Session Start: Sun Aug 04 13:21:03 2002
[14:29] <Grey> Well, this room looks very temple like. An imposing throne made of bones and razor sharp wire, and a similarly constructed chandelier. The floor is made of black marble with white streaks, and there are two human robed statues, holding demon skulls.
[14:30] <Grey> There is another little fountain of blood.
[14:31] <Grey> There are some runes on a plaque on the chandelier, in a demonic language.
[14:33] <Grey> The runes say: As the sacrifices blood drains down upon the throne, Ogremensk, know that we speak your name in reverent tome.
[14:35] <Grey> We observe that the blood would have flowed by the chandelier to the throne.
[14:36] <Grey> We do some healing.
[14:38] <Grey> It sounds like people were probably impaled on the chandelier at some stage, but not recently.
[14:48] <Grey> I sit on the throne, to see what happens. The razor wire lashes onto me, and starts digging into my flesh. I decide that teleporting out was a sensible idea.
[14:52] <Grey> We continue to discuss what to do: rest, or try to get past the prismatic walls.
[14:58] <Grey> Grey summons some xorns to have a look past the prismatic walls. The xorn from the east steps back, and reports that there is "ex-living" stuff on the walls, and a soft floor. The ex-living stuff blocks passage.
[14:59] <Grey> The xorn from the east says it's a hot room, toasty warm. Other tunnels in the stone lead onwards.
[15:02] <Grey> I ask it to go down, but it has difficulty going down through the marble for some reason.
[15:07] <Grey> We decide to rest. On the way back, we find a room which is cold, and has a small layer of mist on the ground. Inside the room are eight black ovoid shapes that have been burst open from the inside, each big enough to contain a medium size creature.
[15:11] <Grey> Lani climbs into the coccoons to have a look. Inside she finds a boot on the inside of the coccoon. A person was probably transformed into a demon.
[15:11] <Grey> The boot doesn't last long upon being touched - it's very old.
[15:12] <Grey> Lani ends up being covered in goo.
[15:18] <Grey> Lani casts past life on the remains (the soul) of the boot. The person wearing the boot who died is wearing a black robe. He sees demons casting a spell, regurgitating stuff, and wrapping it around the person. The same is happening to seven others: some look nervous, others look elated. As the vision ends, one of the creatures in the background is a vrock, with its left leg bandaged up. Evidently something blasted the vrock with some sort of flesh dissolving thing.
[15:19] <Grey> We go examine the vrock we just killed. Yes, it has an old wound on its leg. Evidently the same leg, and quite probably a long time ago.
[15:27] <Grey> We retire to the armory, set up some noise traps outside, lock the doors, bar one, and rest.
[15:30] <Grey> I hear some noise, quiet scraping, from the blockaded door. But then a revers gravity occurs, and we end up on the ceiling.
[15:31] <Grey> Shortly after, the reverse gravity ends, and we hit the floor. The cycle then repeats.
[15:33] <Grey> The creature on the other side of the door doesn't bother acting quiet anymore.
[15:40] <Grey> Lani summons a fiendish dire lion to attack. We rush out the other door, after bashing it down that is. Unfortunately, after having reached the combat area, we discover 6 vrocks.
[15:55] <Grey> Nope, two mirror imaged vrocks. Lani dispels them.
[15:56] <Grey> Shortly after, we get hit by an unholy blight.
[16:03] <Grey> We decide to rest outside instead. We walk into the forest, and start resting. I get Rih to keep an eye on the waters edge.
[16:03] <Grey> Nine hours pass.
[16:03] <Grey> *** 23/8/1026
[16:03] <Grey> We've rested and rememorised.
[16:22] <Grey> However, after healing up Zim, Safranna is almost out of unhealing.Therefore, we decide to rest again.
[16:51] <Grey> In the meantime, I summon some demons and devils, and ask them what they know of Ogremesnk. I find out he's one of the major demon gods, and he likes people like us, humans who spread misery amongst the orcs of this world.
[17:02] <Grey> *** 24/8/1026
[17:04] <Grey> We finish resting. But upon appearing on the island, an orc rows out, and says an elf wants to see us. Upon returning to the village, Tess meets us. Apparently we've been gone for siz weeks. Hmm.
[17:11] <Grey> I inform T'zaz.
[17:12] <Grey> Funny, but T'zaz says Tess has only een gone for two minutes. Apparently time differences are erratic.
[17:18] <Grey> Tess stinks of garlic, as usual. He'll hang around us for this adventure.
