Reclamation 21

The party members still in Astarra’s kingdom (Baylinn, Darrack, Minos, and Gak) met Marika, who had spent the last 500+ years as a stone statue. Previously, she was aligned with the Goddess of Faith, Jaren, and fought in the divine armies. Marika was now meant to lead Baylinn’s armies into the battle between the gods and primordials.
The party rode the spectral eagles back to Shieldhome and reunited with Venn, Vallo, and Foechuckle. They discussed what to do next. In the end, they decided to go free the Gargoyle King, as his armies could provide much-needed air support, and he was the closest.

They flew to a clearing, where they found three statues. Each was a human woman – one young, one middle aged, and one old. All three held their hands out as if to demand an offering.

Marika took these to be the Fates and suggested thread. Minos offered a piece of thread to the youngest one, and the oldest came to life and attacked. They battled, and as Minos dealt the final blow, the statue crumbled, only to be replaced by the same still statue in her original place. They decided the offering should be bigger and go to the oldest first. A gold coin to each, and they pointed behind them to a portal.
The party went through the portal to find a collapsing spire. It was unusual, as even though it was collapsing, the pieces kept appearing where they started, and so it just fell and fell, and the building wasn’t in ruins.

They walked around it and found the entrance, avoiding falling rubble as best they could, though everyone took some damage. In the next section, they found three monsters. Once Vallo killed one, they all disappeared.

In the third section, they had to avoid some sort of mechanical weapons, including spinning blades and booby traps. They made it through, but not without setbacks and damage.

The fourth section was filled with suspended glass orbs that hummed. Minos announced himself loudly: “I AM MINOS!” – and the orbs emitted screeching, headache-inducing sounds. The party – Marika and Gak in particular – barely escaped this chamber, and only because of a well-timed teleport spell.
After they cleared this section of the maze, they found themselves in a cave area with several deep pits. There was a circular raised center on which a mummified biped stood frozen. In one area was what looked like a wizard, with bookshelves and four game tables. Everyone sat down to play but Marika, who knew that intelligence wasn’t her strong suit.

They played for several rounds, winning some and losing others. The wizard became angry when Vallo tried to cheat, and a fight ensued. In the end, the wizard fled through a portal.

The party inspected the raised circle and figure in the center of the cave and found an opening for a key, then found a key among the wizard’s bookshelves. Minos inserted the key, and the Gargoyle King was freed. Minos talked with him.
The party realized they could not return the way they had come. They decided to go through the portal to the Feywild, as the Shadowfell was the only other option.

Reclamation 20

Retcon: Instead of leaving for the Gargoyle King’s domain, the party decided to stay the night in the Frenzied Prince’s city.

As they watched him, they realized that the Frenzied Prince moved faster than anyone they had ever seen. He had a spear made of energy, but in every other way, he appeared as an average hobgoblin. They talked with him about his curse, to live in an average body. He had been granted to live for hundreds of years, but he knew that he would grow old and die. He was all right with it, but he didn’t know what would happen to him when he died, since he was not a natural creature. He was curious to see what would become of him.

He explained that when the gods fell, the fallen kings had gone into hiding to gather their forces for the great final battle. No one knew how long it would be – as it turns out, it had been 500 years so far. The things that had happened after the curse weren’t supposed to happen, such as Liliandra waking up to find herself cursed to live as the Queen of Air and Darkness underground. They didn’t know what had cursed them. There could have been an interruption or taint to the gods’ curse – there may have been a traitor, or perhaps it was a primordial who had tampered with the curse.

The Damned Queen, he told them, had been the most powerful, by far, of all the generals, due to her nature as the angel of faith. Next after her in power was the angel of hope.

As he talked with them, he seemed to blur as he also moved about and talked and interacted simultaneously with others who needed his attention. Minos told him that he wanted to undo the hold that the Damned Queen had over Baylinn.

The Frenzied Prince went into a trance and said to Baylinn, “You also bear a part of the curse, and yours will be the hardest to bear.” When he came out of the trance, he did not remember having spoken.

They talked about the nature of the world, how it could be changed and improved but not returned to exactly the way it used to be. The Frenzied Prince told Baylinn that all you can ever do is be your best today.

They went to find some food at the military-like commissary and noticed that they were being followed by a small hobgoblin. When Minos asked what he wanted, he identified himself as Gak, a follower of Skar. He told them that Skar answered his prayers and granted him strength and that he was here to follow the follower of Skar, Minos. Minos let him stay and eat dinner with them. He told them that he was raised in a village where everyone followed the gods, but then orcs attacked and killed his family, so he prayed to Skar for help, and Skar strengthened him to fight back. He told them that his village was not far – he had walked here – but that everyone from the village was gone now.

After dinner, Baylinn spent time studying her rune of truth. She learned that she could manipulate truth – not as in lying, but as in using truth to learn more about items and people. She could pick up an object or touch a person to learn more about their history. However, if the item or person turned out to be evil or cursed, this could hurt her physically or even curse her. Also, she had the ability to augment her zone or truth.

With this new knowledge, Baylinn found Minos and Gak and asked if she could “read” Gak. Minos asked Gak to take part, and he did. Baylinn had him hold out his hand, which she touched, and she was able to see into his life and even step into certain scenes of it. She saw that he was 580 years old – not 50 years old, as he believed – and that he had been a 9 year old child when the village was overrun by orcs. Skar had indeed heard his prayer and strengthened him, and he had killed 15 orcs on his own, even though he was a runty child who had always been picked on. He had a spark of the divine in him, something similar to what the chosen had, but stronger – he had more faith.

He was aware of the gods’ deaths, but they did not shake him. He was a cleric, here to follow and protect Minos first and the party secondarily. Baylinn witnessed a scene where Skar and Jaren, the goddess of faith, gave him this task and a piece of themselves, along with Loenna, goddess of hope, who also assigned him the task, though she did not give him a gift.

Gak seemed nonplussed by this experience. Baylinn conveyed the information to Minos, though she waited until Gak had walked away to tell Minos how old the hobgoblin actually was.

After this, Minos wrote a letter to the Horned King to update him on the situation and asked the Frenzied Prince to see that it was delivered.

They made the decision that they would next journey to the Damned Queen to deal with her once and for all. They spoke to the others about this risky move, and it was decided that Baylinn, Minos, Gak, and Darrack would make the journey. In the morning, Baylinn summoned spectral eagles to carry them over the mountains. It would be a two-day journey.

On the first day, they stopped in Shieldhome. Baylinn could not imagine what in the world had compelled her to leave the first time without further investigating the creepy duchess – Darrack had probably put some horrible runepriest spell on her or hit her in the head and threw her in a sack, or something, is my best guess. Anyway, in a victory for all that is good and right and noble in the universe, they ended up back in Shieldhome with nobody to stop them from being, you know, good-aligned this time.

They found the city in the midst of repairs and on lockdown. Joh the dwarf met them at the gate; when they asked, he told them that the duke was about the same as before. He reluctantly granted permission for one of them to go in and see him.

Baylinn went in and found identical twin guards – one blonde, one dark haired – standing before him. She reminded him of Minos’ visit and asked a few questions. He repeated that his son was in danger and told her that he had been attacked – stabbed – in his own home. The guards turned him slightly so that she could see the wound, but they told her it might have been a cut from a fall, rather than a stab wound.

The duchess came barging in, angry. Baylinn tried to talk her down sweetly, offering the help of Gak, but when Gak entered, the duchess was even more enraged, having a bias against hobgoblins. Baylinn eventually wearied of being nice, told off the duchess, and stormed out in a great rage.

She was not about to give up, though. She and the others asked around for a tavern where the castle guards might go in their off hours and ended up at the Blue Hippogriff Tavern. Minos had Gak find a secluded spot and stay put so that he would not cause a distraction. Then Minos shouted out a toast to the castle guard, buying a round of drinks for them all, which easily identified them for Baylinn.

She and Darrack made their way over to two dwarven guards and struck up a conversation. They confirmed much of what they already knew – that the duke was mysteriously ill; that no one liked the duchess. They learned that there were two sons and that the first was the duke’s son only, the second the son of the duke and duchess together. One of the guards was Joh’s cousin and recommended talking further to him when Baylinn asked how to sneak into the castle.

Minos bought a keg of the finest ale for Joh and sent a messenger boy to fetch him. Darrack was delighted to have something good to drink. When Joh arrived, he provided more details. He explained that the duke and duchess had married for political reasons, as they had brought their two households together in power. He also added that the duke’s son was safe, taken away to a secret location by the guards. As for the duchess, he thought there was something strange about her, but he needed proof. All the houses in Shieldhome mint their own coins, he said. Coins from the house that had been used to pay for the poison would be strong evidence.

Minos asked where they should look for evidence, and Joh recommended they go to Pusbottom, a section of the city where the criminal element tended to be. He told them to ask for Vareth.

They arrived in Pusbottom and went to the Black Cauldron. At first, people denied knowing Vareth, but at length, they encountered a gorgeous vampire woman in leather pants who strode through as if she owned the place, apparently intimidating people on purpose. She offered to negotiate with them and led them to a back room.

Minos offered her money for the truth about the duke and promised that he would leave Vareth’s name out of it. They bantered a bit, and finally she agreed to the deal. She told them to wait 15 minutes and then returned with a box.  She told them that it contained the information that they needed, as well as a gift from Vareth, to use as they saw fit.

She then told Minos that it was nice to see him again. When he was unclear on what she meant, she reminded him – she was the vampire they had encountered in the caves, the one who had controlled him and made him throw his axe in the corner. He replied that these were much nicer circumstances, and he was pleased that she had improved her lifestyle. She agreed. As they parted ways, he seemed more than pleased to have seen her again.

When they opened the box, they found three things: a sealed letter; a small vial; and a set of three coins. Minos opened the letter and found that it was addressed to him. It said, “I have been contacted by some of your agents. I did some searching. Please find a gift below.” There was a map showing more parts of the world, as well as a dossier onSardis, the Warlord.

The vial contained the poison used on the duke, and the coins were the payment used for the poison. Darrack checked the poison and determined that it had to be ingested.

They went back to Joh with what they had found, leaving Vareth’s name out of it. Joh took the evidence, along with the party, to the law, the impartial court able to judge. The duchess was resentful and insisted that it was all circumstantial.

Baylinn spoke up, offering to create a zone of truth to determine what had really happened. There was controversy over whether to listen to her, but then a dark haired, mustachioed man agreed to her plan, and everyone seemed to listen to him.

Baylinn cast her zone of truth (which makes an annoying humming noise like a power generator, just so you know) and they asked her a few questions to get to heart of whether she had committed the crime. Though she had not done it directly, they were able to get her confession that she had planned the crime, throwing the room into an uproar and causing her immediate arrest. Her household would now be diminished, they learned.

The party was thanked. After everyone had filed out, the mustache man said, “Most impressive.”

They spoke with him briefly. His name was Arith Cardillon, and he was the ruler of the First House there in Shieldhome. There was something interesting about him – Baylinn could sense that he was as powerful as a fallen king, but he would not stay and talk with them further.

