A summary of what happened during the game sessions:

January 15, 2002 - Session 23

Sana ran out of the armorsmith's shop, pursued by the merchant ghost, who began to wail upon reaching the street. Ezhno, hearing the scream, turned and fled, but not after attempting to attack the menacing ghost, his weapons unfortunately passing through the ghost.

Sana flew up in the air to her usual spot above the ground for combat, and readied her whip. Jon, holding Margaret's horse and keeping an eye on the cleric, asked Rylan and Jack to investigate when he noticed Ezhno fleeing past them at top speed.

Rylan moved to where he could see the battle going on, and Jack approached cautiously. Meanwhile, Sana found herself having difficulty hitting the ghost, who also attempted to remove the mithril shirt from where the bard had put it in one of the pockets on her magical belt.

The merchant attempted to use another of its ghostly abilities on Sana by turning a fell gaze upon her, but Sana was able to shake it off. Sana also began to sing after Ezhno went running, and was able to counter any future moaning from the ghost. The merchant was dispatched without retrieving her merchandise, with a combination of magic missiles and crossbow bolts from Rylan and Jack respectively, but the moaning of the merchant brought out a ghostly member of the town guard. Unfortunately for Jack, he was outside the range of Sana's countersong when the guard began to wail at him. The same fear took control of him, and he turned to flee as well.

Jon decided it was time to get into the act, and moved the horses (and Margaret) forward to where Rylan stood out of range, and asked him to watch them while he ran after Jack. However, he changed his mind, and went to help Sana, and in short order, this guard was also banished to wherever ghosts are from.

While Jon went to follow after Jack and Ezhno, Sana went back into the armor shop and picked up any small items she could store in her belt pockets. Rylan was displeased by Sana's "stealing" and couldn't bring himself to participate in the "looting", no matter that Sana said they were justified after she was attacked by the merchant after paying her. Sana also retrieved the barding she had found that Ezhno might be able to use, or if he didn't want it, she decided she would put it on Troubador.

Ezhno's flight through the streets ended at a strange sight. A huge, intricately carved latticework dome of what looked to be ironsilver covered a garden. The garden itself was about 100 yards long, and the highest point of the dome was about half again as high as the length. A narrow dirt track ran around the outer edge of the dome, and small lights were placed at various points inside the dome, keeping the garden plants alive.

About this time, Jack and Jon showed up, the former having recovered from the ghost's moan and the two of them had gone searching for Ezhno. They saw the garden that Ezhno mentioned, but decided to head back (after all, Rylan and Sana had been left to their own devices, without anyone there to chaperone) to the group before exploring further.

In no time at all, the three had returned to where the others awaited, and it was decided that before attempting to enter the fortress which held the artifact for which they were searching, they would go back and investigate the garden. Sana also offered the barding to Ezhno, who took it and put it in his haversack for future investigation.

They followed Ezhno's path back to the garden, and deep within, Jack noticed a stone archway. Sana took out her spyglass and flew up a bit to get a better look, and saw the archway as well. Rylan borrowed the spyglass and looked, and recognized it as a portal gate. They then spotted the entrance at the end nearest the fortress, but did not head that way yet, deciding it was time to look inside the fortress itself.

They approached the doors, heading up the wide steps leading the horses, and opened them cautiously. Sana had recreated light objects for the group to carry in with them, and they entered the fortress.

Only to find themselves in a most unusual situation. They appeared to be in some sort of shop, full of a variety of items: clothing, toy animals, what must have been knick-knacks, large parchment with moving pictures on them, and smaller ones as well that were just larger than a person's hand. There were also small crystal orbs with water in them, and a miniature version of the underwater city. They were right next to a rack of magnifying glasses, with a placard above the two that was in an ancient language. Sana took time to decipher what they said, and with some effort was able to tell the others that the city was named HIldorian. The city in the globe, when viewed with a magnifying glass, showed people moving around inside the buildings and on the streets. It also showed what looked like seven tunnels radiating out from the city, like the one they had used to enter. But none of them looked very close for a quick exit.

