2-3 The Forgotten Entrance

Background and Summary: The Party meets the legendary Signy, who reveals some surprises. In particular, she says that the problem of multiple worlds is getting worse, and the person who has some ability to control this is Eldor Merlynus, a former adventurer of Old Dafan and the husband of 'Sheh. Unfortunately he was captured a few days ago, and the Party must rescue him. Their route takes them back to their homeworld (now referred to as "Hobbitika"), but to a distant continent; and they meet up with another adventuring party who is also searching for kidnapped spell casters.

Dafan time:	161 Novatilis 15-19 (November 15-19)
Real time:	2009 August-November (sessions 128-137)
Starting members:	Mei-Peng (N6), Vishu (Mk6), Aknot (F6), Kera (NtC6), Rehkel (T7), X (MU6), Jett (NtC5/F3), Marek (T6), Sarah (WrC6), Artemisia (B6), Antrayna (R5)

(Session 128)
Novatilis 15	While waiting for Torgo the Hobgoblin to recover In Wolsingham, Vishu comes to believe that she has been in this “ancient” version of the city before (it being only 5 years on Broken Dafan since the Cataclysm, rather than 251 years back on the version of the world from which comes the Party). She starts to explore the city, and finds an abandoned alleyway that feels disconcertingly familiar. She rounds up the rest of the Party, and they investigate. Faint and indeterminant magic is detected; then Mei-Peng notices that from a certain angle, a blank wall reveals a shabby covered entranceway. Several people try to enter, but find that it is like walking in water that gets progressively denser; they cannot reach the entranceway; Mei-Peng is certain that it is necromantic magic.
	All except Vishu: she walks in and finds a tiny, familiar-looking abandoned apartment. In it, an old woman sitting in a rocking chair, looking quite dead. Vishu exits and finds that she can carry in Mei-Peng. Just as Mei-Peng begins to examine the body, the woman awakes; she looks at Vishu and politely says: “Hello, Vishu my child.”
	Vishu recognises the woman as “Tanta Hella”, a family friend when she was a child. Hella says: “I was wondering if you would ever return to visit me here. Look at you now, a fine upstanding [smirk] Monk. Of course, you don't remember why I would be ... disappointed in such a career choice, do you? Such a disappointment you were – my first failure in a very long time.”
	Vishu has always known her memory to be a bit fuzzy before arriving in Lettek to start her Monk training. Hella points out that it is strange that Vishu simply “decided one day” to become a Monk. Hella tells Vishu that for 3 years, Vishu was an acolyte to Freyja, in part under Hella. But Hella found that Vishu resisted all attempts to become her apprentice; she was simply too stubborn and Goodly. Rather than simply give her a short-term deadly assignment, Hella decided to let Vishu go; for she had much potential and perhaps would be of use in the future. Hella decided to wipe Vishu's memories of the past few years and take her to a remote monastery and become a Monk.
	Given the fact that Hella just seemed to have come back to life, claims to be a Freyja cleric (who are traditionally very Good) but found Vishu too Good, and is hiding behind a necromantic barrier, X and Mei-Peng jump to the conclusion that Hella is far more powerful than meets the eye -- divinely powerful, in fact -- and ask if she is Signy the Horrible - Hella agrees with their deduction.
	“But enough of old times - on to the present! What are you doing about those little Moons? They don't look right to me; and they certainly don't feel right. And the worlds, for Freyja's sake!?! They are multiplying like rabbits; soon the universe won't be big enough for them all. Quit wandering the countryside looking for random pathetic mortals, or playing with irrelevant corpses. The one you really want to find is Eldor Merlynus, maker of fine rune staves. Some underground riff-raff have made off with him, not realising nor caring that he is an unwitting controller of parallel worlds. Go back to that nexus forest you were playing in and put it to use! For Eldor was there not too long ago. I'm sure that stupid Oak won't mind you, at least, returning – he hates me.” She then shows Antrayna what Eldor's footprints look like, somehow creating an accurate representation in a tray of dirt.
