3/16/3199

Atlantae: Roads to Karash are renowned for the licentiousness that lines their flanks. All manner of vice is available to a traveler with time on their watch and a few coins in their pocket. The Northern Way is typical of these roads, and in the course of an hour, one might be treated to the likes of Sultana’s Slaves, The Erotic Beastarium, Wickham’s Whoreage, Whip and Chain, The Peephole, Mischief and Arsefoolery, Bedknobs and Bungholes, and the Dungeon of Dread with its sly sign "live fights to the death." A passing bard once remarked, "it’s as though Karash were the center of the world, and all roads lead to its core, conduits for the settling of the seediest aspects of surface life—the closer you get to the center, the denser the depravity."

Most of the establishments along the Way are identified by simple signs, giving little indication as to their contents, the traveler being forced to rely upon itinerant proclaimers to divulge the true nature of what might lie inside. Between these taverns and traps, the alleys are a microcosm of the Way, the far, dark ends, approaching true evil just as the Way approaches Karash. Here, the wares that are sold on the Way are bartered for in terms o need and addiction, and in terms of life and death. No one enters an alley on the Way without first making peace with his or her gods. Some find it unlikely that even the gods would save an individual foolish enough to enter an alley on the Way – there are places at which even they turn their heads, places with their own gods of sin and sickness.

Greta Farseeking, sole daughter of Hilda Thickfur and Haldur Farseeking, warily eyed the shops lining the Northern Way—this city was just as bad as she’d heard. It would be a pleasure to bring the heathen dwarves of Atlantae the word of the true light. Thus, it waa with surprise that she noted a familiar sight, a small temple devoted to the light of her existence, Dugmaren Brightmantle. Happily, she entered the temple and knelt, dropping a single silver coin into the offering plate. With a startled look, she cast her eyes toward the roof. Surely her god must be near, for never had a coin made such a noise, the familiar noise of air rushing past -- Dugmaren must be snatching the silver in order to take it up to heaven. Greta grew lightheaded, she felt it must certainly be with joy and rapture as she lapsed into unconsciousness.

Brunt prided himself on his ability to pick a lock. He hadn’t been doing it long, but he seemed to have a natural talent for knowing exactly where to poke his pick to caress open the oiled metal that kept others out of places they’d rather go but couldn’t. At the moment, he was looking for a challenge—an unguarded door or a stray piece of unwatched luggage.

"Try your fingers at the great escape!" boomed a voice from a small pavillion across the Way. "Dare to escape that which has never been escaped, and win yourself a hundred coins!"

Brunt examined the scene more closely: numerous individuals stood around the pavillion watching a ten foot tall tank filled to the brim with water. Over it hung a cross of wood bowed by the weight of several heavy chains and two locks.

"Dare to dangle in the deep abyss!" shouted a carney. "One coin returns one hundred!"

Brunt knew this was the challenge he’d been seeking and with the utmost confidence, walked up to the announcer and handed him a gold coin. The announcer offered him a wry smile and directed him up a small flight of stairs where he was ceremoniously chained under the wooden cross, the cold metal snaking around his arms and neck and between his legs, and latched securely with the two locks. The voice of the announcer echoed across the Way, playing up to the crowd Brunt’s daring and assuring them that he stood only to lose his coin, not his life.

With a brisk splash, Brunt landed in the water, and from his upside down position he could see the announcer pull closed a curtain to heighten the effect. With a deft move, Brunt unpalmed the pick he had hidden before ascending the stairs, and applied it to the first lock. Without hesitation, it flew open, allowing him just enough space to reach the second. Confident, he applied the pick to the second lock…This was not a normal lock.

Not only was it not a normal lock, it was an extraordinarily unordinary lock. The pressure in Brunt’s head grew heavier and heavier as he twisted and turned the pick in the lock, and snapped it in half. ‘Wasn’t it always the tools,’ he thought to himself as the world went black.

