Player’s Present: HK-58, Atamar, Zimb, Veth, Frek, Michaela
NPC’s: Tayron and his band of ringwalkers, Ingo, Ango, and another meatbag
Ran by Andy
Submitted by HK-58

The City Gazer sent us in the direction of the tower to aid in the assault. As we approached the cordon of the raven’s bluff that the tower had appeared in we observed its immense size and strange design. It was located on a massive chunk of land floating 50 ft into the air. The tower itself was made of a solid black marble with veins of silver and gold flecked across its surface. Below the mass of land, we found more city gazers and semi-intelligent meatbags. They told us that we would be flying up to investigate the tower and find out what it is doing here. They gave my inept companions sorcery of flight so that they could join me in the skies as we ascended towards the tower. As we landed and approached the doors we were met by a group of ringwalkers lead my the daftest of them all Tayron. He claimed to be here for the treasures that may lie within the tower. He, of course, offers to help us with the door but it opened with a simple phrase of open and the ringwalkers dashed inside like a pack of roosters after a unicorn.We enter after them only to find an angry Hyrda and the tail end of those scoundrels rushing through a nearby door. We did battle with the Hydra meatbag dispatching it quickly taking some damage in the process. After the meatbag falls lifeless we find that the ringwalkers path is barred from us and thus we choose the path to the north that leads into a hall where a great battle must have taken place as the room is torn to shreds. Bodies litter the floor but we still hear the telling sounds of life emanating from a nearby torn banner. Moving the banner uncovers a tiny female meatbag who immediately recoils in fear from me as if I was a monster. I leave my companions to deal with the tiny meatbag and begin inspecting the bodies around us. After some conversation with the tiny meatbag, she then begins to call me a trashcan, the same way as that Addle-Cove empty brain brute. My companions then find another meatbag named Ongo who tells us that this tower comes from the astral plane and is being seiged by githyanki and githzerai after they found of this towers now deceased masters love of experimenting on them. After this enlightenment and learning of the dangers of the tower, we take the survivors and some of Ongo’s kin back with us finding the ringwalkers sadly alive and breathing as well.
We are then tasked with going and getting rest by the city gazers as we have a mission to take out the summoning defense system of the tower to stop the tide of evil meatbags into the raven’s bluff. Before we leave the meatbag Ongo and his brethren offer to sell us some magical items one of which I received being a magnificent ring of truth. The other meatbag Atamar managed to get some strange ugly hunk of metal that he wouldn’t take off. The small meatbag veth received a rod and broke out into horrid song in excitement he wouldn’t stop till we took him to see a divine meatbag at which point he relinquished the rod quickly wrapping it in a cloth and placing it in his bag.

Exp: 1250
Loot:Jim got a braclet of facination i got a ring delussion(truth) Veth got a rod of singing

Player’s Present: HK-58, Atamar, Zimb, Veth, Frek, Michaela
NPC’s: 2 Short Meatbags 1 of which had hairy feet
Ran by Andy
Submitted by HK-58

HK-58 Data Log 00000002
After staying a night in the fortress of the Menagerie of Midnight I learned 2 things of their world. These strange meatbags leave themselves defenseless and fall unconscious at nighttime and their physical memory bank is completely disorganized. I don’t understand how they find the logs they need and their Log keeper meatbag became very infuriated when I tried to correct the disorder. Even with my logical explanation of the disorder and my plan to fix it they would not allow it. One day I will get the Menagerie of MIdnight in order and perfection but it will be a long and arduous battle.

Our next mission began the same as the last just before the star rose into the sky. We were tasked with clearing out some savage meatbags from a building of respite known as the Apple of a Faerie Dragon’s Eye. As we arrived at the location we could only hear screams and the noises of what seemed like 100 small meatbags shuffling about filling the building and the sounds of combat from the second floor. As we approached the door a short hairy-footed meatbag fell from the window above us. He exclaimed that he must keep fighting the small meatbags that he called Kobolds. They seemed similar to our own tiny meatbag but less intelligent than him. THe hairy-footed meatbag mentioned there were meatbags in danger so I kicked in the door to begin the killing of these small evil meatbags only to realize that there was no one to rescue down here. I decided to fly up to the window where the hairy-footed meatbag fell from to find the small evil meatbags trying to drag a female meatbag away. This must have been one of the meatbags in danger so I sprung into action. It was a hard battle to get into the window as the small meatbags seemed to have no end in numbers but I fought my way in and seeing my full might they began to retreat out of the doorway. The building, seeming to be clear of small meatbags, was ours now and we searched around to find one who claimed to be the relative of the hairy-footed meatbag. After explaining how he became trapped here by the small meatbags he set a strange stone spinning around my being. As we left the house of respite it seemed that one of my meatbag companions had become infatuated with one of the small meatbags. They had been enemies before but this one now seemed docile and harmless so there was no need to send it to reincarnation with its brethren. The female meatbag who was captured by the small meatbags seemed to have disappeared when they fled but I can only assume she managed to get away as the small meatbags entered very small holes as they fled that she could not have fit through.

The regal meatbag we had met before arrived as we were leaving and told us our skills were needed to clear a blockage in the underground. We find the beginning of the path he gave us and descend into the chaotic labyrinth of the bowels of the Raven’s Bluff. On our way down me and one of the meatbags fell into the muck and she seemed to be afflicted with some bodily ailment. We followed the path the regal meatbag gave us and find the blockage we must clear. As we approached the blockage some large waste abomination seeped out of the blockage and approached waving it’s two large tentacles threateningly. It charged forward at us grabbing our female meatbag who had become sick earlier and nearly killing them. Seeing our meatbag was in danger I stepped forward and felled the filthy abomination in one blow cleaving its soul in 2 so that it may not even be reincarnated. As I cleaned the abominations blood from my blade the other meatbags found a pair of gauntlets inside of the blockage. Me and the female meatbag than removing the blockage flooding the corridor with the blood of the raven’s bluff. This sickens even more of my meatbag compatriots as we journey out of the bowels of the Raven’s Bluff to the surface. We are then greeted once more by a city gazer who tells us of a mission to attack a strange tower outside of the city to which we all agree to partake in. Before we head towards the tower one of the meatbags from yesterday approaches us and tells us our doomclocks mine being something about acidic compounds not working as well against me if this tower attack goes in our favor.

