Now in mountains, 5 caravan-raiding Turvitians attack and don't last long.

In their gear is a small chest containing 500 g.p. and an order letter for some cloth and textiles from Sharphi. Much discussion as to whether Party should deliver this money or not, as they will be likely passing near Sharphi.

Money box disappears during night, but money is found in Waith's bag of holding in morning. Much suspicion all round, particularly once remains of box are found in party's campfire.

A Hill Giant jumps off a low cliff onto Runin but manages little else before dying.

In evening, Party are just settling in to camp when a ghost appears in their campfire smoke; it looks around until it sees Aisha, then makes a beseeching gesture to her and vanishes.

During night, several waves of Grashi overrun Party's camp. They quickly steal Aisha and run off with her; rest of Party bogged down and cannot follow (though Runin tries) until Dogga breaks through and charges up to where Grashi's leaders await. He then heroically takes on everything he can find (including a high-level fighter and a caster of some sort) but the weight of numbers do him in: Dogga killed just as help finally arrives. Party mop up and take a couple of captives including the heavy Fighter; and rescue Aisha.

Question prisoner - learn this group was sent by a Poseidon temple on coast, among other things; and their caster seemed to know exactly where and when to find Party. Kill prisoner. Scoop up some nice loot.

Dogga raised by Waith, using a scroll. Party then stay put for a few days to rest and recover.

Arrive Sharphi. Aisha checks in at local MU guild and finds herself expected: some people have been looking for her. She goes into hiding here and trains (to MU-3).

Runin also finds training (to R-4); while doing so he meets a new recruit: Rhog(R-3) joins.

Meanwhile, those of Party not training argue again about what to do with textile-order money from money box; it's in Waith's bag of holding so this problem is eventually dumped in her lap to sort out.

Aisha's training done, Party escort her from guild. She wants to talk with one of the people still seeking her, so Party find one and corner it a bit too easily. It behaves very oddly: at first seems unsure if Aisha is real, and then treats her like a queen while completely ignoring everyone else even when Iost punches it in the face.

Aisha learns it is one of Poseidon's Damned, she tells it she is heading to the coast to find answers from Mary Heceta whereupon it tries to flee until Iost grabs it. Several other "people" nearby also flee, Runin can find no trace of them later.

To Zeus temple with captive, a Cleric casts a few spells then informs Party it is in fact undead before destroying it.

Party realize those that fled are probably heading for Mary Heceta: Party head north on overnight forced march.

Leave for coast, again on forced march and in terrible weather.

Meet Seriter in hills in afternoon; he just got here a few days ago after retiring from Party en route to Suderham. He decides to stay retired but seems to know where Mary Heceta might be - if she's still alive.

That evening, a ghost appears in campfire smoke much like evening of Auril 3 and probably the same one.

Now deep in wilderness, Party attacked by several animated tree stumps with snaky heads. Rhog killed by one, Iost almost by another, Waith swallowed by a third, and Party put hard to the test before prevailing.

Stay put for day to rest. Dogga elected Party leader.

During night, a ghost arrives in Party's camp; when Aisha (on watch) finally notices her she introduces herself: Mary Heceta (ghost) joins. She was recently driven from her nearby home by Poseidon's Damned and has been seeking Aisha for days, but cannot leave this area.

Rest again for day, Mary gives lots of information about her lighthouse home and the Damned; it seems those the Party met in Sharphi are a type unknown to her.

During night, Party attacked by 2 "water zombies" and 3 ghostly Damned. Cassandra and Waith become ghosts and wander off toward coast; and Creon almost but Aisha saves him with a kiss.

Party immediately head back to town, except Aisha who stays with Mary at her request.

By now, recruiting produces results: Dictys(NrC-3), Harneus(NrC-4), Ellemarinen(MU-3) and Siiric(WrC-3) all join. Party - now also much better armed - leave town.

Meanwhile, Aisha and Mary have run out of places to hide in forest; so Mary passes her long-held secret over to Aisha and then faces down pursuing Damned (one of whom is Cassandra!): Mary killed. Aisha flees for town.

Ghostly beings (minor smoke elementals) emerge from Party's campfire during night, Party soon deal with these.

Reach lighthouse late in day, find cave on beach as per Mary's map, and wade in. Several battles with Damned see no real harm done to Party other than Aisha having to save Runin from becoming a ghost.

Aisha and Runin find a secret door, behind it is a Wight (soon slain) and some loot including a large red gem with a person trapped inside. This person seems able to vaguely respond to communication but doesn't seem to know who he is or why he is here.

Party try to camp in caves, a couple more Damned disturb them in evening to no real effect.

Enter lighthouse from beneath, find 3 Damned here who cause problems; several people almost become Damned themselves but are saved by various means.

Spend day exploring lighthouse.

Still looking for information, Party spend day dismantling lighthouse's library, find nothing.

A Damned wanders by in evening, Party recognize it as Cassandra but attack anyway, she turns and heads down to the sea, Party follow until she wades out and disappears beneath the waves whereupon they return to camp.

The old Heceta manor house is nearby, Party break in and explore this, it is deserted.

To local village, also deserted.

A tiny Poseidon temple here holds a strange half-person half-statue that can talk, so Party ask it lots of questions. It informs them the villagers have become Damned and gone into the sea, that there are perhaps 10 different kinds of Damned (Party know of three so far), that it knows nothing about the Ruins of Fortune, and that the person in the gem is named Jane (some confusion here as this person appears to be male) and got there via bad luck.

Party decide to return to Praetos and try to find information there…

Ajax rejoins via planeshift from Torcha, paid for by Dogga.

Somewhere along here, Dictys gets fed a Love Potion and falls for Ellemarinen.

Meet a strange individual in Barrakos Hills, he calls himself 'Tom' and seems to have been expecting Party - or at least some version of it. He can provide long-range transport for 7 people; but the Party has 9 members so two people have to stay behind. Ellemarinen volunteers, Dictys goes with her. Runin initially volunteers to stay put as well but Tom ends up sending him with rest of Party to Targnol Port.

Party arrive in a dark room, a storage room for a smithy. On leaving here they are met by a burly smith and half a dozen or so assistants; Party subdue (but do not kill) these, and block them in the storage room.

Smithy is in back of a shop; shopkeeper soon ends up in storage as well.

