Note - after this adventure we decided that Miracle was too powerful a spell for a non-memorising druid so Thora doesn't have it anymore... grin At least it means no more XP-burning.

27/9/1028
A small boat docks and a small delegation comes to see Thora. The leader is a graying, bearded man who, while being well dressed, doesn’t seem to be a noble. He seems tired. He is Olea, Chamberlain for Lady Winnifred of the lake, Thora’s southern neighbour.

He brings a tale of trouble regarding Two Lakes barony to the south. No ships had arrived from there for some time. When one did return from there, the crew told of a dark cloud hanging over the barony. Word was sent to Baron Arcadius but he had already left to investigate and he has not been heard from since.

Olea has already talked to Baron Coiger who doesn’t seem too keen to act although he promised to send word magically to the capitol. Thora sees him off (he is heading to inform the king) and then scrys on Lady Winnifred. She uses a Miracle to transport herself to the shore near her ship.

Winnifred has communed with Ixion and has been told that the cloud is unnatural but not the work of the Heldanes. She also learned that Baron Fharo is still alive and at Skullheim castle. It will take the ship 4 days to get in sight of the cloud.

Thora uses another Miracle to cast Animal Shapes and turn herself and Remus into eagles. They fly to a high vantage point and then use Transport via Plants to get closer. They transport to within 200 yards of the cloud.

The cloud is about 50’ off the ground, and that distance stays constant with the terrain. It is dark under the cloud and the plants look ill.

Thora questions a starving squirrel and finds out that the cloud came slowly but has been there for a while. There is little between night and day under there. The squirrel reports that it saw a humanoid without smell that made weird noises. Thora and Remus prepare a shelter and help a bunch of animals.

28/9/1028
Winnifred does a Sending to Thora in the morning. Thora then Communes with Nature to discover that there are dozens of unnatural creatures in the cloud, and two concentrations of humans (south and south-east). It looks like Highpass and Conna are abandoned, while Eando and Dubla still have people in them.

Thora investigates the cloud. It is moderately magic, of the school of conjuration. It is poisonous. Contact with the cloud itself weakens and kills (d6 con per round – DC 20 save to reduce to 1 con). A gust of wind moves it back a little, but only while it lasts. Dispel Magic clears a bit of the cloud away. A whirlwind spell clears the area quite well.

Thora goes under the cloud in wolf form, with Delay Poison cast. It seems fine underneath.

Thora and Remus advance into the cloud-covered area for the duration of a Find the Path. Thora then casts another Commune with Nature. She detects various groups of powerful, unnatural creatures scattered about. One group of five is about a mile away, right in her path. There are still groups of people around Eando and Dubia, slightly more than last night.

She and Remus search for and locate a tree suitable for transportation. They test Transport via Plants out and then back again and go looking for the group of nasties. They find the group of 5 nasties. They are humanoids, either crouched over a lot or hunched somehow. Thora summons some Shamblers that smash the ghouls - as they turn out to be - easily.

Transport back out and rest. Winnifred does a Sending and Thora reports and asks for the next one to be at the following noon.

1/10/1028
Thora and Remus head back in. TvP to the tree and keep going.

A big flying thing passes overhead. Thora and Remus hide and cower, rather effectively as it turns out.

At the end of the day they’ve reached a wooded section. They find a suitable tree and TvP back with another squirrel that needs saving.

2/10/1028

TvP back to the woods in the morning. After about an hour and a half we reach Eando.

Thora talks with a peasant who is cautious at first. He mentions a dragon and giants. His name is Baroldi and his wife is called Marti. Apparently the giants are in the woods, and the dragon is blue and guards the lake. Thora feeds the villagers and asks them to remain in their village.

Winnifred has reached Skullhelm and found it deserted. Thora TvPs there to meet her.

We enter and search the castle. We find many dead guards, apparently killed in their beds by poison gas. Entering the keep we encounter a bunch of leather-clad guys and an armored man on a throne. The leather guys turn into amoebas with a touchy-feely complex. Lady Winnifred calls on Ixion and destroys five of them. A little later (and after a couple of more turnings) the weird things are destroyed and the person is left, attacking Remus.