Loot: Cerulean Blue Rhomboid that gives freedom of movement(Atamar)
Bracers of Quickened strike- To a warrior gives improved initiative to anyone else they are bracers of armor 5(Vethihenic)
Mallet of Luck2 deals 4d4 points of damage and if you keep the damage you get a plus 2 against attack rolls and saving throws(Michaela)
Exp: 1250

Player’s Present:HK-58, Veth, Atamar, Frek, Zimb, Pim, Michaela
NPC’s: Warhawk Starson, Faldor Lockeheart Look alike
Ran by Andy
Submitted By HK-58

HK-58 Data Log 00000001
My time in this realm has been short and chaotic. It doesn’t seem as if there is an order to what goes on around me here or an order to what these meat bags do with their every move. After our long day today, my first-day of aiding this Menagerie of Midnight, they mentioned collecting data of the day so that it may be reviewed later in something called a journal. I had not heard of such a thing outside of a data log, thus I corrected their error and told them that I can make a data log as an example for them. Their data logs are very unorganized and out of order. They right them starting at one end and going to the other leaving a complete unbalance in the log even upon completion. After review of the Log, they gave me as an example I showed them the proper way to make a data log. You start at the very center of the Logbook and right outward keeping the log in perfect balance at all times. They had looks of awe and wonderment at what I had shown them my perfectly balanced form must have left those silly meatbags dumbstruck and unable to speak as they read it. Even that semi-intelligent meatbag had no words for my impeccable form. But of course, i must start on the other events of this day of battle and chaos.

Our day had begun before the great star had risen in the sky. The meatbags seemed to not enjoy being there though I cannot see why. The only one who seemed to be engrossed in delight was the semi-intelligent one. He asked us all to introduce ourselves but did so in an unorderly fashion that puzzled me. Even worse we were interrupted by explosions coming from nearby to which we approached the origin of rapidly. The scene was one of pure unorderly chaos. There were around 30 meatbags big and small all engaging in combat. Some seemed to be protecting a nearby sanctum for the semi-intelligent ones of the Raven’s Bluff and thus must have been allies of some sort. I rushed in, to aid them, slaying 4 large meatbags single-handedly and bringing the battle to a fast close. A regal meatbag who I had seen in the combat greeted us and told us of the situation he seemed to be a meatbag of order which impressed me greatly after dealing with the chaos of these lesser meatbags. He told us that there was some form of attack on the Raven’s Bluff and that we must aid in its defense. As he rushed away to his other business we heard noises coming from the semi-intelligent ones haunt. We entered promptly to find 2 meatbags being assaulted by a gaggle of small meatbags. We rushed forward in their defense but as the final small meatbag fell it was too late there life water had drained and they were likely being reborn as the lesser beings of this world as we speak. We, of course, had no time to fret over the loss of these meatbags and continued on following the sounds of combat.

We heard screams coming from a nearby building and a small meatbag told us of his elder meatbag being in trouble in the building that screams and combat emanated from. We entered it through a window to find an elder meatbag being attacked by small green meatbags. Yet again the chaos of combat opened up again to me as I fought my way through to the elder meatbag who the small one said needed rescuing. The other meatbags and I dispatched the small green meatbags and saved the elder meatbag from reincarnation. The small meatbag approached the meatbag of balance who seemed to be the only one of these meatbags who had any semblance of true order in this chaotic world and gave him a fur covered token in the shape of what the meatbags call a bear. As we left the elder and small meatbag one the city gazers approached us and told us we must head to the monastery district of the Raven’s Bluff. Upon our arrival there we met a few strange meatbags who seemed to be selling their arts though one of them seemed to be a complete addle-cove who had absolutely no order it was almost disgusting to see. After a time passed in this area, a city gazer approached us and told us what we must do the next day and directing us to take our repose till the time came for our mission.

1250xp
Loot: Huggable bear-his huggable, lovable stuffed magical bear is made of white ermine. It sports an onyx nose, sapphire eyes, and is stuffed with owlbear down.During the slumber hours, this small bear radiates a sphere of protection in a radius of 3 yards. The sphere keeps invading forces from entering the mind of any sleeping person. ESP and mind Arcane Formula for a Dracolich affecting spells, including psionics, do not work on any subjects sleeping within the bear’s domain. The stuffed animal also prevents those in its area of effect from suffering bad dreams. Because of the restful nature of sleep while slumbering near the bear, hit points are restored at twice the normal rate. (Khad)
Long Sword Nine lives Stealer +2 (HK-58)
Rabbits foot (Zimb)

Players Present:Clearice Eilif, Dalarn mac Conloch Runeaxe, Morrin Telemnar, Mok the Powerful Wizard, Omegasun, Pimfire Tyndal, Xavier Cross
NPC’s:Lord Blacktree
Player’s Left Early: Pimfire
Run By Andy
Submitted by Clearice

After we found the grave of the Dwarven King and founder of the Brightswords we set our sights on the final tunnel. After walking down the tunnel a little ways we found an alcove full of supplies that we decided to stop and investigate. I decided magical assistance may help and thusly I used my sacred oils to obtain true sight. What I didn’t expect to find was Drow hanging from the ceiling and gathering outside of the tunnel. I yelled an alert to everyone just as they began descending from the ceiling and shooting there poisoned crossbows at us. They had the element of surprise and they used it well injuring us severely though we made a valiant fight to survive. They afflicted me with a powerful confusion causing me to be useless for the battle and nearly getting the rest of my friends killed. Morrin managed to stop the Drow casters onslaught with a stinking cloud but the damage had been done even as warriors fell. We fought off them off but nearly died in the process. After healing as much as possible Mok decided to blow the tunnel further down and we returned to Raven’s Deep to make our final report bringing the drow corpses with us.
.
After making our report Lord Blacktree tasks us with investigating the Dragon pool that we had visited twice before. A whole group had disappeared from there and a prisoner escape was suspected. We accepted and headed towards the Cave. Upon our arrival, all seemed normal for only a moment before all hell broke loose. There were goblins and Orks as well as slimes and a priest of Jublex duking it out above and below us. It was a Chaos on the scale of 5 armies battling in a confined space. Me and Mok focused on the Priest and his slimes while Omega rallied the Orks to kill the other armies. After summoning a few elementals me and Mok were victorious over the Jublex Priest. Omega and his hoard destroyed the Other armies leaving us to report to Lord Blacktree what had happened at the battle of the 5 Armies. He was very impressed with our performance even offering for us to work in the under dark for the next 6 months which we all accepted. I hope that Mok had a plan for our absence though. He mentioned he had it covered but the city won’t defend itself…