95 g.p. and 33 s.p. in local coins are found in a box in a desk, most of Party decide to leave it be but Aisha has other ideas; she replaces it with 50 Decasti g.p. Runin catches on and a Runin-Aisha-Creon-Iost brawl erupts; the others head off and try to find a way out of town. During brawl, the smith and assistants manage to break out of storage; this time Iost and Creon kill smith while Aisha wriggles out of Runin's grasp and flees.

Ajax, Siiric and Harneus are intercepted and taken in by a local resistance group, who eventually find everyone else but not before Runin's name and a big reward appear on a 'wanted' poster.

Resistance group bring someone else in as well: Kirkos joins out of the blue! He came to his senses about 5 days ago and was heading for Torcha to reclaim his gear - Tom met him on road with a bit of his gear and sent him up to Targnol Port instead.

Party taken out of town by resistance group and turned loose, they head south.

Continue south into hills.

Party caught off guard by a Chimera in afternoon, between its fiery breath and Kirkos' lightning Iost ends up with no armour left at all; a magic surge from this shrinks Aisha to 2 inches tall. Kirkos also loses about 2/3 of his spellbook.

Creon puts tiny Aisha inside his codpiece "for safekeeping", this turns out to be a mistake when she suddenly returns to normal size about 10 minutes later! (and Creon needs new clothes)

Party arrive at a hamlet in next valley and are greeted by a few occupants - they get annoyed when told Party have just slain Chimera (it was the local guardian) so Kirkos puts some to sleep; this starts an ugly battle in which all except Creon and Aisha end up frozen in place and Creon's magical dog 'Interceptor' saves the day.

Start talking with villagers, learn this is a monastery of sorts to a deity none have heard of. Eventually come to a grudging arrangement, and Party take their leave. Meanwhile, unknown to any, Aisha quietly slits the throats of the villagers Kirkos put to sleep.

While climbing steep road out of village, Party hear a scream behind them. Aisha flees, Runin goes back to investigate; villagers have found their dead and are not pleased. Runin returns to Party, all quickly conclude Aisha is to blame, but it's dark and she cannot be found. Party make camp a bit further along road; Aisha makes camp in hills.

Harneus leaves during night; he has turned himself in to village so Party can continue with their mission. He leaves some of his gear behind, and a note explaining what he is doing.

Runin leaves in a.m. and heads back to village, in hopes of reclaiming Harneus. Kirkos wants to stay put and wait for him to return, rest of Party want to carry on, so Iost ends up carrying Kirkos for a while.

Meanwhile Runin gets to village, finds Harneus is being held captive in place of the murderer. He can't get Harneus released and cannot produce the actual killer, so he has little choice but to follow Party, which he does.

Aisha sees Party go by on road, notices the goody-good types (Runin and Harneus) are missing, decides to follow.

Party notice a large patrol approaching in the distance. Iost puts Kirkos down and a brawl erupts:
o Kirkos colours Iost a bright fluorescent pink;
o Ajax grabs Kirkos while Iost loots his backpack;
o Iost tears Kirkos' book of cantrips to shreds then throws what's left down a steep bank;
o Kirkos tries to climb down and retrieve it, slips, falls, lies bleeding and unconscious below;
o After some discussion, Creon and Siiric climb down, patch him up, and bring him back.

Meanwhile, approaching patrol are somewhat confused by these antics. As they pass by it becomes obvious they are escorting a madman; he glares at each Party member and babbles something, each time in a different language. Some of what he says sounds prophetic but none of it makes any sense, so Party ignore him.

Shortly after this a small vase filled with nettles appears in road ahead; not wanting to take any chances Kirkos just rears back and fireballs it - it survives…until Iost kicks it down the bank and shatters it.

Party pass by another village then make camp in hills.

Late at night a strange creature - much like a 20' x 10' animated mattress camouflaged by the assorted gravel etc. on its back - catches both Party and nearby Aisha completely off guard (Iost and Kirkos on watch are too busy glaring at each other). Aisha killed without ever knowing what hit her, but her dying scream is enough to alert Party something is wrong; even with this Siiric almost dies to it as well before Party can slay it.

Party find and loot Aisha. She has a last will; Creon (who has been wooing Aisha for some time with her wealth and title firmly in mind) nearly chokes when he reads she has left everything to Iost (!) in the event she fails to return to life.

Running out of people, Party turn around in hopes of retrieving Runin and Harneus. They run into Runin within the hour, but continue back to village in hopes of trading dead Aisha for living Harneus.

At one point during day Ajax's trident has a brief chat with him.

Arrive at village late in evening. Village Clerics cast Speak With Dead on Aisha, she admits to killings and Harneus is released. Much discussion follows on what to do with Aisha: her will says to revive her, but if done she would most likely face immediate execution for the murders, and complicating things further is that she is quested to fulfill Party's mission. Everyone decides to sleep on it.

Village Clerics have a solution: if the quest can be transferred to another Aisha will remain dead. Iost, Siiric and Kirkos all volunteer (Clerics ignore Kirkos); a few spells later the quest successfully transfers to Siiric.

Kirkos tries (and fails dismally) to steal a part of Aisha for later resurrection. He then tries to provide a distraction for Creon to do the same thing, but Creon fakes it and steals nothing. Party leave.

Reach tiny town of Kevalla by nightfall. Kirkos stays at an inn, rest of Party camp on edge of town.

While in town Kirkos speaks Decasti a few times too often; by evening's end most have him figured as a (rather inept) spy.

Kirkos assassinated during night.

No sign of Kirkos in morning; Party head to inn to find him, and get jumped by the locals. All goes well for Party other than Siiric falls victim to a trap and nearly gets killed by a pair of war dogs. Iost and Runin then both set fire to the inn; Iost doesn't stop there and sets some other buildings alight as well. Party leave.

A lone horseman flees town the other way at top speed.

Arrive at village of Smale in late afternoon, Runin and Siiric go in and get some useful information. They also get roaring drunk, but remain barely coherent enough to return and tell Party where the Ruins of Fortune are: "right up that *hic* hill".

Ruins of Fortune are frequented so often by adventurers that there is a staircase leading up hill (!), Party camp at base.

Iost loses a level (so now F-3) to a Wraith during night before Party can destroy it.

