As has been his way for the last several weeks, Tim (Anpago Yost) sends word early on that he will be working today. Bruce (Longfellow Yost) mourns that Tim has allowed his twin loves of money and education to overwhelm his love of hanging around with his layabout friends. Chris (Tonk Sangaree) mentions that at one point every member of the group had an animal companion of some sort. Then Chris mentions that his character went from sixth level to ninth level last session. Chuck (Darg Sangaree) asks if he can use the same experience chart Chris seems to be using. Paul grumps around at the head of the table while cursing today's free-love culture and its liberal attitude towards alternate experience charts. Billy (Mebble) stays out of the debate as he reflects upon the virtues of either breaking off light switches or relieving himself upon the carpet. And in a tremendous surprise, Ernest indicates that he has some spare time today and shows up to play Jebediah Sangaree.
Chris opines that the secret to American food is that it is all fried. Bruce responds, "I only know one man who can kill this many Russians." Chuck examines the box of snack mix he brought and explains, "Ooh! It's got sulfur dioxide for color retention! Mmm! Sulfur dioxide!"
The monies the characters looted out of Lord Rosh's mansion last session are split up among the characters who were present. The money amounts to 250 silver pieces, 15 gold pieces, and 35 platinum pieces.
It's really surprising how quickly gnolls grow up. Friday has already gained +2 STR and 3 hit points. He has gained a full foot of height and an alarming tendency to let his tongue loll out the side of his mouth when he is hungry.
The beginning of the session finds our heroes away from the dark forest and back to the village at the base of the mountain. Rather to their dismay, the characters find that the village is in ruins. Every building has been burned to the ground. Tonk Sangaree comments, "Oh shit. Lord Rosh got himself liquored up and went and destroyed the village. Listen, we're never going to mention Lord Rosh to anybody ever again, even if we ask."
The surviving locals explain that the skyship landing pad was destroyed when Lord Rosh's raiders came five days ago, and will not be rebuilt for another three days. In the meantime, the ships cannot stop here. And there isn't anyplace to stay in the village. And one of the surviving locals explains that it isn't safe to camp outside, because there are things out there. The characters are just relieved that the village was attacked before the characters arrived in the Forbidden City. Darg Sangaree speaks for the whole group when he says, "Hah! It wasn't our fault!"
The characters debate whether to climb up the mountain, or wait for the landing pad to be rebuilt. Sister Chiron mentions that even though she intends to confess her various sins and indiscretions to the Ecclesiastic Courts when she returns, she isn't looking forward to arriving quickly. Longfellow Yost is just happy because he's learned the druidic Wild Shape trick and can now turn into a baboon. He exults to the others, "I can have hands again! Hands!" Darg suggests, "You could turn into a tortoise!" Tonk adds, "Or you could be a weasel!" Longfellow sulks.
The characters eventually decide to hike up the mountain.
Darg spots a couple of giant spiders hiding along the trail. He asks Tonk, "Why are you walking right into those spiders?" Tonk replies, "Why these Highthrone assholes want to invade neighboring kingdoms when they can't even keep their own territories clear of giant spiders is beyond me. Well, let's get set to re-enact a scene from Eight Legged Freaks."
Mebble starts climbing the slope in hopes of achieving a good firing angle. Tonk moves up, eager to see direct evidence of spider presence. Darg isn't so picky: he just opens fire with his longbow at dramatic range, missing over and over again. Up ahead on the trail, Tonk feels an arrow pass so close to his ear it ruffles his hair. He yells back, "Hey! Watch it there, Darg!" Longfellow flies around to the flank to get a better count on the spiders. He manages to see that there are a half-dozen of them. Then he lands a Flaming Sphere on the one with one broken fang.
And then the spiders charge. Tonk sees the burned spider rushing down on him like a locomotive. He yells out, "Incoming!" as the spider buries its fangs into his shield, sending gushes of foul-smelling poison onto his armor. Tonk shouts, "Darg! Get your ass over here and drink this before it corrodes my shield!" While he waits for Darg to arrive, he slays the spider in a single blow. Darg charges in, leaps over the still-quivering body, and makes a valiant strike against the air. Mebble keeps on climbing to the flank, heedless to the other characters' charges of cowardice. Their charges of incompetence burn him inside, however. Sister Chiron shrills out, "Let the might of Pelor strike down the naughty, naughty spider-beasts!" She unleashes a Spiritual Weapon on the next one in line, whacking it with the sort of power and force that she could never manage with her dainty little morningstar.
