In which diplomacy is a vorpal weapon, and the ghosts of games long since played arise to threaten the company...

Roster (Party Level 5th)
Azurami - Eladrin Wizard
Berend - Dwarven Fighter
Elumai - Eladrin Wizard
Finial - Half-elf Paladin (off-stage)
Jonas - Human Ranger (off-stage)
Xavier - Dragonborn Warlord

Leaving Finial and Jonas behind to watch the rear, the party plunges neck-deep into a connecting tunnel, swimming their way through weed-choked water to another vault, much like the one they just left behind. Magical illumination reveals stagnant, hip-deep water, with the space between the four pillars choked with sharp fronds that look like petrified versions of the rubbery weeds they've been wading through.

According to Luhnarstes' map, the way forward is through the lair of the "green-skins" to the south, but in an explorative mood, the company decides to head for another opening to the east. Hugging the wall, they're unnerved by the sensation that there are heavy... somethings submerged in the water, bobbing against their bodies as they walk. Xavier takes it upon himself to stab one of them, resulting in a cloud of milky, noxious-looking chum bubbling up from underneath, and after more examination, it appears to be a humanoid body of some kind, wrapped in weed, and tied off to the weed-bed under the water. Careful not to desecrate the tomb any further, they push on to the north-eastern vault.

The next room is unusual. A viscous scum, like egg-white, appears to have collected around the edges of the vault, and the entire south-eastern quarter of the chamber has collapsed inward... and unnaturally so, as if a great explosion or other event deep in the rock pushed hundreds of tons of rubble into the room. The mucus-like substance, upon closer inspection, is shot through with colour... much like the flurock, and a degree of speculation ensues as to the nature of the substance, and its relation to the mysterious rock.

Within the collapse itself, the company discovers a strange void, about a foot across and worming its way through the rock. The interior surface is lined with a chalky powder, also determined to be the strange material that originally brought them to Saruun Khel, and the party cogitates on this new information. Is the flurock excreted by some kind of underground creature, or food for ir, perhaps? Are Paldemar and his mages using the stuff to attract some kind of burrowing worm, perhaps as an engineering tool or for some other nefarious purpose? No answers are to be had here, and with the rock-fall completely blocking the exit to the south, they have no choice but to put their theories on the back-burner and forge on for now.

Expecting trouble, they cautiously make their way down the duct to the middle vault of the cistern... only to find it completely plugged with a mass of dried weeds. Although a submerged valve does provide a way to circumvent the barrier, Berend is understandably reticent and in the end, the company attaches a rope to the weed plug and pulls it forcibly down, retreating whence they came.

No attack is forthcoming, although the hissing sibilants of a language no-one understands reverberate out at them through the tunnel. Xavier boldly proclaims their purpose -- that they intend no harm, and simply want to pass -- and after what seems like an interminable wait, a lizard-like creature with four arms, wielding a barbed trident and with a leather mask draped over most of his features, emerges suspiciously from the tunnel. It is a sahuagin, far from its normal home in this dank, festering basement. Calciferous tumours cover much of its body like a disease, once again the the same hue and texture as the flurock.

There follows a tense stand-off as both parties strive to understand each-other across the language barrier. Pantomime diplomacy enthusiastically applied on Xavier's part, and the gift of a sword to the saguagin emissary, eventually seem to communicate their intention not to do any harm, and several other sahuagin emerge, all sporting the same strange growths on their bodies. Surrounding the company, they urge them forward. With little option but to trust that their efforts were successful, they're led into the sauagin enclave.

Inside, the room is dark with weed and algae, growing far up the walls and across the ceiling. Large outcrops of crisp, dry weed have been gathered around the bases of the pillars, forming islands of sorts, and in the far corner, what looks like the jaws of a giant shark, wrapped reverently in overlapping strands of weed, has been strung from the ceiling. As the party is led through the chamber with dark, unblinking eyes watching their progress, they spy what might be the sanctuary's priest, a slouched, crooked beast with four segmented tentacles where his right arm should be. The creature hisses at them in disgust as they pass, but doesn't interfere.

Soon they stand no worse for wear in the next vault, having passed unscathed through the sahuagin lair, and with the entrance sealed unceremoniously shut behind them.

Pushing on, the atmosphere begins to change. The water they're wading through becomes icy cold, as does the air in their lungs, and the fungal growths in the cistern take on gigantic, deformed proportions. Access to the final vault on Luhnarstes' map is via an ascending pipe that is almost blocked by these festering growths, dripping slime onto the adventurer's heads and necks, and decomposing into mold almost before their very eyes.

The final chamber is similar, but writ large. Massive, rotting mushrooms and other plants line the walls, pillars, and ceiling, and a constant dripping rain of slime has created a standing layer of vitriol on the floor... but it's the minotaur corpse lying half-consumed by fungal growths near the door that grabs their most immediate attention. The creature is skeletal save for a thin layer of skin that appears almost blanketed over its skull, and is lying slumped in death, one hand clutching an aged sword.

Xavier cannot resist -- after all, he has to replace the sword he gave to the sahuagin -- but unfortunately, touching the minotaur appears to activate a ghostly trap. Suddenly from all around, the distant sound of applause begins to swell, growing from a mere echo to a thunderous roar which washes over the room. Several spectral shapes appear near the center... ghostly minotaurs, dressed in gladiator's garb. They salute the unseen crowd, which shouts its approval, and advance upon the party.

The fight contracts around the entrance to the vault, and becomes nasty. The party is outnumbered and Berend quickly finds himself surrounded on almost all sides. Azurami unleashes a storm of thunderous energies, smashing her attackers back again and again, but still they keep coming... and she suddenly notices something odd, that their reactions to her attacks, although realistic, seem a little forced... theatrical, almost.

