Author's Note

After editing both Call of Chaos and Chaos Revealed, I have decided to combine them into one story. The initial pass is coming in at 130,000 words, but it seems solid. I'm letting it set for a bit as I concentrate on a couple of short stories before going through it again.

In other news related to the Chaos Reigns Saga:

My novelettes "Descent Into Chaos" - and "Daughter of Chaos" are now out in The Stygian Soul Anthology - more information on these stories is available at my website at http://www.klyssia.com/DescentChaos.html and http://www.klyssia.com/DaughterChaos.html

Carol

Author's Note

The previous post represents the last post for the story that will be titled Chaos Revealed. I'm not sure how long it will be before I start posting for the next story - particulary since my character didn't keep a very good journal regarding that particular adventure - I was the one DMing.

Check back periodically as I do intend to post information on this adventure.

Thanks for visiting the Realms of Chaos.

Carol Hightshoe

Chaos Revealed - Entry 11

Entry 17


We enter the town the next morning and are approached by the mayor, who looks at Tristan and frowns. He then turns to Crystal and tells she has proven herself and the case is closed.

We note the remains of the inn and see a building nearby that has been made into the temporary home of the Wailing Banshee. As we entered the bar, Marlene yells from the back, “I won.” We see the Gnome grumble and pass her a pouch of gold.

After a few drinks and a brief meal, we head to the Gnomes for equipment and to get rid of some our extra items. The party stocks up on potions and wands of healing. For myself, I negotiate with the Gnome for several minutes and trade my Composite Low Bow in on a Mighty Composite Long Bow +4, I add the bag of gold Tristan gave me, along with my gems, the Amulet of Divination and few other trinkets I picked up to talk the Gnome out of what he calls a Quiver of Artemis. It looks like a standard Quiver, but have a pocket of dimensional space that allows it to hold an extra 100 arrows. As an arrow is pulled from the quiver one from the pocket automatically replaces it so the quiver remains filled. I restock my masterwork arrows so that the quiver and dimensional space are filled.

Tristan asks if anyone of the party would be willing to escort him to Raspa. We all agree. As we are leaving town a portal opens before. It manages to scoop up everyone, except Sabin, Tristan and I before closing amid the sounds of shattering glass and cursing.

I shake my head realizing I may end up trapped on this world if Dum-Dum broke the portal, but decide to face whatever comes.

Chaos Revealed - Entry 10

Entry 16

The rest period is over and we find ourselves anxious to move on and finish this mission.

We gather our things and begin moving through the corridors once again. Around a corner we hear a loud thump, like something hitting the floor. Our thief moves up to investigate and reports that three humans are waiting around the corner. We move up cautiously.

After several tense minutes, we find that two are traveling companions, A Paladin with an intelligence that reminds me of Dum-Dum, whatever his real name was, and a monk. Unlike our last monk, this person is very poised with a professional attitude about him. The third person is a barbarian, who seems more intelligent that the Paladin. We briefly tell them about the mission we are on and they agree to join us. The Mock positions the Paladin with Tristan and tells him to defend. The Barbarian also assumes a guard position alongside Tristan.

As we move down a long hallway, we come to two doors. Our thief checks the door to the first and is reasonable sure it isn’t trapped. The new Paladin moves and immediately grabs the door and opens it, it explodes into a fire trap. Poor Hermione, she curses herself and the skill of the wizard who laid the trap. We check the room and find nothing of value and move toward the next door.

As we approach the second door, an alarm sounds. We open the door and immediately surrounded by an area of darkness as well as a stinking cloud. The party separates trying to get away from the nauseating gas. As we hack and cough, a slight smell of brimstone comes to my nose as well as a whirling sound in the air.

Once the air begins clearing, we begin moving toward the door through the darkness. At the opening, we are assaulted by creatures that we cannot see. However, our party has worked together in the dark several times and we are able to fight together without hitting each other.

As one of the creatures falls before me, I hear the Monk yell from somewhere in front of me that a trench has been placed in the room.

I begin making my way cautiously forward, felling with my foot for the trench. Once there, it is at the very edge of the darkness spell, I see a creature standing there. It moves it’s hands in a apparent spell then vanishes. The whirling sound comes again and we realize there is an imp in the room with us. Tristan is still outside and we immediately close the doors to trapped the creature with us and keep it away from Tristan.

Further back from the edge of the trench stands Mykl, the Duvall son who was to be disinherited and caused this evil to be called forth. One by one, as the party manages to defeat the unseen creatures, we make our way to the trench and attempt to cross it’s 10 foot width. Most of us don’t make the jump and have to climb out the other side. Before Sabin and I can join the others, the wizard casts a fear spell and I find myself climbing out of the pit and returning to the doors we had just shut. I find myself cowering there, fighting the effects of the spell, but still unable to act. I have never cowered before a foe or even my father who could have terrified most creatures and did at one time or another. The door is locked and we are unable to open it. From down the hallway, I hear something moving toward the door. It is large and growling. This can’t be a good sign.

The door moves and I hear Boris tell us to get out of the way. We move back and suddenly the door splinters as a large creature charges through it. By this time, I have managed to fight off the effects of the fear spell and turn to see what appears to be a large Dire Werewolf moving toward one of the rooms support pillars. The others have finished the wizard and have headed back toward the door. Boris looks at me and growls, “Get Out. I can’t control it.”

I take a step toward the Were, my weapons glowing in the darkness. As Crystal passes me, she grabs my collar and pulls me with her.

Out in the hallway is the pirate we let go a few days earlier and he motions for us to follow him as we hear the stone grinding and cracking behind us. Boris apparently has destroyed the chamber, pulling it down on the fallen wizard and himself.

Our mission accomplished we return to the upper levels of the manor house. There, we find the gathered spirits of the Duvall and Trerissian families waiting for us. We also find Ferdinand waiting as well. Crystal gives the Paladin sword to Tristan, telling him it is a relic of his family and he should keep it. Ferdinand then offers to repair her bane sword that was shattered by the golem. The sword is made whole with all it’s enchantments still in place. He then takes the dwarfs maul and one of his axes and blends them into a Maul of Mighty Cleaving as he calls it.

