Our usual crew assembles and tells a series of horrific stories, sufficient to convince Chris (Gruul) that we're all going to Hell. Tim (Antok Six-Hearted), Paul (Marik) and Chuck (Galen) cheerfully agree. Bruce grumbles a lot and plays really annoying Norwegian music. We all hope that Billy (Sai'aggo) will eventually show up, eventually cheering out loud when he does.
The beginning of the session finds Our Heroes electing to continue their descent down the central shaft of Dassurbal's Flute. Marik Levitates everyone, then demands that they tie themselves off to various objects. He is very concerned about the chances that the entire group might get slurped down the spire by the fierce winds. Much of his concern arises from math errors (Travel at 3 meters per second for fifteen minutes? That should put you 2.7 kilometers down, except in Marik's world where you only make 270 meters...). He relaxes his demands when the other characters point out his error.
The characters flutter down the flute. Gruul spends his time grumbling about how Marik is a twisted little gnome.
Oddly enough, there are no hurbauskings at the lower ambush site. Sai'aggo comments, "You think it was the lard or the flaming bodies that did it?" Nobody else is willing to speculate.
The characters reach the base of the flute. Beneath them they can see a huge, darkened cavern. Six support columns reach from the outlet of the central spire far down beyond their range of vision. Antok Six-Hearted nettles everyone else by pointing out, "I can see in the dark!" Gruul, who is not similarly blessed, grumbles, "I have a lux gem, dammit." He is unconcerned that the gem's merry glow makes him a very obvious target. It does show that there are several platforms visible on the supporting columns. The characters head for the closest platform.
The platform looks like a piece of hurbausking work, and possibly a hurbausking dwelling, though nobody is home at the moment. A general decision is made: we must look for a way into the pillar! The characters discuss the relative benefits of splitting up in classic horror-movie style.
Antok notices some movement on an adjacent platform. He sends Ogango's Sparrow out with continual light cast on it to brighten the situation. The characters are able to see several forms moving on the platform, forms about the right size to be hurbauskings. Sai'aggo decides that in the face of the unknown, the best strategy is a headlong charge. He rushes over the bridge, sending the structure swaying madly in the process. Fearful for his companion's life and sanity, Marik does what he can: he casts a Missile Shield upon Sai'aggo at the staggering range of ten hexes (!).
Marik's decision proves well-founded, as Sai'aggo learns that the shadowy forms are in fact hurbausking archers. They let him get to the center of the bridge, then unleash a devastatingly-ineffectual swarm of arrows. The Missile Shield sends them all spiraling into the depths.
Seeing that Sai'aggo is senselessly endangering his life, Galen decides that he can do no less and follows him onto the bridge, confident that Sai'aggo and his magical protections will soak up most of the arrows. Gruul decides to be a bit more conservative and takes cover near the end of the bridge.
Marik takes stock of the situation and realizes that even if Gruul had taken the bridge he wouldn't be able to get past the other two. He arranges for an end run around the problem by casting Flight upon Gruul, who promptly zooms through space towards the other platform.
By this time, Sai'aggo and Galen have engaged the archers, most of whom quickly flee to the other side of the platform. Three of them are not so agile, and fall to the characters' weapons. Galen tries pursuing the survivors to the other side of the platform, while Sai'aggo stuns one survivor with a quick spear blow, then binds the creature and hangs it from the side of the platform. Antok watches this performance and is immediately enraptured by the idea of a captured hurbausking hanging 200 meters over the void.
Galen and Sai'aggo are congratulating themselves upon their skillful assault when another threat appears from the darkness. A massive flying lizard swoops down and swings at Sai'aggo with its spined tail. Galen flings himself into action, rushing to the center of the bridge with Ghelgul's Terrible Heartseeker drawn. He waves the blade around to draw the wyvern's attention, then stands ready to receive its attack.
The wyvern swoops down close over him, slashing with it's tail. It strikes him, managing to barely graze his skin through his tough armor. Galen stabs out with the Terrible Heartseeker. Horrible power thunders out as the blade bites deep into the creature's body, wounding it terribly. Galen is momentarily victorious until the horrible agony of the creature's venom rips through him, sending him to the ground screaming.
