January 4, 2002 - Session 22

The party investigated the third floor, and found little of interest, save a light at the bottom of one of the flooded areas. This flooded area blocked off another part of the cave. Sana flew to the other side while Margaret parted the water. Just as the water finished moving aside, they were attacked by a one of those giant ant/scorpion creatures that had been hiding in the water. Margaret cast a blessing spell, and then was attacked by one of the creatures. Hildegaarde moved into the parted water to pick up the glowing stone at the bottom of the (now) pit. Darkness was cast by one of the creatures again, and in retaliation (to get rid of the Earkness), Margaret attempted to cast a Daylight spell, but was distracted by the creature attacking her, and failed. Rylan cast a spell to remove all the operating spells in the area, and it did remove the darkness, but also stopped Margaret's blessing spell and the parted water, leaving Hildegaarde in the drink. Another creature came at her underwater, Margaret and Jack saw it moving toward her but could do little to help.

Not wanting to stay in the water long, creature or no, Hildegaarde moved out of the water to the opposite side, where Sana was. The creature followed her out, but was unable to hit her. On the other side of the water, Margaret had taken some serious damage, so retreated to let others deal with the one on her side. Ezhno tried to jump the pool and land on the creature attacking Hildegaarde, but missed and began to slide back into the water. Eventually the two creatures were defeated.

Our heroes paused to consider next action. They didn't want to fight more of these creatures, but wanted to see what was in the bottom of the mine. Hildegaarde volunteered to change into an eagle and scout out the bottom floor. She saw a barricade that was made to look like a cave-in, and that there were creatures behind it, waiting through a small (three foot wide) opening.

She reported this back to the group, then after much discussion, decided to leave well enough alone. Hildegaarde decided to leave the group then, to return to her people and tell them of the mine and the creatures within, and ask them if they would come back and clear it out with her. She volunteered to send any interesting things found at the bottom of the mine to them.

They came back up to the top, where the door out was still closed. The lintel was carved like the door/archway was, and a quick search revealed three leaves that could be removed. They were taken out, and the door vanished. They replaced the leaves on the stone guards' bodies from where they were taken, and the door closed again. Hildegaarde watched and memorized where the leaves were taken from, then shifted into eagle form and headed back along the passage.

The group continued on down the tunnel. And it took a long time...two weeks of travel in the dark stone passage. They ran out of food, but Margaret was able to create food and water for them and their mounts using spells.

After two weeks, they came to the end of the stone passage -- but not the end of the passage itself. The tunnel continued on, but underwater. The walls became clear, they could see very little in the darkness of the water, but in the distance they saw a brightly lit ... something. In the center of the great lake of which they were walking on the bottom.

Another week of travel brought them to the edge of the city. The city was about 10 times as large as Clearwater, which had been the largest city any of them had seen up until now. And at the edge of the city, with Jon just over the threshhold, he finally relented into letting Sana experiment with the edges of the tunnel.

The walls didn't pop when touched, nor did they dent or break when touched with the point of a dagger. They were solid, like stone, but transparent. And the water on the other side was cold; those who touched the walls noted that the cold stayed within the wall, not transferring to the air of the tunnel.

Inside the city, Jon noticed the people. Transparent people, moving about their business as if they were still alive. Sana detected for evil, and was stunned by the amount of evil she felt within the city. The city itself was evil, but not all of the inhabitants were, she said when she came back to herself.

They discussed whether or not the people were really ghosts or not; there were spells available that Margaret had not prayed for, not knowing they were going to encounter undead. She said she would try to pray to The Lady to see if She would allow her to receive the spell, but if she didn't receive it, the group would wait outside the city so that Margaret could rest and pray for the spell in her normal cycle.

Well, the next thing the group knew, a beam of pure white light shot down from above, through the water, and centered on Margaret's sitting form. Light poured forth from her mouth, which opened, and shot out toward the city. Sana also began to glow, a nimbus of light surrounding her form, for which she was unhappy. Rylan and she discussed the matter, while Margaret poured the light of The Lady into some of the forms in the city.

Not every ghostly form was hit by the light, which split up into multiple beams as it hit each form and moved on. But those who were not hit fled from the strange light. After about 5 minutes, the light returned back through the city, into Margaret, and exited back up into the heavens, at which point she collapsed. Jon went to check on her, and she was alive, but asleep.

Ezhno suggested that the group not wait (as was originally planned) for Margaret to recover, as they had no idea how much time this gift from The Lady had given them. They mounted up, with Jon next to Margaret on her horse to steady her form, and entered the city, using the compass as guide on where to go.

The city itself was a marvel. All of the structures were carved stone, but with such intricate design and detail that many of the buildings looked to be made out of spun sugar. It would have been too much anywhere else, but here, it was just the right amount of decoration.

After about a half hour of a brisk walk, the compass was pointing them down a huge thoroughfare. It was about four times as wide as the two-lane streets in Clearwater, and lead right through the heart of the city. The compass pointed them along it, so they moved as quickly as they could, but it still took them an hour to get to the center. The road branched around a large fortress/castle. Jon mentioned that the compass might point onwards beyond the fortress, so someone should take the compass around it, to make certain what they were looking for was inside. Ezhno volunteered to go, but the others did not want him to go alone, so Sana went with him. They moved around the fortress, noting as they went a number of side streets, and that the road continued on past the fortress, but was about half again as wide as it had been. And sure enough, the compass moved to point inside the fortress.

They had almost made a complete circuit when Sana saw a shirt of what looked like Mithril chainmail in a shopkeeper's window. It even appeared to have cuts in the back for her wings! She went in to look at it, though Ezhno was not happy about it.

A ghostly shopkeeper appeared, and talked to Sana, but Sana heard no words. Sana, unhappy but unwilling to leave without the shirt, asked how much with words and gestures. The woman replied, but getting that Sana wasn't able to understand her, held out a hand with four fingers up, and said something else. Sana drew out four of the old platinum pieces from the troglodytes, and dropped them in the shopkeeper's hand. The shopkeeper's ghostly hand, whereupon the coins fell on the floor. The shopkeeper was not pleased, and looked like she wanted either more coin or other coin, or maybe just the coins to stay in her hand. Sana pointed to the coins on the floor, and just as the shopkeeper began to get angry and approach her, Sana turned, took the shirt, and started to flee.

No quote of the evening was recorded.