[17:20] <Grey> We update Tess.
[17:23] <Grey> Whilst Grey and Safranna are off hunting, the others go to the village. Apparently a couple more people were killed.
[17:26] <Grey> Apparently the demons attacked in daylight. Vrocks. Four of them. The attacked and kidnapped some people. They were dragged off, alive. The orc leader does appeal to us for their help.
[17:34] <Grey> We leave Leo behind, in case they get attacked again.
[17:34] <Grey> Leo can tell Zim, and we can go to their aid.
[17:48] <Grey> Without resting, we re-enter the fane.
[17:49] <Grey> Zim makes us look like a party of demons.
[17:53] <Grey> We go down a different set of stairs. We enter a vrock smelling set of stairs. We find a room with many iron bars, and large vrock feathers.
[17:55] <Grey> I try to enter the room. Magic washes over me, as something tries to stun me. A step also tries to throw me into the room. I avoid both, and enter the room anyway.
[17:56] <Grey> It's empty. We continue to explore.
[17:58] <Grey> We find a long dead orc, offered as a sacrifice.
[17:59] <Grey> Exploring the other area, unfortunately the prismatic walls are still there.
[18:05] <Grey> I try some of the blood in the fountain again, only to find that there's a glabrezu warning demons of a group of undead who have invaded the fane. He gives descriptions of us all.
[18:09] <Grey> We're currently in the throne room.
[18:12] <Grey> I analyse the throne, and realise we probably need to be touching it to speak the command word. I sit there, and say the command word. Something happens!
[18:14] <Grey> I feel dark magics flood trough me: and I can do two things.
[18:16] <Grey> The prismatic walls fall, at my command.
[18:16] <Grey> I also feel lucky.
[18:21] <Grey> Really lucky.
[18:22] <Grey> We explore the wooded area first. We find carpet and living areas, etc. We see a pictoral history of the statue being constucted.
[18:23] <Grey> A picture of the fane itself, and a concluding orgy where everyone is involved.
[18:24] <Grey> Shortly after the orgy, it would appear they may have decided to sacrifice many people.
[18:24] <Grey> Mostly orcs are sacrificed.
[18:26] <Grey> There is also a painting og a glabrezu on an iron throne. Later, there is a picture of a demon, smiling, a balor, with many bodies strewn around it.
[18:27] <Grey> The next painting is of a bald half-elf women, in robes, holding a staff with a demon head on top.
[18:28] <Grey> The next painting is of a succubus hugging a man. They both look happy.
[18:29] <Grey> The last picture is a representation of the statue, except it's a stylised portrait of the statue, that of a demon standing on a pile of bones.
[18:29] <Grey> We search the area.
[18:38] <Grey> Lani then hears humming from beyond one of the doors in the painting room. I open the room. Beyond is a bedchamber, fairly luxurious, and a women with bat wings. Maybe a succubus-like things.
[18:41] <Grey> SHe's dressed in pleasant lingerie. She says we should form a queue, and enter one at a time.
[18:42] <Grey> She speaks cage common.
[18:43] <Grey> But she thinks he doesn't sound like a manes.
[18:46] <Grey> Grey asks her where the Glabrezu fellow is. She says he's further downstairs. She seemed honestly fooled, but then, Tess says that Succubi are very cunning.
[18:46] <Grey> We continue searching the paitnings, and find a secret door.
[18:47] <Grey> Beyond are stairs leading down.
[18:53] <Grey> We go down, sneakily. We find a large room. As Grey steps into the room, magical effects cease, except for the skeletons, which animate. Also, the spiral staircase has bars that appear around it. We're trapped in. And they have polearms.
[18:54] <Grey> Safranna and Grey try to open the bars.
[18:56] <Grey> Combat ensues, in these awful conditions.
[18:59] <Grey> A golem attacks Grey, but misses.
[19:03] <Grey> The golems look like flesh or bone golems of some sort.
[19:06] <Grey> The golems have much force behind their blows.
[19:17] <Grey> We attack the polearms they wield.
[19:55] <Grey> We manage to destroy their polearms, then we quickly start chopping down the golems.
[20:01] <Grey> Tess goes down.
[20:05] <Grey> We chop them all down. Tess bleeds, with Lani and Zim trying to stabilise Tess.
[20:07] <Grey> Safranna avoids Tess, as he smells of garlic. Grey and Safranna cooperate, and open the bars. Tess is brought out, and healed.