Smale is somehow protected from undead so Party retreat there and stay put for day.

Party head up stairs, impeded only by a few rocks dropped on their heads from small creatures at the top.

Explore around outside of a huge walled complex until 3 Gargoyles emerge from a pit. One throws Runin down pit but some sort of forcefield catches and holds him until Harneus can fish him out. Both notice pit has very smooth sides and, about 50' down, about 10 feet of machine-like metal.

Try going in a gate. Creon, Siiric and Runin get cut off from rest of Party and find a Trapper. It is concealing a wand; Siiric tries it out and nearly kills himself with a lightning bolt; resulting magic surge causes Iost to go berserk and Ajax is lucky to survive.

Some Gnolls start shooting from a wall and are backed by a spellcaster. Party charge. Siiric uses wand again at caster, caster dies very messily in a chain-reaction meltdown. Gnolls don't last much longer.

Party only now look around and realize just how big - and how populated - this place is. They retreat to Smale.

They need firepower, so decide to go all the way back to Targnol Port to attempt revival of Kirkos.

Reach Kevalla after nightfall; Party made quite a mess their last time here. An attempt to sneak around goes badly:
o Ajax swims across river with rope but is met on far side by a small creature that will not let him land;
o Runin takes a water-breathing herb and tries to cross, halfway there he realizes he now cannot breathe air and so drops into river; from where he simply walks along streambed past village;
o villagers have a watch on road, Siiric starts singing at it and draws their attention;
o Ajax tries to return, rope is cut, Iost hauls him in;
o villagers and Siiric put each other in darkness, Siiric sneaks through, gets to village, talks to a hired Dwarf, and leaves;
o Creon climbs down stream bank then climbs along it past village, carries on down road;
o Ajax jumps into river (he too can breathe water) and walks down it, finds and joins Runin, they soon meet up with Creon, then Siiric; and they head north through night for Targnol Port;
o Iost and Harneus turn around and head back to Smale.

Rain and wet snow make for a very uncomfortable day of travel for all. Iost and Harneus reach Smale.

Ajax etc. meet a patrol, they take an unusual interest in Ajax's trident but end up giving it back.

Ajax and co. reach Targnol Port after 3 days forced march, but Runin gets arrested and later charged with murdering a smith (see entry for Eolna 25, above).

Ajax, Siiric and Creon finally contact resistance; they can't do much about Runin but can get others out of town, so they are put on a boat for Hyppia. There is no wind, however, so boat gets nowhere.

Adventuring party met on road arrive at Smale and meet Iost and Harneus; one perceived insult leads to another until their Tegrashi attacks Iost, he defends himself with a sword from party treasury and goes berserk; he and Harneus are both soon held. Harneus leaves as other party take him captive, but they leave berserk Iost in town as a distraction; when he snaps out of the hold he mows down a couple of villagers (they are later cured) before being forcibly restrained and kept that way for days.

Out at sea, Ajax's trident starts vibrating, he sticks it in the water and it provides propulsion for an hour or so.

Later, a roaring gale comes in and batters boat.

Leaking badly, boat carrying A, C and S arrives at Hyppia.

Kirkos raised, this raise is unusually costly due to time constraints.

Arrive Targnol Port and learn Runin is still locked up. Runin's arresters are probably not legitimate, so Creon and some resistance Thieves break him out that night and get he and Siiric out of town; they head for Smale.

Creon now decides he wants to train (to T-6) so stays put in Targnol Port, Ajax and Kirkos stay with him.

Far upriver, Iost is finally released from captivity.

Siiric wants to keep active, and figures there must be another entrance to the Ruins somewhere, so he hauls Runin and Iost on a scouting trip of the local neighbourhood after getting some information and a rough map from the locals at Smale.

That night, 3 "water zombies" (a previously-seen version of Poseidon's Damned) attack. Meanwhile, a significant battle with lots of fireworks takes place in or near the distant Ruins, watched by Party.

Recruit a local as more muscle: Quallek(F-4) joins.

Siiric is concerned Party is now in a race with ghosts, so drags all up to now-eerily-quiet Ruins.

A group of Gnolls cower in a ruin, Iost convinces them to leave but they want their "ancestral relic" (a bone) first; Party agree to recover it from a nearby hut that Gnolls think is infested with ghosts.

Hut is empty until Runin opens a chest; a transparent spirit? wraith? ghost? wafts out; Party quickly destroy it, then Siiric immediately feels that was the wrong thing to have done.

There are papers in hut; Iost looks at one and it blows up; his valuable sword and some of Siiric's possessions go up with it along with most contents of the hut. A big argument erupts, during which Siiric walks away (and gives bone to Gnolls; they leave), Iost sets fire to some tents, and Runin loots an odd staff from hut. All back to Smale, then realize that despite their booming explosion and loud yells in Ruins nothing ever came to investigate.

Staff found by Runin has carved Khri-Halai runes all over it; Siiric reads them now:

I am the master of the master
I am the servant of the slave
I am the key to forever
I am forever the jewel of Vortuin

Meanwhile, far to the north Creon has finished training; he, Ajax and Kirkos leave Targnol Port on forced march.

Up to ruins, approach from rear, find a hidden tunnel under wall and enter that way.

Explore the outside of a small castle until Siiric casts Detect Enemies and finds it holds dozens; shortly after this a voice tells Party to get lost, so they leave; but not before Siiric tells it Mary Heceta's secret!

Castle courtyard holds a corpse and several cleanly-severed limbs; Iost recognizes corpse as the Elf from group that took Harneus.

Wade through a series of groups of tents; most look to have been recently evacuated, one holds a hypnotically-dancing skeletal snake which doesn't last long.

Find a wooden stockade, while checking this Party's attention is attracted by a half-dead Lizardperson sitting against another nearby structure. Runin can talk to it; he learns of "blue ghosts" that "make people crazy" and that the Lizardperson's own friends did this to him. Siiric cannot cure him, so Creon mercifully kills him.

Peering through stockade shows a burnt-out village behind it with lots of Grash corpses. Party go through stockade gate and find not all the Grashi are dead; but those that remain would rather talk than fight. Party learn quite a bit about complex and its various occupants, then sack out in the main Grash hall while Grash hide elsewhere.