Kia the Druid wasn’t sure why she’d been asked to journey to a place like Karash. Apparently, Silvanus felt there were creatures there in need of service—perhaps in the parks and zoos of the city. Zoos, that alone might be why Silvanus wanted her there. She’d heard that the zoos of Karash were merely stables used to feed the colleseum fights and the tables of the rich. Kia shuddered in disgust. How could anyone eat a friend of the forests.

Lost in thought, she almost missed the rabbit hopping across this busy section of the Way. It was fast, but not fast enough to avoid the many wagons, and a heavily laden cart of melons crushed its leg. The rabbit let out a horrible howl and struggled across the Way, heading straight for an alley. Kia rushed after him as fast as she could between the speeding carts, but couldn’t reach him before he hopped into the alley and out of sight. She hesitated a moment, and a strange internal voice warned her against pursuing the creature into the alley. After all, alleys weren’t the domain of Silvanus, and rabbit or no rabbit, she couldn’t serve Silvanus in a box.

She turned to continue, and there was yet another rabbit! This one encountered the same problems as the other, and eventually struggled into an alley, its intestines dragging behind it, just ahead of Kia. She hesitated again, looking around, looking at…a fawn? Maybe this was the meaning of the rabbits? Illusions sent by Silvanus to lead her to this animal that was truly in need? The fawn had obviously been struck, and likewise made its way to where traffic was least, an alley. Kia rushed after it, and hesitated a moment before the alley. The hesitation was apparently too much for whomever was causing the illusions and rough hands shoved her from behind as a loud voice proclaimed, "Just get the hell in there already!"

Kia stumbled into the alley and immediately turned to see the light blocked off by a looming shape. A fist smashed into her chest and a dark blackness settled across the alley. Calling on Silvanus, she attempted to use his holy light to illuminate the figure she could not see, but the only result was to change the unnatural blackness into a more natural one. Resorting to more physical means, she swung her weapon repeatedly, but the fists kept coming, kept coming until the natural darkness was a natural darkness of an entirely different sort.

Morya Cloverleaf picked a stray hair off one of her toes. A halfling certainly didn’t feel out of place in this locale; the Way seemed to be home to individuals of every race and class. She stopped and pondered for a moment, maybe it was home to magicians as well! It surely would be exciting to finally meet a few wandering mages other than herself. She’d met more than her share of magicians in Wizaria, but you couldn’t exactly consider those homebodies worthy of more than the moment’s notice it took to get enough wizarium for the year. There was something unwholesome about sitting around in a tower, your nose buried in a book, twelve months out of the year.

Then again, The Whip and Chain looked inviting as well, and it was only a silver. A burly bouncer looked Morya over and questioned whether she was there for the drinking or the atmosphere. A curt response of "drinking" and an extra silver earned her a slash across the back of her hand to indicate her status as a "paid-in full" drinker. Inside, she wandered toward the bar to fetch a drink, only to find a most curious form of stool. None of them were more than 3’ high, but they were facing a 4 foot high bar. When she saw the half dozen patrons bent over the stools, receiving a swat for every drink they took, she guessed the reason. "Want a drink?" asked the bartender, slapping a stout paddle against his hand. Morya hestitated, then paled, and ran for the door.

Maury’s Magical Mayhem was the first magic shop along the Way after The Whip and Chain, and it seemed like it might be a restful respite without the ‘comfort’ of chairs that a hobbit would have to climb. At least it seemed like it might be restful, until the door locked behind her and a rather wild looking magician pointed a lightly glowing stick at her, instantly shrinking her to 1/12 of her normal nearly 3’ stature. Morya ran for the door, deftly avoiding all but a single swipe of the store cat. Turning on the creature, she waved her hands before it in an act of defiance, putting it’s front right paw to sleep and tumbling it onto the floor. But the defiance cost Morya, and the stick-wielding villain scooped her up into a glass beaker with one swift motion. Summoning her rage, Morya slammed her sword into the bottom of the beaker, shattering it in an explosion of glass. As she fell, she realized that the glass would hit the floor first, and that for someone only three inches high, a five foot fall was a long ways, crystal spears on the floor or no. The impact definitely hurt worse than the fall – at least what she’d later remember of it.

