8. Slave Trail A (12-2-1;2), Yavia 27-38 1083, January-February 2009

Background and summary: Cassandra is asked by her temple to investigate and break up a slaving operation in Karnos that she has done business with in the past. Coincidentally, around the same time Véstein the Dwarf shows up looking for Turin, who the Party gave to these same slavers a few months ago during Krykos the Warlord.

Starting members (from Shadowhaunt Temple):  Cassandra(NtC-3), Aisha(MU-2/T-2), Kirkos(MU-3), Perseus(F-3), Thimbus(MU-2), Creon(T-2), Telemachos (R-1), Karlina(F-1), Rhiannon(NrC-1), Myiore(N-1)

9. Slave Trail B: Shoreward (15-7-6;1), Coira 8-32 1083, February-April 2009

Background and summary: The Party head north to take on some more slavers. They become peripherally involved in the murderous web of plots within plots that comprises day-to-day politics in Praetos; some characters retire, the rest extricate themselves and make their way to Shoreward, a known slavers' base. The base is spectacularly destroyed by Party.

So what does Anaxamandros get up to?

After leaving the Slave Trail B Party, Anaxamandros heads south in search of adventures that do not involve Praetos. By late Auril, he has met and become hench to Farley; they and their Party head into the Sphondalai looking for trouble. In Flaige, they find it: Farley and Anaxamandros are pretty much the only survivors as the rest of their Party gets pounded by all sorts of large humanoids up to and including Giants. During this, Anaxamandros becomes Cvr-3.

After this, Farley heads south and takes up space in any pub he can find, mourning the death of his old mentor Cavendish. Anaxamandros keeps the faith, however, and heads back into the mountains seeking to avenge this same death; after a month or more of fruitless searching, he runs into the Sphondalai Wanderings Party and takes up with them.

10. Slave Trail C: Vulture Island (9-1-1;3), Auril 6-16 1083, April-May 2009

Background and summary: The Party continue disrupting the local slave trade at every opportunity. This time they take on an operation based on a small island just offshore from the Shoreward base, but find nothing but a reception ambush and an otherwise mostly empty island.

Starting members (from Slave Trail B):

Cassandra(NtC-4), Kirkos(MU-3), Perseus(F-3), Telemachos(R-3), Claire(NrC-3), Phylo(F-3), Audun(B-3), Seriter(R-2/T-2), Zxancs(F-2)

Auril 2 1083	Cassandra notices someone following her; introductions are made, and Amphion(T-2) joins.
A 4	Cassandra makes inquiries as to what became of the investigation surrounding Keltheres' death, and Aisha; she gets stonewalled by the Zeus types, but they mention recently receiving a message saying only Aisha is alive. Party file this away for future reference. It also becomes apparent that bounty on Party (see Coira 30) disappeared due to someone unknown wanting the Party to succeed; the Zeus temple may have had little or nothing to do with it.
A 6	Training done, all to Party's ship, and to sea.
A 7	Heave-to well clear of island; at one point notice a vessel leaving, heading north. Move in at dusk; after dark Party leave ship (which keeps going) and are towed to island in dinghies by Telemachos and Seriter, each water-walking. North side of island too high and steep to climb, so try east end - this works, so everyone up cliff. Dinghies left at cliff base. Lots of cautious scouting follows. A lookout post that appears empty in fact holds several invisible guards; Party easily deal with these. Into complex…and into ambush: a Fireball ravages entire group, then doors open and attackers appear. Amphion killed and rest of Party in trouble, but they manage to prevail. (spellcaster getting hit with his own Fireball helps) Cassandra tries out her new Sword of Charming on one attacker and makes a new friend named Utena; she learns: island inhabitants have been somehow following Party's progress day by day; most of slavers and all captives have left; those remaining on island are only here to "greet" Party. Utena then realizes all his remaining superiors have been killed, so he welcomes Party to "his" island.
A 8	After a few hours of looting and resting, Perseus opens a door and walks straight into 3 huge hungry Turvitians; they don't last long. Telemachos killed by a glyph Utena didn't mention.
A 9	Lots more exploring; eventually find a hidden passage to rest of island. Passage emerges in a very small forest; Utena killed and Seriter almost by its resident deformed Owlbears. Party retreat. Utena noisily eaten. Kirkos explores some of island and disables several ballistae.
A 10	Back to forest; Owlbears soon defeated. Find a garbage dump in forest. Kirkos roots around until interrupted by the 2 resident Otyughs: Kirkos killed and Phylo and Perseus diseased before Otyughs taken down. Wade through rest of now-empty complex, finding only one or two leftover creatures.
A 11	A major storm washes Party's dinghies away. Perseus tries unsuccessfully to build a raft over the next few days.
A 14	Cassandra and Phylo water-walk across to the Shoreward base; find a crewman from their old boat (it sank in the storm) and two dories, which they tow back to island.
A 15	Party towed in dories by water-walkers to mainland.
A 16	Arrive Praetos, start a long treasury and training break.
A 17	Determine Telemachos cannot be raised; he was marked by Ares during Shadowhaunt Temple and his soul is now spoken for.
A 19	Kirkos raised.

