Travelling through some more chambers we encounter some goblins and drow, which we combat. When we start the fight against the 3 drow one of them turns against the others, dispelling many mirror images with his sword. Turns out the drow is in deep cover and was expecting help sent from the Commissar. The area we find ourselves in is the Temple of Deep Chaos.

We’re informed by Vokan, the helpful drow, that when the insect creatures attack others the victims become cocooned and within 24 hours they’re transformed in to insects themselves. But the insects are there just to create chaos and to prepare for the Night of Dissolution. The Tolling Bell are in charge under Wantad, and it’s Wantad who’s in charge and is trying to bring about the Night of Dissolution. Wanted wants to be created in to a demonic servant of the demon lords. Wanted himself is half-demon. There’s a large device that’s been absorbing chaos from the city that will be powered by a chaos item. Apparently the first creature we’ll meet is a dwarf in a tower, shooting people. He’s a member of the Tolling Bell. Many more rats also exist beyond the current chamber. There’s also a woman in an iron mask, with snakes for hair. She’s feared and everyone avoids her.

One of the crime lords is funding the playing of a game of chance in which people are playing the game and winning a lot of money. The theory is that by playing a game of chance the amount of chaos that be used is increased.

When we return home we find that Vokan may not have been who he seemed to be and that we could have been played.

The Green Man returns from the Commissar and asks us for an audience in the third level. We’re told:
– there was magic involved in the summons with the Commissar activating an ancient binding among the large city guilds compelling the leaders to attend.
– It’s possible the power of the binding goes a lot further than just compelling people to talk. – Guilds are being asked to prepare their troops to rally against the 50,000 foes marching towards the city
– The guild has been asked to track, locate and eliminate the insects and the chaos cults
– We’re also asked to look after the necropolis and keep an eye on it, dealing with anything that tries to get out

Sagely learnings: The wolf tabbard is associated with werewolves. There’s an ancient order. There’s a hint of a house in Ptolus associated with it.

Sagely learnings: Ancient armour – it pre-dates the gods.

Sagely learnings: There’s an organic element – chaostec – to the items we have. These items seem to be pre-history. The All-key is of a similar vein – chaostec. To learn more we’d probably need a legend lore. The feathers in Red’s hat also seem to be chaostec.

We travel to the ghostly minstrel and have a meal with Jevica. We provide an update on our activities. She wants us to continue our search for the key to the seal in exchange for further trinkets which she pulls from various places as if she was already aware of the choices we’d make. All very suspicious!

We travel to the noble district, complete with well lit roads and large manor houses. We scout the house we’re after and discover:
– It’s surrounded by an 8 foot stone wall
– guards at various points on the outside walls
– packs of dogs roam around the woods
– werewolves look after the dogs
– a guardhouse- 2 floors
– a secondary guardhouse – smaller in scale
– 3 story manor house protected by invisible protective wards

We return to the guild and go to see Gideon – the man with the plans (“master of the rolls”). Gideon resides on the third floor. He shows us plans that suggest a basement level only accessible from inside the house. We meet a guild member who remembers a Knight of the Cord who got tortured by House Vladem. The Knight used to hang out in the Rising Star. Perhaps that’s worth a visit. The Knights have a temple in the Jordon Temple Hall in Old Town. The person were looking for is Nikolon Regellis though he hasn’t been seen for a couple of weeks and is believed to be outside the city at the moment. It’s unknown when he’ll return.

The following morning we travel to the Rising Star to seek out Nikolon. We’re eventually given a note by a street urchin that suggests Nikolon will meet us back at the inn at 7pm. So in the meantime we travel back to the Vladam manor house and have a look around. The only other pieces of information we glean is that many of the dogs in the kennels are lifeless.

Talking to another knightly order we also glean that House Vladam has dealings with demons but that they aren’t undead in any way. The owner of the house is supposed to be abroad but that the son and daughter are still living there.

Updates on the state of the city today:
– The docks have been shut down for a couple of days after a couple of insects ran around and killed 10 people
– A second outbreak of insects has happened in north gate. The two creatures were taken down by the commissars men.
– A catastrophic event will precipitate, or be precipitated by, the sacking of the city

We travel to the Rising Star to meet Nikolon.
Nirvana Vladam was the one that tortured Nikolon. Nikolon escaped by jumping through a window and then over the cliff. There were runes Nikolon triggered when he tried to escape; fire, lightning, confusion, dizziness. Nikolon volunteers to guide us to the house and aid our endeavors provided we only take a single item.

We agree to meet Nikolon the next day and traveled to the Vladem manor house. Travelling through the woods and through a broken window we make our way down to the saferoom – as indicated by Nikolon. Through some doors and traps we find the key – in the form of a skeletal hand – and look to make our way out via the window and then over the cliff. Nikolon then transforms in to Nirvana Vladem and, together with her brother, seeks to take the hand from us. We just manage to escape over the cliff edge.

Rumour has is within the guild that 3 people had escaped from Madoths Ayslum.

We guard the graveyard and encounter a number of tough undead.

Back at the guild we chat with the Green Man. A seer has foreseen the return of a third moon – the moon of magic. It will bring chaos with it. The Sigil Children developed runes on their bodies under the light of the previous moon, and some of these people have been seen within the city. The Seer has seen the start of the end of the world and it would start in this city with creatures emerging from underground and killing all within its walls before then spreading across the world to slay all living creatures.

