Prelude: Crater of the Demons

Background and Summary: For each of the past many winters, deformed creatures have been emerging from an old volcanic crater to terrorize outlying farms around Nusavik ("New Husavik"), and the problem grows worse and worse. This year, with the first snow ready to fall, a party from another world (Riveria) is divinely summoned to deal with the situation once and for all. After doing so, those summoned are sent back to where they came from, while the locals who had joined them form a new party.

Game time:	159 Teo 5-24 (local date; approx. October 5-24) 407 Quellë 5 - 24 (Ikon date) 756 Jema 5 - Canne 10 (Riverian date)
Real time:	2001 May 19 - August 31 (sessions 1-15)
Starting members (all from Riveria):	Pearl (MU6/NrC1), Throy (F7), Aimbitlooa ("Aimy" R5), Nadii (NrC5), Fulvin (NrC4/T4), S'nel'be (WrC5), Drogo (F5)

Session 1
Jema 5 Quellë 5	Party arrives on Dafan unexpectedly from Riveria, at the end of The Dwarves of Vanamore (end of Riveria Book 2): a Plane Shift glitch leads to them fulfilling a divine intervention request on Dafan. (some party members did not arrive: Mrikle, Myra, Simpson, and the NPC cleric who cast the spell)
	Expecting to be plane-shifted to Waterdeep, Party instead finds itself in the middle of an unfamiliar forest.
	Aimbitlooa finds a humble altar to various Norse goddesses (primarily Skadhi, with references to Freyja, Rillifane, and Sif); Pearl prays to Sif and gets a good response. Aimy also determines it is early fall, this tells Party they are far adrift; it was late spring where they just came from.
	Bieran DaFrijh (F4) and Wethrin G'miwwn (T4) find party, and lynch Fulvin: strip him down, scatter his possessions around in the forest, and paint happy faces all over him. After some negotiations, Bieran and Wethrin join* the party, and lead them all to north to Nusavik, the closest town.
	* - one note to the DM reads:Strip him BUCK NAKED, take all* his possessions, and release him. We stand off at a vantage point and watch.*
(S2)
	After some negotiations, during which Fulvin recovered his scattered possessions, Wethrin and Bieran lead Party to Nusavik ("New Husavik"), the nearest town. They go to the main temple and have a long talk with some clerics (Halldis, priestess of Freyja, Siimu, priest of Rillefane). They find out why they are here, although they still aren't sure where "here" is. As they are the divine intervention that had been prayed for, they are offered accomodation at the temple complex; they stay put for a few days, recovering from their last adventure and re-equipping.
(S3)
Quellë 6	Pearl casts 2 Identify spells on some divine-gift magic items; both fail.
	More talk with locals.
Quellë 7	Throy buys a Broom of Flying; others stock up on provisions.
Quellë 8	Set off back south for the ridge.
	Meet a local outcast, Tusa (R4), who's used to dealing with foreigners and offers to be their guide; Tusa joins.
Quellë 11	arrive at ridge top. Sack out. Notice that it's awfully quiet.
(S4)
Quellë 12	After surveying the huge volcanic crater from the edge, the Party descends into it ...
	Come across a small wooden shack that seems to have recently arrived (the grass beneath it is freshly flattened). The occupant, "Steve DaFiji", is none too happy with the party nosing around, and tries to intervene; actually hurts Bieran for 2 pts before Throy chops him down, doing 40 pts damage to the hapless 4 hp salesperson (and 17 pts to Bieran).
	The party proceeds to loot the shack; it is filled with all sorts of strange things; much of the shack is taken up with metal boxes packed inside paper boxes covered in strange writings and pictures. But of greatest interest are two smaller items: colourfully coated wires with strange knobs at each end, and heavy cylinders that make for excellent sling bullets.
	The shack itself, however, also takes exception to the poking around of the party, and individual planks begins to fight back. Eventually, all the wood decides it's time to flee, and they all sprout legs and arms and run away. Pearl fireballs the remaining stacks of boxes, for good measure, and the party pushes on.