The mystery resolves itself when Berend shouts a challenge at the watching crowd -- "I'll not play your games any more!" -- causing their boos and whistles to turn to deafening applause as his axe smashes through one of the gladiators... who then suddenly winks out of existence. Picking up the hint, the others do the same, playing the crowd as best they can and eradicating their opponents one by one not only through their own firepower, but also on the sharp edge of audience approval.

At this point, however, things take an unexpected turn. The nearby skeletal minotaur creaks to life, rising to its feet as several others push their way out of the the deep folds of the festering vegetation. The battle commences with renewed ferocity, much to the audience's delight, but Xavier is almost overwhelmed as he desperately fights off multiple attackers...

In which the Lord of the Mages of Saruun is infinitely unamused, a careful trust is finally established, and a the party finds a would-be king presiding over a drowned kingdom...

Roster (Party Level 5th)
Azurami - Eladrin Wizard
Berend - Dwarven Fighter
Elumai - Eladrin Wizard
Finial - Half-elf Paladin
Jonas - Human Ranger
Xavier - Dragonborn Warlord

Orontor leads the company to the teleportation circle and utters the command word -- "Cantratos!" -- without any attempt to disguise it (experts in the party conclude this is most likely a name, rather than an invocation). There is a sickening lurch as reality contracts around them -- especially disorienting to the eladrin in the group, and a very different trip to their familiar jaunts through the Feywild -- before they find themselves in the audience chamber.

It is a stone room, perfectly circular, with a door to one side and a series of round porthole-like windows around the edge (although what they look out onto is impossible to see, as they are sealed with metal shutters which are magically locked). Orontor looks unexpectedly confused, and admits he has never been here before, but suggests that the party waits patiently nonetheless. After a few minutes, a melodic chime sounds out, footsteps are heard on the other side of the door, and it swings silently open revealing a short corridor, and another, similar room opposite this one. Orontor, whispering into Xavier's ear, identifies the three men that stand there.

Two are side-by-side, and a third is at their back. One is a tall, stocky youth with hair cut around his head in a bowl, a pinched face, brown leather britches, and a red poncho draped over his chest. Orontor identifies this mage as Passeract, no small amount of dislike in his voice. The other is a taller, thinner man with a twitchy, squinting demeanour, and is dressed similarly; this mage Orontor introduces as Emerjis.

Behind them is Paldemar himself. He is nondescript of face, sporting a mop of stringy black hair, shot through with grey, and a large moustache of similar hue. A silver-clasped cloak is draped over one shoulder, although there is, unusually, not one ounce of gold or silver anywhere else to be seen on him, while the rest of his body, aside from tall black boots, appears to be clad in ribbons of multicoloured cloth and silk, bound about his midsection like a mummy's wrappings. His eyes alight on each of his visitors with an air of supreme dominion.

Passeract introduces "The most gracious Lord Paldemar", steps aside to allow the Lord of the Mages of Saruun to take a seat, and invites questions, but quickly, so that his "most esteemed and valuable time" is interrupted no longer than necessary. The party asks about the Court of Cloaks, flurock, and the Bloodreavers, but gets short shrift from the mage, who seems more distracted by the quality of his manicure than in anything the company might have to say.

He admits to having imported "a few kilo's" of the strange material known as flurock, and even examines the sample they have brought with them... whereupon, in his grasp, the rock begins to malform and elongate like clay. This draws gasps of surprise from the party but, when questioned, he simply explains that it is "one of the many properties of an otherwise uninteresting substance", and returns it to them.

On the subject of the Bloodreavers, he tells the party that he knows of their escapades, and asks Orontor directly if their excursion to the Chamber of Eyes was done at his behest, to which the mage, now even paler than usual, is forced to admit that it was. Paldemar shows neither anger nor approval at this, causing Orontor to fidget even more nervously than before.

Xavier tries hard to press home the issue of the kidnapped Kingsblade, attempting to convince the mage that is in all their interests that the slaves are found and rescued quickly, before word spreads to the King, and that a certain... package which is the property of the Court of Cloaks is also recovered before the Court comes looking for it Themselves.

"A fine institution, but of no interest here. They hold no dominion in the Labyrinth. If they have a presence in the Hall, I suffer it by virtue of not caring." -- Paldemar on the Court of Cloaks.

Neither the Court of Swords nor the Court of Cloaks appears to concern him much, that is until the party begins insinuating that they have contacts in the Court, and it may actually be in their interest, if not Paldemar's, to draw some attention to the Seven-Pillared Hall. The atmosphere turns a chilly at this point, with Passeract enraged that they should threaten Lord Paldemaar in this way, but the leader of the Mages, despite all claims to the contrary, eventually seems inclined to avoid unnecessary confrontations with the Courts of the King, and intimates that he is receptive to an agreement.

The company's proposal is simple: help them gain entrance to the Horned Hold, and do not warn the duergar that they are coming. Paldemar agrees, and instantaneously, information on how to reach the Hold resolves itself in all of the company's minds as if it had always been there. This small concession markes the end of the meeting, however. Ordering Orontor to stay behind to "have a little talk", Paldemar, his entourage (daggers of contempt firing from their eyes), and the terrified mage all depart.

(Orontor returns a short time later, and to their surprise appears renewed. Gone are the dirty, hand-me-down robes he was dressed in before, replaced with a resplendent set of clothes adorned in fine jewelry. Delighted, he tells them that Paldemar not only thanked him for dealing with the Bloodreavers, who, it turns out, have been a thorn in the mage's side ever since he gave them residence in the Hall, but also promoted him to the inner circle of the mages! "No more holding that great oaf's leash," he says in reference to the ogre Brugg, "now I get treated as an equal!")

