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3:9
Because of the discovery of the giant Blight Crystal, the elves are re-evaluating their relationship with Urgari -- a known source of the Life Crystals (called Mind Crystals by the elves). They have sent emissaries to Rotan, Lerantu and Simipia to renew diplomatic ties with those nations. The Ambassador also reveals that Miris had been attempting to negotiate a truce with the nation of Zan (the Dark Elves) using Urgari as a intemediatary. These negotiations have now ceased. A rudimentary treaty is negotiated
between Miris and Rotan:
During the negotiations, Damus meditates in the Palace Gardens. He has a vision of Wanwier trapped in a cage made entirely of ivory daggers. As Damalanthas watches, a flaming sword appears in Wanwier's grasp and he shatters his cage with a swing of the sword. The vision then passes. As the group prepares to travel to Pirs, Damlanthas discovers that Burr has been missing for a few days. Damus and Owen decide to fly to Pirs in eagle form, watching for Burr en-route. The other Lords teleport to the city and begin investigating Pirs. Before leaving, Owen asks his cat, Kaaven to continue investigating the area around the villages to the south of Rotan. 3:13
The Lords have discovered that at least three gatherings are scheduled for the 15th, (a) a boat race, (b) a mass at a large Temple of Brador and (c) a military drill, close to where the wagons are accumulating south of the city. 3:14
Owen scouts Wanwier's house and sees two beholders in conversation. Late that evening, Owen entangles all of the wagons with an incredible layer of plant growth. Tekuna and Damus spy at the house of Hella Rodar, and listen in on a conversation between Hella and Nirvon Drever. They are discussing plans for the meeting of the Trader's Fold tomorrow. Damalanthas notices that Hella has mismatching eyes. Shortly before midnight, Nirvon leaves, and shortly thereafter Hella leaves too. 3:15
Hella Rodar leaves the Northern Guard House. Damus follows her. He watches as she reverts to her beholder form and devours a beggar. Damalanthas manages to kill the beholder in an alley. He cuts off the creatures ten eyestalks, and the Lords leave the body in the alley. Souriin and Tekuna begin placing eyestalks in strategic places in the city. Joranth, Damus and Euvgeni to the Inn, only to be woken less than two hours later by a city patrol attempting to hold them for questioning. All three manage to fight their way loose and evade capture. Damus retreats to the Opera House, Joranth and Euvgeni enter the sewers and travel east towards the ocean. Oblivious to the latest developments, Tekuna and Souriin return to the Inn shortly before sunrise. Upon finding their rooms full of guards, they flee to the Opera house and meet up with Damus. 3:15
Owen, who spent the night asleep on the beach, wakes up early and walks across the ocean to investigate a suspicious boat. Although he doesn't find anything useful, he cause quite a sensation amongst the few Pirsian observers. Tekuna leaves the Opera House first, to go scouting around the south of the city. Whilst confirming that the wagons really are practically immovable, Tekuna hears one of the junior guards mention that Frowen Drall is missing. The guard says that he will have to talk to Wanwier about the problem. The other Lords (still in the Opera House) hear a strange noise from the Opera house stage. Investigating, they find a flaming sword in a cage etched into the dust on the stage floor. Suspiciously, there are no footprints in the vicinity. Souriin leaves the Opera House to visit the area of the bluff set-up for citizens to watch the boat race and finds Owen there. Shortly afterwards they are joined by Tekuna. The trio walk to Wanwier's mansion, which Souriin recognises as the old University grounds -- the site of his and Flash's fight against the elven vampire Forestbane a decade earlier. Damus, Joranth and Euvgeni visit the Temple of Brador, to try and find out more about the day's mass and the wagons in the south of the city. They don't get any useful information from the priests of Brador. Owen and Tekuna decide to explore Wanwier's mansion, with Tekuna invisible and Owen in cat form. Souriin stands watch outside the main gates. Owen and Tekuna narrowly avoid discovery when first one, and then a second beholder leave the mansion, blast the gate guards and calmly float into the heart of the city. At the same time, Damus, Euvgeni and Joranth are approaching the mansion from another side. They reach the front entrance and, using a mirror, see the second beholder just seconds before it leaves the grounds. Damus hastily casts a teleport spell, and transports the group back to the Temple of Brador. Souriin, who saw and avoided the first beholder is warned of the second only by the sound of Damus casting the teleport spell. He leaps to safety without being spotted and then follows the pair of beholders in the direction of the Temple. At the temple of Brador, the suddenly appearing Lords have an altercation with the priests and a flurry of spells is exchanged. This is cut short when the High Priest returns and orders the Lords to leave. Meanwhile, back at Wanwier's mansion, Owen and Tekuna have discovered a stone slab which appears to lead to a cellar. Owen opens the stone door for Tekuna and then leaves Tekuna to continue exploring alone. Investigating the cellar, Tekuna discovers Wanwier apparently tending Tolmaq (who is in