We thank him for his gifts and he vanishes again.

The members of the families move forward and each one presents us with a final reward for helping them.

Riker, the Spirit of the Paladin’s horse approaches Crystal and she is told that he is hers. As all Paladin’s need a faithful mount.

Stephanie Trerissian approaches our Sorceror and presents him with Bracers of Armor

Gregory Trerissian approaches Sabin and gives him a Ring of Mind Shielding

Melissa Duvall approaches me, tears in her eyes as she thanks me for helping her. One of those tears falls on my short sword and it also begins weeping. The weapon has been transformed into a +1 magic Holy sword that will do additional damage to creature affected by Holy Water.

Larissa Duvall approaches Hermione and grants her an +1 increase in her Charisma

Nissa Duvall approaches Tristan and grants him a +2 increase in his Charisma

The Cleric approaches our Cleric and grants him a +1 increase in his wisdom.

Their spirits laid to rest, the family fades away. Tristan pays us the promised gold and we return to town. With night falling, we make camp at the edge of town. I can sense the evil fading from this place as I lay on the ground listening to the sounds of the creatures of the forest.

Chaos Revealed - Entry 9

Entry 15


Once again we are attacked by the skeleton remains from the servants. However, we spot them in time to meet them out side.

Once again, they are fairly easy to defeat, but the repetitive problem of having to defeat them is becoming annoying. I note that they are burning hotter this them. After they are down (for the third time) I suggest Tristan prick his finger and sprinkle blood over the bones, before we bury them in the consecrated chapel grounds. Everyone wonders where this idea came from and I explain that these were not members of the family, that they were killed by Tristan’s uncle and perhaps “spilling” Duval blood is what is needed to put them to rest. Tristan agrees it is worth a try.

During the battle with the skeletons, Tristan gave his mace to Sabin as he now carries the Paladin sword of his grandfather. The sword had demanded that Crystal us it exclusively and our Paladin was reluctant to give up using her Bane sword.

I relay my concerns about Tristan’s lose of faith and antipathy toward Athena, but the sword thinks it might be able to help Tristan and Crystal passed the weapon to Tristan.

As we approach the doors to the manor house, someone approaching from the gates hails us. He doesn’t appear to be a cleric, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he was. Tristan speaks to him for a moment and the new fighter as we learn joins the party.

We head back into the catacombs, giving the new member a brief explanation of what we have encountered so far. As we pass the zombies, pumping the water, our Sorcerer stops and takes the time to destroy 1 of them casting 3 magic missile spells to accomplish this.

We pass through the areas we have already “cleared” quickly until we reach another door. This time an iron bound wooden door with mud packed into the cracks. We study the door for some time then the Paladin ties the rope around her body and pushes the door open. Smoke pours out of the room. Not the hot smoke of a fire, but a cool smoke. It takes a while to clear enough of the room that we can enter.

The Paladin and the new member enter first and I follow closely behind Crystal. Entering the room, it opens up so that we can advance 3 abreast and I ready my bow as I step up along side Crystal. The smoke still provides strong concealment as we move into the room. Crystal warns that she is detecting several evil presences at the far range of her spell. Sabin comes in behind me and I hear him nock a bolt into his crossbow.

We move slowly and soon a line of ghouls stands before us, within range of our bows. I let loose a arrow and hear a satisfying thud as it strikes the one in front of me. Crystal and the fighter do the same.

The Dwarf moves through the line and engages one of the creatures, destroying it. I shoulder my bow and ready my swords.

Our cleric moves forward and casts a turn undead, destroying three of the creatures. More move to take their place. As the battle continues, the support timbers on either side of the room burst into flame. They appear to be burning from the inside out.

We push the attack and our cleric turns again destroying more of the ghouls. A Gast moves forward and several of us begin fighting the wave of nausea. He attacks the Dwarf and paralyzes him with a bite.

Hermione calls out that the beams are cracking and another set of timbers has caught fire.

Behind her, part of the ceiling has collapsed and we crowd forward, attacking the undead before us. Another section of the ceiling collapses as Hermione begins working on the lock on the only door before us. Together she and Sabin are able to open the door and Tristan shuts it as the last section of ceiling collapses.

We find ourselves crowded into a small room, barely enough room for each of us to stand. Hermione and Sabin work on the lock on the next door and find it not only locked, but, bolted from the other side. We have no way out of this area.

Despite the cramped quarters, we try to force the door open. I give Crystal the potion of Bull Strength I had picked up the previous day to bolster her strength. After several failed attempts to force the door, it is jerked open from the other side.

Something resembling a flesh golem reaches in and grabs Sabin. The thief doesn’t fight right away. I can only hope it is because he is hoping to open a spot for one of the fighters.

It becomes apparent that the golem intends to try and close the door and flings Sabin behind him. Sabin struggles against the Golems grasp, almost breaking free, but fails. The door slams shut again. We hear what sounds like battle on the other side, followed by a strangled cry. A few moments later, a loud clang echoes from the other side of the door, and I hear faint yelling and cursing. Sabin is still alive.

The cleric casts Bull Strength on me and Crystal and I again begin trying to force the door open.

Again the door is flung open and the golem reaches in. He attempts to grab the Paladin and fails. However, it immediately recognizes Crystal as “The female Paladin with the interesting sword.” This statement concerns me. This creature is aware of who we are and of some of the equipment we carry.

I note that the sorcerer has begun casting a spell as Crystal attacks the golem. A few moments later, Hermione vanishes.

The golem attacks something moving under him and I assume it is the thief as she tries to sneak past him. The golem doesn’t react to any further apparent attacks and I assume she has proceeded down the hall to assist Sabin.

The golem attacks Crystal, targeting her sword and a I hear the metal crack under the power of the golem’s club. Another blow from the golem and the Bane sword shatters.

