GK Blog

What if the battle of Winterfell went like this. Would it have been as exciting and made a little more sense?

Winterfell ringed by a trench, spikes and barricades protect the defenders and server to slow any attackers. Wildings and Northmen man these defences trench, a gap in front at the gate is held by a shield wall of unsullied which are there to be the focus of the dead. Archers and trebuchets on and inside the walls.

Dothraki and Knights of the Vale some way back in two groups either side of the defences. A dragon also on each side.

Thousand of dead come out of the night and slam into the Unsullied shield wall. The first ranks their shields locked have good protection, the ranks behind spear past their brothers into the enemy. Siege weapon fire arcs over their heads to land among the ranks of the dead to come. The Unsullied hold for the most part, here and there some lose their footing or are killed by a lucky strike. Then the dragons join in, cooking lines of the dead. Wherever the Unsullied line has a hole large enough to threaten the dead breaking into their ranks Daenerys and Jon direct dragon fire to give them the breathing room to reform. Meanwhile, a trickle of dead are attacking the rest of the perimeter and are held off fairly easily by the Wildmen/Northmen.

The dead assault on the Unsullied seems to be slowing and at this point, a signal is given to the cavalry. The Dothraki and the Knights of the Vale charge from both sides while at the same time the Unsullied break ranks and surge forwards, annihilating the attack. In the process, the Dothraki, Knights, and Unsullied are mixed together, pretty exhausted from the fight and out of position. They don’t think they’ve won, they have suffered losses but they have hope that it’s going as well as it can be, they are holding the line to buy time for Bran.

However, this was a probing attack, a feint. It’s about to get much worse. This is when the Night King pulls out his ice wind storm spell. The icy winds blow, snow is stirred up, the visibility in the sky and on the ground is reduced. Sight is lost with the dragons denying the troops air support. They know they need to reform but before they can sort themselves out something else ploughs out from the darkness. First Dire Wolves, then Bears and finally Giants. They are amongst the cavalry immediately and inflict a heavy toll. Unsullied are cut down as they get back into position but a good proportion of the cavalry are swamped and unhorsed. The survivors fall back through the ranks of the Unsullied, who then perform a fighting retreat, taking down many of the beasts but for many more their own number. The survivors from the cavalry and most of the remaining Unsullied fall back behind the trench while the rest buy time for the bridge to be collapsed and the trench lit. This can be the same as in the show, dragons can’t see the signal, they revert to plan B then C then…Z? But it’s lit.

The dead are stopped by the fire for now and once more are easy targets, the Unsullied and Knights of the Vale join the Northmen and Wildings manning the trench, the remaining Dothraki reinforce the archers on the walls with their own bows, arrows rain down on the dead as they wait at the edge of the fire. Most of the dead beasts and Giants have been felled now, by arrow, trebuchet and enormous loss of life. Things are not looking so great at this point, but the dead have been halted for now.

Enter once more the Night King, he swoops in and annihilates the artillery in one pass and rakes the walls with another, this stops the barrage of arrows in front of the gate long enough for the White Walker lieutenants to walk out of the snowstorm and extinguish the fires in several sections of the trench. The dead then make a concerted push through these points, another pass from the Night King on Viserion blasts them the space to get a beachhead on the defenders’ side of the trench. The White Walkers vanish again for now in the horde (or maybe are part of the attack they were rather unused and some could be felled and in turn fell some of the characters, such as Edd). All this fire has now allowed Jon and Daenerys to see the Night King and we now get the dragon fight as shown in the show ending in the same result.

On the ground, a fresh dead assault all along the trench, using the panic and distraction caused by the breaches in it. Now we have lots of scenes of fighting, heroism, a desperate fight to get back into Winterfell to man the last line, the retreat is covered by surviving archers up top and again Unsullied, a mix of all the forces make it inside and then we get pretty much the same scenes inside as the show.

Outside Daenerys and Jon have both failed to kill the Night King and lost sight of their dragons, the Night King raises the fresh dead to renew the assault on what’s left of the defence inside.

All the show scenes continue as normal from when the walls were breached. Somehow Daenerys and Jorah fight a last stand together and Jon manages to get back inside past the dead, a Giant sees to Lyanna and she returns the favour…

Ironborn do they duty

Theon..

ARYA!

The end

What the hell!

They threw away their light cavalry/mounted archers with a single unsupported charge into a huge block of undead infantry. No scouting, no probing, no Dragon support.

They didn’t have their artillery behind any defences so as soon as their front line infantry had to retreat it was useless.

They didn’t shoot the enemy when they were stopped by the wall of fire. Had they had their artillery behind the walls they could have fired with trebuchet and archers at the undead as they stood at the wall of fire!

The Dothraki and the Dragons should have been used before the battle to harry the advancing enemy. Using Dothraki tactics. Hit and runs with archers, feints, skrimishes to draw enemies out and annihilate them. The Dragons could have also done strafing attacks on the advancing mass. If that drew the Night King out on his Dragon then fine, they had 2 to 1 aerial superiority.

Once the enemy reached Winterfell the Dothraki should have been kept in reserve to make a rear or flank charge (hammer and anvil) to the enemy when engaged with the unsullied. The same way the Riders of Rohan charged the orcs besieging Minas Tirith

The defence of Winterfell should have been a series of choke points defended with fire, much more fire.

MORE FIRE!

Don’t hide the defenceless where the dead reside when your enemy can raise the dead….

The portal activated and they could see through it into a darkened stone room.

Ulfgar peered through the portal, lowered his glasses and deduced that the room was made of sandstone and judging by the magical carvings on the bricks he believed it was probably Thracian.

Mongo stepped through into the room, it was noticably cooler. Aranys and Rincewind followed with the mad woman and Ulfgar.

In the room was another portal with a button beside it on a pedesatal. The crazy woman started towards a heavy stone door and tried to push it open. Drogarth kept hold of her and helped. The door opened up into a living complex.

Clearly this was another Thracian outpost like the one under the lighthouse or Vackys Delve. It appeared to have been abandoned for some time.

The crazy woman seemed to know where she was going so they let her lead them on. She led them into a tunnel and down some stairs to a double door. Beyond the doors was a large room, at the end of room another double door with a star above them and alcoves eitherside, above them a ceiling of stars. Unlike their previous encounters which such things there were no golems, the star seemed disabled and the doors were open showing a study.

This study, unlike the others was empty, no books on shelves, an empty desk. The woman pulled on her leash to get to the bookshelves at the back of the room, she pawed at one of the shelves to try and remove a shelf. Drogarth gave her some more slack and she pushed on a shelf, there followed a click and a panel behind the shelf dropped away revealing a safe containing a wooden box. She reached for it but Drogarth pulled her back.

Rincewind sensed magic was inside the box, he could see an outline of paper imbued with illusionary magic, a couple of pages at the back. Mongo stepped forward and opened the box, he found inside a book with a note on top of it. He took it over to the desk.

When the woman caught sight of the book she suddenly started repeatedly saying “my book” over and over and over.

The note read:

I leave this here as a record of some of my work, I fear for the future of my people and if we lose this war I want a record of my people to survive.