During night a glowing blue ghost comes through wall and nearly kills Siiric; it takes a Comfrey herb to save him.

Wade into main castle, decide not to take on the dozens of Bugbears inside, and instead leave.

Climb around on roof, discover central area of ruins is built much differently (and is in much better shape) than the rest of the place; Creon also finds central roof is very painful to stand on.

Enter central castle; a Khri-Halai appears asking for tickets, so Party fake some up - this proves good enough.

Kirkos finds a room full of little levers, switches, lights, and dials; amazingly he doesn't break too much of it, but between he now and Creon later they set off a series of alarms…

A tiny stairway leads up to a room with several consoles again covered in switches and dials. Kirkos dives in again and succeeds in lighting some of it up, to the point of being able to see outside from a windowless room. Siiric joins him.

Company comes thundering up the stairs; it turns out to be a Khri-Halai fire brigade responding to an alarm Creon set off a while ago. There's no fire, so they leave without incident.

Siiric and Kirkos go back to playing with the consoles, Runin soon punts Kirkos out of the way and takes over; and Siiric tells the thing to "activate" in Khri-Halai; this starts a rumbling noise somewhere and lots of things light up.

An invisible guardian arrives and pounds some people, then Runin at the console tries communicating in Khuzdul; on this the machine tries to fry and restrain him but he breaks free. By now, he and Siiric have managed to talk a status report out of the thing: lots of gobbledegook, "docked" and "missing jewel and key".

Kirkos realizes a staff found a few days ago calls itself "the jewel of Vortuin" (see entry for F 10, above) so he inserts it in a hole in console; this causes more rumbling. Then Siiric also causes console to reject him, and another invisible guardian shows up.

Sack out in Vortuin entry area. At midnight a Khri-Halai voice announces "337 in 213422"; as Flaige 17 is the 337th day of the year Party assume this to be a very strange date of some sort.

Start searching for a "key", now assumed to be a foot-long rod of some sort. Back to Grashi; they don't have it, but Creon trades one of them a well-cooked meal (of Human flesh?) for a different magical stick.

Up to roof; a Dragon appears. Quallek and Runin almost killed but Party prevail; they then find its hoard and spend the day and evening wallowing in (and counting) riches…but nothing here looks like the key they seek.

During night someone who thinks she is in Torcha shortly after sunset appears in Party's midst! Much confusion and discussion later, suspicion falls on a strange tunic seen in her inn room and an odd piece of cloth found here as her means of transport. As she has no way of getting back and claims to have some spellcasting ability, Party take her in: Kirke Loreas(I-3) joins.

To everyone's surprise, it soon becomes clear she is Kirkos' much-older sister; who he has not seen in ages.

Party stay put for day to rest and recover.

During night another blue ghost comes through a wall; everyone except Kirkos soon either confused or too weak to stand. Quallek and Iost fight each other; Quallek killed, meanwhile Kirkos dispatches the ghost.

Leave tower, Creon sights another adventuring party outside. Communication ends abruptly when someone tries to assassinate Ajax, a mass brawl erupts. Kirkos almost killed by another Assassin, and the first one escapes, but all soon comes to order.

The last survivor, a Dwarf, surrenders. Some questioning reveals him to be less nasty than the rest, so he is taken in at least for now: Joa Silverbeard(F-5) joins.

While cleaning up and burying dead from this battle, Harneus (!) appears nearby; he turns out to be an illusory lure to draw Party into range of another spell, and the whole thing seems to have been a Gnomish joke.

Retreat and make camp.

Decide to rest for day, until a shout is heard from outside. Creon climbs wall, sees a Gnome and Tegrashi searching outside; Party raggedly charge. Iost recognizes Tegrashi as opponent from Smale, then Party's warriors chop him down. Gnome vanishes and escapes, tries to interrupt a Kirkos spell, and gets charmed by Kirke.

Gnome reveals Harneus killed some days ago and that he and the Tegrashi are all that's left of their group; Kirkos then kills the Gnome with a lightning bolt before much else can be said.

Party then head for smaller castle where Gnome's group was based, enter through roof, destroy some Ghouls.

Find Harneus' corpse and another; both have been looted.

Open some doors, behind one is a Wraith - Iost puts 60 points damage into it (and 26 into Ajax) in first segment!

During night someone who thinks she is walking along a Qar'tura road at mid-day appears in Party's midst, probably due to the same bit of cloth that pulled Kirke in: Rainbow(NtC-5) joins. Party gleefully take her in, they are desperately short of curing.

Back to smaller castle, before long Iost and Runin are paralyzed by Ghouls.

An ornate door is mostly thrashed by Party; behind it is a blinding light, Creon tells it to dim (it does) but Siiric and Ajax are briefly blinded.

Kirkos wanders in to light room and get squashed by a nasty trap. Creon bypasses trap and has a short chat with a face in a tapestry - or so he thinks - which tells him a bit about what is where around here. Siiric soon does likewise; meanwhile Kirkos gets squashed again by the same trap.

Kirkos then wanders down a nearby hall and finds a chest guarded by a statue of an ape; he backs away into a wall and gets stuck until Joa rips him free. Meanwhile, others wait for Iost and Runin to recover; when they do, both are intrigued by ape and chest. Joa clobbers head off statue, but chest (actually a Mimic) attacks Creon when he goes to check it out; Runin almost killed and Rainbow's curing put to the test in general in ensuing battle.

Retreat and make camp.

Now in habit of putting cloth outside tower each night with Creon watching from wall above; during night he sees someone stumbling around below him, and Party take in a very drunk individual who thinks he's in his hotel room. He is put in Kirkos' bedroll, so Kirkos sleeps with Rainbow…

Party rest and field-test items through day until Kirkos shoots Creon and Creon stabs Kirkos; cooler heads prevail.

Creon plays with an amulet from treasury and vanishes, his journey is one for the ages:
o he appears in a mostly-dark open area with lots of fire and is immediately attacked and shredded by a Demon, he frantically plays with the amulet again;
o he appears in a forest at night with a large unfamiliar blue moon overhead, wrong place so try again;
o a rock in mid-ocean, again at night with an even bigger blue moon, try again;
o sunlit farmland near a large castle, try again;
o swimming in stormy salt water near a rocky shore, try again;
o open grassland with nothing around, try again;
o a lifeless wasteland of broken rocks, try again, and brief panic when amulet doesn't work until a second attempt brings him back to Party.