EXP:13150
Loot:Loot:a drowen cloak of elvenkind x8, drowen boots of elvenkind x8 (4 taken by party)
Drowen Buckler 2 x8, Drowen Chain +1 x8 Drowen Short swords +2 x8 Hand crosbow x8(5 taken by the party)
Exilir of Anti magic value 5000 (Mok)
philtir of water elemental form (Xavier)
for ten minutes the imbiber is able to turn into a 12-HD water elemental. It takes one minute to change from one form to another. No immunities are given, but the special attacks are granted. The hit points and armor class of the imbiber do not change. Value 3,000 gp
Figurine of Acid Resistance – 100. Activate this figurine, and it prevents acid 100 for 1d6 rounds (Omega)
2 potions of Cure Critical 1x Mok 1x Dalarn
Bladeback Mace +1 This mace has a blade coming out of it along one side (Treasury)
it can be blunt or slashing damage
it requires its own profieciency
it does 1d82 (+1 for being magical)
and it was forged in the abyss
so in the astral it is +2
in the outer planes it is +3
that means +1 more for being magical

Player’s Present:Clearice Eilif, Morrin Telemnar, Mok the Powerful Wizard, Omegasun, Pimfire Tyndal, Xavier Cross, Dalarn Runeaxe
NPC’s: Drow Priestess
Run by Andy
Submitted by Clearice

I don’t know what happened after the whispers from that awful creature took control I just remember reading to kill Mok and then it was Mok, Morrin, and Dalarn who were trying to kill the rest of us. It was so awful having to see such violence from family with the intent to kill you. I tried my best to keep everyone from dying but they wouldn’t stop fighting so I took it upon myself to put a stop to Mok since he was the biggest threat. After he and Morrin were knocked out they seemed to have been restored to normal not before Shadow nearly killed Mok though if I hadn’t been there he surely would have died… As we gained our bearings and recovered from that horrid experience I examined one of the sverfneblin we managed to capture and found that he was barely alive and had no semblance consciousness in his being. I called upon my healing abilities and managed to bring that spark back to him but his body and mind will most certainly have to recover before he will awake. As this occurred Dusk seemed to have found a shining jewel in the skulls of the drow who had the brain bugs inside of them. We collected them wondering if they had some form of control magic infused into them. After much debate, we decide to take our prisoner back to Raven’s Deep and rest there for the night.

In the morning we continued our mission and headed back to the tunnels this time choosing the other far tunnel that emanated a strong magic aura. As we entered this tunnel we ran into a multitude of traps even one that seemed to illuminate our magic items. At the end of the tunnel past the traps, we finally arrived at misty portal which much to my dismay we had to step through to find out what lied beyond.Inside it seemed almost like someones home and were even greeted by frightened shrieks from some gnomes hiding in the room saying they must tell their master of the visitors. As they try to run off a female Drow elf steps through the door bearing the emblems of Lloth. She greets us turning the gnomes to blue liquid telling us they were simulacrum that went awry. She informed us of her hate for her own kind and that she would be interested in trading with us for her wares she produces. We decline as we don’t have much to trade so we decide to trade information instead. We tell her that we are exploring the area and intern she tells us of the tunnels nearby identifying the one with those great friends horrible creatures as a food cave. She didn’t have much else in the way of information on these caves but told us that a few drow cities do exist somewhat close by. We then decide to bid her farewell promising to keep her location a secret as to not cause conflict with her. after the trek back through the traps we make it to the right arm tunnel which is quiet but holds a great treasure. In this tunnel lies the resting place of house Gemsplitter, The family who first founded clan Brghtsword long ago. we decided it would be best to leave it untouched and allow clan Brightsword to investigate it.

Loot:
•A fiery oriental topaz
•A golden yellow topaz
•A white piece of jade
A violet crystal garnet
•A pale blue-green aquamarine
•A Deep Red garnet

Player’s Present: Mok, Morrin Telemnar, Pimfire Tyndal, Xavier Cross, Omega, Dalarn
NPC’s: Lord Blacktree, Drow Priestess
Run By: Andy
Player’s Missing:
Submitted By: Pimfire

Dear Journal,

There I stood terrified of my friend’s betrayal as they came back into the cavern throwing fireballs around. I realized then what those creatures where as a sermon by one of my professors from college came back on the Underdark and its Denizens that these must be intellect devourers. These creatures can take over someone’s body and compel others to do their bidding.

Finally feeling a need to use a powerful artifact of a Unicorn that we liberated from a Deep Dragon Lair the first time we came down I attempted to summon its power and got nowhere. It seems it will only work on the surface or in a massive cavern. Giving up on that I followed Dalarn who came charging through the tunnel I was hiding in as he searched for the intellect devourers responsible for Mok’s turning against us. He caught up to them and I watched as his axe cleaved into their tiny brain bodies splattering them all over the cavern floor.

Heading back to see if the others are okay there was some invisible wall preventing us from reaching Mok. Riding Omega I climbed up and over the wall to help Clearice revive, the fallen only to have one of the Svirfneblin attack me. After a brief struggle, I am proud to say I subdued him as Clearice inspected and attempted to heal him only to have him slump back into unconsciousness. She assures me he will be fine now but it may take a long time for it to come back around and recover from its ordeal. Dusk notices some strange gems in the heads of the drow controlled by those creatures and we collect them all.