Darg suddenly realizes that giant spiders have a natural Climb speed and don't need to make Climb rolls. The spiders swarm in on him. And upon Tonk. And upon Mebble. A spider bites Darg, filling his system with poison. He reports to the others, "Hurr... I feel a slight loss of appetite, but nothing else. Yaarrgh!" Another spider bites Tonk. Tonk turns green and ends up only barely stronger than Sister Chiron. He strikes back with limp-wristed fervor, then watches as Darg crushes two spiders with main force. He mourns, "I was strong once, too..."
Watches-Birds-at-Dawn enters into the fight by charging into the spider attacking Tonk. The bear inflicts minimum possible damage upon the spider, which is incredibly surprised to have survived, but not so surprised as to not be able to strike back and poison Watches-Birds.
Longfellow is disappointed to see Sister Chiron send her Spiritual Weapon over to kill the spider he had been frying with his Flaming Sphere. The weapon crushes in its spider head. The stricken body goes sliding down the slope, still trailing one twitching leg. He sends a second Flaming Sphere at the spider attacking Mebble while Watches-Birds pummels the spider attacking Darg.
Darg asks, "How much of a penalty do I take if I want to splash spider ichor at Tonk?" He rather effortlessly carves the spider in front of him up for dinner. Only Longfellow feels any eagerness at the idea of spider steaks for dinner.
Mebble finally takes a bite from the last spider. He proves a lot more resistant to spider venom than his friend Tonk. And then his friend Tonk sends an arrow clean through the creature's abdomen, puncturing its spicules.
After the last spider is dealt with, Longfellow and Sister Chiron move around casting heal spells and neutralize poison upon the injured. Sister Chiron chirps out, "Let us all give thanks for how Pelor has delivered us from the vermin!" Tonk looks up from the ground, where Longfellow is casting various curative spells upon him and responds, "Yes. We found the spiders, we fought the spiders, we bled from the spiders, and we were poisoned by the spiders, but we're still very grateful to Pelor."
The characters notice that these spiders look like the sort of spider the goblin spider-riders use. They suspect that the spiders might have actually been part of the spider-rider troop that attacked Highthrone some time ago, and perhaps have been wandering the trails ever since their riders were killed. Several characters speculate upon the potential value of ranging out through the wilderness in search of other lost spiders, with the hopes of starting a spider ranch and raising the creatures for transportation and meat. Tonk comments, "Feeding them would be so easy! And it would provide a built-in solution for Highthrone's homeless problem!" Darg clears his throat and reminds Tonk, "Ix-nay on the omeless-hay oution-say... iestess-pay is istening-lay..." Tonk gets very quiet all of a sudden. He gets a vision of Longfellow using Speak to Animals to try an clear up a feeding mystery with a giant spider ("Sheila, did you attack this man's sheep?" "Kh-kh-khk-khk...")
Then Mebble suggests that he'd very much like to get hold of some spider venom. He sulks when nobody offers to help him out in this project.
The rest of the trip up the mountain is uneventful, except for a quick break for Sister Chiron to cast Restoration on Tonk and for Longfellow to cast a series of Lesser Restoration on Watches-Birds. Sister Chiron bids the characters a tearful farewell and heads off to face her shame. And she admits that because she cast Restoration on Tonk she can't even summon up a lantern archon to carry her away.
Once Sister Chiron is out of sight, Darg offers, "We have some spider venom! We should drink some of it every day to build up an immunity!" Tonk comments, "Won't that cause pustules?" Darg responds, "Only if you fail." Tonk replies, "I like this plan even less than I liked your 'nails-through-the-scrotum' plan, and you came up with that one when you were drunk."
The characters notice that a local entrepreneur has set up Ichabod's Fail-Safe Anti-Spider Elixir Hut just inside the Highthrone gates. The shop owner promises great prices on antitoxin of the highest quality, guaranteed to ward off the poisonous effects of giant spider bites. Everyone buys some more antitoxins. Nobody speculates on why there is suddenly a good business to be had in selling spider venom curatives at the city gates.
Tonk notices that Ichabod also has a nice display of paralyzed rabbits and agoutis for sale. He suggests that Longfellow could improve his chances with the eagle ladies by bringing them gifts. "I left the eyes in for you! Awk!"