Winnifred identifies him as Baron Fharo so Thora uses the Staff of Life to cast Hold Person. She succeeds and a black ghost leaves the still form, carrying a candle. It misses Remus and Thora blasts it with a Sunbeam spell and it dissipates.

We search the remains of the keep for any survivors. The room of the marshal Amanda of Alexis is empty, and she is missing. We find the skeleton of a bailiff called Lemas, who was apparently quite skilled with whips. The room of the chaplain Jarred is empty and thoroughly ransacked. The room of Sir Guy has also been ransacked.

We eventually come to a council room. There are nine motionless, cloaked figures seated at the table. They seem quite dead, and collapse into nauseating gunk when disturbed. The mage Maryan’s workroom has an intact scroll with a powerful necromantic spell centered on it. Since Thora’s runes read woe, we leave it alone.

We search the Baron’s bedroom. It’s intact but the bed has been used. By two males yet.

We go to another tower and find the skeleton of the bailiff Bagamar. His skeleton has been partially stripped of its chain mail. Upstairs there are dead guards who have been killed by something with claws. Maybe ghouls.

We search another tower and find more devastation. We find four animate corpses but a single turning lays them to rest. The Baron has had enough and decides to skip the rest of the search.

In the last tower we find some beautiful field plate and a bed with a strongly magical mirror suspended above a bed. (Abjuration and Necromancy) A skeleton lies on the bed, its head severed. Inside the mirror is the face of a man, visible only with detect magic. It turns out he is Mogus, the man who lived there. Yet another bailiff.

Back on the ground floor, we find a cockatrice. Thora uses Finger of Death and kills it, and it turns into a woman dressed in the clothing of a noble servant. Oops. She raises her and she turns into a cockatrice again. Thora grabs her and asks Winnifred to remove the enchantment, which works well. The woman is Ammylar, the baron’s steward.

Ammylar tells us about the attackers. There were three beings in charge. One was a wizard, who cast the transformation spell. He would seem to be quite powerful since Thora’s dispelling didn’t remove the spell. He has a goatee and wears robes. He carries a staff with moving runes on it. The other two were a cleric and a dragon. The cleric had a magic stone called a ‘death stone’ although perhaps the dragon has it sometimes. It appears the cleric follows Alphaks, the roaring demon.

The wizard was talking about a ‘hammer of life’. Apparently its aura doesn’t fit him. They split it into parts and gave them to something that sounds like a scorpion man. It is ‘safe’ when split. The cleric intends to ‘try something’ to make it usable in some way.

We get descriptions of the ten mercenaries that were with the wizard.

We get some hairs that are probably from the wizard. They will help Thora to scry on him.

We head down to the dungeon. We find eight zombies in a cave, digging at the wall. Lady Winnifred turns them. She also destroys two invisible beings.

We find a series of cells. In the first one is a manscorpion, although it covers itself with an illusion of treasure. It attacks rather than talking. The second room is also covered by an illusion. Seemed empty but a carrion crawler came from somewhere. The third cell is also an illusion, and it contains a dead giant-like creature. The room at the end contains rotting food. There is also a cell containing a basilisk, which we leave unopened.

Report to the Baron.

Cast a Commune with Nature. There are hundreds of unnatural creatures near Gollim but no people. There are people in Alicor, Bol and Fraggi. There are various wandering nasties roaming around singly or in small groups. The dragon seems to be on the island at the center of Westlake.

Thora scries on one of the mercenaries. He and some others are celebrating in a room on the third level of Highpass Tower. Thora uses a Miracle to TP in. Lady Winnifred burns one and Remus clobbers two to the ground before the other three get their wits together enough to draw swords. The remaining three attack unsuccessfully, and the baron cuts one down. Then two statues animate into robed figures.

One of the robed figures raises a wand and blasts the room with ice. The other tosses a Web over the room. In response Lady Winnifred blasts the web caster with another beam of fire. Remus charges the wand bearer and cuts him down. Thora then casts Freedom of Movement on the Baron and Lady Winnifred to free them from the Web.