A moment later the golem roars in pain and turns around. Behind him Hermione stands, now visible – a look of panic on her face. The golem smashes down and Hermione falls to the floor. Sabin stands at the end of the hallway and makes a rude gesture toward the Golem. The moves toward him and the rest of us ready our weapons to follow.

I rush down the hallway to engage the golem and take a serious blow as I dart past it to stand by Sabin. However, I hear it growl as I hit with my longsword – I hurt it. The other members of the party move in to engage it and we are finally able to put it down – Sabin deals it the last blow.

The Dwarf is still under the paralysis and we carefully move him to the spot we are planning to rest and heal our wounds. The cleric has begun healing Hermione and she smiles weakly at the rest of us.

We check the golem and identify his leather armor as +2 armor. As no one else seems to want it – this goes to Sabin. He is carrying a +1 greatclub and I place this by the Dwarf – he might be interested in it. The golem is also wearing a pair of gloves of Dexterity. Sabin and Hermione both express an interest and do I. The fighter who joined us also expresses and interest in them. Crystal has us draw lots for them and they go to Sabin.

Considering the wounds taken by several members of the party, we decided to rest here. We are in a large room, containing several grated pits – all of them are empty.

Chaos Revealed - Entry 8

Entry 14


In the morning we return to the house and begin our search for Rineheart and his oldest son.

On the steps is Boris. He says he came out here, as the only one who would, to let Tristan know that his father has passed away. Tristan thanks Boris for the information, but no emotion seems to cross his features.

The Dwarf spends some time talking to Boris and finds out the poacher is also a follower of Thor. Boris gives him a holy symbol of the god and promises to leave a war hammer in the chapel. Providing we survive long enough to claim it.

We are passing through the dining room, returning to the library when someone begins tapping at the window. The dwarf admits a human, who claims to be a ranger and a follower of Thor also.

The Paladin is the first to descend the ladder from the library and she calls up that she has encountered two skeletons. The sound of splintering bones floats up through the opening followed by her cheerful “nevermind.”

We proceed down the ladder and enter a dungeon area. To our right is a secret door that opens up into the wine cellar. We ignore the door and proceed down the corridor.

Another door opens up into a large pool. Across the water is a small ledge and a screen with tiny slits. Behind the slits, we can see movement as two creatures appear to be working some sort of pump. We move on.

The next room contains a sloping floor leading to a pool of liquid. The sides appear to be slick, possibly caused by a layer of mold. Under the liquid, gleam several coins and weapons, still appearing to be in outstanding shape. Hermione volunteers to retrieve the items. I help her tie the rope around her waist and anchor myself at the doorway, just beyond the slippery sloping floor. The dwarf adds his weight to the rope as I carefully lower the thief. Without warning, the liquid rises up and grabs Hermione, pulling her into its depths. This was no pool of water, but a large gelatinous cube. I curse myself silently that I did not recognize the signs. Hermione immediately begins fighting to pull herself back up the rope and I tightened my grip and begin pulling, setting my weight and strength against the strength of the cube. It takes several minutes, but we finally manage to wrest the thief free of the cube.

Moving on, we come to a large chamber, with a number of remains scattered around the edges. Fragments of skeletons hang from the rusted chains in the wall. In the center of the room is an area where the stones are shattered. We divide into two groups and work our way around the room. Tristan and the Sorcerer remain at the entrance.

As we pass a group of bones, I see something bright glittering in them. Glancing at the floor and the ceiling above us, I ignore the temptation.

As the two groups pass through the archway at the other end of the room, a rustling sound catches our attention. From out of the shattered rock of the floor come two swarms of ants. They stop at the archway and do not pass through it. Tristan steps into the room and the swarms immediately move toward him.

We play the back and forth game for a few minutes, and then Tristan jumps over the swarm closest to him and sprints to our side of the room. The Sorcerer does the same.

The Paladin thought she saw something moving in the hallway ahead of us and we proceed in that direction. Passing past one of the doors lining hallway, Crystal pauses, saying her detect evil spell has detected something in the room. We look closely at the doors and realize these are holding cells.

Being the person she is, Crystal can not pass the cell by. As cautiously as we can, try to check the cell before opening the door and fail to see anything in the room. Hermione opens the cell and we find ourselves facing a ghoul. The cleric moves further down the hall and hits a trip wire that opens all of the remaining cell doors. Out of several of them comes other undead creatures, as well as two humans. The group splits and engages the creatures, as the two humans appear to be unarmed, we ignore them for now.

After we defeat the undead, Crystal charges one of the humans. The Cleric steps between them, and I grab for Crystal’s shoulder asking her to hold back for a moment. She pauses, but I see the hatred boiling in her eyes. The cleric continues questioning the human, who now demands safe passage for the information he has. We convince Crystal to allow the man to leave and take his chances on getting out of the house. We tell the human we will only guarantee that he will not be attack by any member of the party and he is on his own as far as any other dangers in the area. He agrees. He tells us he is a pirate and his captain has been dealing with 2 undead creatures here. 1 is unknown the other is called Carver (it was he who imprisoned the pirate here). Carver apparently practices a combination of alchemy and necromancy. The second, while he has never dealt with him he believes is a lich. A lich who has not completed all of the rituals and must kill all members of the Duval line to complete his transformation. I glance at Tristan. His father has died and he is now the LAST of the Duval’s. To prevent the evil from fully entering this world he must be protected at all costs.

Before he leaves, the pirate tells us to beware what walks on 4 legs, but has more. I stand by Crystal as the pirate leaves, placing myself between her and him. She gave us her word to not attack, and I trust that, but she is a paladin and he was an evil person – best not to take chances.

We find other person huddled in the corner of his cell. He refuses to give us his name and Crystal detects no evil on him. We offer to let him come with us, he agrees. As the man has no armor or weapons, the Dwarf gives him one of the two handed swords he carries.