The characters head over to Grynn's to buy some wands. They talk to Clanleader Virrog to discuss what he might have in stock and how much it might cost to purchase it. Clanleader Virrog is just as colorful as the characters remember him. He croaks out, "Yeeess... we do have wands. What are you lookeeng for?" The characters walk out with two wands of Cure Light Wounds, having paid over a large collection of loot and trinkets from their various adventures (about 3000 gold worth).
Tonk Sangaree makes a separate deal with Clanleader Virrog to purchase a suit of +1 Full Plate in exchange for his +1 Tower Shield, +1 Split Mail and enough cash to make up the difference.
The characters head over to the inn where Jebediah Sangaree is staying. He is not very happy with the characters. He points out, "I've been sending messengers down to the village, but you seem to have just vanished." Tonk sort of confesses that the characters headed off with a priestess of Pelor to travel to a lost city and a citadel owned by Lord Rosh. He claims that the characters sent a messenger up to the city, but obviously the messenger didn't make it.
Cousin Jebediah indicates that he has need of some strong sword arms, and would prefer to not have to pay mercenaries. He explains that there is a compound of slavers nearby, and he thinks that it would improve his standing with the Lord Holder if he (and the characters) were to do something about it. Tonk asks, "Kill all the slavers, and free the slaves?" Mebble adds, "Or maybe sell them at a reduced price?" Jebediah scowls.
Cousin Jebediah goes on to explain that the slaver organization is called the Black Rain. They are a group of smugglers and slavers, and Longfellow has actually heard of them from his training as a rogue. He thinks that they really specialize in smuggling, and have contacts with thieves' guilds across many cities. As thievery organizations go, they are politically powerful thanks to their many connections. Longfellow hadn't known that they were involved in slavery, but he isn't surprised. Tonk suggests, "I bet they're selling slaves to the humanoid races. Those guys are always buying, and they've always got nice loot of human manufacture."
The local Black Rain headquarters is in an abandoned mine at the base of the mountain. They operate out of there with a pair of small airboats. It is said that they have been taking slaves from the Highthrone prisons. Mebble feels it necessary to confirm several times that the characters are supposed to rescue the slaves as proof that the ring has been broken.
Longfellow asks, "So, cousin Jebediah, will you be coming along? Or can you just provide us with a map to the site?" Jebediah calmly responds, "I will be accompanying you." The characters are struck silent. He continues, "I have no confidence in your ability to properly spin the situation. The whole point of this expedition is to improve our standing." The characters immediately start speculating upon just how important Cousin Jebediah is to the rest of the Sangaree clan.
The characters immediately hit the marketplace. They purchase a variety of things, including additional antitoxin doses, smokesticks, thunderstones and sunrods. On Tonk's urging, Longfellow purchases three potions of Spider Climb for 50 gold each, just in case the characters run into some really severe terrain.
Cousin Jebediah indicates that he will be riding a peaks ram. Tonk, Darg and Mebble all purchase their own for 300 gold each.
Tonk and Darg take a side trip to the Temple of Pelor to see what happened to Sister Chiron. The priests there tell them that she is performing a vigil, and that she is unavailable. In fact, she will be unavailable for some time. The priest is unwilling to be any more specific, but he does assure Tonk that if the characters' help is needed then they will be sent for. Tonk has little confidence that the priests of Pelor will be sending for them.
The night before the expedition is scheduled to depart, the characters head out onto the town for some drinking and debauchery. Longfellow takes advantage of his new Wild Shape abilities to turn into a baboon and get drunk. He tells the others how exciting it is to drink from a mug! The others politely ignore him.
Tonk expresses confidence in the quality of Darg's kidneys. He buys a barrel of wine. The characters proceed to practice riding peaks rams in the town square, doing their best to give foreigners a bad name for an entire evening. Mebble (who wants to teach his riding boar to help him avoid attacks) short-circuits Tonk's efforts to get the characters into trouble by giving the local town guard a 30 gold bribe to keep the local law out of the area. They keep on drinking and riding until some guards come up and explain that a procession of emissaries from the Dragon Kingdoms will be coming through. The guards tell the characters to move aside.
