So, on the bright, sunny but cold morning of December 23rd, a small group of you gather in the top room of the tower of the castle. Yesterday was the Celebration of the Winter Solstice, and all of you are still feeling the after effects of too much turkey, too much plum pudding...and too much drink. In fact, at this point Stiff and Woody are not even present...both having imbibed a little too much yesterday.
Vardui has returned, though, and is ready to go with you. With him he has brought a companion: a rather strong-looking but ugly young man in banded mail.
"Hi there," he says in a charismatic voice, "My name is Lyke the Lawful, and I am a chavalier in the service of Forseti."
"He's a paladin," says Vardui, concealing a snicker with only limited success. "He's agreed to be monster fodder - errrr - to help us finish off the nexus."
"Let us go and destroy evil wherever it lurks!" proclaims Lyke, drawing his longsword and striking what passes for a noble pose.
"Whatever," says Vardui.
When you are ready, Al, Lyke, Vardui and Oh Well step through the portal.
The four of you appear at the end of the passage on the top level of the nexus.
You check out this level, but it remains empty.
You take the elevator down to the area where you battled the rust monsters and will-o-wisps. It too is the same as it was previously.
Vardui looks at the wall of stone that Stiff erected over the entrance to the tunnel that the 'wisps came out of, then looks at the rest of you.
"I would REALLY like to see what's up that tunnel," he says.
"By the power of Thor, dispel this magic," Al intones as he casts dispel magic on the wall of stone.
Nothing happens.
Oh Well suggests tearing it down.
It takes you an hour to do, but that is how you finally defeat Stiff's wall.
Looking past the rubble, you see a water-filled tunnel running east for 10', before it angles southeast.
Testing the waters, you find that it is about 4' deep.
You climb in, and go wading down the passage.
After 10' the tunnel turns east again for 30', turning south after 20'. In the middle of the north wall is a 10' deep alcove, above water level. There are steps leading up to it, and in the alcove you find the will-o-wisp's treasure: 67 gems (100gp ea.), a ring, a vial and a scroll.
Taking the goodies, you go back into the water and look south.
The passage continues for 60' and then ends.
You wade down there for a closer look.
As you all enter the last 10' of the passage the floor suddenly shifts, and you find yourselves riding another elevator upwards! This one takes you up about 60', then stops. The west wall then slides aside, and you see a passage running north.
You step into the passage and the door closes behind you. The passage is lit by bright, flickering lights, and you follow it north for 40'. After that it opens up to the west. Looking through, you find yourselves back in the first chamber you come to after arriving in the nexus.
From here, it is an easy walk back down to where you battled the rust monsters.
You return to the area where you battled the pseudo undead vampires, by the slime pool, which still has a walkway over it.
Vardui points out what looks like another elevator behind you to the west, leading up to the area where the pseudo-vamps lurked before jumping you.
"You wanna explore that area, or get the rest of the yagnodaemons?"
"Explore sounds good to me, we can always come back and pound on the daemons later!" Al says with a smile, MC in hand.
Oh Well agrees with Al.
As one, you step onto the platform, and as expected, it conveys you up...to the ledge overhead.
The ledge is 10' wide, and runs south for 20', turning east after 10', and bridging the chamber. It runs east for 40' - over the chamber floor - and on the other side is a dark opening into the east wall.
Before you, however, are three more of those pesky pseudo-vampires...at least you hope that they are pseudo...
"Die!" they cry, and leap to attack!
"Pseudo this!" Oh Well laughs as he leaps to attack the nearest one.
Al raises his holy symbol at the vamps and says, "I BANISH YOU IN THE NAME OF THOR!" as he tries to turn them.
They laugh and make faces at the cavalier.
"Shit !" Al mutters as he raises MC Hammer and launches into the closest vampire.
"Al, you are acting like a cavalier I knew oh so many adventures ago. Somnium I think his name was," Oh Well remarks as he bashes about.
A great battle ensues.
Five minutes later there are three dead pseudo vampires lying on the ledge. Al took down one, Oh Well took down a second, and they ganged up on the last and dispatched him. In doing so, the warriors suffered some minor cuts and bruises (Al 7 hit points of damage and Oh Well 17), but no one was drained of any life energy.
Vardui stood back and watched the fight. Lyke did likewise.
Searching the bodies, you do not find anything of value.
Feeling rather pleased with yourselves, you advance down the ledge, make a left, and cross the bridge over the chamber below, to the dark opening in the east wall. Looking in with a miscellaneous light source, you see a chamber beyond (20' square: 10' north, 20' east). It is bare, but you go in to take a poke around anyway.
As soon as you set foot in the chamber, though, a secret door in the middle of the far wall slides open, and out jump two fomorian giants! They immediately charge you.
"MC, let's show 'em our stuff," Al commands as he slams the closest giant with his hammer.
"Yo!" says Hammer.
"I will help out this time," says Lyke, and he steps up, along with Oh Well.
The battle starts.
Al and MC draw first blood, but not much, as they land a glancing blow off the shin of one giant. It misses them. Al can't miss, it seems, and his next hit is more substantial.
Lyke, of course, being a paladin, gets clobbered right off for 17 hit points. Surprisingly enough, he strikes right back with his longsword, doing next to no damage. The giant laughs at him.
Oh Well helps out Al, but misses.
Al again connects, and the giant grumbles, and misses. Another swat from MC, and the fellow is looking hurt. Oh Well connects twice in succession and the giant drops.
