, but behind us was the last part of the poem we had been following as we descended.

The room was, though, full of undead and this focused our attention. The sight was slightly disconcerting as the floor was highly polished and looking down was like peering into the night sky, so both the foe and ourselves appeared to be floating within the heavens as we fought. To add to this spectacle, the roof above us appeared as a blue sky with clouds and the day and night imagery was intense. The pentagram was unlike those we had seen before, having two planes of symbols with one circle rising out of the floor as well as appearing to sink within it. Stood at the centre of the room, surrounded by the undead was a large jackel-headed warrior with black skin that looked powerful.

I attempted to call on Odin's power to turn the undead, but it did not seem to work here and we suspected that we were no longer on the Prime so we might be far removed from his help. A blade barrier erupted around us in the corridor; it did not affect me, thankfully, and both Melai and Hintzu quickly dodged forwards to escape it. Morwath was in the centre and could not reach safety, but although he fell as the blades cut through him, he was able to let off one last lightning bolt at the foe. I didn't realise at the time, but Si Ti Qa was also caught by the blades and killed, which might explain why Lanzi was caught by a skeleton creature and killed before he could retaliate.

Mummies began to emerge from the sarcophagi as Eudora loosed a lightning bolt of her own, supporting Melai's attacks; Agan quickly cut down a skeleton and a mummy as she fought her way to the jackel warrior. She landed a blow, enraging it, and was immediately struck by a column of flame that distracted her just enough for the creature to land a powerful blow, severely wounding her. I tried to reverse time to undo the actions of this powerful foe, but it was not enough to save those caught in the blade barrier. Instead I used my mace to resurrect Lanzi, but then Melai fell before the blows of the jackel warrior. Agan used its powers to heal her, but she was now prone at the feet of the enemy.

Lanzi struck quickly with a powerful meteor strike, but Melai was forced to absorb it to protect Eudora and herself. Meanwhile I backed into the blades (which still did not affect me) to keep the foe from surrounding me and put on my crown, as I would need its powers. Lanzi raised a wall of fire as Melai was hit once more and badly hurt; it seemed that the life was being drained by some dark power and it was not the blows themselves that were so damaging.

I raised a wall of positive energy and dispelled the blades so that my friends could join me. Melai was still fighting and took down another mummy, whilst Lanzi teleported to the far side of the room before breathing fire at the backs of the foe. Another mummy and the jackel figure (Anubis' image) were consumed in the flames, and that freed Melai to finish the last of those attacking her. However, as she struck the final killing blow she was struck herself and fell once more. Fire erupted around both Lanzi and I, hurting us both, but we were able to fight on. I used steam breath from my crown to kill a nearby foe and then moved to Morwath's side.

Hintzu sprinted through the fire, unaffected, and leapt into combat with a cry, felling a surprised foe with a strong blow as he landed lightly on the other side. He then called down fire on a mummy in front of him, but it disappeared from view. Lanzi tried to tend to Melai's wounds, but she was too far gone for his skill. Suddenly a swarm of insects filled the room, cutting visibility to nothings. Lanzi began dragging Melai towards the entrance, dropping the wall of fire and by chance I joined up with them.

Morwath had tried to join us, but was exhausted and unable to move for the moment, and Hintzu (who had also thought to return to the entrance) found him and carried him beyond the reach of the insect swarm. He called up a strong wind to drive the insects back a little way. I threw a positive energy ball from my crown into the room as I backed into the corridor, wary of danger. Hintzu returned to the room, joining me, and called for us to shield our eyes as he summoned pyrotechnics. We were vulnerable again, though, being bunched up and a blade barrier and fireball hit us in quick succession. Again I was unaffected, as was Lanzi, but Hintzu and Eudora were hurt; the little creature decided to sod off very quickly before coming to more harm!

Morwath was resting, and drank a potion to aid his recuperation. A wall of thorns appeared in the corridor next, trapping Hintzu but again I was unaffected Odin was still with us after all. We could see a mummy now, and Lanzi called down flames on it but without effect. Hintzu might have been trapped, but his rings still held power and he struck with a fireball, killing the mummy and another creature. I called up a blade barrier of my own and had my vengence as many were sliced apart. Just under half a dozen still remained, though.