The procession appears to be in honor of a noble figure and three women with veiled faces on a palanquin, surrounded by bearers and soldiers. All of them are clad in brightly-colored silk clothing. The soldiers are all carrying drawn curved swords. The man on the litter has red scales, lizard-like features, and a crest on top of his head. His eyes are those of a great snake. At least one of the women has reptilian eyes. The litter-bearers are probably slaves. All of the people in the procession have dark skin tones.
The next morning, the characters rise up with light hangovers. They collect their various mounts and head down the mountain to the Old Mine. There is a track to the place, albeit a narrow one. It takes the characters half a day to reach the place. Once they arrive, they notice that there is no sign of a landing pad for airboats, which confuses the characters somewhat.
Longfellow uses his freaky druidic animal empathy powers to calm the characters' peaks rams and ensure that they will wait for their return. The peaks rams don't seem to mind.
Mebble sneaks his way into the mine opening. Just inside, he finds a small skyboat docked in a metal frame. The tunnel goes further into the mountain. He signals to the others to come on in and then heads deeper inside. After some distance, he sees that the chalky cave walls have become more slick and damp. At this point, Tonk sets up a pool. Each character puts in 50 gold. The bets are:
The characters just finish making their bets when the tunnel behind them starts to collapse in. Mebble mentions, "Oh, by the way! Did I mention that the tunnel started to look like a monster's throat?" Tonk comments, "Dude, you could have just made 150 gold soooo easily." Darg offers, "I've got fourteen tubes of K-Y! I'm feeling pretty good about this!"
Watches-Birds, Friday, cousin Jebediah and Tonk all get caught up by the stone as they stumble. Mebble manages to perform Elf-like feats of strength by pulling the bear to safety. Darg has little trouble pulling Friday clear. Tonk drinks a Spider Climb potion and just rides the wave.
The characters enter into a large cavern. They notice very quickly that they're not the first to arrive. They see three groups assembled. The first is comprised of six humans. Four of them look to be common legbreaker guards in studded leather armor. They are armed with maces and shortbows. Leading them is a human woman in studded leather carrying a composite shortbow, and both a shortsword and a longsword by her side. Next to her is a human man in studded leather with a rapier. He introduces himself as Tarmalak (Darg, "That's gnoll for 'prison bitch'"). He explains that his companion is Lydia. They are all Black Rain members.
In the center stands a pale man with beady eyes in a long black overcoat studded with pockets. He has a spell-caster look to him. A sallow-skinned half-orc in a blue tunic and leather armor stands next to him, fingering a club and looking very much like some kind of bodyguard or servant.
The third group is all orcs. They are led by a massive orc woman with a falchion and huge, gnarly-looking gauntlets. Her lieutenant is a big, battle-scarred orc with a black beard dressed in well-kept chainmail and carrying a sword of human manufacture. Behind them, four orcs with battle axes and scale mail look eager to make trouble.
Only the humans seem unconcerned by the characters' entrance. Then Mebble calls out, "Evil Black Rain slavers! Surrender or face justice!" The humans become concerned. Tonk calls out, "Say! Are any of you guys reps of the Dragon Kingdoms?"
The orcish woman steps forward and asks, "You came here to kill the humans?" Mebble agrees, "Yep, we're here to free the slaves." She says, "I am Vagraul of the Blood Hatchet tribe!" Mebble: "Woohoo! Hundred-fifty gold is mine!" Vagraul continues, "These humans stole our gem!" Tonk offers, "You help us free the slaves and kill the slavers, you get your gem back." At this point, Tarmalak tells everyone, "There ARE NO SLAVES! The people you see in this cavern are all that's left!" The characters notice the rather exasperated tone in his voice. Mebble pays no heed and presses him, "So there used to be slaves? What did you do with them?"
The gentleman in the long black overcoat offers, "So you want to work with the government? I suggest you work with me." Mebble spits, "Dammit! Now I have to split the money two ways!" Overcoat man ignores him and continues, "These scum here have taken what is rightfully mine." He pauses for a moment, as if listening to an invisible friend or an inner howling voice, then continues with great enthusiasm, "The gem! I am Kildare Dostavar, perhaps you've heard of me." Tonk holds his head, feeling the sudden onset of a tremendous headache...