Novatilis 16	The next day, Hella/Signy will meet them in the woods. It is raining, windy, and cold. She says she is taking them to a spot a few days south of Mura. There, she wants them to deliver a message to a Sussurus (a creature the party met in the previous adventure); in particular, Artemisia is to play a certain 3-tone melody. It is an apology to the Sussurus, and a vow to Freyja to do no harm. Long ago, she had convinced one to teach her their life-song. Among other things, that song puts undead to sleep. The rest of the species did not take kindly to her obtaining that from them. Since then, many have gone into hiding, for fear of Signy; with the apology, she hopes they'll soon go back to their ways of wandering the world.
	Signy also tells Sarah that Sussuri are devotees of a sort to Huldra. So if the Sussurus is hostile, Sarah can use her holy symbol as a means of calming it down. On the flip side, however, if Sarah were ever to strike a Sussurus, Signy thinks Huldra might strike Sarah down in an instant. Sarah appreciates the advice, but wonders why no one ever told her about these creatures during training!
	A complication is Torgo. Signy has little interest is taking him along. But the Party is adamant that he get to th Tower; and as a Hobgoblin, he can't walk 2 weeks on his own through the countryside without provoking attacks; thus he is for the time being a responsibility of the Party: Torgo (F) joins.
	Signy opens a forest-walk path and leads them to the meadow beside a cave entrance. It is raining, windy, and cold. She says that the cave leads to a tunnel complex of some sort, and exits into a little valley where they will find the Sussurus. At the other side of the valley they will find more tunnels that should lead to a river valley; Mura lies to the north along that valley, while Funen and the Tower lies to the south. After a few more questions, Signy walks into a tree and vanishes.
	The Party enters the cave and find a wide, worked tunnel leading into the mountain. It ends at a pool; there are 3 canoes and a wall carving of snakes, humans, and a large, 6-armed serpentine being. X explores the pool by flight, and finds that it leads to a set of water-filled tunnels; it also is occupied by some large scaly creature that tried to catch her when she flew too low. She finds a far "shore" with 2 more canoes, and tows those back to the Party. She then starts towing people across the water, one by one. In the meantime, Mei-Peng casts Fly on Sarah, who proceeds to tow another canoe. When Jett and Artemisia are towed, 5 crocodiles attack the canoes; both are knocked into the water and attacked; Artemisia is able to climb back into hers, only to have it destroyed around her. Sarah chops at one crocodile. Meanwhile, Kera-as-dragon arrives and casts Animal Non-Aggression, calming the crocodiles. Once Jett and Artemisia get ashore, X zaps the crocodiles with a Lightning Bolt and Sarah chops at the survivors; in the end, one swims away.
(S129)
	a narrow passage leaves the far "shore". The Party finds 4 Ogres in a room, roasting some fine Elf and Dwarf meat; the Party kills them. In the next room, they find 6 Ogres, and kill them. A staircase up leads to a stone door that they cannot open. Marek uses his Thorn rune to go ethereal, passing the door. He finds a Dwarf complex with burial crypts, looking rather abandoned.
	Regrouping, they find a secret door in the second Ogre room. Exploring down a narrow passageway beyond, they find a dead-end. Two Gelatinous Cubes suprise them from behind; a messy battle ensues; in one glorious fumble, Kera hurts herself, hurts Marek, breaks her bow string, and lauches her bow into a cube (where it is dissolved). After the battle, Marek and Rehkel find a pressure plate in the floor of the hallway that opens another secret door - the party must have triggered that, thus allowing the cubes to come from behind.
(S130)
	Searching extensively, the Party finds no way to go beyond the passageway and the two rooms. Mei-Peng animates 9 of the Ogres as weak Zombies and posts them as guards. She also recognises some of the coinage they have looted as coming from Ditya, a country far to the South and West - very odd.