We finally move to the end of the hallway. Another set of the iron bond double doors face us, along with an open steel door to our left. We step through the steel door. Just inside a small hallway we find a pile of armor and weapons, these belong to our friend from the cell. He quickly dons his equipment. The small hall opens into a room with a mirror along one side. A ray of light flashes on the other side and we see what appears to be movement. Working together, we are able to break the three layers of glass and find ourselves in a laboratory. On a table is a body or mismatched body parts part worg, part tiger. I immediately strike at the creature, attempting to severe one of the two heads. From the right a vial flies onto the creature and it begins to awaken. To our right we see someone pull a level then leave through a second steel door. The door clangs shut and we realize it has locked.

The members of the party who followed us in yell that the first door has also locked with Hermione and Gandalf on the other side. Sabin moves back to the first door and begins working with Hermione, on the other side, to pick the lock.

The constructed creature attacks and we are hard pressed for several minutes against it. Two worg heads snapping and six legs with claws slashing at us. Under the fur are bone plates giving the creature a form of natural armor.

We finally are able to dispatch the creature and the cleric moves to try and open the door. It is locked and the mechanism has disengaged. We appear to be trapped. The Dwarf has us stand back a bit and he attacks the door. From outside we hear laughter and a mocking voice call out “That room was designed to keep things in.” I glance at the destroyed construct and realize we may be in trouble.

I move to join Sabin at the other door. Hermione calls out that the double doors are opening. Another failure with the door. I suggest she and Gandalf find a place to hide as Sabin and I continue working on the lock.

The corridor falls silent and we pray our friends will be safe.

(The sorceror cast an invisibility spell and Hermione darted into one of the cells. Carver locates the sorceror despite the spell and attacks him.) We hear him cry out on pain then begin a casting. Eventually the sounds move away from the door)

After several minutes, the door starts to rise, then slams shut again.

(Hermione finally leaves the cell and moves back to the door. She tells us there is a lever on the outside of the second door and she moves to engage it.)

The door opens and we dash out into the hallway. Carver stands at the end of the hallway just inside another corridor leading to the right. As we move to engage the creature, we hear a loud crash from the corridor to the right. Another person immediately engages Carver, along with the Dwarf. Together, they dispatch the undead creature.

The new person introduces himself as Ferdinand Vernase in undercommon. He is wielding a Hammer of Forging and Crystal notes that it radiates evil on occasion. It would appear to be an intelligent weapon.

Ferdinand darts about opening doors and pulling out equipment that he dumps at our feet before vanishing with the human we rescued from the cell. He takes the time to tell us about everything he gives us.

Inside the room he came from, lies a huge skeleton almost dragon like but not. The huge head has been shattered and Gandalf tells us that Ferdinand put it through the door, before bashing the door down. Also in the room is the body of Rinehart, the paladin and his equipment. Crystal is entranced by the plate mail and the sword. Ferdinand tells her it is an intelligent weapon which will bond with one faithful to Arayelle. We also find several potions.

In the items Ferdinand removed from other areas is a periaft of poison. My mind immediately remembers the assassin that may still be stalking us and I claim the item.

I take the time to check the body of Carver and remove 4 daggers, a +2 scalpel with keen (15-20), a ring of alter self (another protection against the assassin as I may be able to disguise my features as a full elf). He is also wearing +2 leather armor. I replace my studded leather with the magical leather.

As a group, we return to the chapel to rest for the night and I pass my studded leather armor to Sabin as it will provide a bit more protect than the regular leather he is wearing.

It is still early in the day and we take the time for our cleric of Athena to perform the proper burial rituals for the Duval family. We then carry the bodies to the cemetery and place them in the family crypt then return to the chapel.

Chaos Revealed - Entry 7

Entry 13


This morning we awaken after a night of dreams and visions. I found myself in a wooded area, surrounded by the call of predators when a twig snapped behind me. I spun around, my weapons ready, to see an elven maid standing before me. It was the Lady Dwycia. I immediately, dropped my blades to a non-threatening position and bowed y head. She smiled at me, “You fight well,” she said. “For your courage and honor, I give to you my Sacred Blessing. Each day at dawn, you may select one of your ranger skills to be enhanced for that day.” She also warns me that Hecate is coming. She then vanished as I awakened.

I note that many of the others also seem to be slightly disoriented as they too had dreams and visions. Crystal seems seriously distracted and latter tells us that she was chastised by Athena for her actions in the maze.

We also see a new person kneeling before the altar. By his robes, he appears to be a cleric. This seems to be an odd situation. The previous clerics of Athena that have joined us have all vanished without explanation. I wonder if Arayelle is testing them or possibly us for some reason yet unknown.

As we introduce our selves to out new companion, it becomes apparent that all of our dreams / vision seemed to hold religious significance as we all mention the gods we have chosen to honor during our time here. That is all except for Tristan.

Tristan Duvall, the son of a family that for generations were devoted servants of the Goddess Arayelle, looks at us and frowns slightly. He then tells us that he was given a choice in his dream to follow Athena and he refused. There is anger and resentment in his voice as he speaks. He tells us about his families connection to Athena then curses as he tells us that she has abandoned them and from what he has seen of her servants, he glances at Crystal, she holds no real power.

I understand his feelings, but feel sorrow that he has driven himself this far to disavow his Goddess. This cannot be a good thing for him or our mission.

After a few minutes consultation, we move to the rubble of ash that was once the Servants Quarters. Checking around the outside of the rubble, we find that the floor still appears to be solid, though it can be pried up in many areas to reveal a small crawl space underneath. A search of the area also reveals a small secret holding area with a blacked box. Hermoine opens the box and we find a small cache of jewels and coins along with a pait of gloves of stealth and a vial with a necromantic potion of “last Breath” in it. Hermoine passes the vial to Gandolf and takes the remaining items for herself.