Marik watches this little display, recognizing that the wyvern's ten-hex size makes him pretty much useless. He changes himself into a tiger in protest. Antok elects to hurl a javelin at the beast, accomplishing little more than Marik.
The other characters decide that Galen's example is the best one available. Sai'aggo joins him on the bridge, while Gruul places himself just behind the bridge, ready to strike as the wyvern passes by.
The wyvern's next pass by is it's last. It makes an attack upon Sai'aggo, tearing him open from crotch to throat. He sags to the ground, only barely aware that Galen has stabbed the creature with the Heartseeker once again, and that Gruul has chopped it's left wing off. The stricken beast flutters into the abyss.
Sai'aggo grimaces as he manages to resist the effects of the wyvern's venom, then grimaces again as Antok bumbles a healing spell upon him and inflicts as much additional damage as the venom would have. Galen does a more convincing job of helping his comrade by feeding him a Chiron potion. Marik returns to his normal, misshapen form and starts throwing healing spells on everyone who needs them. He makes a point of casting the spells properly, just to show Antok how it's done.
Antok brings up the hanging hurbausking and interrogates him with the Lying Orb. Gruul watches this performance, then asks Antok, "What good is that thing when he can lie differently every time?" Antok makes some grumbling sounds that translate to, "Why don't you do this if you think it's so easy...?"
Antok eventually manages to make some Interrogation rolls, and determines that the hurbauskings originally built the platforms. They normally travel from platform to platform using either the rope bridges or ladders hanging down from the edges at disturbingly sharp angles. They only live on the platforms some of the time, spending much more time in the side shafts of the flutes. The captive hurbausking claims that there's nothing at all on the island proper except archers and spearmen who might attack. There are certainly no jekjek down there. He says that the old huts were there when the hurbauskings first arrived, and are unused.
At this point, the flute's next breath starts, creating dangerously strong winds. The situation underneath the flute becomes rather untenable for flyers and archers, giving the characters some measure of comfort. They rest for about forty minutes to let Marik recover fatigue from healing Sai'aggo and Galen.
The characters head down to the island using Levitation. Antok spends some time complaining about the lackluster speed of Levitation. He whines, "I want Flight so I can run away!" Marik, already exhausted from the Levitation effort, grumbles, "Shut up. You can run away just as fast on the ground anyway." Antok rather peevishly announces, "Oh hell. I'm going to send the Sparrow over to the huts and check them out." Gruul watches Antok as he feeds Ogango's Sparrow from a vein in his arm and asks, "Why the hell are you so enthusiastic about this thing? It drinks your blood, you idiot." Marik chimes in, "Yeah, you shouldn't want to hurt yourself so much." Galen prods Marik, mentioning, "You're one to talk, Mister I-love-the-Gyre." Marik indignantly responds, "But that was totally different: the Gyre was Power Incarnate!" Galen looks unconvinced.
The Sparrow returns and shows Antok what it found. Antok sees a carved bone dagger on a table inside one of the huts. He thanks the Sparrow, then tells the other characters, "Okay, there's treasure there!" Marik and Sai'aggo respond in unison, "It's a trap." Antok tells them very, very carefully, "Want. It. Anyway."
Galen decides to answer the debate by flying down into the center of the cluster of huts to cast Danger Sense. He very clearly sense that he is in immediate, terrible danger. A moment later, three hurbausking Ravagers crash into the open and attack him. Galen fights ferociously, downing two of the Ravagers, but then takes a terrible hit to the leg that leaves him crippled. By this time, the other characters have flown down to help their comrade. Antok does a remarkable plunging dropping lunge on the survivor. Who very quickly ceases to be the survivor.
While Marik patches Galen up one more time, Gruul asks him, "Why did you fly down there?" Galen, still wincing from his wounds, answers, "To Sense Danger." Gruul adopts a pedantic attitude and responds, "Wasn't that a bit self-fulfilling...? Perhaps you should think about learning some more useful spells." Galen just glares at the big demek.
Marik takes a look at the bone ceremonial dagger. After Antok fetches it from inside the hut. His first impression is, "Damn. It's old." Then he realizes that it is decorated with carvings of Yaggo Breathing Life Into His Creations. Marik looks them over, then asks the other characters, "Hey, everybody! Want to destroy a religion?"