Surviving members:

Cassandra(NtC-4), Kirkos(MU-4), Perseus(F-4), Claire(NrC-3), Phylo(F-3), Seriter(R-3/T-3), Zxancs(F-3)

New members:

Amphion

Casualties:

Amphion, Telemachos; (Kirkos - raised)

Retirees:

none

Continuing party (to Slave Trail D):

Cassandra, Kirkos, Perseus, Claire, Phylo, Seriter, Zxancs

11. Slave Trail D: Markessa's Laboratory (15-7-4;7), Eolna 12-Flaige 22 1083, May-October 2009

Background and summary: A primary buyer of slaves seems to be someone called Markessa. As any slaves she buys are never seen again, the Party head north to find out what she is doing with them. They free lots of slaves and kill lots of slavers (and get in lots of arguments), but cause so much devastation that they never really do determine what Markessa is up to; only that it somehow involves experiments with cloning.

Starting members (from Slave Trail C):                            (from Slave Trail B):

Cassandra(NtC-4), Kirkos(MU-4), Perseus(F-4), Claire(NrC-3), Phylo(F-3), Seriter(R-3/T-3), Zxancs(F-3) Audun(B-3)

Auril 29 1083	Audun re-joins after training.
A 33	Chembri(WrC-2) joins.
A 37	Cassandra places an order for +3 chain mail, it'll be ready sometime next Laire. By now, Party know that someone named Markessa - a known customer of the Vulture Island and Shoreward outfits - is becoming desperate for slaves; her base is a few hundred miles north, so Party decide to head there and find out why the slaves she buys are never seen again.
Eolna 1	Everyone finally finished training, Party hires a guide, boats across strait and heads up into Barrakos Hills. Days of travel follow, punctuated by occasional minor battles with some of the local wildlife and detours to avoid the rest. During travel, Cassandra and Chembri become romantically involved.
E 9	Meet another adventuring party - the Northern Star Company - heading south for Decast. (see here for what later becomes of this)
E 12	Find the small town of Anaish and, after making inquiries, pick up a mage: Breary Kimenestra(MU-5) joins.
E 13	Find road to Markessa's fortress; meet an empty departing supply wagon; driver tells of a larger city - Qar'nora - a few days north.
E 14	Continue along trail, completely fail to notice watchers high in trees.
E 15	Just before dawn, Party's camp ambushed by 21 Grashi and a couple of strange larger creatures. Breary wipes out half the Grashi with a Fireball; Chembri scares off one of the big critters, and Party easily mop up the rest. Realizing they've been discovered, Party become much more cautious. Cassandra charms one surviving Grash thus Digger(F-1) joins; he has brains, and gives all kinds of useful information including flag codes, building layouts, etc. He also tells of what Markessa does with her slaves (and some of the Grashi; they don't like her much): she is using them as experiments in building new lifeforms out of old ones. Cassandra casts Animal Friendship on a marten and sends it out scouting. (though none would ever know it, it dies within half an hour…) Party sack out for day.
E 16	An isolated watchtower stands on a hill some miles south, Party sneak up and easily capture this. Meanwhile, Breary does some invisible scouting from the air (much quicker and more efficient than a marten!) and returns to inform Party a ship has just arrived at the dock. Leaving Claire and Breary to hold this tower, Party head for another some 15 miles north.
E 17	Reach and capture second tower but nowhere near as smoothly, and a near-brawl breaks out after Kirkos puts Audun and Seriter to sleep. Tower guards had a pet cougar; Cassandra tames it, then casts Animal Friendship and gains a useful companion.
E 18	Party raise distress flags at south tower, then north tower. Breary and Claire start flying north to join Party. Main fortress sends forces to help both towers; Party sets ambush for north group: Kirkos and Perseus up a tree, rest hiding around clearing. Cassandra sends her cougar off "to hunt Humans", it soon dies. Guards arrive; Cassandra Entangles half, Party opens up on rest. One enterprising guard sets tree on fire to smoke out Perseus and Kirkos; Perseus drops to ground, Kirkos stays aloft. Kirkos puts all sorts of people to sleep; just as battle is coming to order Audun (still in hiding) throws a spear at him, sparking a 5-way brawl "Kirkos vs. Audun vs. Phylo vs. Seriter vs. Perseus"; Chembri soon dives in as well. Audun nearly kills himself climbing (and falling out of) burning tree to retrieve his spear. Meanwhile, Digger and Cassandra have persuaded almost all those trapped to change sides; Party gains 13 new members! Just as things settle down, Breary and Claire finally arrive. Burning tree attracts group heading to south tower. Breary goes out to scout these from air but is brought down; she has long-range communication so can call for help, and Perseus and Seriter charge off into woods. Rest of Party, including new recruits, follow more sedately. Perseus and Seriter find trouble; Seriter leads it off while Perseus carries on, eventually bailing Breary out with her help. Main Party finds main enemy force; a quick battle produces 4 more new recruits. Then Seriter chugs in, still being chased by three suddenly unfortunate guards. Back to north tower, sack out.