We also find four skeletons among the rubble. As we gather the bones to carry them to the cemetery for burial, they begin glowing and smoldering. The first set, bursts into flame and pulls the ash around into itself creating a body. Crystal points to two of the others as having a strong aura of evil around them, but they have not formed yet, so we attack the first. Our combined efforts quickly dispatch the skeleton and we turn to face the other three. Realizing how ineffective my blades will be against the animated skeletons, crystal passes me her enchanted longsword with the bane enchantment on it. I thank her and take a two handed stance with the weapon as one of the skeletons approaches me.

We divide into groups as we face the three skeletons. Crystal and I quickly dispatch the center one and we move to each face one of the others.

The group’s injuries are light when we dispatch the last skeleton. Instead of trying to move the remains and possibly triggering their re-animation again, we decide to bury them there.

From here, we move to the Guest Quarters.

The door to the Guest Quarters opens easily and we enter cautiously. First, Crystal and I enter and scan the interior. I see a shadow move in the far left corner of the loser level. Crystal moves to the far side of the entry way and quickly checks the dining room and kitchen area, closing doors. I move up to the corner carefully watching for more movement. I finally see two bodies around the corner. The rest of the party moves in behind us and the doors slam shut.

Suddenly, voices fill my ears along with the sound of running feet and the door opening and closely. “There’s a fire. We need help!” the voices call. “The servants quarters are on fire.” Suddenly another voice calls through the bedlam. “Where is my son?” The cacophony of noise dies down and we see a ghostly apparition floating above the stairs. It is a woman, she looks at us and calls again “Where is my son?”

Crystal steps forward and asks her who her son is. She frowns and asks why she is asking foolish questions.

I step forward and call to her “Lady Terissian, we are here to lay the evil that covers this place to rest. We will try to find your son for you.”

She looks at me then glances at Tristan and frowns. “That you keep company with this one proves that you lie.”


Tristan steps forward. “Lady do not judge me by the actions of my uncle.” She points at Tristan. “You will be the first to die.” She begins gesturing calling forth a magic spell. With ease, she unleashes a sleet storm in the room, covering the floor with ice and obscuring our vision.

I feel Sabin move toward his right from behind me and I can only hope he has moved to a guard position next to Tristan.

Crystal calls to the woman. “Lady Terissian, I am a Paladin of a Good God and by my honor we will do what we can to find your son.”

Lady Terissian looks at Crystal studying her. “By my life Lady, we will find your son.”

“We will see.”

I again call to the apparition, “Lady, please let us help you.”

Another apparition appears in the center of the room, in front of Tristan, a rapier posed to plunge through his neck. Sabin moves to interpose himself between the attacker and Tristan. I swallow hard as the blade stops, its point resting on Sabin’s throat.

The sleet storm clears. “Who speaks for your group?”

Crystal steps forward. I look at her and nod. “I will.”

“You have two days to find my son and return him to me. He,” she points at Tristan, “will remain here.”

I glance at Tristan and Sabin. Sabin looks at me and I see his hand moving slightly. My thief training helps as I can barely make out the signs he is making. He wishes to stay as a guard in case things go bad.

“If you fail, he will die.”

Two more figures appear on the landing behind her. Both well armed and armored.
I again look at Sabin. His green eyes are hard as I catch the almost imperceptible nod. I speak under my breath to Crystal. “Ask if one of our party can remain with Tristan.” She pauses and looks at me as if I am crazy. “Sabin will stay behind as a guard.” She relays the request.

“They will share the same fate.” The male apparition standing before Sabin says.

I glance at Sabin. Again, the barely perceptible nod. “Agreed,” I say.

“Lady, where is the last place you knew your son to be?” Crystal asks.

“He and Larissa use to meet at the gazebo.”

The doors open and we leave Tristan and Sabin behind as we exit the building. Two strangers are waiting for us as we exit and Crystal immediately readies her crossbow and challenges them.

What ensues is an argument between the two as the cleric as he later identifies himself, is insulted by her actions. Finally the cleric of Athena that joined us earlier is able to calm the situation and points out that Aldran is a cleric of Dineik, the God of Healing and a member of Ra’s court as is Arayelle. Aldran introduces his companion a wizard he has been traveling with. Once tempers have calmed, I explain what has been going on so far. The cleric seems upset that he never heard anyone ask Sabin if he wanted to stay behind, I don’t clarify. He also takes umbrage with the fact the diaries and spellbooks are with Sabin, saying there is information in them we could probably use in this situation. At this, I finally lose my temper slightly and remind him that we have been working here for three days and he and his companion have only just arrived. I then explain what we do know from the books, that Mykl was stealing from the family, that he was to be disinherited as Wilhem and Larissa would be the sole heirs to both estates. At this the wizard say that doesn’t seem to be enough to constitute the murder of both families. I also point out the he had gain control of an item of great magic and evil, something I had mentioned earlier – so power could also be part of the motive. Based on the actions he has taken, I would suspect him of working blood magic here.

Aldran apologizes for any offense and offers to assist us. We agree.

Checking the gazebo, we find a loose plank. Under the plank we find a puzzle box which we all try to open without success, until our new wizard casts knock on it. Inside are a potion and a note. The note is love poem written in common, elven and sylvan. It is a masterpiece with all three translations holding the same rhyming scansion and beat.

Crystal read the note in common and a figure approaches us. “That is not for you.”

“Wilhem Terissian?” I ask politely and he looks at me.

“We are here to destroy to evil that has surrounded this pace for the past thirty years.”

“And your mother wants to see you,” Aldran says.

“I will not leave this place till I find my fiancé.”

“Let us help you. Where did you see her last?”

“Mykl Duvall .. he .. stabbed me in the side with a dagger .. he chased her that way,” he pointed toward the cliff.

I promise to assist him in his search. He tells us we can follow him if we desire.

Hermoine locates a well worn path down the cliff to a dock. Crystal suggests we link ourselves together with the rope she is carrying. The dwarf takes the lead, I place myself in the middle and Crystal takes the anchor position in the back.