Creon tries to wish Waith be present, a bunch of people burst into tower in response (they had been eavesdropping as Party tested items) but this attack goes very wrong: their Dwarf warrior gets cut off when Iost closes door, then killed by enemy's own web; meanwhile enemy outside shoot selves with a lightning bolt and then flee. Waith does not appear.

Send now-recovered drunk through cloth during night, nothing appears.

Back into main castle in a.m., continue exploring.

Meet a Wraith; Siiric loses a level he had just bumped into (so back to WrC-3).

A hypnotic skeletal snake causes all kinds of problems and poisons Creon. Runin, Rainbow and Kirke are all the Party has left, so Rainbow flies Creon to Smale for help. Once there she gets attacked by remnants of same party that attacked yesterday, but villagers come to her aid and then save Creon: he loses some possessions in process.

Meanwhile, Party retreat from snake and wait for hypnotism to wear off, then try again; this time only Siiric and Kirke remain functional but Siiric soon slays it. Creon and Rainbow rejoin Party after talking their way past guardian Khri-Halai.

Lots of exploring, searching and mapping - and setting off of alarms - through day. Late in day Party find a well-preserved piece of paper, on it is a teleport spell and a message; Party - unsure if this is meaningful or just a red herring - decide to ignore for now.

Alarm bells herald arrival of a blue Damned during night, combat draws attention of Khri-Halai security but Party pass selves off as a maintenance team. Siiric even talks a card-key out of them, allowing passage through various high-security doors in the place.

Rest for day; but in evening Creon gets a mental message from Waith (!) telling him to hurry.

Climb down a ladder in a shaft found earlier; when all are well down ladder shaft walls fall away revealing ladder to be in middle of a tall cylindrical cage within a larger room containing three Beholders! One asks for "the secret", which Siiric gives; then asks where this came from - when told "Mary Heceta" Party are allowed to pass "unlike the previous 434 who have tried". Party scurry through chamber mostly ignoring untold wealth on ground (probably left by the previous 434); the Beholder presence is just too threatening.

Down to another chamber, this one has a fire burning in mid-air. Siiric sees something in fire but Rainbow cannot fish it out.

Several doors leave chamber; Creon explores and finds they all lead to a hot bright room below with Khri-Halai tending huge machines. Khri-Halai tell Party to go away, they're busy.

Back to Beholder room, they and the wealth are gone but three things remain: a piece of paper, a trident, and the rod sought by Party. Paper vaguely indicates next step is to find the 7 winds in Axenos and take them to Poseidon's temple.

To control room; Siiric puts rod in console and says "destination: Axenos" and the whole castle destructively rips its way out of the hillside! Smale village obliterated by a landslide; some of ruined city also wiped out as Siiric awkwardly tries to learn how to fly the thing, he soon realizes he forgot to release the docking clamps and thus has brought much of the dock - and some of the hill - with him! Overloaded castle can barely remain aloft.

Slowly down valley, Siiric decides to use castle's blasting exhaust to wipe out village of Kevalla; gets most of it.

Siiric then tries to use hills to break off docking bits and overdoes it, tears a huge hole in engine room; castle can self-repair but this takes a lot of power. Runin as co-pilot does his best to help throughout.

Rainbow flies outside and tries to direct breaking-off process, eventually mostly successful but not at all graceful.

Castle named the "Flying Octopus" as with lots of trailing bits hanging off that's what it looks like from a distance.

Lots of discussion, eventual decision is to turn around and return to launch point in hopes of refuelling.

Siiric tries a wish and gets it: castle fully repaired. (but still low on fuel, and he has no idea where the wish came from; though at least the castle can now fly at full speed of 10 m.p.h.)

Get back to launch point in early morning, docking station completely destroyed. Drive off some curious folk and try out now-working castle weaponry.

Rainbow and Siiric get no spells due to innocent lives taken yesterday: deities are annoyed.

Everyone tries wishing for dock to be repaired, all that happens is Ajax's new trident pulls north, so Siiric flies north.

Siiric finds out there are (or were; information assumed to be severely out of date) more of these vessels: the Kaltuin is in refit, Rektuin is inoperational, Khrituin is docked at a station near the equator, and Azaktuin is functional but its whereabouts are unknown. Siiric is even able to get Vortuin to contact Khrituin but it cannot fly as there is no-one at the helm.

Lots of people try lots of things regarding fire in mid-air in lower chamber after castle tells Siiric the Way is there.

Reach coast; once offshore Ajax's trident pulls down, Siiric plunges castle into sea. Kirkos then tries fishing object out of floating fire and gets it; on this, castle loses almost all power. Siiric staggers it to shallow water and lands, it topples on its side and shuts down completely. Party scramble to shore. A storm rolls in.

A few dozen Damned start frolicking just offshore, Kirkos uses Way to summon them to shore then quickly realizes this to be a mistake and (barely) makes them go away. He then summons an Air Elemental which nearly kills him before giving some confusing answers to questions. Party head east along shore.

Siiric tries sacrificing some gems to Dumathoin, it fails.

Still no Cleric spells, and relentless storm is starting to arouse Party suspicions.

Start finding more villages; one has a bunch of people waiting for Party so Dwarves, Rainbow and Iost go around while rest go in and again try to buy a boat. Several dozen villagers intercept Dwarves and try to arrest Siiric; he now has two rewards on his head - one from Serena, a wizard, and one from the Puridian Empire - the villagers want to collect. Siiric pounded into submission, Joa and Runin try to help; Runin kills a villager and things get ugly there, meanwhile Joa comes to something of a truce with the rest while villagers tie up Siiric - who for some reason now seems determined to die here in a blaze of glory.

Things eventually settle down, then Serena arrives (probably via teleport) and takes charge. She pays reward for finding Siiric, pays some more to smooth over the killing, convinces locals to go away, and takes Siiric aside for a chat.

About now it becomes obvious that somewhere during this argument Rainbow has lost her mind.

Retreat into hills and sack out. During this, all of Party's wands somehow end up with Rainbow; who, incidentally, recovers her sanity later in evening. Wands taken by Kirkos.