	By noon, the party comes to a grassy mound surrounded by a low stone wall with grotesque statues upon each cornerpost and on either side of the entranceway. It overlooks the central lake. It looks in surprisingly good condition, with little sign of ruin; yet the locals in the party know of no one living anywhere nearby that could have built it. Pearl in particular is intrigued by the statues, and finds that they seem to be somewhat alive; she leaves offerings, which eventually appear to be accepted.
	While poking around, the party notices that they're not the only ones examining the structure: a wandering Ogre Shaman (Ashnak of the Fighting Hgaku, Cw4) has shown up, intent on determining if the statues are long-lost gargoyles. He tries to talk to Party, but succeeds only in offending several of them, so Throy, Bieran and Drogo attack. The party clerics try to stop the brawl: Pearl prays for and receives divine intervention! S'nel'be temporarily stops time! But both only succeed in delaying the inevitable: the party kills Ashnak. Party never knew that he might have wanted to join up.
	The party returns to exploring the grassy mound, determines that it is actually a sod structure, and finds its way inside. Bieran examines a mural portraying a heroic Vanyar Elf defeating 6 Drow, and out jump the figures and attack the party (the Elf figure becomes a demon; the Drow, ghouls) ...
(S5)
	... and a tough brawl ensues; Bieran dies, very messily.
	Throy flies up into the clouds, intent on destroying 2 evil swords from the demon, by dropping from a great height. Succeeds in destroying only one, and gets lost on return. The party returns to their previous camp near the top of the ridge, and sacks out.
(S6)
Quellë 13	Throy blunders his way around, meets "X" (Amelia Xana-Deianeira, M4). She gives him directions, but the conversation goes downhill; when Throy flies off, X casts Light on him and temporarily blinds him. (part of the contention between them may have been that X has heard of only one other broom-flying Dwarf, the legendary Cusaperius of Hestia; Throy refused to say much about where he's from, so she couldn't determine if there was any relation between the two).
	They eventually meet up in an inn in Savola (north of Nusavik), where Throy attacks X and accidentally clobbers her for 51 points of damage, nearly killing her (she knocked on his door, he opened it, saw who it was, and swung). (This, incidentally, marks the last time X is healthy; she remains incurable to the end of the adventure.) He grabs her body, intent on taking her with him back to the party; but then realises she's close to death. He tries to deposit her at a temple (so she can be cured up); the locals take offence and catch him while he attempts to flee. Throy manages to leave with his life and possessions, taking a barely-alive X with him.
(S7)
	Meanwhile, another local has come across the party's camp, and joins up: Thorheim (NtC3/T4, pretending to be an R4). With no sign of Throy, the rest of the party returns to the mound. Pearl and S'nel'be destroy the other 2 demon swords. Throy finally returns, with X (who joins the party), and they make their way into the mound again. Outside, the weather is threatening to produce the first snow of the season. They battle a strange critter living in the wall and deal with a few nasty traps, eventually finding a way underground.
(S8)
	Guarding the way down are two Shambling Mounds, which the party dispatch with considerable difficulty.
(S9)
	The party finds themselves in a maze-like complex of strange natural-like chambers. They also find that the stairs they descended have vanished behind them. And they also quickly find that they are not alone: a hideous creature – half giant spider, half Drow Elf – stalks them, and eventually attacks. The party defeats it handily, and decides finally to sack out.
	During the night, a familiar person stumbles into their camp: Grolsch! He had gone to sleep last night on Riveria, and awoken suddenly in an underground chamber; avoiding some large and unpleasant-sounding creatures, he had been wandering about and found the Party. He has no idea where he is, or why he is here. Grolsch (T5) joins the party.
Quellë 14
	Drogo and Wethrin find that they have bumped to F6 and T5.
	All the clerics find that spell recovery is ominously slow and arduous; there is something decidedly unwholesome about these chambers ...
	X is still incurable from Throy's wounds.
(S10)