The Dwarf’s weight causes part of the path to collapse under him and he and Hermoine fall. I yell at the others to keep the rope taut and brace myself to keep the others from sliding off. The weight of the Dwarf and the inexperience of the others almost cost us severely, but we manage to pull the party back up. Using the rope as protection, we then all leap the pit and continue on.

Reaching the bottom of the cliff, we find a dock and a path leading to a see-cave. The Dwarf and I move to inspect an overturned row boat while the others wait by the dock. At the same time we see a shape moving in the water toward us. I call out a warning, then the Paladin warns that a second creature in the water near the docks.

In front of us, a scrag, water-troll, emerges from the ocean. He is beyond the reach of our melee weapons, but we are not beyond it’s reach. The dwarf is hit, then leaps off the dock into the water to fight with the scrag, I take several hits as I begin an attack with my long bow. Suddenly the Dwarf falls, and I continue my attacks, hoping to get an opportunity to pull him from the water before he drowns.

The rest of the party faces a second scrag. Our new wizard approaches me and touches my shoulder. I feel my limbs limber slightly as he casts Cat’s Grace on me.

The new Cleric jumps into the water and starts to move toward us, I only hope he is coming to assist the Dwarf. It has been too long, I have risk a full attack from the scrag and make up my mind to attempt and pull the Dwarf from the water. As I get ready to however, the troll makes a sudden dive, grabs the Dwarf and begins swimming away. I see the cleric make and attempt to attack, but the water interferes. I drop my bow and all of my gear, except for my armor and swords and go after them.

The other group finally dispatches the second scrag and I see Crystal disappear under the water. I continue toward the Scrag, which is out distancing me. Suddenly I see thrashing coming from the area and I realize the Dwarf has regained consciousness. Bless her Crystal reached them and did a laying of hands. The Dwarf manages to free himself from the Troll for a moment, before the creature grabs him again. I thrust at the Scrag with my longsword, but misjudge because of the water.

Finally the creature moves off and we are able to get out of the water. I move around to retrieve my gear and see the body the cleric discovered when he pulled the boat into the water. It is a young woman, probably Larissa. I remind the others that we need to retrieve Wilhem as well as he fell against the Troll the Dwarf and I were fighting.

Wilhem rises from the water and Aldran directs him to the body. While Wilhem spends time with Larissa, Crystal and I pull the downed Troll from the water and burned the body. Once the path is clear, Wilhem carries Larissa’s body back to the gazebo and we follow at a slower pace.

In the gazebo, Wilhem refuses to leave the body until he knows where her spirit is. Crystal hands him the poem and suggests he read it. There is no reaction through the first two stanzas. As he completes reading the poem in Sylvan, a ghostly figure appears. They embrace as best they can.

Wilhem then carries Larissa’s body to the chapel, and then occupancies us to the Guest House. He tells his mother that Tristan is blameless. He also asks that she allow us to continue with our mission here. She agrees. Wilhem requests that we make sure their bodies are returned to Raspa and buried there. We agree.

He then throws down his rapier, a dagger and his ring of jumping. “This are for you,” he says.

Lady Terissian speaks again and gestures at Tristan. “If you are the heir of Duvall, follow me.” He does. Crystal and I follow at a respectful distance.

She leads us to a room with a chest and opens it. Inside are 5 platinum trade bars, a cloak and a pair of gauntlets.

The cloak is identified as a cloak of resistance and we give it to Aldran. The gauntlets are gauntlets of swimming and climbing, I suggest those go to Crystal to help compensate for her poor swimming abilities.

Tristan gives the dagger to Sabin and the rapier and ring to Hermoine.

We bid the spirits of the Terissian’s farewell and go to the chapel to rest for the night. We have now found all the members of the Duvall family with the exceptions of Rhinehart and Mykl. Alesandra told us we would find Rhinehart below the basement, so tomorrow we will return to the library and the stairwell we found there.

If Lord Rhinehart was as highly ranked a Paladin as I believe him to be, I am concerned he will sense Tristan anger toward Arayelle and this will cloud how he reacts toward his grandson and our party.

I glance around before falling sleep, as usual the sorcerer is near me, the others are settling down also. Our cleric is still in prayer near the altar. Thinking wistfully of the scents and sounds of the forest trails I drift off.

A scream wakes me and a sit upright to see our cleric backing quickly away from the windows. He is saying something about their being flaming skeletons outside. My swords are in my hands as I look for the others. Our sorcerer is still snoring quietly and I elbow him in the side as I get up.

As we shake the sleep off, several fireballs strike the windows. One breaks through and starts a fire on one of the pews. The cleric quickly casts a create water spell and extinguishes the flames.

The rest of us move to the doors of the chapel. These appear to be the same skeletons we fought at the burned out servants quarters.

The dwarf charges the one to our right and Crystal takes the one to left.

Crystal quickly destroys the one she attacks and I hear the dwarf hacking away on his. I move to assist Crystal as she moves to the second skeleton on her side. To my left I see a flash of light and another creature appears next to the dwarf. It appears to be some type of devil. As Crystal does not need help with the second skeleton, I turn and engage the devil with my bow. I apparently struck it a damaging blow as it has turned toward me.

As I released the arrow, I heard the sorcerer yell that he had summoned the devil. Wonderful, I think. Crystal is not going to like this.

The Dwarf finishes with his skeleton and engages the devil also as Crystal runs past me her sword ready. The devil never had a chance. I hear the splintering of bone and realize another of our party has dispatched the fourth skeleton.

After the skeletons are gone, the Dwarf grabs the bones and dumps them over the cliff. Hopefully, they don’t come back again. We return to the chapel and finish our rest for the night.

Chaos Revealed - Entry 6

Entry 12

The next morning we wake rested and healed from our confrontations the previous day. After checking the goblins and distributing the various weapons we find. The Dwarf tries to insist I take a +1 magic short sword we find, but I refuse, being more comfortable with my matched pair long and short sword. Tristan supports my decision saying he has seen me use the pair and am very proficient with them. I blush slightly at the praise.