E 19	A Chimera attacks during night and kills 4 recruits. To south tower. An animated tree attacks en route and takes out another recruit, and Breary sets the forest on fire.
E 20	Check out some other watchposts, they are deserted. Meanwhile, Breary's forest fire rages eastwards.
E 21	During night, an enormous creature wanders by. Party make enough noise to attract its attention so it changes course and attacks. Zxancs swallowed by its first bite, and does a yeoman job hacking at its insides before being mostly digested; Audun summons some Viking warriors who help out greatly, and somehow Party manage to bring the beast - which resembles a 100'-long carnivorous Brontosaurus - down. Perseus, also swallowed, finds Zxancs and assumes she is dead (much of her flesh is missing), and is astonished when she starts moving; so he cuts his way out and hauls her along. Lots of cures are dumped into her; she is obviously alive, though it is not clear how as she is a gruesome mess and likely missing some important parts. Party cut head off beast and start dragging it to where it can be seen from fortress. Chembri, Cassandra, and Kirkos leave to haul Zxancs back to town, skirting edge of still-burning forest fire.
E 22	Beast head left in sight of fortress with a signal flag in it. Rest of Party (and recruits) turn around for town.
E 25	Chembri group arrives at Qar'nora.
E 26	Rest of Party arrive at Qar'nora. Inquiries about Zxancs reveal she was "saved" (i.e. not allowed to die) by some armour she was wearing, and will require repeated Heal spells to become functional. These are then cast; she mostly returns to normal except now has shocking white hair, slightly different looks, and is a bit less sturdy (down a Con. point). Training begins: Phylo (to F-4) and all the Clerics: Cassandra to NtC-5, Claire to NrC-4, Chembri to WrC-3.
Flaige 3	Training done, leave Qar'nora; but have lost 3 more recruits while here.
F 5	On joining Party, Breary had told her family she would be home long since; an argument over whether to send her home (she'd rather stay here, for now) is resolved only when Cassandra casts Messenger on a bird and sends it to Breary's home in Anaish. A return message arrives later but Breary does not reveal its contents.
F 7	Arrive in area of fortress, check out Brontosaurus corpse. Seriter finds and follows some recent tracks from here, and leads Party to someone named Tracy who seems to know a surprising amount about them. This fellow warns Party that Markessa has resupplied her fortress with guards, some of who are exact copies of some of Party's recruits, including Digger. He then leaves. Also realize the fire started by Breary burned out about a 25-mile swath of forest before dying out.
F 8	Lots of planning and scouting. The Puridius flag now flies over the fortress, indicating a change of ownership. Cassandra casts Animal Friendship on a few seagulls but they are no help whatsoever.
F 9	To dock area, Cassandra and Seriter scout invisibly. Take out a barracks, charm one person here. She is with the Puridian army, here as muscle. She recognizes some of Party's recruits as people she has just sailed with copies of, and is rather concerned. But she will not break her vows of service and desert army, so Audun attacks. Half of Party join in, the rest leave. During battle, Kirkos casts Burning Arms and almost sets the building on fire; much arguing follows as this was supposed to be a stealth mission i.e. no big smoke signals. Cassandra puts fire out shortly after. A couple of people come up trail from dock; Perseus shoots and kills one, the other flees. Party raggedly follows, except Claire casts Hold Person on Kirkos and Breary retaliates by webbing up Claire…and Phylo, who happened to be nearby. A fighter-type from ship is a handful for Perseus - Breary charms him but Perseus and others keep attacking, and he soon dies: Breary very annoyed. Party search buildings and ship but nobody loots the Fighter... Capture and charm two accountant types. Party scuttle ship, then eventually remember to loot Fighter; and notice his shield is gone. Much suspicion follows. Meanwhile, Seriter notices tracks arriving then leaving; Breary follows by flight while some others chase on ground. Breary catches and captures someone near fortress, then goes invisible, picks up captive, and leaves: Breary retires. Make camp; everyone's shield is inspected several times. Late at night, Perseus receives long-range communication from Breary that essentially amounts to "Good-bye".