Novatilis 17	After a good night's rest, they find a secret door in the narrow passageway. It leads to a large room filled with straw mats. A far door is magically locked, and defeats the picking skills of Rehkel and Marek, as well as the Knock skills of X. Vishu then spots a chest sitting upside down on the centre of the high ceiling. X and Marek Fly to the chest, and find that it sits in a small region of negative gravity. When Marek picks the locked chest, he triggers a gas trap that makes him and X flee and fall. On their second attempt, they successfully open the chest lid from a distance using a rope. Inside they find a jade rod, that happens to be the key the locked door.
	Beyond the door, they find some rough passageways. Antrayna finds sufficient tracks to show which way occupants have been travelling. Mei-Peng decides to send 6 of her Zombies ahead to "kill everything they meet", as so far everything they've met has been hostile; the rest of the Party thinks this is a great idea. Unfortunately, the first room the Zombies find contains a large forge, at which work two chained-up Elf captives. The Zombies tear one Elf apart before the first of the Party catch up; the Zombies attack them as well, and are prompty destroyed. The surviving Elf - Eldara - is rescued; he is exhausted and incoherent; Jett thinks he and the dead Elf are from the small Elven community north of Funen.
	Exploring the forge room more, a battle breaks out with some monkey-like humanoids lurking in vines hanging from a large shaft in the ceiling. Two Yuan Ti are also up there, but their spells are interrupted by the various spells hurled coincidentally in their general direction. The Yuan Ti, now injured, flee down a passageway leaving the shaft; stealthy Party members follow and kill them. Jett observes that the vines are not indigenous to Anglia, and thinks they are tropical; and suggests that it fits with the Dityan coinage.
	Following the passageway for 100's of feet, the Party comes to a large chasm, over which crosses a swinging bridge. Movement is spotted at the far end, and X fires off a Lightning Bolt (they must be hostiles, right?). Damage to the presumed enemy is unknown, but Rehkel thinks the bolt may have damaged the far posts supporting the bridge. Having done enough damage for one day, the Party decides to fall back and rest.
(S131)
Novatilis 18	They return to the bridge. X, Kera, and Mei-Peng fly across invisibly to scout the far side - they spot 3 huge lizards on long chain leashes in the far tunnel mouth. X fires off a Lightning Bolt; this makes her visible, and thus a target to the dozen monkey-like humanoids in a higher cave mouth, who pelt her with javelins. Meanwhile Antrayna, invisible, sneaks across the bridge and investigates the lizards - they smell her and attack. Various archers fire across the chasm, Vishu and Marek scurry across the bridge to help Antrayna. X casts another Lightning Bolt, this time into the upper cave mouth. Mei-Peng then sneaks in, finds a staircase that descends and joins the other passage, and spots a few of monkey-likes fleeing; she finishes them off.
	The rest of the Party cautiously crosses the bridge. A harness is made so that X and Mei-Peng can partially lift the Party heavy-weights. This works for Aknot and Sarah; but when Torgo crosses, the bridge finally gives out. The last four of Mei-Peng's Ogre Zombies remain behind, doing rear-guard forever ...
	Pushing on, they come to a cave mouth leading to a small valley. 4 Yuan Ti are waiting, and cast many spells. Vishu and Aknot resist the urge to become fish; Mei-Peng, however, is polymorphed into a salmon. Marek quickly pulls out his magic pitcher and fills his cooking pot with water; Mei-Peng flops in and thus does not suffocate..Meanwhile, the rest of the party charge and finish off the Yuan Ti.
(S132)
	After a couple of attempts with Dispel Magic, X is able to restore Mei-Peng to human form. In celebration, Mei-Peng raises as a Zombie one of the Yuan Ti that was mostly human. Some of the Party explores the valley: the lush vegetation is completely foreign to to the lands of Anglia, and shows signs of drought damage; Kera thinks she heard a number of the monkey-like beings in a dense part near the centre of the valley; and there are ruins scattered throughout the valley. Artemisia climbs the valley wall to a nice outcropping and plays on her syrinx the "song" she found worked to attract the last Sussurus. Nothing obviously happens, but after the Party finds a discrete site to camp out, a Sussurus joins them. Artemisia plays on her lute the apology from Signy. After a few repeats, the Sussurus shambles off - Artemisia has to assume that the apology was at least understood, if not accepted.