After finishing stacking the Goblin bodies and sorting their gear for later retrieval, we move to check the other wing of the basement level.

There we find a wine cellar. The majority of the group moves into the room while Crystal and I again take up guard positions.

Without warning, the door slams shut, forcing the newest cleric to join our party, Clon out of the room. He tries to force the door and I unable to open it. Crystal charges the door and while it bows slightly she also fails to open it. I retrieve a potion of Bull Strength from my pack and give it to Crystal then return to my guard position. Crystal quaffs the potion and again attempts to force the door. Again, she fails. On her third try, she is finally able to wrestle the door open, she struggles to keep the door open as it continues to try and force itself closed. As she struggles with the door, several of our companions make their way out of the area. After several minutes, the door manages to close itself again this time trapping Crystal inside.

The Dwarf immediately begins hacking at the door with his great axe. Three powerful swings and the door is splintered. Sabin immediately sprints out of the room and collapses. He looks to be in the worst shape of the party – followed very closely by Tristan who was drug out by the dwarf when he initially exited the room. I glance around the group and note Crystal and Clon are not with us. Shouldering my bow, taking a deep breath, I draw my swords and entered the smoke filled wine cellar.

Listening carefully, I locate Clon and Crystal in the far back corner and move to join them. A figure is in the corner and she calls forth a globe of fire and hurls it at us. She misses and on of the wine bottles on the rack behind us bursts and the alcohol catches fire. The figure then moves past us down the hall, I again listen carefully and follow her. I am able to take one strike at her as she passes hitting her with my short sword. I can tell that she felt the blow, but it wasn’t enough to put her down. Crystal and Clon follow me. Clon charges past Crystal, grappling with the creature and preventing Crystal or I from taking clean strikes at her for fear of hitting him. After a moment, she calls forth another globe of fire and hits Crystal with it doing minimal damage. The creature moves past us and down the narrow hall between the wine racks and I follow – telling the others to follow me. We corner the creature in one of the nooks and Crystal is able to finally dispatch her with her Bane sword. Grabbing the body, we exit the room as the smoke begins dissipating.

Around the corpses neck is a gold pendant with four pictures; the Duvall children. The youngest one matches the girl from my vision. The party takes the time to rest and heal the wounds they received before we plan our next move. I approach Sabin, who is being healed of his wounds by Jorell to find out what happened in the room.

“As we entered the wine cellar I move to the far corner on the wall with the door and begin a search of the wine racks and the area. The others begin moving out to search other areas of the cellar.

As I was searching, a thick black cloud of smoke began engulfing the area. Our sorcerer’s hawk appeared out of that cloud and landed beside me. I also heard what I believed might be the door to the cellar closing. Straining my ears, I listened carefully, trying to distinguish where my companions were and what might be going on. I heard movement in various areas of the room, but could not pinpoint anyone in particular. A sudden flash of light filled the room and I heard Tristan yell some thing like “Where did that come from?” he then added that someone moved past him before coughing loudly. I drew my rapier and took a guard position. I did not wish to move into the smoke and was uncomfortable with the idea of fighting in the dark when I could not clearly see my opponent or more importantly my allies.

As I waited for the right opportunity, the smoke filled the area where I was and I could feel my lungs and throat constricting and burning as I fought its effects.

I was finally able to locate our opponent, I hope, in the nook across the narrow hall from my nook and I moved into a position where I could attack if the opportunity presented itself. I noticed the Hawk finally moving out of the area and I hoped his master was able to protect him. Listening carefully, I thought I heard some of my companions moving out of the room.

I joined one of my companions at the entrance to the nook and noticed the creature as she called forth a ball of fire and hurled it at me. My neck and arms burned as the fire struck me. I retaliated and managed to deal a weak blow to the creature. The person I was next too, Tristan I think, reached out and grabbed another person, pulling him into the nook before he retreated out of the area. The new person, Clon, I believe, raised something and it began glowing. A turn undead spell. The symbol dims and his hands drop slowly as if he was fighting against some unseen force.

The smoke continued to damage my lungs as I tried to breath. I again attacked the creature again causing minor damage. She again hurled her globe of fire. I finally realize I could not stay in the room any longer and moved toward the door, which I hoped was open. I passed someone in the hall, but was coughing too hard too see who it was. I reached the door and realized it was shut and collapsed against one of the wine racks, my strength fading.

A crack appeared in the door and I said a silent prayer that someone would get through the door so I could escape the smoke. Finally, the door splintered and I sprinted out of the room, barely dodging Thorlien, the dwarf, and collapsing on the floor.

Shortly after I left the room, I saw you coming out of the room followed by the others, carrying a body. The rest you know.”

As soon as the party was healed, those devoted to Athena began to cleanse and bless the area. The rest of us moved out of the house and onto the chapel.

The outside of the small building in lined with beautiful windows and the doors are carved with draconic runes. Outside the hall we have been joined by another adventurer. He wears the clothes of a Druid and is accompanied by a wolf. My mind reaches for my memories of Shadow and Smoke and I ask Dwycia and Frayrith to watch over my companions until I can get home. Our new member translates the runes:

“Here is a temple to one of the houses that has served Athena so well for so long. All Hail its Lord. All Hail its God.”

Inside we find ourselves in a small foyer with two sets of stairs leading up. We take the stairs and find ourselves on a small balcony overlooking the main temple. In the center of the balcony is a suit of plate armor. Looking down at the temple there is a woman’s body on the altar and several other bodies scattered between the pews. I look down and note two depressions/scratches on the floor. My gaze goes from the scratches to the suit of armor and back. At this moment, the armor begins to move.

We surround the armor and defend ourselves. The druid notices a specter hovering at the ceiling as it moves toward us. It casts a spell and touches the armor. The Druid casts a spell also and some force flies past me. He is a wizard also!