F 10	Rest, except Seriter scouts dock area and finds three sets of tracks left the ship during night. Kirkos goes over the accounting records, finds indications that Turin came in here in late summer and shipped out again about a month ago...probably to an island, meaning Party now need a ship, which they just sank...oops.
F 11	Rest, except Seriter checks out area around fortress for hidden access routes, finding none. Lots of planning.
F 12	Just before dawn, sneak to base of fortress' hill and take out a small gatehouse and signal post. Invisible Party then sneak up hill leaving Seriter behind. Seriter sets gatehouse on fire as a diversion; 6 guards head down hill and end up chasing Seriter all over the place. Phylo sets fortress wall on fire as a second diversion; Party go in other side except Cassandra and Phylo stay put. Start mopping up guards on wall until a heavy Fighter charges; Phylo levitates up, takes him on, and almost gets killed. Meanwhile, Cassandra opens up with Call Lightning and causes lots of mayhem. Party start exploring but mostly run into each other (Kirkos exploring invisibly by himself doesn't help). Seriter finally brings his pursuers up hill to Party, who capture two. Party regroup, then start exploring into fortress interrupted only by a few minor battles and traps. Some "mummies" (gauze-wrapped Grashi) appear, a few people charge at these while rest are cut off by a second group appearing from a hidden door. All goes well until Kirkos gets a spell interrupted causing friend and foe alike to become gargantuan; some Grashi get squashed by hallway ceiling. A second surge caused by the first costs Kirkos knowledge of the Decasti language - oops. Party just get nicely started wrecking the fortress when enlarge effect wears off, to much disappointment. Retreat and sack out in fortress' watchtower area. Near sunset, watchers see badly-hurt Digger crawling out of forest; a rescue mission brings him in, and he reports another ship has landed and most of Party's recruits (and some of ship's crew) are dead.
F 13	Away team of Kirkos, Seriter, Claire and Audun sneaks down to docks, find a guard and 19 slaves in barracks and another man on new ship, everyone else on both sides is dead. Kirkos manages to lure both foes to ship's deck, then flees across the bay using Water Walk; a disorganized battle follows and away team prevails. Searching ship produces a personal letter of marque from Xania city-state to someone named Reiter, probably ship's first mate and just slain by Party. Slaves freed and left to fend for themselves on ship. Party regroups at fortress and continues exploring. Find a room with 65 spaced-out captives in it; people who try to enter room flee in fear or end up sick or meet some other mishap. Zxancs eventually gets far enough to be attacked and smothered by a living cloak; strange effects end and people converge and whale on it, but they're clobbering Zxancs as well: Zxancs killed. Free one captive named Gwylyn, restore her brains via Neutralize Poison. All sack out. Kirkos starts re-learning Decasti.
F 14	During night, Chembri leaves with Zxancs' corpse. Wade back in to a series of small battles; then find and take out Estelrath, a visiting slave trader. A room full of Quitchi and Knill causes trouble, but most damage sustained by Party is self-inflicted. Phylo badly hurt, so retreat and sack out. Later in afternoon, Chembri returns with lots of news:  o A small army led by Breary's mother awaits outside to hold off any invaders (Breary herself is nowhere to be seen);  o Rescuees etc. can be safely sent outside and will be cared for there;  o Zxancs desires to return to life and has been sent to Qar'nora. He also brings back a new recruit: Caereluin(A-3) joins as a Thief. Perseus, Audun and Kirkos then spend time talking to rocks; Caereluin wonders why she is here.
F 15	Release about 60 more captives and escort them outside; more one-way arguing with Breary via talk-rocks. Return to fortress, more exploring until a major brawl in kitchen: Caereluin killed; Perseus bitten by were-boars and becomes lycanthropic. Un-coordinated Party interrupt at least 4 of their own spells during this battle. Outside again, get Perseus back to normal. Breary's mother sees dead Caereluin and remarks "she failed"; Party become suspicious and use talk-rocks to ask Breary what's going on, learn Breary's mother over-reacted to perceived snub of Breary by Perseus. Breary not impressed; in fact quite apologetic. Return to fortress, Breary rejoins on meeting them here. Sack out.