They went back to see the duke. Only the light haired guard remained, as the other had been part of the duchess’ household. A young boy – Rufus, the duke’s son – was there. The duke told him to be strong and good, because people are depending on you.

Then he told the party, “I can’t thank you enough,” and he faded away. They realized they had been talking to his ghost the whole time – the duke had died weeks or months ago and had only stayed to watch over his son until he was safe.

Minos offered his alliance to Rufus, who was very poised and trained and offered Shieldhome’s alliance in return.

That night when she went to bed, Baylinn checked her shoulder where the Damned Queen had marked her. The mark was growing larger and getting worse.

Minos sent a letter to Selena, the vampire woman, inviting her to join his war council. She arrived at his window that night but would not come in. They talked about the council, and she gave him a ring that would identify him as a friend of hers. He told her to mention that she was an ally of Minos the warmaster to gain acceptance within his circles. She then turned into a mist and floated away.

The next day, Baylinn summoned the spectral eagles again, and the four left for the Damned Queen’s realm. As they approached, they came upon a gray mist that hung in the air, so they landed and began to walk. They approached a village and saw grungy humans working in fields under the watch of undead. They saw no other races.

Minos approached and found an emissary of the queen who directed them to theBonePalace, where the Damned Queen resided. They continued on their way, passing other villages, surprised that so many people lived here. They passed only humans and undead.

They arrived at a temple constructed of bones. Vampires lounged on the stairs, staring at them as they ascended. Inside, they approached 12-foot guardians who they thought at first were constructs, but then they saw the figures move to strike a ghoul that tried to enter the throne room. They approached and were permitted entrance.

Inside, smaller versions of these guardians lined the walls. They peeled off in pairs and aligned themselves behind the party – 60 pair in all, following in a row as they approached the throne. The room was dim, and the party was like a spotlight inside it. They were aware of creature moving about in the darkness at the edges of the room.

They approached a throne made of bones. There was a figure on the throne – an amazingly beautiful vampire woman, and beside her some humans in chains, as well as some huge wolf creatures.

She greeted Baylinn, pointing out that she hadn’t called for her. She snarled at Darrack, looked without much interest at Gak, who was equally uninterested in her, and mentioned Minos’ “love letters” to him. He formally apologized for the aggressive letters that he had sent. She responded that, for his apology, she would not kill him right away.

Then she turned her focus entirely to Baylinn, shutting out the others, and turned deadly serious, demanding to know why she was here. Baylinn replied that the last time they had spoken (back at the healing house), she had be able to focus on and talk about only the 500 year period that she had been the Damned Queen. Baylinn wanted to show her the period before that, when she had been the angel of faith, to show her that she was under a curse.

The Damned Queen became angry and asked if Baylinn dared to come here thinking that she could teach her something. Baylinn responded that she wanted to show her what she already knew. She showed the runes on her arm and explained that she wished to cast the rune of truth upon the Damned Queen to show her the truth.

The Damned Queen became furious and froze the entire party where they stood so that no one could move or speak. She moved to Darrack and taunted him, telling him that she knew about the favor he owed to Zizzix and that she had bought it, so now he owed her. She asked him how he had gone into debt, and he said that it was over a riddle, so she asked if he would like to earn his way out over a riddle. He agreed, and she asked him to tell her how old she was.

He replied that she was as old as humanity, because she had come into being when faith had come into being, and faith was as old as humankind. She considered his answer and was pleased with it, so she told him that the bargain was nullified. However, she took his hammer, commented on how remarkable it was, and carried it back to the throne and set it down beside her.

She turned her attention back to Baylinn, asking if she would give her life for her friends. Baylinn said yes, without hesitation. Baylinn heard a voice in her head, whispering, “The way to defeat her is simple.” The Damned Queen asked her what she planned to do now. Baylinn could speak but could not move. She wanted to cast her rune of truth, but she didn’t know what she to say. Bewildered and out of ideas, she waited too long, wracking her brain desperately, and the Damned Queen became furious again and cast a bolt of energy to destroy her. The party looked on, unable to save her.

Out of the shadows, a figure leapt in front of Baylinn to protect her. It was Alek. The energy struck him, and he fell against Baylinn as she and the others were unfrozen. He said to her, “You saved me. Now I save you.” Then he vanished.

Baylinn saw her mother and goddess, Omi, appear beside her, looking weary, ill, and old. She said, “This will be the hardest for you.” Baylinn grabbed her hand, then turned to the Damned Queen and shouted, “I bring you the truth!” and cast her rune of truth upon her.

The rest of the party only saw Baylinn. They saw something rush out of her and strike the Damned Queen, who howled and writhed as a black coil rose out of her. Finally, the Damned Queen disappeared and Baylinn pitched over onto the floor, and left behind was a massive, evil cloud of undead souls.

Minos, Darrack, and Gak fought the cloud. It enveloped Minos and Darrack; Minos teleported out of it repeatedly, while Darrack had to fight it from inside (much to his disgust).

Meanwhile, Baylinn awoke in a beautiful glade. She found herself with Astarra (formerly the Damned Queen), now restored to her true form, a shining eladrin in armor. Astarra gave her a restorative potion and told her that there was much work to do. Next, Baylinn say Alek approaching. He thanked her and told her goodbye, but she stopped him and told him that she wanted to give him his whole life back. He told her that it was not up to her and that it was now his time to go. She told him that she wished she could have defeated the Damned Queen without his having to die – she wished she had done better. He told her that she did perfectly. She hugged him, and he smiled at him, then faded away.

Back in the throne room, the others succeeded in killing the soul cloud. Darrack staggered out, choking and coughing and highly annoyed. They heard clapping and giggling and turned to see a female dark elf lounging on the throne. She asked, “Did you like my little pet?”

Minos wanted to attack, but Darrack, still catching his breath, was quick to take a more diplomatic route. He asked her name, and she said, “Umbralla.” He asked why she had attacked, and she replied that she hadn’t – they had attacked her pet. He replied that it was self defense and suggested that it was all a misunderstanding and no further fighting was necessary.

Suddenly, Astarra appeared behind Umbralla and speared her through the back. Umbralla cried out, “This isn’t over!” and vanished. (NOTE: I think I got that right – I didn’t write down exactly what she said, but I think it was approximately that, and I think she disappeared instead of dying. It’s a pretty big deal if I’m wrong, so let me know.)

Across the room, Baylinn awoke. The palace around them transformed into a beautiful stone, and vampires and ghouls changed into eladrin and knights, though the humans remained human. Baylinn found herself with a severe headache and an empty feeling.

Minos went to check on Baylinn and had Gak examine her for injuries. Determining that she had a headache, he offered her beer.

Astarra blew a note on a horn, and activity began all around the palace, restoring the kingdom to life. Minos approached her to talk about what she could now remember. She remembered falling to earth. She could not prove that the gods’ curse had been sabotaged, but she suspected that it might have been. It could have been done by a primordial or even a powerful mortal.

She then approached Baylinn and told her she was very sorry. Baylinn asked exactly what had happened, and Astarra explained that in saving her, Baylinn had given up her divinity – she was now just a human. And Omi, in helping her, had died. Astarra told her that there would be another hard choice to face the party.

Baylinn had a silvery tattoo on her shoulder and arm in place of where the Damned Queen’s mark had been, and her hair was now blonde.

 Knights and humans were approaching and entering the palace, and a few drew near to Astarra and Baylinn. Astarra said, “They’re here for you. These are your followers – your army.” One of the humans approached Baylinn and presented her with a battle standard.

Baylinn told him that Omi had just died and that she herself had lost her divinity – she wasn’t sure that there was anything left to follow. He replied that truth never dies and that as long as she carried the standard, people would rally to her wherever she went.

Minos raised a cheer to Baylinn, and everyone in the hall, humans and eladrin and all, joined in. Baylinn looked around at everyone shouting her name and pounding their shields – and broke down in tears, overwhelmed by everything that had happened.

Minos rushed her away and had her put to bed, with Gak watching over her. Business went on in the palace, and Minos went back and talked to Astarra further about the war effort. She told him that she had archers, eladrin, cavalry, and magical support that she could lend to the cause. She looked at the crystal that the mindflayer had given him and confirmed that it could power some of the tower defenses but not all.

As activities wound down for the night, Minos suggested a party to celebrate the kingdom’s newfound freedom, but the serious-minded people of the realm were not much interested in joining him.

Reclamation 19

Some of the slaves that had come out of the pen were from Underdark races. As they came to, some of them started fighting with each other. Mostly, though, they just started running away.

A mage went to the portal and started working to deactivate it. Minos asked Baylinn to help him, and she set to work to do so. Darrack performed first aid on the people in the cage.

Minos collected the main mindflayer’s head to take back to the queen. The other humans were tending to the one who had beheaded the mindflayer and rushing to leave – one of them said, “We need to get the king out of here.” Minos gave them a healing potion and asked who he was. They explained that he was the king of Ilsar. Minos offered to see them back to Haven, and they agreed.

There were some genasi in the cage. They looked confused about what to do. There were also some drow – they were unusually tall and extremely calm.

Minos went to the cage, considered the genasi, and seeing that one was gravely wounded, gave them a healing potion and told them to leave, stating that it was dishonorable to attack a wounded enemy in a cage. They accepted the potion and said, “Earth Bloods never forget a kindness.”

Venn approached and asked if they were from Gor’s tribe. The wounded genasi replied that he was Gor. Venn told them that he had been searching out their people, and they discussed human/genasi relations. Gor gave Venn a symbol of the tribe, telling him that they didn’t believe in the Warlord or his claim to power and that he didn’t follow the genasi customs. He told Venn that he could send a message through the totem and that they had the Earth Bloods’ support, but that there was only so much that they would do.

The drow told them that their master had an interest in the party and in some of the captives, specifically the genasi, as well as the human king. Then they walked away, becoming insubstantial.

Baylinn and the other mage deactivated the portal, and the mage scarred it so that it would be difficult for others to use later. The party then headed to the main room to investigate before heading back to the queen.

They found a giant mindflayer there; he seemed to be a cross-breed with something else. He said, “Very impressive.” He introduced himself as Morthos. As Minos and Baylinn questioned him, he explained that he was part mindflayer, part demon. He said he didn’t know the queen, and he wasn’t making a move to attack them.

They debated whether he was the mindflayer that they were meant to behead and what they should do. Finally, Minos asked him to leave this plane forever, and they would not interfere with it. (NOTE: I did not take very good notes here; I don’t recall the whole conversation and whether that was the exact wording of the deal.) In the end, the mindflayer agreed, and it went through a portal, which shut down behind it. But before it went, it told them that it was leaving a gift for them.

Left behind was what looked like a piece of ice. It seemed to be a power source. They could tell that it was tied to elemental magic; like the gem that they encountered some time ago that was linked to anger, this one was linked to lack of compassion. Baylinn was adamant that they should not take it, and Minos was adamant that they should. At length, Baylinn acquiesced, on the condition that she carry it. She tied it in a bag. They also discovered some ritual books around the mindflayers’ cavern.