Eons ago there was a war between law and chaos. …

Talk within the guild is that the 50,000 strong nomads are on their way to Ptolus, having deviated from their original path. The army seems some weeks away.

The Green Man presents us with a lock of green hair that allows identification. It’s limited in nature but investigation in to its parameters starts immediately.

We have an appointment at the Wandering Minstrel to talk to Jinchtha’s brother Iltamar about what he learnt from his time in the chaos guild. Iltamar reiterates the Night of Dissolution and that it’d occur when an event happened in the sky (third moon presumably). The group called themselves The Brotherhood of Ptolus and are experts in poisons. The brotherhood had been working with the Ebon Hand. The Ebon Hand didn’t like the Centaur as he represented a third party of chaots. The groups talked about destroying an anti-chaos device to power a ritual.They talked about taking Iltamar to a house in Old Town after his surgery. The Centaur was always well organised and he came with plans. Iltamar knows where this house is in Old Town. We don’t really know what’s there but it would be worth looking in to as it seems to be somewhere where rituals are conducted. The poison being used was Ascara. ‘Thrall’ and ‘venom’ were also mentioned. Iltamar had also heard the name ’Wantad’and was associated with a ‘bell’.

We return to the BaneWarrens and cast the Legend Lore. [See “Legend Lore on the Door” in the Wiki section]. We find the Pelor paladin being attacked by the charming snake lady and a minotaur or two. A tough fight ensues and we prevail, if only just. The next time we meet the snake lady we should learn Silence and prot lightning before we go.

Kal Recent thinks the dragon rod is still within the bane warrens while the key (see Legend Lore) has left. “One is used to open the door and one seals it”. During the Legend Lore some people saw a manor house in the background of which was a cliff. We surmised this was the cliff separating the levels within Ptolus. Tar and Gabrial attempt to draw the manor house so we can locate it at a future date. It seems likely this manor house holds the key seen in the Legend Lore.

While venturing back from the warrens we encounter a couple of large insect-like creatures. We slay them but they poison Charity who falls limply to the floor after a while.The bodies of the slain insects turn to goo and inside we find the bodies of two small children. Etched on the body of the children are sigils. These creatures were the same ones we’ve seen in the building Iltamar informed us about. A neutralize poison cast on Charity fails to help and she’s slowly cocooned in a black. But by morning Charity has been covered in blue moss and all is well. The same can’t be said for Snub who’s been affected by the self-consumption disease though the Priests of Pelor may have a cure for the disease so we’ll take that down to Kal Recent and see what happens.

We talk to the Green Man who’s feeling compelled by the Commissar to go and have a meeting with him. He’s decided to meet the Commissar as he’s confident he can come out of the meeting unscathed. The compulsion is via some ancient ritual that the Commissar seems to have invoked.

[Miles was ill for a bit so some other stuff may have happened …]

We enter the house Iltamar told us about with a view to killing any insects and associated cultists. We’re not disappointed. A couple of cultists are slain and a couple of large insects. It seems the house is being used as the center for spawning of such creatures as there are dozens of broken cocoons littered about. A large tunnel has been dug down in to the earth from a corner of the house.

Tar has a close brush with death. While he didn’t actually die, though he was pretty battered, he did come out of an exchange with a gibbering creature with a mark of chaos on his forehead.

We head off down a deep and dark hole. Some 40ft down the hole stops.

We’re also offered the bashing of some Balakazar bashers.

Red is woken from his slumber by the stuffed parrot which has had a dream of (perhaps) events past. An ‘epic’ battle between Orcus (great horn headed demon), more, smaller, balor demons are fighting against a host of multi-hued elves (?). The fight lasts for hours, if not days, and it looks to the parrot like Orcus is winning.During the dream the parrot sits atop the elven leaders shoulder

Message from the Day-master: The guild kept an eye on Illtamar who was taken last night – sack over the head job. Illtamar had been talking to a tall, thin guy with dank looking hair who worked behind the bar. They had some recognition between them, perhaps through a ring they were both wearing. The inn in question is in mid-town, The Ghostly Minstrel.

Message from the mages: “Somewhere in the bane warrens is an elf who has the answers”.

We travel to the ghostly minstrel and employ a street urchin from the guild to ask around to see if anyone saw the abduction of Illtamar. Coincidentally, the red armed mage from the inverted pyramid guild will meet us at the Ghostly Minstrel at dusk, so we plan on returning later in the evening.

We head on down to the Bane Warrens to complete their closing. We encounter the shadow creature, again, which drains us, again. We encounter a large blue troll-like creature that regenerates anything but fire damage. We force the creature to teleport off and seek to rest but the creature reappears 10 minutes later and interrupts us. We again force the creature to teleport off and move to save the life of a beautiful female adventurer caught in a pit trap. The creature encourages Red to seek vengeance on her behalf which he accepts. Her foe is a priest of Pelor. Red moves to attack but the priest eventually gets the better of him and he’s rendered unconscious.

Chatting with the priest of Pelor it seems he is now cursed and cannot leave the warrens. The priest was infected by some shambling creatures. The curse seems to overcome the victims senses and the creature starts to devour itself.

Within the area the priest is found is a large piece of mechanical apparatus; a tall stem with many branches, atop of which is a large sphere almost jigsaw like with a few missing pieces. Also within the room is a large set of double doors with numerous symbols etched upon them.

