"The priest? You mean Garrett, he's right over..."

Stan looked around and noticed that Garrett was nowhere to be seen.

"What on earth?"

Stan looked under all the furniture frantically. In his concentration on his magic, he hadn't noticed the exact fate of Garrett.

"Okay, who saw what happened?"

Some type of black orb came out of him and sucked him into it. Without.him here, I fear for our survival. Hennesey says somberly. He knew that having a member of the Rose help them was no doubt and irreplaceable and inexpendable asset. But perhaps his book could offer then some help? He dropped his tome over here he says, moving over to examins it.

"A temporary spell, I'm sure. Maybe even just an illusion. He'll be back."

The wizard followed Hennesey to the book. If it was all that was left of Garret, then it was a precious treasure.

Having defeated the strange undead elf-thing and the spectral horror Garret referred to as "Burzgûl," the party takes a moment to catch their breath and take stock of their current situation.  Their charge into the room and up the twisty staircase was intense, and a few of them are having difficulty taking it all in.  With the wight and wraith and zombies slain, the room falls into an eerie silence, its unnatural appearance heightened by the strange crystals casting soft light in its corners.  Although you can't be sure, many of you feel the room has become a little more lit with the undead monsters dealt with.
Shirok gathers up the rod and knife dropped by the wight, while Roth and Chubbs move to investigate the chest at the northern section.  Verily, Ilsa and Hennessey take a greater interest in the large double door, Hennessey making another claim that it leads to the Castle courtyard.  Truly, it does!  The two drag open the door, filling the unholy chapel with the warmth of the sun's rays.
However, their celebratory spirits are squashed as Ilsa turns and is the first to notice Garret is no longer around.  Stan appears to be in shock, not fully comprehending this fact.  His feelings quickly give way to denial as he looks around the room and doesn’t find his friend.  The scene somber, the others stand by idly and watch their Wizard friend a spell, and then another, over the spot Garret disappeared.
"There aren't any active magics," he says to Roth and Shirok, his tone tittering on mania.  "Where... where did he go?"
A noise breaks the moment, shattering it with the grimness of something awakened deeper in the halls.  It is made obvious that they cannot dwell here much longer.

Is there anything else any of you wish to do in Tharür Castle?

"We can't leave without him!"

"Looks like he left already," Ilsa snorted. She turned to Shirok, "If we're not getting paid, maybe we should loot more of this place before we leave." She then asked the halfling, "You see anything valuable?"

I'm sorry Stan, but we must leave. There's nothing we can do for him now. Hennesey said anxiously. He knew thier visit to the castle must soon end or it may be become permanent.  If anyone could survive longer then I have here, it would be him. But we must leave Now he said more insistent then ever before.

Stan nodded. These were his friends; he should trust their judgement.

Before they left he tried the lid of the chest. If it was locked he would ask Roth or Ilsa to break in - each had their own methods, he was sure.

After opening the chest Porto uses his rope to try to collect a crystal or two, figuring they could be useful or valuable.

Hennesey was at first taken back by how the others insisted on sticking around any longer then needed,but quickly realized that the reason they were sticking around was indeed worth it. Gold is always worth it. It was the reason he was even here in the first place afterall. And gold begets gold he always said. In fact the custom made mirthil breastplate he wore was attained from he dead mens gold thy paid him to take them here. Quite a hefty price they ended up paying in the end. But as hes always said. Gold is always worth it! Perhaps thy could stick around this place a moment longer....... Let's get that chest emptied and get out of here and fast!
This message was last edited by the player at 18:36, Thu 23 Dec 2010.

"Just take the whole chest if you can, don't risk a cursed or trapped lock." Roth advises as he abandons examining Garreth's tome and stuffs it into his backpack.  Seeing Shirok grab the wight's weapons and Porto working on the crystals, the elf moves to the northern door to quickly inspect it before they try to pass through.

13:27, Today: Roth Daos rolled 23 using 1d20+12. Search.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:27, Fri 24 Dec 2010.

"The longer we stay here to loot," Shirok replied to Ilsa's request, "the greater the chance of us falling as well to this place's corruption. I would rather burn this place to the ground," he said with a tightly controlled calm. One had already fallen. The way out was before them. It was time to leave, time to let the foulness of this place consume itself for lack of living prey.

"Too much stone," Ilsa said, saddened that they couldn't actually burn the place down. "But chest is good," she added. "I agree with the elf. Take it now, open it later." She grabbed it and tried to lift it. If it needed two, she was sure Roth would help. She didn't bother grabbing the bodies she had been carrying.

Hennesey offers his strength inifting the chest if need be.

19:12, Today: Hennesey Rydell rolled 8 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 4.  Str
This message was last edited by the player at 01:14, Tue 28 Dec 2010.

Finding it locked, Roth motions to the others to simply carry the chest away.  Together Hennessey and Ilsa remove the heavy chest from the room and carry it out into the night.  Chubbs quickly follows them, but Stan hesitates for a moment.  Shirok also remains, intent on speaking sense to the confused wizard; but another deep noise from the deep does more to that regard than anything the druid could have said presently.
"Quickly," Hennessey cries once the entire party is outside and moving through the trembling ruins of Castle Tharür's courtyard.  "Orford isn't more than half a day's journey from here!  The monks will take us in."