Lanzi started to launch magic missiles, with some of them having an effect. Morwath had recovered and was returning, but found that there were caltrops on the floor impeding his progress. I was drained of my health by some foul power again, and found a mummy had appeared beside me. Lanzi threw a fireball, killing all but two, but unfortunately one of those was the mummy that attacked me. I swung my mace at it, landing a solid blow, and Odin guided my hand as the evil creature was blasted apart by his divine power. Hintzu quickly finished off the last one, leaving the room clear at last.

I called for Lanzi to bring me Melai's body and removed some of my armour; placing it on her, I knew it would regenerate her body enough to heal her. Morwath joined me and between us we restored her to health after a short time, and I donned armour again. Lanzi studied the pentagram closely, as it was unique; in addition to the pentagram on the floor, a moveable metal device rose from the floor in a semi-circle, effectively making intersecting circles in three dimensions. As this was Lastar's den, we suspected that we were out of time and in another dimension once more, probably Limbo. We would be able to rest and recuperate before returning to the Prime, and this strange device, so Lanzi told us, should allow us to return at the right time.

Lanzi needed assistance in calling another familiar, as Si-Ti-Qa had been lost in the fight. It took much dweomer before he was satisfied that a suitable creature responded to his call, but he would not be deterred. We were also blessed with visions whilst we rested, which only encouraged us to make our way to Sutur as planned and confront Geurin. We also noticed that Morgul and Balem were missing from the symbology on the pentagram, which suggested that it was at least partly designed by gnomes.

Sutur

Once we were finally ready to enter the gate that Lanzi opened, we spent a few moments preparing. I called on Odin to strengthen Morwath and bless us all before we proceeded and Morwath prepared offensive dweomer for himself. We then stepped through, hopefully prepared for a tough fight. We entered a similar sized room, knowing that we were within Lastar's tower in Sutur. Gith were guarding the doors around the chamber, but at the centre, bent over books and scrolls on a table, were Guerin and Cillian!

We were hit by fire by ice as the Gith reacted to our appearance. Morwath responded with a bliding ray of light sweeping across them. I managed to create an area of silence around Cillian just as a Gith struck me with his sword. A moment later a wall of thorns appeared in a U-shape around the room. Melai had one aim alone and charged towards Guerin screaming an Elven battle cry. Hintzu helped to clear a path, loosing arrows at anything in her way and felling one of the Gith. Melai struck with Agan, doing massive damage, but then Cillian dispelled the thorns and the Gith were on us once more, hurting Morwath. Melai landed another blow, but an explosion of dweomer threw her bodily backwards, landing amongst us.

Lanzi appeared now, hurling a lightning bolt, killing several Gith, and firing magic missiles at Cillian but without effect. Both Lanzi and I were using dweomer against Guerin and Cillian, but they were resisting our attacks. Hintzu, meanwhile, felled another two Gith with arrows before charging to attack Guerin in Melai's place. Lanzi lowered Cillian's resistance to magic and then tried more dweomer, but she still proved resistant. His new familiar created a spray of colour in the air that stunned at least one Gith, helped by Morwath's sunray. It was clear that Cillian was healing Guerin, keeping him in the fight despite his wounds, and he struck a powerful blow to Hintzu's side, felling him. Morwath threw a number of darts, which then split into about two score, and at least one struck Cillian. Melai was still alive, despite Lanzi almost striking her with another lightning bolt, and more magic missiles were fired at Cillian, who we realised was still healing Guerin. A stinking cloud was conjured by one of the familiars, keeping some of the Gith at bay, but at the same time Melai fell to another blow from Guerin.

