We start on our lazy way somewhat late, thanks to a collective decision to catch a morning showing of Star Wars. Even so, Chuck (Galen), Tim (the newly-returned Antok), Paul (Marik), Billy (Sai'aggo), Chris (Gruul) and Bruce all roll in to the scene.
Magical scrolls do not provide enough information to actually learn a spell. A proper grimoire is required for this purpose. To get around this limitation, last session Abbek Choff actually gave the characters four scrolls and one grimoire for the spell Consume Thrux Slave.
Marik explains to the other characters that it would be very handy for him to be able to reduce thrux slaves to goo from memory, rather than just with a scroll, but to learn the spell he will need to spend twenty days learning several prerequisite spells. Everyone else swiftly sees the wisdom in his words and agrees to this plan.
Marik spends his time studying Body Control spells. He learns four spells, at a cost of 200 clavars each, and burns through 18 clavars per day in living expenses. His total costs are 1160 clavars. Why does he spend so much money? Because he understands that life is meaningless without gold-plated, gem-encrusted rat-bone pendants. He makes a point of showing his off to the rest of the group when he gets it back from the jeweler. Sai'aggo compliments him upon the ensemble. The other characters simply attempt to refrain from retching. The other characters only spend 10 clavars per day in living expenses, topping out at 200 clavars each.
Galen buys a cheap broadsword to practice Fast-Draw (sword). He explores the idea of hiring a bausker porter, even to the extent of entering into negotiations on wages with Yachircuchek (Ulgutulgun's grandmother). He gives up the idea when she stands firm on a rate of 15 clavars per day to travel through the Garden and down into the Bilges.
Gruul learns more Boxing from the Sangorn master Gulwith. He picks up the Jab and Roundhouse maneuvers.
Sai'aggo spends a lot of time hanging around alleys in Doorway City thinking about how unfair it is that everyone else has piles of money. He suggests repeatedly to the other characters that if he had just a bit of a stake, he could win his living expenses through gambling.
Inspired by Sai'aggo's need to find something to gamble on, Gruul decides to get involved in a boxing match. He talks about this with Gulwith, who manages to look up Gowl, a wiry Paturki with several victories under his belt. A couple of days later, they have a match in a ring up in the Stacks.
Odds are initially 3:2 in favor of Gruul. The bookies (and most of the spectators) reason that even though Gowl has the better record, Gruul stands head and shoulders taller than the Paturki. Gowl doesn't seem too impressed by the disparity, though this may just be a reflection of how tough life is for a semi-professional boxer in Doorway City.
The characters decide that they want to bet a White clavar (1024 clavars) on Gruul. They find that they need to break their bets up into much smaller chunks to be able to find enough people to match them. In an effort to get slightly better odds, Gruul starts to call himself "El Whupass!" and claims that he's never been in a fight before.
The actual contest turns out to be quite the short fight: Gruul knocks Gowl down in four rounds, two of which he spent walking towards the fellow. It was all over after four quick jabs and a final knockdown punch.
The characters collect their winnings and head out as a healer tends to Gowl. A corrupt-looking paurkend promoter tries to get Gruul to take a job fighting all comers at a rate of five clavars a head. Gruul looks at the fellow with pity and tells him that he's planning on heading into the Garden to slaughter monsters, so he really doesn't need a job beating up shanty-dwellers. The characters clear out of the area, not liking the looks of the audience.
The characters finally start off to Dassurbal's Flute on the 159th day of the 3086th Stay. The flute is about 50 kilometers into the Garden, a two or three day journey by foot. The group walks because Marik no longer has the Gyre and can no longer lift everyone for no cost more significant than his own blood and pain. Galen, who finds that he quickly tires of the hunchbacked paurkend's complaints, grins and tells him, "But we still have the Gyre! Look, here it is! Heh heh heh..." He produces the counterfeit gyre and waves it in front of Marik's face. Marik responds with a dismissive wave, "You think I can't tell the difference between the real gyre and a fake? Look at my incredible sense of style." (he produces his gilded rat bone).