Talk turns to their next step, but the conversation suddenly turns prickly, as Jonas reveals what he saw of Xavier's visit to the duergar, and the issues which have plagued the two of them since the dragonborn joined the party are finally given voice. The discussion is terse but fruitful. Elumai also opines that trust has been difficult to give to Xavier, given his authoritarian tone (and revealing a little of her noble background in the process), while Berend (claiming a title himself - "Heir to the chieftainship of the Moddison Branch of the Hrafnkells") is, as usual, phlegmatic about the whole thing. The discussion comes to a cordial end, but a feeling of unresolved tension still lingers somewhwat over the proceedings.

Using the teleportation command to return to the Hall, they examine their options. The mental instructions transmitted to them from Paldemar suggest two approaches. First, they can use what is essentially the front gate, but since they know the Hold is in effect a duergar fortress and likely to be stuffed with dwarves intent on killing or capturing them, this is not an attractive option. Second, and more interestingly, there is apparently a hidden entrance accessed by traversing the abandoned cistern beneath the Seven-Pillared Hall. This old and disused facility is, by repute, haunted by memories of its ancient past, but this serves more as an enticement than anything else, and they decide to make use of it.

Jonas scouts the entrance -- a grating into which the river running through the Hall plunges at its north end -- and declares it cold and wet, but serviceable, and the company drops into a frigid pool below. Following the mental map in their head, they delve into a broad, half-submerged pipe, which ultimately culminates in a collapsed dead end. However, built into the floor is a valve of sorts, leading into a slimmer underwater pipe, which Berend, being the smallest member of the party, volunteers to investigate.

He emerges into a large inner chamber, but before he can investigate further, is hauled back by the rest of the company. His hair and beard are covered in tiny white pods like seeds or sports, and within a few minutes, he starts to feel ill. Upon inspection by the rest of the party, he is found to have contracted Delver's Cap, a fungal disease known to thrive in stagnant water. This news does not put a smile on his face... however, he points out that if anyone had to be the first to catch it, better it was a dwarf.

Navigating the confines of the access pipe, the party emerges into a square, vault-like room supported by four pillars that arch up into the ceiling and about a hundred foot or more to a side. About three feet of stagnant water covers the floor. In the center of the room, a shallow circular bowl of stone appears brightly illuminated, and upon closer inspection, appears filled with a strange, glowing plant. Above, a recess in the ceiling contains long, dangling fronds, all glowing with the same phosphorescent light, and the party wisely decides to circumvent this obvious trap.

Jonas uses his exceptional climbing skill to traverse the walls and ceiling, but suddenly finds himself under attack from a dark corner. Arrows whistle ineffectually past him in the dark, clanging off the walls and sploshing into the water, riding on a wave of verbal abuse from someone as yet out of sight:

"Villains! Green-skinned pirates! You'll not assail this kingdom, my life upon it!"
"Foul demons! You see my strength of arms! You'll find no revenge here! Retreat, or welcome Luhnarstes' wrath!" -- Luhnarstes at the approach of the party.

Guided by magical light provided by his friends, Jonas closes in on the voice and finds an island of refuse built of wood, cloth, wire, and seemingly anything else that might have been washed into the cistern, built into one corner of the vault. Crouching behind a makeshift rampart, he spots what looks like a tiefling, although the man's horns have been filed or snapped off just behind the ear. Dressed in rags, thin of form and with leathery tan skin, the man's crazed albino eyes look out from under a makeshift crown fashioned of crooked forks and spoons, and he exhorts Jonas with promises of pain and damnation if he comes any closer. Eventually, the tiefling stands, launches a poorly-aimed spear which splashes into the water over Jonas's shoulder, and retreats to a corner, cowering in fear.

The party approaches, but the derelict, who calls himself Luhnarstes, seems inconsolable, muttering variously about green-skinned devils, the rise of the pale moon, the fact that "he is not worthy of revenge!" and other nonsense which makes very little sense. Slowly, gradually, with the combined skills of the party brought to bear, he at least calms somewhat, and although questions about his own situation and how he came to be down here result only in frantic gibberish, they're able to ask him for help on the matter of the cistern itself.

In fact, with the proper persuasion, he is able to scrawl a map for them, showing nine vaults in a 3x3 pattern, interconnected by a network of pipes and tunnels, some of which have collapsed. The "green-scaled pirates" that occupy so much of his banter appear to reside near the center of the complex, but he also warns the company of the "horned ones, who will make you but players in their devilish game!"

Thus armed, the party clears away the flotsam accumulated by Luhnarstes over the exit tunnel, and pushes on into the darkness...

In which Berend finds interest from an unexpected quarter, duergar schemes are brewing in the cellar, and trust doesn't come easy in the company of heroes...

Roster (Party Level 5th)
Azurami - Eladrin Wizard
Berend - Dwarven Fighter
Elumai - Eladrin Wizard
Finial - Half-elf Paladin
Jonas - Human Ranger
Xavier - Dragonborn Warlord

With nothing to do but wait for Orontor's return, the party decides to explore the Hall and follow up on some of the things they've already learned. Finial, Azurami, and Xavier wish to pay a visit to the Temple of Hidden Light, the Hall's only chapel, while Jonas, Berend, and Elumai decide that the Grimmerzhul Trading Post may be a better bet.

At the Temple, the adventurers find a simple and austere chapel chiseled out of the western face of the cavern. Within, stone benches face an altar, on which is displayed a contraption of arresting complexity. Gears, pulleys, and chains, powered by a slender column of water running from a finger of metal pipe punched into the ceiling, keep a sequence of metal balls rolling in perfect, perpetual synchronicity up and down the length of the machine. Xavier is immediately struck by the device, and engages the resident priest, Phaledra, in conversation.

The simply-dressed young woman is a worshiper of Erathis, goddess of law and civilization. She commissioned the device from a dwarven family far to the south, she reveals, to represent, most obviously, the action of numerous pieces working to the advantage of the greater whole... although what it does for her own personal spiritual betterment is knowledge for her alone. She invites all three of the company who have come to visit her to look into the machine and take whatever lessons or education from it while they can, before she is required to move on. The Temple's portfolio, she informs them, changes regularly at the behest of the mages, and none of the priests who have served here have been allowed to stay for more than a few weeks, a month or two at most. Xavier diligently maps the workings of the device, and leaves a sizable donation behind as well, before they all move on.