Next door, Lyke lands a better hit, but his foe is still quite healthy.
Al and Oh Well, lend a hand.
Lyke misses again, as the other two land a flurry if quick blows that sends the giant reeling. He lands one more smashing hit on Lyke for 20 hit points, before Al dispatches him.
"Owwww," says Lyke, as he heals himself for 14 hit points.
Through the secret door that the giants came through is a 10' square room. In it you find treasure: 11,500gp and 2500ep.
"Nice," says Vardui. "Should we leave it for now and go deal with the daemons, then?"
"Let's go and kick some daemon ass!" Al rumbles as he takes point.
"Lyke, you ok ?" he asks before he moves on.
"Just a flesh wound," the paladin says stoically.
Grumbling at having to leave the coinage, Oh Well agrees with the others.
The following is the text of a chat session that Frank (Orlon) and Steve (Goodgulf) had:
*** goodgulf enters the chat ***
*** orlon enters the chat ***
<orlon> I wonder if Malcolm will make it.
<goodgulf> I don't know...wonder if Mark will?
<orlon> I wouldn't bet on it.
<goodgulf> Naw...neither would I. He's having work problems. I edited that out of the email I forwarded.
<orlon> I kinda figured he was.
<goodgulf> Yeah...what else is new with Mark? Oh well, how long do you want to wait for them?
<orlon> We can start, and if they join, they can jump right in.
<orlon> Would you like to take a couple of the CHAOS characters on an adventure, or different ones.
<orlon> sounds good.
<goodgulf> Okay! The last move had you guys killing some giants. I thought we'd just continue this one. We can leave Al in the rear, and if he shows up then he can jump in.
<orlon> I will be right back.
<orlon> I'm back. Just had to read the last CHAOS posting.
<orlon> We were just about to go fight some demons
<goodgulf> Anyway, then, ack! lost my place! Okay, you leave the chamber and head back down via the elevator. You head east and then turn south down the passage to the point where you met the yagnodaemons. The passage is 50' long. It turns east after 40'.
<orlon> Go down and look around the corner.
<goodgulf> Actually, this is a large chamber 60' x 60', which the walkway runs down, following the walls. It slopes steadily downwards. Below you is another large pool of green slime.
<orlon> Walk down the passageway.
<goodgulf> Around the corner, the passage continues for 40', turning north after 30'. Down at the corner is another yagnodaemon. He sees you and moves to attack!
<orlon> "Charge" Oh Well screams as he rushes the daemon.
<goodgulf> "Dinner!" replies the daemon. Frankie, you can roll your own dice if you have them handy. I got a 2 for initiative.
<orlon> I have been waiting to roll my own attack dice for some time now :^)
<orlon> 4
<orlon> Oh Well will attack.
<goodgulf> hi frank!
<goodgulf> (That was Grace)
<orlon> Is that Grace? Hello.
<orlon> The next step is software that allows you to use microphones.
<goodgulf> This is so cool! I have never used chat before
<orlon> I Guess you're waiting for my attack roll. (10). I will have to get used to this.
<goodgulf> A hit! (You using sword #1?)
<orlon> Is he large?
<goodgulf> Yup.
<orlon> I rolled a 10 for damage.
<goodgulf> You including your specialisation?
<orlon> Yeah.
<goodgulf> And strength?
<orlon> Hold on.
<orlon> Add 1 for strength
<goodgulf> Got it. He missed you.
<goodgulf> Initiative 5!
<orlon> 4 for initiative
<goodgulf> Missed again. Lyke steps up and fans.
<orlon> 6 (+1 for strength) to hit.
<goodgulf> You missed, but you get two attacks per round...
<orlon> Oh yeah. :^) Same roll for the second attack.
<goodgulf> initiative 4!
<orlon> 2
<goodgulf> "Aha!" the daemon says, as he nails you for 19 hit points.
<orlon> "Ouch!".
<orlon> !0 to hit. on first attack. 18 for second,
<goodgulf> Lyke connects for 12 hit points into the blighter.
<goodgulf> Miss and a hit!
<orlon> 2 plus sword for damage.
<goodgulf> Lyke also lands a glancing blow. Initiative 4.
<orlon> 6 for initiative.
<goodgulf> GO FOR IT!
<orlon> 4=sword and 5=sword fopr attacks
<goodgulf> "Nice breeze!" says the daemon, as he belts you for 16 hit points.
<goodgulf> You're at 16 hit points, btw. Lyke misses.
<orlon> Oh Well keeps up the fight.
<orlon> 6 initiative
<goodgulf> You got it!
<orlon> Oh Well runs away.
<goodgulf> The daemon gets one last hit, and misses. He doesn't come after you.
<orlon> Looking over his shoulder as he retreats, Oh Well will stop down the passageway
<goodgulf> Oh yeah, Lyke. He retreats, as do the rest of the group.
<orlon> Is there any other way to go around here? (My mapping skills aren't like they used to be)
<goodgulf> "Hmmm..." says Vardui. "Maybe we should exit stage right, and bring in some help?" (ie. wanna run a second character?)
<orlon> "Right behind you," Oh Well replies.
<goodgulf> No other ways to go, it seems.
<orlon> Yeah. Let me see. How about Who Knows.
<goodgulf> okay. Vardui teleports the party out, and you lick your wounds for a day.
So, the party returned at at around noontime on December 23rd, looking slightly beaten up. The clerics went to work, and by the next day they were ready to return.