F 16	More exploring. Chembri finds and Audun charms Koko, the resident cook. Party hear thumping behind a door, so they arrange themselves in battle formation and Chembri opens it; behind it is a chained-up Medusa. Seriter and Audun petrified (and Koko too, not that anyone cares). Kirkos and Perseus then blindly slay it. Party then loot area and find lots of goodies; experimenting with a magic feather produces an anchor, which falls on Seriter's stone foot and breaks it off - oops. Using jumped-up strength, Phylo and Digger haul Seriter and Audun statues out of fortress and down to woods in hopes Breary's mother can help - turns out she can: she fixes Seriter's foot (sort-of; he's down a Dex. point for at least a month) then turns him back to flesh, so Seriter revived. She can only do one of these per day, so Audun has to wait. Perseus and Breary stay at fortress during this; at one point Perseus feels watched, Breary takes care of it. Back to fortress, more exploration turns up little of note. Sack out.
F 17	Initially unknown to anyone, Audun's revival goes wrong and he comes back as a corpse: Audun killed. Party give up waiting for Audun to appear and go outside; a signal from forest draws Kirkos, Claire, and Seriter to check it out. They learn of Audun's fate, and send him to Qar'nora (with a pile of loot) to be raised. (but unknown to any, members of Caereluin's guild switch Audun's corpse out for hers (!) about a mile out of camp; Audun dumped in forest, and wagon diverted to a different temple in Qar'nora) Back to fortress, find a shaft going down. Perseus goes down first, but a trap puts him to sleep and he falls; Phylo dives in after him, misjudges the distance badly, and manages only to nearly kill herself (and clobber Perseus) when she lands on him. Very tight little passages below lead to a door; behind it are some wolves, soon slain but not before they make a lot of noise - alerting other nearby occupants of Party's presence… Party move forward and are met by a lightning bolt; lots of magic items destroyed, and Perseus leaves when a surge teleports him to his birthplace just north of Cyrax. A major battle with Markessa and her assorted helpers. Phylo killed, torn apart by an Owlbear; and rest of Party in rough shape before the dust settles. Party then go to loot Markessa and find all her items gone, destroyed by the two fireballs she ate during battle; fireballs also destroyed much of what had been in her laboratory, where battle took place. Explore, find about 30 crew from now-sunken ship and hire the lot; they tell much of what is where here and are put to work guarding fortress' ramparts. Away team of Kirkos, Claire and Seriter take Phylo's corpse to people in woods; they cast Speak With Dead and she declines revival, so is cremated. Away team rejoins Party in fortress. Breary and Kirkos later use "talk-rocks" to contact Perseus (who fortunately still has the third one) and find out where he is.
F 18	More exploring shows crew's info to be reasonably accurate, as far as it goes. Find and rescue dozens of slaves; a couple of these seem vaguely useful and are taken in: Lesilkasig Uubo(MU-3) and Korgrim Keen-ears(F-3) join. Breary charms a guard; Party get more info, then kill him. Rest of day is spent getting rescuees outside to people in woods.
F 19	More exploring. Chembri goes off on his own and gets jumped by 3 Werewolves; he and Korgrim both become lycanthropic but Cassandra fixes this later. Meanwhile, opening another door reveals a room with someone in it; he seems to be expecting a different Party and is very confused by this Party's presence. As he seems a decent sort, Party take him in; so Astacoe of Einnoc(F-3) joins after a long and baffling conversation. (see below for how he came to be here) Kirkos wanders off, finds someone's bedroom, and is very lucky not to die on the spot when hit by a heavy Cone of Cold. Help arrives just before caster can finish him off; a messy battle finally takes down an Ogre Mage. Kirkos had also found a tiny passage with rails and a boxcar in it, long discussion on how to get past this. Find a few more people in a few more rooms, they seem mostly harmless. Stop to rest; rest interrupted a few hours later by a band of Knill and a Winter Wolf. Korgrim almost killed and Cassandra and Kirkos in trouble, but a Cassandra spell failure summons an Angel who cleans house, patches a few people up, and then leaves. During this battle, Breary proves hopeless at aiming her Web spells.
F 20	More exploring. Korgrim killed by a glyph on a door. Find a book. Breary borrows Kirkos' hat of language comprehension to read it, but book is trapped and blows up, taking the hat with it. Kirkos can now no longer read his own spellbook…oops. A minotaur waits in ambush and hits Chembri hard, but is then flayed to -43 h.p. within a round. More exploring finds a half-mile passage to a hidden exit in forest; Party goes back in and rests - after bashing in a few more heads. Elsewhere, the cart carrying Zxancs arrives at Qar'nora.