The others make their way to the trading post. It's a single-story building constructed of large, uniform blocks; surrounded also by a shallow, crenelated stone wall like a rampart, the feeling is of a little fortress within the Seven-Pillared Hall. Three duergar, armed and ready for a fight, lounge about the place, but do not impede the party as they pass through an open iron gate towards the shop itself. Jonas slips around the outside, darting between mounds of refuse piled haphazardly against the inner side of the wall.

Inside the shop, neat arrangements of bottles, vials, jars and jugs of all kinds are on display, and the proprietor, a duergar woman names Kedhira, greets her new visitors with polite nobility, inviting them to look around while entertaining questions on her inventory from Elumai. Things take a sudden turn for the strange, however, when out of the blue she asks Elumai how much she would be prepared to take... for Berend! She claims to have buyers lined up who would pay good money for a dwarf in his condition, but Elumai, after due consideration, reluctantly declines the transaction. Berend himself is ignored during this discussion, but seems more amused than insulted.

Outside, Jonas spies two entrances into rear of the premises: a hatch probably used to load supplies into the cellar, and a separate staircase leading down to a sturdy-looking door. Avoiding the patrolling guard, he slips into the cellar, there to find a treasure-trove of alchemical goods and material, as well as a sophisticated looking assemblage of jars, stills, pipes and condensers. Another door opens onto a room in which three duergar appear to be at work bottling various malefic-looking substances, with another dark stairwell leading down into the depths, but Jonas leaves them well-enough alone... that is until an uncharacteristically clumsy exit rouses them from their work. He is forced to fight his way out but eventually escapes into the Seven-Pillared Hall, where, clambering up to the high vantage of Krand's chambers, he lays low until he can make contact with the others.

Finally, before the meeting with Orontor, Xavier decides on one last course of action. Leaving the others, he walks alone to the Trading Post and confronts Kedhira directly, quickly dropping all pretense and offering her above-market value for the Kingsblade slaves that he knows the duergar have bought. Kedhira remains coy, never admitting to the truth, but seems open to Xavier's offer, nonetheless. She considers it for a few moments, but in the end, whether it's the company kept by the dragonborn, the likelihood of betrayal, or the possibility that these particular slaves have a value not measured in mere currency, she turns him down. Xavier, hinting that this is a decision she will live to regret, leaves peacefully, but unbeknownst to him, his visit to the duergar has taken place under the watchful and suspicious eye of Jonas far above.

Later, as the trade bell tolls its command across the Hall, the company meets with Orontor. He is no less nervous and bemused by what he is about to do than before, but nevertheless, after accepting a copy of the receipts and accounts salvaged from the Chamber of Eyes (edited by Elumai to remove any mention of the Necrotech Coffin), he leads them out of the inn and to their scheduled meeting with Paldemar, leader of the Mages of Saruun...

In which they don't make carpets like they used to, the theory that dwarven beards always grow back thicker is put to the test, and hallelujah! It's raining duergar!

Roster
Azurami - Eladrin Wizard 4
Berend - Dwarven Fighter 4
Elumai - Eladrin Wizard 4
Finial - Half-elf Paladin 4
Jonas - Human Ranger 4
Xavier - Dragonborn Warlord 4

The fight against Krand and his duergar allies heats up very quickly... not least because the expensive carpet with which he has covered the floor of his hideout bursts into flame at the slightest provocation, creating a conflagration which spreads rapidly across the room.

The fire sprites leap excitedly into the midst of the party, dodging several blows to get into position, and suddenly ignite into columns of flame which roar upward and singe the stone roof above. More than one of the adventurers is set ablaze by this attack, and the heat of the creatures forces them back, but Krand appears unphased as the sprites take up position either side of him, the sparks and flames of their auras obscuring the hobgoblin from sight. Meanwhile, the invisible duergar takes this opportunity to strike, phasing into existence alongside a distracted Azurami and dealing her a serious blow before vanishing from sight once again.

From here the fight is as much about avoiding going up in flames as it is about defending themselves and dispatching their enemies. The fire gradually eats across the room, pushing the adventurers further towards the ledge. As Xavier and the melee specialists do their utmost to pin Krand and his allies into position, Elumai ducks into the bedchamber to escape the heat, and spots a couple of interesting things.

In one corner is a patch of gellatinous slime, spilled out across the floor as if evacuated from a container of some sort. Amongst the thick, jelly-like humours are stringy ropes of matter like thin coils of pipe, and other fleshy masses float like large exploded blisters on the surface. In quiet desperation against the encroaching heat, Elumai splatters some of the jelly onto the expanding fire... where it immediately extinguishes the flames and hardens into a thin, transparent patina on the floor, keeping the flames a few steps at bay from the bedchamber at least. Apart from the strange goop, a wooden chest also catches her attention, and a quick look inside reveals a few coin and some gems. She doesn't waste time searching the entire thing for now.

Outside, a tenacious defense has dispatched all of their foes except for Krand and the duergar scout, now both retreating through the flames to a hidden escape route through the back of the fireplace. Berend charges through the inferno in pursuit, gritting his teeth against the heat and flames, and pins them down, allowing his allies to deal the killing blows from behind. At the same time, Xavier and Azurami heave what's left of the carpet back onto itself, rolling it up in a successful attempt to beat back the fire. Soon, the blaze is out, leaving only the scorched, smoke-filled interior of Krand's quarters... at least, what's left of them.