The priest hands a wooden cross to us and asks us to hand it over to Sister Delania Verunun. We’re to say that she handed it to the priest under the third star on the night of the rising moon. The Sister resides in the Grand Cathedral in the noble quarter. This will show the sister that we met the priest.

We travel to the Grand Cathedral and show proof of our meeting with Kel Recent and explain about his predicament. We hand over the body of the monk who accompanied Kel. The order of Pelor asks a task of us. We’re provided with a scroll of legend lore and asked to read it upon the doors, and to take supplies to Kel. Brother Fabitor gives us the 2,000gp offered for the task.

Evening arrives and we travel to the ghostly minstrel. The street urchin tells us that 3 men waylaid Illtamar. They were humans but with nothing in particular to identify them.

We meet Jebica in the Inn and inform her of our travails in the warrens. She suggests the only reason the warrens were broken in to was because the seal just wasn’t finished. Jebica opens a scroll upon which is written ancient elven. Whenever she taps the scroll further writing appears. We notice the words “tremoc Korin”. Apparently “tremoc Korin” means the “bane heart”, the centre of Jabel Shamar and the door in the bane warrens could lead to the top of the tower. -Necrophagon, a disease that causes people to eat themselves – not heard of in centuries.

Jebica wishes more information about the bane warrens and wishes to maintain our services. If we’re willing to work for Jebica then she can provide us with an item of our choice up to 2,000gp.

We retire to the bar and try to keep an eye on Jemil, the barkeeper who worked with Illtamar.

We follow Jemil to a meeting of a brotherhood of chaots. Red enters inside with an almost impenetrable disguise and meets Nobby, who recognises his manly odour. Nobby is now working security detail with a couple of other goblins. Nobby allows Red to continue in to the meeting where a bunch of inept cultists are meeting,

Dilar wasn’t available – a centaur so one of the cultists chairs the meeting. The Ebon Hand seems to have been driven from the city, they mention, -they were taking some people and taking them away to change them. The unfortunate creatures were being taken to the temple to be changed in to chaos spawn. Illtamar was mentioned as having been too talkative and had been taken to the surgeon. The meeting ends with Red pilfering a ring from one of the other chaots.

We decide on a ruse to talk to the surgeon about a bit of augmentation work. We talk to the orc with Dilar and they get us to follow them to a secret location in old town. It turns out to be a trap and we’re attacked when we arrive. We slay the centaur and his minions but a humanoid creature, probably the surgeon (metal chin, horn and clothing covering a large frame), utters “you fools, why did you bring them here, don’t you know who they are?” before teleporting off.

We find Illtamar. Illtamar mentions that there’s a plan to raise a device to the sky that’ll stop the chaos. They’re getting together with the Ebon Hand to transform people.

We take one of the cultists to the sisters of silence and tell them of their plans. They seem very interested in the location of the surgeon.

We return Illtamar to his sister. 10% off all amour!!!

Back at the guild the chest is opened with the All key – at the major expense of one of the guild members (using the key steals a several levels). Inside the chest are a number of useful magic items.

Wantad and his cultists are probably from the cult of the Tolling Bell – that seeks the end of the world.

Kell Recent – a champion of the church of Pelor was investigating some strange goings on. He went missing around a week ago. Kell is 5ft 6in, half elven by blood and normally dressed in plate mail with long golden hair. Kell had a companion, Blacklyn, 6ft human dressed in grey or brown robes. Bald. The church of Pelor has promised 2000gp (and an extra 1000gp from a priest) for his safe return. Spells cast haven’t been able to find Kell and the trail has gone cold.

Bizarrely, a chap runs down the street on fire. We quench the fire.

There are rumors that KillRaven is looking to remove the Balakazars. This may be an opportunity for our guild to attack the Balakazars when the Balakazars retaliate against the Kill Ravens. We’re put on a 10 minute warning before we move against the Balakazars.

Ginsa has left a message for us. She needs some help and asks us to go to help. We travel down there. Apparently Ginsa’s brother, Iltimar, is infatuated with a strange woman and that “he’s not himself”. Ginsa hands a ring to us. The ring is one of a broken square (a symbol of chaos) that she obtained from a group that Iltimar is becoming obsessed with. Ginsa obtained the ring from her brother without his knowledge. The Brotherhood of Ptolus is the cult responsible.

One of the guild members comes over and let’s us know that there’s a woman standing next to the snickleway in North Market -seemingly just hanging around it.

We move to talk to the woman who appears to have an animated arm made of red glass. When weconfront her she introduces herself as Jevica Nor from the inverted pyramid (mages). This guild is against the guidance of Pelor who state that such magical guilds should be outlawed. She wears green robes and a bent staff. She wishes to employ our services, having cast spells to find that we were the ones she needed.

Jevica informs us that the wishes and miracles her guild have cast won’t let them enter the great spire at the center of Ptolus. Jevica wants to seal up the evil artifacts at the top of the tower. [If we ever find out how the evil artifacts are sealed in then there’s good money from the guild for that information].

The bane warrens (just below the tower) were sealed for centuries but something has escaped. Jevica is interested in paying us to seal up the bane warrens. 1000gp a piece is offered for our services. We’re to seal away whatever we can and to let Jevica know what we find and how the place was sealed. Jevica let’s slip that whatever escaped has an interest in ourselves. Whatever escaped did so a couple of weeks ago.