We decide to head back to the guard post and from there back to Raven’s Deep to deliver up the two surviving svirfneblin in the hopes they eventually can offer up some help or information. Mok wants to head down the tunnel with the magical aura and given last time his choice turned him against the party I wished to try a different tunnel. Finally giving into Tymora I tossed a coin with the condition if it lands on edge then fine will agree with Mok and sure enough Tymora stood that coin right on its edge so several hours later we found ourselves heading back and exploring the tunnel that seems to be exuding a powerful magical aura.

Turns out this tunnel is heavily trapped by a Drow Priestess who wishes to just be left alone from her own brethren and work on her magical experiments. Mok was the only one who could really speak with her at first until she cast a spell allowing her to speak common. She offers to trade with us powerful items she has made but only in exchange for large sums of gold and magical items from the surface of which we had none to freely trade at this time. With promises to keep her secret I marked on my map this tunnel is dangerous with fey magic traps but has nothing of value and should just be ignored by those in Raven’s Deep. Before we left she informs us that where we encountered those intellect devourers harvesting roots for food she has encountered and killed an Illithid down that way.

Down the right arm that moves upwards and is a bit slippery, we discovered what appeared to be the tomb of first Dwarven King to clan Brightsword. Respecting their history, we check to make sure no one has disturbed the place, note it down on the map and head on to explore the last remaining tunnel in this area.

---

Rewards not awarded yet just picked up on this adventure.

A fiery oriental topaz
A golden yellow topaz
A white piece of jade
A violet crystal garnet
A pale blue-green aquamarine
A Deep Red garnet

Players Present:Clearice Eilif, Morrin Telemnar, Mok the Powerful Wizard, Omegasun, Pimfire Tyndal, Xavier Cross, Dalarn Runeaxe
NPC’s: Lord Blacktree
Run By Andy
Submitted by Clearice

We find ourselves walking down this now familiar trail down into the Earth so deep and dark it’s almost soul devouring. We now approach the camp known as Ravens Deep the only beacon of light in this oppressive darkness. We have been summoned again to this foul land to aid in the search of that fabled sphere. We, of course, meet up with Lord Blacktree to get the specifics of our mission into the dark expanse. He tells us we are to scout out into the nearby tunnels that have been found recently known as the tunnels of man. It sounds simple enough the men who found them have heard noises from one, felt immense magic from another, one that’s quite, and finally, one that has scared off the guards who get near it giving them a sense of something bad going on down it. We were to scout these tunnels out and find what lies within, but we did not know the horrors we would find. The journey started out steady enough only going wrong when Pimfire crawled into a crevice only to come out covered in a black slime that seemed to be of acidic nature destroying some of his equipment.

We did eventually make it to the atrium leading to the dark mission before us. We chose that the furthest tunnel would be best first but it was a mistake that will haunt me and likely the others whether they care to admit it or not. This tunnel seemed normal enough opening up into a large room full of Drow, Dueregar, and Sverfneblin gathering some strange white roots from the cavern walls. Of course, they turned upon our entrance looking for a fight it would have seemed but none of had noticed the look in their eyes that seemed almost dead inside. After a large number of them had fallen to our blades the horror began. The drow who had fallen began to shudder and quake after they should have been dead moments ago. As we looked on in horror the drow’s skulls began to split and burst as an evil malefic friends being the likes of which we had never seen. It looked like a cross between a malformed brain and some creature having burst from the brain. These wonderful friends horrid creatures attacked us with some unknown ability that turned us against each other making us hurt our fiends friends as if they were our most hated enemy. Even now I fell there whispers pulling at my sanity…….

Player’s Present: Mok, Morrin Telemnar, Pimfire Tyndal, Xavier Cross, Omega, Dalarn
NPC’s: Lord Blacktree, Conrad,
Run By: Andy
Player’s Missing: Xavier was several minutes late but notified us in advance prior to start
Submitted By: Pimfire

Dear Journal,

Lord Blacktree summons us once more into the Underdark, so soon after Amuka’s safe return, I worry about leaving her for the couple of weeks this journey may take but I entrust Grink and the rest of our staff with her care and safekeeping.

Upon our way, we helped some people, as is our wont to do. When we arrived at Ravens Deep, we met with Lord Blacktree where we watch a dwarf from clan Brightsword hand him a map. Upon this map, it outlines a new area of exploration called “Passages of Man”. Here the clan has found several ancient artifacts of theirs and we are to be on the lookout for any more such items for we are to deliver any we find to Clan Brightsword.

As we leave his chambers and set out from Raven’s Deep we can see more of the work that has progressed since our last visit. There is a fresh water pond they’ve built with works set to eventually fuel it via a natural waterfall rather then magical summoning. There is a mushroom/fungus farm set up to help feed the people and supplement their food supply. We are informed by one worker we pass that they’ve tried to get fish to live in the freshwater pond but no fish from the surface seems to live long in the darkness. Realizing that we might be able to help out if we were to bring back some Underdark fish I ask Omega about a fishbowl he acquired a few weeks ago but he tells me that he gave it up to the midwife of a pregnant woman the fish were intended for. I argue back that she only needed the fish not the bowl they came in and after a while, we realize some guards have come up the tunnel we are heading down.

One of the guards named Conrad informs us of Clan Brightsword finding a Rod of Might that was excavated from the Passages of Man chamber. Dalarn offers the thirst guards some water from his waterskin and waves me over with the map to see if we are on the right path. After we part ways and continue on for a bit we all notice a light shining from a 3 foot crack in the wall where a side tunnel seems to double back a ways. Being the only one who could fit I turn invisible and enter the crack to find a couple vials and a medallion laying on the ground. A moment later my vision turns dark as a dark ooze drips from the ceiling down onto me. Screaming as I can feel it burns Omega reaches in and pulls me back out. The gang proceeds to damage the ooze on me but not before another one drops on Omega as well. Finally realizing the potential for destruction it may have upon my arms and armor I use a newfound ability to give myself protection from the ooze which then slithers off me and onto Dalarn. We finally destroy the two oozes but not before it’s reduced a couple of my magical items powers and going so far as to break my headband even cracking it in two. I cautiously head back into the crack in the wall, grab the couple items and see there are gemstones embedded on the wall. We take the time to pull them out and examine them to realize while they look like Emeralds they aren’t actually emeralds. Not sure what they are we tuck them away and continue on after Mok unleashes a blast of fire to scour the area clear of any remaining ooze.