In return for victory, the wooden chest turns up an impressive pile of booty... but not before Elumai, unwilling yet to share the full haul with members of the party she does not yet fully trust, has secretly pocketed several gems. Otherwise, a set of Bracers of Defense go to Azurami, a Master's Wand of Magic Missile +1 goes to Elumai, gratefully received to enhance her staple attack, and Krand's Magic Longspear +1 goes to Xavier. A selection of potions is handed around, and a bundle of duergar beard quills, tied with string and sitting at the bottom of the chest, is a mystery to the company, but taken nevertheless.

Of separate interest is a sheaf of accounts, showing the dealings of the Bloodreavers over recent months. It lists individual slaves (quality rated on a scale of 1 to 5), codenames for their buyers, and the price fetched. "2 x Human female, Kingsblade" stands out amongst the entries, as does "1 x Elven child", a prize which was sold to a buyer codenamed "Arak" for 2500gp, a sum far in excess of any of the others, even the Kingsblade.

Finally, they find a collection of letters between Krand and none other than Kalarel, the scion of Orcus who was behind the plot to open the portal to the Shadowfell near Winterhaven. It seems Kalarel had promised to deliver the "expendable" occupants of the town to Krand once his plan had come to fruition, but annotations in (presumably) Krand's own hand reveal that Kalarel was foiled by a group of strangers staying in Winterhaven at the time. His final note, underlined at the bottom of the final letter from Kalarel, simply reads: "Find these bastards."

In a separate chest of drawers, the party discovers a selection of ceremonial outfits, all expensively tailored in Krand's size, representing characters from various religious festivals in support of all of the Gods of the land. What he used this garb for remains a mystery.

Fearing a visit from Bloodreaver reinforcements, or perhaps the Ordinator Arcanis after all the trouble they've caused, the party bolsters their position and takes a rest. Jonas enjoys the opportunity of spying on the activities of the Hall from the high vantage, seeing little of note except, perhaps, for what is presumably a mage, who appears in a flash of light on the teleportation circle and pays a lengthy visit to the Grimmerzhul Trading Post, an establishment which Jonas knows is run by duergar.

The group follows Krand's secret escape down a series of stairwells and chutes back to the Seven-Pillared Hall, where they return to the Halfmoon Inn to meet with Orontor (and, later, are forced to make a brief and somewhat sheepish return visit to the Chamber of Eyes to find and collect Rendil, whom they had left trussed up in an unexplored room).

Orontor meets them as promised, delighted to find them having returned in one piece from their mission, although he is somewhat sickened by the presentation of a bloody sack containing Krand's head. He innocently enquires after any "packages" which they might have found, any unusual artifacts delivered to the Bloodreavers which he suspects may have been destined for Paldemar, but the party chooses not to tell him about referenced they found to the mysterious Necrotech Coffin. Nevertheless, he pays them the princely sum of 350gp, and agrees to follow through on his promise to arrange a meeting with Paldemar... if only he could take the paper accounts they found, for study. The party promises to make him a copy, and Orontor goes on his way, dissatisfied but with no other recourse, and tells them to meet him back at the inn when the Trading Bell tolls later that evening.

This leaves the party with a sack full of unanswered questions, and an entire afternoon to kill...

In which a paladin is ruthlessly set upon, a few stones are left unturned, and it pays to be vigilant when crossing a bridge hundreds of feet over certain death...

Roster
Azurami - Eladrin Wizard 4
Berend - Dwarven Fighter 4
Elumai - Eladrin Wizard 4
Finial - Half-elf Paladin 4
Jonas - Human Ranger 4
Xavier - Dragonborn Warlord 4

Assailed by the combined weight of the party's attacks, Lobkorr focuses all of his desperate efforts on squeezing the life out of Finial, but he is held fast by Berend and beaten gradually to a bloody pulp by everyone else. Elsewhere, Lobkorr's pet dire wolf does its best to aid its master but is shunted into a distant corner by Azurami and set upon by her allies, while the other hobgoblins curse their inability to penetrate the party's considerable defenses and are dispatched, one by one.

Soon the battle has turned to the adventurers' advantage, and the only adversary alive is a simpering goblin hiding in one of the floor cages. Jonas is pitiless, eager to put the creature out of its misery, but the goblin bargains with Xavier, offering information in exchange for its life.

It confirms much of what they already know, that Matorna-Rivash and a second surviving Kingsblade officer have already been sold by Krand to the duergar, living deep in a fortress known as the Horned Hold. Access to Krand's chambers is via a hidden door behind the statue of Torogg above. The creature is ignorant of the "necrotech coffin" and apparently of anything else which might be useful, and Xavier risks antagonising Jonas and Elumai by preventing them from hurting it... but in the end, the creature is killed at the ranger's hand, with or without the permission of the dragonborn.

Beyond the door is a long bridge with a sheer drop on one side. On the opposite side, a thick leather curtain obscures a view down upon no less than the Seven-Pillared Hall itself. The side of the curtain facing the Hall is painted to resemble a rock-face, and no doubt from the floor of the cavern three-hundred feet below, the camouflage effectively conceals the movements of anyone who might be crossing the bridge.

At the other end, a solid-looking door blocks entrance to a chamber cut out of the projecting rock-face, and two arrow-slits either side no doubt promise trouble. The party determines that a cautious advance is the best solution, a decision which pays dividends when Jonas, creeping forward to investigate, spots a section of the bridge just in front of the door which is designed to detach and swing down when stepped on. Clambering around the underside of the rock shelf, he spots two duergar, waiting patiently on a ledge facing into the room, indicating that to the occupants of the room (presumably Krand and others), their approach is not, after all, unanticipated.

Advancing as carefully as possible, the bridge trap is nevertheless triggered as the party picks the lock to the door, putting the prospect of a dangerous leap between those stranded on the other side of the bridge and the impending violence inside Krand's quarters.