Tempest liked his name. Of course he liked it, that’s why he’d changed it – Flip wasn’t exactly a name appropriate to a powerful Magician slash Mentalist. And now his family would have to admit how right he’d been about himself all this time—none of them had ever been to Atlantae, let alone the great city of Karash and the reknowned Northern Way. His chest puffed out, he stepped into the Great Guild of Mentalists, the first such establishment he’d seen so far in his travels. With a click, the door locked behind him, and a man with a glowing stick went from being in front of him, to be nowhere at all. "Shit," said a voice out of nowhere.

It took Tempest a while to realize that anyone would have the gaul to attack him. It took him less time to plummet to the floor as a stream of small sharp rocks richochetted off his skull.

Kenny liked the look of Whickham’s Whoreage. Not too expensive, not too inexpensive. It had prospects. And indeed, a casual tour of the inside over an ale proved him correct. A discussion with the barkeep kept him away from the odd keys (they used to be what?) and centered on the even keys, particularly the key of a fine young brunette with some time on her hands. A lot of time, experienced time, yawn….sleepy time.

Popos Lumenlight liked the look of Whickham’s Whoreage. Not too expensive, not too inexpensive. It had prospects. Prospects of tall women, exotic women, women with a penchant for a red-haired gnome with the body of an archer. He’d already seen more than one head turn at his exposed chest. If you were going to develop a bowman’s chest, you certainly needed to show it off—that was his firm belief. Speaking of firm beliefs…key eight looked like just his cup of tea, easily six feet tall and hair even redder than his own, yum! It would be an afternoon to savour…and it was, and the best part was, he topped it off with a langrous nap.

Greta Farseeking, Kia, Brunt, Marya Cloverleaf, Tempest, Kenny and Popos Lumenlight all awoke in the same cage, some of them significantly shorter than the others. A concerted application of their talents, topped by Brunt’s second broken pick and Tempest’s softening of the lock until it was easily broken. Brunt’s third lock attempt at the single door in the room of four cages (the other three full of uneasy captives), seemed to be going well, until he set off the alarm.

Tempest moved to the back of the room, only to be shot in the head with his second stream of sharp rocks in one day, this one from a small murderhole in the wall. Behind the stream of stones poured out three burly fighters, a leathered, lithe figure, and two men in robes. Brunt and Popos loosed two arrows and then joined the fray, Brunt falling quickly under a fell blow. Morya joined in, all three inches of her, attempting to bring the enemy down from the toes up, but was crushed by a violent foot. With a wave of his hands, Popos summoned four land lampreys to join the frey, their greedy suckers latching on to those robbed individuals near the back and sucking out their life essences. When all was said and done, many of the party lay unconscious or dead, Morya found herself dead, yet alive again, at her god’s discretion, a large daisy growing from her miniscule frame, and a wand of dubious power lay on the ground.

(we move to present tense)

Looking beyond the hidden door, the party discovers a waiting area with an alarm leading into a dark alley. They decide to wait and try the other door. When all are healed up save Brunt, the party tries the door. Several sharp metal bolts puncture anyone who comes even with the whole in the door Tempest creates, Kenny receiving one squar in the eye. After much consternation, and no small amount of effort, the party gets past the door and sees a bowman run around a bend in the hallway. Chasing him, they find that he hasn’t run away, but has turned to fight, and a most serious fight at that. By the end of the encounter, everyone is down except for Morya, who in a fit of inspiration, scales the inside of his pants and kills him just as she is thrown (with his pants) across the room and into the wall.

Kenny has a dream that he is a dancing fairy.