On the way back to the queen, Baylinn asked Alek about the nature of thralldom. He remembered being burned up and remade by the Damned Queen, but he did not like to talk about it. She realized that this was not like mindflayer thralldom, simple mind control.

Minos talked to the human king. He had been tricked and lured in by the mindflayers. He pledged his people in support of the war effort. Minos introduced himself as the warlord for the humans. The king explained that his power was in his magical sword, which has been passed down through his family.

Minos mentioned White Spear, and the king was surprised, as hobgoblins had traditionally been unfriendly, but he respected them.

Darrack led everyone out of the caverns and back through the cave network until they found The First where they had left him. The humans were nervous about The First, but their king seemed openminded.

Venn asked some questions about the tall drow that they had seen. The First explained that they came from ancient lines, as The First and the other tall elves did.

The party went to the queen and gave her the head of the mindflayer. They also told her about the mindflayer/demon hybrid, and Baylinn poured the ice power source out of the bag to show her. When she did, it stood on end. Baylinn declared that she didn’t want it.

The queen commented that it could power just about anything, including the Towers of Defense, 18 towers built for the 18 gods. Baylinn reluctantly agreed that if it was important to the mission and the queen advised them to keep it, then Minos should take it and just keep it away from her.

Under the queen’s throne was a tear of Aerin, which she gave to them; Minos became the keeper of the tears, taking the first from Darrack to carry them both together.

Before they turned to go, Baylinn asked the queen for advice on how to restore Alek from his thrall state. The queen pointed out that Baylinn was currently his master, so she should just release him herself.

Baylinn turned to Alek and said, “I release you.” When she did, she saw something pass over his face, like a weight lifting off of him. He thanked her, and he told her that he would watch over her. She told him goodbye, and he vanished.

The queen gave an amulet to Minos to call for her help. He reiterated his promise to break her curse, and the party left for Zaphkalon, the capital city of White Spear, to help the hobgoblins defend their land and to find the Frenzied Prince. (I think they asked the queen to teleport them there, or something – I didn’t write that down, but it seems like they just arrived there instead of walking, doesn’t it?)

Anyway, they got there somehow and stumbled upon a battle of frost giants, orcs, hobgoblins, and the like. They fought for a while, and then Baylinn busted out her rune magic and melted down a frost giant with a rune, drawing the attention of another rune mage, though she didn’t actually encounter the mage.

After the battle, they saw a hobgoblin with a white spear; this was the Frenzied Prince. More hobgoblins arrived, reporting and conversing with him. They learned that one city ofWhite Spear, Pastar, had been lost in a siege; the hobgoblins had met the attackers and stalemated; the Horned King had joined them and fought. They weren’t sure where the Horned King was now, but there was fighting going on over the capital city. They discussed battle plans for a while longer.

Baylinn talked to the Frenzied Prince, a fellow fallen king, about her life and background. He told her that she was here to bring the truth. He told her to fight the Damned Queen on her own terms, not the Damned Queen’s.

They looked around the Fortress of Ash and Stone, the Frenzied Prince’s domain, where ash covered everything and even some of the buildings seemed to be built of ash. A gargoyle arrived, and they asked him to take them to the Gargoyle King. He started to fly away, so Minos grabbed him and pulled him back, asking him to walk to his king. The Frenzied Prince clarified that they needed to go to the Shrine of Night to find the Gargoyle King. They set off after the gargoyle as it walked along in front of them.

Reclamation 18

The party made their way out of the queen’s court. They saw a group of drow approach the queen and begin talking intently with her.

Suddenly, Alek pitched forward onto the ground. They checked him and found that he had never healed himself from the last battle. (His armor had concealed his wounds.) Baylinn asked Darrack to heal him.

They took him to a healing house and were told that he needed to stay two days into order to be brought back to health. Darrack left Baylinn with him and went back to find the others and update them on the situation.

The others were in a courtyard, where they saw an array of races who lived in the underground city. They found that the undead here were not acting like typical undead. Dawnbringer told Vallo that these undead were different. The queen here was fair and took an interest in them, providing them with protection.

The tall elf figure who had first found them in the catacombs stayed with them. Venn asked him about the undead and why they were different. He explained, “It is because we are the cursed of the gods and the primordials.” He explained that some of the angels were unaffected, but some were cursed. The Queen of Air and Darkness was cursed to never again see the sun or sky and to live forever outside of communication with the sun and sky. They asked him how his people could help in the war effort, and he replied that they had spent the 500 years planning, and they could fight from underground.

They told their gnome host, Vaseth, that they would stay in the city for the two days while Alek recovered. He suggested an inn, the Bugbear’s Head, when they asked where to .

Vallo and Foechuckle left together for the inn and were followed by two of the two elves. They immediately set about to shake them, and they were successful. At the bar, they saw a variety of undead races. Foechuckle acted as Vallo’s lackey, finding them a secluded table and procuring a pipe and whiskey.

They saw a table of four humans, one of three drow, a rowdy table of hobgoblins, and a table of gnomes and dwarves. Vallo sent Foechuckle to the table of humans, where he told them, “The marquis seeks your audience.”

The leader seemed skeptical and asked some questions. Foechuckle clarified that Vallo was “the Marquis de Carabas” and that he wanted to talk. The man agreed to come over. Vallo offered him a drink and asked him about the genasi in town. The man told him there were none, and Vallo realized that the genasi that they had seen in the queen’s court must be the only ones there.

The man told him that the name of the city was Haven and that the queen controlled most things within three days’ travel. Some of the dangers included grey dwarves, umerholts, and mindflayers.

The queen’s power came from her army, as well as her magic. She treated people well and was fair, which you didn’t see much in the Underdark. The tall elves were called the Soulless. The queen was said to have fallen into the Underdark. It took her 500 years to carve this territory. Gnomes and dwarves provided some defense.

Back at the square, Darrack had arrived and updated the others on Alek’s condition and Baylinn’s desire to stay for the next two days. They decided to go to the market and get supplies. Venn asked someone to take his bag to his lodging, and he asked to be taken to a more natural setting so that he could pray. He was taken to a mushroom garden; the flowers in the garden looked like the sun symbol on everyone’s chests.

Minos and Darrack went to the market, where they found a variety of open-air tents. Minos picked up healing potions and asked for sunrods. He was advised by the old dwarf who he was buying from that he should buy darklight rods, as sunrods could be dangerous. He also bought darkvision goggles.

Back at the bar, Vallo asked the man how to get in and out of the city unseen. He was asked, “How much gold do you have?” He asked for other ways and was told that you could sneak through the tunnels, but unruly ghouls are sent there. The other way is to bribe the guards.

He asked about mindflayer presence. The man replied that there was none in the immediate area. Having learned all he needed to know, Vallo thanked him and concluded the conversation.

He and Foechuckle noticed another group – a human, two dwarves, and a gnome. They decided to watch the hobgoblins for a while, since the man they had been talking to had mentioned that they might know more about the genasi than he did. After some time, the hobgoblins – who appeared to be soldiers – finally got ready to leave, so Foechuckle decided to tail them.

When they stepped outside, they saw the tall elves who had been assigned to them, watching them impassively.

During all of this, Baylinn stayed at the healing house, watching over Alek.

As the day ended, Minos made his way to the inn to go to bed. Venn concluded his prayers to Silvara, thanking her for her help.

Foechuckle followed the tall elves and witnessed them forcibly removing the genasi from the queen’s court. The female jerked away and spit at the guard; one guard performed magic to calm her. The hobgoblins, who had been approaching the court, stood clear. The genasi were told that they had three days to leave the queen’s domain or be killed.

The general told the hobgoblins to speak next. They presented a letter, marked with a white hand gripping a spear.

Meanwhile, Darrack went to the healing house to relieve Baylinn. On his way up, he heard voices coming from the room. When he arrived, he found Alek still asleep and saw Baylinn in her chair, which was pushed back; she was rubbing her arm. He asked what was wrong and if he could help.

She admitted obliquely that the Damned Queen had been there and told him that her shoulder was worse and asked for his help. When he looked at the Damned Queen’s mark, it had grown worse, and he knew there was nothing he could do to help. He offered to stay with Alek for the night. Baylinn accepted and went to the inn to sleep.

When Venn got back to the inn, he ordered a mushroom feast. He went up to Baylinn’s room to invite her down, but she refused to go. She told him off in a furious rant, going on about how he had lied and hurt her and she couldn’t trust him. He agreed that he had deceived them but maintained that it had been necessary. Unable to resolve the conflict, they remained at odds.

Minos went back to see the queen. He asked her about the Prince of Poison, who she said would find the group himself; the Witch Queen – far to the north; the Queen of Stone – near the coast; and the Shadow King – in the Shadow Dark.

He asked her permission to kill the genasi in her kingdom, but she refused. He asked why they were here, and she replied that they wanted to her services in the war against the humans.

Minos asked if he could lift her curse, and she said it could be done, but he was better off attempting that with someone else – someone whose aid would help the cause – the Damned Queen.

“The gods cast us out when they left,” she explained, “and faith died. We have fallen from their grace. They put their faith in humans.” She asked him, how will you bring the gods if faith is no more?

Minos told her that he would try to lift her curse. She said that she had made peace with it, but he insisted, and he shook her hand on it.

Before he left her, she clarified to him that the mindflayer task was set out for them, not for her.

When Minos got back to the inn, Venn invited him to join in his mushroom feast, which Minos did. At the healing house, Darrack watched over Alek and ensured that he was receiving proper treatment from the staff. Vallo returned to the inn but wasn’t hungry but sat down to talk with Minos and Venn anyway.

Minos recounted his conversation with the queen for Venn and Vallo. Venn told them about the argument at court and the genasi being thrown out – he had witnessed it all firsthand. He had also learned that the genasi Warlord was namedSardis, but he had not been described. The queen had shot down the genasis’ request and had them dragged out, but she granted them safe passage out of her kingdom, so would be escorted out. (Foechuckle rubbed Vallo’s feet during this conversation. Just so you know.)

The next morning, Baylinn went to the healing house, and Darrack headed out. As Baylinn spoke with Alek, she tried to understand why he hadn’t healed himself after the last battle. The more they talked, the more she realized that he was not speaking like himself. He was looking to her for instructions, like a thrall, with her as the master. She remembered that he had talked about transferring his devotion to her after they were reunited on the minotaur island, but she hadn’t realized the extent of what that meant until now.

By asking a few questions, she learned that she had asked the Damned Queen to make him “like he was before,” and that at one point in his history, he had been a thrall to the Damned Queen, so she had remade him as that, nearly an empty vessel. Brokenhearted, Baylinn asked Alek if he was happy, and he replied that he was happy if she was happy. He asked if she was happy, and she quickly said yes, and a vapid smile appeared on his face. She realized that this was the way that she would take care of him until she figured out how to restore him.

Meanwhile, the others went looking for information on the mindflayer. They asked the elf. He told them that it made elves and dwarves its slaves and that there was probably more than one mindflayer. It might be building a brain. They asked why the queen’s army hadn’t killed it; he replied that the army is a hammer, not a dagger.

