Session the Sixth

Grieving the loss of his stalwart companion Milo, Fray stood vigil through the night in prayer and meditation, supplicating the Archangel Raphael for intercession. As morning dawned, the angel saw fit to restore Milo's life to him. This being the second time he had died and been raised from the dead, Milo was now known as Milo Thriceborn. Furthermore, he had returned from death bearing the Divine Gift of miracle-working, and moved up from his status as a mere strongarm to being a cherished retainer.

After bidding Jacques Le Vert farewell, Fray, Baraldur, Cruum and Milo set off for the Loremaster's tower with the scrolls they had received from the Oracle. Médard graciously received the scrolls and agreed to answer any questions the adventurers had about the island. Cruum inquired about the nature of the Great Sea Worms, and was told that the horrid beasts were infernal in nature, but had not troubled the island until about 400 years ago. The onset of the beast's depredations had coincided with the disappearance of a great wizard known to have fiendish heritage. Baraldur asked about Ix, and Médard related that he had read of one so named who had walked the island just over a century past. This man Ix had visited many villages and lonely places of the island with a cloaked companion in tow, and each place he visited had experienced an upsurge in awful violent crimes. Rumors surviving from the period held that Ix had sought knowledge of his father, but had departed in disappointment.

Fray asked the Loremaster if he knew of any enchanted items of holy aspect which might be found upon the island. Médard told him of a wondrous shield said to grant boons to one who held it aloft beneath the night sky in full view of the stars. The last reported resting place of this shield was a village long ago destroyed, which lay at the eastern foot of the mountains. Before departing, the rogues asked Médard if there might be another who would know more about the great archmage whose disappearance had incited the worms' coming. The Loremaster related that if one traveled to the foot of the mountains and beyond two rivers, there was a still tarn high in an isolated valley. There dwelt a scion of one of the thirteen fallen kingdoms of lost Atlantis, who might know more. Thanking the old man, the adventurers departed in haste to seek their fortune.

They encountered and slew a strange legless lizard with batwings which they encountered in the high crags, and made their way down to the foot of the mountains. There they found the cinder-strewn ruins of a village long dead, burned down over a hundred years past. As they approached one of the more complete buildings, a six legged salamander of crimson hue came forth to devour them. The beast was of twisted shape, and its upper body was erect like a man, making its semblance somewhat like that of a centaur. The beast was not too physically strong, but was able to emit a cloud of poisonous gas which nearly killed Fray and slew Cruum's last shieldman, Leon. Once the beast was slain, Fray recovered a silver shield emblazoned with a white antler with seven tines from the ruins of a church. That night, Fray knelt beneath the stars and held the shield aloft in prayerful attitude, and was blessed with a measure of divine protection in battle for the next day.

The party continued their journey, crossing two rivers and spending a brief time in a small town called Alando. Heading into the mountains, they eventually came to the tarn, a verdant place of still waters where many crocodiles, armadillos, and crabs flourished. As they surveyed this hidden paradise, a woman of striking beauty garbed in a shimmering argent dress, her neck adorned with pearls. Cruum knelt in obeisance before the lady of the tarn, and begged her name and her counsel. She identified herself as Sophonisba, last scion of the Kingdom of Cancer. It was fortunate for Cruum that the lady was well disposed toward him, for his next question caused her no small consternation; when the dwarf inquired about the vanished wizard, the skies about the tarn grew dark, and the lady's sad eyes took on an edge of malice. She related that the wizard had not died, but was imprisoned still on the island, and that his crime had been the foul betrayal of his lady love. Pressed with further questions, Sophonisba divulged that the wizard had been a lover of the enchantress Rionach Dihada, and had been unfaithful to her, sporting with a nereid who lived in the waters about the island. After the Dihada imprisoned him within a place called the Cave of Mists, she sealed the cave with a Word of Power, which she then shattered into four pieces which scattered upon the five winds. The great Enchantress, bereft and betrayed, then cast a spell which enraged the great sea worms and caused them to destroy any vessel which came near the island. When asked the name of the imprisoned wizard, the lady answered: Merlin.

The adventurers left the tarn and its hallowed guardian, humbled and perplexed. Sophonisba had not known the location of the Cave of Mists, but owed that one of the other scions of the Zodiac might. Her sister Gepaepyris of Pisces lived on the northwestern coast, near the fishing town of Corte. Baraldur noted that the sign of this mage aligned with his own, and under this auspice declared that he would speak to her and learn what he could. The party set off through the wilderness, skirting the northern edge of the mountains. Deep in the forest, they encountered a werewolf-like beast with a pink crabshell upon its back. It was easily slain.

Upon reaching Corte, the adventurers set about restocking provisions and basic equipment. Cruum spent a month and much silver trying to find a retainer, but was unsuccessful. Being unable to find a skilled companion, he instead hired five new strongarms, Turburt, Gamel, Warin, Guy, and Silvester. The party then made for Gepaeprys' demesne. It lay on a small island in a bay, and Cruum and his men built a coracle so that the party might pay a visit. The scion had the form of a white haired crone, stooped and worn by uncounted centuries. She received Baraldur well, and agreed to answer his questions. She was able to tell him the name of Merlin's illicit paramour, the nereid Orestia, and that she still dwelt upon the island, in a bay on the southeastern coast near a statue fashioned by the wizard in her likeness. The hag new nothing of the Cave of Mist's location, however.