Vagraul protests, "The gem was our rightful possession!" but Kildare Dostavar ignores her complaints. He goes on to explain that the gem was actually the egg of a horrible demonic entity. He assures the characters that if hatched in the proper circumstances it could be controlled and could be used for great things. But now it has hatched under uncontrolled circumstances and the Old Mine has become part of the creature's body. Fortunately, the demon has not yet fully manifested. When it does, then its physical form can be destroyed. In the meantime (he gestures towards the barricaded door) the characters just need to watch out for its servitors.
Tonk turns to his cousin and comments, "So Jebediah, I think we've dealt with the slaver situation. Whaddaya say we do next?" Jebediah responds, "Well, we obviously can't trust the orcs. They're orcs, and no matter what you might think they're going to stab you in the back. And the entire Council pretty much thinks that Lord Dostavar is insane. But the smugglers! Just think: they know all the ways to get goods into Highthrone secretly!" Mebble muses, "I'm not sure I favor signing up with a gang of slavers." Darg offers, "the solution is to kill them all and let Kord sort them out." Longfellow tells Darg, "Jebediah had been making a lot of sense, but now that I hear you, you make perfect sense." Darg: "I meant Jebediah as well." As Jebediah listens to this little debate his face starts to turn red in fury and frustration. He snaps at the characters, "You lot are all completely crazed! Why did I ever think you could help in this situation? Your political skills are terrible! You have the negotiating skills of a crazed wolverine! Aaaaaugh!"
Tarmalak manages to interrupt the characters' nascent plans to murder their cousin by injecting yet another problem. He explains that everyone in the cavern is just about out of food. All the foodstocks they had are rotting at a tremendous rate. He asks if the characters would very much mind sharing out their food.
Vagraul and her orcs have a very clean notion of how to deal with the servitors and the impending arrival of the demon. She tells the others, "Our only hope is to take down the barricades and slay the servitors! You are strong warriors! Help us in this!"
Tarmalak scoffs at her, "Oh yeah, great plan. You're going to get killed, and every one of you that dies will become another servitor. Just like all the slaves and my former comrades."
Mebble perks up and asks the Black Rain leader, "So, you're saying that the servitors were originally the slaves and your compatriots? You might want to have mentioned that before. Thanks for sharing!"
Tonk backs up the little halfling by growling at Tarmalak, "So, smuggler boy, don't go threatening us. What's your plan?" Tarmalak, showing no signs of concern, explains, "I've called for backup! Other members of the Black Rain should be showing up very soon!" Mebble asks him, "Were they coming in a small skyboat? Because if they were, I think I know why the tunnel was so slick." Tarmalak dismisses this concern, telling Mebble, "The skyboat was ours. I used a magical device to send the message!" Mebble remains unsatisfied, "And you got a return receipt? I don't seriously think they're coming."
The characters get the idea that it takes about a minute for a body to reanimate as a servitor, and that chopping a body to pieces will stop it from coming back. They just rend with their claws, and weapons seem to affect them.
The other groups have already been down in the Old Mine for several days. Nobody has a good estimate on when the demon will manifest, but Lord Dostavar's best guess is within the next twelve hours.
At this point, a gang of Servitors appears at the barricade and starts tearing it apart. One servitor clambers to the top. Longfellow starts out by casting Summon Swarm at the lead Servitor as Watches-Birds moves in to guard. The Black Rain henchmen take out their shortbows and start shooting the Servitor full of arrows. The characters are particularly impressed by Lydia, who calmly sinks three arrows into the Servitor one after another. The Servitor does not seem particularly impressed. It clambers down and clumsily attacks Watches-Birds, with little effect.
Tonk charges in to the attack. He chops off a limb and part of a torso, but the creature stays up and in the fight. Tonk is appalled. Mebble looks around and notices that though the chamber has been somewhat cleaned up, there are definite signs of a previous struggle.
Lord Dostavar does what magicians do best: he and his companion move back as far as they can to the back of the cavern. His half-orc companion makes magical gestures and hurls a Magic Missile into the Servitor. It staggers, but stays up.
Finally, the orcs move into the attack. They accomplish nothing.
And then Longfellow's summoned swarm eats the Servitor down to its bones. He moves his swarm back up to block the cave entrance.
The characters and the various other factions wait to the sounds of swarming beetles chewing their way through Servitors as the creatures struggle to climb the barrier. When one Servitor finally manages to claw its way up to the top of the barrier, it gets filled full of Black Rain arrows. Lydia drops the creature.