When Kenny and Popos awake, they find themselves the only two living creatures in the room. Carefully, they scoop up the residue of the battle, including an empty container that had apparently held a potion giving the bowman exceptional strength. They find a desk, which Kenny triggers not once (blowing a firey hole in the side of the wall), but twice, stabbing himself with sleeping poision. Hurrying through yet another alley, Popos gets the party onto the street and into the hands of a passing carriage for hire. A time-consuming round of "visit the healer" brings the party back to life, including fixing Morya’s height, although from 3" past her former 2’9" to a full 4’1", a daisy still stuck on her chest.

Looking for more structured adventure, the party decides to journey as a group and finds Adventure Arts, home to adventurers everywhere. Faced with the prospect of defeating Vile Leeches (500 gp), a Leprechaun and pet Pseduo-Dragon (1000 gp), a Bullywug Horde (1000 gp), a Kobald "Nation" (2000 gp), and local rat cleanup, they opt for the leeches. Yet before they ever get to the leeches, they are attacked in the deeps of night by 10 ghouls. A large portion of the party succumbs to the ghouls touch of paralysis, and only Popos’ summoned Mongrelmen keep the battle on an even foot. Everyone decides that the woods are decidedly unhealthy and that a return to town and rats might be more appropriate.

And rats might have been more appropriate, if the party hadn’t ran afoul of 6 Huge Spiders in the sewers. While most of the party seemed to survive the battle, the residual poison of the spiders later kicks in and kills everyone but Morya (and Popos, who actually dies, but is raised by Uller, his god). The party is once again raised, but is concerned about it’s inability to find rats to fight.

Kenny has many many dreams about being a flying, dancing fairy (a dream intrepreter tries to convince him of the obvious meaning).

FIGHTERS 1, 4, 1 – 18,000

CLERIC 2 - 1000

MU 3 - 3000

THIEF 3 - 3000

WAND OF WONDER - 2000

100 gp in gems - 10

FIGHTER 3 (augmented) - 5000

4 bolts +1 - 400

Crossbow, sword - 5

80 gp - 8

500 gp ruby - 50

8000 gp in drawer - 800

10 ghouls – 15,000

6 huge spiders – 27,000

10,000 gp - 1000

Total = 32423 + 43850 = 86273 + 17500 (20% HARD) = 103773/7 (first adventure, share equally)

(miss anyone?)

Greta – 7 Natural 20 w/flail (one ball), 6 natural 20 w/healing

Popos – Natural 20 w/spell

Kenny – Natural 20 w/door breaking

Tempest – Natural 20 w/spell, Natural 20 w/Mace

Morya – Natural 20 on save, 3 Natural 20 w/broadsword

Kia – Natural 20 with Mace

There was a growing sentiment amongst members of the party that to be vanquished by a few oversized spiders, and particularly, to be vanquished during a quest for a few stray rats, was not a fortuitous way to begin an association. Hence, in the interests of getting off to a better footing, it would be necessary to pretend that that original, failed footstep, had never been taken at all. Meaning? A return to the sewers of Karash.

Armed with a variety of flammable oils and other assorted sundries, Greta, Poppos, Kenny, Tempest, Morya and Kia, began their descent into the fetid bowels of the city. At first, everything seemed to be going better than par per their experience. There were no spiders, no surprises, and not a rat of which to speak. Yet, over a dozen hours later, they were concerned that those fetid city bowels were not the vermin-infested bowels they had been warned to expect. What good was hunting rats when it looked like the Hamline Piper couldn’t charm any out of these sewers. When their tally slates were finally compared, they realized that fifteen hours of travel and several hundred yards of descent had netted them nothing more than a half-starved, six inch rat who simply hadn’t been able to run away fast enough. Kenny felt their mission required them to press on, and after a hasty vote, press on they did—they pressed on right until Greta and Kenny tumbled through a tunnel floor comprised of loose mortar and stone, sliding down several hundred yards of rough, semi-vertical chute to land with a bloody splash in a small, water-filled cavern.

