Ilsa's eyes lit up and she bared her teeth in excitement upon hearing Shirok's first words. After he finished, she planted her lips on his with such forcefulness that she drew blood. She then took him with a wild abandon that could be heard several cells away, through the stone walls of the monastery.

Afterward, as they rested naked and glistening in sweat, each possessing a few new bruises, scratches, and bite marks, Ilsa called over Neya (who knew enough to stay out of the way) and gave the she-wolf a playfully rough scratch on both sides of the neck. Ilsa was the most relaxed she had been in many days and she had a glow of contentment that almost seemed unnatural on the untamed barbarian.

The party spends two-weeks in Orford resting and recuperating, while Benton sends a massager into the North destined for Skyway.  Although the monks have existed in the area for a considerable amount of time, they admit that they have not ever ventured into the ruins of Tharür, so the sight of the strange coinage is quite novel to them.  They do accept some of the silver Stan offers them in return for scribing supplies, and possibly room and board—about twenty pieces in total—but they refuse its actual worth.  They insist that they have no need for the money and survive by their own means.  Occationally they do trade with merchants, but that is whenever a brave entrepreneur dares to travel in their direction.  The shadow of Tharür taints this entire area.

During this time, Roth spends much time researching Garret's book.  After reading a significant portion of it, he feels that the cleric must have known what the Wraith was doing to him, and dropped the book intentionally.  Instead of finding a collection of prayers inside, the elf finds Garret's personal accounts of the War of Tears, and more specifically, combating agents of the Crimson Brotherhood.
According to the tome, the Brotherhood is made up of four distinct factions and each faction is led by a powerful individual, most of which tend to be accomplished wizards.  The faction Garret's company seemed to have regular run-ins with was led by an entity known as Tórus, a Dark Lord of the Brotherhood and powerful necromancer.  The tome is too thick and thoroughly detailed for Roth to digest even given two weeks at Orford; but he does seem to gain a better understanding of the Crimson Brotherhood and its agents.  This is something that needs to be delivered to Kaele as soon as possible.

Stan spends most of his time penning spells from his spellbook into scrolls when he is not speaking with the monks and Roth, or listening to Chubbs play his lute.  He almost finds the say at Orford relaxing, but after the first few nights, the nightmares return.
Although they are all slightly different, many of the images that play in his mind while he sleeps revolve around one central scene: Clementine shackled to a burning tree in a strange courtyard.  Her soft, leathery wings have been severed and filed down to bloody stumps and she appears to have suffered greatly.
One night, however, the final night he receives any nightmares, is much different.  He dreams that he is in the courtyard in Orford at night, speaking quietly with Benton.  A monk calls to them that a party has arrived outside the abbey, and Benton bids the doors be opened.  Stan feels that this is odd, given the lateness in hour and monsters that roam the hills from Tharür.  He nearly jumps from his skin when he sees what comes through.
It is a procession of sorts, being heralded by two daemonic creatures, Dretches.  Stan recognizes these two, and is again surprised as Benton appears stoic as they enter his abbey.  Followed by them are twelve figures cloaked in black, all bearing with them an empty gestatorial chair (portable throne).  They move into the courtyard and stand silent.  A larger demon riding a creature too alien for Stan to describe follows them in and dismounts.
The demon appears to be a giant man; many of its features are disproportionate to its body size.  It wears only a dirty loin cloth, and its skin bears patches of smeared blood.  A large collar encompasses its neck, from which a long chain dangles.
"My Lord," it booms as it crawls like a great ape directly up to the startled wizard.  "The Hordes lament for you as the Blood War rages!  Do you not hear the call?  He will find you."  Upon hearing that last statement, Stan woke up.

Studying the magical map Kaele gave him, Shirok finds that the magical teleportation must have been a side-effect of the magical wood.  The map does update itself, but does not move him or the party by touch.  He thinks about this for a long time, and finally comes to realize that this must have occurred due to the forests' ability to trap individuals inside.  The map's enchantment had allowed them to move relatively freely though whatever magic was designed to restrict movement throughout.  Now that they were back on the Material Plane, it should now function properly; although he would miss its added utility.

Chubbs spends his time entertaining the monks, eating, sleeping, and generally doing nothing of import.  As any good Brandybuck should, he tells himself.

---

In the morning of the fifteenth day at Orford, Kaele appears as if out of nowhere.  She briefly explains that once the messenger arrived at her home, she opened the necessary doorways to make the journey through the Æther to collect the party members, making the trip in a matter of minutes, as opposed to the impressive efforts of the monk who had ran to Skyway in a fortnight.
Without much ceremony, the party members are gathered up and, when ready, escorted back through a plane of shadow, to House Silvervine in Skyway City.  In the comforts of her own home, she grieves for the loss of Garret Nichtbrise.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:20, Fri 07 Jan 2011.

"I don't know what to call it, other than an adventure. Or a mess."

