A new dawn in the darkness

A new dawn in the darkness

So I spent a few days learning some new spells including one that can make us all invisible and another where I can make two things switch places! Then we stocked up on everything from healing potions to scrolls to toilet paper (must be careful not to get those two confused), and set off to finally save Ugg's friends. Ugg told us about a nearby secret passageway in a well next to a seemingly abandoned hut.

I scouted ahead and made sure nothing truly horrifying was lying in ambush at the hut. Disappointingly nothing was, and so we all entered Ugg's passage. The problem was the passage was so tight that we were forced to go in one at a time. I went first, because I love exploring tight passages like this one; I'm not very big so it was easy for me to squeeze inside. We all decided that Ugg should go last because he's the biggest and can protect us from behind! It was very dark inside but a little way in the passageway opened into a wider area, that was far more comfortable for us. We didn't hear anything waiting for us ahead and so we plunged right into the darkness. I decided, perhaps a little late, to take precautions and so summoned my Mage Armour whilst the rest of our group had their weapons ready in their hands. I felt very safe with them all behind me!

After a short time we discovered a secret door on the side of the passage that Ugg said he'd never noticed before. He's not very observant and I wondered how many people had used Ugg's passage before and not noticed this. We decided to investigate this and walked down another passage which opened up into a really odd, yet admittedly interesting looking, room. All sorts of weapons hung all over the place like punching daggers, wavy-bladed knives, falchions, a double-tracked crossbow and even a mace with the head of a wolf on it! Also, one wall was just covered in bottles! Ugg got the last look at the place and as he came round the corner he shouted a warning, 'This is mother's room.'

But it was too late and materialising out of the darkness came the most foulest of the foul evil mage to ever walk this plane of existence (well I'm sure he is at least in the top ten). Yes, it was Falrinth. He hurled a bolt of lightning at us sending us all tumbling like coconuts at a Malatata (a special party held on the Island of Coco Loco just off the wild lands in the north. My uncle told me all about! My uncle has been to a lot of places that aren't on any map. He's a true explorer!).

We pulled ourselves to our feet and I decided to make myself invisible till I was sure what traps Falrinth has prepared for us this time. I heard some commotion from behind and saw that a creature had dropped off the ceiling and was assaulting Ugg. It was the malicious little imp thing Falrinth calls his familiar! At the same time Cedric the crazy called on his god, who apparently is something like a celestial militia man, and silenced Falrinth with spell before the crafty mage could get off another lightning bolt. Then Eric bravely barged into the room and smited Falrinth a mighty blow upon his brow! They may be crazy, and sometimes boring, but they are damn efficient with the smiting!

Finally it seemed time to bury this troublemaker of the worst kind when something truly horrible happened. Ugg's mum struck at Eric from the shadows. We had no way of stopping her! From my invisible viewpoint I saw her sword come right up through his back, ribcage and out through his jaw. Intestines flew everywhere! It was all very gory and messy! I shall never be able to eat again. In rage at this decapitation of my friend I threw a Scorching Ray at her, but missed! I can just never hit anyone with that spell. From the corner of my eye I saw Ugg punch Falrinth's imp into a bloody pulp. Good! At least Falrinth has paid a little for what he's done. The bastard used the opportunity of Eric's death to escape and, like a rabid monkey, clambered to safety up a ladder in the back of the chamber. Before we could stop her Ugg's mum disappeared.

Unnerved we waited in case she struck again, but soon it became clear she had no doubt escaped the same way Falrinth had. Geez, what do we have to do to kill that pair! We tried to pursue them but they sneaky gits had covered the ladder in poison! Taki only just managed to shake off its affects. We realized that they would be long gone by now and so instead did what we could for our deceased friend. Poor Eric. I mean he was as pompous as paladins come but no one deserves that! After Cedric did clericy stuff over Eric we investigated one of the two doors that was at the back of the chamber.

It opened into what must have been Falrinth's room. There was all kind of magical equipment here and it was clear that this was the room where Falrinth went about most of his shenanigans. It had a thaumaturgic triangle and shelves full of bottled animals and everything (well it didn't have a mummified crocodile but they're especially difficult to get hold of these days!). Anyway, I wanted to get my hands on his spell books and so went straight to a cabinet he had by his bed (I like to keep my spell book by the bed so I can go to sleep with my brain all buzzing with magical symbols). Turns out Falrinth isn't the same though because he just had a book about plants there. How boring! I would have thought he'd at least read something interesting about how to properly sacrifice vestal virgins or something.