Remus hears large creatures below, in the stables. Probably some of the giants we’ve heard about. We head upwards to look for the wizard.

We come to a store room and then, above that, to a room containing various animals and four hell-hounds in cages. A small gem-like thing tinkles down the stairs. boom Lady Winnifred is critically wounded as is one of her soldiers. The other soldier is dead. Thora is somewhat burned as is the Baron, while Remus manages to out-run the blast.

Round 1. Thora casts Heal on Lady Winnifred. Remus rushes up the stairs. There are four wasps guarding a mage. Remus rips the head from one on his way to meeting the mage. The mage tries to Stun Remus who ignores him.

Round 2. Thora joins the others upstairs. Remus misses the mage who puts up a Prismatic Wall, separating himself, Remus and his remaining wasps from the others. Thora casts Miracle for a Mass Fly effect.

Rounds 3: Remus mauls the mage but doesn’t trip him. Thora flies into the cloud at the top of the tower. Lady Winnifred casts a spell on the Baron who then follows. The mage casts Insanity on Remus.

Round 4: Remus runs into the wall and is sent to another plane. Thora and the Baron find the trapdoor on the roof. The flames stretch upwards and become two Efreet. One of the Efreet damages Thora. The Baron chops one efreet repeatedly.

Round 5: Thora kills an Efreet with a Finger of Death and the other flees.

Round 6: The baron throws open the trapdoor and Thora tries to Finger of Death the mage. He survives. The ‘wasps’ fire electricity at her.

Round 7: The mage teleports away.

Thora finds Remus’ tracks heading into the wall. She briefs the others and then raises the burned guard. The guards stay in the store room.

We go kill the giants. They are only hill giants and die before they get to strike back. We find a huge amount of treasure that was being identified. We liberate it.

A Sending to Remus reveals he is in a nice place with lots of pretty guys and rainbows. Drunk.

Thoras scries on some people. The list given to her is Amanda of Alexis, the marshall of Skullheim. Roderick Ironrod, the captain of the guard. Heinrich Altmark, the castellan of two-lakes vale. Maryan of Halls, his magist.

The scrying on Amanda is successful. Thora and the Baron go find her. She has some frostbite but is otherwise fine. She recognizes Thora’s name.

The body of Roderick has been found. There is no further need to scry on him. Thora uses the Staff of Life to bring him back from the dead. Roderick gives us some more information about the attackers. The wizard is called Wazor and the cleric Ulslime.

Baron Fharo seems to be being awfully polite to Thora.

3/10/1028

Lady Winnifred casts Gate to where Remus is. Some elf-like people have been playing hosts and keeping him drunk and/or drugged. A heal fixes that nicely and he comes back. They were quite scared sicce he was extremely violent - partially due to the insanity spell.

Thora tries scrying on Wazor and Ulslime. Both fail. The cleric is dubbed 'ur-slime'. She scries on the Chaplain.

We TvP to some trees on a hill overlooking Gollim. There is a 400-strong army nearby. Lots of zombies and ghouls, plus wraiths, hill giants and man scorpions. We run and make it to Gollim. We are introduced to Sir Guy (a Baronet) and Father Jarred (the Chaplain).

Apparently the town is surrounded and the tower and stockade have fallen to three powerful Undead beings. Two vampires and something else. The main army is about 1000 strong.

We enter the stockade. Remus finds a trail leading to the grain store. We find a vampire in its coffin and stake it.

We enter the tower. Inside we find 10 translucent peasants. Lady Winnifred recognizes it as a Vision. These can’t be turned, although they can still harm us. The vision is quickly dispatched, as is a rather arrogant (and quickly very surprised) vampire.

The civilians and defenders of Gollim retreat into the now-cleared stockade and tower.

By the middle of the afternoon the retreat is done and we move to Sir Guy’s quarters to plan our next move. We plan to move against the cleric with Lady Winnifred, Amanda, Thora and Remus. The others will stay behind to defend Gollim. Chaplain Jarred will Send to us if a major attack starts.

We get a description of a fork in the path leading to the temple. Thora uses Miracle to Teleport Without Error to there.