Novatilis 19	The Party discusses what to do now. They have delivered Signy's message, so could simply cross the valley and carry on with finding Eldor; or they could explore the valley and find loot. As a compromise, Rehkel is sent to explore a walled complex. She finds it to be in good condition, with signs of occupation; the wall is protected by very fine spikes on the top, clearly meant to keep out the likes of her; so she realises that sneaking in, alone, might not be a great idea, and thus returns to the Party.
	Sarah suggests they simply ask the occupants if they've seen Eldor. So she and X walk up to the front gate and knock. A short woman cautiously answers, but Sarah and X cannot understand her. Mei-Peng finds she can talk Hannu with the woman, and observes that she is Jomon (as out of place as the vegetation and coinage). The woman explains that the lord of the house, Fuminori Fuji of Nagoto, seeks solitude and does not entertain guests; and no, she has never heard of an Eldor Merlynus. The Party thanks her, and continues on its way.
	At the other side of the small valley, they follow an old, extremely well-made roadway that leads into a well-built tunnel. After travelling a few hundred feet, they are surprised by some Yuan Ti. The battle is a success, despite some handicaps. Mei-Peng's Zombie had been leading, with instructions to "find brains" - it did so ... and did nothing about them. Antrayna was next in line; for some reason, she turned around and purposefully walked back the way they came; when asked, she states that ahead is "death to Elves"; she rounds up Eldara (the rescued Elf) and leaves the complex. As the battle progressed, the Zombie's instructions changed to "kill everything" and "attack the enemy"; both of which lead to it attacking the first Party member to meet the enemy - Sarah. When Rehkel arrives at the front line, she isn't aware that the Zombie is in the battle nor is she able to distinguish it from the enemy, and ends up back-striking it to pieces.
(S133)
	After the battle, Kera-as-dragon flies and joins Antrayna; they plan to climb over the large hill that the tunnel complex goes through. When the Party pushes on, trying to find one Yuan Ti that had escaped, they are ambushed by some Giant Spiders that had been disturbed by the commotion; they are handily defeated.
	A side passage is explored as far as a small pool. While the rest of the Party returns to the main passage, Mei-Peng is curious about the far side and with Torgo stays to explore. They disturb an enormous worm in the pool, and kill it. Mei-Peng then sends some Zombies ahead and they follow cautiously. They eventually come a dead-end, with no sign of the Zombies. A slab of rock on the floor conceals an exit, but they decide to return to the Party.
	Meanwhile, the Party comes to the back of a large gate. Stepping through, X triggers a trap and is clobbered by rocks from the ceiling. At the same time, dozens of monkey-like beings swarm the Party from ahead and behind. The Party defeats them all, however Artemisia is turned into a fish and has to be restored by X; and no spell caster is found.
	While the Party recovers from the battle, Antrayna and Eldara climb over the small mountain. Scouting ahead, Kera-as-dragon finds that armed Elves are waiting outside what is likely the cave that the Party is heading towards. She lands and talks. A few days ago, Yuan Ti and small monkey-like beings had captured many of the Elves near Funen (as well as some Elves they found en route, such as one Eldor Merlynus) and brought them to this cave complex. These Elves, led by one named Tarrinne, are about to go in and try to rescue them.
	By means of Sarah's psionics and X's rings of telepathy, the Party coordinates with these Elves a 2-pronged attack on whoever lies between them. Proceeding a short distance, the Party comes to the top of a 40' waterfall, beside and under which winds a narrow and treacherous path; and not far in from the entrance, the Elves come to a stream and see the the bottom of a waterfall. The assumption is that the two prongs have almost met ...