The crunching sounds of magical beetles feeding continue for some time. Darg looks at his watch and tells Friday to take his quiver of arrows over to Lydia. They're longbow arrows and she's equipped with a shortbow, but she seems willing to make it work. After a suitably long delay, another servitor in very bad condition makes it to the top of the barricade. Lydia perforates it with arrows, and then Mebble takes it out with a rock.
Longfellow notices that only two people have cast any spells, and neither of them was Lord Dostavar. He comments, "Dostavar is supposed to be some kind of kick-ass mage, how come we haven't seen any kick-ass magic out of him?" The scarred male orc offers, "Yes! He's worthless! We should kill him!" Tonk mentions, "I bet he has a lot of nice stuff." Longfellow concurs, "He looks rich." This is enough to set the male orc off. He charges at Lord Dostavar with a mighty "Rrargh!", his axe swinging wildly. Lord Dostavar steps back and zaps the orc with a ray of purple light. The orc sags to the ground, enfeebled. Mebble exclaims, "He's totally insane! Now I know why he's down here and not up with the council!" The orcs seem eager to attack Dostavar, but Vagraul convinces the others that Dostavar really is supposed to be some kind of powerful magician, and the orcs shouldn't throw their lives this way.
About this time, the zombies decide they've had enough and retreat. Longfellow allows the beetle swarm to dissipate.
Mebble watches the last zombie shamble into the darkness. He tells the others, "We need to push into the tunnel and attack them!" Tarmalak is dismissive, "You expect to simply march down and attack them?" Mebble is unabashed, "Yes! By the way, shouldn't you know how many people you had in here? How many of them should there be?" Tarmalak replies, "Dozens!" He is clearly expecting the characters to be intimidated by such a large number. The characters (among themselves) exclaim, "Only dozens? Wow, that doesn't sound so bad."
The characters share out their food among the others, who have begun to seriously complain about hunger. Mebble gives half his food to cousin Jebediah and suggests that he go act all diplomatic with his smuggler friends.
Mebble talks to the orcs. The male and Vagraul are arguing. He is arguing that she is a weak woman and should learn her place. She points out that she was put in charge, and that he's still under the effects of Enfeeblement as well. The other orcs just act as though they're watching a tennis match. And then Vagraul and the orc warrior come to blows. It turns out that she is a barbarian. She goes berserk on him and beats him bloody with her falchion.
And then Friday, who had been acting as lookout, calls out that something is coming, but it looks like only one thing. He says that it looks like that mage, Dostavar. The characters leap into action and man the barricades. The zombie creature calls out, "Ofek! Ofek!" Kildare Dostavar starts screaming, "You must kill it! They're developing intelligence! This is the next stage!" Mebble comments, "The next stage? Go tell us about it. You know, I'm starting to think that this whole mine was supposed to be Dostavar's 'controlled circumstance.'" Tonk yells down into the tunnel, "Hey! Zombie guy! What do you want?" The zombie responds, "I want my apprentice, the one who killed me!" Tonk turns to the half-orc bodyguard and asks, "So, what's your name?" The half orc responds, "Ironcrow!" Tonk continues on, "So, Ironcrow, what's the story here?" Ironcrow seems dubious, "Will you protect me?" "Yep." Ironcrow points at the so-called Lord Dostavar and confesses, "He is Ofek. He killed his master. I went along with it so they wouldn't kill me." Tonk gestures, "Come on over to our side, Ironcrow."
Ironcrow joins up with the characters. Ofek runs for the barricade. Darg stops him by knocking him over the head with the flat of his blade. He goes out like a light.
Zombie Dostavar looks out through the barricade, "Throw the apprentice to me?"
Tonk reminds him, "You gotta keep up your end of the bargain. Give us the demon!"
Zombie Dostavar bellows, "You will all die!"
Tonk sighs, "Oh Jiminy Crickets! Give us a break."
Darg yells at the zombie, "Go away or we'll give your apprentice a quick and painless death!" Zombie Dostavar vanishes into the darkness.
The characters notice that the stupid orc warrior is now being hacked to pieces by Vagraul. Mebble gives Ironcrow some food as thanks for telling the truth. Then he searches Ofek. He finds:
Ironcrow tells the characters that the wand is a Wand of Magic Missile. Tonk asks, "I notice you were casting spells before. Are you a magician? Can you use the wand?" Ironcrow admits that he is only a minor sorcerer, but that he could use the wand. Tonk hands over the wand to him, telling him, "Here you go. Welcome to the fighting forces of House Sangaree." Tonk also hands him the Bracers of Armor.