Before traveling to meet this doxy of the deep, Fray desired to seek out another ancient pagan altar to convert. In a secluded cove north of Gepaepyris' demesne, he found a small shrine to Poseidon. In the waters nearby swam a bizarre creature, a skyblue two-headed pidgeon the size of a pony. Cruum roared with laughter at the sight of the creature, and set about devising a means to capture it. Fashioning a man-catcher from a ten-foot pole and a length of rope, he lured the beast to the shore and managed to restrain it, though he took a few wounds from its piercing beaks. The creature was then hog-tyed and trussed up to be carried hanging from a ten-foot pole carried between two men. Fray entered the nearby shrine, warded himself with magical protection, sprinkled the altar with holy water, blessed it, and converted it to his own god's influence.

Session the Fifth

The adventurers and their strongarms stood by the black pool overwatched by a pensive mermaid statue. Perceiving two underwater passages leading from the bottom of the pool to caverns unknown, Fray set about convincing one of his lads to swim down and have a look. Though lesser hearts refused, Thad the Stout-hearted offered that he would go. Baraldur, too, offered to explore the depths. The two doffed their armor and dove into the cold water, Thad with a knife in his teeth and Baraldur with his trident in hand. After forty or so feet of groping in utter darkness, the two found another cavern which contained a pocket of air near the ceiling where they could catch their breath. Baraldur had hardly a chance to call out to Thad when the young man suddenly screamed and disappeared beneath the water. Clearly he had been the victim of some dread silent beast. Baraldur hastily retreated to his comrades and told them the grim news. The party withdrew from the dungeon to heal and recover Fray's spells.

Returning to the cavern, the braves encountered four white ape-like monstrosities, the degenerate descendents of the once-mighty Altanteans. With help from Fray's magic, the beasts were finished off with a modicum of difficulty. Once they had returned to the cavern, Cruum and Baraldur undertook exploring the other passageway, which led them to another cavern containing a sunken stone coffer full of silver. By repeated trips, the two were able to extricate the treasure. Resolving to discover what lay beyond the cavern containing Thad's bane, all three warriors shed their mail and, after enchanting Cruum's broadsword to shed light, entered the beast cavern.

Within they found a great crayfish, which having digested Thad hungered for flesh once more. Facing skilled men of arms aware of its presence, the homarid was overmatched and slain. The warriors continued on and found a way out of the water in another cavern containing an altar to the Goddess Hecate. Within dwelt a foul creature, a lamia who had sought to pervert the earth weird's portal for her own ends. The creature attempted to charm Cruum, but the dwarf's mind was as hard as rock, unyielding to the brazen vixen's whispers. The lamia succeeded in fooling the men into believing that she had summoned a balrog from hell to her aid, but undeterred by the illusion, the lads fought on and slew here before the phantom could inflict any damage. The demon's image winked out like a candle flame. After offering the lamia's body up on the altar, the party found the keystone repaired.

Returning the stone to the earth weird, the rogues watched as a procession of strange earth creatures made their way into the chamber and egressed to their home plane. The earth oracle then offered them a clay urn containing the scrolls they had sought.

Though what they had come to do was accomplished, Fray felt that there was more work to be done in the temple. Gathering all the holy water he could, he set about converting each of the Goddesses' altars to honor Christ. After he explained his purpose to Jacques, the kindly hermit lent him a nail from the cross of St. Andrew the Lesser, which he said his order had brought back from the holy land long ago. Despite the influence of the relic, Fray's first attempt to bless and reconsecrate Hecate's altar ended in failure, and the goddess summoned a pair of hell hounds to deal with the meddling priest. Invoking divine protection from fire, Fray fought back and slew the hounds. He then successfully turned the altar, banishing the Goddesses influence.

He had similar success with the altars of Demeter and Artemis, vanquishing the pagan glory of their Mistresses. Aprhodite proved resistant to Fray's attempts to diminish her influence, and a woman crowned with coils appeared to mete out the Goddess' vengeance. The appearance of the medusa took all present by surprise, and Baraldur and a number of the hirelings were immediately turned to stone by the creature's gaze. Fray fought bravely, but despite his magical protections, he and all but one of his men were petrified. The infernal medusa, her mission discharged, disappeared. Cruum, having sensed an affinity between his patron Goddess Freya and Aphrodite, had chosen not to involve himself in the fight, closing his eyes and leaning upon a wall. He now left the dungeon and his petrified comrades and sought Jacques for advice. The old cleric thought for a bit and then related that a member of his order dwelt in the forests not far east of this place, who knew much of herb lore and might be able to help. Dwarf, cleric, and the two remaining retainers went forth to seek the help of Nicolas the Eremite, a divinely gifted herbologist. En route, they encountered the humble but brightly colored cottage of the Chromatic Master of Hues, an eccentric and sorcerous fellow who enjoyed complete control over the colors of material objects. Cruum asked the magician if he could be of assistance, citing his allies' dire condition. The magician declined to help, but altered the dwarf's splint mail to reflect a riot of clashing pastel colors.

