The Realm of Correu

 Having defeated the evil wizard and returned the king to his throne, the party wanted to explore the castle a little further. The king thought it an odd request as he had already rewarded them handsomely, but they insisted that there may be more evil.  Kittay was curious about what lay in the locked study.  The king was more concerned with why his newly converted men were so afraid to go down into the dungeon.  He gave Kittay an opportunity to search the study and in doing so, she discovered a spell book, a book on glyphs and wards, and a book on potion making.  Satisfied, the party turned their attentions to the dungeon.

They asked the king for men and again, considering he was rewarding them for their efforts and because of his concern for his newly converted men, he thought it an off request.  He granted them two volunteers who took the rear guard as the party advanced down the stairs into the dungeon.  Their newly found ally, Bakira, agreed to accompany them.  Just as they reached the bottom of the stairs, there was a flash of bright light.  Cheddar and Kittay disappeared in a glowing ball of light that materialized on the floor.

It was one of the energy portals created by the wrath of Brigid.  It had whisked the two away to who knew where.  The party argued about their next course of action, thinking perhaps they should continue to explore the dungeon.  Bakira tried to rescue the two by shooting an arrow threw the portal with a rope attached to it.  It struck Kittay.  As they pulled her upward, the portal disappeared, cutting them off from the two.  They decided to explore the dungeon.

Meanwhile, Kittay and Cheddar found themselves outside an abandoned temple.  They found several ways to get inside, but the one they chooice to walk through was the entrance where the door had been broken down.  They wanders through some corridors, discovering sections of the temple that were completly in disarray, while others had been recently reinforced to keep the walls and ceiling from falling.

Back at the castle, the party learned that the horror of the dungeon was the energy portal and not the dungeon as the dungeon contained only three cells that were empty.  They reported their findings to the king and decided to see if they could help their friends.  The portal returned after some time and the party travelled through it with the aid of a rope tied to the dungeon door so they wouldn't fall.

In the temple, Kittay and Cheddar engaged a group of ghouls and ghasts in a room.  Kittay was able to turn the ghouls away immediately, but Cheddar was struck by a ghast and paralyzed.  Kittay was having trouble turning them as the party arrived to help.  Kittay finished them off by finally turning them.  The party, now reunited, made it's way deeper into the ancient temple, not really knowing where they were or what they were doing.

At the end of the session, the party had made their way past a room where the floor had collapsed and featured ledges on both sides and a beam of wood in the middle.  Bakira was injured trying to get across the steadier of the two ledges when the wall gave out from the side.  The party walked the plank, though shaky, across and made it to the other side.

They found a section of the temple that featured two basilisks.  They turned Snoogums to stone before they were defeated by the party.  A wight didn't prove a problem for Kittay's turning ability.

At the end of the session, the party was making its way towards a room that featured a large mound of debris and flies buzzing about.

 I completely forgot to update the blog.  If anyone remembers when we played, I can update this.  As it stands, I'm going to keep this brief.

It was decided that Kittay would witness the gauntlet run of the Lizard Man the next morning.  She would also give the Lizard Man a drug she was able to concoct that would give it some strength to fight back, which it does.  It was quickly beaten down and killed, but not before it managed to get some shots in on the castle guards.

Kittay then went into the kitchen and drugged the wine with a poison that would incapacitate the guards and the evil wizard.  It did so and it was easy to defeat them.  Once in control, the party wass able to escort the now king back to his throne.  The body of the wizard was taken away before they had a chance to explore it.  They swept through the bedrooms, looking to make sure that there were no traps and to find any treasure they could.  Their efforts proved fruitless.

The king asked the party to help him with one final quest. The dungeon held great terror for his guards. He wants to know why and the party decided to accept the quest, but first they had a few things to take care of.

 Dave missed these last night, so I tought I'd post them.

Two weeks had passed since the events of the previous session.  The prince expected a reply to his request for further aid in taking out Calibar, the evil Wizard who took his father's throne.  In talking it over, the group decided to stake out the castle first before making any firm commitment.  Arriving the day before the annual "audience" was to begin, they tried to seek out individuals in the city who might be able to aid them.  They were not very successful as most of the people were deathly afraid of the Wizard.  One thing they could all agree on though, was that they had never seen him once cast a spell.