We reach the Passage of Man chamber with no more incidents and meet the guards set to hold the position. I inform them of our encounter and advise them to be wary of any more oozes in the tunnel leading back to Ravens Deep. The guards bring us up to speed on the scouting of the branches leading from the chamber. They refer to the shape of the tunnels as if they were made in the shape of a man with this very chamber being it’s head.

The right arm passage is very quiet and with no encounters after traveling 500 yards down it.

The left arm passage has a strange sound that no one is able to locate it.

The left leg has something clearly going on but they are not sure why other than a strange feeling they get when they approach it.

The right leg they can feel a strong magic coming from but never explored it.

We give them our password for when we safely return as “Fahrvergnügen” and head down to explore the left leg as Mok is concerned over the use of the terms something going on and wants to stop whatever it may be quickly. I advise him and the rest of the gang that doing so could leave our backs exposed to the Right and Left arm passages and whatever may be making the noises but to no avail.

As we head down the left leg passage we encounter an open area filled with Duergar, Svirfneblin, Orcs and Drow all of which appear to be mining the walls in some sort of stupor daze. Mok steps forth and they immediately cease their mining to focus on our presence in a clearly hostile way, yet they move sluggishly as though not aware of their own doing. Mok screams out not to kill the Svirfneblin who may not be evil but kill the rest! We engage them and try and stay true to Mok’s idea. They are easily put down and don’t appear to be of much threat to seasoned adventurer’s such as ourselves. That is when a parasite climbed out of one of the fallen Drow’s ear and attacks Mok. Each drow seemed to have one as they fell it crawled free to attack us.

These strange parasites have some sort of mind power and are able to control or influence nearby humanoids and creatures as one controls Shadow to turn upon the crowd. Dalarn falls under their power and attacks Mok, later Mok comes out of a tunnel and unleashes several fireballs upon the rest of us clearly now in their control as is Morrin who does the same. Fearing for my own safety as this fight is turning dangerous with no more parasites that I can see and only friendly faces now turned against us I turn invisible and flee to a side tunnel to regroup my thoughts.

---

Rewards not awarded yet just picked up so far in our journey

Elixir of Anti-Magic
Philter of Water Elemental Form
60 gems looks like emeralds worth 5d10 each
Medallion (magical unidentified)

Players Present:Clearice Eilif, Morrin Telemnar, Omegasun, Pimfire Tyndal, Xavier Cross, Dalarn Runeaxe
NPC’s: The Triad, Alassra Shentrantra Silverhand (The Symbol)
Run By Joe
Submitted by Clearice

Last Night Mok told us he knew how we could find the triad and for us to meet him down in the meeting hall in the morning so he could tell us what he found. I awoke and went about my usual morning routine but the library time was interceded by a book on thavian torture techniques. As I came down to see the others already in the Hall, besides Xavier of course who was shadowing me in the library again acting as if he was enthralled in a book on finances. As I came down they were answering a knock at the door revealing a dwarf with a box. He introduces himself as Dalarn Runeaxe and was sent by Mok with a message in this box. He hands it to us and the message reads as such,
Dear friends,

I’m so sorry I can’t be with you this day. I’ve sent this honorable Dwarf to aid you as I can not. Dalarn is a good man and you’ll need his help. Trust in him as you would me. Now, onto business.

I’ve learned much about the young whelps that have taunted us for so long. To my dismay, I now know the true power behind their machinations.

These mages are much more than they seem. These foolish children are the servants of the Mistress of the Night. If they are not stopped the Nightsinger will use the Great Machine to flood all of Faerûn with the Shadow Weave. I can’t even begin to imagine the catastrophe that would follow.

As for me. By now I’m in the hands of the Triad. This was unavoidable. A sacrifice had to be made and I would never have asked it of any of you. It was the only way she could find them. It was the only way she could make you a door.

Dalarn – May your forefathers guide your axes this day.
Xavier – Only threw blind courage can one truly see.
Omegasun – I normally dislike your superstitious nature but today I hope you embrace it.
Clearice – Please keep my family alive. That includes you.
Pimfire – If someone tells you not to do something it probably means you should.
Morrin – Thanks to the Goddess I was able to prepare for my inevitable capture. The contents of this box is for you. This veil contains all of my magic, my essence, perhaps my very soul. I didn’t want the Nightsinger to corrupt it so I leave it in your care. Trust in the Lady of Mysteries. You’ll know what to do and when to use it.

Well, that’s it. If we don’t meet again know that it has been my privilege to have been your brother. May the Goddess always shine on you.

Blood & Kisses,
Mok

As Morrin pulls out the vial that Mok spoke of in his message a brilliant globe of light materializes behind Dalarn. We all turn away to avoid being blinded and as the light dies out we turn to see none other than Alassra Shentrantra Silverhand, otherwise known as The Symbol. To have such a living legend standing out in front of us was quite a shock especially after learning of Mok’s dire circumstance. She does greet us though telling us she knows of us all and that she is here to aid one of Mystra’s children. She tells us we we be going to a place near the resting place of the abominable shadow weave. This means that magic, of course, will most likely not work as the shadow weave is the source of power there. She aslso tells Xavier that his companion bow would suffocate and die in such a perverted realm. She grabs Mister pointy telling us he will be the key to getting us to the realm of shadow. As she readies her spell time seems to freeze around me and Alassra approaches me asking if I am ready to take on this task for our friend and for Mystra. Of course, i could never leave an ally to die especially at the hands of those dreaded triad members. She embraces me telling me that my positive energy will still have an effect in such a realm as that of shadow. Time returns to me and Alassra begins weaving magic into a gate to the realm of shadow.