Minos talked to the elf about killing the genasi. He replied that he would be glad to flay them if they came back into the queen’s realm against her orders. Vallo asked about other githyanki here. He replied that the githyanki here were running away from or toward something or were here to see the queen, as she had the powers of divination.

There were individuals with a mark, he told them, who had tried to exert their influence, but the elves had killed them.

At Vallo’s request, the elf took him, Minos, and Darrack to see the elves’ torture facility. It was extremely distasteful. He explained that the queen didn’t like their methods, but she put up with them. She was the conscience of the realm, and this elf was the wrath. The tortured people here were the criminals of the realm.

When they asked, the elf gave his name as “The First,” or the “The Wrath.” (He was the same elf who had been with them since the beginning in the catacombs.)

Meanwhile, Venn went back to the queen’s court and asked her to locate the genasi who were against the Warlord. She sent everyone out of the court and scried. The first faction, the Ice Bloods, were far to the north, hidden in ice caverns, with a leader named Nishal. The other, the Earth Bloods, had a leader named Gor – she didn’t know where they were, but she told Venn that the group’s path was already set to meet that group. Venn realized that ice was not typically a genasi element. Also, he knew that Sarakhan had ice and earth associates.

When they regrouped, Baylinn didn’t rejoin them, although two days had gone by. Minos went to collect her, and she announced that she wanted to go to the Oracle. She explained what she had figured out about Alek. Minos asked if he could travel, and she admitted that he could, so they rejoined the others at the inn. She put Alek in the next room to avoid talking about his condition in front of him and then explained that he was a thrall and that she wanted to go to the Oracle to restore him. Minos assured her that they would do so as soon as they could, but they needed to do the queen’s task first, because of the urgency of the war and the tears. Baylinn reluctantly agreed.

They headed off on their journey. The elves stayed with them to the edge of the queen’s lands, and then they went on alone. Ghouls crawled all over the walls.

They walked in the direction of a dwarven encampment and saw troglodytes. They passed villages and saw ogres. The passageway became strange – it seemed to be living and breathing. They heard whispers of voices in their heads. They began to pass thralls and found themselves in a living maze.

Once they made it through, they were faced with a choice of going to the slave pit or the main room. After a brief discussion, they chose the slave pit.

They arrived and fought a fierce battle against a large mindflayer and a number of smaller mindflayers, as well as some other large defensive creatures and many thralls. After they had defeated some of the creatures and one of the smaller mindflayers disappeared through a portal, they got the slaves out of a pen, and one – a human with a magic sword – beheaded the largest mindflayer and then fell, having previously been badly wounded. Something slithered out, materialized, and mauled the other mindflayers – these looked like drow.

Among the slaves were some genasi, who tried to slink away in the confusion.

Reclamation 17

The party faced the beholder in the hall of the Earth King. During the battle, they noticed that the stalactite that had impaled the Earth King was actually a spear made of energy and metal. Also, it appeared that the Earth King was still alive, though barely.

During the battle, Baylinn attempted to use her rune magic for the first time. She tried healing her comrades while attacking the beholder and ended up hurting herself, learning that mixing healing and attacks was difficult. She later tried straight healing, again damaging herself, and concluded that she had more to learn about rune magic.

Partway through the fight, Darrack asked the beholder – whose name turned out to be Gribbick – what business it had with the Earth King. Gribbick replied that it wanted the Earth King’s power and was promised it by Umbrala. It added that there were plans for the other fallen kings.

Darrack probed to see if Gribbick knew the nature of the Earth King’s power and if it was Gribbick who had mortally wounded the Earth King. Gribbick tried to get Darrack to pledge loyalty to him as a slave. Finally, Darrack ended the conversation and attacked Gribbick again.

The battle eventually wore down all of the party. Vallo, Darrack, and Venn fell, unconscious but stable; Alek fell as well, as did Baylinn. Finally, Minos, stubbornly refusing to give up, made a flying leap onto the beholder with the last of his strength. He was knocked into a pool of lava and felt the last of his strength ebbing away when he saw the Earth King summon the energy to rise, draw the spear out of his own chest, and impale Gribbick, killing it.

The Earth King managed to shift the lava flow off of Minos and then fell over Darrack, shielding him and calcifying. Minos drank a healing potion and went to the others to check on them and administer healing potions to revive them.

Darrack then walked out of the calcified form of the Earth King, which exploded into dust around him. He was fully healed and carried a new weapon – a maul carved of black polished stone. When they looked closely, they felt that they could see stars flickering in it, and it seemed that the weight of the world drew them in. The head of the weapon was made of fused stone and metal, held in place by a red band of energy that had a pulse to it.

Darrack looked grim and solemn. Minos asked him how they could honor the Earth King.

The mountain started to shake, and Darrack replied to Minos, “We can get out of here.”

They decided to take one of the burrowed routes, but there were two to choose from. They chose the second, less used of the two. As they started down it, they realized it was a carved passageway. As they continued along, the mountain was collapsing behind them. They wound through, passing carvings of angels and devils. They reached a chamber with massive doors and some writing. There was a slot where Darrack placed the maul. Magic bands of energy spread out from the weapon, and he was able to push the door open.

They entered a dark passageway into the Underdark. Vallo pulled out Dawnbringer. The door shut behind them, and they realized that everything in the mountain behind them had collapsed; there was no going back.

Baylinn cast a campsite. Minos approached her and told her that, with his fallen king dead, Darrack needed to be comforted, and she should say something to him.

Baylinn lingered over camp preparations for a while, uncomfortable in her new role as “good guy” and friend. Finally she approached Darrack and offered him some food. He accepted it but didn’t eat it, so she lingered, fretting over him and chattering at him until he tried to send her away. She tried to get him to talk, went and got him different food, and eventually gave up and gave him his space. He was stoic until she was gone, then ate the food she had brought.

They set up a night watch. During the last shift, Venn was on watch. He heard a marching sound, so he woke up Minos. Minos couldn’t hear it, so he woke up Baylinn, who also couldn’t hear it. But Minos believed him, so he got everyone up and armed and ready for action.

A figure came into the cavern – a seven foot tall humanoid in armor. He was old and pale, elfish, with a greatsword, cape, and helm. He had a dark sun symbol on his chest. He looked each of them up and down, looking at them like they were food. Minos commented that they seemed to have intruded on this creature’s territory.

The figure laughed and replied very formally that it was they who had intruded on “the queen’s” territory. When they asked, he clarified that she was the Queen of Air and Darkness. He also informed them that they were under theSharpMountains.

Minos told them that they apologized for the intrusion, but the knight told him that the queen wanted to see them and that they could apologize for themselves. They agreed to go with him. They walked for a time before reaching a passage with other guards and ghouls, all wearing black sun symbols.

Darrack demanded to know who these were, and the knight replied, “This is the Black Sun Horde.”

Darrack started to prepare a ritual against the ghouls, but the knight cautioned, “That would be very unwise,” and he stopped. The tension broke, and the ghouls scampered away to fulfill their various orders.

The knights continued on with the party, as did the leader knight. Minos discussed the kingdom with him a little as they walked, but his responses were vague. Baylinn asked if there were other fallen kings who lived under the ground, and he named the Prince of Poison, the Shadow King (in the Shadowfell), the Witch Queen, the Queen of Stone, and the Earth King. When he said this name, she glanced at Darrack, who said that he would tell this queen himself.

The knights were walking fast, and the party struggled to keep up. It went on for days; they had trouble keeping track of time. They passed caravans manned with lizards, and they saw drow (which they had never seen before), dwarves, and gnomes.

They eventually arrived at a fortress with a wall; they went through a maze to a set of gates where caravans were going through. The knight told them that the caravans brought food, weaponry, textiles – everything a city needed.

The gates were well-defended by 10-foot-tall beings that appeared to be stitched together. There were at least 20 of them at the gates.

Inside the city, there were neighborhoods, fields, mines. They saw people patrolling in red, black, and white robes. There were people of all races represented in the city. They cut through a market area and saw people trading with coins and something that looked like parchment, but thicker.

They reached a temple-like place that opened into a large, open hall, where they were told that the queen was waiting for them. There were more of the stitched creatures standing guard, along with stitched wolves. They saw drow and humans, with their own guards, talking, laughing, and making deals. The people here were in immaculately tailored robes.

People seemed interested in the party when they entered. Someone told them, “Vaseth will see you,” and they were introduced to a gnome in a brown robe, the only person in that color of robe. He coached them on etiquette as he led them to the queen’s dais and then left them, whispering, “Good luck!”

The queen, Liliandra, was sitting on a throne of live ghouls, contorted together to form her seat. To some of the party, she appeared as a beautiful elf, which was what she probably was at one time. The others were able to catch occasional glimpses of her face with bones sticking out. They realized it was magic that made her appear young and beautiful.

She said, “Welcome. So, you come from the Earth King.”

Darrack said flatly, “The Earth King is dead.”

She asked if they had killed him, and when they clarified that they had not, she suggested that he had grown weak in his old age.

Darrack showed her the maul, and she remarked that the Earth King has always liked his little hammers, though she did seem to admire it.

Baylinn observed that Liliandra seemed to be deliberately ignoring her, perhaps sensing that she was something different. The queen was looking down on the rest of the party as she interacted with them, as if with a form of racism because of her own status as a demigoddess.

She asked them for a service – she wanted them to remove a “thorn in her side.” Baylinn asked what was in it for them, and she replied, “A tear of a dead goddess.” Baylinn tried to continue negotiations, but the queen dismissed her in favor of talking to Minos.

The mission was to kill a powerful mindflayer who was giving the queen a great deal of trouble. Minos negotiated for the Black Sun Horde’s support in the war; the deal was to bring back the mindflayer’s head, and they would get the tear and the support of the horde.

When the group split off to discuss the deal, Baylinn immediately wanted to take it; she was disgruntled by the way the queen had dismissed her and wanted to prove her own power by defeating the mindflayer, feeling that this would put the other demigoddess in her place.

The group decided that, because they needed both the tear and the horde (and not so very much because they were in support of helping Baylinn to show off), they would take the job. Minos and the queen cut their hands for the traditional elven handshake, and the pact was sealed.

The queen told them to avail themselves of the city’s delights, but Minos wanted to get started right away. He asked for supplies, so they were given a bag of coins to buy what they needed. They were told that it was a three-day journey to where the mindflayer was. Vaseth, they were told, would be staying with them.

Liliandra looked at Baylinn and told her she had the taint of the Damned Queen on her. She asked why Baylinn had made a bargain with Astara, and Baylinn replied directly that it was to get a friend back. The queen seemed surprised and found it interesting that she had done this; she was also surprised that the Damned Queen hadn’t killed Baylinn in exchange for Alek. She told Baylinn, who didn’t remember, that they had known each other a long time ago and that she herself had not seen the sun in a long time. They discussed whether it had been worth it, everything they had given up – Liliandra said that Baylinn had given up the most. They finally agreed that they would all see, in time, whether it had been worth it.