The discussion ends when Marik decides that he can simply Levitate for the entire journey. The other characters are annoyed by this behavior because he simply floats over terrain that they have to climb. Gruul salves his pain by reflecting that anyone interested in attacking the characters will probably attack Marik first, just because he's such a good target.
Midway through the first day of travel the characters encounter a group of bandits. At least, they think they're bandits. All they see are three fleeing forms in the distance, one armed with a bow and two equipped with what look like rusty blades. The characters decide that giving chase would be too much work.
Towards the end of the first day the characters see several smoke trails rising up from a depression ahead. Galen remembers that the Greenripple River passes by here, and that there are small villages all along its length. He suggests that there is probably a town nearby, maybe a good place to spend the night. The characters mock the river's name, suggesting that it was named for a cheap type of wine. Galen protests that the river's name comes from the greenish algae that grow upon the rocks on the bottom. Everyone ignores him.
The characters proceed on to the village of Resh. They are able to count about thirty buildings clustered on the near side of the river, with a few additional farmsteads visible both upriver and downriver. Very few buildings are on the other side of the river. There is a dock and a couple of boats, none of them longer than about eight meters. The river itself is only about ten to fifteen meters wide here. The population of the village is mostly Faian, with a fair number of Sangorn and a scattering of tieblings and gaurmen.
On the way down the valley side, Marik sees Ogango's Sparrow fly overhead. He estimates that it travels at about Move 20. The characters decide that the guy who owned the thing back at Parcyclus Castle is probably in the village, and discuss the virtues of going down into the village to murder him. They are more than a little surprised to see Antok of the Storm Tribe leaning against a stone obelisk in the center of town and clucking to the thing.
It is quickly obvious to the characters that Antok has gone through all sorts of changes since they last saw him. For one thing, he is no longer covered in ice. Gruul and Marik start thinking back to the last time they saw him, remembering that he voluntarily headed down into the basement of Parcyclus Castle to "learn" from the monstrous Joluth. Gruul whispers to Marik, "He might not really be Antok. Ask him something personal, something only Antok would know." Marik whispers back, "We never talked about anything personal."
The characters eventually decide that Antok is really Antok, even though he's no longer frozen, then spend some time in the village square catching up on lost times. Antok tells them that he is now Antok Six-Hearted, and that he traveled here through the Bilges. He came up out of Dassurbal's Flute yesterday, and was heading back towards Doorway City to find them. He reassures everyone that he is still hunted by creatures of Dost, and that he met up with one on his way through the Bilges. He explains that he underwent a lot of changes in Parcyclus Castle, mostly thanks to the Sewn Men. They fixed his frosty exterior problem by giving him a new heart. Actually, they gave him six of them. And he's now the owner of Ogango's Sparrow: he took it from the body of a dead guy in the Tower of Flags. Galen asks if he can pass the Voight-Kampp Test now. Antok shows off his old heart, a blackened, shriveled, cold lump of a thing that still beats faintly.
Marik decides that he needs to try one final test on Antok. He tells Antok that he's going to cast an informational spell upon him, then casts Consume Thrux Slave. He is pleased to see that Antok does not scream out and turn into a puddle of goo.
Convinced that Antok is the real thing, Gruul hands him his share of the loot taken from Parcyclus Castle, a sum that amounts to fourteen White clavars. Sai'aggo starts grumbling about being poor again.
The characters tell Antok about their current task. Antok points out that he doesn't have a lot on his plate at the moment, and knows the Bilges quite well. He offers to go along as an expert guide. As a beginning, he tells them about the major hazards of Dassurbal's Flute. First, the flute breathes, creating tremendous winds down the central shaft. Second, the Flute Serpent, a truly massive snake with chameleon powers, inhabits the base of the flute. Third, a tribe of hurbauskings runs through the place.
Faced with the eventual need to actually fight a thrux, the characters have a side discussion upon the nature of the thrux. It quickly becomes clear that everyone has heard different things about them. They're monkey people. They're dog people. They're nine feet tall and coated in bronze. The characters settle the argument by asking a nearby five-year-old child which theory is true. The child, inspired by the wisdom of the referee, says that thrux are definitely nine feet tall and covered with bronze.