Mongo opened the book and found a couple of loose spell scrolls at the back. One of Dream and one of Seeming. 

“My book read it” over and over ranted them woman.

The book was a journal of Vacarian Thrace. His time focusing on the shards of Elu as a power source. Following his creation of the StarForge he journeyed further and found a large number of shards had fallen where the Diamond City was. Talk of the StarForge and how it manufactured Golems for defence

It spoke of his worry about other nations surrounding them. One in particular the nation of Narath, peaceful but imperalistic with great armies of priests and mages, worried about borders expanding towards theirs.

His wife sickening of a wasting disease, no healers able to help her.

His daughter Alithia and how she was training to be a mage but she was not learning fast enough.

When they reached the end of the book she stopped, her eyes open

“I am a prisoner I am trapped in two places”
“One a place I’m forbidden to name”
“The other is a place of shadows and loss, a great fortress of regret.”

Her eyes then rolled back and she started to convulse.

Mongo convulsed in reflex and in his head he saw a vision of a wizened old man standing in a great hall wreathed in shadows, the view swung around to reveal the Traders were in the Gothic hall fighting off hordes of shadowy creatures. Finally before the vision faded he saw again the robed woman holding golden rod, wearing a mask.

The woman collapsed to the floor and spoke in her own voice

“Peace at last”

She laid her head down and was still. Mongo checked and she was indeed dead. The Traders searched the outpost, they found a teleportation circle and then bedded down for the night in the quarters. Drogarth found some goggles in a lock-box. Rincewind determined that they would enable the user to read in the dark.

They took their time to take a rest and bedded down for the night in the outpost. In the morning after breakfast they activated the portal and headed back but not before Drogarth Ulfgar and Mongo went insane for some reason, smashed up the study to make a funeral pyre, put the old woman’s body on it and cremated her. Rincwind and Aranys had already left at this point so didn’t see this display.

Once they were back on the surface they deactivated the portal and it returned to the sand to await the next person to find it. As they left the mansion they saw the Necromancer coming towards it with her party of skeletons and mummies. She waved and called to them. She’d waited a long time and was worried.

She had a vision a source of powerful magic, an old regretful man, they explained they’d seen him too and the only magic they’d found there was two scrolls, they offered her one and she took the dream one. They retrieved their animals, which luckily hadn’t been eaten by Winston and headed back to SouthGate via the asylum. The sisters reluctantly accepted that the crazy old woman was at peace now, though they didn’t seem entirely convinced that the Traders hadn’t just taken her out into the desert and slit her throat.

A week was spent in Southgate to determine their next move.

Mongo headed to the library, he found a lot of poetry about regret, books on
how to build fortresses but nothing on the fortress of regret.

Rincewind met Tormus and Charna at the Wizard guild. They researched fortress of regret and discussed the journal and the last words of the crazy old woman. Tormus and Charna agreed that this woman must have been connected to or possessed by Vacarian. Charna found information from ancient scrolls across many temples to the God Ioun.

In the ancient myths there was mention of this fortress of regret, created by an ancient being that did such terrible deeds that towards the end of it’s life it had a profound deep change of heart. A feeling or regret of it’s past caused the creation of this fortress through sheer force of will. No one knew the location of this fortress, all that was known was it was contained in it’s own demiplane, a demiplane that came into existence to hold this fortress.

The speculated that if it was in it’s own demi plane, it’d be connected by a portal. They should return to Sigil to continue their search.

Aranys checked with in her organisation about the dismantling of the Maw. The Maw’s territory had been carved up by them and the Cartel as they moved to fill the vacuum left by the Maw’s demise. Unfortunately the Cartel was too strong still and the portal remained in their hands. Aranys used one of her personas to find leads for her organisation to rob. She also sent a message to Utraine Shadar-Kai of the Shadowfell in Jutrund’s, updating her with current events.

Ulfgar was back for one week only fighting in the pit to earn some cash. Drogarth asked members of the fighting scene about shadow creatures for Ulfgar to fight but no one was able to help. They drank all of his winnings.

Drograth spent a day praying at a shrine to Corellion. He envisioned himself in a cage made up of a million doors. He looked for the right door, then suddenly one of the doors lit up and a light blazed out of it striking him on the arm, when he looked down he saw a marking on his arm. He then stepped through the door and felt regret.

A week gone and supplies collected the Traders made their way to the cavern containing the portal to Sigil that they knew the Cartel controlled. Thugs outside try to feign ignorance but Rincewind dismissed them, he knew what was inside and he and his friends intended to use it. Inside they were recognised by some of the men from when they stepped through the portal before weeks before.

There was a commotion and it attracted the attention of a robed figure who stepped out from his office, a room in the wall of the cavern above them. He could see it would be more trouble than it was worth to try and stop the Traders by force so he told them it’d be 250 gold each for use of the portal.

The Traders naturally made it known they thought this was a bit steep, a thug got a bit too close to Mongo as he made his way to the portal and ended up with a punch in the nuts. It looked like a fight was about to go down, but Rincewind interjected that last time they only paid 200 gold in total. They haggled and finally agreed a price. The robed figure relented, having decided that 500g would be better than nothing and certainly better than a fight he didn’t think they could win.

He strolled over to the portal and reached into his pocket, he took out small a symbol of an anchor on a string with three knots in it, the portal shimmered into existence.

On the other-side the Traders surprised the guards, and confidently walked past into Sigil.

As it was five years and 100 session since we started Mongo’s Independent Traders we had a lot of chinese food to celebrate and so notes of the session were rather not done.

So,

Having dealt with the snakes the Traders learn the location of the sceptre and how to reach it in the tunnels under the mansion. They find it and defeat a Golem that is protecting it. They then return to the Efreeti and hand him the sceptre. True to his word he melts it down and returns to his realm, leaving the Traders free to explore the mansion unmolested.

In their search they find a portal buried in the sand and without too much trouble are able to activate it.

The creature slithered part way into the room and spoke, or rather hissed at them.

“Stand down, we don’t tolerate intruders but if you stand down we can speak.”

Ulfgar was taken by surprise, things that stood in his way usually tried to puncture him with blades, not speak to him. When he didn’t shift his stance, the creature sprung forward on it’s muscly tail and jabbed a spear at him, it then curled it’s tail around his body and constricted him. This made Ulfgar much happier.

The Traders sprung into action as outside, orders were being hissed.

Running feet were heard and a female face peered in through a window, she opened her mouth and sprayed poison into the room, it fell on Drogarth but he brushed it off.

Rincewind aimed his wand at the face in the window and activated his wand of wander. A jet of gems erupted from the end of his wand and peppered the window and the woman, when it stopped she ducked away, several gems embedded in her forehead.

Mongo silenced the room and Drogarth buried his axe into the creature coiled around Ulfgar as the Dwarf tried free himself from it, lashing at it with his axe, the poor creature realised it had bitten off more than it could chew and called for help but no sounds came from its mouth. Ulfgar roared in silence and ripped free, throwing the creature back out of the door, it got up, covered in blood and cuts and backed away before turning and slithering away.

Behind it stood a larger creature, with human legs but with arms formed of snakes, flanked by more humanoid looking purebloods. it lunged forward and aimed attacks at Ulfgar, one of it’s fanged mouths found an opening in Ulfgars armour poisoned the Dwarf.