It takes four hours to reach the temple. As we approach the ground shudders and a blue dragon rises from a crack. We attack it quickly. The dragon seems to be Undead but goes down fairly quickly. A spell caster tosses in a Blade Barrier and a Vrock but Remus jumps over a 20’ gap to join him and he is quickly in trouble. A few more destruction spells are exchanged before Remus chops him down.

The dragon’s remains looks like a Drolem. A dragon stitched together from various pieces of dead dragons. The corpse of the cleric has some splint mail, a large wooden shield, a heavy mace, 6 darts, a rod, a wand, 7 potions and 5 scrolls. The cleric was wearing the holy symbol of Alphaks.

We leave the corpse in the temple (just a hollow with a stone block and a cloth draped over it) and head on to the temple. The temple is mostly open to the air. In the temple is a skull that floats upwards. Its eyes float out of the skull towards us. This is a composite creature called a Druj. Some also have two hands, which this one seems to lack. They radiate a despoiling aura that ruins liquids and their mere presence will destroy plants and small animals in short order.

The eyes and skull seem to multiply. There are now eight eyes (six near the ground and two high) and four skulls (three near the ground and one high). The eyes dart around, swooping at us and launching various magical attacks. Winnifred turns a bunch of eyes and explains that this causes them to recombine.

A brief battle later the various eyes and skulls recombine and flee behind a black curtain (apart from the one eye which gets blasted). Behind the curtain is a vortex of slime.

We search the temple. We find the cleric’s things, including 15gp worth of coins. The altar in the cliff-side shrine looks like it’s been used for sacrifice lately. Winnifred consecrates the place, making it unsuitable for evil’s use.

We return to Skullheim and find it peaceful. Gollim on the other hand has been attacked, but defended easily.

The night passes.

3/10/1028

Attempt to scry on Wazor. It fails.

Thora casts read magic to identify the scrolls. We don’t identify his wand, his rod and various other stuff. The scrolls go to Lady Winnifred.

Try scrying on Magister Maryan. It fails in a very definite way. He’s probably dead.

We head back to Skullheim via the trees. Just Lady Winnifred, Amanda, Remus and Thora.

We spend the day there, laying out bodies and searching for the magister.

Near evening we TvP to Conna, looking for a group of manscorpions that apparently carried off the pieces of the hammer. The area around Conna has been turned into swampland, and Conna itself has been deluged. We find no survivors, but a message “The Destroyer that Preserves lies apart in No Land” is scrawled in blood on a wall. We find the tracks of a group of manscorpions and follow them.

We follow the tracks in the dark, finally having to resort to a light spell. Thora and Remus spot the ambush before they get caught. At Thora’s challenge nine manscorpions roar out to attack.

Remus leaps at one and hits, tripping it and leaping past. Thora summons three shamblers that smite the enemy, before Lady Winnifred enthusiastically burns them all to cinders with a firestorm.

On the remains of one we find clerical components and a wand case containing an iron rod. Its unholy symbol was a talon, or maybe a fang. The iron rod appears to be the shaft of the hammer we are seeking. It is strongly magical (conjuration and abjuration) and rather cold. Happily it doesn’t radiate evil. Detect magic reveals runes on the shaft. A read magic allow them to be read; “with the word of ‘Fyza’ be cured”.

We follow tracks to their camp (1 east and 3 south of Conna) but don’t find much. We then follow tracks heading north-east.

After about an hour Remus hears something large snuffling. It appears to be heading towards the group. We lay an ambush but the two bull-like creatures spot Thora. It turns out they breathe clouds that petrifies living matter. Except when the living matter makes its save of course. Combat starts.

Remus leaps at one and critically hits. Amanda strikes but to little effect. One of the bulls breathes on them but they resist easily. Lady Winnifred flamestrikes them and the wounded one goes down. The shamblers finish the second one off.

One of the bulls turns out to be wearing a studded collar. Its studs are large and ornate and it appears to be able to attach to something. It seems to be the thong of the hammer. Thora attaches the largest (and magical) stud as a pommel to the handle and they join.

Transport back to Skullheim to spend the night. We plot briefly and then sleep the sound sleep of those who have kicked some enemy backside.