The group circled the one story structure, taking in the exterior guard situation and looking for any weak points that they might be able to exploit.  It was decided that Telran and Kit Tay would enter the castle through the main gate in a quest for employment while Holly and Francis, an older fighter in the employ of the prince for many years, tried to gain access to the castle through an open window in the rear.

Inside, Telran quickly made friends with the Guardmaster and was signed on into the guards.  As Telran was taken off for a uniform, Kit Tay had to fend off the advances of the Guardmaster who wanted something in consideration for finding a job suitable for Kit Tay's station.  She complied - to a point.  It earned her the position of lab assistant to Calibar's research assistant, Melchor.  Melchor was currently in the middle of experimenting on Lizard Men.  Their numbers in the region and overall strength had been increasing, causing much havok to the people of the city.  Calibar wanted it stopped so Lizard Men were captured in order to be experimented on.  The latest was on its last legs, so Melchor was going to set it loose among the guards and have it run through their guantlet to see if it could survive their attacks.

Meanwhile, Holly and Francis made it inside the castle, but it took several attempts to find the open window.  The room they were in was clearly a guest room as there were few personal belongings.  They prepared to step out into the corridor.

Kit Tay stepped out of the lab and was startled by the presence of a tall, handsome, dark man.  He apologized for startling her and introduced himself as Bakira Kito, a Memory.  He had been tasked to find one individual in the world and deliver a message to the person.  He doesn't know the message or the person, but he will when the time is right.  In the meantime, he travels the world and learns from others.  He was new to the country and found Kit Tay interesting.  He helped her in her quest for knowledge about the castle and Calibar when they discovered two people exiting his room after they have had sex.  He doesn't glean a lot of information, other than that they too had never seen Calibar cast a spell.

Kit Tay met up with Holly and Francis.  Kit Tay decided to explore the library and study while Holly sent her Snoogums to find Cheddar who was waiting off in the distance in case of trouble.

Kit Tay discovered the study was locked and only Melchor had the key.  In the library she found that the cataloging system was erractic and the books were very old.  She took out a book on Lizard Men and brought it back to her room.  Holly had returned from giving instructions to Snoogums, but there had been no sign of Cheddar yet.  The three settled down to make plans.

 A quick dungeon generator that fills the rooms for you when you're really lazy!

 It's a site that features individual pages on almost everything that was released for Dungeons and Dragons.  Very cool - http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/ddindex.htm

Well, today marks the one year anniversary of when we started the game.  Although the events were sad, there is something to be said for their happening at this time.  It offers a turning point to mark the celebration.  I've sent out a survey to the the party members.  Please take a moment to fill it out and let me know what you think of the campaign and what I can do to improve it. 

Having cleared the large chamber of orcs, the party traveled through a door into a small featureless square room.  Not believing that the room was what it seemed, they took the time to search it completely, checking for secret doors, comparments, and traps.  They found nothing and were unaware that the room had slowly been moving downward to the next level.  They opened the door opposite the one they came though to a new level.  

The party then fought its way through a series of undead creatures including shadows and a wight.  O'Van, after nearly an hour of working their way through a revolving metal gate, determined that he could weaken the metal with a combination of hot and cold from his rings.  Telran triggered a trap that injured Holly, but revealed a secret door that led to the vampire's chambers.

Inside the chamber was the vampire and ten skeletons.  The skeletons launched themselves from their coffins to attack, but Kit Tay turned them away.  The vampire sat briefly on his coffin, watching the action until he saw that the party had some resources that could hurt him.  O'Van Enlarged Telran to make him a stronger fighter.  Telran ran up to the vampire to engage him in close range combat, but was caught in a pit trap that opened as he approached.  He dropped thirty feet into a pit with a floor that slowly opened to reveal a lava pit undernearth.  The vampire then turned himself gaseous and moved across the room where he materialized in front of Cheddar and drained her of two levels.  In response, she turned herself invisible to avoid his loving attentions.  He then turned towards Holy who had Summoned Insects to help in their battle.  He managed to drain two levels from her as well.  O'Van pulled out a grey potion he had found earlier and drank it, hoping it might help in the battle.  Instead, it shrank him to half his size.  O'Van and Kit Tay, the latter under a Sanctuary spell, ran over to get Telran out of the pit before he fell into the lava.  O'Van then attacked with the heat ring, hurting the vampire.  The vampire moved across the room to try and take out O'Van.  Between the ring, Telran's arrows, and Kit Tay's Staff of Striking, they were able to defeat the vampire, who returned to his coffin across the pit.  O'Van then used a Dig spell to weaken the base supporting the coffin, causing it to slide into the lava, destroying the vampire.