Aranys charged forwards and slid past Ulfgar to to attack the new foe. Three of the pure bloods charged into the room to protect their wounded companion. One hacked at Rincewind and the other at Mongo but they were unable to land a blow, another slashed at Ulfgar with their scimitar.

Rincewind cast his Wand of Wonder again at his attacked and managed to stun himself, he sat on the floor in a heap as the fight carried on around him. Ulfgar hacked at the snake armed creature, almost removing one of it’s arms in one blow. It reeled back hurt and retreated in the same direction the other had fled.

Mongo took out one of the purebloods with a Guiding Bolt. Rincewind recovered from his stun and used the Wand again, this time the gem faced woman turned blue for some reason.

Suddenly hundreds of snakes slithered in through the window and door and made for Ulfgar.

Aranys chased after one of the retreating creatures, cutting down the snake armed one, she then ran back and stabbed the pureblood fighting Ulfgar, ramming the blade through it’s back into it’s heart, she then leapt onto the roof of the building away from the approaching swarm.

The purebloods were no match for the Traders without their allies and they were felled swiftly as Mongo and Rincewind sent Sacred Flames and Firebolts at the swarm covering Ulfgar, until the smell of roast snake filled the air.

The room fell silent. Mongo quickly Cured some of Ulfgar’s wounds and they set off in pursuit of the wounded one, towards the largest building in the area. But not before Mongo hacked off the head of woman with the blue bejewelled head and stuffed it in his bag, the others looked on in stunned silence….

They approached the building which appeared to have been a large communal livingspace for the poor. Movement in the shadows inside.

“Give us the Sceptre and we’ll leave”

The wounded creature slithered out…

“What is it you’re looking for”

“A Sceptre do you have it?”

“We might have it but we require something… Our master is also looking for something… an item… precious to Zahir the great serpent. A key”

Drogarth drew himself up to his full height and snarled

“Give us the Sceptre and you’ll be able to keep looking for this key, if you don’t then you’ll not be able to do much looking because you’ll be dead, but we certainly are not going to find it for you.”

The creature recoiled

"I don’t know where it is, my master says he does”

“Then I suggest we go speak to him”

The followed the creature into the courtyard and to a set of stairs that led down. Aranys followed at the rear. She noticed other shapes moving in the shadows of the upper floors. They made their way downstairs. They found themselves in a 30ft square room huge fully snake creature. A large coiled tail supported a muscled chest and snake head. It’s hands rested

“I did not tell you to bring these things to me”

“They said they had something to tell”

“Away! I will deal with you later”

“Do you agree to the deal I offered you? Will you search for the key we require?”

Drogarth responded.

“No, but we’ll give you one chance now to live and keep searching for this key, tell us where the Sceptre is, or we will kill you and you’ll not be finding any keys”

The snake creature laughed and shifted to attack… Aranys leapt in and stabbed it immediately before dashing back. Two smaller snake creatures came out of the shadows.

Drogarth dodged out of the way as a huge scimitar flashed down at him, wielded by the enourmous snake creature. Rincewind backed up onto the stairs and fired a Fireball into the centre of the  room, the wounded snake was instantly incinerated, the large snake and it’s allies were scorched, little fires started everywhere. In response longbow arrows flew out of the darkness above and hit the Wizard, their poison tips embedding in his side.

One of the snake creatures tried to charm Ulfgar, it swayed side to side and asked him to show how he fights. Ulfgar smiled, ignored it and sliced it in half with his axe.

Mongo consecrated the room with holy power and made it weaken the followers of Zahir against radiant damage. Follower purebloods charged down the stairs, they stabbed Rincewind as they reached him on the stairs and he crumpled to the floor.

Drogarth dragged himself clear from the coils of the huge snake and ran over to Rincewind to assit him. With Drogarth out of reach the huge snake attacked Ulfgar but couldn’t get past his armour.

Having dealt with the Wizard the archer fired on Aranys. She tried to roll out of the way but both arrows found her flesh. She took cover as she removed the arrows from her thigh and searched for her foe in the darkness. Mongo shrugged off the hypnotising gaze of another and fired a Guiding bolt at the huge snake…it blasted through it, the creature was illuminated from inside… it’s mouth and eyes eminating holy fire…as it collapsed in a smoking heap. Soon after Ulfgar’s axes found the archer that had been causing them issues and felled him.

Some of the Purebloods ran for their lives back up the stairs. The rest carried on grimly fighting and were cut down.

Drogarth healed Rincewind… sealing his wounds and bringing him back to consciousness before vaporising one of the fleeing Pure bloods. With all the foes but one fled or dead, Drogarth smashed the final one in the face with the flat of his axe, rendering it unconscious.

After purchasing some camels and a horse for Aranys they set off into the desert with the old woman leading the way, Mongo following on Winston.

The ground got more arid as they journeyed. It was a rocky desert landscape, tufts of grass and the occasional cactus. Although she initially made a beeline, after a while she zig zagged a bit and looked confused, sometimes she talked to herself before continuing. They stopped her every hour or so to give her water and although she didn’t like it, eventually she would accept rest and sustenance. Mongo tried to listen in to what she said but could not understand her. It seemed she was having argument with herself. Two different tones but both in her own voice.

The morning of the third day they came to a raised area, upon a cliff above they could see ruined sandstone buildings. Ulfgar judged that a wall that had surrouned the ruin had been broken sometime in the past, along with the gatehouse attached to it. Behind the gate was a residential area, a large broken building in the middle seemed to be a market or town hall. Another large building was possibly a mansion. In contrast to the rest, to the south west there was a camp, with colour tents and canopies around an oasis. To the east of the town appeared to be a large temple.

Mongo and Aranys headed to the camp where they could see figures moving around. Rincewind, Drogarth and Ulfgar followed the woman who was heading towards the building in the centre of the ruined settlement.

As they approached the camp they were surprised by some snakes emerging from some rocks. They hissed as they approached, they appeared interested in the pair. Aranys jumped onto a nearby ruin and Mongo backed away down a side street. Aranys could hear footsteps in the building next to Mongo. She called down to Mongo to warn him and she could see figures in the building below her, they looked around trying to see where she was. She hurled a dagger down at one of them, as the dagger hit embedded in it, it hissed to it’s companion who looked up and pointed at her. She ducked back out of sight.

Mongo backed away from the snakes as fast as he could and send a gout of flame into the swarm but they seemed unaffected.

Aranys heard claws scuttling on stone and a creature pulled itself up onto the remains of the roof. It was humanoid but snakelike. It opened it’s mouth and sprayed poison at her but she threw her cloak over her face and poison drops rained down around her. At the same time another creature attacked Mongo from the side and sprayed poison at him. Mongo ducked and it splattered in the sand at his feet. Aranys jumped to a nearby roof and threw her dagger at the snake swarm, it cut several of the snakes but many more swarmed on. Mongo jumped onto his foe and grabbed it, wounds appeared all over it, blood gushed from it’s eyes and splashed on the floor. It cried to it’s ally that they were too strong and it broke flee and fled. The other fled from Aranys but the snakes were now on Mongo and they swarmed over him, but he batted them away as they tried to bite him, lucky for Mongo they struggled to bite through his armour. Aranys helped from range flinging daggers them, cutting through more bodies. Mongo found now that the snakes were finding gaps in his armour and his head swam as poison flowed through him. More daggers flew through the air more bodies of snakes fell to the floor as Aranys picked them off. Eventually a pile of twitching halves remained, a couple of snakes slithered off and Mongo pulled himself out of the remains and got shakily to his feet.