Also, on the wall in this room was a map of this level of the temple. But of course Falrinth had trapped it and when Cedric went to take the map it blew up in his face! There was also another parchment with runes on it and guess what! It blew up as well. Nasty nasty mage. An odd looking branched candle-holder stood on a writing desk so I went to look at this. It must be worth a mint!!! My companions looked at me blankly for an appraisal and I told them it can only be worth a few silvers at best before putting it securely in my backpack! Well I do need something to help get me over the day's traumas!

Now I refused to believe Falrinth had time to cart off his spell books so I had everyone look for a secret door. Of course there was one that led to an even more interesting chamber. It seemed to my some manner of magicaly workspace full of apparatus. There was a gigantic workbench, a fireplace with a furnace, bookcases galore, an open cabinet (that seemed to have a crystal ball and a pointy hat) inside and a pair of bookstands holding two humongous tomes. At the back of the room was also a table just littered with magical paraphernalia and a mighty cabinet stood beside it.

I almost exploded with joy! So many toys! I went to the bookcase first and, much to my jubilation, found Falrinth's spellbooks and scrolls. I put every last one in my backpack. Hah! That'll teach him. We shall see who is the high and mighty mage next time we meet. Then I went to one of the tomes on the book stands. The thing almost seemed to call me to it. I flipped in open and much to my horror felt an agonizing pain like my brain was being sucked out my eyes into the abyss by demonic entities with straws! I slammed it closed but can't seem to shake the feeling I lost something important.

I turned to my companions who were displaying the same level of caution as me. Cedric was having a whale of a time smashing up a fold-able shrine to the spider goddess Lloth he found on the altar, whilst Ugg (who just loves shiny things) was pocketing the crystal ball and Taki was gleefully skipping around lining his pockets with gems. A thought accorded to me that maybe we were being just a little bit greedy and should stop in case we triggered some of the other traps in this room. This was disconcerting. I never usually have such thoughts. It lasted for about 5 seconds and then I noticed in the nearby cabinet some potions, a bronze wand and a figurine of a frog eating a fly! I quickly put these in my backpack and turned to see Cedric taking the second book off the bookcase for safe keeping.

Some sort of rucus happened then because Cedric seemed to take umbrage with Ugg taking the crystal ball and not telling anyone. Well I say if the orc wants a shiny ball then let him have one! He scolded him a little and started saying something wasn't right but he soon dropped the sbject and we went to investigate a box upon the table that no one had dared touch yet. It seemed to radiate an almost palpable evil power. We all stood back whilst I flipped it open with a cantrip. Inside was a a horrible looking orb shaped to resemble a humanoid skull with a gem in it.

This dramatic moment seemed a perfect opportunity for a prank and so I made the thing seem to talk and ask Cedric to wear it on his head like a hat! Disappointingly he didn’t do this, but he did take the orb, examined it and quickly put it away. It was a thing of great evil apparently! I wonder how much it'd sell for. Anyway, we finished looting the room and again I told my gullible friends that a rather ornate cup on the table was worth no more than your average bar tankard and then we moved on.

Back in Ugg's mother room we opened the second door exiting the chamber. These looked like some sort of magical storeroom and was full of spell components and about seven wands. I liberated these from their cases and now I have enough to open my own shop! 'Won's Wands'. Now that has a nice ring to it! There was also a big chest here that we couldn't get open. Ugg and Taki worked together to break it apart and then noxious gas poured out and made us all feel very sick. Whatever was inside was consumed by the gas. Damnit, I really need to invest in a Knock spell!

It was about then when I looked upon the corpse of Eric lying on Ugg's mums floor that I remembered our reason for coming here in the first place. 'Let's go rescue Ugg's friends', I suggested. On the way out Ugg was overjoyed to discover a sword Falrinth had taken from him under his mother's bed. So we went back to the narrow passage and squeezed back in one at a time to take the other route up to the temple. Ugg led us back to where the statues of his friend's were. All of them except the poor elf that's guarded by the juggernaut.

Now I pulled out the Stone to Flesh scrolls and set about turning them all back. The only problem was the scrolls were difficult. I could barely read them properly and I think I made a few mistakes! First I tried to turn Joe (the thief) back but it didn't work. So instead I tried the tree lover Sameson and to my intense relief it did! On a roll I changed the mad dwarf Vida back too, but was she grateful. No sirie! For a second I thought it hadn't even worked because she still had the same sour expression on her face, and then I realized she always looks like that! So now I only had one scroll of Stone to Flesh. I tried to cast this on Joe and although it looked like it worked he started to go really pale! Vida cast something on him and he seemed to shake off the ill effect from the transformation! So there we all stood. At least some things were put right today. But what next? Perhaps I should let these guys take it from here and set up Won's Wands in Hommlet now that I'm allowed back there. I mean they don't need me to help them rescue Fillian, destroy the temple and save Mae. Do they?