Scribbled on to the note:“The entrance is in the wine cellar in a manor in old town.”. There’s a map drawn to the location.“The house is vacant, leave word with the barkeep at the Ghostly Minstrel in North Market. Expenses provided.” A bag of gold appears at our feet with 150gp each.

We attack two of the Balakazars warehouses and defeat some minions. The peasantry are allowed to come in and help themselves to stolen goods once the place was cleared.

On our return we’re asked to get hold of some alchemical fire that the Balakazars were using and to return it to the guild for examination.

We move on the task given to us by Jevica and travel to Old Town. While scouting out the old house we spot someone watching us. Confronting the figure he reveals himself to be Tavern Zith. Tavern had been locked up for many years (centuries). Tavern welcomes us as followers of the true faith, as agents of chaos. Apparently we have an aura that helps others recognize us. Tavern is one of those who escaped from the bane warrens when a group of yuan-ti like creatures smashed their way in. Jevica makes his excuses and leaves.

Travelling in to the house and down to the wine cellar we find a tunnel dug in the earth. We later encounter an umber hulk that we eventually slay.

We wander along a tunnel and find a scree slope. Tar investigates and slips down, prompting a nearby apparition to attack. After slaying it a couple of times we move to investigate further and find an iron door covered in runes. The door’s open and a discussion ensues as to whether this is the entrance to the warrens themselves or to just a single cell. Red closes the portal, after which the door seems to magically re-seal itself.

Shortly afterwards we’re attacked by a couple of insect creature that seem to have made their way out of an insect infested pit. The pit is surrounded by runes, similar to the ones on the iron door.

After slaying the insect creatures and looking to leave, a figure appears, dressed in green robes and insubstantial. He introduces himself as Gulab,a servant of Jevica Nor and insists we tell him what we’ve found so far. He wishes us to dig further and suggests the iron door isn’t the one that controls access to the warrens.

We return back to the guild.

We wander around the fort and find some further clues:

The Cobbled Man: ‘Owns’ one of the forts towers. It’s a creature cobbled together, made of many different parts of other people. It eats the occasional bird and drinks rainwater. His home is one of the round towers.

Radanna Scalth:

Urieth: Tried to communicate with Taunell and came up with the theory that Taunell can see whatever is in the fort. Tried to put Taunell to rest but failed.

Taunell: The priestly spirit can see anywhere in the house but he can only be contacted in the gatehouse tower. His spirit can travel to different parts of the house but it’s difficult so he rarely does.

Kay to the square tower: lost

Night of Dissolution: Radanna kept on going on about this and “coming changes” and Lords of Chaos. The spirit can keep out people it doesn’t want and to keep inside who it doesn’t want to leave. But when it sleeps people are free to come and go.

The Goat Headed demon = an “earthbound demon”: Appears in a mirror cleaned by Gabrial. Was summoned by Radanna and lives in the tower.It disrupts Maquent’s ability to tell the future. Can summon other demons using the “Dark Reliquary”.

The fat man statue: This is the spirit keeping us here. Rumoured to be Radanna’s doing.

Maquent Dellisaria: Wrote a diary, one of whose pages we find in a book thrown at us by a poltergeist. She was slain when the Paladins arrived. She was one of the true great Seers. [Do we need to raise her?].

Treasure: Radanna apparently hid some weapons of power in the cellars beneath the house and used by the enchanted statue to seal the entrance. The weapons would be used by the cultists to fight the enemies of the Night of Dissolution.

2 halves of the key: Circular disk with a red swirl. Radanna has a half of the key and Maquent. Only this key, the “spiral contrivance” can move the statue. Maquent’s half of the key is hidden in the Cobble mans tower. Radanna’s half of the key is likely to be beyond a secret door in a ceiling somewhere.

We hear “Chaos is the key” echoing through the house.

Searching around the roof top garden we’re attacked by Radanna, in undead form, together with some more skeletal lackeys. Rats are disturbed at the same time and a big and painful fight ensues.

We search a roof top below and find a mid-sized key -perhaps fitting a large chest. Or is this for the square tower? Yes – it’s the key to a secret door in the ceiling on the 5th or 6th floor.

Searching one of the large rooms we find some red chaos robes and hoods. These have chaos symbols of the 8 pointed star or of squares within – squares.

Investigating the leaky ceiling Dog gives it a poke and removes part of the ceiling. A stone block falls down and hits dog, causing him to turn and flee over the crenelations. Dog falls 30 foot but to no ill effect. As we investigate further Slab puts his head through the ceiling to take a look. Two large demon hounds and the goat headed demon stare down and then attack. We retreat, get a bit of healing and head off towards the safety of a distant tower.

We meet Taunell who fills in a few of our gaps in knowledge. We rest the night.

We head off towards the square tower and locate the key hole in the ceiling. Above the ceiling is a treasury but many of the storage holes are empty. We do find an amount of cash, together with half of the red spiral key. In addition, a crude statue of a demon is found. Touching the statue Slab has a vision: Slab flies beyond land and river to a place beyond. Slab seems to be transformed in to the stone statue. Slab is greeted by an ‘Orcus’ figure who talks in an unknown tongue. Orcus is then assailed by a much larger Orcus figure who emerges out of a circle of light and states “I shall take care of this world myself”. Slab is then struck by Orcus and blanks out, awakening a couple of minutes later.