With that done, the room was searched, but there was no sign of the crown.  O'Van used a Wizard Eye and found a secret door across a second pit of lava.  He felt the ring he had discovered earlier pulling him to the pit.  He couldn't figure out why it was doing that.  Instead, he cast a Spider Climb spell and made his way to the other side of the pit where the door was.  Upon opening it, he found the crown and a room full of treasure.  He tossed the crown across to the party and proceeded to take stock of what the room had.  Upon touching one of the items, he felt the grip of a Paralysis spell come over him, but he was able to shake it off.  He found a potion and a bag.  He opened the bag and found it empty.  He reached inside only to be pulled in by the bag's superior strength.  As there was no one else with him, he was not able to be saved as the bag devoured him.

The party decided to leave the way they came and not explore any other part of the tower.  They had lost a companion and were badly injured.  They just wanted to make it out alive.

Upon arriving back at the city where the prince awaited them, he offered them a chance to make more money and to have the lost energy restored to the two women.  He needed help in taking his throne back.  He had a plan, but he was willing to listen to the advice of the party if they so decided they wanted to try something else.

 The party left the study and crossed the hall to a bed room with only a cot, a table with a book on it, and a chest of drawers.  O'van searched the chest while Kit Tay searched around the book.  Everyone kept what they thought was a safe distance from the book.  O'van discovered a cloak which radiated magic and a small sack of platinum coins.  He gave the cloak to Holly as it projected a blue shield in front of her whenever she put it on.  He then proceeded to the book.  He searched around the table and found a key slued to the bottom of the table.  He then checked for traps, but in handling the book he tripped an Explosive Ruins that injured him and destroyed the book.  He decided to try the blue liquid he discovered in the study.  He sampled it and when he found no ill effects, he downed the whole thing.  In minutes, he was laying on the floor, sweating, with his breating being shallow.  Kit Tay started to cast a Cure Disease in the hopes that they was a harmful pathogen in his system she could remove.  He started to go into cardiac arrest and she had to abadon the spell in favor of a Slow Poison spell.  He quickly stabilized as the poison was not working as quickly on him.  She then used the time she bought to pray for Remove Poison and cast it on O'Van.

The party decided to spend the night in the room to pray and study spells while resting and hopefully healing.  It worked for some who actually rested.  They then proceeded on their quest.

Travelling down a corridor they found that part of it was caved in.  There appeared to be no way to get through it, so they decided to venture down a side corridor where they found three rooms of ruined vegetables in makeshift gardens.  Continual Light spells were cast in the rooms to simulate sunlight.  It gave Kit Tay an idea and she proceeded to pray for the spell to help in their combat with the vampire.

The party proceeded, passing through a curtain and finding a stairwell leading downward.  The stairs led them to a lower level where they had three doors to choose from.  O'Van opened the first door and took a javellin bolt from a mechanism behind the door.  He was quickly patched up and proceeded to check the second door which featured whisping dark smoke beyond.  His infravision couldn't penatrate the darkness and a testing of the depth of the hall revealed that it was at least 50 feet deep.  Not wanting to stumble along in such darkness, the party decided to try the last door.

It opened into a corridor that led to another door.  That door opened and the party was shocked by the sound of a shrieker.  (I even had a sound effect which pissed them off as they couldn't communicate with each other or me.  I waited until I heard someone say they were shutting the door.  They threw a lit oil flask on the creature, but the damage had already been done.  The alarm system worked and the anything beyond that point was now aware of intruders.