As they turned to go, the party noticed some genasi, over on the side of the hall where the human and drow were talking and making their deals. One was earthy, with leather armor and a bastard sword; one was a female with cinder skin and scalemail and a whip; and the last was a fire genasi with two battleaxes and full armor.

Minos asked the queen, “Why are you harboring our enemy?”

She replied, “Those who come in good faith, I will listen to.”

He asked, “What did they come here for?”

She replied, “Don’t get distracted from your mission. Are all genasi your enemy?”

He replied that they were.

“Then you may miss out.”

“How?”

She replied, “I war with drow all the time, but not every drow is my enemy.”

Unconvinced, Minos asked for leave to kill the genasi here. The queen refused to allow this while they were in her domain.

Minos hurled a threat at the genasi; the female doubled over laughing. Venn stormed away, angry at the whole situation. Minos began to taunt the genasi woman, so she came over and asked what she had done to him and why he wanted to kill her. He taunted her further and spit at her feet. She shook her head and walked away.

Reclamation 16

Minos went to Skar’s temple and called for the Avatar through his amplifier helmet. When the Avatar arrived, he asked him why he wanted the tears. Through their conversation, he learned that the Avatar was Sarakhan’s son, but Sarakhan thought the Avatar was dead. The Avatar said that Sarakhan had never come looking for him.

The Avatar was empowered by two primordials, Umbrala and somebody else (we didn’t have the notes when we were going over what happened for my notes session), to bring them back. There were eight major and four minor primordials, and Umbrala, who rules over the void, was the greatest.

The primordials’ design was to put their players into the gods’ endgame in place of the champions who the gods had chosen. The Avatar revealed that if he turned against the primordials who he had made his deal with, he could cease to exist.

In the end, it was determined that there was no possibility of an alliance between the party and the Avatar.

Venn commented that it was dumb for the Avatar to side with Minos in the war. The Avatar asked him about his theories on the war and why he thought what he did.

After they were done talking, the group went back to the main island. They found a massive gargoyle toying with the minotaur troops trying to fight it. It dropped a scroll and flew off.

The scroll said that the Gargoyle King agreed to meet with them (Minos had sent a message with another gargoyle earlier asking for a meeting) but that he couldn’t get to them and that they needed to come and find him. Minos next tried to find the Sly Prince but couldn’t locate him.

At one point, Venn brought a package to Narligh from her father, Sarakhan. She accepted it and went back into her hut. He went to check on her later, but she wouldn’t tell him what it was. He tried to tell her that her father was a good person, but she was unconvinced.

The group eventually stowed away on a merchant ship to the mainland. They noticed that the ship was more heavily armed than was normal for a merchant ship. When they asked, they learned that ships had been attacked by creatures called nagas recently.

When they got back to the mainland, they went into the Shadowfell, but the ritual seemed to have a problem, and things appeared misty. The Shadowfell appeared as a barren wasteland. They were set upon by a group of terrible beasts, including death incarnate monsters and horses with fiery manes that nearly killed them.

When they left the Shadowfell, they found that they had moved 100 miles inland. They had been in the Shadowfell for a day, but a month had passed in the regular world.

They went to Shieldhome to buy transportation and learned that Shieldhome had been sieged a month ago. Two soldiers asked their business and explained about the siege – giants and orcs had killed the king, taken his son, and ransacked the treasury. No one was sure what they had been looking for in the treasury or whether they had found it.

The duke, uncle to the kidnapped prince, was currently in charge of Shieldhome. He was ill, and no one knew why. He would only let one person at a time in to see him, so Minos went in. He told him that he had a 12 year old son and he wanted the party to save him. But his wife came in and told Minos that the duke was imagining things because of his illness and that his son was not in any danger.

So the entire party (except for Baylinn, who I submit must have been knocked out and flung over somebody’s shoulder to have not objected to this course of action) up and left the clearly poisoned duke (see, I told you we had to look out for poison) and clearly endangered 12 year old kid in the grip of this evil duchess. SIGH.

The party pressed on to the mountains, passed a lava stream, and found the entrance, where they found a corridor. They followed it to a hallway, where they found bodies of winged creatures, hundreds, and finally one intact. It turned its head to look at Minos as he walked by, then went back to attention.

They found a room with stone statues, one with metal statues, and one with dead devas that looked to have been killed recently. They found some stone doors.

All the doors opened for Darrack when he touched them. They assumed that this was because he was the chosen of the Earth King. They found some adamantine doors that someone had burrowed through. When they opened them, they saw the Earth King on his throne, impaled with a stalactite, lava pouring from his wound.

Darrack rushed into the room, and raspy voice said, “I was told that if I was patient, I would be rewarded. I see that that was true.”

Darrack called out, “Where are you?”

They turned to find a beholder waiting for them.

Reclamation 15

The party had spent about two weeks with on the minotaurs’ island. They were given a castle (!) to stay in. The Horned King was not always around. When Minos asked, he replied that he went off alone to pray. Minos asked to go with him.

They went to an old dock and from there to an island, where they found a crumbling building that had been an early temple. They went into a fighting ring with little adornment. The Horned King planted his ax in the ground and sat to pray. Minos mimicked him.

Afterward, Minos suggested that they rebuild the temple. The Horned King replied that Skar didn’t need fancy things. Minos invited the Horned King to his war council meeting, and he accepted.

At the meeting, the general of the minotaurs arrived. He was rather small for a minotaur. There was an arcane mirror brought in so that (a Fallen King, I didn’t get the name down) could comment on the proceedings from a distant land.

In recent weeks, Minos had been going around the island building up worship of Skar and chronicling what he was doing. At the meeting, he noted that the Horned King could sit eerily still for long periods of time. Other kings present (I think I got this correct as to who was actually, physically there and not in the mirror) were Gerriol, Rhea, and the Lost Scribe.

Minos had invited the others, but only Vallo arrived. Darrack did not show up, having stayed in a secret temple that he had built off in a corner of the island. A note arrived from Baylinn – she told Minos that she did not feel that she should appear publicly at the moment and that she needed to meet with him to speak privately.

While the war council meeting was going on, Baylinn instead met with Darrack.

At the war meeting, Minos stated that the genasis’ act was an act of war, and the policy was genocide. The naga, githyanki, and genasi were sacking cities, and the humans and minotaurs must mobilize, assess, and fight. There were reports of attacks everywhere except the forest and the land of the Damned Queen.

Before he could get further, a footsoldier arrived, too alarmed to say anything except that they should come to the gate.

Minos and Vallo arrived at the water to find a galley sailing in with a white flag up. The sky had gone gray, but it seemed unusually so. A regal individual stood in the boat; two or three pale, feral creatures rowed, while two figures in plate held a bound figure between them.

Vallo held up Dawnbringer to try to light the air; when they brought up the bound figure onto the dock, they stayed away from the light. They threw the body onto the dock.

The regal figure – a human, Erik – said, “Per the agreement, Baylinn has her payment.”

Minos went to the body and pulled away the hood – it was Alek. He was unconscious. He seemed unharmed, though it was clear that he had not been well cared for. He had been changed – he was now fully human, no longer vampiric, and he was also now a revenant.

Minos issued a challenge to Erik. (I wish I had gotten this word for word – it had to do with “stand before for me now or I will burn your galley into the sea.” It was a really nice play on “burn this place to the ground.”) He went on to demand the Erik take a message to the Damned Queen.

Erik smirked and replied, “What is your message?”

Minos demanded the Damned Queen’s presence and cooperation and support at the war council. Erik was unimpressed, and Minos finally hit him in the face.

Erik fell and then just got back up and said, “There is no good in her heart. There is nothing you can do to me that is worse than what she can do. I will relay your message.” He dusted himself off and went on his way.

The gray pallor in the sky broke. Minos and Vallo had Alek conveyed to a medical tent for attention and had someone send for Baylinn. (Elsewhere, she received the message and teleported directly to where Alek was to assist.)

Just as they were about to head back to the war meeting, a storm gathered in the sky. There, riding in on a white griffin, came Venn.

He dismounted, stood before them, and said mildly, “You’ve come up in the world, I see.”

Minos replied cautiously, “Are you my friend Venn? I saw you incinerated.”

Venn replied, “You saw what I needed you to see.”

Minos asked what Venn had accomplished. Venn replied that the party was playing the gods’ games and that the cycle was repeating. Minos said that Venn’s knowledge would be useful in his war council.

Venn asked about Baylinn, Darrack, and Foechuckle; they talked about them a bit. The Horned King, who had come out to see what was happening, gave Venn a once-over, nodded thoughtfully, and walked away.

Minos suggested that Venn go to see Baylinn. Venn asked, “Have you seen her since the change?” Minos had not seen Baylinn in over a week; she hadn’t looked any different than usual the last time he had seen her.

They all headed back to the hospital tent to find Baylinn. When she looked up and saw Venn with them, she broke out her wands and stepped into a defensive stance. Her eyes were violet, and in her hair were three streaks of white and a streak of red. On her right arm were six shimmering runes that were hard to focus on.

Venn revealed runes on his arm. Lightning crackled down his arm and crept toward Baylinn’s. She accused Venn of deception and asked what he was doing there.

Vallo heard Dawnbringer laughing. It said to him, “You wanted to meet Omi – meet her daughter.”

Baylinn and Venn continued to argue intensely over who could be trusted; Baylinn would not put down her weapons as she stood protectively over Alek. Minos suspected both Baylinn and Venn and demanded that both explain themselves.

Darrack arrived and said, “You called for me?” (I’m sorry, I don’t recall who had called for him, but someone had.) His beard was now constantly white and cold with frost, ever since he had been revived by the ice witch in the minotaur maze.

Venn readily admitted to collaborating with the genasi, as Minos accused, and he also agreed with Baylinn’s accusation that he had a rune of deception. But he insisted that neither fact meant that he was evil – not all genasi were seeking the downfall of humanity, and deception could sometimes be used for good.

As the argument began to flare again, Minos roared at everyone in hopes of gaining control of the situation. All the people in the surrounding area were terrified, but the party were unimpressed.

Alek awoke. Baylinn turned her attention to him and found that he retained his memories and personality. He explained that he had once owed his servitude and life to the Damned Queen; as Baylinn had undone that compact, he now gave that same loyalty to her.

Minos continued to insist that Baylinn explain her appearance her new connection to rune magic. She insisted that this conversation happen in private.

They checked to see if Alek was ready to be moved. He had a particularly nice cloak (other details, missed some). There was a darkness about him. He was not a mage but a warlock. He explained that when he was cast out by the Damned Queen, he was granted a bargain by the Prince of Poison.

He had not had a warlock’s pact with the Damned Queen. She had had the ability to shape people into tools. When his oath was broken, he was cast aside; he made a plea, and he gave part of his soul to the Prince of Poison.

Safely inside the castle, Baylinn explained everything that had happened with her about a week ago. She had gone through Darrack’s things to find the bag of party loot and had stolen the silver rose brooch. Then she summoned Alek, in his spectral knight form, in hopes of communicating with him and discovering a way to free him. He was unable to speak, though he drew a rune for her.