We speculate that holding the statue would help you speak and understand the language of the Orcus figures.

We head up one of the circular towers and move across an open causeway. At the other end of the bridge is the circular tower. Slab and Gabriel move across and are set upon by the Cobbled Man – a stitched together creature made up of odd parts. A fight on the middle of the bridge with people lying down to protect from the wind ensues. Eventually the creature is slain and we retrieve the second piece of the key from around its neck.

We rest for the night and heal up. We rest a further night to regain what little healing we have available. People are still effected by diseases and continue to shake uncontrollably.

The Statue continues to cycle between 3 different mantra’s “I go to feed”, “Come to me”, “Chaos is the key”.

We believe that when the statue says “I go to feed” it leaves the building allowing us to leave the fort.

Venturing to the statue we wait for it to say that “Chaos is the key” before placing the two parts of the key into a small tray that appears in the creatures belly. As we do so the statue slides away revealing an opening beneath it.

The party is split between those fighting the bone giant below and those fighting huge rats above.

Within the long chamber is a shaft with a throbbing membrane over the top. Piercing the membrane reveals an icy chamber dozens of feet below.

Within the chamber are the following:

2 ram-like creatures (minotaurs?) frozen in the ice. Between the creatures is a book – “The Book of Faceless Hate”.

Chest #1: “No chains can bind us, and no lock can resist the magic of this key of freedom”

Chest #2: “Tools of the fearsome chaos priest”

Chest #3: “Hear the words of chaos fools and despair”

Chest #4: “This will pierce the heart of an overwhelmed tyrant”

Chest #5: “A blade to slice the flesh of any foe of freedom”

Chest #6: “Twinned weapons sure deal to deal death to the oppressor angels”

On the great iron doors:
“The greatest threat to the stalwart kings of Order, Viog the Slayer”

Upon breaking open the “All Key” we find a small ball of flesh and metal. This drains a level when touched. Dog goes to open up the next box when the Minotaurs become unfrozen and move to Slab:

“Brother, the Night of Dissolution has come” they say. And as they look expectantly at Slab Dog attacks.

Talking the in pub about any dubious events around the bridge a local mentions about a spate of disappearances of people.

We enter the sewers and make our way to the Temple of the Rat God. We find some store cupboards but can’t get through another secret door – so we’ve drawn a blank in the Temple. Perhaps we need one of the thieves guild to come along and open the door.—

.. or at least that’s what we think. We wander further down the tunnel and meet the temple proper. We kill a small number of undead. A large albino rat and other friends wield two-handed swords and long-spears chase us away. They have a spell caster summoning small demons that spread stinking clouds. Gabriel falls to the blows and a couple more of us are nauseated. But we make it to the exit and go back to the guild.

We’re told by the guild to bring back a rat guild item or holy symbol from the Rat temple as evidence of their presence. The guild suggests we could ask around in the city to see if the rats leave their lair during the night and maybe intercept them outside of their lair. Urchins and beggars that live in the city streets may know something.

We go back to the rat lair and conjure Malphas. Red sends a raven down the tunnel to wait for the albino rat man door to open. Through this door he hopes to send a raven to view the inside of the temple.

While the raven is waiting for the door to open we hit the streets and ask the street beggars for information on the rat men and if they’re out at night. We’re told to talk to Old Joe at the temple of Lankamar.

We go to talk to Old Joe and he offers to have a look for big rats. We’re to wait until tomorrow and then come back to find out what he’s learnt. When we mention gold is on offer he offers to enlist various street urchins in the task.

We go back down the sewers to scout out with the raven. The rat temple is empty, hastily abandoned. We find a notice from Malack that indicates the rats were kidnapping and murdering small children but that Malack was concerned the watch was catching up with them. One of the symbols on the wall suggested the rats worshiped Aboth (pestilence & filth demon) – a ‘Galchuth’ (demon locked on this world).

Moving beyond the temple we travel through tunnels to the Ebon Hand temple area, killing some guards on the way. A bed chamber, library and torture room are discovered. We decide to rescue some prisoners and take them back to the guild in the hope they can provide enough details that can be used against the Ebon Hand. It’s suggested we take the prisoners to the Silent Sisters to heal them of their injuries.

A couple of us have also picked up the ‘shakes’ from the poo infested rat lairs.

The guild also mention that a sect of Angels, militant and lawful in nature, are looking for the alley dwellers …that’s us. [Clearly this is a lie as the guild try to frighten us in to staying with them].

We move to the Silent Sisters temple and talk to Sister Marie. We tell them of our journey under the city to the rat temple and try to persuade them of the Ebon Hands guilt. After presenting some evidence the Sisters decide to mobilize against the Ebon Hand as they’re been trying to engage with the city militia against the Ebon Hand. The Sisters also agree to raise our high priest from the dead.

[Alas, all the nuns are frigid]

The Sisters mobilize and assail the Ebon Hand. The Ebon Hand are all slain with the loss of one of the Sisters. But the Sisters are grateful for our hand in this and offer to raise the priest for free. After the Raise Dead is cast we go back to Mothers. The ‘shakes’ continue to take its toll.

We start the search for the All key.
The Crimson Coil were the last known owners of the All key so the first step is to find more about this cult. Talking to one of the temples affiliated with knowledge suggests the cult may have been some kind of militant order. They suggest we talk to the Knights of the Pale (reverent’s of Lutheran Saints… they deal with supernatural threats).