The party moved beyond the door and found a room containing three dire wolves.  O'Van put two to Sleep while Holly Charmed the other.  She missed having companions and decided this was going to be a new one.

They opened another door to a room featuring nine arrow slits along the wall.  O'Van walked over to the wall and is surprised by two arrows.  He dropped to the floor and the rest of the party crawled along the bottom to the other side of the room.  The door there was locked and O'Van had to get up in order to open it.  He was again attacked by another two arrows.  They entered a large chamber with a chasm stretching down the middle.  The chasm had a bridge running across it.  Two orcs guarded the bridge while twelve others waited on the other side, some manning three ballistas.  The ballistas were the first order of business in taking out, followed by the orcs.  The party managed to do it, with Telran using his Potion of Speed to increase his longbow attacks.

The party walked across the bridge and examined the contents of several barrels on the other side.  They contained daggers, spears, and helmets.  One barrel acted as a Bag of Devouring and almost took Telran in.  He grabbed the barrel and tossed it into the chasm.  He then proceeded to do the same with the other barrels and ballistas.

Catching up here:


Let me start by saying that this adventure is from an old issue of Dragon Magazine.  I am not going to reveal the title, authors, or issue number yet as the game is still ongoing.  Some adventurous types may be able to recognize it from either the context or from some of the pictures I will post to suppliment the narration.  In any event, I want it understood that this story and the pictures are copyright TSR Publishing and Wizards of the Coast.
 
The group spent their time apart without incident and managed to return to Melford where they were met by a prince of a city to the north.  The prince, Hakum, was in need of a group of adventurers and Kargoth managed to put them together.  Hakum needed the group to retrieve his jade crown, the symbol of his power in the city.  The crown had been snatched from him as he and his godparents were fleeing the city many years previous during a takeover by a powerful wizard named Calibar.  The crown was taken by a vampire who was now residing in the abandoned home of Calibar.

The prince was ready to take his place on the throne, but he needed the crown in order to rally his people together.  He offered a large reward for the adventurers' deeds.  This money would come in handy if the party plans on making Melford a more permanent residence.

They set out with a guide who led them into the mountains.  Once they approached a large cave system, the guide refused to go any further, pointing out that the home was inside the cave.  They proceeded cautiously inside only to discover that one of the larger stalagmites that rose from the floor was actually a structure with windows at the top.  The stalagmite stretched up 100 feet to the ceiling.  The windows were at the ninety foot mark.  O'Van climbed up the side of the stalagmite, with the intention of lowering a rope down to the rest of the party.  Unfortunately, the two lava creatures that awaited O'Van had other plans.  He quickly dived out the window to return to the party, but not before awakening a nest of firedrakes on top of the stalagmite.  As they swooped about him, the rest of the party tried to get the creatures' attention.  One made a kamikaze attack, but failed.

O'Van then went invisible and climbed back up the side of the stalagmite.  He took out the two creatures with his cold ring.  The party then climbed up the stalagmite.

Inside, they found a trap door in the floor with a winding staircase leading downward.  Following it down Telran stepped on one stair that was no a stair, but was actually a mimic.  He took some damage as the creature pummeled him before it was killed.

They travelled down a long corridor where they encountered an defeated an ettin.  They found a study where Cheddar took possession of a scroll containing several spells, including a powerful Cloudkill that could decimate a large population.  O'Van also found several vials, most of which were extracts of banana or vanilla.  One was a mouth wash, but one was a blue colored liquid which he kept in his possession. 

 The rest of the party, save O'Van jumped down after Telran.  In jumping, they discovered that they weren't plunging to certain doom.  Despite the 50 foot drop, each party member was lowered gently to the bottom, most likely by a magical force.  Once at the bottom, they discovered a 30 foot black dragon waiting for them.  It didn't move or say anything, but rather just looked at the party with some amusement.  Holly stepped forward and tried to talk with the dragon, discovering that it felt no threat from the party.  It was disturbed to learn that its followers above had been sluaghtered.  Depsite this, it was willing to let the party leave.  Telran though was till grieving over Diogi and was looking for a fight.  He raced forward firing arrows from his bow and arrow.  George and Sylvester followed after him.