As we step through the portal we find ourselves on what seemed to be a metal hallway with only the portal behind us. We cautiously walk down the hallway to a large intersection with a tower looming straight up with thavian markings on the door. We decide to head inside which leads to another large hallway thought this on clearly leads into a lab. This lab is populated by around 10 clones of Rena of the Triad. She sees us and begins spewing out some nonsense about how inferior we are to her and that we should surrender and how great she is, but I didn’t care what she had to say and we just engaged in combat. The Rena’s begin casting magic at us but as I try to identify it I nearly puke from the perversion of magic that they dared cast. These copies then began to multiply spewing out of the vats on the giant machine. As they began to fill the room we cut them down but not fast enough. Omega fought his way up to the control panel and pulled a switch causing a copy of Mok to come out of the middle vat. This also stopped the rest of the vats but this Mok was very hostile and looking to kill us. Omega smashes most of the Vats in the next few moments but the Mok teleports away and keeps blasting us til Dalarn knocks him unconscious. we clean up the Rena’s and follow the pipes to a back room with a naked Mok and a naked Rena floating in Vats of their own. We break the vats and take Rena as a prisoner and wake up Mok who doesn’t recognize us. We decide we can’t allow this machine to keep existing so we destroy it not before I take notes on its function though.

We return to the intersection outside and are approached by a little robot nome named MEED. As he calls us trash multiple times we get out of him that he is a repairman for this realm and that we find the rest of the triad in a light place in the ceiling and in a room down to the right that looks like a giant machine. We decide on the room to the right as we can not rightly figure out how to get up to the light in the ceiling. as we head there we drop off Rena and try to drop off Mok through our entrance portal but Alassra sends Mok back through. So we shrug and trudge on to the door.

We enter through the Machine door and find we are now standing on a large watch face surrounded by ethereal looking viewers as if in a colosseum. Suddenly Quinto of the Triad, The bastard who poisoned me, appears larger than life(translucent as the rest as well) challenging us to defeat his champions The Brother’s Grim. He offers that if we beat them then he will give himself up to us. As he finishes his proposal not giving us much choice to large men with tower shields begin turning solid before us. They move in near perfect synchronization blocking our attacks with each other’s shields made of adamantine. Pim gave us the right idea by suggesting breaking the floor to kill them being it was glass after all. I called forth the raw inert magic inside of myself to cast shatter upon the glass causing them to fall into the cogs of the watch mechanism halting it from moving. I have my doubt that those two were even human as their movements were unreal in terms of precision and they were riveted into their armor as well. After they were defeated Quinto approached being led by translucent guards and for whatever reason expected to be treated nicely with handcuffs and a hug but I instead beat him into unconsciousness and tied him up like a hog finding 3 potions on him as well.

We entered once again out into the intersection but this time we saw the peculiar sight of mechanical dog creatures running erratically past us. They must have been the collector dogs MEED had mentioned earlier. We dropped off the bloodied and beaten Quinto through the portal and headed towards the light in the sky. As we approach the area beneath it we find a control panel set atop a strange brass cog. we stand atop the cog and flip a switch. As Steam spews out below us the cog rises towards the light. We enter the light to find we are no longer in the realm of shadows as before but in a frozen wasteland with the 3rd triad member standing on a platform in the distance surrounded by a lake of ice. Upon seeing such a wretched being who was the final of the foul members of the triad the raw magic potential boils up inside of me as my hand raises calling forth a pillar of divine fury on the platform engulfing the dragon worshiper. To my dismay, she was not the only occupant of the platform. Appearing behind the triad member was a large white dragon and inside of its hulking and very much undead rib cage was Amuka. A pit of dread built up in my stomach as I realized what I had done to poor Amuka. She was burned but clinging to life inside of the beast as it flew down to attack us. Omegasun and the others made short work of the dragon but as it fell we hear a booming voice scolding us for what we had done and telling us we knew nothing of what we just did. Flying down out of the sky is a colossal skeletal dragon who the menagerie had actually done battle with once before. It tells us we just killed its son and proceeds to breathe out a blizzard onto the ice lake we stood upon. The blizzard is harsh and blinding as we try to gain our bearings and escape the sky terror before us. As hope is fleeting the roar of the blizzard is drowned out by the sound of breaking glass. The Blizzard clears immediately as coils of raw magical power as brilliant as the stained glass in my now ruined home church begin streaming into us and our magical items. As we feel the magic recharging us we turn to see Mok, now as his usual self, eyes burning with silver fire raise his arms to the terror above us and blast the raw silver fire of Mystra into the fiendish dragon shattering its skeletal wings. As he recoils from the raw magic channeled through him Mok collapses and doesnt appear to even be breathing. The dragon now enraged after being grounded has not time to react as Morrin pulls out a peculiar pyramid pulsating with forgotten power. In that moment i had blinked only for a second but when my eyes opened again Omegasun, Dalarn and Morrin were surrounding the dragon Morrin assuming his familiar gargoyle form and the dragon sparkling faintly. I also feel as if I am moving much faster than before as they begin wailing on the grounded dragon. As they fight on Pimfire disappears after grabbing amuka from the first undead dragon. Seeing that Mok had stopped breathing I couldn’t allow a friend of mine to die if I could do something to stop it. I channeled my divine powers of healing and in a flash brought Mok back from the brink of the abyss. Mok springs up and helps us in our battle. We all fought valiantly against the dragon scourge its mighty bite nearly killed Morrin and Pimfire with impunity. I cast a mighty Blade Barrier trapping the beast between my allies. As the dragon panicked it tried to teleport out of the blade barrier and only ended up in the perfect place for my Divine Fury to snap its spine and drive it into the ground. As the dragon crumpled it let out a choked few words," This isnt the end…". As we gained our bearings after the hard won battle we collected our trophies from the beast. We then gather up for my healing ability and we head out and back to the portal. As we walk through we are greeted by the Symbol once more who hands Pim a box and tells him to throw it through the portal. He does so and she closes the portal behind us. She then asks us what we plan to do with these prisoners as Mystra would love to pass judgment on them for what they have done. We give them to Mystra and Alassra proceeds to kill the destroy their bodies and their souls thanking us for the help in the matter of bringing them to justice. She then gives me the poison to cure my curse with and heals our allies of their feeble mind and providing us a blessing from Mystra for our service. She then bids us farewell as she has other matters to attend to in her land.