We go the Blade Chapel that houses the Knights of the Pale. Knights in shiny armor stand guard. We learn that the Crimson Coil was a cult for the worshiping and contacting demons. The Knights of the Pale wiped out the cult and ‘bricked them up’. We learn the location of the battle and of the Crimsons Coils original home. A great ward of Law was apparently placed on the coiled house. The Crimson Cult were attempting to consult with demons to find out about the past or the future.

We scout out the Crimson Coil fortified manor house with a raven though the raven is quickly dispatched by the ward. There seem to be some flying guardians/larger birds guarding the three towers above. Red see’s a rune on the door and pushes forward to touch it. Red collapses and is dragged back, unconscious. The rune has disappeared and Red recovers consciousness a few minutes later.

We enter the manor house and start looking around. The doors close mysteriously behind us and we’re assaulted with arrows and caltrops. A giant rat is slain and we make our way through the manor house. Some more rats are encountered, together with a flying cow, monkey and dog.

We meet an apparition, one that only Charity can see: “Below the old house, in the caverns. They hid it, with their treasure. Most fell to the blades of the paladins. Many others were murdered by their own people before they could be taken. Few, who were not present, managed to escape. They watched from afar while the place was ransacked and never returned. I am older than the Crimson Coil. I am Tornel, I died in this place a long time ago.Long before the brothel, long before the cult. I fell from the battlements”.

“I MUST FEED”. We hear this echoing through the house.

“A fool sacrificed himself to become the guardian of this place. He guarded the maidens, the women who worked in this place. Few of them understood what they did here. Radana, before the paladins came, slew many of the women herself. She was struck down, her corpse lies below us. ”

The jar, we’re told, contains a summoned goodly creature. The treasures of the house, and the key, reside beneath the statue. We can leave this place but only at various times, and this depends on the nature of the statue, in that it’s chaotic and unpredictable. The key that opens the way down is ‘broken’.The All key is dangerous and has been in the house a long time. The statue is a guardian and will react to a key, a disc with a red coil within it. It’s in 2 halves. The second half is held by a creature of chaos, ‘higher’ up. He also mentions that to find the first part you will need something dropped from the garden by a lady of the night a long time ago. [presumably we can go to the open courtyardand pick it up?]

We arrive in the abandoned thieves guild and make our way through the chambers to the Snickleway at the end. Through the portal we arrive in a mainline sewer. We kill a few rats that get in our way as we pass through an underground, rat infested lair.

Dog goes for a swim.

“That’s not a big rat. THIS is a big rat! SQUEAL.”

A swirling vortex of air is found in a large chamber. Unimaginable colours and many shapes move around. As we enter the room various weapons and items turn in to other types of metal; armor turns to ice, backpacks to oil and boots to gold. Where the wall was turned to glass it turns to mist and seems further in to the room. Tar gets turned in to a dwarf.

Searching through the nest in the room we find a gold coin with a familiar design. It seems the same as the coin we already have – the one that lets people in to the secret thieves guild.

We happen upon a rat god statue and some powerful minions. A quick but tough fight later and the main protagonists escape.We find a map with 2 parts; the temple of the rat god to the Ebon Hand and a map of an unknown building complex – probably underground. An inscription on the map reads: “Abhoth source of all uncleanliness who slumbers deep below with the others.”

We find the second piece of the tree. It seems to be growing new gold coins. We now need to take the tree back to he Griffin chair room in our guild place and put the tree on the desk.

Some goblins waylay us when we head back to the guild base, shooting from murder holes. Moving towards where the griffin table was located we see some goblins running off down the corridor with it. We touch a rune and all travel to what we presume is the next level of the guild home. Red touches the rune and travels to a different place to the rest of the party.

“They don’t stand a chance. Come on …”. Red hears some voices in his head but they seem to be coming from down a corridor. A stuffed raven sits on a spike overseeing what it claims is an arena. Within the arena the raven claims are lots of invisible goblins. For just a few drops of blood he can help one side or the other. After a bit of blood donated on its beak it starts to rain fire on the invisible assassins. Unseen by Red the rest of the party continue to battle the goblins on the second floor of the guilds base. There’s a glowing rune on the underside where the raven sits.

Placing the raven on Red’s shoulder he moves to join the rest of the party. A battle ensues with more of the goblins but eventually all is quiet and we eventually hunt down the griffin table. Placing the joined pieces of the tree on the table allows the tree to merge with the table. We play with the three main branches of the tree and start to learn how to move the Snickleways. A couple of people get headaches and we decide to reunite the griffin chair with the table. This makes things simpler and control of the Snickleways becomes less challenging. We move one of the Snickleways.

Tar uses the druidic cupping technique to get the tree to release the coins. We gain 8 gold coins. Tar offers the acorn to the tree and the tree raps it in one of its leaves.

We sleep. Dog and Slab both awaken covered in sores. Charity and Red awaken covered in blue moss and fully rested.

We put some surrendering goblins in jail and move through the Snickleway and back to mothers.

Going back to the guild is appears mothers was lost and the guild had to move. We bring the guild back to it’s old/new home and people start tidying up.

Info: Kill Ravens are another criminal organisation. The Kill Ravens attacked the Balakazar’s while the Balakazar’s were attacking Mothers.