The rest of the group spread out, looking to gain some advantage in the situation.  George and Sylvester were quickly cut down, while Telran was knocked aside.  The blow was enough to render him unconscious.  As Kit Tay tried to pull Telran to safety, Holly's sling shots, bouncing off the tough hide of the dragon, were enough to distract it.  Seeing that the party wasn't making an progress, what with Telran out and Cheddar using her potion fo gaseous form to keep herself safe, O'Van knew he would have to step in if he was to have anyone accompany him back to the boat.

He jumped through the hole and proceeded to attack the dragon with his two rings.  They did damage, but so did the dragon as it snapped back by breathing acid.  O'Van managed to avoid major damage though and pressed his attack, bringing the creature down with several blasts from the rings.

In looking through the dragon's horde, the party discovered a large number of jewels.  The gold and silver that lined the floor was too much for the group to carry out.  They made their way back to the village to tell the people there that they were safe.  Holly informed them of the gold stash before leaving.  Kiran, the high priest of the village, decided to join the group as they present the future druid king to the church.

Upon returning to the mainland, the group found that Kargoth, the assassin, had returned and taken control of the inn at the nearby seaport village.  The inn belongs to the party now, a final gift from a grateful town after they helped solve the murder of the previous innkeeper.  Kargoth told of strange creatures appearing out of thin air and of fast raids on seaside towns to the north.  People were speculating that these raids are more like tests to determine the defences and response of the area.  It is decided that Kargoth would continue to run the inn while the party adventured.

The group decided to split up as O'Van, Kit Tay, and Cheddar were in need to training for new abilties.  Holly, Kiran, and Telran would escort the druid king to the church.

The party decided to make their way to the boat and leave the young boy there in the company of the ship's captain and his crew.  They then returned to the village to alert them to the situation.  The village's chief priest sheepishly admits that they knew of the situation and were hoping that a larger party accompanying the boy back to the boat would deter the lizard men that attacked and killed the boy's guardians.  They never expected the guardians to depart earlier than the rest of the party.  The village had been under the rule of the lizard men for nearly a year as they waited for the future druid king to be determined.  Once determined, they were going to take him and sacrifice him to their dragon god.  The lizard men had a base in the hills nearby.

The party decided to wipe the lizard men from the hills.  In getting their they discovered that nearly fifty lizard men were nested there.  They fought their way through the camp, with Holly charming one of them into her service.  In the middle of one of the battles, Diogi, the ranger's dog, was killed.  Enraged, Telran blundered forward, taking the lead in the combat.  Unfortunately, he was hurt badly because he became careless.  The party took out a nursery and a kitchen before making it to the makeshift temple and fought the lizard man king.  They managed to defeat him and in doing so discovered a trip switch in the alter that opened to a very large chamber below.  O'Van used a portion of his Oil of Etherialness in order to view below.  There, he saw the heat signature of a dragon.  The party decided to turn around and head back as they knew they were injured and hadn't signed on to face a dragon, but Telran cut the conversation short as he tripped the alter switch and plunged into the darkness.

The rest of the party, save for O'Van, dived in after him.

Have to admit, I was getting kind of bored with the campaign.  The problem with doing an epic kind of story, where the adventures are linked, is that while your high points might be great, your low points can really bring you down.  I don't think this current section of the island hopping journey worked very well.  It was a combination of the execution and the hesitance of the group to explore further.  I'm going to follow through on seeds I've planted here, but I'll hopefully play them up better.

Kit Tay lay in the coma in a world where magic and the gods were not available.  Healing was going to have to happen naturally, if it was going to happen at all.  She was visited by the goddess Brigid who informed her that the party's current predicament was entirely her fault.  They were not in a parallel world, but rather trapped in their realm's past.  Brigid was taking a chance projecting herself so far into the past, but she felt she owed it to them.  Once, in a fit of anger, she swept through the island to destroy the goblins and orcs that had desicrated her island and slaughtered her followers that lived there.  Her anger was so great that she didn't realize how disruptive her wrath was.  She unhinged the space/time continuum and now unstable portals into the past and future will be opening throughout the realm.  In closing her story, Brigid told them of the portal that would get them home.