Across town the woman was eager to reach the centre and the marketplace, but as she got closer she veered off towards the ruins of the mansion. There appeared to be flickering flames within. As they got closer the temperature appeared to climb. Rincewind used detect magic to ascertain that through the gate the flames on the ground were magical and creatures of some type. They pushed through the gate, the fire coalescqued into two humanoid forms another pair were snake shaped. They formed a semi circle around them, preventing them from entering further but they made no further moves. The woman stumbled back frightened. Ulfgar spoke up and asked that they be allowed to pass with the woman.

A booming voice spoke out from within and informed them it would come see them. The flame forms backed away. A large horned red skinned creature stepped into view. Rincewind recognised it as an Efreeti

“Did I hear something about a quest”

“We’re here to help this woman, she is seeking this place”

“Interesting, I could help you if you help me, my name is Aliaraz. My master died 700 years ago and left me here bound to defend this place and I cannot allow people in here without my masters permission and so really I must stop you entering here as my master is dead he cannot give. However I am bound to this place by a scepter and were you to return it to me here and I were to melt it then I’d be free from this bind and you’d be free to explore this place.”

"And if we were to release you?”

“I’d return to the plane of fire to recuperate, a long over due and well earned rest I think you’ll agree.”

Mongo and Aranys had carried on towards the camp, they could now see human guards with shields and spears, clad in robes to protect from the sun, they noticed Mongo and spears and archers were aimed at him.

They challenged him and asked if he was friend of foe to the Djala tribe of Treysholm.

T'zari the lead guard introduced himself. They were a nomadic tribe. Mongo asked if they had anything to treat snakebites, and they nodded knowingly and explained the Juan-ti had recently moved in and started causing trouble.

T'zari led Mongo to the druidic leader T'shanti. She spoke with Mongo about the town. They sometimes visited the town on their travels. Mongo asked about the Mansion and she explained that a magical entity guarded it so they didn’t enter it. The warrens had been taken over by the Juan-ti. There were also large temples on the otherside of dead but recently they had been overrun with undead, one of their tribe, an old woman called Yulala had gone down a dark path and raised them, she’d become obsessed with seeking power and knowledge. Yulalala was always obsessed with the ruins and one day she left the tribe to take up residence there. She’d then summoned a number of people from the dead, but so far she’d done nothing else to bother them.

As Mongo’s wounds were tended and ate some food he felt telepathic communication from Drogarth enter his mind. They updated eachother on what their groups had done and they agreed to meet up at the Temple.

Sometime later the Traders stood together outside the temple of Pelor, some skeletons milled around the grounds. They called out to Yulala. No answer was forthcoming but then some of the undead moved together and formed a wall. From behind it a wizend old face appeared and greeted them.

They explained they were looking for a sceptre for Aliaraz, she claimed that she did not know of one. Drogarth told her they were going to come in and look for it. Although she found this quite  rude she said they could come in if they really wanted but to leave the weapons outside. Aranys stayed outside with the weapons, and animals but the others headed in behind Yulala

It was dark inside and they stopped to get their senses. Once their eyes had adjusted to the light and they could see her above them kneeling on her gnarled staff. They could see her bed and some books, she explained she didn’t have the scepter, but she would like to find it as she’d very much also like to look inside the mansion guarded by the Efreeti.

They asked if there were catacombs under the temple. She explained there were and she’d looted them and raised the deceased she’d found there and they helped her search the town. Mongo asked her why she’d left her tribe. She said they were a bit backwards. Mongo said some thought Necromancy a bit backwards. She was affronted by this, she had studied for months to bring these back to life. He asked her about the Thracian empire but she was more interested in the power she’d heard was beneath the mansion.

They made their way down into the catacombs. Mongo and Drogarth assisted Rincewind in searching them. Rincewind found an area at one end that seemed hollow sounding. Before he could try and investigate a blur flashed past him as Ulfgar charged it with his shield and clanged off it. Mongo tried a more subtle approach but when he failed Drogarth put his boot through it and and rocks and dust fell away… they could now see a door mechanism that they could have used.

Yulala appeared from above, attracted by all the noise. She peered past them and was concerned they’d made a new entrance into her house, Once they assured her they would investigate it she calmed down and allowed them to get their weapons to do so.

Their crazy companion didn’t want to be underground and was trying to escape so they arranged with Yulala to look after her while they explored the tunnel. It ended up only being 100ft before they came to another door, knowing where the mechanism was this time they opened it without destroying it. They passed through it into a small room with barrels in the corners, a liquid pooled under one of them and Ulfgar dipped his finger in it and licked it, a vinegary taste suggested this was wine that had gone off. Stairs led up and they followed them until they came to a trapdoor. Ulfgar pushed it open and heaved himself up into another room.

The room was part of a ruined building on the surface, sunlight poured in through the remains of the roof and a window, they heared movement outside, there was a tapping on the door and then it pushed open, a snakelike figure stood in the doorway…

They took Lady Valen back to the Captain’s house. The violent outburst seemed to have released the tension that had been building in the city for months. The streets were now nearly deserted. The Prince and his family were safe at the Captain’s house. He offered the Traders quarters at the castle. His authorities had everything in hand, now that the Maw had been defeated.

There was a cordon at the courtyard where the battle had happened but already the corpses had been cleared up. After a decent nights sleep, they met Prince Derrick the next morning in his throne-room. Some of the surviving nobles were there along with the Prince’s brother in law Chancellor Velleen who the Traders stills suspected and Lady Valen who was now dressed in her Wizard robes.

The Prince welcomed them and thanked them for purging the blight from the city, he also apologised to Ulfgar for not recognising him the previous night. He told them that fortunately his guard had restored order to the city.

He understood that they had attacked the Maw’s headquarters on the island as well as provide evidence of the poisoning and defeated the head of the cult. He turned to Chancellor Valleen and asked him to pay a reward to each of them. He also gave them an heirloom that was precious to him. Two solid gold statues on a plinth, one male and one female lion. He told them that when their names were said they turned into real full size lions. Ulfgar accepted one and Drogarth the other.

Finally he asked them if there was anything more he could do. They explained they were searching for information of Vakarian Thrace and the information they were trying to obtain was for Jakara Toebee the ancient Arch Mage.

The Prince turned to his sister, deferring to her superior magical knowledge, she had heard of them both but they were not subjects she could speak with any authority on. One of her advisers whispered in her ear and she recommended that they speak with the head Wizard in Southgate, Tormus Arravandor

The meeting went on a bit longer, various things were discussed including Increased trade between Southgate and Jutrund’s, So Uek was pleased and offered the Traders help whenever they needed it.

