SESSION 18, 19, 20 and 21
Well, this story took a deep dark twist. Evil reigned supreme as hordes of undead were fought. The party kept finding more and more clues to the whereabouts of the keys. When all seemed lost, A bard, who shall remain tongue-less, stopped by. he gave us information, yet ended up being totally worthless in his demeanor. For some odd reason, the whole party wanted to kill this guy, and we should have.
Shortly after the guy left, the party lost the druid and Agatsu. Agatsu stating that he should go with Gam to protect him while he returned to the underground with news. The party then discovered a wandering female cleric, not of Hextor. She helped us in locating the first of several lost keys. telling us of her quest to find an old book. The book wound up to be penned by Ral-Gasper. Not being able to open it without all the keys, we searched, now more than ever because at least we now knew what we were looking for, and what it looked like.
After we acquired the first key, which was by no means easy, "turning" a chest on the floor made it possible. We discovered the Fist started to infiltrate the area, searching themselves for the key. Arik became at odds with his religious beliefs and wound up denouncing Hextor. We had a 'dream meeting' with the General Sulia of the Lost Kingdom. He wound up being totally useless. Everything we asked f his was replied with "That will reveal itself in time." or some other such gibberish. He'd been dead too long, he did not know anything anymore.
The party ended up attacking the Fist, with Arik placing a great Magic Missile in the face of one of the guards looking down a dark hole. He had Superior vision and stamina as the missiles neither blinded him, nor stumbled him in the slightest. he just watched a very bright light whip up from inside the blackness and smack him in the face. Anson placed a well aimed couple of shots from his bow as he stepped outside the doorway, dropping a cleric before he had time to act.
Dispatching the people on the surface, we found out that there were many more in the surrounding woods. We came up with a plan that Cyrian was the savior of. he went invisible and marched out towards one of the encampments. Getting in range, he dropped two class-a fireballs into the encampment of Fist. They exploded in succession and fried all but two of the 7. that's when we discovered the Paladin of Kord. He joined up with us until we got out of the area. He then departed saying his job was done. If we see him again, it will be a miracle.
The party continued to travel along and headed towards Argoth. They encountered a family of Owlbears and ruthlessly killed all, Including the babies which were worth a fortune on the open market. They also discovered a new classification of Fist called the Knight Protectorate. Only three know to exist at the moment. They made it through the Flame Wood Pass without incident and came upon the Mountain Fort.
The place was much busier that last time. Many patrons there, very packed. The Steam Fried Boar was still top of the menu. There was a small band of 5 sitting in a corner, one with very nice boots... VERY NICE boots. The Fist surrounded the group and asked that they come in for questioning. Well, that failed. out of 9 guards, only 4 remained standing after the first 6 seconds of battle. The group of 5 calmly opened up a portal and left. Arik saw the whole thing as he stood close by. He noticed that one of the guys, a very tall individual, had long black hair and black skin. he looked like drow, but drow have white hair, not black.
Arik found a pair of extremely well crafted gloves sitting on the table. The guy must have left them behind. Arik snatched them up and went upstairs. A fellow mage like person had made contact with him while the battle raged. He introduced himself as TJ. The two poured over the gloves looking for anything. they was the name Halken inscribed on them. Arik noticed a small hole and found a map inside. The map was indecipherable, but very colorful. Weird runes and markings all over the map. Te map had a grid on it was well. The group broke up and went off to their respective beds. Arik kept the map and gloves. When he closed the door to his room, he heard a strange language. The big tall , 6 foot guy spoke to him. Arik knew nothing of what he said. The guy strained and spoke perfect common.
"Give me my gloves" he told Arik. Arik asked "What gloves?" The guy held out his hand and said again in a curt manner. Arik said, 'oh, these gloves. I found them there. you left them behind. Nice work you did. good job."
The guy took the gloves and then asked for the map. Arik produced the map quick as a wink. "Sure thing. Nice map. who are you? You are good though. Great job." The guy waved his hand and a portal opened up and he was gone. Arik did not sleep well that night.
The party went to the underground and told them of the information they got from the Tri-Fort. they handed one of they keys off to them for safe keeping. the other, they kept. The third key was someplace in Argoth now. Time it was to go into the Hornet's Nest. The party talked to the old elf again, and garnered some information about the strange group. The tall black guy with black hair turned out to be a deep drow. a history was told of the elves long ago and the separation they had.
The party then stayed the night and headed out to Argoth. They grabbed rooms and prepared for their big adventure in the city...
On to Session 22