Kit Tay woke up and told the party of their dream.  They quickly made their way through the tunnel complex, avoiding prehistoric versions of lizard men, trolls, and ocre jellies.  They passed through the portal and returned to their time.  Once there, they made a beeline for the boat and quickly departed the island.

The captain noted in his log that the island was going to have to be quaranteened until a proper group could be gathered to go out and investigate.  The ship made its way towards its final desitnation.

On the island of Celas, the party and captain were warmly welcomed by the inhabitants, a group of nature loving people who worship the celtic druid Silvanus.  It was the winter soltice and the celebrations were under way.  The party partied (well, some of them did).  In the midst of the celebration, an eight year old boy was named the new druid king.  The party was asked to accompany him and his guardians to the mainland where he would be instated as king.  They agreed.

The next morning the party journied back to the boat.  The boy and his guardians had left a short time before and was to meet them there, but they never made it.  The party found the gutted remains of the guardians.  The boy himself was hiding off in the distance, told to flee when the guardians were attacked by lizard men.

The party decided to return to the village in order to get the boy to safety.

One thing I'd really like to do is join an online gaming system.  I tried Runescape and found it boring.  My kids at school go on and on about World of Warcraft, but they also warn it's an incredible time sink.  Then I found this - Dungeon Runners.  You can download the basic software online and play for free or purchase the game and upgrade with a six month membership if you want more features.  I kind of like the fact that this one doesn't take itself too seriously. 

 I feel old.

The adventurers arrived on the Isle of Brigid, home of the peaceful village of Bridleville and more specifically, one of the realm's renowned artisans, Montalvo.  Reports had been coming in the last three months of merchant ships returning to the mainland by this water route noticing that the topography of the entire island appeared to have changed.  It was up to the adventurers to determine what was happening.

Upon landing on the shore, they quickly discovered that the landing dock was gone.  The beach's sand was crystal white and there was no sign of vegetation as the party made its way towards the village's location.  The roads that clearly led the way were gone and a hilly region had cut a path across the island.  The party needed to go over the hills in order to reach the village.  As they began to make their way, they were attacked from the sky.  They had never seen such large winged creatures before and their swooping attacks made it difficult to stop them, but they managed.  The rest of the journey to the hills was uneventful, but there was no sign of any civilization along the way.  The roads were gone as was the foliage.

Upon reaching the base of the hills, the party discovered a cave entrance.  They debated a moment about going through the cave or over the hill.  The answer was made for them when a woman's scream from the cave sent Telran in to investigate.  Telran followed the sounds down a corridor that featured an odd glow to his right.  The screams continued further down the corridor in front of him.  He put off his curiosity to help the woman.  There, he discovered a man dressed in animal skins beating up a woman dressed the same way.  Telran tried to calm the man down with no success.  He managed to catch the man in a wrestling grip and brought him to his knees.  The man and the woman began screaming as the rest of the party joined Telran.

Within moments, six more of the primitive looking beings entered the cave, carrying clubs.  Telran tried to persuade them to listen to him, but they were not hearing it.  Holly Charmed one of the beings while Kit Tay caught three in a Hold Person spell.  The rest were knocked out and Telran bandaged their wounds.  They decided to exit the cave, but were quickly surrounded by another twelve primitives.  The only direction for them was towards the glow Telran found earlier.  The primitives were afraid of it as they backed away.

The party tested the glow, a light without any substance that hung in the middle of a chamber.  They tossed rocks and lit torches at it and the light appeared to swallow it up.  They tied a rope around the Charmed primitive and sent it through.  It returned unharmed, but couldn't articulate what was on the other side.  Telran tied the rope around himself and went through.  He quickly came back saying that there was another cave system on the other side and that it went off in two directions.  The party decided to go through as they didn't want to take on the twelve primitives outside the cavern.