Stan lets Roth hold onto the tome, but frequently pesters the librarian with questions about its contents, sometimes borrowing it for short periods to read the really interesting bits.

The nightmares torment Stan, but he is loathe to share them with anyone. For one thing, they are quite personal. For another, he really prefers not to think about them if he can help it. He sometimes looks quite tired during the day, especially for someone with nothing to do but lay about and maybe write a bit.

When Kaele shows up he is overjoyed. At last, another wizard! "How have you been? What news about our quest? Any word from the other wizards?" He bombards he with vague questions to the point of annoyance.

"I need to get my bow," Ilsa said gruffly. Except when he was studying the map and she and Neya amused themselves, she had been inseparable from Shirok. She now suffered through this meeting because it would hold the key of whether or not they would be free to part ways with the others. The comment about the bow was in part a reminder and in part a mental distraction while the wizard asked his questions.

Porto upon seeing Kaele he begins his song of thankfulness but with a bit of sarcasm. It includes how thankful he is for the rope which has helped him an numerous amount of times but also how he would not be in need if it weren't for her quest. But the overall theme is good.

Hennesey's first item on his agenda when they reached Orford was to give the bodies they were carrying, a proper burrial. If thier parents wish to have thier bodies burried else where then they can so themselves...or pay for it to be done by Hennesey. After the burial is preformed by the monks, Hennesey takes time to listen to his new friends and how I was they were able to fins themselves in the bowels of Tharür. And interesting tale none-the-less. But he doesnt make nice will all the members. From what he had seen and heard of the half-orcs, trying to start a friendly conversation would more then likey futile. With the female he has heard to be Ilsa at least. After a few days he couldnt ressit and did eventualy properly introduce himself to the male he knew as Shirok. Hopefully his words were accepted, but theres no way of knowing how they were accepted. At least not yet.  When not talking to Roth and Stan to find out more about what happened to Garret and what thier mission was, he spent a majority of his time further exploring the local woods. Details he could potentially find lucretive by expanding his maps. He knew the more a map had on it, the more deatail, then the more they would be worth. Escpecially in the areas in the shadow of Tharür. So when Kaele came to retrive the others, Hennesey who is quite interested in thier mission, offers his service to her. Having heard of her and how deep her elven pockets were, the desicion was a no brainer.

"Tell me, again, why we couldn't do this to Redding?" Roth asks as he follows Kaele back through the portal.

"And by the way," Roth notes to Stan with a grin during their jaunt through the shadow realm, "I'll be needing that scroll back."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:24, Mon 10 Jan 2011.

"How about a better copy? You see, the old one had some clerical errors, and I wouldn't want your entire system getting thrown, so, I made a new one."

It was true that Stan had made more copies of the same spell scroll. Roth was welcome to take one, if he could stomach the humility of the act.

"We'll have to see if I can read your writing!"  Roth jokes before adding, "I have a few more scrolls you can ... borrow, if you'd like."

That would be great. Do I have to apply for a library card first?"

Once back within the safety of Silvervine, Ilsa finds that her bow has been delivered by the bowyer about a week ago.  According to Kaele, and your own personal accounts, you were traveling on schedule until you crossed into Criss' "hundred acre wood."  Apparently, your time it the enchanted sub-dimension lasted only a few hours at most, in the material plane.  Your hostess vows to investigate the happening further at a later time.  For now, more pressing matters...

Although Garret was taken away in the fight with the wraith, Kaele honors her agreement, accepting the tome as a substitute.  However, she informs you that this will require her more time to read through it to find a suitable solution to the Azazel problem.  In the meantime, however, something has come up while you were out, that is, if you are interested.
"Emissaries, for lack of a better term," she explains, "claiming to be from Blackstone Keep, speaking for some 'Lord' going by the name Brannigan have contacted me, about five days ago.  They claim that Lord Brannigan holds some information regarding the incident in the Tower.  He claims to know where we might be able to find Junus.
"I will go and meet with him," she says, although you can tell she does not like the idea.  It's probably something about a lady like her spending any amount of time in an area like the under-city.  "But I will also require an escort.  If you are not interested, I understand.  If you are, we leave tomorrow morning."

---

Sometime during the night, Stan wakes suddenly from another nightmare.  Recalling that elves require less sleep than humans, he seeks out Roth.  On his way to Roth's room, he witnesses the automaton, Ishmael, entering Kaele's private chamber.  He slips up to the door in time to see it waking her from her mediation.
"Yes, Ishmael?"
"My Lady," he responds in his cold, monotone voice, "something is out of place.  I feel—"
"I feel it to," she responds abruptly.  She quickly stands and moves to pass the machine; but stops as she notices Stan in the doorway.  She stares at him for a long while, being taken from her thoughts by the sound of breaking glass up above, followed by the sound of something heavy falling to the floor.