Kenny hauled Greta’s unconscious body above the water line, and communicated with the rest of the party, far above, about the best way to reunite them. Finally, it was agreed that Tempest should lower himself down on several ropes, attach a pinion to a weakened point on the wall, reel in the rope, drop it again, and then descend further. But on his first descent, his rope was mysteriously cut and he tumbled down the chute to Kenny’s and Greta’s location.

Not one to be left behind, Poppos hung off the edge and dropped down as well. Soon the rest of the party followed him. While waiting in the room for a number of unconscious members to awaken, Kenny searched the bottom of the pool the party was standing in and discovered a number of coins and two gems (617 gp, 10000 tp, 7500 cp, 1800 sp, 1326 ep, 50 pp, 3 mp, 2 gems (100 gp and 2250 gp) – no xp, party is maxed out) and some strange ice patches. (Present tense switch!) Kenny pries at one of the ice patches with a disposable? sword, and it gives way, dropping all the water in the room, as well as the entire floor, into an ice-filled cavern below. Water rushes downward from four tunnels around the upper cavern, forming waterfalls into the lower level, where the water rushes out from four similar tunnels into unplumbed depths below. Soon a sound like the mewing of sick sheep begins to fill the caverns, and the party hurries down the northwestern tunnel to hide, worrying that the more weakened of their party are not up for a fight.

While hurrying down the tunnel, the party sees a seething wall of black churning toward them, filling the whole width of the tunnel. Several arrows disappear into the thick of it, and when the party realizes it is a fleeing wall of rats, they throw as much burning oil as they can find, and hide beneath whatever articles they have available. The rats continue to churn by, biting and scratching -- behind them comes a blue and green toad, a large rat sticking out the side of its mouth. The toad seems to feel that rats aren’t the only thing in the tunnel that might be palatable, and a fight ensues as the party attempts to kill not only the first frog, but three others converging on them from both ends of the tunnel. The frogs flick with their tongues and breath extremely frigid air, and a number of the party go down. Poppos summons several giant centipedes (none more than a foot long), and they paralyze several of the frogs, but the frogs keep up a furious assault. In the end, only Poppos is standing, even his centipedes devoured by the frogs.

Morya is the first to awake, and attempts to cut open a frog, only to expose its cold sack and render herself unconscious again. Then Tempest awakes, and when he and Poppos hear a noise approaching, they bundle everyone (‘s body) off into the lower cavern, away from the noise. Appearing at the mouth of the tunnel they were just in is an enormous demon with a cat-o-ten-tails and a flaming sword. Carefully looking about, the demon picks up a toad, takes a few bites, flings it back into the water, and then wanders back down the tunnel. Tempest and Poppos courageously cower behind a rock and glower at him as he walks away.

In the lower cavern, the party discovers the frogs accumulated treasure, including 15 gems (6575 gp total), 1000 cp, 6000 sp, a gold ring (810 gp), a silver bracelet (80 gp) and a silver bracelet (100 gp) (no xp, party maxed out).

When the party awakens, they take the cold sacks and eyes from the frogs, and set up camp so as to regain some vitality. However, while camping, they are set upon by four giant weasels. They bring down three of them, and one flees upon the death of his friends, but not before Morya and Greta perish from vicious weasel bites. Brunt skins the weasels for their pelts. The remaining party members decide it might be best to simply get out of the sewers before any more surprises occur. They set out down the original tunnel where they met the cold toad. Yet, not much further along they see an entryway, beyond which lies vast mountains, over eighty miles away, where fiery souls are raining to the ground. Clearly, this is an entrance to hell! (apparently hell is close to the surface in Karash). A voluptuous, half-clad, woman with a tail, horns, and a very large sword (this must be D&D, if only she had an elf slave!) is standing outside the entrance. She gestures to Brunt to come to her side. He goes. And before Kenny can leap into hell after him, the entryway closes, separating the party once again.

