Going home
We decided against chasing the mage in his black ship. He wasn't likely to be going far, and we all wanted to go home.
So we did. Back to Ashgrove.
Rik (who after a brief period of goblinoid morphic instability had ended up being a half-orc again) landed the pyramid in the middle of Ashgrove. It had changed a bit since we were last there. For one thing, it wasn't completely flattened. For another, it now had the traditional Kanrath stone wall around it, and a big stone keep, and a fair amount of weaponry which we saw being loaded. Sarflex waved to them out of the window, and they didn't attack us. Which was good.
As we left the pyramid we were met by a man in shining armour who we soon recognised as Ged Hammerhand, the son of the old mayor, who I suddenly realised might be my brother. I quickly checked for aberrations but found none. He invited us to come up to the keep. Sarflex said he'd rather go to the pub. He also asked us to move our pyramid. We wanted to know who was in charge of Ashgrove before doing that. Ged said it was Lady Wikibile.
Rik went up to the keep to see his mum and break the news about the untimely deaths of Rod and Er. I went to find some mud and start dreadlocking my hair again, as well as replanting all the grass, moss and moon roses that I'd had growing in it. Luckily for Merick I like him far too much to sneak into his room at night and restyle his hair for him. (Nothing to do with the fact he can cast fireball, honest.)
We were all invited up to the keep for a banquet that night, to celebrate our return, and there we met another wizard called Donaus. He was an adventurer, Lady Wikibile told us. Rik asked him if, hypothetically, he were to be attacked by a high level drow mage, what would he do? His answer (turn into a giant spider) seemed to have Merick's approval, and if Merick thinks he's okay then I'm not going to argue.
The next day we had a memorial service for Rod and Er Wikibile. Then we left Rod and Vixxter's widows and one of each of our husbands and wives at the keep, and set off again.
We had picked up a map and a diary from the ice world, and based on these we had a plan. We began by a visit to a small village. I was flying, since my spells weren't much use for anything compared to everyone else but powered the ship perfectly well. We quickly approached the village. In the centre was a big mound of earth, that the wizards said radiated enchantment. There was also enchantment all around the edge of the village. I landed a safe distance away. In the middle we could see what seemed to be a repeating illusion of the villagers being flattened by a very evil person called Fellrar.
Rik went in first, and didn't seem to like it. Merick and Donaus followed, all equipped with protection from evil. The two of them vanished under the mound of earth, then reappeared some time later, along with a tornado which turned into a great big air elemental.
Since I was too far away to do much and didn't think running through the enchanted circle without a protection from evil was a good idea, I got back in the ship (along with most of the others) and got into the helm to get the ship moving, in case we needed to leave in a hurry. Fortunately those outside managed to flatten the air elemental, and we picked them up before hurrying away.
Next stop: Angelton. We had a list of names that the evil drow mage was likely to go after and Raebor the True was at the top of the list.
We had a good long talk with Raebor, which sorted out a few things. Alleron the drow mage needed to perform a 24-hour ritual involving the sacrifice of someone on the list, during which time he would be vulnerable. Clearly this was the time to attack him. He would also have to be at a Well of the Worlds, one of which was what our wizards had found under the big mound of earth. Of the available wells, the one on the floating island was probably the most likely choice but there were two other possible options. No doubt, whichever one he chose it would be heavily defended. We also had to hope that it would happen within the next week while we still had the flying ship. Our summoned great helm would vanish in a few days, whereupon our ship would just be a really cool base of operations. Wherever we happened to have parked it.
To help us along our way, Raebor brought out a box of magic items which we shared out between us. I got a ring of protection, and handed over my cloak of elvenkind to Donaus to instead wear wings of flying.
I can fly!
So we did. Back to Ashgrove.
Rik (who after a brief period of goblinoid morphic instability had ended up being a half-orc again) landed the pyramid in the middle of Ashgrove. It had changed a bit since we were last there. For one thing, it wasn't completely flattened. For another, it now had the traditional Kanrath stone wall around it, and a big stone keep, and a fair amount of weaponry which we saw being loaded. Sarflex waved to them out of the window, and they didn't attack us. Which was good.
As we left the pyramid we were met by a man in shining armour who we soon recognised as Ged Hammerhand, the son of the old mayor, who I suddenly realised might be my brother. I quickly checked for aberrations but found none. He invited us to come up to the keep. Sarflex said he'd rather go to the pub. He also asked us to move our pyramid. We wanted to know who was in charge of Ashgrove before doing that. Ged said it was Lady Wikibile.
Rik went up to the keep to see his mum and break the news about the untimely deaths of Rod and Er. I went to find some mud and start dreadlocking my hair again, as well as replanting all the grass, moss and moon roses that I'd had growing in it. Luckily for Merick I like him far too much to sneak into his room at night and restyle his hair for him. (Nothing to do with the fact he can cast fireball, honest.)
We were all invited up to the keep for a banquet that night, to celebrate our return, and there we met another wizard called Donaus. He was an adventurer, Lady Wikibile told us. Rik asked him if, hypothetically, he were to be attacked by a high level drow mage, what would he do? His answer (turn into a giant spider) seemed to have Merick's approval, and if Merick thinks he's okay then I'm not going to argue.
The next day we had a memorial service for Rod and Er Wikibile. Then we left Rod and Vixxter's widows and one of each of our husbands and wives at the keep, and set off again.
We had picked up a map and a diary from the ice world, and based on these we had a plan. We began by a visit to a small village. I was flying, since my spells weren't much use for anything compared to everyone else but powered the ship perfectly well. We quickly approached the village. In the centre was a big mound of earth, that the wizards said radiated enchantment. There was also enchantment all around the edge of the village. I landed a safe distance away. In the middle we could see what seemed to be a repeating illusion of the villagers being flattened by a very evil person called Fellrar.
Rik went in first, and didn't seem to like it. Merick and Donaus followed, all equipped with protection from evil. The two of them vanished under the mound of earth, then reappeared some time later, along with a tornado which turned into a great big air elemental.
Since I was too far away to do much and didn't think running through the enchanted circle without a protection from evil was a good idea, I got back in the ship (along with most of the others) and got into the helm to get the ship moving, in case we needed to leave in a hurry. Fortunately those outside managed to flatten the air elemental, and we picked them up before hurrying away.
Next stop: Angelton. We had a list of names that the evil drow mage was likely to go after and Raebor the True was at the top of the list.
We had a good long talk with Raebor, which sorted out a few things. Alleron the drow mage needed to perform a 24-hour ritual involving the sacrifice of someone on the list, during which time he would be vulnerable. Clearly this was the time to attack him. He would also have to be at a Well of the Worlds, one of which was what our wizards had found under the big mound of earth. Of the available wells, the one on the floating island was probably the most likely choice but there were two other possible options. No doubt, whichever one he chose it would be heavily defended. We also had to hope that it would happen within the next week while we still had the flying ship. Our summoned great helm would vanish in a few days, whereupon our ship would just be a really cool base of operations. Wherever we happened to have parked it.
To help us along our way, Raebor brought out a box of magic items which we shared out between us. I got a ring of protection, and handed over my cloak of elvenkind to Donaus to instead wear wings of flying.
I can fly!