[20:16] <Grey> An exit from the room leads to an area with much garbage. In the room, a ghostly image arises, that of a orc warrior. He tells us what he can to aid us.
[20:17] <Grey> He says we must destroy the heart, where they sacrifice people. He says more is at stake than just the heart.
[20:18] <Grey> He knows how to get to the heart.
[20:19] <Grey> He says we must partake of the three sacrements, which can be accessed via pentagrams. He also lost a holy sword somewhere.
[20:21] <Grey> He said there was more at stake: His original companions succeeded in killing the main demon, the Balor, but they didn't destroy the heart. They only managed to seal the demons up, in the lake. Now the hald-demon Lythros, is trying to change history, and stop the original attack 700 years ago.
[20:21] <Grey> His holy sword has a blue hilt, and is very effective against demon.
[20:22] <Grey> His priestly friend used three miracles to seal the temple in the lake. A physical and spiritual barrier.
[20:22] <Grey> He warns that one should not go ethereal.
[20:22] <Grey> He thinks they have an ethereal guardian.
[20:23] <Grey> He doesn't know how to destroy the heart.
[20:23] <Grey> He tells us where to go to get to stairs down.
[20:24] <Grey> The fane's current leader, Susten, is a female lich.
[20:27] <Grey> The glabrezu's name is Sekren.
[20:28] <Grey> The parasite controllers are Umbral Taints.
[20:28] <Grey> It is like a disease. A disease of the spirit.
[20:31] <Grey> The master of the bllood hunt is Ungarlish, a warrior. He is also a vampire. We are warned to be careful.
[20:38] <Grey> Zim Arcane Eyes and sends it off to the next level down.
[20:41] <Grey> Zim sees another pentagram in his scouting.
[20:42] <Grey> Zim sees a pair of people, which notice the arcane eye.
[20:43] <Grey> Zim also sees some adventurer stuff.
[20:47] <Grey> We teleport out, so Tess can heal.
[20:54] <Grey> We warn the villagers of what we find. Then we summon some celestials to check villagers for the spiritual taint. None are tainted.
[20:54] <Grey> We now go to check out the Graven Ones.
[20:55] <Grey> We fly there.
[20:56] <Grey> The graven ones seem okay.
[20:58] <Grey> Initial signs are good.
[21:02] <Grey> Unfortunately, two were tainted, and they were ready.
[21:03] <Grey> A mage, and a warrior, are tainted.
[21:05] <Grey> Combat ensues.
[21:06] <Grey> They open up by cutting down a mage, and cone of colding an area.
[21:10] <Grey> About 6 graven ones die, after the mage then casts haste and throws a lightning in all directions.
[21:17] <Grey> Grey dispels the mages enchantments. Tess wounds the warrior badly.
[21:17] <Grey> (correction: wounds the mage badly)
[21:18] <Grey> Lani fails to turn the mage to a tortoise.
[21:19] <Grey> Doggy as Safranna bites the mage.
[21:24] <Grey> Combat continues. The mage is quickly taken down.
[21:34] <Grey> When the warrior realises his situation is hopeless, he tries to break weapons. Failing that, he tries to kill the dog, but fails.
[21:39] <Grey> We cut him down.
[21:41] <Grey> The avoral guardinal stabilises many mages, including the warrior.
[21:44] <Grey> There is someone who wasn't there. The person who was supposed to be healing the first infected person did not attend the meeting.
[21:44] <Grey> We investigate the cell where the original infected person is: yes, they're both there, and they're both infected.
[21:49] <Grey> Unfortunately they teleport away.
[21:50] <Grey> We teleport after them.
[21:51] <Grey> (whatshername knows where they went)
[21:51] <Grey> We appear on a hillside on a road, somewhere.
[21:52] <Grey> They are both within a globr of invulnerability.
[21:55] <Grey> Combat ensues.
[22:05] <Grey> They are both powerful casters. But they are only casters, and in melee. He is cut down quickly.
[22:12] <Grey> And Tess cuts her down shortly with little effort.
[22:13] <Grey> Erepoth, the Graven One accompanying us, is sad at the loss.
[22:15] <Grey> Back at the keep, the Graven Ones take precautions.
[22:16] <Grey> Five more of their number were killed.
[22:18] <Grey> They give us some of their stuff.
[22:18] <Grey> Unfortunately, much of their magic is graven upon themselves. But we do get soome magic.
Session Close: Sun Aug 04 22:32:35 2002