Ironcrow explains that Kildare Dostavar is a necromancer of some power. Ironcrow was born the son of the chieftain of the Blood Hatchet tribe by a human slave. With no other heirs, his father tried to have him accepted into the tribe, but the tribe did not accept him. When his father was killed, he was taken from the tribe with the tribe's main treasure, a fist-sized blue gem (which some of the characters still remember). He went to work for Lord Dostavar, and gave him the gem as payment to train him in magic. But Dostavar didn't treat him well and did not teach him much magic.
Ironcrow explains that he has also been trained in the ways of Gruumsh (he's a barbarian sorcerer). When the gem was stolen the second time, the Master's funds had been cut off by his scheming family. He was unable to hire mercenaries to go after the gem as he had the first time, so he came himself with Ironcrow and his apprentice Ofek. But his apprentice stabbed him in the back. After that, they were trapped with the smugglers. Then the Blood Hatchet orcs showed up to get the gem. From what they say, they learned where the gem was from their shaman.
Darg notes, "But the orcs didn't send their shaman?" Longfellow tells him, "That's 'cause this was a suicide mission." Darg whispers back, "Don't tell them that. Actually, don't tell me that."
Ironcrow explains that the Servitors happened because by the time the orcs showed up Dostavar had already killed a lot of the smugglers. The disturbance woke the creature, and the dead smugglers became Servitors.
Jebediah returns from talking up the Black Rain smugglers and tells Longfellow, "Come over here. We need to talk." Longfellow perches on Watches-Birds' shoulder, then tells the bear to follow Jebediah. Once Jebediah has the two of them out of earshot of the other characters, he tells Longfellow, "You are the smartest of your compatriots... don't go down the tunnel. I've been making great progress with the smugglers, and I think we can get the orcs to sacrifice themselves for us." Longfellow listens to Jebediah for a while, then loses patience and tries casting Charm Person or Animal on him. Sadly, Jebediah resists the spell and goes on to make some lame-sounding threats.
The characters announce their intention to go down the tunnel and kill the demon and its servitors. Nothing they say is able to persuade Jebediah, Tarmalak or the other Black Rain goons to accompany them, though Lydia abandons her comrades to join them. The orc barbarian Vagraul tells the characters, "We will go, but we must tell you the truth. We will never be friends. But if we survive, you will never see us again. We ally to survive." The characters persuade Vagraul that she doesn't need to bring back Ironcrow's head, in part because Tonk says that the characters have offered him their protection, and will promise that he will never go back to orc lands.
The characters bring along Friday - they think he will be safer with the zombies in the tunnel than with the scroungy smugglers in the chamber. He and his dark vision will be set to making sure that nothing can sneak up on them from behind.
Lydia mentions to Tonk that she is surprised by the fact that Jebediah is related to him. Apparently, Jebediah owes a lot of money to gamblers. And he's scum, which is saying something given the way she's seen scum. Tonk resolves to send Jebediah back home in a bag.
The characters make their way into a big cave full of Servitors. A pile of body parts and squirming Servitors occupies the back end of the cave. Longfellow leads off by throwing a Flaming Sphere at a cluster of Servitors. Servitors pile into Darg and Tonk in the front row. Tonk chops one down, then Darg eviscerates another. Darg and Tonk stride into the chamber while Mebble drinks down a Spider Climb potion and scrambles across the wall to shoot down at the zombies from the roof of the cave.
Things become a bit more unsettled when the zombie Dostavar shows up and makes all sorts of indication that he is going to start casting devastating spells at people.
And then the pile of Servitors is pushed aside as a huge multi-limbed demon heaves itself up. It seems like it is part of the floor, which puts an end to Tonk's dreams of using his Improved Disarm and Improved Trip feats on it. And then Vagraul goes berserk and crashes straight into the demon. She doesn't even bother to unsheathe her sword: huge claws spring from her gauntlets as she runs. But her attacks don't seem to pierce the creature's hide. Mebble comments, "Gee, looks like she's a Hextor worshipper." Tonk asks, "Does that mean that she's evil?" Darg offers, "Well, they're all evil, but she's one of the really evil ones. She worships the six-armed god of slaughter and destruction.