You travel through the night, stopping only to rest quickly—and allow Roth enough time to defeat the lock on the chest.  You are all surprised to find it full of silver coins, all bearing the sun insignia of Tharür.  Although the ancient symbol isn't the source of your surprise, the fact that all the coins are silver is.  Why would the undead within those dank halls be keeping so much silver; and what about the other metals used in minting coins?
In-between the watch, Stan helps Roth count and catalog the coins, something to keep his mind off of the loss of Garret.  In the end they count exactly thirty-thousand silver coins, and find two potions and one gnarled length of wood intermixed within.  His interest piqued, Stan is able to identify the potions by the runes etched into their stoppers as an elemental resistance potion—although he isn't sure which element—and a potion that grants its drinker the ability to move about without leaving discernable tracks.
Together, the elf and wizard combo agree that the wooden switch is in fact an enchanted wand of the Evocation school.

::Orford Abbey::
Unerringly, Hennessey leads the party to Orford Abbey, a large, walled stone structure in which a handful of monks dwell—most of which are human.  The monks have operated in this area for nearly 80-years, and they appear pleasant enough.  They are gracious hosts.  Their Abbot, a man called Benton, is a good man and shows your party kindness.  He is very interested in your adventure stories—should you share them—especially ones involving Criss and the enchanted forest.  He has never before heard of the Wizardress Kaele, Garret Nichtbrize, or his now extinct Order.
However, after a couple of nights, he agrees to help you contact Kaele and arrange for your journey North.

Is there anything any of you would like to do during the stay at Orford Abbey?

After a good night's sleep in a place that was neither a cursed woods or a cursed castle, Ilsa cornered Shirok in a private cell. After spending a few moments roughly scratching Neya, she stared the druid straight in the eye "How much longer are we going to suffer these p'tah?" she asked, using an orcish slur for beings not of orcish blood. "Their business is not ours. The priest is gone. We do not need them." Her tone was aggressive and challenging, but that was simply her nature. She was open to be convinced by Shirok, but it would take some work to do so.

Once the group had spent twenty-four hours outside the castle, Shirok pulled out the Wayfarer's map to briefly experiment with it. The teleportation might have just been a side effect of the strange 100 Aker wood, but it might also be an undiscovered property. He simply needed to test it to find out.


When Ilsa arrived later that night, he considered his answer for a time before speaking. "We were sent to find the priest so that we might stop the revival of an old terror. Yet the things we have seen seem to have no connection to this threat, nor does there seem to have been any other signs that such a threat is real beyond the words of Kaele.

If this threat is real and credible, if such a group exists that seeks to revive such a force of destruction, then these p'tah need us. If it is not," he shrugged slightly, "then there is no longer a reason for us to travel with them."

Ecstatic to find some semblance of civilization, Roth is soon celebrating by studying.  He leaves the swapping of tales to the halfling and identifying the recovered weapons and wand to the mage and soon has his nose buried in Garret's tome.  The cleric either wanted them to have the book ... or thought it would save him.  There must be something within it regarding Azazel, or at least the Dark Lord Torus.  While he studies, he turns the pieces of the puzzle in his head--but finds only more questions.

Porto looks over the potions and wand. He feels that he isn't in the fray enough to justify taking the resistance potion. And he feels that if he were on the run by himself his tracks would be the least of his worries. The wand intrigues him but if another wanted it he would not object. Though he did want it...

Stan found the monks' copying room and immediately felt at home. He had spent many hours at a desk as an apprentice scribe. Now, he would do his own work.

He was glad to exchange a thousand of the silver coins for some quality ink and a metal pen. The bursar and quartermaster seemed intrigued by the ancient symbol on the money, but it was good silver and ancient metal weighed just as much as newly-minted.

After a simple cantrip to light his work, the wizard began the slow task of copying.

The calligraphy was time-consuming, for he used nothing but blackletter in his spellbook. Nothing else matched the arcane look of the thick, ornate constructions on the vellum.

Finally he added a diagram and the page was complete. The process had taken a whole working day of his time, but Stan did not care - he had gained his first real spell outside of school. At last he was again making progress as a wizard.

He flipped through the other pages of the book, noting the small doodles in its margins, artistic but far from scholarly. He had not drawn them. Abruptly he shut the book.

He reflected on his small theft of the scroll from Roth. No doubt the elf knew but did not care what Stan had done. He smiled as he noticed the other two boys doing the same thing with the book and the wand. Everyone was getting a share.


At nightfall he approached Roth. "Anything good to drink around here?"

Ilsa shook her head. "When will we know? And when that time comes, can I kill the little one?" Before he had a chance to answer, she pushed him back into the wall. She then pressed close and softly growled into his ear. "We should return to Snake Tongue territory. Reclaim what is ours." She then grabbed him in a place that left no doubt as to what she was claiming as hers.

Porto pops out a flask he's been carrying. Drink at your own risk. I've had that thing since I fell from the portal where you first met me. I think it's wine. But who knows what two dimensional travels and a long time un-preserved will do to it. With that Porto whips out his lute and begins his lament for Garret.

Oh yeah life goes o-o-o-on! Long after the thrill of living is gone...

"Not unless you intend to kill them all," Shirok started to say, up until Ilsa was upon him. He couldn't help but smile at her directness, his own arms rising to take hold of her. "And one day we will," he responded. "We will return with the others, speak with Kaele once more. If she can convince us that there is need, we will stay. Otherwise..." He left the rest unsaid.

Stan returned the flask to the halfling without so much as sniffing it.

"Thanks, but no thanks."

You play very well, master halfling. No doubt he would be pleased.

"I haven't looked yet--I'm trying to find some answers in here."  Roth replies to Stan as he thumbs through the book Garret left.  He pauses for a moment and puts the book down to turn his full attention to Stan and ask, "What do you think of all this?  The Statue of Azazel, this 'Dark Lord' Torus, and us missing, what, eighty years?"  He thinks for a moment and adds, "Didn't Kaele say the statue of Azazel was discovered eighty years ago? ...what did we stumble into?"