When at last Cruum reached the hut of Nicolas, the cleric listened to his pleas and gathered together a number of herbs, unguents, poultices, tipples, draughts, and tinctures. With these he returned with the dwarf to the temple and cured all the petrified individuals of their malady. He also gifted to Fray a pouch of exotic herbs, which if burned lent a holy musk which would aid in the reconsecration effort. With this sacred incense, Fray was able to turn the altar of Hera without incident.

The altar of Athena, however, proved not so yielding. The carayatid columns, sensing the malicious purpose of the interlopers, animated and attacked, though they were unable to protect their Mistress's sanctum. Fray lit the incense, sprinkled holy water about and intoned the proper prayers, but failed to turn the altar, prompting the materialization of a bloodthirsty chimera. Fray was able to protect himself via spells from the beast's dire breath, but his shield men were not so fortunate. To a man, they were cremated by the beast, dispatched to their final rest by the Goddess' wrath. Fray escaped, and keeping the summoned beast at bay by spellcraft, spiked the door with a shard of a carayatid's sword. At this point Fray abandoned his holy effort, head bowed in shame. He shrived himself to Jacques, but the old man would hear none of it. He reminded Fray that man holy purposes came to ignominious ends after great initial gains, citing the Crusades as precedent. Fray's spirits were lifted, and the warriors resolved to visit the Loremaster and learn some of the Island's secrets.

Session the Fourth

Having received the blessing of Athena, the heroes began their search through the temple for the other altars, hoping to gain the Goddesses' blessings to repair the earth weird's keystone. Searching down corridors previously unexplored, the rogues found a lasciviously decorated shrine to Aphrodite. The Mistress of Mistresses found none of the brash adventurers to her liking in terms of their looks or charisma, and so they were forced to supplicate Her with offerings of silver. Declining for now to offer up their wealth, they explored further and located an altar to Demeter. The harvest goddess was appeased by an offering of the strange fruit of the Mallaroomba tree, and her blessing was secured. Further on, the heroes discovered a shrine to Artemis. They surmised that the Goddess of the Hunt required proof of their prowess in slaying dangerous beasts, but they had no such tokens handy. They decided to venture on and return later. North of the fresco hall, they discovered a shrine with a peacock feather emblazoned altar to Hera, queen of the gods. Placing the keystone upon the altar, the party was attacked by an albino minotaur which appeared from a rift in nature to test the mettle of those who sought his mistress's aid. When the beast was slain, the keystone was repaired a bit more, and Dermot the hireling severed the beast's head as an offering to the moon Goddess.

As the party made their way back to Artemis' shrine, they spotted two diminutive figures in the darkness ahead. These were pech, strange folk of the deep earth, with the stature of children and a great affinity for living rock. Cruum, perhaps still under the pernicious influence of the devil-fruit, misidentified the wee folk as Hungarians "probably hopped up on paprika and spoiled mare's milk!" and attacked them. The earth children responded by calling upon their magic to create a set of stone bars blocking the passage. The party sent many arrows after the pech, but the little fellows merely linked arms and skipped off into the darkness, chortling all the way. Their progress blocked for now, the warriors were forced to consider what their surfeit of aggression had cost them. Returning to the surface, they repurposed a fallen column as a battering ram and used it to knock out the stone bars, swearing revenge upon their makers should they ever meet again.

After gaining the blessings of Artemis with the offering of the minotaur's head, the adventurers made for Aphrodite's chamber, but they were in for a horrible surprise. Turning a corner, they came upon a fearsome arachnid of great size, with great pinching claws and a deadly poison tail-sting. Cruum identified the beast as a "Turkish Sting-Wolf". The dwarf and his hired man Zoltan were first in line to face the beast. The dwarf was able to take a pinch from the foreclaw without falling, but Zoltan was not so lucky; pinched in place by the claw, he was helpless to avoid the descent of the great tail and its deadly barb, and the doomed warrior "rode the Sting-Wolf". Dermot, wielder of the magic blade dropped in the forest, stepped forward to defend his thane and avenge his shield-mate, but within a minutes time, he too rode the sting-wolf. Cruum, screaming vengeance for his fallen comrades, dealt the death-blow to the foul creature, and took one of its eight eyes as a trophy.

In the shrine to Aphrodite, the warriors dug deep into their purses until the Goddess was appeased with an offering of 2,000 silver pieces. Having received five of the six necessary blessings, the party headed down the last corridor they had not explored. They found a cavern containing a shore lapped by black subterranean water of unknown depth. By this forlorn pond sat a mermaid statue set in a contemplative attitude, and a strange hedge hog like beast with stony spines and a skull-like visage prowled nearby. The creature seemed aggressive, so the warriors joined battle. The beast got its claw into Cruum and did great damage to the dwarf, but ultimately it was slain.