F 21	Zxancs raised at Qar'nora. Party spends day getting at and then hauling out a mountainous treasury.
F 22	Big debate over where to go next. Perseus diverted to Spieadeia. Breary leaves for Qar'nora to pick up Zxancs and (she thinks) Audun. Zxancs, unaware of this, starts heading south. Cassandra visits "Brema" (Breary's mother) to tell her fortress is hers for the taking, visit does not go well.
F 24	Breary (flying, invisible) and Zxancs (walking) pass each other without realizing it.
F 26	Wagon arrives at Qar'nora and delivers Caereluin's corpse.
F 27	Breary arrives at Qar'nora - no sign of Audun as he never got here. She starts making inquiries. Meanwhile, Caereluin raised, using funds set aside for Audun. She has no gear at all.
F 28	Zxancs arrives at fortress and rejoins Party. Caereluin leaves for points unknown, winds up in c-series.
F 29	Perseus arrives at Spieadeia. Breary learns wagon delivered wrong corpse to wrong temple, finds out corpse was Caereluin and that she is alive. Also learns Zxancs is now with Party, so her trip to Qar'nora has become pointless. She heads south. Party make cautious inquiries with Brema; she can't find any sign of Audun's corpse in camp but she and Party do find Caereluin's grave has been dug up. With help from forest critters via Cassandra, eventually find Audun's remains about a mile out of camp.
F 34	The corpse-carrying wagon arrives back at camp; driver gives a description of who changed his cargo and course. Cassandra, Kirkos, Claire and Brema visit - and eventually kill - the accused.
F 35	Breary arrives at camp and rejoins Party. Party and about 30 hired crew set sail for Spieadeia, but hit a rock leaving harbour and have to return and make repairs.
F 37	Set sail again. During this voyage, Cassandra learns that she is pregnant.
Hriva 15 1084	Arrive Spieadeia. Perseus rejoins.
H 16	Start division of an enormous treasury.
H 19	Audun resurrected via scroll.
H 24	Treasury done, Digger retires. Lesilkasig and Astacoe leave; they would end up in Sphondalai Wanderings. Audun leaves for training; Breary and Zxancs stay in Spieadeia, all others leave for Torcha so Cassandra can visit her family and Chembri can find training.
H 33	Arrive Torcha; Chembri leaves for training.
So who is Astacoe, and how did he get here? Astacoe's tale is, for lack of a better term, messy. Much of it can be found in the log for Dafan; what is relevant here is that during his time on Dafan he was cloned, with the clone (Astacoe II) then being sent back to Astacoe's original homeland of Neidra on the world of Telenet. Soon after this the original Astacoe was revived from death only to quickly lose all relevance by dying again, permanently. Meanwhile, Astacoe II was determined not only to return to Dafan, but to this time get a whole bunch of things right that had gone so very wrong last time. He decided, after long and careful thought, that his best chance to do so would be to somehow go back in time to before he first met the Party on Dafan that rescued him from Markessa's stockade, and on arrival in effect replace himself with himself and take it from there. So he poured everything he had into getting a Wish cast on his home world in order to achieve this; and from his perspective it worked: he appeared on a different world near what looked like Markessa's original stockade. He managed to get himself hired as her engineer, thus putting himself in the right place, and also conspired to acquire much the same gear and equipment as he had when first met. He then settled in to await his rescue; and though it occurred to him after a while that it was odd that he had not in fact met himself, he just assumed the spell had done some sort of switch, or replacement, and thought little more about it. It was not until the Party whose story is told here found and rescued him that he came to realize just how spectacularly wrong his plan had gone. As it happened, the Wish could not take him back in time, so it simply did what all such spells do in these sort of situations: it found and took the path of least resistance, sending Astacoe II (now just Astacoe) into an alternate (future) time and to an alternate (wrong) world which happened to contain another Markessa inside a stockade similar to the one he remembered. Putting perhaps more faith in the spell than it deserved, Astacoe never thought to look for differences or clues to determine whether he had in fact gone to the right place and time. And though he does not know it, in the intervening time since his departure magic has completely ceased to function on his home world: he cannot get back, and is now stuck here.