Feeling a bit guilty about putting up a reward for Siiric, Serena offers to get people out of Puridius. She can teleport 4 shrunken people a day but there are 9 in Party, so Kirkos offers to fly on his own, and leaves. Then Party remember he has the Way, their wands, and assorted other Party magic.

Siiric-Iost-Rainbow-Joa all to Spieadeia with Serena.

Speak With Dead, Kirkos declines to be raised. About now people notice the Way is missing, so Runin pays for a second Speak With Dead; Kirkos does not have the Way and does not know where it is. Party go for a Commune; learn the Way is with Kirkos' corpse (which they thought had been searched, curious) and he is the one who can wield it.

During all this, Rainbow meets an Apollo Cleric; she has fun.

Kirkos and Iost arrive at Torcha, Iost soon learns he has the title "Countess Alendra II".

Kirkos recovers a pile of his money and ink from the Fallen Flagon but his magic gear is all missing; Drosa informs him Audun has it for safe-keeping. He makes plans to track down Audun.

Kirkos stops by the Flagon for a pint; someone (Aquiela, as it turns out) walks up to him, touches his arm, and he finds himself back in downtown Spieadeia. He heads for harbour to hire a boat, ends up taking the one Siiric has hired, but cannot leave until the morning tide.

With rigging now fixed, Siiric's original boat heads to sea with whole Party.

Marine ghouls attack, they turn to water when destroyed so Party assume them to be another version of Damned.

…and first Runin, then Joa, then all wake up on deck in total darkness, drifting on a calm sea. 2 crew members are not accounted for.

A ghostly Damned appears, it seems to be Waith, Kirkos uses the Way to drive it off.

Boat drifts to a crumbling dock. Crew stay with boat, Party go ashore and explore an ancient but well-kept city until met and stopped by about 50 short deformed humans. Vague communications ensue, then Party visit what seem to be old Poseidon temples looking for answers.

Party finally ask locals about the Key to the Seven Winds and are told it's "across the light" and held by enemies.

"Light" turns out to be a gorge through city with lots of lights at the bottom and bridges across. Party cross a bridge only to get fireballed at far end: Rainbow killed and Ajax almost. Lots of magic goes boom. Quick retreat.

Kirkos tries using the Way to revive Rainbow; this fails so Siiric tries and it works: Rainbow revived. Sack out.

Invisible silent Runin sneaks across bridge, notices several ghostly Damned crossing another bridge until they too get fireballed. Runin gets across and starts exploring, but some sort of alarm goes off and he quickly retreats.

During night a couple of fishy-looking humanoids invade Party's camp but achieve little before dying. Stay put for day to rest; during this some locals stop by and tell Party of a way down into gorge.

In evening, Party shown some very dusty stairs to gorge floor; once here a Shadow Dragon announces its presence by landing on Rainbow and Siiric. A very tough battle ensues, and at one point Kirkos - who had stood clear to cast spells - finds himself one-on-one against a stray Gargoyle and somehow defeats it. Dragon goes down without Party ever realizing quite how tough it really was.

At one point Joa is thrown across gorge by dragon and knocked out on hitting the far side. Rainbow goes to cure him after battle, with Ajax for cover; a pink heart-filled mist envelops them and Rainbow and Joa disappear (they make a cameo appearance in NewDafan in fact, lasting just long enough for Rainbow to get a fur pelt from Aknot). Ajax rejoins Party.

Party notice "people" watching from a bridge above, so scurry across gorge into another cave just ahead of a fireball.

Explore passages until another fireball outside is followed by a subsidiary explosion and lots of swearing; Siiric investigates this and finds burnt-to-cinders Rainbow and Joa, they'd returned to whence they left and been blasted by fireballs from above. Both survive, but Joa loses magic boots and a magic cloak; he's annoyed. And Rainbow loses her pelt; she owned it for less than two minutes!

More exploring. Rainbow talks to a mound of kelp, it's dying of thirst so she gives it water; it then attacks and puts her way below 0 h.p. again. Party kill it, then decide to rest; but "rest" in this case soon turns out to mean "keep going" into a few more minor battles.

Eventually return to kelp room to sack out. Kelp contained a trident, Ajax now tries putting this on an altar here and a face - probably Poseidon's - appears in wall and informs Kirkos he's late, Siiric is both late and wrong (it seems to have been expecting Aisha), and rest of Party are mostly incompetent and need to get on with it. So they do, abandoning rest to continue exploring into yet more small battles and obstacles.

A torchlit room holds a man at a desk who politely informs Party room is only there temporarily and that one Party member can get some questions answered if desired. So Party elect Siiric and he leaves for a while; among other things he learns roughly where the Key to the Seven Winds lies, that stealth is a better option here than brute force, and that his revival of Rainbow using the Way was not supposed to happen as the Way is in theory merely a travel device. In fact, and somewhat confusingly, Rainbow and Joa aren't supposed to be here at all.

Room disappears on Siiric's return and is replaced by a passageway, 3 fishy-looking spellcasting types attack and die, and Party finally decide to sack out.

Try again in early p.m. but 3 more tough fishy types clobber Siiric and force Party back into hiding.

Party try again but Runin sets off a glyph; everyone retreats behind a door except invisible Creon as a black ball bounces down stairs. A few moments later after some odd noises, Runin hears spellcasting; Party swarm out to interrupt and find a corpse - Creon killed - and a fishy caster, trying to replace glyph, who dies within seconds.

Siiric tries to revive Creon using the Way and it works, so Creon revived, but this time the process also drains all Siiric's spell abilities for the day and he's not sure this trick will work again at all.

Explore until Creon finds a tough fishman, a second hidden one backstrikes Runin: Runin killed. Retreat.

Siiric unsure about using Way to revive Runin so defers to Rainbow; this works (though Rainbow loses all spells for day and almost dies in process) so Runin revived.

A blue-ghost Damned comes out of wall; it's soon dispatched, but Party concerned that Damned can find them here.

More exploring until Kirkos runs up some stairs straight into a waiting bunch of fishmen; a Wall of Fog from Kirke probably saves several lives by throwing off enemy spell aiming - they hit themselves instead - and Party mop up. A magic surge during this permanently costs Ajax a Dex. point.

Kirkos levitates up above city, can't see anything of note, returns.