Then the demon-thing grabs Vagraul and does its level best to devour her with its eight-foot maw. She only barely avoids getting swallowed whole. Tonk yells out, "Hold out! We're coming!" as he hacks away at the zombies that block his way. He steps up and cuts holes in zombie Dostavar, then allows Darg to finish zombie Dostavar off.
Vagraul commences tearing significant chunks out of the demon. Then the demon wraps one tentacle around her neck and one around her torso and does a pretty credible job of attempting to tear her apart. This doesn't work out as well as the demon had hoped, so it swallows her instead. Gulp. Darg mourns, "Too bad. Those were some really neat gauntlets she had." The other orcs respond to this setback by retreating down the corridor.
Watches-Birds finds himself standing right in front of a zombie. He cuisinarts it. Longfellow scolds Watches-Birds, "Don't eat! Bad bear! Bad bear!" Ironcrow takes out the last zombie with a Magic Missile.
And then the demon moves straight into Darg, who survives the experience only barely. Mebble turns his arrow fire upon the demon, doing his part to nickel-and-dime it to death. Lydia does her part to help by sending oceans of arrows its way. Tonk and Watches-Birds move up to help out Darg, who does his best to hit the demon as if he didn't even need any help. He stabs it in the eye and gets sprayed with ichor for his trouble. Tonk yells out, "I think you hurt it! Don't swallow!" And then Mebble slays it with two last arrows. The creature's body sinks back into the floor of the chamber.
The characters return to the front cave to find that the sphincter door has relaxed, allowing everyone to escape. The Black Rain are already gone by the time the characters get on the scene. Cousin Jebediah comes back to them and says, "Good job, we've made some valuable contacts here." Mebble, "So, we're turning them in now, right? Because that was the original plan?" Jebediah protests, "But that would ruin all the friends I've made!" Darg comments, "I still have a 23 STR from Bull's Strength. I deck Cousin Jebediah." Darg knocks Jebediah in the head. Jebediah sputters, "What the hell are you doing?" and draws his rapier. Tonk cautions the others to stay back, explaining, "No, let me do this." He effortlessly disarms Jebediah, matching the rapier against his greatsword. He tells Jebediah, "Thank you, cousin. Thank you very much." Jebediah suddenly realizes that all the characters are all covered in slime, blood and ichor and becomes terribly frightened. Then Tonk clocks him on the head and knocks him out.
Mebble and Longfellow fly out after the Black Rain guys. They spot the flying boat getting away, but still within arrow range. The fleeing gangsters take cover when they see that Mebble has a bow. Longfellow flies in to drop a Flaming Sphere into the boat. A few of them take shots at him, but none come close.
Both Longfellow and Mebble are shocked to see Tarmalak decide to dive seventy feet to get out of a burning boat. He actually lives through the experience: he hits the mountainside and tumbles down. Mebble takes one last shot, but merely wings him. Tarmalak flees. Mebble calls out for Longfellow, who flies Mebble down to Tarmalak's landing point so Mebble can track him.
They follow the almost-imperceptible trail of blood Tarmalak is leaving behind. Both of them also see him as he doubles back on his trail to ambush Mebble with a sneak attack. Mebble sees him coming up from behind and twists to one side, diminishing the effect of the attack. Mebble notices that Tarmalak has clearly been drinking healing potions.
Longfellow and Mebble peck and skewer Tarmalak to death. Longfellow ends up taking an eye. And then they loot the corpse. They come up with:
Longfellow tells Mebble that he can have the masterwork rapier. Then he considers the cloak. He asks Mebble, "Magical cloaks will normally resize to fit their wearer. Could we put it on Watches-Birds-at-Dawn?" Mebble answers him, "You realize that if the bear is wearing it, it makes the creature more resistant to mind control." Longfellow gets Mebble to help him put it on Watches-Birds.
The two of them return to the Old Mine to find Lydia explaining to the other characters, "I wouldn't call those Black Rain folks friends so much. I really barely even knew what was going on..."
Each characters gains 1725 experience points for the various monsters and 300 in story awards for allying with Vagraul, Lydia and Ironcrow. This totals to 2025 for each character. Mebble and Longfellow get an extra 900 experience points each for defeating Tarmalak, though they're warned to not make a practice of it.