Krand himself, as well as one other, a duergar, waits for them within. His rooms are majestically appointed, with a roaring fireplace, a plush, deep-piled carpet, thickly-cushioned divan and chairs, a massive four-poster in a bed-chamber to the rear, and a large window with a view down onto the Seven-Pillared Hall (outside of which stand the two armoured duergar, poised for the fight, that Jonas spotted).

The Bloodreaver chief is extravagantly armoured in silver ceremonial chain and breastplate, on which is inscribed, presumably, the symbol of his clan, a grasping hand with a single drop of blood depending from each of its claws. A longspear, sporting a pennant with a similar design, lies to hand. His duergar guest, a grey-skinned, flame-bearded dwarf with humourless eyes, stands nearby.

The party wastes no time in parlay, and rushes the room. The two duergar on the ledge outside are immediately assailed, one of them falling to certain death far below, while the other manages to grab the precipice and heave himself back up. Krand leisurely picks up his longspear and engages the adventurers, while his duergar friend, after unleashing a hail of poisonous beard-quills, simply vanishes into thin air.

Just a few seconds later, the fireplace suddenly roars with energy, and three small humanoid sprites, wreathed in fire, step out from the flames and caper about on the carpet, which smoulders and burns beneath their feet. Embers from the unrestrained fireplace shower out across the room as the sprites move to attack...

I got my first taste of D&D Insider (DDI) at GenCon UK ’07, during the Wizards panel run by Charles Ryan and (ZOMGITSBRUCECORDELL) Bruce Cordell, including the film of that fellow who has now come to be known as ‘The Guy With What’s That Accent Again?’. I must admit, I found that skit mildly amusing at the time (if a bit embarrassing in hindsight), and the presentation on the whole was pretty good. The DDI looked exciting, I liked the ideas being thrown around, and the WotC guys seemed genuinely pleased to be talking about it.

Since then, Wizards’ online strategy has ridden a rocky road. Gleemax, the ambitious gaming portal that was to unify Wizards’ entire product line under one online banner, keeled over pretty much before it drew its first breath, with only the forums and a pretty ropey calendar app seeing the light of day. Unlike many, I was disappointed by this, because I thought the old brain-in-a-jar angle, as well as the idea of the portal itself, showed ambitious thinking that was appropriate from the big bear of the RPG business.

Too ambitious, it seems, and they pulled the plug. No huge loss to anyone. There are already a million online ways to organise your gaming online (I use at least two of them, a Wiki and Google Calendar), and even though a quality online space run by Wizards could have been an interesting trend-setter, it’s not as if there’s a huge gaping hole in my life now it’s dead.

Meanwhile, the DDI itself has seen one drama after another. First came the rather abrupt announcement that the Dungeon and Dragon licenses were not going to be renewed with Paizo and that PDF versions of the magazines were going to be published by Wizards themselves. This caused exactly the kind of uproar you would expect, especially since Paizo, whose previous work showed an obvious love and respect for the history of the game, had netted themselves a loyal and vocal fan-base over the years. Reputedly the split was amicable and Wizards actually extended the license by a few issues to give Paizo the chance to finish the current adventure path, but that didn’t stop a very loud corner of the D&D fraternity from getting very upset indeed. One ENWorld poster’s sig at the time read, “Never Forgive. Never Forget.” Um, okay.

(As a side note, Paizo are now developing an OGL-based 3.5 derivative called Pathfinder with which they hope, I’m sure, to raid the wallets of those who don’t like 4E or don’t like Wizards or some toxic combination of both. It should be a good system, but the days of me playing 3.5 or anything like it by choice are long gone.)

The good news is that despite not being able to read then on the loo as easily as before, the magazines have been very good indeed. This isn't surprising since they're drawing on exactly the same pool of freelancers that Paizo did, and although it's still not quite as good as the Paizo years, and there seem to be a few lessons about adventure paths that need learning, they’re getting there.

What’s really missing is a wholesale embracing of the PDF format; it needs to be less of a convenient medium for distributing the content and more of a feature in itself. Bookmarks, chapters, cross-referencing… we get none of that. I'd like to see some real innovation here. It’s aggravating. Sort it out, guys.

Then there’s the DDI applications themselves: the Character Builder and Visualiser, the Game Table, and the Compendium. After the release of 4E, when much of this stuff was already supposed to have been done and yet all we had seen were a couple of limp alpha-quality demonstrations at various conventions, it was obvious things weren’t going to plan and changes had to be made. That meant the Visualiser and Game Table being quietly shuffled off the menu while all pale and clammy software engineering hands (I have two myself) were re-tasked to the Compendium and Character Builder. Both of these are now out in the wild, and both of them are excellent in ways which I shall adduce for your entertainment below. (I warn you, if you’re looking for anything other than a glowing report on these two products, avert your eyes for a few paragraphs.)

The Character Builder in particular is a trophy piece for the D&D line. The UI is cool to look at and fun to use. Knocking up a PC takes literally five minutes. You can house-rule in new equipment and bust the rules open if your DM wants to grant you, for example, extra feats. Within days of any source book being released, all of the options are available right there in the program, fully detailed straight from the Compendium database and automatically installed. When you're finished, a truly excellent, fully customisable character sheet, with all of your powers laid out on individual cards and more importantly, all of the attack and damage modifiers automatically calculated for you, is the result. It's truly a grand piece of work and as a software engineer myself, I can see the love which has been lavished on this thing. It's also surprisingly bug-light.

If you’re only ever a player and not a DM, this means that everything Wizards will ever produce for 4E is served up to you without you having to buy a single book. Traditionalists may weep tears of liquid nostalgia over that, but in terms of sheer value for money, it’s amazing. You’ll have to keep a careful eye on the subscription rate – and unlike say the PDF Dungeon and Dragon magazines, you will lose access to it all if you stop paying -- but at the moment it’s cheap as hell.