(S134)
	The Elves of Munen, with Antrayna and Kera, are suddenly attacked by 8 large tentacles coming out of the water. Several Elves are grabbed, crushed, and dragged into the stream. As well, a monstrous deformed head appears in the stream; a multitude of eyes stare at them, which causes severe headaches and loss of brain power. The rest of the Party tries to join in the battle as quickly as possible (some by jumping and relying on magic to cushion the landing, others by scampering down the tricky path. Antrayna and Kera are both grabbed by tentacles, but are chopped free before being dragged underwater. Just as the monster is killed by a hail of blows and arrows, X sends a Lightning Bolt into the stream; that finishes off the beast, as well as Elves in the stream.
	The surviving Elves drag the bodies of their fallen comrades out of the water, with more that a few hard looks at X. A quick examination of the monster confirms that no one has the slightest idea what it is, other than not natural. There is general confusion in both camps as to where the Yuan Ti and captured Elves have gone, as neither group met them. Then Antrayna comes to realise that spots before her eyes are not just the result of the psionic brain-squishing of the monster; she is seeing faintly glowing foot prints on the rocky path, leading over the stream (on an invisible bridge) to a solid wall. When she crosses the bridge and approaches the wall, she suddenly see that there is a tunnel; the tunnel reminds her of the one that led them into the Forest Nexus of the previous adventure. The Party pushes on, even though they are depleted of spells and some are hurting; the Elves, still led by Tarrinne, begrudgingly follow.
(S135)
	After a short distance, the odd tunnel joins a more normal-looking tunnel, in which the Party meets 3 Svirfneblins (Deep Gnomes), armed with wands. After some discussion, the Party is led to a set of rooms and meet with Carmaneren, a Gnome with obvious authority. The Gnomes are very interested in, and concerned about, the odd tunnel; for it did not exist prior to a few days ago, and poses a security risk. The Party explains where it leads, where they've just been, and the trail that they are following. The Gnomes state that 4 days ago, a group of a dozen or so captive Elves were escorted through that tunnel. With them were 3 strange snakey-humans (Yuan Ti, the Party presumes) and 5 "squid-faces", i.e. Illithids, i.e. Mindflayers. The Gnomes do not tackle Illithids in that number, so they simply discretely observed the group carry on through the local passageways, down to the Underdark.
	The Gnomes also introduce the Party to another adventuring group, one that has had some experience in this underground complex. They had recently returned to the Gnomes, after an absence of a few months. Perhaps the groups of surface folk should compare notes? (note: this group is in fact the surviving party of the Troll Caves adventure in the Hobbitika campaign: Taro, Aithra, Oðúlfr, Bigpig, Taz, Griswald, and Aischylos, plus two newcomers: Karg and Eillykah).
	After a quick exchange of geographical knowledge and maps, the Party learns that "above ground" here (several days away) is nowhere they've ever been; they have, in fact, returned to the world from which they all originate ("Hobbitika" in the context of the 4 worlds as explained by Hallgato); but they must be under a different continent. Thus the strange tunnel connects two worlds, much like does the tunnel to the Forest Nexus.
	This new group of adventurers did not see the captive Elves. They themselves, however, first came to this region because of kidnappings of spellcasters from the surface world. They had eradicated a large band of Orcs who were doing the kidnapping; but their focus changed to the beings to whom the captives were being turned over - Illithids. Thus the two groups appear to have a common goal.
	During all this talk, Antrayna states that it would be useful to see if they still have a connection to Old Dafan through the tunnel. After all, Torgo is supposed to go the Hallgato and the Tower on that world. She invites the surviving Elves of Munen to join her, as they know the local geography best, and Rehkel because she's also a capable sneak; Mei-Peng and Torgo decide to tag along, for if there are signs that the tunnel was to vanish soon, it would be best that Torgo be on the far side; and Sarah comes as well in case there's any trouble, although she stays on the Gnome's end of the tunnel.