4/10/1028

>From Conna we traveled 1 hex SE, 1 south, then 1 hex NE, ending up 2 hexes east, 1 south of Conna. We have also explored the hex SW of Conna.

We transport to Eando to reassure the people that things are looking up. We then return to the end of the trail. It looks like the bulls and the manscorpions came from the same direction, so we follow the combined trail. Our progress is much hastened by water walking spells cast by Lady Winnifred.

It looks like the bulls just kept to this area. We find a place where the manscorpions stayed for a few days and can’t track them further.

After a brief discussion we agree to spend the day in search, looking for more manscorpions or other beasts with hammer pieces.

We head north. We are now 2e of Conna. We hear a group of large flyers passing by, roaring to each other. They don’t pass within sight of us.

We head north some more. We are now 2e1n of Conna. Head SW. We are now 1e of Conna. Head N. We are not 1e1n of Conna.

We encounter the tracks of a pack of ghouls coming from Conna about three days ago. We follow them north (now at 1e2n) and find them. A turning later and the former peasants are at rest.

We head SW. Now at 1n of Conna. We head west along the shore of the lake. Now 1n1w. Head SW around the lake. Now 2w.

We encounter skeletons. They use up a turning attempt. They get hammered but don’t provide a hammer.

Head south. Now 2w1s. Move SE. Now 1w2s. Move east. Now 2s. Some zombies rise out of the water (just like in Myth2) and we splat them. We use a turning rather than grenades, so we cause less mess.

We head south and stumble across a corpse. (3s) The ‘corpse’ turns out to be alive but unwell. A quick heal later and he introduces himself as Tarna, formerly of Conna. He saw part of the attack on Conna. There were about 10 to 15 of the manscorpion in addition to some humans. It seems Wazor was directing the attack.

After the attack Wazor apparently gave an item to some manscorpions with some ceremony. He then headed off, stating his intention to find other creatures to give other items to.

It seems the swamp is the result of some magic and not damming. The swampy region just stops. We have five squares left to search of this region.

We head east. Now 3s1e. Head NE. Now 2s2e. We transport via plants to directly south of Conna and head NW. Most of this area is lake. As we approach the lake it ices over and a hydra bursts out of the water.

Remus charges it and leaps up – and bites off one of the 12 heads. The hydra bites back at him with the remaining heads. Since the teeth aren’t silvered Remus isn’t too badly hurt. Winnifred throws a firestorm which hurts it severely. Amanda of Alexis makes a brave rush and wounds a head, being wounded in return. Thora calls down a flamestrike and the hydra dies.

In a mostly-melted block of ice on its back, Remus sports a dark object. He leaps up and wrests it free. This is the head of the hammer which slots onto the shaft nicely. It has a rune of Law on the head. Remus decides it doesn't taste good.

A little healing later we transport to the ruined temple to find the gate again.

The runes are ambiguous when it comes to striking the gate with the hammer. Thora tries a divination for advice on how to close the gate. The result is “Strike not the flames, but smash the firewood. Beware the false, find the true, beneath the island’s stoney hue.”

After some discussion Lady Winnifred casts True Seeing. The temple’s design seems to be aiding the gate, which is powered from elsewhere.

Plan to head to Gollim to discuss the attack on the dragon in the morning.

Gollim has been attacked while we were gone, but a counter-attack damaged many of the lesser undead and effectively stopped it.

There are some trees about 140 yards away from the stockade, with crops as cover for most of the way. Thora and Remus sneak towards them. They are spotted but manage to get to tree and TvP to her domain.

Fadeyka reassures Thora that all is quiet at home, so she continues to Alpha. There she meets Baron Fergus from Vestland. He tells her that Baron Broghan is dealing with the matter. They locate Baron Broghan and Weston. The latter had been asked to check up on the sendings and didn’t do a great job of it.

Thora explains the situation. Broghan offers to send 500 men but they will take a long time to arrive. Both Weston and Fergus want to come to help. Fergus has rather shiny mithril full plate while Weston wears leather.