A huge fist appeared in the air in front of Cillian, clasping her lightly and preventing her from casting. Morwath called on thunder and lightning from his staff, killing several Gith. I charged forward, knowing that we were lost without both Melai and Hintzu. Melai was closest, so I shrugged off the blows from several Gith and used the power of my mace to resurrect her. Melai rose quickly, took one long look of hatred at Guerin and slew him with the power of her mind alone! Lanzi renewed the attack of dweomer against Cillian, but at the death of Guerin she disappeared (most likely fleeing to some sanctuary previously selected for just such a purpose).

With Melai fully recovered, I turned my attention to Hintzu. Fortunately, although seriously wounded, he had not been slain and I was able to heal him quickly with Odin's grace. Melai fired a lighning bolt into the massed Gith, killing three, and between Morwath and Lanzi they raised a wall of thorns and set it alight to allow us time to catch our breath.

Notes on Mythos

Norse - stability until Ragnarok Greek - young usurps the old Egyptian - rebirth Oriental - rebalancing of Yin/Yang through disasters

Do the positive/negative ages mark a shift in Mythos? Gods are not equivalent (alternate names), but exist separately. Lanzi may actually be Lastar reincarnated.

-- Notes on Gates --

Natural locations of gates are:

Olga - Ethereal Nagrad - Water Malek - Positive Zundar - Negative Tiris - Fire

Sylvan Elves not necessarily of the Prime - Glade might be another natural gate.

-- Powers on the Prime --

Inwe acts as a negative agent for all the Gods, but has aspirations of becoming a Goddess. She also desires power on the Prime, possibly as a backup.

Iki/Malor is building power on the Prime and encouraging the coming of Ragnarok so that he can inherit the Prime afterwards. He is seeking protection from a -ve Earth dragon.

Who is the +ve power/bloom on the Prime? Who rules the Inner Planes and what can we do for them?

The lord tends to stay on their plane, but they have a champion on the Prime and their power is affected by the blooms. If the blooms are 'in bloom' at the same time then powers are balanced (elemental link?)

Leaving Sutur

There were chests and other treasures placed around the room (not randomly, but spread out). The door opposite the gate was open, revealing stairs beyond, but the doors to either side remained closed. Milai raied a wall of force to block the far exit, Lanzi used his dweomer to seal the door to our left and Hintzu physically locked the last door. I placed a Wyvern Watch on the door that Hintzu had locked as additional protection.

Lanzi started to investigate the chests of treasure in the room; there were items all over the place, but in an orderly fashion. I notice that there are four statues set towards the corners of the room; one of Anubis to the right of the portal as we entered, one of Set to its left, Aries in front and to the left, and Athene in front to the right. I also notice that our party seems to have forgotten that our objectives were to close the gate and find the ring (which we knew had been hidden on another plane) - they were distracted by shiny things!

I noted the time as we reckoned it in the chronicle so that Lanzi could use it as a reference to travel between here and Limbo as necessary. Lanzi was ensuring that the gate would take us back to the sanctuary, but as Morwath put a palantir in the pedestal it began to glow; Lanzi had a vision of Inwe tempting him with defection, but his will was strong and he ignored her. As this was happening, Gith started to appear in the room, and then Inwe projected her image to us all in the room. A small "you've been a very brave boy" was the only effect, though.

Lanzi continues with the portal whilst the rest of us engage the enemy. I call down a flame strike on the Gith, Morwath charges to melee, landing one blow, Hintzu also calls a flame strike and Melai cuts two down with sweeping strikes. Lanzi, now finished with the portal, called a noxious cloud into being, unfortunately only affecting Morwath. He made up for this somewhat by killing the last Gith with the power of his mind. I created some breathable air to help Morwath, and Lanzi then dispelled it anyway. Milai then covered the palantir to remove Inwe's image.

Another two Gith appeared; Hintzu and I were the closest to them and we landed solid blows on each. Lanzi's familiar created some grease at the bottom of the stairs in case any tried to enter that way. Lanzi opened the gate and urged us to escape. Milai finished off the Gith. Then the doors exploded! Gith started to stream into the room from both sides.