For DM’s, the Compendium, and to a lesser extent the free bonus tools that are online such as the Encounter and Monster Builders, make the DDI just no-brainer awesome value. When it comes to the crunch, the Compendium has everything. Every power, skill, monster, NPC, magic item and option from every book, magazine, adventure, supplement, and article they ever release is added to the database within days of being published. It’s completely browsable, which is useful for getting inspiration for new ideas or for checking out how the pro’s might have designed something similar to what you have in mind, and (now at least) has excellent search and filtering features getting you where you want to be with minimum fuss.

What the Compendium lacks is a fundamental rules guide, i.e. it can never be a true replacement for your PHB, but there are rumblings that a glossary will soon be added which should go some way towards rectifying that. After a recent redesign, it even looks cool too. I really can’t say enough good things about it, so I should probably stop now.

As for the other two, I can well imagine the Visualiser being completely aborted. It was a fun idea, but the sheer amount of work required to model every piece equipment they ever create, versus the real value of what you get out at the end, must surely put the program at the bottom of the priority list. As a companion to the mega-ambitious Game Table, whereby you could import an exact rendition of your PC into the virtual dungeon, it might have had some traction, but with the Game Table also looking dubious at the moment, it almost certainly has to go.

The DDI, then. A success or not? In my book, yes. They over-extended and over-promised at the start, and it was a long and painful birth, but they now have two quality digital magazines, an electronic character building tool which is easily the best on the market, and an online database which I doubt any DM would ever want to do without once they have a taste for it. Assuming that the Visualiser and Game Table are now dead (I’ll be stunned if they ever talk about them again except to announce that they’ve been cancelled), I’m excited to see what the guys who cooked up these tools can come up with next.

Next: Wizards, the company.

So the new game has been out for (counts fingers) nine months, and a lot has happened. Many flames have been flung, and continue to burn online. D&D players around the globe have arranged themselves into their appropriate corners and now eye each-other uncomfortably across the edition gap. I, personally, have DM'd (counts) almost a hundred hours of 4th Edition, and played in the odd game too. How has the game moved on since it was released? What has changed? Is it any better now? What lessons have been learned?

While it was being previewed I liked what I saw of 4E, and when it actually came out, I loved what I saw. Part of this was exhaustion with the previous edition, part of it was a general readiness for something new, and part of it was that I wanted to start a regular group, and 4E seemed like a perfect opportunity to do it. I could get a weekly game going, and look forward to enjoying the very early stages of a new edition and all the supplements and excitement that came with that, all in the company of new friends.

Getting that new group together was a simple combination of patience and luck, and while the dreaded Player Conveyer has seen a lot of action in the last couple of months, it seems like every time someone has to leave, someone else is waiting in the wings to take their place. The group is now six players strong, and everyone seems to be having a blast. Certainly, 4E doesn't seem to have put anyone off, and everyone got to grips with the rules very quickly.

Which is not to say, over the months, that their quirks haven't become apparent. I remain unconvinced by Skill Challenges, still. I've tried a couple of permutations, and the errata certainly helped to clear some stuff up, but it remains very hard to build an abstract SC into the flow of the game without arresting it into some weird gamey twilight zone where the trick is to guess what the DM wants, rather than where the roleplaying is taking you. Admittedly, the feedback on my SC's has been generally positive, but that's more because I haven't put myself in a situation where the problem manifests rather than the problem actually having been solved.

Others have embraced this as a feature, and it's something I might do myself in the future, but for the moment I much prefer SC's to merge seamlessly with the game and consider my job to be successfully complete only at the point one of the players looks up and says, "XP? Oh, was that a Skill Challenge?". The jury is still out, really.

Speaking of errata, there's been a steady flow of it. On the one hand, you have to ask whether such updates should be necessary, on the other, being in the business I'm in, I know the kind of errors that can creep into large, complex projects contributed to by many people over long periods, so it doesn't bother me unless the error is egregious. Instances of this are light (the Skill DC table being completely revised a few weeks after release being one example), so I take it as positive that Wizards continue to update the game as they do, and honestly, only the really major changes require any application at the table at all.

As you might expect, splat books have come thick and fast, usually at the rate of one a month. Nine months into the edition, we're already seeing Player's Handbook 2 and Monster Manual 2 coming out of the gate, which include exactly the kind of core expansions that Wizards talked about back in August last year. For the most part, the player-oriented splats have been excellent, crunchier than a McVities Hobnob and bulging with options. The extreme dissociation between options for player and options for DM's this time around means that you shouldn't be going to books like the PHB2, Arcane Power or Martial Power if you're looking for inspiration on character background or flavour, though; take what you can get from the class concepts themselves and the general thrust of their Powers, and do the rest yourself. Those babies are all business.

One artefact of this player/DM split is that I don't find myself paying much attention to the player's side of the screen. The various Power books and the PHB2 make great browse material, but I don't have to know them like I had to know the options from their 3E equivalents, because those were the building blocks I would be using for future NPC's and villains. This can be fun when someone unleashes a Power I know nothing about, but can also cause delays when I'm asked to adjudicate on some weird exception or corner case, but overall I think has a positive effect on the game. It frees me, the DM, to focus on stuff I really should be worrying about, and importantly, gives the players a niche they can call their own. Result? Smug grins and glinting eyes on both sides of the screen.

For the DM, we've had the likes of Open Grave, Manual of the Planes, and Draconomicon. I have found all of these books to be excellent value, especially MotP which has inspired whole tracts of my campaign's upcoming Paragon and Epic tiers. The 4E Points of Light concept, and the implied setting Wizards have built around it, is turning out to be pretty fertile ground for the game developers, and by building a campaign world which is sympathetic to those ideas, I've been able to meld published material with my own work very successfully. This is partly a function of necessity, I admit (like most DM's, I don't have as much time as I'd like to prep the game), but mostly because, well, I like what they're doing.