	It soon becomes obvious that Antrayna and the Elves had more in mind than just observing the strange tunnel. Tarrinne, a powerful Mage, casts Hold Person on Rehkel, Mei-Peng, and Torgo. Torgo is shocked to find that 7 Elves, including Antrayna, frantically and hatefully attack Rehkel. He does not understand why this is happening, but knows a dishonourable trap when he sees one, and fights to keep the Elves away from Rehkel's paralysed body. He kills Tarrinne with a few swings, before more spells can be cast (shocking the Elves with his fighting prowess). Sarah, having heard the commotion, rushes in and tries to stop the battle; but she and Torgo cannot keep them all at bay. A few rounds later, Antrayna delivers the killing blow - Rehkel dies. Antrayna then pries the Drow gem out of Rehkel's forehead and smashes it - for this was their goal all along. The gem explodes and nearly kills one of the Elves and Mei-Peng who is still helplessly paralysed.
(S136)
	Sarah is furious with Antrayna. Torgo also isn't too happy, nor is Mei-Peng when the paralysis wears off. The Elves offer to leave, taking Tarrinne's body with them; Sarah pretty well ignore them, and leads Antrayna back to the Party; she explains what happened, and states that honour must be served. Aknot is livid with anger, this being a "Rehkel day" for him, and demands payment AND that Marek get the cooking pot ready for some fresh Elf flesh. The Party in the end decides that Antrayna must pay for Rehkel to be brought back to life, as well as pays for the lost gem. As it turns out, Carmaneren of the Svirfneblins is a powerful cleric; and after hearing the details of the dishonourable killing of Rehkel, begrudgingly agrees to cast a Raise Dead.
	Before casting the spell, however, it is decided that the gem hole in Rehkel's head needs to be fixed somehow. Mei-Peng has had considerable experience modifying corpses, and decides that a bone graft would not be reliable; the best solution would be a metal plate, and proposes to use a silver piece (Rehkel always having like shiny things). So she whips out her fine tools and proceeds to prepare the skull for a coin cover. During these preparations, Antrayna somehow manages to escape everyone's notice and flee. The only tracker remaining is Aischylos; he quickly determines that Antrayna has not headed back to the strange tunnel, but in fact is going deeper into the complex in the direction that went the captive Elves. A hunting party is quickly formed (Artemisia and Jett, plus Aischylos, his boss Aithra, Taro, Taz, and Griswald) and it trundles after Antrayna.
	In the meantime, the Raise Dead is cast ... and fails. Rehkel remains dead. Carmaneren determines that the problem somehow lies with Rehkel's body; perhaps the hole in the skull is more signifcant than she realised. Aknot, who hadn't joined the hunting party so that he could see Rehkel arise, turns his attention to Antrayna again, and runs after the hunting party, taking his new friend Bigpig.
(S137)
	An hour later, Aischylos leads the hunting party to the scene of a messy battle. It appears that Antrayna was ambushed by something; Antrayna was killed and most of her body eaten. A short while later, they came across 6 Quaggoth - tall, hairy, stupid, humanoids that absolutely despise Elves. They quickly kill the Quaggoth, then collect all the Antrayna bits and her possessions, and return to the rest of the Party.
	Big discussion about who goes where to do what. Of the newcomers, Aithra and Aischylos decide to stay with the Gnomes for a while. Kera, Sarah, and Torgo leave and return to Hallgato and the Tower; en route, they give Rehkel and Antrayna a good burial half a kilometer from the entrance to the complex.

Surviving members:	Mei-Peng (N6), Vishu (Mk6), Aknot (F6), Kera (NtC6), X (MU6), Jett (NtC5/F3), Marek (T6), Sarah (WrC6), Artemisia (B6), Torgo (F)
New members:	Torgo
Casualties:	Rehkel (Raise Dead failed), Antrayna
Retirees:	Kera, Sarah, Torgo
Continuing party:	Mei-Peng, Vishu, Aknot, X, Jett, Marek, Artemisia

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