beholder form). Frowen Drall arrives and helps Wanwier to carry Tolmaq (in human form) away. Throughout this episode, Tekuna manages to remain hidden. Back at the Temple of Brador, the priests have shepherded the crowds into the temple and begun casting some sort of spell. Not trusting the priests in the Temple, Souriin fractures the spell before it has time to function. The two beholders attack the Temple of Brador and chaos ensures. Both beholders are eventually slain, but in the process, Joranth is beaten close to death. The High Priest of Brador survives the onslaught, but three of the other priests are among the sixty-odd victims at the temple. During the battle at the temple, Euvgeni scouts the barracks in the South of Pirs, from which plumes of smoke are pouring. He finds another battle scene, and estimates the death toll at three hundred of the city's guards. One of the survivors, Reginald Tasseman, goes on to join Project Deathwatch. Owen disrupts the crowd at the boat race with a swarm of insects, possibly avoiding a third bloodbath. Exploring the rest of Wanwier's cellar, Tekuna finds a broken necklace with a small symbol of a thief's lockpick on it. By mid-afternoon, the Lords of Rotan have regrouped at the Opera house, to consider what to do next. While they plan, Joranth dreams... 3:15
The Lords leave and explore the ravaged city. Damalanthas saves a young girl's life using feather fall to protect her as she leaps from a burning building. A hidden bowmen fires a cross-bow at the Lords. Damalanthas and Tekuna chase the mystery assassin but withous success. Owen meets Allon, one of the Pirsian guards, and, using create water, mysteriously helps him put out a fire . Roland the Dreamer lures the Lords into the sewers, where they meet Lucaria Bell, head of the Scarlet Ring. They discuss the future of Pirs with "Ma" Bell. Souriin agrees to establish a magical university in Pirs and plans are made to establish a new ruling body for the country. A messenger brings news that Frowen Drall, Tolmaq and Wanwier have all been seen entering a warehouse. A second messenger reveals that they have been joined by His Eminence Sirrian Jandell, the High Priest of Brador. 3:16
After the spell is complete the high priest is lead away by some of his juniors. Owen talks to Tolmaq, Frowen and Hella inside the warehouse. Meanwhile, Wanwier approaches the rest of group but is repelled by Tekuna for some reason. Owen establishes that Tolmaq, Frowen and Hella have made an agreement with Sirrian Jandell to fight the other beholders and then leave the city for good in return for the resurrection spell. A hysterical messenger announces that "ten" beholders are on their way to the scene. A tremendous battle ensues as the Lords, allied with three of the beholders, fight and kill five others. After the battle, Souriin questions Frowen and learns that the other beholders were planning to use the wagons to transport petrified humans to Nyarex as food. It is also established that Nyarex is a beholder city somewhere to the south of Pirs, approximately four times the distance from Rotan to Pirs. After exchanging a few words with Wanwier, Tolmaq, Frowen and Hella wish Souriin and Owen goodbye and leave Pirs. By questioning Wanwier, the Lords discover that he has been under some sort of curse or enchantment. He has a scar on his chest in the shape of a knife. Wanwier says that he will be okay as long as Tekuna keeps her distance. The Lords return to the Opera House to collect Joranth, and briefly discuss the next stage of their adventures. At 02:45, with the events of the last two days finally catching up with them, the exhausted adventurers collapse into some spare cots in the southern guard house. 3:16
Damus also instructs Thalakos to make his way to Pirs, to help rebuilding efforts. Since Sirrian Jandell seems to have disappeared, Damus tells a confused Deputy High Priest Thwarte that the Lords of Rotan are going to assist Pirs rebuild and introduces him to Thoylin. Damus also warns Thoylin that Burr may be in the city looking for Wanwier. Finally, the bard introduces his trusty Manticorum to Ma Bell, and leaves the two of them in charge of Pirs. Whilst investigating Wanwier’s fear of Tekuna, Souriin detects strong abjuration magic emanating from one of Tekuna's pouches*. After a lengthy discussion on what to do with Wanwier, Souriin takes him to Rotan and puts him in King Anwell's custody. Tekuna sends a note with Souriin instructing the RMA to send additional people to Pirs as soon as possible. Souriin asks Nirvon Drever to get in touch with him at the University once things have settled down a little in Pirs. Souriin wants to discuss the construction of the new magical "college". Joranth has an unusual paroxysm. Owen uses a reflecting pool to show Souriin and Damus a small glade in the vicinity of Waterloaf. 3:17
