Heroes of the Mist

We found a staircase that descended down quite deep, so we followed it until we reached the bottom. There we found a hallway that curved to the right ahead, while on either side lay five doors. I scouted ahead and saw three female figures, two vampire succubi and a feather-winged creature which I was told later was an Erinyes. They were debating about whether they should return to Krynn or stay here. I went back to the rest of the group and told them what I had heard. Momotar got a flash of inspiration and went up to them and offered his services to them. After first declining their initial offers, Mummy Treat suggested that he could help them return home. All he needed was a personal item of Ziinnj's. After further negotiation, a deal was struck and we all rested while they went off on their errand.

When they came back, they told us they would be able to partially help us. At one tunnel exit, they would be able to "keep occupied" all but two guards. We readily agreed and set out. After the fiends had performed their helpful service, Mommy's Boy cast a silence spell and I followed up with a fireball. Much to my dismay, the fireball did no damage whatsoever (I need to talk to Valas after this). So we all crowded around them and in the end managed to bring them down after much fighting.

As told by Weylyn

I borrowed Tanus' journal today. He always seems to write something at night about each day. I wanted to write something today. We fled from the pit and got rid of the scary priest Mormatar. He kept going and provoking fights, what a jerk. Oh - I met some other Marrashi the other day - they offered to let me go with them to a nearby town to change some villagers. I lied and told them I had made ten Marrashi - but did not admit to Valas. I don't think there are really Royal Marrashi anwyays - so I think he lied to me.

We fled, straight into a barricade. I pulled out of one of the pouches I stole from that evil woman. That was before I fed her to Jackson. Tanus shot a fireball and I dropped the pouch. The horses had flaming hooves. I wonder why their fur doesn't burn. The pouch didn't seem to do much - oh well. The guys on horseback (all except Tanus) just tried to ride through. Jory almost fell and the little monk had to hold on to her. Rosinante [Jory's horse] didn't seem to like it. Jackson and Aerin got through okay, but Feldon's horse collapsed. Aven freeked out again. I'm getting sick of the different voices he falls into. He always freeks out. Aven got hit and passed out. I tried to help him and Tanus flew off with him. Tanus was invisible and Aven wasn't so it looked like he was floating unconscious.

We were then pursued - but they ignored me. I held Aven in my feet and I shot with arrows using my hands - Aven was heavy. We defeated the pursuers - but I still have this thing about the dead. Ever since we came back through the fracture. It sucks. Looting was good. The group ended up splitting up the money and I got a bow. Tanus says it's magical. I don't know - I can shoot well as it is.

Once we get in safe I can't wait to build those wing guards of Avanc hide. I figured out how to get them to work - I just need to construct them. We stopped for the night at Akken's. I'm tired. I guess this is like what Tanus does, writing in his journal. Odd note - once we picked up that jerk priest of Xvim Feldon has seemed to taken a disliking for Tanus. Oh well. He's under contract. I still don't trust all these new non-contract people. I mean Jory and Jackson seem okay. Jackson lets me feed - after getting scared of death - so he eats most of it so it is just food and no longer a corpse. That's nice. Even if he did try to eat us once.

As told by Tanus

It's interesting to see how people's writing sytle matches their personality, and Weylyn would certainly be a good example of that. Feldon is convinced that Weylyn used to be a gnome in a past life, and from what I've seen it may indeed be true.

We all decided to chill out and relax a little at the local bar after the harrowing flight from Ziinnj's "Pit of Doom". Aerin and Feldon decided to see who could drink the other under the table. Surprisingly, Feldon lost -- makes me wonder if perhaps Aerin isn't a bit of an alcoholic. After Feldon passed out I helped him up to his room. I checked over his meager belongings (for safe-keeping of course), but the reality is that his belongings are about as dull as he is. I heard that he later woke up and went to sleep with his pal Mormatar at the shrine. You know, I've never seen Feldon so interested in anyone other than him *grin*.