	After much resting, Pearl finally figures out how to use her divine present, a feather, and summons a Gryphon named T'th'kaa on top of X, almost killing her.
	The Party wanders about the maze of chambers. They meet a few Owlbears, and dispatch them handily. T'th'kaa is pleased to be provided with fresh food.
	After hours of wandering about, the party comes to a small pool. Grolsch recognises the chamber as being where he awoke. There are many bits of wood here, like driftwood on a shore, which the party recognises as being former bits of the strange shack; upon questioning, the wood bits admit to being mighty confused as to how they got there, but they recall being washed ashore. The water exhibits strange properties, not the least of which is that it is only 2' deep and somehow floats above a layer of poisonous and magical air; it is also decidedly unhealthy to magical items.
(S11)
	On an island in the pool are 3 stone sarcophagi. The party naturally breaks them open. A vast treasure is found, to everyone's joy, but the occupants are not so warmly received: 2 Wights – deceased Drow, with some of their spellpower still at hand. Two fierce but brief battles ensue. X goes to -12 and is saved by Nadii.
	Moments after the second battle ends, two more Owlbears come to investigate the noise. The party dispatches them, but Throy almost drowns (Pearl flying T'th'kaa catches him before he falls into the pool).
(S12)
	The party realises they've explored the entire complex of caves and found no way out. The pool, however, is clearly the central feature, and also where Grolsch arrived; so they explore it thoroughly in hopes of finding a way out. Thorheim and Wethrin find a magical opening under the water's surface, through which they can swim (with some difficulty) to the lake in the centre of the cauldron outside. The party decides to rest before departing, as it will take some careful planning to get everyone out. In particular, they have some 10 tons of coinage!
Quellë 15
	The party collects all the wood fragments and the loot swims out to the lake. The party helps the wood reassemble their shack; only about 1/4 of the wood is present, but somehow it all holds together.
(S13)
	The party returns to the sod mound, and finds that it is in much worse condition than when last seen; as if it had been in ruins for centuries ...
	Party sacks out. Those with woodworking skills build 4 travois to carry their hoard. It begins to snow.
Quellë 16
	Party ferries most of their hoard out of the crater, sets up camp on the ridge again. Half the party decides to go back into the crater and investigate a nasty-looking cave on the other side of the lake. This somehow triggers the wrath of the gargoyles, which attack the camp. After a prolonged battle, the Party wins.
(S14)
Quellë 17
	The party returns for the last of their loot. Grolsch shows off his water-walking skills, and almost finds out the hard way that a very large and hungry sea creature lives in the lake. The party leaves the crater.
Quellë 21
	After a slow march (burdened by 10 tons of loot), the Party arrives in Nusavik.
(S15)
	The loot is divided up, and everyone waits to see what the snowfall brings. After 3 days with no sightings of deformed creatures nor unexplained attacks on the outlying farms, the locals are convinced that the Party has succeeded in ending the troubles.

	The Party splits up, with the locals staying put: Wethrin, Tusa, X (still incurable!), and Thorheim. The Riverians head west, and after a few hours walking find themselves suddenly in rain, back on Riveria; in Waterdeep, to be specific, on Canne 10, just in time to join in Black Hand II. But a coincidentaly return visit by S'nel'be years later via his own Plane Shift leads to Diora an the Lanefan coming to Dafan, which in turn leads to the Return to Dafan.

Surviving members:	Pearl (MU6/NrC1), Throy (F7), Aimbitlooa ("Aimy") (R5), Nadii (NrC5), Fulvin (NrC4/T4), S'nel'be (WrC5), Drogo (F6), Wethrin (T5), Tusa (R4), X (MU4), Thorheim (NtC3/T4), Grolsh (T5)
New members:	Bieran (F4), Wethrin, Tusa, X, (Ashnak - WrC4), Thorheim
Casualties:	(Ashnak), Bieran
Continuing parties:	1. Pearl, Throy, Aimbitlooa, Nadii, Fulvin, S'nel'be, Drogo, Grolsh (back to Riveria) 2. Tusa, Wethrin, X, Thorheim (remain on Dafan - see House on the Hill)

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