The date is Tuesday 8th August
The time is 11:00 AM
As we approached a transparent dome appeared to encircle the central circle and the hand.
Idris could detect an
Evocation magic coming from the dome. Meanwhile, a very large creature approached out of the darkness ahead. It looked very unfriendly. It seemed to be a
many-headed dragon!
Idris blasted it with his holy might but the creature appeared more angered than concerned or hurt.
Sigmund pushed into the room, halberd at the ready.
Tinnan followed in screaming a battle cry at it!
Fyren firebolted a head and burnt it to a crisp! Where the blood of the dragon hit the sand, two large
Minotaur Skeletons instantly grew up out of the sand!
Fyren then dropped a big sphere of strange, disgusting green light which seemed to hurt the bad guys.
Idris and
Chi ran in and one of the minotaurs moved to intercept them. Meanwhile, on the other side of the chamber,
Sigmund smashed one of the skeletons to pieces.
Tinnan fought the dragon in the disgusting spell effect, cutting another head off the dragon. From the dead head, two more skeletons arose from the sand.
The newly arriving skeleton charged
Sigmund and tried to gore him with its horns but the warrior was protected by his new plate armour.
Chi took out one of the skeletons that had moved into him and
Idris and then drifted back into the shadows.
Meanwhile,
Fyren continued to throw fire at the hydra that was fighting Tinnan. He took out another head and, sure enough, two more skeletons appeared.
Sigmund ran back in to attack the hydra, trying to take out all the heads. He succeeded in knocking the huge creature prone with a huge blow from his polearm! He also chopped one head off, meaning there was only one left. Two more minotaurs rose from the sands.
Tinnan slashed at the hydra once more, frothing at the mouth.
The hydra was still in the effects of Fyren's spell and puked itself to death.
The rest of the fight was a mopping-up exercise against the remaining minotaur skeletons.
The inner circle dropped after a while, revealing the
Staff of Anastaria located in the middle.
We rested in the room where we recovered the staff and
Fyren got to know it. After a while of recovering and resting, we decided to leave the fortress with the staff.
The time is 1:30 PM
However, after a rest, we decided that perhaps a quick investigation of the level below would be worth it.
The stairs open out into a large, empty chamber, lit by a single torch held high on the far wall by an open passageway. All is quiet and still. Another torch illuminates the hallway beyond. Several dust-covered statues stand in nooks. While some areas are clean, other parts look like they have been untouched for a long time.
We opened the first door to reveal a room well-lit.
A large comfortable-looking bed, an ornate rug and a large hefty looking chest are its only contents. Everything is neat and tidy and the room has the feel of being recently occupied.
Further along was a ghostly mess hall.
This room is dimly lit by the torch outside. It seems that it has been undisturbed for ages, everything is covered in thick dust and cobwebs. Two tables fill the room, their tops covered with plates, utensils and mugs. Sitting around the tables are eight ghostly men and women, seemingly eating, joking and laughing, but you can hear nothing. As you peer in they turn toward you, their smiles turned to ghastly visages and rage.
To the north, opposite the mess hall is a kitchen.
The kitchen looks and smells inviting with a pot bubbling away on a well-lit hearth. Although much of the kitchen is dust-covered, some parts, like the long wooden table, seem cared for. Light can be seen coming up from a short stairway to the north.
The ghosts swarmed us but we prevailed with only Idris taking a beating.
We open some doors at the east end of the corridor.
This small room contains a comfortable-looking bed, an ornate rug on the floor, a small chest at the foot of the bed and pegs on the walls over which robes and satchels and such like are hung. It doesn't look like anyone has slept here in a very long time.
We searched all the small rooms in the area. In one we discover another ghost who is quickly taken out. There was nothing of value in them.
A short flight of stairs lead down to a store room. As you descend the stairs you leave the warmth of the kitchen behind and feel a chill that goes right to your bones, your breath fogs up on the crisp air. A single torch on the far wall is all the light that there is. To one side, a large well descends into the ground, on the other, assorted barrels and crates are stacked up against the walls. Next to the well is a spectral figure of an old woman, she smiles sweetly as you enter and points at a nearby bucket.
We spent a few more hours in the dungeon, watching the ghostly elven servant go about her chores.
The time is 3:30 PM
Fyren uses the staff to enable him to see everything as it truly is, seeing through illusions and invisibility and even into the ethereal plane.
As we began to head out we met
Calarel coming down the stairs.
He told us he was the warden of the house who kept it ready for his mistress. He took a look at
Fyren and the
Staff of Anastaria and suggested nicely that Fyren put it down. We entered into a parlay with the warden. We decided to leave. The warden charmed us and told us to drop the staff and leave but we left with the staff. He told us we would be sorry but did not attempt to physically stop us.
The time is 4:30 PM
We headed home. Night fell and we made camp...
In the middle of the night, Fyren woke us all up and told us we needed to take the staff back. So we trusted him and we returned it to the warden, who seemed surprised to receive it.
Fyren also told us that we needed to take a really long trek north, but at least we had time to look for the
Sword of Murtaz first.
We took him at his word, though he said he was unable to tell us more.
We headed home.
On the way, we went via
Olborg.
In the distance, you see a grove of trees behind an earthen wall. Before this several grey, bearlike beasts seem to keep guard.
Whilst there a
dryad appears to us. She says, "
Ah, children, haven't you grown?"
She remembered our rescue from the orcs. She apparently appeared because of
Sellis. Apparently, the dryad (Freja) was the one who found us in the snow. She told us she thought wild beasts killed the orcs who had captured us.
We continued home and finally got there!
We were greeted and asked about all our journeys. A huge feast was held in our honour.