We woke up later that night as people were fighting and screaming outside. The city was under attack and some of Ziinnj's minions had managed to penetrate the outer wall and were wreaking havoc in the city. I cast Enlarge on Jackson as he ran off to combat several of the flying fiends. Throughout the rest of the ensuing fight I would see glimpses of Jackson's mighty two-handed sword swinging above the roofs of houses, as he was now nearly twelve feet high. As we finished off the first wave of Baatezu, Jory ran off after Jackson, leaving Aven and I to handle the next batch. Since I was initially invisible, I held a significant advantage over Aven, who was immediately attacked. While he fought bravely and I thought he would pull through it, in the end he fell victim to an Abishai's poison stinger, and he fell over instantly dead. I've often thought since then about whether I'm not indirectly hurting my comrades by going invisible. I managed to kill the remaining opponents, and rejoined the rest of the party as they were finishing off the last of the Abishai.

We all decided that it was best if we left promptly, as we had little doubt that this last attack was prompted by our presence. Jackson informed us that only if Ziinnj was sufficiently distracted would we be able to leave this realm. I suggested that Ziinnj might do a double-take if Aerin wore that skimpy little gold bikini (it certainly distracted me), but I was kindly reminded that we needed Aerin with us. The noble (fool-hardy) crusader that Jackson was, he suggested that he be the one to stay behind and cause mischief. Since we knew of the intense rivalry between the Tanar'ri and the Baatezu, Feldon came up with the idea of disguising Aerin as a Yugoloth and starting a little in-fighting between the two age-old rivals. In the mass confusion Jackson was able to pass through the ranks of fiends guarding Akken and make it to Ziinnj's keep. We took off and waited patiently to the North-East of Akken, at the border of the mists. Roughly a day later, the mists finally thinned and we left with all due haste. No word of Jackson though, and I can only hope that he is still alive.

We made it to Barovia, and were looking forward to finally going home. We headed for the first town that we could find, but the people there were especially unfriendly and all that we managed to learn was that the Vistani weren't well liked. We roamed the countryside looking for gypsies, and after a while decided to camp out inside a nearby barn. During the night I heard a strange knocking against the side of the barn. When I investigated, it was only a tree brushing up against the barn due to the windy weather. I heard similar disturbances throuhgout the night, but they were always explained by the weather outside. I heard it again one last time, but this time what I saw was not due to any force of nature. Outside the barn an animated scarecrow was busily pounding on the wall, forcing his way into the barn. The others were woken and they rose to fight it. As Krellian and Jory slashed at it, spurts of oily scarecrow blood spilled on to them. We finally killed the creature, but now insects from miles around appeared and were swarming around the two and stinging them to death. Jory immediately ran for a nearby pond, but Krellian wasn't too hot on that idea. He's got a certain aversion to water.

I suggested, as suicidal as it seems now, that I fireball Krellian. I thought for sure that it would definetly consume whatever substance was now on him. He agreed to it and I let loose, but that only gave him a moment of respite as new insects swarmed in and again began to sting him. This time he did run for the water, but didn't make it and fell unconscious from the loss of blood. I cast Web on him, imprisoning him and his foes in a huge stickly mess of spider web. It worked, but the spell would not last forever. Feldon and I decided that we would should instead try Dispel Magic or Remove Curse, and took a short nap before we would memorize the necessary spells. While we were both sleeping, Aerin and Weylyn were attacked by some of Ziinnj's companions. They managed to prevail, but only after Aerin fell victim to a vampyre's embrace. I'm not exactly sure how a vampyre is different from a normal vampire, but I'm keeping my eye on Aerin. Already, she's been acting awfully anti-social, and just recently we found out that she can now "hop" through people's shadows, like the Sithe shadow elves could.

Feldon and I finished memorizing our spells, and I set out to help Jory while Feldon took care of Krellian. This was when I noticed Jory's clothes strewn on the ground. Ergo, there was now one naked Jory in the water, breathing through a straw and slowly shivering to death in the cold water. Definetly an akward moment, I motioned for Jory to come closer and began casting. I stuck my hand underwater as I looked the other way, and as I touched her I finished the Remove Curse spell. Fortunately it did the trick, and I lent Jory some body heat as we hugged and walked to the shore where Weylyn was waiting with her clothes. I could definetly make some comments about Jory's curvacious, sexy and buff body, water glistening off her skin, but that would be inappropriate and rude. Meanwhile, Feldon was busily clawing his way through the web and finally found Krellian. Casting Repel Insects moments before he cast Remove Curse, Feldon was able to save Krellian and bring him back to consciousness.