When she tried again, this time the Damned Queen appeared. Baylinn told her exactly what she wanted – a bargain for Alek’s freedom. The Damned Queen laughed at Baylinn’s forthrightness and asked what she offered. Baylinn offered a favor, to be named by the Damned Queen later. The Damned Queen replied, “A life for a life… very fitting.” She burned her mark into Baylinn’s shoulder and licked the blood away from her hand.

When Baylinn came to, she found herself back in her room, being tended to by an old woman. They talked about the nature of friendship; the woman pointed out that, while Baylinn claimed not to care, she put herself out there to defend the others time and again, and now she had gone to extremes for Alek. The woman asked Baylinn if she wanted to be a truly good person, and she said yes.

The woman revealed herself to be Omi, Baylinn’s goddess, the goddess of truth and justice. She was also Baylinn’s mother. She seized Baylinn’s arm, and when she let her go, there were six runes on her arm. Baylinn looked in a mirror and saw that her eyes were lavender and there were three streaks of white and a streak of red in her hair. Some memories returned to her – she was a demigoddess and Omi’s general, the equivalent of the other “fallen kings.” But instead of having fallen, she had given up her divinity to go into the world as a human to preserve truth and justice.

When Baylinn finished her story, Minos apologized for having doubted her, and she accepted. Examining the streaks in her hair, she realized that the white represented Omi and her sister goddesses, Loenna and Aerin, while the red streak represented Baylinn’s deal with the Damned Queen, Astarra.

Minos then turned his attention and questions to Venn. Venn explained that some of the factions within the genasi would help the humans in the war. Sarakhan, who was trying to become a god, had been good to Venn. It was the warlord who was trying to take over the world.

A runner came to them, asking that they come back out to the gate. There was the Avatar, riding on the back of a dragon. There were aspects of fire to his appearance, and he had some different equipment. He said, “I bring a message,” and he threw down a scroll.

He clarified that he was not aligned with the genasi and that he would help fight them, but that this did not void their compact, and that afterward, they would still do battle for the tears.

Minos told him that they would win the war together, and afterward, he would defeat him. The Avatar seemed to appreciate and respect the gesture.

Venn wanted to talk to the Avatar about the two factions that might oppose the warlord. The Avatar told everyone that he had located three tears. He looked Venn up and down, and when he looked at Baylinn and saw her runes, he said, “Impressive.”

The Avatar departed, and they went back to discuss their options. Baylinn was upset with Venn and didn’t want to talk to him. The group discussed focusing more on the war with the genasi or on collecting the tears. Alek suggested parlaying with the genasi.

Foechuckle said, “You’re assuming that the army you have now is sufficient,” and then he changed into Garum Dun, the Sly Prince. (The real Foechuckle, they realized, was off somewhere else, and this had been the Sly Prince the whole time.)

The Sly Prince explained that the genasi army outnumbered the human army. They had over 250k, with titans, giants, and orcs, including air support and cavalry. The metallic dragons, he said, were not aligned with the genasi, though the other dragons were. Right now, some genasi were fighting with the hobgoblins, led by the Frenzied Prince, at White Spear.

Minos wanted to hire the Sly Prince to join their side, but he replied that money didn’t interest him; information did.

(I have an unclear note here that says: Shadow King at White Spear – Fortress of Oak & Spear – Fortress of Obsidian and Yew – Army at White Spear)

Baylinn asked the Sly Prince if he had known who she was during her time working for him when he was posing as Garrum Dun. He replied, “Of course.” She wanted to know if he had been anyone else who she had known, and he transformed into her father. She was speechless.

Darrack asked the Sly Prince about the Earth King. He replied that he hadn’t seen him in almost 200 years and that he was stubborn, slow, and patient as rock. He added that the Earth King was waiting for Darrack.

Darrack told the group that he had been summoned by the Earth King, that he had had a vision. He described leathery creatures and said that he had to retrieve the Stone of Annihilation. The Sly Prince called this artifact a world-breaker.

Vallo asked about the githyanki. The Sly Prince told him that some were among the genasi forces. The genasi were clan-based, and every 1,000 years, they elected an emperor or empress. Sarakhan had stayed out of the politics for the last 300 years.

Darrack decided that he had had enough – he had said his piece and listened to everything he could listen to, so he excused himself. Vallo left, as well.

Baylinn asked what the Sly Prince knew about the Damned Queen. He described her as bitter and twisted and vain. They could try to win her favor and her army. The Sly Prince explained to Baylinn that even though he didn’t care for Omi, he said something different in Baylinn and had always had a soft spot for her. Baylinn asked him to keep watching her and, if he could, try to help her if the moment came and he still felt so inclined.

They talked about the genasi. The Sly Prince explained that they are what they are, while humans have the ability to choose. The genasi did not exist during the last war. No one knows where the genasi came from.

Minos got bored of all the talk and left. He found the Horned King and told him that they needed to leave to help the Earth King. He asked him to go to White Spear and defeat the orcs.

He then noticed a gargoyle moving and threw a spear at it, but the spear went wide.

Baylinn, who had noticed the gargoyle moving earlier, went out into the hall hoping to find it with just Alek, now that the others had gone their separate ways. She saw Minos throw the spear, located the gargoyle, and summons her mage hand to beckon it closer. The gargoyle came near enough that she could speak to it.

When they tried speaking common and elven to it, it repeated the words perfectly but could not understand. When she tried draconic, she was able to get a conversation going, though the creature could only communicate in simple phrases. She was able to gather that it was there to watch and listen to the party and report back to the Gargoyle King on what they said.

She asked it to tell the Gargoyle King that they were his friends and that they wanted to meet him. The gargoyle acknowledged that it understood, and it flew away.

Shadowrun 14

The group discussed the specifics of theEmeraldCityplan. Wraith checked in with Heinz, who was ready; Wraith gave him code numbers to go or to abort the mission.

The group left at night to board the hovercraft. Ace took them out toward theEmeraldCity; Wraith patched him in to their comm link channel on the way. Ace reassured them that he would wait for them, though it might mean leaving briefly and returning, if things got hot. He might need them to clear the landing pad for him.

He flew them in, and security picked them up right away. The missiles began to fly in, and he landed them on the landing pad. They leapt out as swat team members ran out and sentry guns swung around.

Rhys threw a grenade at the nearest swat team, blowing up three people. Papagenu roared in delight at his first chance to use his new gun and then fired, shooting someone’s head off. He hopped up and down in excitement.

Wraith jumped into the matrix and encountered two ninjas who told him he had no authorized access.

Edward fired a mana ball, injuring much of the group, and took some stun damage. Ghostwalker threw a grenade that finished off several of Edward’s victims. Five whipped out her gun and destroyed the defense’s mage.

Rhys was shot, and then the rest of the group was caught in a grenade blast. Papagenu, Ghostwalker, and Edward were all right, but Wraith and Five were hurt.

Inside the matrix, Wraith blackhammered a spider with a ball peen hammer, destroying him. The other spider drew back his weapon to attack, but Mr. Johnson stabbed him through the back and said, “We don’t have time for this.” Wraith said, “I agree,” and they retreated from the matrix.

Edward blew up another four of the defenders. Rhys ran out and attacked one of the remaining guys with his knives, chopping him in half. Papagenu shot the last guy, killing him.

Wraith instructed Ace to start blowing things up and took the drones with the group. Inside, they encountered corporate symbols but not actually much workspace for people. There didn’t seem to be much actual work being done there.

Wraith had them lay mines and shut down the elevators. They felt the building shudder as Ace fired missiles into it.

Five asked Edward to heal her so that she would be ready for the next round of battle. Instead, he brought up Alistair and questioned her involvement with him. She refused to talk about it; eventually he healed her, but he was really pouty about it.

Rhys wanted to go up in the elevator with Wraith and Mr. Johnson, but Mr. Johnson said that there was matrix force that would be overwhelming for anyone but the two of them to handle. Ghostwalker got the elevator doors open, and the two got in, while everyone else took up their positions in the corridor.

Wraith and Mr. Johnson rode up one floor, and Mr. Johnson warned, “This might get weird.”

They stepped out into warped reality. The prison seemed to exist in multiple planes. Wraith gave the order for the power to be shut off; Heinz threw the switch, and everyone stood poised for action.

Wraith could see the runes. He also saw an orc, a dwarf, and April on chairs, their eyes sewn shut, medical devices attached to them keeping their bodies functioning. There was one empty chair beside them. He felt a pinch in his back and fell limp, paralyzed.

Lost memories returned to him: at the end of the hives wars, a bug shaman technomancer had put a queen bug spirit into the matrix, in order to bring people to conversion into bug spirits. Wraith and his friends had gone into battle against this queen spirit, and only Wraith had escaped.

They had been able to keep the bodies of the other three alive, but only in the sense that they were functioning; they could never be fully alive and restored again. They trapped the queen bug spirit, and the three friends were locked in constant battle with her, neither alive nor dead, only matrix spirits. Once their bodies wore out, they would cease to be anything at all.

Mr. Johnson said, “Sorry it has to end this way, but they were going to throw us all out without our pension. I’m going to get paid.” He created a portal, and out of it came a human transformed into a scorpion form; a spider-person, who pounced on Wraith and laughed, saying he had “dreamt of this day”; and a beautiful bug woman.

Mr. Johnson told her, “I did what you asked. Shut down their life support and pay us.”

She ordered the scorpion to “Pay the man,” and the scorpion impaled Mr. Johnson in the back with his stinger.

Mr. Johnson fell dead.

And that… is all… for now.

Shadowrun 13

Alistair was leading the rally; the mages with him were in dark crimson robes with the symbol of the phoenix on the shoulder. The military arrived, ordering them to cease and desist and threatening to arrest everyone. People observing the rally started to leave, but Alistair and his team appeared to be ready for a brawl.

Edward, Papagenu, Ghostwalker, and Wraith watched with Cromarti from her window overlooking the rally. She asked them to step out of the room as heat began to pour off of her, quickly becoming unbearable for them. As they left the room, Edward realized that it was not a combat spell. He looked with his astral vision and saw that the power came from the ring of thePhoenixthat Cromarti was wearing.

Cromarti’s hair seemed to light on fire, and an image of a phoenix appeared behind her. The books in the room burst into flame. She floated in the middle of the room.

Down in the rally, the mages and the military were lined up against each other, about to come to blows. Five tried to blend into the crowd as best she could, moving back to align herself on the mages’ side.

The four team members upstairs moved back into the office to watch as Cromarti hovered out the window and into the middle of the conflict, landing between the military and the mages. They were stunned into dying down a bit at her appearance. When she landed, she regained her normal look and shouted for General Peyton, announcing that she refused to allow this violence against her mages.

He responded that he had a warrant and would take them in.

She replied, no – he would take her instead. There was a collective gasp from the mages.

Cromarti removed the ring of thePhoenixand gave it o Alistair, telling him that he led the Order now. He was taken aback. Cromarti told him to act responsibly. He just replied quietly that yes, he would.

General Peyton had Cromarti cuffed and placed a rune-inscribed mask over her head. Then she was led away to a vehicle. A few of the mages cried out that they wanted to interfere and save her, but Alistair shouted at them not to make her sacrifice be in vain.