Later Rincewind met with Tormus, He spoke of a woman in an asylum who ranted about walking in spires of diamonds. She had been found wandering in the desert, quite insane, and brought to an asylum run by the Silent Sisters in Cherudnezzar , a small town to the north on the coast. The local Wizards guild representative was called Arabella and would be able to assist them.

They took a day in Southgate to rest and requested a private audience with the Prince. They informed him of their suspicions about his brother in law and left him to do what he willed with the information. He was gravely concerned and disturbed by this information but would have his people investigate this.

Mongo checked on the population after their ordeal of the past several months. He checked on the food stores and assisted with the cleanup. Aranys decided to stay in Southgate and set up a false identity as a relative of one of the nobles that were killed at the party, while the rest mounted up Rincewind’s Phantom Steeds and rode back to Jutrund’s crossing. 

The journey was short and uneventful. The Traders has various things to attend in Jutrund’s. Mongo retrieved his Owlbear. Rincewind checked in with the Wizard’s Guild and attended a few meetings of the Burgermeisters. Ulfgar headed to the barracks and Drogarth bought a silvered flail and some manacles for some reason. After a couple of days they rode back to Southgate and picked up Aranys who had finished creating her new identity.

They rode north stopping at the Hanged Man Inn where they ended up having a good old fashioned bar brawl with locals, Rincewind got thrown through a window onto the street, Drogarth get an application of pigs fat and Ulfgar won the fight.

They headed north for four more days, each day it was hotter and dry, they rode along the coast, enjoying the broken up rugged scenery. Plains eventually gave way to arid landscape as they reached the town of Cherudnezza. It sat slightly in from the coast, beyond in the distance they could see the start of desert lands and then far away, mountains. The land here was known as the Dragon purged desert and marked the boundary of Arcosia, an empire of Dragonborn.

The town was pale, it’s buildings made of stone or wood bleached from the sun, wind and sand. The residents shared the rugged bleached look of the buildings, there were a larger number of Dragonborn than they were used to seeing. A small river lead from the town to a small harbour where they could see fishing boats, in the north east section of the town there looked to be some quarrying industry located.

They spoke to the guards at the entrance and explained that they were here to visit a member of the asylum run by the sisters, they were meeting someone named Arabella. They directed the Traders to Arabella’s shop Ye Olde Apothecare where they should find her at this time. The guards also suggested The Wyrm’s rest as a place to stay, being the only inn in town.

A few minutes later they entered the shop, On the wall above, outside a creaky sign rocked back and forth in the breeze, some of the letters gone as the paint had been worn away. Inside was as you’d expect of a backwater apothecary. Dusty phials, potions littered the old sagging shelves, a layer of dust on most of them, heady fumes filled the air and reduced visibility in the gloom to a few feet.

In a chair rocking back and forth was a jovial pipe smoking middle aged woman.

“What can I do for you”

The introduced themselves and told her why they had come. She explained she was a silent sister in the past before she realised that she liked talking too much, left and started to her practice to benefit the people of the town. She said she’d take them to the asylum in the morning, but they could join her for dinner that night in a restaurant she knew, the only one in town. They enjoyed spiced goat stew while she smoked various substances and talked about her life history and her travels.

In return the Traders shared stories of their adventures. At the end of the evening she suggested that they pose as her advisors when they visited the asylum in the morning. The woman they’d found had been lost in the desert for sometime and was suffering from dehydration and sunstroke at the time. They’d been able to treat this but she remained unresponsive to any treatment to her mental condition.

Next morning they met up with Arabella without their armour and joined her for the walk to the asylum. The asylum stood on the hill on the coast a little way out of town, it was a sad lonely building. They passed early morning trade of fishermen making their way into the town. As they walked Arabella talked about the town. Soon moans started to be heard from the asylum, carried on the wind towards them.

When they reached the building she thumped on the door and shouted for the sisters to open up, after time a hatch on the door slid open and eyes briefly peered out. It shut again and after a few moment they heard bolts being unlatched and the door opened.

They entered into the darkness of the asylum. When their eyes adjusted they could see the hunched figure of an old nun. Arabella recognised her as sister Iren, and asked her to take them to the speaker of the day. They were here to see the woman brought in from the desert.

The nun nodded and lead them through the corridors. As they did Arabella maintained a one way conversation with the sister, talking about various matters of little importance. They came to a courtyar. In the centre was a grassed area and dotted it under the shade were benches on which various patients and nuns sat, at one end a small herb garden was being tended. Iren lead them off to the side of the courtyard and into a small admin room.

Here they found sister Tyrana who was nominated as able to speak that day. She wasn’t expecting Arabella and the visit from so many had clearly disturbed her. It took some convincing to get her to allow them to visit the woman who was kept in cell 15 but eventually she relented after speaking with Mongo but insisted that she be present for their examination of the woman.

She lead them to cell 15 past cells with patients of varying conditions in.In cell 15 they found a gaunt woman in wraps sitting in the corner rocking back and forth mumbling to herself. They entered and Arabella applied a balm under the woman’s nose. the woman’s eyes were terribly bagged, Arabella explained the patient slept rarely, always awakened by nightmares.

Mongo tended to her, he could see that she’d carved markings onto her arms, he recognised them from his visions. They were a diamond, a star, a downwards pointing arrow and a teardrop. Rincewind listened to her mumblings but couldn’t make sense of them, Arabella suggested that last time they got her to talk any recognisable words they’d taken her into the courtyard and used smelling salts.

They agreed and lead her out onto the grass. Arabella applied the salts and they got some response from her. She poke of diamond spires and the stars. They tried different words to see which got responses. When Mongo mentioned Elu, she responded that it powered the city. The most important thing was when they said the name Vakarian Thrace, she responded

“Yes… Traysholme, I need to get to Traysholme”

Arabella and Rincewind had head of Traysholme. It was an ancient ruined town out in the desert to the north.It has been settlement on the southern border of the Arcosian empire built around an oasis. Now all that was believed to remain were ruins, desert creatures and rumours that it was haunted.

The group was spilt on what to to do, but Rincewind declared he believed that the way to help this woman was to get her to Traysholme and if it was related in someway to Vakarian Thrace then it might have information worth something to Jakara Toebee .

Ulfgar did some investigation that evening and heard talk of magical creatures and nomadic tribes that they might encounter when they headed north. Vale

Drogarth’s Hold Person spell on Bella had broken her concentration and the vines holding Aranys withered and died, allowing her to break free.

Rincewind bled badly from the wounds he’d taken from the clawed beast and so he dropped backwards off the bridge out of it’s reach, he cast Feather fall as he plummeted and floated safely towards the ground below. Ulfgar hacked at the door eventually it splintered and he breached it. He stepped into a torch-lit corridor, a noble looking man stood inside holding his sword towards him.

“Stand fast villian I will not let you take my family”

Ulfgar tried to explain he was there to help but the man was too panicked to believe him.

Mongo carried past Rial as she battled one creature, he saw the other was about to jump Ulfgar, he hit out with Sacred flame and Thorn whip but was unable to stop it from leaping onto Ulfgar who was in the middle of trying to convince the man in the tower that he wasn’t as evil and scary as he looked. With the foul beast now clawing at his back he rammed it backwards through the remains of the burning door and flung it away towards the edge of the bridge. Then with two swipes of his axe, he first took off one of it’s clawed hands and then cut it neatly in two at the waist. The two halves fell from the bridge towards the Wizard below who had just touched down and now found blood and body parts raining down on him.