Upon making it to the other side, the party realized that it was much warmer than where they were.  Telran, being a Ranger, discovered that one of the paths would lead to an exit, based on the flow of air.  The party decided to make a hasty exit.  In their travels, they came upon a sleeping two-headed creature.  In trying to sneak by, Kit Tay miss-stepped and woke the creature.  They decided to make a run for it as the thirteen foot tall creature began to rise.  They ran past the remains of Lizard Men, but these Lizard Men looked more fearsome than what they had dealt with in the past.

In stepping out of the cave, they were attacked by another large creature, even larger than what they were escaping from.  The terrain was much different as well, almost jungle-like.  With the creature attacking them and the two-headed beast making its way out, the party decided to go back into the cave and fight the beast as the other creature would not be able to enter the cave, based on its large size.

In the confined space, the party fought the beast, with only Telran and Kit Tay being able to fight with close range weapons.  They were able to defeat the beast, but not before Kit Tay was knocked unconscious.  During the battle, the party discovered that none of their magic weapons were working.  Any spells they tried to cast failed.

It was quickly decided that the party would make their way back to the glowing light.  Magic worked on the other side and they figured they would take their chances if it meant being able to heal themselves.  To their shock and dismay, when they arrived at the location, the light was gone.

Now, they are trapped in what Holly is calling a "parallel world" with one of their party down, many of them injured, and no magic available to them.  They know that the glowing light is their only way back.  They have to decide if they should stay where they are and wait for it, or explore the caves more for another light source.

Having staved off another wave of zombies, the group decided to return to the basement as they hadn't begun to explore the area.  They discovered a laboratory where the last of the disc pieces had been hidden as well as more pages to the old wizard's journal.  He had been manipulated by the evil being who was under the control of some form of demon in the shape of a crab.  Malin had developed a spell in the hopes of containing the demon, but it looked as though he never got the chance to use it as the journal stops abruptly.  The party continued searching and discovered the activation spell for the disc.  With both spells in hand, O'Van decides to cast the first spell to reunite the disc pieces.

As he cast the spell, the rest of the party heard screaming coming from upstairs.  Most of the party wants to remain behind, but Telran can't ignore the cries for help.  He rushed upstairs with Miss Kit Tay following him.  There, they discovered blood oozing from the walls, dripping down, and developing into pools on the floor.  They found nobody in the room though.  O'Van and the others join the other two once he completed the spell.  Finding nothing else new on the upstairs floor, they decided to continue their investigation of the basement.  As they head downstairs, Kit Tay noticed that there were more zombies approaching the house.  They quickly find that this was the largest group gathered so far - nearly one hundred of them.

Kit Tay argued with the others that she can turn them away as they slowly approached.  But the others felt that they could defend themselves better from the basement, while they searched out the source of the evil controlling the zombies.  Kit Tay stood firm as she began to turn the zombies away.  Telran remained with her in case he was needed to help while the other three went back into the basement.  As they reached the bottom of the basement stairs, the ground began to shake.  A large, crab-like being emerged from the ground in the lab adjacent to the stairs.

O'Van quickly gathered his material while Holly and Cheddar tried to distract the thing.  Their attacks barely scratched the creature who then attacked them with a Fear spell.  Holly succumbed to the spell and ran screaming up the stairs.  She was held from running into the zombie horde by Telran.

Meanwhile, O'Van cast the second spell.  A burst of light emanated from the disc and covered the crab.  It pulled the creature towards O'Van.  It couldn't resist the pull.  In two minutes, the crab disappeared into the light from the disc, breaking the disc back into its four parts.  The zombies all disappeared.  The fog lifted from the island and daylight returned.

Taking a quick check of the rest of the basement yielded eight large bottles of acid.  The group decided to check out the lighthouse and found it empty.  Kit Tay destroyed the light in the lighthouse so that no ships could ever be lured to the deadly rocks in the water again.  In returning to the dock, they found the captain waiting for them.  As they returned to the ship, Kit Tay gave her report to the captain.

The party is getting tired of the sea travel.  There are only two more islands to visit on this tour.  The captain informs them that the next island is the Isle of Brigid, an island that sailors passing it in recent weeks report that the entire topography has been changed.  Plus, strange creatures they have never seen before, some flying, some nearly fifteen feet high could be seen in the distance.

Part two is on the site as well.  Just look to the right and click on it.