Wraith called Peyton on his comm link, identified himself as part of the group that had stopped the general’s assassination, and insisted that this was a mistake. Peyton replied that his hand had been forced and replied that Wraith should call him back when he had some real evidence.

Five approached Alistair, who was taking control over the situation but seemed overwhelmed by the responsibility. He hesitantly put the ring on his finger as she approached. She told him that she would have tried to stop Cromarti’s arrest but hadn’t known what to do, and now she wanted to help. She asked what she could do now.

Alistair replied that what he really needed now was trusted counsel. Five asked him if his appointment as leader would change the direction of the Order, since he had often opposed Cromarti. She explained that she had come here today because she had been reading about Alistair’s beliefs, and she liked what she was hearing.

Alistair replied, “We should talk,” and he led her away. There were wounded mages everywhere, people helping each other, chaos still being cleaned up. He took her back inside the Phoenix Nest and through a bookcase in the wall that opened up, down a staircase that opened into a pathway, lit by magical lights. (It was just like that part with Gerard Butler in the Phantom of the Opera, the 2004 musical one. This was my favorite part of the whole roleplay session, because it made me think about Gerard Butler. –happy sigh-)

The rest of the group upstairs went outside looking for Alistair.

Alistair and Five arrived downstairs at an elongated table with twelve seats. He explained that this was where the Order held its most confidential conversations. He told Five that the war had reached a tipping point. Open fighting would risk the deaths of everyone. He wanted to go on fighting the war, but he didn’t know how.

Five had a memory of a childhood – while it couldn’t have been her own, it was a memory that had been given to her, possible a memory authentic to someone – of a weasely man training “her” in spy and combat skills. She suggested to Alistair that he stop the open combat approach and instead try a subtler assassination approach with the main targets, letting on that she had a history of operating in such circles.

He seemed intrigued, though doubtful that he could ever take on all the people he needed to take on with such a slow and methodical approach. Five replied that he should concentrate on the main targets, the ones that mattered most. Alistair replied, “How about Dante?” He asked her if it would be possible to get Dante out – the war would be going much better if Dante were there. Five replied that she didn’t know, but if she learned more, then maybe it would be possible.

Alistair touched thePhoenixring to the wall, and it opened up, showing a collection of magical artifacts, including blocks of glowing gold. Five realized that it was oriculum, used to make foci. Alistair handed one to her, telling her to take it and get Dante out.

Five tried to refuse the oriculum, replying that she didn’t know if she could do it or if she could even get her team on board to try. Alistair insisted, taking her by the hands and telling her that her counsel had helped him in a time of great difficulty and she should accept it for that, and then try, if she could, to free Dante. At length, she relented and put the oriculum in her Hello Kitty backpack. (She’s probably not wearing one. But it was one of the jokes of the night. So I had to immortalize it on the blog.)

Outside, the mess continued, as mages tried to control the crowd and help the injured. Five saw the others and joined them, not mentioning when she had arrived, why, or who she had been with.

Wraith received a text: “E.C.?” He asked what the timeframe was, and was told, “ASAP.” “Why?” he asked. “They’re suffering.” “How do you know?” “I know.”

Then he received a second text, very formal, addressed to “Mr. Wraith,” telling him that he was very suited for a particular job and asking him to meet at a particular node address to discuss.

He then received a third text – from Five. She also addressed herself to “Mr. Wraith.” She told him that she had a job that she had been paid for in advance, and they didn’t even have to take it. He asked what it was, and she replied that they needed to discuss it back at the lair.

When they arrived at their safehouse and were just starting to discuss their options, the door buzzer sounded. It was Shoto, sounding disheveled. When they opened the door, he slumped inside, with a katana in his chest. He managed to say, “This nightmare cannot start again… the twelve ronin…” Then he died.

Wraith downloaded his comm link and found video footage shot from Shoto’s perspective. He went through a paper screen door and viewed Oni in a council with Raven and some other vampires. The vampires immediately vanished into mist, and Oni threw a katana at Shoto. Shoto escaped through a laundry chute.

The group discussed what to do next. They eventually got into discussing the variety of jobs laid out in front of them, including Oni’s assassination, the removal of the mayor, the elves’ seals, theEmeraldCity, probably other things I’m forgetting. They certainly ruled out killing Sal and his boss.

Five showed everyone the oriculum and explained about meeting Alistair and about the Dante job. Wraith was doubtful about taking on the job but suggested talking to Alistair; Five thought she could arrange it. They determined that the oriculum was worth $500k-$1 million on the black market, though it was not worth much to them, as only Edward could use it to make foci, and he could only make foci for himself, and he already had a bunch of them, so they were like, whatever.

Papagenu decided he needed a Gaws rifle, so he and Wraith spent some time shopping them and got him a superawesome one that changes color. (I’m sure it also has great stats, but the color detail is all I remember.) Five eventually gave Wraith the oriculum to sell.

Wraith eventually went to the node address that had been texted to him and met a slender female elf who smoked a lot. He manifested a suit. She said she knew him but wouldn’t give her name.

She said her competitor was making progress on a weapon – the first laser weapon. She wanted the team to go get the research, kill everyone involved, and burn the facility down. She wouldn’t say who the competitor was; she left it to Wraith figure that out.

The offer was $1 million for the work, plus $50k per prototype and 1 prototype for the team. She said there were 7-10 prototypes in the building.

The facility was in the wild west, out west of the city. The job timeframe was “the sooner the better.”

When she left, Wraith tried to chase her across the nodes to figure out who she was, but spartan nodes appeared with Ares symbols on them, telling him to leave, so he did.

He then researched and found data on the laser weapon. The scientific community had repeatedly researched and gotten to a certain point, and then a company called Neonet had bought up the research, and the project would go black.

He found the beginning of a Neonet campaign for the first laser weapon. Much of the R&D money in Neonet was moved to LaGrange, in the wild west.

Next, he researched the place where Gabriel thought the Architect’s rune prison was. It was the last place where the bug spirits had been pushed back. No one was allowed in. There was something called the Net there – a network of mana and hackers.

Then he researched the 12 Ronin. It was a famous Japanese legend in which vampires had corruptedJapan. These 12 had slain the vampires and restored the land. The story focused on those who turned to their ways, rather than on the ronin turning them back.

Next, Wraith, Five, and Papagenu went to the Bada Bing. Wraith showed Sal the Shoto murder. Sal was grateful to know about it but not really sure what to make of it. Wraith thought the vampires were pulling the Yakuza’s strings.

After Sal left them in the back room, Wraith told the others about the laser gun job. Five objected to the killing of the scientists.

Wraith had also gotten some research done on General Peyton. The warrant for Cromarti had come from the attorney general and was for combat magic and demonic magic, performed by Cromarti and Dante.

After all the job options were discussed, the team decided their next job would be theEmeraldCity, to free Wraith’s fiancé and old friends. He didn’t want to wait any longer, and the team decided to support him in his decision.

Wraith researched evacuation plans for the tower on the island in case of emergencies. There was a general plan that involved sending all the people to saferooms. He also researched who the execs on the 80^th floor were, in case the team needed Ghostwalker to impersonate one of them.

Mr. Johnson arrived after Wraith informed him that the plan was moving forward.

Wraith also researched the turrets as the planning went on. The turrets were for aerial threats only, and there were not a lot of missiles.

Mr. Johnson knew a pilot they could talk to about flying in or doing a diversion attack. Wraith, Five, and Papagenu went to see him atMidwayAirport. He was a human with a bomber jacket and hat. Mr. Johnson talked to him cordially at first, but he seemed upset; Mr. Johnson owed him $20k from damage taken when the pilot – Ace – had done a favor for him in the past. Wraith immediately paid the bill and won Ace’s respect.

After the team described the job, Ace offered to either fly them in quietly or do a diversion attack; they hadn’t realized they could get in under the radar. With more than one option, they were very happy, so they paid him a retainer and went on their way.

They went to see Heinz the cyborg, a brain in a robot body. He did not believe that they wanted to take on such a crazy job, and when they told him they had oriculum as payment, he also found this unbelievable. Once Five produced it, he was overcome and immediately accepted the work. They paid him in advance, and he was on board for the mission.

Shadowrun 12

Rhys found out from his contact, Shoto, that Oni was still alive after the assassination of Yamamoto, but now there was a power struggle within the Yakuza.

The group decided to add security to their hideout. They made some plans and placed orders for the work, which would be done in about a week.

They finished their plans for the final stage of the Bull Rush job and got started. Ghostwalker headed to theUnitedCenterin his disguise as the female orc cleaning person. Five, Edward, Rhys, and Papagenu went to the side door and hid. Wraith formed a tank sprite to help him in the matrix; he designed it in the form of a voidwalker.

Ghostwalker got to Minotaur’s lair and opened the door with a maglock. He threw in grenades, blowing up all the computer equipment, but when he looked around, he found no bodies.

Wraith hacked into theUnitedCentersystem. Minotaur appeared, along with ten more minotaurs, who all repeated, “You are not authorized to be here.” Wraith sent the voidwalker to kill the ten while he focused on the real Minotaur. However, a maze suddenly appeared all around him.

Five, Edward, Rhys, and Papagenu went through the side door, hearing an alarm going off because of the grenades in Minotaur’s suite.

Wraith attempted to destroy the maze, diffusing part of the wall to his left. However, he realized that it would take weeks to move all of the maze, so instead, he began to navigate through it.

Ghostwalker headed toward the rest of the group. The group ran into the intention-sniffing bull spirit, which set off its alarm. They moved on toward the skybox.

Wraith ran into some minotaur programs and made a rocket launcher, shooting one minotaur. One attacked and missed him, but another hit him, though it didn’t damage him. He shot down one minotaur, and then the surviving one shot at him and missed. He shot again and missed, and then he shot and destroyed the last one.

The team, on their way to the skybox, ran into six orcs.

Ghostwalker met two guards and told them that Minotaur was trapped, hoping they would lead him to the spider, but they ignored him and kept on going.

Five shot at three of the orcs, wounding them. Edward threw a mana ball and disintegrated all six orcs, taking barely a little stun damage.

Wraith ran into three more minotaurs and shot at them with a shotgun, killing one immediately. Two attacked him with axes, but he dodged. His tank swallowed one, and he shot the last one dead. He then walked into a dead end, so he disintegrated another section of the maze. Through it, he could see Minotaur and the other five minotaur copies.

The team, still without Ghostwalker, reached a screen, on which they could see a massive troll, Bull Rush, with six orcs. Bull Rush said, “I see they’ve sent assassins in the night. Let’s settle this like warriors,” and challenged them to formal, rules-based combat in the gladiator ring.

An old maid appeared behind them just as they were getting ready to charge in and attack, but she spoke in Ghostwalker’s voice. He transformed into an orc and joined them. They entered the gladiator ring, and Bull Rush greeted them and began to outline combat terms. Rhys threw a knife at his head, but it bounced off an invisible magic shield. Bull Rush laughed and promised to pay special attention to Rhys.