Rincewind, now outside the castle walls stepped over the corpse from above and looked at the tower where the prince hid. He noticed vines going up the sides of the tower, closer investigation revealed an area that looked different to the rest that could indicate a secret entrance, he started to examine it.

Atop the other tower Bella shrugged off the Hold Person spell and faced off against Drogarth and Aranys. Drogarth tried the spell again but she resisted. Bella grinned as Drogarth closed and began to circle her. Aranys used the opportunity as she was distracted by Drogarth to dart in and stab her in the back. Bella tried to escape towards the battlements and dodged away from both of their blades, spinning around as she leapt the balcony she took a shot at Drogarth but the arrow embedded in the ground beside him. She landed on the battlements and sprinted towards Mongo and Rial. 

After seeing Ulfgar dispatch to the creature the noble relaxed slightly and explained he was the Prince and that his family were getting out below with the captain while he covered their rear, Ulfgar suggested they catch up with them as fast as they could.

Mongo turned back to help Lieutenant Rial, using Guiding Bolt to blast the creature attacking her, causing it to glow.  Rial guided by Mongos light finished it off creature, ramming her sword through it’s chest. With it dead she dashed through the blazing door after the Prince.

Drogarth tried to conjure a skeletal hand around Bella as she ran to prevent her getting to Mongo but she was too nimble and the hand grabbed at thin air, Aranys jumped down from the tower after her and dashed to catch up, she flung another dagger, the blade catching Bella in the shoulder. Bella span around and shouted before sprinting off again.

“I’ll end you wench!”

Mongo heard steps and looked up to see a hooded figure armed with a bow running towards with him, closely followed by Aranys. He sent another Guiding bolt at the figure, it hit true causing her to glow, Bella ducked low, spun around as she tried to jump off the edge of the bridge as she did so she loosed an arrow at Aranys. She was surprised when Aranys caught the arrow, grabbed Bella’s bow before flipping the arrow round and ramming it through her eye. Bella’s shocked expression remained on her face as Aranys let her fall from the bridge, she kept hold of the bow as a trophy of the kill.

Rincewind had managed to find loose bricks which he activated to open a hidden door at the base of the tower. He stepped inside and noticed muddy footprints on the floor and sounds of battle above. He saw spiral stairs leading up, an armed man fought another of the clawed creature on the stairs, a woman with children behind him. He fired a volley of Magic Missiles into the back of the creature causing it to turn and the man fighting it used this moment to press his attack. At this moment the Prince and Ulfgar arrived and helped swiftly kill the abomination, they were momentarily joined by Rial.

Once they’d recovered their breath Yunn the Captain told them the best way back in would be to follow the wall through the woods and take an entrance back into the castle. 

Drogarth, Aranys and Mongo having called down to their allies under the bridge made their way back to the party. They entered the courtyard to find a battle between the court guards and the cultists. Bodies of both sides sprawled around the square. The entry of the Traders swung the battle and soon the cultists were overpowered and wiped out to a man.

One of the surviving guards, a Sergeant, explained that the creatures had poured out of the party, he expected a bloodbath in there. They had tried to fight the creatures but we were forced out by the cultists. The leader of the cultists had headed out into the city, they’d been too busy fighting for their lives to stop him.

Mongo lead the way and kicked the door to the party open. A bloodbath indeed faced him, the party attendees inside had been massacred. Aranys ordered the Sergeant to collect the bodies and check who wasn’t accounted for.

Captain Yunn lead the Prince and his family through the woods with the Traders, they followed the wall until he stopped at a point and took them through a secret entrance in the wall that lead into a passageway and out into the rich district.

Ulfgar asked if there was an alternative escape option and the Captain confirmed that there was a safe house he could be taken to, the immediate family of the Prince knew about it though and they were worried one or more were compromised so the Captain suggested his house as another option. The Captain’s house was in the rich district and soon they had him and his family settled in. The Captain had crossbows hidden round the house and armed everyone, he promised to keep the Prince safe while Ulfgar, Drogarth, Rincewind and Rial tried to meet back up with Aranys and Mongo.

As they got close to the castle, people were encountered running past them in a panic, some shouted that the Maw were attacking them. Soon they reunited with Mongo and Aranys and headed towards danger against the flow of fleeing residents. As they moved from the richer to the poorer districts they noticed the mood changed, less people panicking and more people buying into a rhetoric, a sense of revolution was in the air. The poisoned food, the hallucinogens, the disparity between the poor and rich was working and the Maw were promising to overthrow the rich oppressors. They were creating a rebellion.

Deciding to cut the head off the snake they made their way to the docks at the heart of the city. As they drew near they heard a deep resonating voice talking of the sacrifice required and how the Maw would allow the people to eat and raise them from their oppression. The people would get what they wanted, the ruling classes would be struck down, their blood drank and their bodies consumed.

Ulfgar forced his way through the assembled crowd with the rest following in his wake. In the main market square beside the docks stood a raised platform and on it at a plinth was the source of the voice, Adress Vale. As he preached to the crowd a dark aura grew around him, cult members at the edge of the platform were holding back the large cheering crowd. Beside Addres, unconscious lay the Prince’s sister, Lady Valen.

Ulfgar flung his axe at Adress and it caught him in the shoulder. His preaching stopped as he looked to Ulfgar with hate, black energy seeped from his wound and he started to grow in size as he shouted to the crowd.

“Non believers are among us, destroy them!”

Aranys also sent her daggers flying into Adress, more dark energy seeped from his wounds when they returned to her hands. The plinth then exploded into thousands of pieces as Rincewind hit it with a fireball. Addres was engulfed along with the cultists and the front ranks of the crowd. When the fire subsided they were nought but ash blowing away on the breeze, but creature that was Adress Vale remained, it’s skin split open and a creature of darkness speckled with starlight and clad in rags stood 20 foot tall in the remains of the platform. Lady Valen remained unconscious but unharmed in the wreckage at it’s feet.

Drogarth and Ulfgar took advantage of the explosion and barged through the stundded crowd to slash at the creature with their axes. The rest of the Traders felt themselves pulled towards the creature which then spoke to them.

“Now feel the hatred of the stars”

Dark tendrils erupted from it striking the Traders with necrotic energies…It stepped backwards from them into the crowd, and called out.

“Faithful defend me”

Mongo jumped through the the rabble now swarming around the creature that had been Addres and latched onto one of it’s legs casting Inflict Wounds. Mindless and in a hysteria many of the crowd threw themselves at him clawing at him with nails and fists.

Rincewind responded by sending another Fireball into the creature he sculpted the spell to spare Mongo who was still holding onto it’s leg while being piled on my the massed ranks, Mongo suddenly found himself free of his attackers, they weren’t there anymore as they’d been vapourised. A huge hole had been blown in the crowd of followers around the creature and the hold it had over the remainder was broken, most now fled and the rebellion at the docks petered out.