With the nature of their foe slightly better established, the characters speculate upon what Tettek the thrux librarian might be like. They determine that they have no idea, but suspect that he probably isn't a wizened old thing with no talents more lethal than a harsh glance. They strongly suspect that he might have access to all manner of terrifying weaponry.
The next morning the characters get up and make the final walk to Dassurbal's Flute, with Antok in the lead. They feel confident that they will not become lost, as the central spire of the flute is easily visible from Resh. As before, Marik just floats over the ridges and mocks everyone else as they have to walk around.
Halfway through the day, Galen calls out to everyone else, "I'm standing in a huge snake track." Gruul turns to Antok and spits out, "You never mentioned that the thing came out and played." Marik floats nearby and adds, "Is there anything else you haven't told us about this creature? Perhaps it has metal scales?" Gruul, warming to the game, takes over: "Perhaps it's offended by socks, and I can use my socks to repel it. They're the same socks I was born with. I've never taken them off. My grandma was a very talented knitter." Antok tells the other characters that it does emerge from the flute ever so often, but that the maximum extent of its range is the Greenripple River. Gruul takes a moment to abrade the foolish people of Resh, who appear to be willing to live in constant risk of becoming monster chow. Antok admits that he's never seen the whole length of the Flute Serpent, so he doesn't know how long it is. Or if it's poisonous. But he points out that he does know it has chameleon powers. Galen groans and asks, "I don't suppose the thing can tunnel too? That'd be just great."
The characters reach Dassurbal's Flute near the end of the day. They watch the thing for a while, then decide that they're going to head down the central shaft. They can see the head of the Flute Serpent in one of the lower openings, and can just barely make out what looks like a small group of hurbausking scouts in some of the upper chambers.
Marik spends an hour casting Missile Shield upon everyone in the group. He then starts thinking about how to budget for a Flying Carpet. He settles for Levitating everyone. At this point he has ten spells up, and points out to the other characters that he's not going to be able to reliably cast many more spells, should the need arise.
Antok spends a lot of time talking about disguising the group as hurbauskings until he realizes that he can't possibly maintain so many spells for any length of time.
The characters levitate in towards the flute. The hurbausking scouts throw a few javelins at them, but give up before they come into effective range. The characters feel confident in their invulnerability. They head up to the mouth of the flute, noting that it's inward breath is beginning. Everything is in control. Until Marik and Galen drift a bit too close and get sucked down into the thing's gaping maw.
Galen and Marik find themselves taken for a dramatic roller-coaster of a ride that comes to an abrupt end in a big net stretched across the flute's central shaft. The impact knocks them silly, but does little permanent damage. They look around and notice the very old skeleton of an ironfeather stork stuck in the strands of the net nearby. Then the hurbauskings come into view. A second net crashes down three meters above them, cutting off their escape route back to the Garden. Hurbausking warriors and ravagers creep in from the sides and throw javelins. This time, the hurbausking's aim is good, but wasted: Marik's Missile Shield defenses keep him and Galen safe.
Marik debates his options, and decides that the first thing to do is to drop all of the Missile Shields except his own. He neglects to mention this to Galen, who struggles to his feet and draws out Ghelghul's Terrible Heartseeker.
High above this little drama Gruul, Antok and Sai'aggo sense that their friends are in trouble. They do the only thing that makes sense: they deliberately cast themselves into the mouth of the flute.
A tremendous battle ensues. Galen lays about with the Heartseeker, piercing three hurbausking ravagers through in as many blows. Marik finds himself hard-pressed by a half-dozen hurbausking warriors, a situation that becomes even worse when one of them knocks him down with a quick spear thrust. Handicapped by the many Levitation spells he still must maintain, he tosses a quick Mental Stun at a particularly rough-looking ravager and is quite dismayed to find that while hurbauskings lack their bausker cousins' style and manners, they do have their Strong Will. He is so upset that he bobbles a casting of Flight. Determined to achieve something before he is shish-kebabed to death, he casts one last Mental Stun with surprising success, reducing the hurbausking to utter incoherence. The hurbausking's fumbled resistance roll didn't hurt.