The fight takes a long time as we slowly make progress against the armor, fortunately it is not intelligent and does not seem to plan its attacks. After we defeat the armor, we move to the main floor. The bodies belong to goblins. The woman is the Lady of the House. We encountered her spirit when we first entered the manor. The cleric, Derek Venteric, apologizes for the automatic defense and offers to assist as he can in our quest to cleanse the estate. We now have a place of security and healing that we can come to.

He gives us several items to help our cause. He also gives us a bag of gold that had been the family’s gift to the church of Athena to pay for his services at the wedding. I pledge to pass the gold on to one of the clerics in our party so that it will still be given to the church where it belongs. He seems pleased by my pledge.

He tells me that the eldest son killed him first. Somehow, his spirit was trapped here. He tells how he watch Rinehart bring his wife’s, Nisa, body here and lay her out on the alter then return to the house. He also tells us that Alsendra committed suicide so her spirit could continue to protect the house and thwart the plans of the eldest son.

We thank him and head back to the house.

Stepping outside, we realize that the Druid has vanished. For a moment, I wonder if he was sent to aid us in the temple by one of the Gods of this land.

We meet back with the rest of the party and proceed to speak with Alsendra again. We inform her of our progress so far and she tells us that Creed Lawton was not killed by her grandson and may have been laid to rest by the destruction of the stable. She also tells us that the tutor’s locket may provide some protection from the various spirits wandering the grounds.

I ask her about Rhineheart. He was the last to die in an area below the basement – entrance can be found through the kitchens or basement. She also reminded us that we have not completed clearing the house, as we have not explored the kitchen/dining hall or library.

After a brief discussion, we decide to find the tutor’s body and remove the locket. When we return to the wine cellar, we find the damage has been repaired and the body is back in the corner where we originally found her. We pick up the body and carry her to the abandoned cemetery, there the cleric blessings the body and removes the locket without a recurrence of the smoke.

Tristan identifies the pictures in the locket as Melissa – the youngest daughter / Lorissa – the eldest daughter and one getting married / Kristen – his father / Mykel – the eldest and the apparent perpetrator of this horror.

From the cemetery, we proceed to the Hedge Maze. The entrance is overgrown and a canopy of vines covers the path, blocking much of the light creating an artificial twilight. At the entrance is a weathered sign greeting the guests and announcing a contest of sorts for the wedding. I carefully check the ground for tracks and find no signs of human passage. Being a Ranger, I take the lead as we enter the maze.

Foolish me, I don’t think to cast my Detect Traps and Snares spell until I fall into a pit created by a group of centipedes digging under the path. I get out without injury and we proceed along a different path.

The spell, designed for natural pits and snare doesn’t warn we about the assassin vine that drops on me. I’m getting a little tired of assassins, whatever their form, in this world. I quick battle with the assassin vine and the rest of the growth in this part of the maze and we are able to proceed.

A few dead ends and another pit and we find ourselves in an open area with a large statue of a female figure. Her eyes are gazing off into the distance behind and to the right of us – toward the center of the maze. We press on.

Around several turns, we hear the sound of dogs, or other canines in the bushes tracking us. Presently we come to another alcove with another statue along with a pile of rubble. Without warning the statue moves and attacks us – it is a gargoyle. As we battle the gargoyle, I hear the distinct sound of growling coming from the back of the group – the dogs are attacking us also. I move toward the back of the group, leaving those with magic weapons to battle the gargoyle so I can see what is happening with the canines.

When I get there, I see two misshapen creatures that may have once been dogs, probably mastiffs, but now, they have been corrupted, changed by the evil that is infecting this place. It with sorrow and compassion that I dispatch them after our mage casts a sleep spell over them.

The battle with the gargoyle completed, we regroup and continue on our way.

The rest of the trip to the center of the maze is uneventful. Uneventful that is until we get there. The corridor opens up a bit and the paladin and I lead the way into the center. As we step forward, I am struck by a spell of cold, Crystal and the others seem to be unaffected, perhaps it is an area spell, I take another step and the bitter cold still surrounds me.

In the far corner lies the body of a young girl, Melissa, the youngest daughter of the family and the girl I saw in my vision. Next to her is a large dog, his body decaying. Suddenly the plants in the area, begin growing, and entangle spell has grabbed us. Vines reach out and the large dig grows even larger as they fill in his body.

Against all common sense, our mage steps out into the clearing to face the dog and in immediately struck down by three spikes the dog flings at him from his back. Crystal charges in and grabs the mage’s body and pulls him out of clearing, then heads for the maze only to be stopped by a wall of thorns growing up before her.

I fight against the entangle spell as Sabin, the Dwarf and Tristan move into the clearing. I watch helplessly as I struggle against the plants holding me. Without warning the plants before briars, scratching and cutting as we fight against them.

Tristan suddenly flings himself across the body of Melissa, calling her name softly. The dog turns to attack him and stops, frozen, his teeth only inches from Tristan’s neck.

As Tristan cradles the small body, the entangle spell fades and the rest of the party moves to engage the dog protecting Melissa. It takes several blows, before the creature falls, but we manage to defeat it. As I examine the body, I see that nothing of the original creature is left, it is now nothing more than a plant construct. A well preserved collar still encircles its neck and radiates of magic. I remove the collar and place it in my pack.

The dwarf picks up the body of Melissa and we carry her to the chapel and lay her with her mother.

Thinking about our next move, we head back to the house and consult with Alesander’s spirit. We tells us that Melissa was the first member of the family to be betrayed by her brother. Nissa was the second. She then tells us that the third place Mykel attacked was the servant’s quarters, which was burned to the ground, followed by the Guest Quarters.

We thank her and head back to the chapel to rest. Before we leave the house, we see Nissa’s spirit standing at one of the large windows, staring out toward the maze. Tristan asks her what she is looking for and she tells us she is waiting for her daughter Melissa. She says Melissa likes to play in the maze at night.

With heavy hearts we tell Nissa that her daughter has died. She nods her understanding then asks us where her body is. We tell her we carried her to the chapel. Nissa’s spirit accompanies us back to the chapel, and joins with her daughter’s.