Drogarth Blessed his allies to aid their attacks and they charged at the weakened creature. Knowing it was vulnerable, now it tried to fear them, causing Rincewind to run before it used Teleport to escape to a nearby roof. Mongo though, saw where it had gone and sniped it with a Guiding Bolt, the bolt struck it in the head and the creature was destroyed. It vanished, only the robes it had been clad in remained and they drifted to the floor.

Mongo stood tall and spoke to the remaining crowd telling them that once again darkness has been defeated by the forces of nature and light and that they should live in balance with nature. The Lieutenant woke Lady Valen who could remember much of the attack as she’d been knocked out and they all made their way back to the castle to deal with the aftermath.

Rincewind noted the woman’s cloak had been dark blue with star symbols similar to the one he had taken from Arastor. He found a teleportation circle surmised she could be anywhere on this plane of existence now and far from their reach. He did note down the details for the circle should they need to return.

Ulfgar and Drogarth investigated the desk she’d been at, at the end of the search they’d found nothing much and there was nothing much left of the desk anymore. Finding themselves at a bit of a dead-end they decided to head back upstairs and take the other route to the more trodden path.

They made their way down a natural craggy path, water ran down the walls either side of them the air was charged with energy. They soon found the source, as they entered a room that contained in the centre a dark crystal of obvious power.

It was covered in glowing green glyphs, eight chairs in a circle around it and scorch marks on the ceiling. They were reminded of the StarForge that was used to bring life to the golems. At the back of the room stood a viewing area with a pedestal and controls on it and beside them a book contains names against which there were ticks and crosses, there were more ticks than crosses.

It seemed that they were looking at a shard of Elu, and it had been corrupted then used to imbue the people they’d encountered with the black eyes and dark powers. This reminded them also of what they’d seen in the vault of glass where Jakara Toebee had deliberately corrupted it to punish the Dwarves when they refused to pay her.

As they investigated the shard the air became still and silent. Drogarth realised that in the way that Elu was a star, a part of another star is controlling this shard. Rincewind touched the shard and could feel the connection with its host star, Acamar. He instantly felt as though he wanted to eat, eat everything, hunger for millennia. He drew his hand away quickly and the feeling subsided.

Acamar was a corpse star, it consumed anything that came near until it went dark from the sky 1,000s years ago. It appeared that it still existed and it still hungered. Rincewind’s attempts to cleanse the shard of influence of Acamar failed but he believed that it could be done with more Wizards and more time. They needed to take it with them. Mongo placed his hands on the ground under the crystal. He used Stone-shape to move the stone from around the Crystal, leaving it laying in the hole, Ulfgar and Drogarth heaved together to haul it out.

They gradually made their way back up through the passageways. They make it back to the ruins and then up to the now deserted camp. They noticed corpses on the route out of the camp, some cut down by claws and cleavers, some burnt by eldritch magic.

They hurried to the docks and in the silence of the docks they found more corpses and no boat. They heard a noise to the left, someone was moving. A halfing sized figure emerged from the shadows.

“Don’t hurt me, I hid. The chosen came up, they killed everyone who wouldn’t stand with them and took the rest with them. They said they were taking the city tonight.”

Rincewind created another boat with Fabricate using the various boxes and barrels. They rowed their way out of the cave and turned towards Southgate. They rowed into the North docks as the sun set and it began to get dark.

Rincewind cast Tensor’s floating disc to carry the shard while the others tied up the boat. They loaded the shard onto the disc and headed to the barracks to see Leiutenant Rial. 

“Good to see you again, you’re investigating the Maw… what’s under the cloth?”

They were taken into an interview room. They explained that they haduncovered the cult and that the followers were going to tear out the heart of the city and eat it.

“ahh the Prince is hosting an event this evening at the castle, business meeting with traders. His wife’s brother chancellor, Velleen has been promoting this event. Adress Veil is providing the food and drink.”

Mongo explained Adress’ involvement and expressed concern that Velleen could be involved. To highlight his point, he dragged the cloth from the shard. Rial looked at it and conceded that while she was no expert, if anything was evil, that dark glowing shard was.

She explained that the Prince had a safe room that he could retreat to. It could be possible to get a message to him via the Captain who was also attending. They marched across the town with the Lieutenant. Half the guard came with them to the castle while the rest spread throughout the city to try and counter other possible threats from hidden cultists.

The reached the castle gates and found them guarded but open. Rial sprang into action and began giving orders.

“I need a message to the captain and the ambassador to Jutrund’s Crossing.”

“Double guard all points into the castle.”

The Traders followed her towards the banquet hall.A courtier on the door asked them for their invitations.

“No but I need you to get a message into Captain Yunn inside and Uek Kilbran.”

Eventually the Captain showed up. He was annoyed to have been dragged away from the event. He couldn’t be convinced that the threat was serious until Jutrund’s ambassador argued that The Trader’s were the great defenders of Jutrund’s who had saved it years before. Finally he accepted that he should do something.

“Very well I’ll get a message to the Prince”

After a time They notice a commotion in the hall and and a courtier pushed past the door guard and headed to them,

“I’ve been asked to provide you this message”

He handed it to them and it read that the Prince has been moved to the safe-room with his wife and children. But he was worried about his sister who remained in the hall, along with some of his friends and brother in law.

They asked the Courtier to take a message to Adress Veil tellingl him to meet the Prince in the state room and made their way there with the lieutenant to lay in wait.

The state room was a large room with a raised area at one end with two thrones on it and various doors leading to side rooms. Aside from Aranys who was up hight, they all took rooms off to the side and waited. A few minutes passed, but no one showed up.

Rincewind asked Drogarth to suggest to Aranys that she go take a look. Aranys made her way down from the rafters and made her way towards the banquet hall. She spoke to the courtier from earlier. He had given the message to Adress, who had thanked him and went to speak to Lord Velleen. She asked him to check he was still in there, he looked inside.

“Yes, they’re still talking.”

Aranys returned to the others. Rial was worried by this news as Velleen  knew about the saferoom. It was in a tower outside of the castle walls, reachable only by a bridge from the walls. They followed the Lieutenant at a run across the battlements towards the tower.  As she pointed to it in the darkness a bright arrow arced through the air and hit the tower, where it hit, the tower burst into flames that rapidly spread to cover mostr of it.

More arrows headed to towards the tower, they appeared to be coming from another tower about 150 foot along the battlements. Aranys immediately sprinted towards this tower.

The Lieutenant set off towards the safe-tower, she was soon overtaken by Ulfgar as he grabbed Rincewind and activated his cape, the pair of them soared into the air and cannon-balled towards the top of the tower, as they got closer they couldn’t see anywhere to land that wasn’t on fire. They could also see the windows at the top were barred. It was then Ulfgar noticed dark human shaped figures climbing the walls of the tower towards the bridge. 

Mongo was jogging after Rial over the stone bridge, when he looked up and saw a lightning arrow strike Ulfgar and Rincewind, a bright flash or arcing forks of lightning obscured them from view, when his vision cleared he could no longer see them.

Drogarth hit the top of the tower with a fireball lighting up the sky for miles around, a scream could be heard as he hit someone. Aranys phased stepped to the top amongst the scorched battlements and threw her daggers at the cloaked archer. They flew through the air and embedded in their shoulder.