Gruul searches another hut, finds a bag of six milky glowing gemstones hidden in the chimney. He finds it by becoming frustrated and hitting the chimney with his pick. The old stonework shatters, sending the bag flying across the room. Marik is eventually able to determine that the gemstones are chillstones, and can be used for enchantments.
Chillstones are smooth, milky gemstones typically found in the colder reaches of the Bilges. They are particularly good for enchantments. Incorporating a chillstone into an enchantment reduces the energy cost of the final creation by 100, but no more than a single chillstone may be placed in any enchanted item. Alternately, the Powerstone enchantment costs only 10 energy to place upon a chillstone (rather than the normal cost of 20). Each of these is large enough to support up to a 10 ST powerstone, and is worth 400 clavars.
The characters unfold their two leather coracles and paddle out into the darkness of the Bilge Sea, headed towards Tettek's Grotto. Or so they hope. They quickly find that the only way to navigate is through Antok's memory, as there aren't any stars and compasses don't work (not that they have any). This develops into quite a problem, as Antok's memory is surprisingly bad.
The characters paddle around aimlessly for what they think is about twelve hours. They don't really know, as they have no way to accurately measure the passage of time. As Gruul and Galen heap abuse upon Antok for his lack of navigational acumen, Marik starts cautioning the others, "Save your waste, I may need to turn it into food." Gruul's expression indicates that he would much prefer to turn Antok into food should things come down to that.
The turning point comes as the characters find themselves caught in a heavy current. Antok urges them, "Row against the current! Against the current! Wait, no, maybe not." As Antok gets lost in thought, Gruul puts down his oar and grumps, "Dammit, I'm not rowing anymore."
The characters' two coracles are washed downstream into a huge chamber. Antok announces that the characters have arrived. Gruul tells Antok, "The next time we're going down into the Bilges, I want definite proof that you've improved your skills."
The characters paddle into the chill waters of the Gloomlake. They can see their breath fogging in the cold, cold air. They can hear the sound of rushing water in the distance, Antok remembers that there's something important about the sound, but can't recall exactly what. He eventually remembers that there is a huge whirlpool in the Gloomlake, a whirlpool that leads to certain destruction. Marik immediately starts casting Levitation spells, allowing the characters to take to the air.
The characters look around, managing to spot the Sentry Rock in the distance. They decide to attack the place to relieve tension. Galen points out, "And maybe they have food. We'll need food." Antok offers no rejoinder.
The characters hold a debate on whether to land on the mushroom side or non-mushroom side of the island. They eventually decide to stop on the mushroom side and sneak over towards the encampment in the center. Along the way, Antok and Gruul spot a figure sleeping under a mushroom stem. They approach as quietly as they can, and notice that the fellow looks like a degenerate Sangorn human. He is clutching a foul-smelling pipe. It looks to them that he is in no danger of awakening, so they leave him alone.
The characters approach the tent. They are met by two more of the twisted, shambling Sangorn humans. One of them clutches a spear. The other holds a short, carven stick and is able to hold a brief but profitless conversation with Antok in Saufling and Ur-Naska. Galen and Marik look at each other. They simultaneously decide, "This is our chance to test out Consume Thrux Slave."
The two locals realize that the characters mean them no good, and quickly become hostile. The one carrying the carved stick casts a spell at Antok, but fails to overcome his resistance. Galen responds by casting Consume Thrux Slave, inflicting 18 points of damage, and demonstrating that the spell does work as advertised. The spear-armed local stabs Marik, who responds with his own very effective rendition of Consume Thrux Slave seconds before he doubles over from the effects of the poison on the spear blade.
A small crowd of locals boils up out of the tent, but the characters are ready for them. A quick but rather one-sided battle erupts, at the end of which all of the locals are dead. The characters ransack the tent, and quickly determine that the place looks like it was home to a bunch of junkies. There are lots of ragged bits of cloth and old food all over the place. Antok searches the place, then uses magic to make a snow fort and an igloo for the characters to stay in. Sai'aggo helps by supervising.
The session ends with the characters camped out on the Sentry Rock in the Gloomlake. They expect to rest for a while, then launch their attack upon the Eater's Lip. Each character gains three experience points.