The party carefully examines the sheer rock face that was once the entryway to hell, and then decides to camp for the night as long as their tunnel has become a defensible alley. An hour later, a misshapen demon emerges from the wall, walks past their makeshift camp, and journeys on. Then an hour later, another demon. This continues all night, and in the morning, the party decides to follow one of the demons for lack of a better plan. The demon (‘hordling’ to clerics in the know) leads them down a different tunnel, and up a spiraling set of steep stairs toward a well. Looking upward, they can see, threw a shimmering pane of water, a man throwing in a coin. As the coin hits the water, the demon they are trailing leaps upward and enters him. The man looks startled for a single moment, and then wanders off, a devilish smile upon his face. The party hurries upward, and as they emerge, they emerge into the water of the well, the stairs disappearing beneath them and forcing them to swim/climb over the stone walls.

The majority of the party (sans Brunt) go to Adventure Shop Art’s to sell the various things they have found, netting 10,000 gp for the collection of eyes and 5,000 gp each for the cold sacks (no xp, maxed). A healer at Uller’s temple tells them he cannot raise Morya and Greta as their souls are captive "somewhere over on 6^th street". The party hurries to 6^th Street and finds that, suspiciously, it is the location of Wickham’s Whoreage, and whoever was there with the souls has finished his/her business and gone. Brunt talks to his erstwhile companion at the establishment and determines that Brunt has been there and left. Unable to find him, the party decides to train. While training, Kenny sees Brunt and asks him about the souls of Morya and Greta. Brunt indeed has them, in a bottle whose interior exists in the very center of Hell. They take the souls to the priest of Uller who is able to resurrect Greta and Morya by shooting their souls back into them with arrows.

Training continues for 6.2 weeks (now individuals can earn more experience!)

The party decides that Karash is a wicked place, contrary to their best interests, and elects to take a job as guards for a ship full of pipeweed being transported to the mainland. On their fourth day out to sea, they are set upon by a lot of scurvy, hobbit pirates (argh!). The pirates’ catapult disables their ship, but the hand-to-hand battle is not nearly so lopsided. The pirate captain is held by Poppos. Kia befriends the fire-breathing parrot, a pet of the pirate captain. And a strained battle results in the capture of 7 out of 8 of the crewmen.

Petey the Parrot now belongs to Kia: 3 HD (30 hp), AC5. Bite 1d6, claw 1d4, claw 1d4, screech > save at +1 or stunned for 1d4 OR (if none of those used) breath fire for 2d6, save for half damage. Understands attack command already.

The ship is thoroughly searched and reveals a cargo of pipeweed and a number of items in the captain’s room, including a scroll for growing pipeweed magically (6^th level conjure/summon – written in hobbit magical language), a wand, a pair of glasses, 16000 sp, 18000 gp, a silver ring, a gold bracelet, a silver bracelet, an emerald torque and 9 gems. Also, on the pirates themselves, the party finds 60 gp, 2 suits of leather, 2 shields, 4 suits of chain, another suit of chain, a bow, a sword, and bracers. Inside the captain’s room, the party also discovers an enchanting young hobbitess they knock unconscious, concerned she is yet another enemy.

The party discusses the situation with the hobbit captain who hired them as guards. He sets terms at he gets: 1/3 of cargo, the pirates (sans woman) for execution, the sails from the pirate ship to replace his own, and no guard fee from the party. The party, with some argument, agrees to the terms.

XP:

Capture 7 of 8 pirates: 15000 xp

Pirate Captain: 25,000

Petey the Parrot (Kia’s): 5000 xp

Treasure: 20,000 xp

Greta – 7 Natural 20 w/flail (one ball), 6 natural 20 w/healing, 5 natural 20 w/spell, 1 natural 20 w/save

Popos – 2 natural 20 w/spell

Kenny – Natural 20 w/door breaking, 2 natural 20 w/bow, 6 natural 20 w/sword (long)

Tempest – Natural 20 w/spell, Natural 20 w/Mace, Natural 20 w/save

Morya – Natural 20 on save, 4 Natural 20 w/broadsword

Kia – Natural 20 with Mace

Date: 5/23/3199