Info: Kandar is one of our priests.

A few days pass. The Green Man takes us to the guilds Red level (level 2). The Green Man changes in to a Green Dragon and declares himself a druid and part of the ‘Circle of Green’. IT was the Green Man that sent Haydn back to the alley periodically. The CoG tinkers with events in the world. Apparently, we now bear the mark of Chaos – an 8 pointed star. There are other marks on us but it’s less clear what these marks are for. The time of the third moon is more than 18,000 years old. The time of chaos started around 30 years ago. The Green Man has fought against agents of Chaos and are concerned that we would travel down an unwelcome path. For this reason he wishes to keep us close so he can guide us to a more considered path.

Of the prison: Information was extracted from the Kings Tear and presents us with the information. The prison seems to stop demons from leaving and souls moving on to their deity. Raise Dead spell seems to work but Resurrection doesn’t. This is odd given souls cannot leave the place. It could be that the items created to bind powerful creatures is also binding souls.

The ultimate end goal is to close the bane warrens.

There were 2 options to get funds to raise the dead guild members, including our priest.
1. The All key (see below)
2. To curry favour with one of the temples of the priest. We chose St. Valian’s cathedral.

The All key: A minor artifact that may be able to unlock a chest we have that can’t be opened, even by Haydn. If we can get rid of the source of all Uncleanliness then this would curry favour with a lot of priest sects within the city. From here we could get the clergy to raise from the dead some of our fallen companions. From looking at the map, there’s a cult of pestilence nearby that many would benefit from its removal.

There’s an old warehouse within the city that was the last known location of the All Key artifact.

On the way to some underground passageways we encounter strange events on a bridge. We believe a dwarf was casting spells and summoning creatures. The watch comes along and moves people on after slaying the remaining creatures.

The Day Master, Night Master and Green Man ask us to fetch the second part of the artifact. The Green Man tells us that the artifact holding the Snickleways closed is failing. This will open up the location of the guild to the Balakazars to storm the guild and destroy its home. The artifact also powers the traps that protect the guild. The original guild home is the perfect home for the guild but we need the artifact to open it up so the future of the guild will reside within our hands. As the power of the artifact fails then first weaker creatures can flood in to the guild home and then stronger ones.

PROCLAMATION: 3 gp’s per rats head. For every 5 rat tails brought in we can get blessed with protection from diseases by one of the divine organisations.

When we get the artifact pieces together we need to concentrate on them and it’ll conform to our will. Need to concentrate on getting the branches of the artifact to intertwine. At this point we’ll be safe in the guild.

The Green Man encourages us to save the seeds from the magic tree we encountered in the dirty alley where we first met.

Gabriel gorges on Charity but the wounds disappear overnight as Charity is apparently covered momentarily with moss. Perhaps the moss provides some regenerative effect …

Ginsa Hammerbright pays us a visit the following morning -the armorer.

We meet up the Green Man in the morning and he lets us know he was unable to locate the Snickleway. Several items are put in to a sack for the Green Man to take away to the Shadow Broker (very, very expensive to use).

Wandering around the wood we see the Green Man and a great floating eye talking. It appears the items given for the Shadow Broker wasn’t enough and the ShadowBroker wants a service instead. The Shadow Broker wants the Tear of Kings which apparently we can get hold of. This service must be completed now and cannot wait. These tears are gemstones of about 1 foot in length and cut like an octohedron. These tears hold information about an ancient civilization before the formation of this prison world. Somehow the Shadow Broker knows that we have left and re-entered this world so we’re uniquely positioned to undertake this job. If the tear was placed in the bust of a statue the statue would animate and reveal the contents of the tear. The tears were created by Star Elves that left this world before the prison world was created.

We’re taken to a circle of rune’d stones. These are an ancient way of the Star Elves. Only Red can see the glowing runes. We all touch the glowing runes and shift to another location. It’s dark with the smell of the sea. There are plinths on top of the salt water with bridges that lead to other plinths. There are 5 buildings off the central circle of stones. One of the bridges has skeletal remains wrapped around it. Past the bones is a door that Slab slides open. Beyond the door is a large silent chamber with many elven skeleton – perhaps some hobgoblins also. The floor, ceiling and doors are all made of black glass. There’s a silver chain that’s been wrapped around some of one of the skeletons ribs. A stone statue, an owl bear and a flesh hug’er beast.

We climb some stairs to where some goblins are waiting. They seem friendly.They say they want ‘out’ as they’ve been here too long. The main orc says they need a key before they can leave. But the human that led them here is now dead. 8 ft tall and white and furry come to the building with the orcs and carry bodies off which then get animated as undead. The key needed to leave apparently is the size of the forearm and with a hook on the end.

“We the Council of Siluven, potentate of the Star Elves of Sildeyuir do hereby find the traitor, Mourel Duskwalker guilty of crimes against the people. Let his remains be scattered and his Citadel be banished from Sildeyuir and placed into the Night Realm. Thus we speak. 13th Sarangist in the year 14014, The Council of five, Sildeyuir.”. This is the message pinned to one of the walls.