“Oh it’s you” said Bella as she gritted her teeth and removed the daggers.

Ulfgar and Rincewind were descending back to the bridge having failed to find anywhere on the tower to set down, as they did, Rincewind threw Fire-bolts at the cloaked figures. Ulfgar landed on the bridge and deposited the Wizard before hurling his axe at one of the dark figures, they reached the bridge and scurried along the underside of it to take cover from Rincewind, a Guiding Bolt flew past Ulfgar’s shoulder at them and he turned to see Mongo running towards him to help.

Bella launched an arrow at Aranys but she sidestepped and it missed, where it embedded in the stonework beside her, thorny vines burst forth. Below Drogarth smashed the door from its hinges and began to climb. Aranys wasted no time and charged at Bella, they grappled at the edge of the crenellations but Bella managed to break free and push her back.

On the bridge the figures dragged themselves up from under the bridge, they revealed terrible claws that had allowed them to cling easily to the tower walls and the underside of the bridge. Rincewind fire-balled the door, he sculpted the spell to allow the blast to wash past him and Ulfgar but it hit the clawed creatures now approaching them rapidly from behind, singing their cloaks and forcing them to shield their faces. Ulfgar then activated his armour to protect him as he charged the heavily weakened door and slammed into it, but it didn’t yield.

Lieutenant Rial took this moment to charge the creatures with Mongo beside her. One of them turned to face her and lashed out with a razor share claw opening a wound in her side, the other headed towards the wizard and slashed through his robes, drawing blood.

On the tower Bella had managed to get some distance on Aranys and fired another arrow at her, this time it struck deep into her leg armour and she was bound in place with vines. Just as this happened Drogarth burst through the trapdoor at the top of the tower and used Hold Person to stop Bella from advancing on Aranys to finish her.

The Traders picked Wendel up from the grass and began to question him further. He told them more about the camp they were in. To the North a race of Shark people lived, there had been a number of skirmishes between them, casualties taken on both sides and currently an uneasy truce held. The route from where Mongo had encountered the reinforcements led down to where the chosen from the camp were taken to be enlightened. The followers in the camp had nothing, they were desperately poor and had come here on the promise of a better life.

Drogarth investigated the various routes out of the camp as the others rested. The way to the Shark people looked to head towards a beach, he turned back before encountering anyone. The route where the chosen were taken spiralled down into the dark above a pit, from below a beam of light rose from the darkness straight upwards. He surmised this likely was the source of light for the lighthouse. After further investigation he found a narrow crack in the wall of the cave. It appeared there were tracks leading through into a chamber, tracks belonging to some individuals small wearing boots, children or Halflings.

Rincewind waited outside while the others made their way through the crevice, a small time they journeyed until they could hear the scrabbling of feet below them. They carried on until they could hear a couple of figures whispering to each other, digging into the sand with their hands. The Halflings became aware of them and started with a fright, then backed up against the wall. Aranys asked them what they were doing, they were clearly terrified and starving. After offering the Halfings some food they got some information from them.

They’d joined the ranks of the camp ever since the mill in Southgate stopped making food. They’d been in the camp for a while before they heard voices within the crack and come down to investigate. Soon they lost interest in the Traders and went back to digging. After leaving some more food with the Halflings the Trader’s returned to the camp. They spoke to some of the members and checked the food they were eating, it was as suspected, poisoned with the same substances as the food in Southgate.

Aranys spoke to their cook to explain that the food was poison. He didn’t believe it was possible they’d be poisoned, he’d cooked the food from the fresh ingredients. Wendel asked if this was all true and the Trader’s explained what had been going on, eventually managing to convince some of the group that at least something was a bit odd about their situation. Before they left them Wendel advised them a number of followers had been taken down below earlier.

The Traders donated their rations to cook up some untainted food to keep them fed and then made their way down the spiralling stone ledge down into the darkness. It didn’t take them long to end up in another chamber. In the centre of the chamber with faded carvings around it was a hole with a beam of light shining through from below. A doorway in the chamber led through into another room, where before they had been in caves, through the door it appeared very obviously a dwelling carved from

into rock and the markings again were recognised by Drogarth as Thracian similar those in Vackys delve. Ahead of them was a food hall, they ignored this and checked two other routes. On one side was a craggy passage leading into a dwelling, the other led into a natural cave with heavy footfall. They chose the passage leading into the dwelling, footprints in the sand indicated that four people had recently gone this way, and three had returned. A short way in they found a room with a pedestal in the middle containing a crystal that emitted a strange light. None of them were sure what it was but on it runes were carved that regulated the beam. They followed the footprints through another doorway until they came to a large ornately carved door, there was detailing carved either side of the door and within alcoves stood men with large glaives surrounded by golden energy fields. It was all very familiar, they were once again facing Star Forged golem warriors.

Aranys acted first, triggering a trap above the door as she moved to try and disable it. The eyes on the Golems glowed into life and they advanced out of their alcoves. The Traders attacked confidently, having dealt with Star forged before and in greater numbers. Mongo used a Lash of Thorns to drag one towards him as Rincewind cast a random spell at it, the wand chose “Detect Thoughts” and he found thoughts within that mechanical mind, a overwhelming need to defend it’s master, Vicarion Thrace. They dodged eye-beams from the traps and threw fireballs and axes into the Golems. Lightning from Rincewind arced off Drogarths armour as he duelled with one, the lightning melting great holes through its outer shell. Ulfgar hacked rents in his opponents metal casing , revealing the workings within as counter spear thrusts dented and penetrated his plate armour to draw Dwarven blood. Aranys darted back and forth to try and disable the trap but without success. 

Rincewind decided to help and with Mirror Image he charged forward with three illusions of himself. As he pushed towards the trap above the door two of his illusions fell to spears, he pressed on and his final illusion fell just as he has climbed onto the shoulders of a Golem in the doorway and disabled the trap. Drogarth tried to protect him but the Golem threw the Wizard to the floor and skewered him with its spear, this opened it up to attack from Aranys who finished it efficiently with her daggers and the trap and the Golems were no more.

Once their wounds were tended to and the Wizard retrieved from the floor they opened the door and continued. A short way down a corridor was another chamber that appeared to be a study, a table with papers on it very similar to the last one they’d found guarded by Star Forged. Stood over the table is with it’s back to them was a robed figure. A sense of overwhelming undead evil washed over Drogarth.

Mongo and Aranys crept forward, they could see it wore a cloak similar to the one Rincewind wore since taking it from Arastor in the battle of Jutrund’s
Ulfgar tired of waiting and cleared his throat. The figure turned its head… its face was covered in a silver mask of a woman. Mongo recalled a vision of a figure with such a mask standing over an old man kneeling down.

“You must the group that the girl played around with”

“Impressive that you’ve come this far. brave that you came here.”

“I have a question for you”

“Don’t you know who I am”

“You have no idea do you”

“let’s leave it that way then”

With that she began  to collect the papers from the desk.

“Well it’s been a pleasure”

Ulfgar flung his axe at her, as it reached her it passed through her as she vanished.