As preparations are made for the trip to
Tarantis the party are split up. Eluriel and Solomon remain
in Zothay for rest and pet-training. Narin trains in the
Aerie of the Stonemasters but Midge, Foddlewick
and Hanna are part of an advance party scouting the city of Tarantis. Travel to Tarantis has
been made easier by Magar setting up a portal from Zothay to
a house in Tarantis which Irina has purchased.
After various adventures involving a wereshark, a restaurant and some mermaids the advance
party manage to secure rooms in a good tavern (run by thieves), a fisherman (and poet) to take
them across the bay to the ruins of Kelnore, and a cover story involving recovering treasure
from a wreck.
Narin returns from the Aerie with a caravan bound for
Capricia. When they are stopped by a warband of dwarves from
Snake Hill he challenges and inflicts a humiliating defeat on
their leader.
Later one of the warband deserts and travels with Narin to Zothay. Narin also seems to have picked up a second divine sponsor and now builds
wayside shrines to both Hermes and
Kazadarum as he travels round Oerth. In Zothay Narin
meets up with Eluriel and Solomon and they use the portal to rendezvous with the
rest of the party in Tarantis. By reputation the ruins of Kelnore are dangerous: the site
is inhabited by carnivorous apes and strange magical storms sweep the area. As dangerous as
the ruins are by day they become lethal at night and no one has ever
survived a night there so the party will have to return to Tarantis at the end of each day.
The casting of
spells there is also an unpredictable experience and neither the lore of the sages or the magic
of Magar has been much help in pinpointing the location of the artefact they hope to recover,
the Gate to the Otherworld. The
party are therefore assuming that it will take them two weeks of investigation and digging
to find the treasure which in any case will be disguised as a block of stone that only
Thatis as a priest and champion of Athena will be able
to identify.
Each day
Liang the fisherman takes the party across the bay
to the ruins of Kelnore and the party explore the ruins looking for the location of the ancient
temple of Athena. At first they have some difficulty getting used to the attention of the
carniverous apes and the unpredictability of the magical field within the ruins. The apes
indeed have some resistance to magic but Foddlewick risks a few fireballs which seems to
discourage them, as does Eluriel's long-range archery.On the first day the party are surprised
by what appears to be a tsunanmi of
magical force which rolls towards them and knocks the party for six. Most of the party
quickly recover from the experience but Narin, Midge, Hanna are transported to subterranean
locations. Narin has the nastiest surprise when he reappears in a disused underground temple
that a demon appears to be using as a lair. Luckily one or both of his divine sponsors
decide to even the odds as does Hanna. Narin's axe glows red, the demon's toxic breath is
blown away by a mysterious breeze and a few rounds of heavy blows on either side finish with the demon dead at
Narin's feet. Further the temple contains an artefact - a staff which later chooses Midge as
its bearer. Midge meanwhile is also trapped in an underground lair but thankfully there is
a portcullis between him and a large heavy-breathing monster. Less luckily there is
a potentially dangerous way out consisting a curiously paved-chamber covered with illustrations
of undead. Further, large spider webs cover the chamber to just above the floor. Midge, however,
burns the webs and makes his escape.
The party also have to keep their cover story going so take a trip to the seabed where
the current is uncommonly strong and dangerous. In addition they have to fight off a giant
squid before they can help themselves to the treasure the wreck holds. They do recover enough
loot, however, to please their sponsor,
Iolienna Zetmiot,
who on the strength of her share of the profits retires from the bakery business, selling out to Stomper
Trading.
Having recovered one artefact from the ruins (but not the one they were looking for) the
party discover they are now looking for two more. Liang the fisherman, who may be the only
worshipper of
Apollo in Tarantis, is sent a dream by the god asking him
to recover a lyre from his ruined temple in Kelnore.
Despite the fact that Thatis and Foddlewick are both beginning to have some insight into
the magical currents that flow round the ruins of Kelnore the party lose Solomon to their
effects and he is trapped in a huge cave which contains a central pillar whose summit is
carved with arcane symbols. Solomon has, however, retained some of the powers of his former
undead
form and switches to gaseous form to explore the cave. He does not find the way out and has
to be rescued by the other members of the party but he does find a wand at the base of
the pillar.
The party then have a stroke of luck: they meet an old man wandering the ruins who appears
to know where Athena's temple is situated. Midge who has a long conversation with him
comes to the conclusion that he is actually the god
Odin although others are less convinced. He is, however, clearly
a sage of some power although his speech is somewhat reflective and rambling.
The sage's predictions as to the site of Athena's temple prove accurate and the recovery of
the Gate and indeed the Lyre of Apollo are performed without too many further hitches.
The party's spellcasting which has been more reliable than they could have hoped for only fails
in the last challenge of transporting the Gate (which is extremely heavy) out from the
buried temple and down the cliffs to a rendezvous with a the waiting ship, the Sea Fox
and its eccentric captain and some old-fashioned heaving is required.
Back in Zothay the Temple of Athena is overjoyed with the recovery of the artefact which
is swiftly whisked away to a basement in the temple to be studied. Magar is also very
pleased with the report of the party as he thinks from his point of view a study of the
magical fields
in Kelnore will justify the whole expedition to Oerth. The party's next mission will be
to the Holy Cities of the Mycretians and they have a week to prepare or relax. Eluriel takes
the opportunity to visit the elves of
Onhir and on her way back tracks a party led by a priest of
Set who enter Zothay disguised as poor craftsmen with goods to
sell, having murdered the original owners of the goods.