Antok and Sai'aggo find themselves upon the upper net, staring down at a crowd of hurbauskings. They take one look at each other, draw out their spears, and commence sticking hurbauskings in the heads. This proves to be quite an effective tactic, especially since the best the hurbauskings can do in return is to try and stab them in the legs.
Gruul takes one look at the situation and decides that he wants to have no part of stabbing hurbauskings through a net. He net-walks his way over to the edge, where he can see the windlass that raises the second net back up. His plan is simple: raise up the net so Marik and Galen can escape. His progress is brief, interrupted by a spear thrust from the shadows. He becomes aware that another hurbausking warrior was hiding in the darkness along the ledge. Remembering his early successes, he drops into boxing stance and unleashes a dramatic array of jabs at the hurbausking's unarmored face. The hurbausking is so discomfited by the dizzying swarm of blows that its return attack goes wide. Far wide. Gruul responds by whirling out his war pick and smashing the hurbausking down in a single blow.
The characters find themselves suddenly in control of the situation. The surviving hurbauskings pull back into the shadows and side passages. Gruul finally gets a chance to winch up the upper net to free Marik and Galen. Not like they need that much freeing. Marik drops all his remaining spells and commences casting healing spells on the characters that need it.
Antok yells out in their native tongue, "Send someone in to negotiate!" He is disappointed to find that nobody answers. He is less disappointed to find that there are three survivors among all the hurbausking bodies. The survivors tell him that all the hurbauskings in Dassurbal's Flute belong to the Curvulgullunung tribe. They are also very eager to agree to his request for safe passage, each trying to out-do the others in their eagerness to explain that their kinfolk will not bar the characters' way into the Bilges. Antok doesn't believe a word of it. He continues asking questions:
After that last answer, Antok uses the Lying Orb on the hurbausking. He determines that the Curvulgullunung tribe has another net barricade at the next confluence. He also learns that the hurbausking doesn't find humans all that attractive, and isn't really all that fond of being beaten.
Gruul grimaces at one prisoner, then gets Antok to tell her that the characters won't kill anyone else if the hurbauskings provide free passage. They send the hurbausking down into the depths of the flute with the message, but without much hope that it will be acknowledged.
Characteristically, the hurbauskings aren't carrying much in the way of physical wealth. The characters do manage to find four pieces of crude gold jewelry (two worth 10 clavars each, one worth 40 clavars, and one worth 60 clavars). They also have as much hide armor as they can carry (they opt to carry none of it). Marik spends some time searching around, and finds what looks like a hurbausking field kitchen. The prize discovery is a pair of large skin bags full of lard. Antok discovers that he can't move lard around with Shape Water even after it's liquefied (he'd need Shape Fat for that; or he'd be an aerobics instructor).
The characters debate their next course of action, with a lot of attention upon the possible uses of lard. Gruul and Sai'aggo eventually decide to give the hurbauskings a gift, and send a cauldron of flaming lard down the flute. Antok sends Ogango's Sparrow after it. Galen rather innocently asks, "What's gonna happen when the flute winds start to reverse, now that that stuff is burning down there?" Nobody answers him.
A few minutes later Ogango's Sparrow returns and Antok tells the rest of the group that the hurbauskings at the second net are better-equipped that those at the first net. In particular, they have at least one magician able to cast Extinguish Fire on the hurbauskings who were too close to the net when the flaming lard hit it. The characters take this as a signal to start treating dead hurbauskings with extreme disrespect. They set the bodies on fire and toss them down the flute. For variety, Antok freezes one body solid instead. A second recon trip down with the Sparrow reveals that these tactics had the desired effect: the lower net is gone, and the hurbauskings have vanished from the scene.
Marik once again casts Levitate upon everyone, and Missile Shield upon himself. The group floats down into the central spire, heading for the Bilges.
The session ends with the characters bound for the depths of the Bilges. It is the 161st day of the 3086th Stay. Each character gains four experience points.