Listen check (DC 5) to wake up

Ilsa snored heavily in her sleep, face down on the bed, her muscular arm draped across Shirok's chest.

19:27, Today: Ilsa Redeye rolled 2 using 1d20+1. Listen.

Porto is awoken startled, he's a heavy sleeper but even this noise couldn't keep him asleep.



22:11, Today: Porto 'Chubbs' Brandybuck rolled 6 using 1d20+3. listen (anything but a 1).

Shirok and Neya's eyes opened at the same instant, a heavy thud coming from the floor above. Neya whined slightly from out in the hall; something stunk. Quickly he moved Ilsa's arm, shaking her slightly by the shoulder. "Ilsa, wake," he said quickly as he out of bed, seizing the spear left leaning against the wall.

OOC: 01:20, Today: Shirok Rezkala rolled 11,9 using 1d20+7,1d20+5. Shirok/Neya Listen.

Roth, who has already finished his meditation and is deciphering Stan's chicken scratches, looks up from his work at the sound from elsewhere in the tower.  He stands and retrieves the crystal knight's sword and a dagger from his pile of belongings heaped on the floor before heading out to investigate.

09:18, Today: Roth Daos rolled 23 using 1d20+5. Listen.

Stan shook his head. The nightmares were becoming more and more of a weight on his soul.

Seeing Kaele was an embarrassment to the young groom. He was acutely aware of several facts: It was night, he was alone, he had not been invited, and Kaele was more than attractive.

He was about to run to Roth's room when Stan overheard Ishmael's suspicions. Then, before he could flee, Kaele had spotted him.

He moved his mouth, trying to form some kind of explanation. No words came out. He told himself that he wished Kaele were less beautiful. But he knew in his heart that he liked her current appearance just fine.

He was saved by the sounds of something breaking in. His brief acquaintance with violence had taught him to act calmly in times of danger.

"Are your spells readied?" He asked Kaele. He tapped the side of his head for emphasis.

Had he needed to prepare his own spells tonight, he would have been sorely unable. Thankfully, he had memorized some spells days ago and still had them all ready.

"What?" Ilsa asked, clearly irritated at having been woken. Had it been anyone else, they might have had their wrist broken. She glared at him and saw that he had spear in hand. A toothy grin came upon her face. "Is it time?" She then got out of bed and quickly threw on her undergarments. Not realizing the urgency of the situation, she began the long process of getting into her armor.

"Leave the armor; something's upstairs," Shirok quickly explained as quickly pulled on a shirt. "I'd rather not leave its elimination to chance."

Ilsa dropped the armor and grabbed her sword. Her disappointment was quickly supplanted by excitement over something new. "Eliminate what?" Still in her bare feet, she opened the door, stepped out, made sure it was clear and then ushered for Shirok and Neya to follow.

The party gathers in the main hall with Kaele and Ishmael.  The wizard doesn't have any answers as to what might be inside, and she doesn't appear too keen on leaving whatever it is to the various traps in her home.  Ishmael tries to keep those of you calm and even instructs you to go back to your rooms; however with many of you responding with your arms, he decides not to turn away those willing and able.
"Follow me," he says before disappearing into the darkness of the level above.  The group splits up and searches rooms, looking for the source of the disturbance.  Roth and Ishmael find it first.
In a small study on the fourth (top floor), they happen upon a cloaked figure.  Ishmael speaks a command word which causes many of the crystals situated around the room to light.  The light does little to dispel the mystery as to who this individual is.  As he appears, he is a man shrouded in a black cloak.  The cowl is pulled over his face, but there is something off about his presence; something otherworldly—and yet he also appears familiar somehow.
"You are intruding in this private residence," Ishmael booms, "if you are armed I shall allow you to drop your weapons now and leave, or else I am prepared to respond with lethal force."  But the man doesn’t respond.  Instead, he shifts his weight and faces Roth squarely.
"Stan Fletchin," he man says in Common.

You all may assume you heard the exchange between Ishmael and the intruder.  You all may post as if you had entered just after he spoke.

"Stan ... died in Redding."  Roth tells the intruder.  It maybe wasn't the best lie the librarian has ever told, but he deliberately spoke it loudly enough for those outside the room to hear.  "He got sick, and died before we could destroy the source."

16:13, Today: Roth Daos rolled 12 using 1d20+7. Bluff.

Porto enters the room hearing the man looking for Stan. I got a Stan right here bitch! Porto says with his ever growing courage as he hurls his trusty rope at the unsuspecting man. Hoping that it would leave him bound so that they could be the ones asking the questions.

Stan was about to enter the room when he heard his name. He waited outside, pressed against the hallway wall.

When he heard Roth's lie, he hesitated.

Ilsa arrived just ahead of Shirok and Neya. Upon hearing the halfling's outburst, she stopped next to Stan. "I was woken for this? Who is it and why don't we kill him?"

Stan's reply was a wordless shrug. Apparently he has no idea who this might be.