Hintzu killed two, but then he grabbed a chest (and some arrows) and made for the gate; Milai, Lanzi and Morwath doing the same. Lanzi suddenly dropped dead, killed by a mental attack! I called on Odin to enervate the chest that he dropped, causing it to move to the gate of its own accord. Milai ran to the gate and started throwing things through as I engaged the Gith. I landed a good blow, but was hit in return. Hintzu killed one, but they had reached the centre of the room and one grabbed the palantir. Both Milai and Morwath also dropped dead from mental attack! Things were getting desperate now, and I panicked! Hintzu managed to kill the Gith with the palantir, then another, and brought me round with his badge of bravery.

I spoke a holy word of Odin, banishing all the Gith in the room, and unfortunately deafening Hintzu in the process. Undeterred, he threw Morwath through the portal, then Milai, as I did the same for Lanzi. We grabbed any items of note that we could and then escaped through the portal.

Back in Lastar's sanctuary, I was able to raise Milai from the dead, although she complained that her head hurt (physically she was fine - very fine). I restored her health (physical and mental), then Milai and Hitzu went back through the portal to retrieve the palantir and libram (the book of Limbo that Lanzi had been using for the portal). I noticed, though, that the plane of the gate shifted as they left; I would have to get Lanzi back if they were to return!

They found a half dozen Gith in the room and Hintzu raised a wall of fire before cutting down the Gith that held the palantir. Milai grabbed the libram and stepped back through the gate - but it was now golden and no longer linked to our sanctuary! Meanwhile I raised Lanzi to life and explained what had happened, and he started to adjust the gate mechanism whilst I raised Morwath. Hintzu was fighting hard, being hurt badly but killing several in return. He created some pyrotechnics, which caused some confusion in the Gith ranks and allowed him to jump through the gate after Milai.

Lanzi used another palantir to see what was going on, experiencing a vision as he did so of Yishmay captured by a ninja who was negotiating with Demogorgon. Morwath apparently also had a vision, which he described when I restored him to life, and wants to join Malenwe with haste. I tended to Lanzi's wounds and restored his mental health so that he could concentrate on reuniting us with our friends.

Milai had appeared in the ocean, near to a shore, and had discovered the land to be populated by Sea Elves; this was her ancient ancestoral home! She was taken to a glade that was used as a meeting place and a boat was left to meet any others coming through the gate, which Hintzu shortly did. Once together again, Hintzu informed her of Lanzi's voice coming from the palantir. There were precautions that needed to be taken before using it, though. As they prepared the elves discussed Hintzu's ring, recognising the gems within it (one of which was fashioned in their plane), and confirmed that they had Gwendolyn's ring safe. They would not give it up without permission, though. Milai tried to reassure them by speaking of our desire to balance the Prime by returning artifacts to their rightful place.

Eventually they were ready and Lanzi received a response, explaining that Milai was finally home. Lanzi wants us to travel to meet them, but Milai was wary of endangering her folk, so he used the Gnomish magic to screen their discussion. Once assured of secrecy, Milai directed Lanzi to the plane of Lunia and we travelled there with the items we had collected from Sutur. It was a joyous place, stunning to the senses, and we were met by their Lord, Illuvator, as well as our friends.

Three warships of the elves were pledged to Milai, all made of beautiful white metal. The crews were aware that it was likely a one-way journey to the Prime to aid their kin, but Lanzi pledged his aid to the sea elves to return them home once the Prime was balanced.

Despite Lanzi's concerns for Yishmay, with no idea of when the threat against her would materialise our (well, Milai's) primary concern remained the defence of her fleet and so that was our destination. We expected a journey of about a month using the Astral plane to travel quickly.

The journey was not to pass uneventfully (when does it ever), and we encountered a Gith ship after a week or so. They were not used to being opposed in this place, I think, as they were slow to sight us and we clearly had the better position, but it was obvious that they were resolved to fight regardless. The Captain suggested offering quarter, as we outnumbered them, although Milai preferred to kill them all. This matter was quickly settled when the Gith engaged with ballistae as we approached.