Jon ignored the poraphernalia and headed to a door he spotted at the far end of the room. Jack wandered around and pocketed a few items, while Ezhno waited for the rest. Sana and Rylan once more argued over just taking the items or leaving coin. Rylan searched for a cashbox or some place for the money to go, while Sana figured out that the snow globes cost "30 centavas" whatever those were. Rylan finally decided to leave thirty silver on the counter, and take one of the globes, but he didn't need the magnifying glass as he already had one. Sana pocketed one as well, but did not leave any coin.

They headed out of the shop finally, and into a large waiting room/lobby area, with a number of doors and signs. A large counter area was on the far side, and there was a door behind it. The compass was pointing in that direction.

They decided to leave the horses there with Margaret, and Martin would stay to keep an eye on her and the horses. The rest of them headed for the door, which proved to be a stairwell leading up.

They climbed for six flights, the compass leading them ever onward. At the top, the compass pointed directly ahead, into the center of the fortress. They opened the door, which opened onto a rather featureless hallway. Doors were evenly spaced along both sides; they appeared to be directly in the middle. At the far end, they could see that the corridors turned, going on the outside of the fortress. The compass was pointing directly ahead, though there was no door or corridor right there. Opening the door to their right on the other side of the hallway, they found a small office, with a desk and a chair and very little else. A few more doors opened reveals the same setup in each room. They decided to go to the right, and reached the end, where the passage turned to the left.

Along the new passage, the doors along the inside were spaced further apart, and when opened revealed larger offices. To the right, windows afforded a look out onto the city, and in the distance they could see the latticework of the garden structure.

They continued down the corridor, until they found a passage, again in the middle, that lead directly into the center of the fortress. However, their luck turned against them at this point, because there was some magic that prevented him from moving forward. Not wanting him to get out of sight, they staggered themselves along the corridor; Jon taking the first position and Jack the next.

There were doors along this corridor as well, and they lead into larger offices, with inner doors and smaller offices. And at the end, the corridor opened up into a large room that was mostly unadorned. A large chair - it wasn't really throne-like in any manner, other than that it was large and by itself in the center of the room - with a pedestal next to it were the only things Sana and Rylan could see. Upon the pedestal was a pillow and a slender rod that glowed.

And then they found the same kind of obstruction preventing them from entering the room as Ezhno had found earlier in the corridor. Rylan hit upon a solution at once, and went back to switch places with Jon, giving him the compass. Jon came forward and was able to walk right into the room, with no problems. He took Sana by the hand and tried to walk in with her, but though he could enter, Sana could not. Jon shrugged and spoke, but Sana also found she couldn't hear anything within the room either.

Jon walked over to the throne, and a ghostly figure appeared on it. Jon immediately took a fighting stance, but the ghost offered no violence to him. Instead, the two of them talked for a time. Eventually, Jon walked around the pedestal with the compass and confirmed that the item was indeed what the compass was pointing to, and then exited the room.

Sana had a bunch of questions, but Jon refused to answer them until they were all outside with Ezhno, so he wouldn't have to repeat it. So they collected their companions and met Ezhno out in the hall.

Once gathered, Jon related the tale. The ghost's name was Avadis. He explained to Jon that the item could be removed, but it would cause the magic that held the water out of the city to fade, and fade quickly. He wasn't sure how much time they had, but not much. He suggested that they use the gate in the garden.

So plans were made. Since Jon was the only one who could enter the room to retrieve the artifact, Rylan would cast a fly spell upon him, to increase his movement. Rylan would cast this at the base of the fortress, and then cast fly on himself and fly to the gate, to begin opening it. The others would wait at the gate. Jon would fly up and retrieve the artifact, then fly back down the stairwell and through the city to the gate. (An attempt to break the windows to shorten the trip proved fruitless, even when large furniture was tossed against them. They appeared unbreakable.)

However, Rylan did not have two fly spells prepared. So the group decided to retreat to the garden and rest, giving Rylan time to prepare his spells. Sana recommended not getting the artifact now, but returning later. She really wanted to raid the city. The others weren't all happy about that, but there was the possibility that they could delay the retrieval of the rod by a few days, and gather as much stuff as they could from the city.

Margaret had not, as of yet, awoke, and she had some spells that might be useful to Jon. The group retreated out of the fortress and discuss the matter.

Quote of the evening - "Jon! We need Jon. I'll go switch places with him." - Rylan, on realizing what was needed to enter the room.