We pass beyond some hobgoblins & orcs and through to an octohedran shaped structure. Moving to the base of the structure we find several statues that could take the Tears of the Kings. We take three of these statues and put them in the handkerchief. A dark elf in the form of a spider moves in to the basement room and brings with her the orc chieftain and a guard. A fight ensues. Weak willed Gabriel is controlled by the dark elf attacks the party. Eventually the dark elf is beaten down and she disappears off. The control is broken and we chat with the orc. He’s been sent here by the floating eye and is now looking for a way out. The orc chieftain is Greg.

Taking the black box to the circle of stones changes the boxes shape to that of a metal clad hound. The hound imprints on Tar. We try to bluff Greg in to helping us with the tower but all we get are a couple of goblin scouts – Nobby and Eric. We strut off petulantly to the tower.

Within the necromancers tower/globe there’s a large funeral chamber. When we walk up to the alter a funeral dance of ethereal elves appears complete with a musical accompaniment. Skeletons move in to attack. We move downstairs to a large open chamber inhabited by a floating skull and green slimed undead mage. We decide to leave and venture further down to the basement. Within a vertical burial chamber is a 4 armed gorilla with a brain in a bottle within its chest. After we slay the creatures the key we want falls from the brain jar. In addition there’s a hunting horn and the body of Fundus.

We enter the octagonal tower. Up an air chute we encounter 2 statues. The left, a female traitor. On the right, the elderly man who brings her to justice. Up some stairs there’s an octagonal room with the stone circular in miniature. Using the key we complete the circle of stones, replacing the horizontal plinths. Returning to the circle of stones proper we gather together the orcs and travel back to the grove.

We make it back to the Green Man. We’re to enter from the NE.We’re to travel to the south and re-enter the thieves guild. Must exit from the south and regain the second part of the artifact. We follow a little fey creature to an oak tree through which we travel.

Several days in alley. Bigs are invisible to everyone outside.

Time passing fast, one or more season per day. Do not look up.

Bamber swallowed up by hole.

Army marches past and dogs have a fight.

Third moon seen in sky (via puddle).

Tree grows, nutritious nuts harvested.

Bigs bring back food and wood. Red and Charity covered in blue moss.

Man (Hayman) seen looking at alley entrance, but we cannot communicate with him.
Comes back later with a beard. Communicate with him using a picture on a stone.

Eventually we do not fall down the hole and Hayman can see us and talk to us. We realise that many years have passed. He believes this is some effect of the Time of Chaos. Explains a little about the city of Ptolus that we live in.

The party:
Slab, an ugly humanoid with elongated features and retractable claws.
Gab(rielle), a dandy elf with antlers and healing ability.
Dog, a huge barbarian with dog-like habits.
Tar, a dirty human female wild child.
Red, a human non-descript.
Chari(ty), a female human armored warrior with sparking fingers.

He invites us back to a house known as Mothers, HQ of the Longfingers Guild. We are bathed, clothed, and fed.

We deal with some zombies and skeleton in the Necropolis. Scary. Charity speaks to a ghost.

Guild has night of the long knives. Bad people in guild are toppled (the Shielded man). The Green Man becomes guild leader. Guild now known as the Mockers.

There is a undercity to Ptolus. The Delvers scour the underground sewers and Undermarket. Use the Mockers as preferred trap finders, due to be relatively trustworthy.

Party enlist with the Mockers. Our first mission is to clear out a safe house thought to be haunted.

The house is searched. Slab is covered in creosote, falls off the wall, falls through a trap door, and is speared by a goblin. We fight 3 goblins and a stirge. The stirge escapes into the sewers. We bluff away some more goblins who run away into the sewers. The hole into the sewers is blocked up.

While returning from the mission the party make a surprise discovery – a glowing portal within the sewers. Some experimentation demonstrates that it is possible to pass through it. While experimenting the party are observed by a character who initially interacts with them and comments on the fact they are passing into a solid wall.

Back at Mothers the group report our successful mission to the guild. Upon mention of the portal there are worried conversations and the Daymaster is summoned. It is quickly established that the party are somehow attuned to the old gateways of the ancient guildhall of the Mockers – a place no one even speaks of. The Daymaster explains that the guildhall was lost during a battle with the Balacazar clan over 30 years ago – with those still living at the end of the fight unable to regain entry having used the last coins of attunement. There were hints of a traitor but little more was said about this.

The Daymaster urges the party to urgently try and enter Mothers and reclaim the controlling artifact for the guild. He is worried that the interested party they met in the sewers may have been working for one of several opposition forces. The original underground location of Mothers is so valuable to the guild that the party are given all of the magic stored in the guild at that moment (although relatively poor pickings) and urged to go immediately to the portal. They are told that with no one having access, Mothers should be clear of dangers – there should just be a number of traps that need to be circumvented. These were not placed to be deadly, more as training aids to the lower ranks of the guild.

On the way the party meet a fake toffman but manage to enter the portal unharmed.

They pass through a number of traps that manage to waylay them but are surprised by a small, but powerful group of Ratmen and some giant rats that have somehow entered Mothers. The party explore Mothers, entering some unusual locations and almost succumbing to some deadly magical traps they had not been warned about. Through good luck or perhaps just a roll of the dice of fate they survive and eventually reclaim the wooden artifact they have been told controls access to the portals. Upon exiting Mothers they encounter the Daymaster and several of the guilds more prominent rogues, all in a bad way having fought a pitched battle. The corpses of the losers float past in the sewers, identified as part of the Balakazar clan. Two senior members of the guild lie dead and their remains are carried back.