Editing Chronicle - Sutur (section)

== 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.