916 Ikinampu 13
We left the Decantri estate and returned to our rooms.
Early that morning we were visited in our room by a dwarven warrior named Contron Nurkol. He told us that he had been sent by the Unbrian military to join us. We told him we would meet him in about an hour where he was staying, at The Last Pigeons Inn.
We went to see John, who told us that Contron had been stationed at Fort Guardian and was a possible member of the Watchman. He said that we probably shouldn’t worry about him too much. He also told us that he thought war between Pensar and Umbria was imminent, and that he might be fleeing the area in no less than a month’s time.
We picked up Contron and went to the Umbrian military offices. Once there, Lia and I were ushered in to see the king, Maximus the 12th. He told us that they knew we were spies for Pensar, but because of the great deeds we had accomplished, he wanted us to work for them. We agreed that we would do everything we could to try to prevent a war, and to seek the demise of the Haybill Corporation, which we found out has gone by many names. The King suggested we seek out the Karakana Knights.
With that we sent for our horses and departed at once.
That evening we came across a trail that led to an ancient abandoned theater. I large tree grew in the center. I found a door leading to a tunnel under the bleachers and at the end we found a set of adamantine chain mail, which we gave to Bretentious.
We set camp nearby for the night.
916 Ikinampu 14
In the evening, we reached the small town of Marlet, and stayed at Marlet Center. While there I put on a performance, demonstrating my drumming skills. I was satisfied with the performance overall, though the floor was too slippery for me to really incorporate my acrobatics.
916 Ikinampu 15
Off the the side of the road we found a 50 foot tall obelisk. Around the surface, which started at 4 feet wide and tapered to 2 feet wide at the top, were diagrams displaying the story of Brunbar Dirkin, the hero of Umbria. It appears that he defeated many monsters, made allies with many nations, but was eventually destroyed by the figurative serpent.
I climbed to the top of the obelisk to view the entire story, and discovered that the tip wa hollow. Inside I found a wand of magic missiles, which I gave to the party to use.
916 Ikinampu 16
We were attacked by more Shou assassins. I thought the previous group would be the last. One of them hit me with a lightning bolt. Fortunately Charlie was able to revive me. I personally killed both of the wizards among them.
916 Ikinampu 17
We reached Mount Cabanus. Carlos, a Karakana Knight was guarding the entry. It appeared that he had been expecting us. Inside we found a sword case on pedestal. The case appeared attached to the pedestal. On the pedestal, surrounding the case, were three slots in the stone, aligning in position with the three pathways leading further into Mount Cabanus. We determined that we would probably need to retrieve something from each of the passageways to free the sword case. We went off to the left passage and met the ghost of Lucius, a Karakana Knight who had died trying to retrieve the sword. He told us that he had died fighting gargoyles in the centermost passage.
We decide to head there first. Heading down the center passage, we found it ended in doors to the left, right, and center. Peering into the center door, we saw a large chamber with two sets of three statues lining the left and right walls. We decided to examine the doors on the sides of the passage.
Bretentious looked into the door on the left side and found a heavy mechanical monster charging at him. He closed the door, but the machine smashed right through the door. Then another came out of the opposite door. It was a hard battle. I was able to sweep one of them prone, but not for long, and not without injuring my leg in the process on it’s metallic shell. With everyone’s help, especially Maric’s spells, we were able to defeat them.
Then we went back to the gargole room. Maric cast scatter on each of them, and we discovered that only one of the statues on each side were actually gargoyles. They rushed at us and we retreated. Already badly damaged from spells, Charlie and I were able to finish them with our bows.
But something must have happened to Maric during the battle, as his magic seemed to get out of his control, and bizarre effects began appearing around him. We all fled the wild magic and watched from the other room, as lights and explosions, and magical beasts appeared and disappeared around him. In the end Maric appeared, miraculously unscathed, except for his skin had turned blue.
In the sword case room, we discovered that a card had appeared in one of the slots. We went to the right passage, which Lucius indicated was the puzzle section. Like the other passages, this one ended in three doors.
The door to the left opened into a chamber with a giant game of Sudoku carved on the floor in sand. We gradually figured it out by writing in the sand.
The door to the right opened into a chamber with a giant game of Mine Sweeper carved on the floor in sand. We identified all the possible mines, but eventually had to choose randomly. Contron did the honors and set off one of the glyphs of warding.
The last door opened into a large chamber with a living set of chess. Six of the chess pieces were missing, and we figured that we would have to take the place of those pieces. Working together we were able to checkmate our opponent, but not without losing Bretentious, who fell into a pit when we was taken by an opponent. Contron used his axe to break through the tiles of the chess board floor, and we retrieved Bretentious from 100 feet below, but he was already dead.
We brought Bretentious’ body back to the main room and discovered that a second card had appeared in the slot aligning to the puzzle section passage.
We went down the left passage again and found that the ghost of Lucius was gone. The door across was empty except for a note, which read “there is no need, the sword”.
The last door opened into a larger chamber with a small stream running through it.
Back in the sword case room, we were all suddenly inflicted with pain and sleep. In my dreams I saw Bretentious floating away, and someone else took his place. A Holy Avenger.
When we woke, Bretentious’ body had transformed into someone else, presumably this Holy Avenger.