Each chooses 1 gift – Knowledge, Power, or Magic.
Knowledge – 1 Feat of Choice or 10 Skill Points
Power – +1 Inherent Primary Stat point and +1 Inherent Secondary Stat point
Magic – Ability to cast 3 0 and 2 1st level and 1 2nd level Wizard spells per day plus Int bonus if they have any.

Pim-Magic
Morrin-Magic
Omega-Power
Dalarn-Power
xavier-Power
Clearice-knowledge(1 Feat)

EXP-10,000

Player’s Present: Morrin Telemnar, Pimfire Tyndal, Xavier Cross, Omega, Dalarn
NPC’s: Alassra Shentrantra Silverhand, Reena the Red, MEEM (Motorized Electronic Examination Machine), Quinto Milinal, Brothers Grimm, Dragonlord Kroskas
Run By: Mok
Player’s Missing: None
Submitted By: Pimfire

Dear Journal,

Amuka is safe and it is all thanks to Mok and the help of the rest of the Midnight Menagerie. Her safe return home began with a letter from Mok asking us all to be ready to leave in a moments notice early one morning. I was pacing the floor when a knock at our keep door brought to our attention a dwarf by the name of Dalarn. He carried a box for us from Mok, inside was a letter and a strange vial. Upon reading the letter to the rest of the group, it seemed Mok had made a sacrifice for information as to the whereabouts of the Triad. His note went on to instruct each of with a special piece of advice and the vial was to be entrusted to Morrin for use at a later time. The same letter also encouraged us to accept Dalarn on our journey.

Suddenly a flash spins us around and standing in our main hall is a striking woman by the name of Alassra Shentrantra Silverhand. Immediately Omega tries to put the moves on her but showing off Dolly, which she says she is very much aware of. While she informs us why she is here everything goes quiet and still. She speaks to me only it seems and draws out a promise to save the Child of Mystra, Destroy a machine which is capable of spreading the Shadowweave throughout our realm and punish those who would attempt such an act. With my assurances that I will do all in my power she kiss me a single kiss on the cheek and tells me that where I am going my bardic powers will function for the next 24 hours. Suddenly time speeds up again and everyone is moving as normal. I am left wondering if it was all my imagination or real but the warmth of her lips on my cheek tell me I did not dream that moment. We are informed that magic does not work where we are going at least not easily or properly. With that a gateway appears.

As we rush through the gate we are transported to a realm I have never seen the like of, and I’ve been to the Abyss and Celestial realms. Looking upwards about 200ft. is a metal roof of some type but off in the distance is a roadway as far as we can see. In front of us is a tower with the Symbol of Thay on the single door in it. Alassra was right about our magic as we feel our magically enchanted gear suddenly get heavier and lose their abilities.
We approach and enter the tower in front of us and down a corridor we come to a room brightly lit with strange vats and tubes all over. There appears to be a dozen Reena’s throughout the room and they notice us as we approach. She starts babbling but in my rage I ignore her and immediately open fire. As we defeat a several more Reena’s step out of the Vats, I scream to destroy those vats, while Omega focuses on some levers. After awhile of fiddling with the levers instead of multiple Reena’s a single Mok steps forth from a vat. Meanwhile with dark energies flying around the room the rest of the gang focuses on destroying Reena’s. Omega tries to reason with Mok at first but it becomes obvious with several Fireballs that isn’t really Mok and with a concentrated effort we take him down. Omega meanwhile starts smashing vats until eventually it stops working. He then finishes smashing the rest of the vats and levers and in a chamber behind it all we find the real Mok and Reena inside vats. We free them and tie up Reena, Mok is brought back to awareness or some sort of amnesia state. We shove Reena through the portal upon leaving the tower and try and return Mok but he gets sent back by the lady Alassra it seems he will be needed.

A strange encounter with a clockwork gnome called MEEM (Motorized Electronic Examination Machine), who has no sense of humor, leads us down the road to another building similar to the first. As we enter and head down its corridor walls close in behind us and push us forward until we are standing in a strange arena whose surface seems to be made of glass with cogs turning below our feet. All the people and guards in the stand are translucent, that is you can see through them, They are obviously of Zhentarium based upon clothing and armor. A translucent Quinto Milinal appears in the center of the ring and informs us that we are to put on a gladiatorial show for the crowd, if we win he will become our prisoner and we will gain the release of Dusk and Shadow whom he’s captured but if we lose well they will die along with us. He introduces us to the Brothers Grimm whom we are to fight, they are heavily armored and step in unison side by side.

I realize immediately the device down below is a machine I was charged to destroy and given our surface we could break the glass and watch them drop through while we stay safe. Everyone ignores my advice at first but after a while as Omega and Dalarn swing at them unable to land a blow for each time they try to hit one the other Brother puts his shield out to block the incoming blow. Finally they listen and everyone starts smashing the ground around the Brothers Grimm but it was Clearice who suddenly manages to cast a spell to shatter the glass plummeting the two down below where the gears ground them up like wheat being ground to flour. With that Quinto appears solidly, congratulates us, releases Dusk and Shadow from captivity and offers himself up as our prisoner. Clearice walks right up to his smiling face and with a mighty right hook slugs him in the face knocking him unconscious.