Edward could see six or seven foci on Bull Rush. He dissipated the magic shield, even though Bull Rush had just promised to drop it during combat, indicating that they would not be accepting Bull Rush’s terms.

The team charged in. Bull Rush’s eyes and the eyes on his bull staff glowed. Edward raised a charm of protection around the team.

An orc shot at Papagenu and hit him. Five dodged a shot, as did Ghostwalker. Rhys was hit. Edward was shot at but not hurt, but then immediately shot at again and hit.

Five fired at Bull Rush and hit him, nicking his cheek; he licked the blood from his thumb. She shot again and hit him in the side; he winced and showed his fangs.

Rhys threw a dagger at an orc, and it stuck in his shoulder. Ghostwalker dodged an orc’s attack. Edward threw a mana bolt, but Bull Rush dissipated it.

Papagenu tried to punch Bull Rush but was knocked away. Bull Rush healed himself from Five’s shots. Papagenu was shot at but dodged the attack.

Five was shot at and was hit, taking heavy damage. Ghostwalker was shot at but ducked out of the way. Rhys was missed by a shot. Edward was shot, but the bullets bounced off of his armor.

Five shot three of the orcs, injuring them all, and then fired again, killing two and nearly destroying another. Rhys attacked Bull Rush but wasn’t able to injure him. Ghostwalker dodged another attack.

Edward fired a mana beam; Bull Rush attempted to counter it but was unable. The badly injured orc was destroyed, and Bull Rush and all the other orcs were badly injured.

Papagenu punched Bull Rush in the face, knocking out one of his teeth. Bull Rush shot out energy at Rhys and Papagenu, but Edward dissipated it.

Five fired at the three remaining orcs and killed them all, but when she fired again, she missed Bull Rush. Rhys attacked Bull Rush, hacking the shoulder guard on his armor.

Ghostwalker asked Wraith if he was having trouble in the matrix, and Wraith said yes. Ghostwalker did a sweep for nodes and went looking for a likely area where Minotaur might be.

Edward realized there were several foci on Bull Rush; he dispelled one of them. Papagenu bear hugged Bull Rush and head butted him, breaking his nose. Bull Rush cast a spell, but Edward counterspelled it.

Five shot Bull Rush once, but he dodged her second shot. Edward turned off another of Bull Rush’s foci. Papagenu stepped in and smashed Bull Rush in the head, breaking his neck and killing him.

Meanwhile, Wraith was dodging attacks from Minotaur. He made a black warhammer and hit him, damaging him. Wraith’s tank was dissipated by the other minotaurs.

Wraith was hit by Minotaur’s ax. He turned his hammer flaming and hit the minotaurs, gashing them. He hit Minotaur again and was nicked by an attack from another of the minotaurs.

Minotaur finally left the matrix because of the strength of Wraith’s attack, and the other minotaurs disappeared with him.

Wraith scanned the building for Minotaur’s physical location. Then he told Ghostwalker where he was and to go and kill him. Ghostwalker located Minotaur, who turned out to be a helpless paraplegic guy, and Ghostwalker just went right ahead and killed him with a monofilament garrote.

Wraith raided Bull Rush’s accounts, pulling in $1.5 million for the group. Edward’s staff was lit up by Bull Rush’s, empowering it. The group gathered various items to sell or to add to their arsenal. They took Bull Rush’s staff to add toEl Toro’s whips as their trophies for the Yakuza.

Five and Ghostwalker left their usual calling cards. Five asked Edward to heal her, and he was really whiny about it, but at least he did it.

The group went back to the hideout and dropped off Ghostwalker and Edward, then went on to the Shogun bar. Shoto greeted them all. He told them that, now that Yamamoto was dead, it would all come down to strength to determine who would lead them next.

He said that Oni seemed insane and was starting trouble, negating prior deals and threatening turf wars. He appealed to the more violent and unscrupulous members, offering them drugs and money. He essentially was the next shogun, for the moment. The other contenders were too fearful. He wasn’t following protocol, and he was acting unstoppable.

Shoto confirmed that Oni might not honor their deal with Yamamoto for the Bull Rush job. Wraith suggested they just leave, but when they turned to go, their path was blocked and they were told that Oni wanted to speak with them. They were led to a throne room that had been remade as a raucous room for drugs and partying, a great disrespect for tradition and culture.

Rhys boldly pointed out Oni’s dishonorable behavior, but Oni didn’t care. He wouldn’t pay them for the Bull Rush job but offered to pay them more to kill the Iron Lung – $1 million, plus $250k for each of his lieutenants.

Rhys left, uninterested in hearing any of this. Oni told Wraith that he didn’t need Rhys and that he would sweeten the deal, paying expenses. Wraith replied that they would hear back from the team later. Oni tried to get Wraith to give up the Bull Rush tokens as a show of good faith; Five signaled to Wraith not to do it. He had no intention of giving them up, and he refused Oni’s request and led Five and Papagenu out.

On the way out, Shoto apologized for Oni’s behavior. The team headed back home together.

Ed called and excitedly announced that he had bound a spirit to the hideout and then asked them to pick up some milk.

Back at the hideout, Wraith stepped up the security measures and the deadline for their completion. He then suggested going to see Sal and the Tyr to let them know what was going on.

Five quietly began researching Alistair online. He was a grad student in his mid-20s. She found some of his research papers and began learning about his philosophy. She found his blog, where he criticized the suppression of magic and of metahumans. He requested the help of both magic users and non-magic users to defend the “brotherhood.” He had a schedule of public events, including a rally scheduled for the next day.

She noted that he was against the subversive uses of magic. He seemed honorable, just hot-headed.

Meanwhile, Rhys went to a weapons maker, Yori, after Ghostwalker made him a forged ID. He had poison sheaths made for his blades.

Papagenu went to frolic in nature.

Wraith submerged in the matrix and found himself in a Better Than Life site that looked like a stylized version of Heaven. Gabriel asked what he thought, and Wraith thought it seemed over-the-top. Gabriel said he was happy that he had convinced pretty much everyone like himself that Wraith was the one they needed.

Wraith asked what had made him lose his memory. Gabriel replied that they had stopped a great good, Exodus, and a great evil. Then Wraith had been punished. It had to do with the bug spirits, but he couldn’t explain.

Gabriel knew about the tablets but not about Bull Rush. He talked about the ancient evils that were looking for the prison – they had burnedChicagoand infested it with bug spirits to find it. He pointed out the brilliance of covering a prison with a city.

He offered Wraith one more question and one gift, before he would retire to watch from afar, with excitement.

Wraith asked how he could find Exodus. Gabriel replied that he had to understand the runes, and that he could teach himself to understand them.

As his last gift, Gabriel brought up the runes, and suddenly Wraith found that he was able to understand and interpret them.

He also knew that he would have to be physically present but also in the matrix to open the prison. He thought the prison was in a bug stronghold.

After this, Wraith, Five, and Ghostwalker decided to go and see Sal. Edward went to bed, Rhys went to meditate, and Papagenu was still in the forest.

They found Sal and introduced Ghostwalker, who had turned himself into an Italian guy. They talked about guys named Vito. Wraith told Sal about the plan to kill the Iron Lung. Sal said that he was surprised that this was happening again; when Chicago was rebuilt after the bug wars, the mob and the Yakuza had fought for a bit, then they split up the city and had all been happy and rich ever since.

Sal asked how much it would cost for them to kill Oni, instead.

Rhys suddenly turned out to have been there all along.

Sal offered to match the price that Oni had put on the Iron Lung. He commented that if Oni went rogue, then not only would the mob send Team Awesome after him, but the Yakuza hierarchy would be after him, as well.

Ghostwalker wandered out and started singing a karaoke version ofNew York,New York. Wraith hacked in and turned off the music.

Five got a call from an older dwarf who identified himself as being part of the Friends of Influence. He was a negotiator named Derrek who knew of her from Sal, Shoto, and Ariel. He wanted to treat her and her associates to dinner at a fancy restaurant that night and talk about a job. Five put him on mute and ran his name by Sal. Sal confirmed that he was okay but warned that his group was into assassination.

The team decided to go and talk to Derrek. Rhys went ahead on his motorcycle to scope things out. Wraith checked out the Friends of Influence on the way. They pulled the strings on a lot of things inChicago, but they did not appear to be connected to the Syndicate.

Rhys watched Derrek at the restaurant. He was extremely nice to people, and everyone seemed to know him, but they all seemed to jump whenever he called.

Five called Papagenu to join them, knowing he would want to be in on the free food. He met them in time to partake. She called Edward, who didn’t want to be bothered with walking and didn’t like the idea of being shuttled in by a remote controlled ATC because it was “unnatural.” Instead, he astrally projected himself in to watch.

Rhys went into astral perception as the group joined Derrek. He could see some resonating magic around the man, as well as Edward floating around the room.

Derrek asked the group to “remove” the mayor for his friends. He said that this could mean – but didn’t have to mean – killing him. It could also mean threatening him. Ghostwalker thought of public shame right away. Derrek explained that his friends were insistent on getting what they wanted. He said that they pay for speed and that they would pay over $1 million to have the job done as quickly as that night.

Wraith found the offer interesting and said that Derrek would have an answer in twelve hours. They all enjoyed a large meal together.

When they went out to the car, they found Raven, from the vampires, sitting in it. She gave Wraith a scroll; words began to appear in blood. The vampires were unhappy with the Order of Phoenix for bringing so much attention to magic use and wanted them either to start submitting to the government or to be destroyed. She offered $2 million and several favors from the vampires. She also told Wraith to make Edward stop looking into the blood portals.

Wraith gave her back the scroll and told her, “We can’t accept this job.” She took the scroll and faded away. Five told Wraith that that was very brave.

Wraith, Five, and Ghostwalker noticed the Man with No Name. They tried to shadow him, but Five and Wraith weren’t very good at it, and he began to elude them. Wraith finally just called him and asked him to talk. The Man replied that he didn’t want to talk to vampire pawns. Wraith replied that the group had just turned down a job.

The Man replied that Rhys works with vampires and had never looked into his own father’s death. Wraith replied that the group was making up for the job that they had taken earlier. The Man replied, we will see, and stay away from vampires.

Rhys arrived, somewhat drunk. Wraith asked about Rhys’ family, and the Man wouldn’t tell. He seemed ashamed of himself, unable to look at Rhys. The Man and Wraith debated suffering a little. Then the Man told them to look into the portals and left.

Wraith got a text from Mr. Johnson that said, “E.C.??!!” Wraith told him something along the lines of they would get around to it, I think – I didn’t write it down.

The next morning, Edward, Papagenu, Ghostwalker, and Wraith went to give Bull Rush’s staff to Cromarti. She was surprised that they had something like this and wanted to know where they had gotten it. Outside her window, Alistair’s rally was starting. She admitted that she didn’t have enough people in her corner to stop him.

Wraith told her about the vampires’ offer. She thought it was ironic that they had tried to hire the Order’s greatest savior to destroy it.

Outside, Five was watching the rally, without the team’s knowledge. Alistair began to speak, but then the military arrived. Alistair began to shout, “You see? They’re here to suppress us!”