Milai charged at the enemy, leading a boarding attempt (we could travel freely in this plane using our mind, so there was no need to bring the ship alongside). Bolts shot towards her, and she was forced to deflect them away. I struggled to keep up with the others on this alien plane, so I was less of a target. Lanzi also saw the advantage of not being a target and slowed his progress slightly. This attempt to avoid attention was somewhat undermined when he donned a scintillating cloak and became the brightest thing for miles around!

Arrow fire began as we closed with the foe, which was returned by Hintzu and Milai. Lanzi was suffering, not just from being targeted, but also because the missiles that Milai was deflecting had a habit of heading towards him! Both Lanzi and Milai took a few hits.

Lanzi projected an image forwards so that he could cast his dweomer at range, beginning with a fireball on the deck as Milai sent many magic missiles at the Gith Captain, doing some damage. Hintzu added his own fireball to the devastation and some half a dozen were killed as well as many more injured in the attack.

Lanzi conjured some mirror images just as he took another hit, with survival now being a priority. Milai launched an ice storm onto the deck, finishing off the Captain and leaving a clear area at the rear of the ship. She then closed to melee with Hintzu beside her. Some Elven archers from our own ship were now in range as well, and began hitting their targets.

Milai killed the last Gith at the rear of the ship, freeing Hintzu to blast the lower deck with another fireball before cutting down a Gith trying to reach them. Lanzi created a lightning bolt that ran the length of the ship and caused more mayhem. Milai created a cone of cold that killed more of the crew before charging into melee. Lanzi's image moved forward and breathed fire across the deck, killing many. The few remaining crew had seen enough and turned to flee. We allowed them to go, leaving the ship a little damaged but free of opposition.

Milai asked our Captain for a skeleton crew to add this ship to our armada (I would have said flotilla, but I am not a nautical man), the arrangements were made and we continued as a formation of four.

Later in our travels we were surprised by three Ba'atazeu appearing in our midst, they brandished jagged-toothed clubs and appeared to be randomly attacking rather than targeting any particular individuals. Milai reacted first, hasting herself and landing several blows on the nearest of the creatures. Lanzi moved off the ship and tried to lower the magic resistance of one, and then disintegrate it. Unfortunately there was no visible effect. I called on Odin to bless my weapon and allow it to dispel evil. Hintzu used a new dweomer that we had not seen before; the creature he targeted howled in pain, writhed in agony, started to smoke and then was consumed by fire having burnt from the inside out! It was utterly destroyed.

Two more creatures, smaller than the others, appeared and joined the fight whilst one of the greater creatures disappeared (most likely invisible rather than gone). The Elves of the crew suffered some damage, including one nasty poision bite. A fire wall was raised on the bridge, but Milai absorbed the dweomer in order to spare the Captain. Milai and Hintzu entered the melee on the deck, where the crew had managed to kill one of the lesser creatures. A fireball was absorbed by Milai, although I caught a blow from the nearest creature. A few of the crew backed off, allowing the three of us to deal with the foe. Unfortunately my swing went wildly wide and caught Hintzu! He immediately had his revenge as a flame strike he called down on the foe also caught me in its heat.

Lanzi tried to lower resistance again and followed up with magic missiles, but then was severely beaten up by the invisible creature, which appeared as it attacked. The creature that had hit me teleported over to the Captain, but Hintzu peppered it with arrows and it fell before it could land a blow. I went to Lanzi's aid, but again my swing was wild and I hit him! Was this hammer I had found in Sutur cursed?! Lanzi let off magic missiles and then Milai properly came to his aid, killing his assailant.

The attack ended as suddenly as it had begun, and I guiltily tended to Lanzi's wounds.

Thankfully that was the last encounter of our voyage; we reached a portal through which, as we approached, we could see Fontainver harbour. There were three ships anchored there with another two being built, a sad state for the Sea Elf fleet to find itself in.

With Lanzi manipulating the point of arrival, we were able to sail through the portal and emerge on the water back on the Prime just outside the harbour. Lanzi created quite a scene with a fanfare and associated loud noises, before teleporting to the quay and announcing the arrival of their Queen, Milai.