The Lords scout further into the Waterloaf city basin. Passing through the Cheese Borough of Waterloaf (so called because of the excellence and variety of its cheeses), Owen and Joranth overhear two patrolling lizardmen complain that they'd rather not be in this city. Owen believes that they are nervous. Damalanthas assumes the form of a lizardman and, while scouting the city basin, sees some bonebats attacking two lizardmen. One of them seems to paralyse a lizardman with its bite. Tekuna spots Perrin the Cheese darting between two houses and craftily infiltrates the house that Perrin runs into. The Lords all enter Perrin's house and learn from discussions Perrin and his friends that the Waterloaf Council fled the city at the first lizardmen assault. The residents surrended almost immediately thereafter. The lizardmen have agreed not to kill any more residents of Waterloaf as long as they supply the lizardmen forces with food. The bulk of the lizardmen have now left Waterloaf, leaving only a few hundred behind, many of whom are staying at the Central Inn. A few days ago, something strange happened, and now the halflings are staying indoors, and the lizardmen are (for the most part) holed up in the Waterloaf Inn. The Lords persuade Perrin to send for the leader of the Waterloaf Underground. This turns out to be Gnurr Thombarl, a companion of Tekuna and Souriin during their early adventures. He explains that he accidentally created a permanent gate to the lands of the dead using a spell from a scroll. He had been working with a halfling priest named Tifkin Angler to raise a (small) undead army to drive away the (supposedly) superstitious lizardmen. In a set of looseleaf papers Gnurr found with the gate scroll, Souriin finds two new spells (expeditious retreat and message) as well as a third unknown spell. In the margin on one of the pages is the word "Toran", probably not written by the same person that penned the spell. Souriin and Joranth visit the battered Council Tower and meet Perrin the Watch, a depressed halfling in charge of looking after the Sceptre (and other precious items). After Jornath has another paraoxysm, Perrin diagnoses him as having "Mundiree's Touch". Joranth questions him about the Ritual of Metroffen and the Sceptre of Mundiree, but learns little. 3:17
After the commotion dies down, Gnurr has a chance to tell the Lords that burrowing gnomes have tunnelled through into a pre-existing set of caverns, many stories below Waterloaf. Souriin instructs Gnurr to sent scouts to investigate the new cavern area and the Lords spend the rest of the night resting. Tekuna decides to stay on watch. Souriin also identifies the third of Gnurr’s new spells as Arnvid’s unseen limb. 3:18
The Lords decide to approach the lizardmen and attempt to negotiate a peaceful agreement. They are introduced to Sslisua, a yellow-tinted lizardman. Mysteriously, Sslisua says “it’s them” and “the scriptures are true” to the other lizardmen (in the lizardmen tongue) when first meeting the Lords. Sslisua speaks Ivrean (the common human tongue) and wears a bone necklace. While they talk to the lizardmen, an invisible Tekuna steals three sheets of treated papyrus from Sslisua’s room. The sheets are covered in painted stylistic text. Tekuna also removes a pair of bone bracelets from a sleeping lizardman (very carefully). Sslisua agrees to lead them to the lizardman army and speak on their behalf, if the Lords can “drive away the dark”. The Lords agree, and flanked by a contingent of lizardmen, they approach the graveyard. En route, Souriin despatches another pack of bonebats with a lightning bolt, seriously impressing the Lords’ lizard companions. Tekuna follows the group at some distance. Once in the graveyard area, Joranth summons a massive fire elemental to drive away a large pack of lurking shadows. With the path clear, the group approaches the source of the portal, a halfling-size family crypt roughly in the centre of the graveyard. They discover that as they get close to the portal, the life is drained from them. Several attempts to close the portal using magic are unsuccessful; spell-craft seems to seal the portal only temporarily. Worse, the high level of magical energies draws the attention of a translucent humanoid apparition, which floats out of the portal and into the graveyard. Tekuna, watching from the edge of the graveyard, starts limbering up. As the apparition leaves the portal, most of the lizardmen drop dead. Tekuna instantly flees. The Lords, less than ecstatic about this development, let fly with a torrent of magic – to no effect. The ghostly creature resists all magical attacks until Joranth challenges it. The apparition leaps forward and engulfs Joranth and the exposure to this contact causes Joranth to age by two decades. Aided by his magic, Joranth strikes the translucent figure with Longtooth and drives it away. Gnurr, who is using an expeditious retreat spell, overtakes the remaining (fleeing) lizardmen and Tekuna, who shows no sign of slowing down this side of Rotan. Attempting to track the reason for the portal’s persistence, the Lords open the caskets inside the crypt. Inside one of the tombs, Joranth finds a pendant with a symbol of the underworld carved into it. He hurls the pendant into the dark portal and Damalanthas shuts the portal once more. The Lords begin to run from the graveyard, but Damalanthas cannot resist using his clairvoyance to take once last look. He sees the portal reopen, something seems to emerge and then insanity takes him. A strange wind whistles through the city and the bonebats, shadows and the ever-present fog are drawn back into the portal. Then, with a cracking noise, the mysterious gateway shuts. In the aftermath, Joranth calms Damalanthas down, but the bard does not remember what he saw. The Lords find Sslisua, and the lizardman agrees to take them to the lizardman army at once. Surprisingly, the yellow-skinned leader commands the city’s entire force of more than a hundred lizardman to leave with the Lords. Preparations for their departure begin. 3:19
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