We tie him up and return Quinto through the portal to be held prisoner by our guards. My thoughts went into a daze as I feared I would never see Amuka alive again despite our efforts at saving Dusk, Shadow and Mok. The next thing I recall is we are standing huddled on a lifting device as Omega again messes with some levers. We are thrust upwards toward the ceiling to appear inside another dimension, this one with a frozen lake and rocky shores. Standing about 100 feet away from the lift is a small island in the frozen pond with Dragonlord Kroskas standing there. Clearice wastes no time and pulls a powerful gout of flame out of the sky down upon her head before she can speak. With a cry of anguish a suddenly visible and outlined in the flames is a large undead dragon and inside is Amuka screaming in fire and pain! My heart lurches and a force inside me wills her to not be harmed as I scream out AMUKA!!! The gang rushed towards the undead Dragon intent on getting Amuka free while Clearice is crying over and over again that she’s sorry. With a final blow Omega smashes the dragons skull collapsing it.

Then as Amuka screams for us to free her we hear the powerful flapping of wings and witness the arrival of an ancient undead white dragon, a mighty Draco-Lich has arrived. It’s ghostly voice booms out “How Dare You Kill My Son!” and with one great invisible breath from long gone lungs a blizzard is unleashed. Floundering around in it I reach out towards my daughters hand still trapped inside the “baby?” undead dragon. With a great crack Morrin took out that vial given to him that morning by Mok and shatters it on the ground, with it’s breaking the blizzard instantly stops as all the snow falls straight to the ground. Suddenly Mok’s voice rings out “Not today!” and he shoots a powerful bolt of lightning which takes the Draco-Lich from the sky as it crashes to the ground nearby. Mok then falls down to the ground unconscious but the Draco-Lich rises up on its hind legs. With that same cracking of the vial our magic returns, I reach out grab my daughters hand, look back to the group and say “Sorry but I have to.” And dimension door me and her to a safe point behind some rocky pillars.

Morrin pulls out a strange pyramid device, fiddles with it, and suddenly time lurches as Morrin, Omega and Dalarn surround the great undead wyrm, it also unleashed several spells of power as I can feel my speed increased. I extract a promise from Amuka to stay in hiding and then rejoin my comrades against this ancient evil. Up close I saw metal plates welded to its bone structure which would account for its toughness as we all struggled to shatter its bones to pieces. Morrin had transformed into a Gargoyle but this foul undead still seemed to recognize him as its chilling voice rang out “I recognize you” and proceeded to grip him in its maw and unleash a blast of cold upon him. Barely standing Morrin managed to fight back against his tormentor. Dalarn bellows out Mystra’s name and grows dramatically in size and proceeds to slam into Draco-Lich. Omega repeatedly rages against the toes and ankles. I suddenly get it’s attention as it grabs me once in its maw and I feel its terrible breath just Like Morrin did, I am left struggling to survive but survive I do knowing that Amuka’s life depends on us defeating this Monstrosity. . Clearice summons a blade barrier to rip apart the sinew and bones which it does not like as Mok revived by Clearice after feinting unleashes a magical torrent upon its back. Not liking the punishment as its armor plates start falling off its bone structure the monstrosity teleports closer to Mok only to have Clearice call down a pillar of fire to shatter its spinal column. As its eye socket lights grow dim we can hear it say “This isn’t over.”

The gang rushes to the giant bone dragon and quickly break off several pieces while I look for my daughter. Suddenly Dalarn channels some energy into the skull shattering it as the rest of the body turns to dust and is blown away. We return back to the portal knowing that Dragonlord Kroskas body after getting blasted by fire, dropped upon by a massive undead dragon and then shredded by Clearice’s blade barrier will never be brought back again except through some sort of divine means.

As we step through the portal, Alassra greets us and hands me a box, and tells me to throw it in the portal, as I throw it through tiny green creatures climb out of the box and scramble into the portal closing the portal behind. Many of us figure those must have been gremlins who are renowned for living inside machines and destroying them. Alassra wishes our two captives to be turned over to see Mystra’s Justice. We agree and as I watched in fascination and perverse pleasure she sucked out their souls into rubies, utterly destroyed the bodies and then shattered the gems destroying their souls so they can never be a problem to us or anyone again.

Pleased with our destruction of the mechanical threat from the Shadowweave, the return of the child of Mystra (Mok) and our subsequent handing over 2 of the trouble makers for Mystra’s judgement she offers us each a choice of Power, Knowledge or Magic and with our choice came some strange understand of new found abilities. She then leaves as suddenly as she arrived and I stand there with Amuka’s arms wrapped around my waist and one of my arms draped around her shoulders.

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Dear Journal,

Several days later after her safe return home I am still worried for her, every night she wakes up screaming in terror, I know it has to do with what happened while she was captive to the Triad. I hold her in my arms and quiet her down and spend most nights in her room watching over her. Lucky for me I don’t require much sleep thanks to a ring I wear but I wonder if she will ever get over this and move past her torment. Each day I take her down to visit friends of hers at the orphanage or through the markets to be entertained by jugglers and story tellers, she even comes along to a few of the nicer taverns I perform in throughout the city. Still she holds a deep pain quiet I know inside her heart and only time will tell how it will affect her or if she will shake off its effects and move on.

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Rewards

XP 10,000

Pimfire – Magic (gain ability to cast 3 0-level spells, 2 1-level spells, 1 2-level spells per day as spell like abilities plus Int bonus if they have any)
Clearice – Knowledge (1 feat of choice)
Morrin – Magic (gain ability to cast 3 0-level spells, 2 1-level spells, 1 2-level spells per day as spell like abilities plus Int bonus if they have any)
Omega – Power (plus 1 to primary and secondary inherent bonus stats)
Xavier – Power (plus 1 to primary and secondary inherent bonus stats)
Dalarn – Power (plus 1 to primary and secondary inherent bonus stats)

Clearice – Ancient White Draco-Lich Horn
Omega – Ancient White Draco-Lich Tooth
Xavier – Ancient White Draco-Lich Bone for making bow

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Hero Points Spent / Already accounted for / think this is correct not 100% certain of count

Pimfire – 3 (haste + Amuka alive + Me Live)
Clearice – 4 (Shatter + Flamestrike + Blast through SR 2 times)
Mok – 2 (pass SR two times)
Morrin – 1 (survive dragon bite and breathe)
Xavier – 1