Discussion on where to go next interrupted by 3 fishmen; fog from Kirke covers Party's retreat to previous resting place.

Shortly after fog dissipates, fishmen - followed by a fireball - barge through door. Rainbow killed in initial blast, and Siiric almost; Party hard-pressed but manage to prevail.

Explore underground, eventually stop at a heavily barred door.

Back on Flaige 39 Siiric gained a lute after a sacrifice; only now does he finally do anything with it - he finds he knows how to play it and that it has a Dumathoin holy symbol inside, so he strums a chord and everyone near him gets a few h.p. back! He tries this again, it sounds awful; and a beast charges out of the darkness, soon dispatched.

Get through door, a Shoggoth waits behind it; Party kill it with some difficulty after it swallows Ajax.

Debate on what to do next interrupted by two fishmen who don't last long at all; then find a safe place to rest.

Continue exploring into a few minor battles with increasingly strange slimy creatures. Eventually find an elevator up to "street level", see a slight glow in distance once here.

Cautiously approach a large building glowing faint pink and guarded by 6 fishmen with some sort of pet on a leash. Eventually end up taking on all of these: Ajax and Kirkos killed and everyone else hammered except Runin. At one point badly-hurt Siiric tries curing himself and passes out, the resulting magic surge turns him into some sort of grotesque wolf; once woken up he shreds the remaining fishmen in this form.

Ajax prayed to Poseidon as he fell, once battle ends people notice his corpse is glowing gold; touching it provides a minor cure to each and turns Siiric back to a Dwarf.

Get inside building, obviously an Aphrodite temple. Creon sets off an alarm and summons Aphrodite (he thinks), he asks lots of questions but she doesn't know much.

Explore temple and meet someone familiar: Rainbow rejoins, temporarily. She knows a bit more of what's here, most importantly she knows fishmen cannot get inside.

Search temple, find various pleasure rooms and sex toys but nothing of use.

Find a library, there are some scrolls here. Kirkos raised by Rainbow via scroll. Ajax resurrected the same way, against fairly long odds.

Creon explores upstairs, finds a trap only Aphrodite could set; spends a fun afternoon with Rainbow as a result.

Try trapped door again, behind it is a (pink) wraith: Siiric loses a level he had just bumped in to, so back to WrC-4. Room is otherwise empty, no sign of the Key to the Seven Winds.

A life-size sculpture of a whale hangs from a ceiling; Ajax flies up to this and finds it has a door in its top. Creon explores, finds a room inside with two tables - one holds a fan, one a model of a ship named the "South Wind". Creon takes fan (this is the Key), various people try moving ship model but cannot. Creon generates a painful blast of wind when he tries waving the fan at it.

Kirkos touches the Way to ship and teleports himself back to Party's boat in harbour across town. But Party don't know this; to them he simply vanishes with the Way, known to be Party's only means of getting home.

Now very concerned, Party all get inside whale (it barely supports their weight) and join hands while Creon touches fan to ship - nothing happens. Runin then touches ship and vanishes, all soon follow suit and join Kirkos, but Joa arrives partially inside Ajax; Ajax is not hurt but Joa loses a leg. And Rainbow stays in temple, so Rainbow leaves.

Just as Ajax and Joa are sorting themselves out three green Damned come up through deck. Kirke becomes ghost and Ajax killed conventionally; Party in dire straits until Creon generates a blast of air with Key, Damned blown apart and Kirkos and Siiric end up in the bay, soon hauled out. Meanwhile, ship's forgotten and starving crew are clamouring for food…

To local Poseidon temple, realize it's the wrong one when Kirkos gets a vision of a storm-lashed bay on Decast's coast. Back to boat, set sail into darkness…

Arrive at a bay with a structure that resembles that of Kirkos' vision. Ajax overflies this and finds the structure to be abandoned; but two caves below (that weren't in Kirkos' vision) hold promise, particularly when Siiric's Detect Enemies gets lots and lots of pulls…

Beach ship half a mile up coast and sack out.

Row around to caves, notice a third smaller cave up in the cliff, decide to approach overland instead.

Scout around area, no sign of habitation, so try buildings. A small outbuilding is deserted and toppling; main temple structure is in much better shape; though also deserted.

A Poseidon statue in temple appears to be crying tears of blood; Party try various things with Way, Key etc. until Siiric gets a vision that seems to indicate he's in the wrong temple and should try underground instead.

Ajax flies down to check out smaller cave, a big flying thing comes out and attacks; its roar deafens and weakens all around. Its mate soon joins in; both soon fall though Kirkos nearly killed and Ajax nearly carried out to sea.

Search nest - find a very magical ring - then sack out in deserted temple.

Arrive Spieadeia, look for Joa and soon learn he's staying in the palace; en route there Party find themselves the center of a parade? riot? hard to tell. Joa awaits at palace with a big smile and a new leg - which he got for free!

Meet Aquiela again, she informs Party their training, accommodation, etc. will be free as guests of the city. So, Siiric (to WrC-5), Ajax (to R-5) and Creon (to T-7) all start training while the rest divide a significant treasury.

By now divinatory questions have revealed the Party no longer need the Way, so they decide to sell it; conversation goes thusly:
= Aquiela: "I and the city will buy the Way. Name your price."
= Siiric: "One million gold pieces?"
= Aquiela: "We'll see what we can do. No promises."

Kirkos uses a Commune question to learn Audun's location, sends a message there asking for his gear.

Training finished. The city of Spieadeia has thus far raised about 223,000 g.p. for the Way, and quite possibly that much again has fallen victim to thieves and robbers. The city is in near anarchy both from this and from Aquiela's declaration that she will acquiesce to a marriage proposal from the ruling house in Karnos. Aquiela has become wildly popular due to the Way's return and is clearly intent on riding this to a complete takeover of the city; and various possible rivals have started turning up dead.

The Party are then informed that Spieadeia was founded by the survivors of Axenos' sinking and they have been seeking a way (the Way) back to Axenos ever since.

Shares of proceeds from the Way for various people (Iost, Dogga, etc.) are left with Joa, who will see they get to Torcha.

Into caves beneath temple, they seem abandoned until Kirkos gets attacked by a bench (actually a Mimic) and Lydia gets attacked by a flowerbed. Party become more cautious after this, and do lots of exploring; they avoid the more vigorous of the local sea-life when it tries to attack.