A miracle later we’re back at Gollim. Weston scouts out the enemy position while the rest of us discuss tactics. The hammer’s runes glow when Maltus touches it, so we leave it with him.

5/10/1028

Fergus and Weston intend to help with the dragon. Winnifred is coming to. Maltus wants to stay with his people, which is understandable enough. Fergus will be using the hammer since the runes glowed for him too, and we might well need it. Amanda is coming as well.

We cast various protective spells and then Thora miracles the group to the island where the dragon is suspected to be. The island is tiny. Weston heads off to investigate and doesn’t take long. We’re at the northern end of the island, beside a 100’ tall cliff. The southern end is lower and there is a grove of trees, some statues and a marble staircase. We head in that direction.

There are in fact six statues along the staircase and the trees are at the base of the stairs. The scent of the dragon gets stronger as we approach the stairs. The trees look rather suspicious. They are far too healthy, and shouldn’t really be growning there. Playing a hunch, Thora throws an empowered fire storm. Six hydras burn and die in the inferno.

We move up the staircase, paranoia levels soaring to new heights. Those without goggles to see through the gloom can see very little. The statues are in pairs, jade gold and rock. They are scrutinized carefully as they group passes between them.

Some runes over the entrance at the top of the stairs turn out to be some sort of trap. Most of the party suddenly feels extremely peaceful towards the dragon. After a quick discussion WL casts a Break Enchantment. When that doesn’t work Thora miracles for one, and then WL casts a greater dispelling. After all that they are freed.

The party advances to the cave. Weston scouts and discovers that the dragon is lying in ambush, probably hoping to attack us while we deal with a number of minor undead in a side cavern. We head in to try to spring the ambush and turn it around.

We are immediately set upon by a mixed group of undead. Thora and Lady Winnifred blast the undead with positive energy, destroying most of them in the first round. A second turning each destroys the remainder as the blue dragon roars into the combat … that is suddenly without allies for it.

The dragon shrugs off Thora’s spell. Most of the party is shaken by it’s ferocity and size but surround it anyway, attacking to little effect. The dragon breathes lightning at Thora who ignores it, just like the dragon ignores Winnifred’s spell.

The next round isn’t any better. The dragon strikes out around it, inflicting considerable damage.

The battle starts to turn as we begin to get spells through. The melee folk are soon nearing death but Winnifred casts a convenient Mass Heal to save the day. In response the dragon charges her … over the top of Amanda.

Since the party is having problems Thora tries to get the dragon’s attention with an Auroch’s blessing … and it works rather well. The dragon breathes at her and removes the remainder of her protection from electricity and then some. She keeps taunting the dragon to try to draw it away from the vulnerable fighters.

Winifred’s next spell fizzles - again. Fergus and Weston land telling blows though, and yet another empowered flamestrike from Thora finishes the job.

There is mucho treasure but most of it probably belongs to the barony. Apart from various goods there are seven potions, a short sword, a long bow, a deep red cloak, a large steel shield, a staff and a wand. One of the potions is sitting on a slate which reads “potion of cure light wounds(1)”.

We advance past the main caves to a small chamber containing an evil rock. The obvious one is a fake but we find the real one behind a secret door. A few greater dispellings and swings of the hammer later it is dust, apart from a large, black opal. The opal radiates moderate necromancy but the runes declare woe if we should try to smash that as well.

We gather loot into Weston’s three (!) bags of holding and miracle to the temple looking for the vortex. Back at the temple the vortex has slowed and it now radiates palpable evil. Lady Winnifred suggests using positive energy and both she and Thora throw a turning at it. The vortex fades and is gone.

We transport back to Gollim through the trees to find the entire force of the minor undead assaulting the walls and no sign of the big fry. Luckily the skeletons and zombies attack mindlessly and are destroyed utterly.

6/10/1028

A big party is held. Lady Winnifred, Thora and Remus get an official thank you.

Start hunting Undead. One week is spent moving between the villages to keep them safe. Another is spent hunting down stragglers across Two Lakes vale. By the end of the third week there don’t seem to be too many left.

And that's the end of the battle for Two Lake's Vale. Thora is rather popular with her king and the surrounding nobles and Remus got to have a little fun.