Surviving members:

Cassandra(NtC-5), Kirkos(MU-4), Perseus(F-4), Claire(NrC-4), Chembri(WrC-4), Zxancs(F-4), Breary(MU-5), Seriter(R-3/T-3), Audun(B-4), Caereluin(A-3), Lesilkasig(MU-3), Astacoe(F-3), Digger(F-1)

New members:

Chembri, Breary, Digger, Caereluin, Lesilkasig, Korgrim, Astacoe

Casualties:

(Seriter, Zxancs, Caereluin - revived; Audun [petrified, then killed, revived from both]); Phylo, Korgrim

Retirees:

Caereluin (to c-series); Digger

Continuing parties

(to Slave Trail E): Cassandra, Kirkos, Perseus, Claire, Chembri, Zxancs, Breary, Seriter, Audun (to Sphondalai Wanderings): Lesilkasig, Astacoe

18. Slave Trail E: Island of the Slave Lords (16-4-4;6), Yavia 1-13 1084, October-December 2009

Background and summary: Clues found at Markessa's stronghold point to a further and higher branch of the slaving operation out on an island not all that far from said stronghold. So the Party go investigate this (after bashing around in the southern forests for a while for no particular reason) only to get thrashed badly enough to force them to abandon the mission before accomplishing very much of use.

Starting members (from Slave Trail D): Cassandra(NtC-5), Kirkos(MU-4), Perseus(F-4), Claire(NrC-4), Chembri(WrC-4), Zxancs(F-4), Audun(B-4),
                                                         Breary(MU-5), Seriter(R-3/T-3)

C-series: Caereluin on the Loose (minis) (1-0-0;0), Flaige 28 1083-Quelle 1 1084, January 2010

Background and summary: Caereluin is alive, but has no gear, no money, no party, and no future. She tries to set these things right.

Starting members (from Slave Trail D): Caereluin(A-3)

20. Nakkitou (11-0-0;1), Quelle 5-6 1084, January 2010

Background and summary: The Party suddenly find themselves in a bizarre dungeon near an oddly-familiar (to some) underground lake. Before long, they meet the real Nakki-Nakk and learn all kinds of nasty things; but en route they meet a card-pushing stoner who causes vast changes to many characters - in particular Kirkos, who comes away ruined and is forced to retire.

Starting members (from Slave Trail E): Cassandra(NtC-5), Kirkos(MU-5), Perseus(F-5), Claire(NrC-5), Chembri(WrC-4), Zxancs(F-4), Audun(B-4),
                                                         Runin(R-3), Aisha(MU-2/T-3), Seriter(R-3/T-3), Iost(F-3)