Find a journal in an ornate bedroom. It seems a series of earthquakes about 3 months back broke various protective wards on the place and allowed monsters - including ghosts - in; these same quakes also released something from below.

Creon starts reading another book and cannot stop. Party spend time trying to get through a magical door, no go, then sack out for days.

During night a blue Damned wanders in, doesn't last long.

Kirkos gets bored and wanders off, soon comes running back chased by some sort of jelly-like creature, soon slain. Ajax then invents a dice-based role-playing game to keep him distracted; this doesn't work, and days are spent arguing.

Siiric does some experimenting with his lute.

Creon finally finishes reading, he can now charm sea creatures on a regular basis.

Head for a nearby temple Kirkos had found earlier, this seems to match Siiric's vision from Tuila 5; Party approach and Poseidon shows up! Siiric gives up the Key to the Seven Winds and ends the torment of the innocent Damned - for now, as Poseidon indicates the corruption spreading from below this temple will just start the process again if not stopped. Kirke revived shortly after when she comes ashore in Axenos, but she is stuck there for now and nobody is aware she's alive.

Poseidon tells Party some other side effects of what they have done, such as stilling the southern maelstrom. He also indicates sunken Axenos cannot be raised as it has inseparably locked itself to another world.

Kirkos asks Poseidon what various items from treasury do and finds one to be very cursed, though very powerful.

Poseidon leaves, Party keep going until met by a tentacle-faced ghost who informs Party they may go no further; but Party violently disagree. Creon loses a level (to T-6) and several people flee in terror but ghost soon driven aside.

Party reunite and keep going; a very long staircase leads down to an alien complex reminiscent of - but certainly not the same as - various Khri-Halai structures Party have seen.

Ajax reads carvings on a pillar, mutters something about space travel, year 34,321, and Cthulhu...

Party hear chanting down a passage, they investigate and find four hideous creatures who attack; Ajax and Siiric almost killed and Party barely prevail.

During this battle Creon tries out his new charming ability, it seems to work. Also, Lydia and Kirkos both manage to set themselves on fire by fumbling with flasks of oil.

Retreat upstairs to Poseidon temple; pass tentacled ghost en route, it seems quite pleased with what Party has done.

Lydia's curing of Kirkos gets a bit carried away, they sleep together. Coincidentally, Kirkos bumps during night (to MU-6).

Back downstairs. Kirkos finds a crystal pyramid 10' at the base, glowing inside; experimenting gets him nowhere other than to get the glow to respond when he taps on the crystal.

Detection spells pull differences in Ajax: he's become evil, and an enemy. He tries to bluff his way through then tries to leave but Runin won't let him; between Lydia's charm and other people's fists and weapons he is soon subdued and stripped nearly naked. A second Detect Evil reveals the change is intrinsic to him (rather than something in his gear) so he remains tied up as Party press forward.

Runin explores a room; the floor and ceiling (both are alive) try to squash him but Party bail him out.

Try to retreat and rest but something huge and slimy gets in the way; it takes Creon over, absorbs Runin and almost kills Ajax before Party can get rid of it.

Backtrack its gooey trail to crystal pyramid, wisely decide to rest instead.

Decide to explore some more; find and slay a couple of tough Devils, then Siiric pulls lots of enemies ahead so Party return to crystal pyramid again.

Kirkos takes a very magical cross found earlier and touches it to pyramid, a 6-armed creature steps out and bows its thanks to Kirkos before trying to annihilate Party; with help from some luck (they collectively made 11 out of 11 saving throws vs. various very painful spells) they kill it.

Spend most of day chipping gems out of a stairway after trying and failing to get by statues again.

Finally decide to simply try breaking the crystal pyramid, so Siiric and Runin clobber it until it shatters; this brings the roof down. Party flee as the whole place collapses.

Poseidon appears again in His temple above, thanks Party for their efforts and informs them various people will soon be coming ashore and that Cassandra already has, so Cassandra revived. He cannot fix Ajax's alignment. Kirkos again gets an update on Audun's location, and Party get an update on developments elsewhere.

Party arrives at Spieadeia and reunites with Kirke. In the 24 days Party has been gone much has happened: Aquieila has married into the Karnos ruling family and then immediately annexed Karnos, declaring herself the Empress of Axenos in the process; and Torcha is probably next. A few expeditions have been to and returned from sunken Axenos, relations with the Axenos locals seem good so far.

Party start a treasury (for all) and training (for most) break.

After Hathaldir squeezes what he can from Drosa's spellbook, Hathaldir and Turin retire.

Meanwhile, Audun and Iost link up.

Start AI-2, a much tougher adventure.

Kirkos, Runin and Kirke (the "chase group") leave Spieadeia.

Chase group return to Karnos and fire three of their hopeless recruits; they keep one, so Kalnes(F-2) joins.

Chase group make a deal with local Apollo temple and get a Cleric: Letitia(NrC-3) joins.

I+V reach Krymein from one direction while chase group arrive from the other. Both groups split up, the chase group to search and the AI-2 group so Voirella (now I-6) can inquire about training.

Kirkos sees Iost and hails him, they join; by evening the parties have merged and all decide, for conflicting reasons in some cases, to head for Torcha.

Arrive Torcha. Iost checks in at Castle Alendra and get a war update: Torcha doesn't have a chance and knows it so the local council are negotiating a peaceful surrender; Iost is informed his title will report to the Spieadeian Empress after all is done.

To the Fallen Flagon, meet various characters in residence here. Kirkos gets back such gear as Audun left him along with a note: "Dear K - I've taken care of your debts. Here's the change. - A". But Kirkos remembers no debts, and some of his key possessions are still missing…

Kalnes, fed up with no loot and getting nowhere with his attempts to bed Kirke, steals a few hundred g.p. and flees: Kalnes leaves and heads back to Karnos.

Iost and Voirella spend a few days dividing their impressive treasury. But Voirella cannot train here either.

Kirkos buys into a Commune and learns who has the rest of his missing gear.

Meanwhile, Kirke has put out a reward for Kalnes and advertised it everywhere; now it bears fruit: Kalnes killed by persons unknown, his head shows up at the Apollo temple with the missing money inside it and a note: "His boss doesn't like freelancers".