Adventures have turned out to be a different matter, with some disappointingly uninteresting offerings. Keep on the Shadowfell was an unashamedly C+ Must Try Harder effort; Thunderspire Labyrinth, while inexplicably having the reputation of a roleplay-rich-environment, was nothing more than a couple of linked dungeons, albeit with some cool encounters; Pyramid of Shadows is more of same, yet another dungeon crawl even if the villain is quite imaginatively villanous. As for the Paragon and Epic adventures, I have yet to do more than browse them, so I guess I'll comment on those some other time.

I'm an unashamed fan of the new format, which is unusual and stands out from the crowd even if the two-book idea is hit-and-miss, but unless P1 through E3 take a drastically different approach to adventure design, I'll be doing little more than I am now: mining them for material but completely re-writing the plot framework. (Note: this still makes them value for money, but I would at least like the option of not having to do any work!)

So up until now it's been all about consolidation. This is not surprising, as the books we're reading today have probably been in development since the time of the first PHB. Old favourites like the gnome, the half-orc, the bard, and the druid are now all present and accounted for. Wizards can have familiars again. The vague pencil outlines of the implied setting have been filled in. My 4E shelf is now acceptably saggy in the middle. The system has not turned out to be hopelessly broken. Unlike previous editions though, what Wizards have printed is only half the story...

Next: the DDI.

In which many doors are bashed in, many heads are broken, and the best course of action is just to stroll in the front door...

Roster
Azurami - Eladrin Wizard 4
Berend - Dwarven Fighter 4
Elumai - Eladrin Wizard 4
Finial - Half-elf Paladin 4
Jonas - Human Ranger 4
Xavier - Dragonborn Warlord 4

Two hobgoblins remain standing, and neither of them seems to have the stomach for a continued fight. Under heavy attack, one of them falls, while the other barges through the company to attempt an escape down an unexplored corridor to the north. He finds -- not much to his surprise by the looks of it -- that the door at the end is locked. With half the party, led by Finial, on his tail, he hammers desperately on the door, but no-one on the other side comes to his aid.

Meanwhile, three goblins emerge from the south only to walk straight into an ambush laid by Jonas and Xavier. The ground underfoot flash-freezes and the air in their lungs turns to ice as the wizards unleash their attacks, while Jonas applies multiple arrows to the cause. One of the goblins, spurred on by his mates, is killed within seconds, while the other two make use of the distraction to flee back whence they came. Doors slam as they make good their escape.

To the north, Finial dispatches the remaining hobgoblin, but is dismayed to hear the sounds of armour being donned behind the door. Trying to take advantage of this opportunity, both he and Elumai batter their way through it to find themselves face-to-face with two armoured, grey-skinned and red-bearded dwarves... duergar!

Their opponents were clearly waiting for them, whipping their heads around and unleashing a flurry of razor-sharp spines from their beards straight at Finial. The attacks draw blood, and he feels cold poison seep into his muscles, but being resolute of body he soon shakes it off. Alarmingly, the dwarves then burst into flame, molten fire pouring from their warhammers and the roaring fireplace nearby flaring up in sympathy. Elumai keeps it partially in check with a simple cantrip, but as the imminent battle goes on, tongues of flame begin to lick out from the fireplace and creep across the floor.

Elsewhere, the others set about securing the area. The goblins appear to have disappeared behind some solid metal doors, similar to the ones they saw outside. From within, a voice is heard shouting orders in Common -- "Lobkorr'll see 'em away, into position you rats!" -- along with other sounds of a defense being prepared. Azurami does her best to tie off the doors to give them some time to decide what to do, and Xavier briefly lends his considerable body-weight to the task as well.

The battle with the duergar gradually attracts the rest of the party, and soon the dwarves find themselves facing a whole company of well-equipped adventurers. One of them is able to successfully beat a hasty retreat, sprinting down another easterly corridor and behind yet another door, but the other is cornered and, despite being able to use the flames in the fireplace to regenerate his wounds, is brought down.

On his person, they find a few gold pieces, and a note written in Deep Speech. Fortunately, Finial is able to read it. It appears to be almost a shopping list of sorts, not for goods, but for people!

Item	Value
2 x human captives	1500gp
1 x elven female	800gp
1 x necrotech coffin	2500gp

This causes a bit of a stir with Elumai, who recalls late-night ghost stories of the 'Necrotech Surgeon General' who would visit innocent children and... modify them in ghastly ways. She had dismissed the tale, and a hundred others like it, as nothing but superstition, but now both she and her friends are forced to reconsider the possibility.

Further, quiet investigation of the complex reveals a mess hall, kitchen, and store rooms to the south, and a couple of innocuous-looking doorways which they leave unexplored in the corridors to the north. The party eventually decides that they're going to have to assault the large central room to make any progress, but they decide on a two-pronged attack, Elumai and Jonas entering from the north, through the door which the duergar used to escape, while the others rush the double-doors at the front.

Inside, they find what looks like a prison pen. Six cages are recessed into the floor such that one could walk straight over them without missing a step, with pulleys like meathooks suspended on runners above. Steps on either side ascend ten feet to a walkway and an upper balcony, where a statue of Torog, in his now-familiar guise as a disembodied hobgoblin head with multiple, tentacle-like legs, leers down over the scene. A dire wolf feasts on the remains of what looks like the body of a Kingsblade, while two hobgoblins use spears to toy with the animal from above, angering it even more. Other hobgoblins stand poised with longbows, and the duergar who escaped them before also lies in wait.

In the center of the room, a massive seven-foot human with a grimy, half-naked and muscular form, close and haphazardly-shorn hair, and a scarred wasteland for a face, stands ready for them. He wears a spiked gauntlet on his left hand, and carries a long chain in the other, one end coiled around his fore-arm.

"Fresh meat, eh? Walking straight into a Bloodreaver slave pit? Brave or stupid, your fate is the same!" - Lobkorr the Strangler.

The company does not shy from the battle. Berend and Finial leap forward to attack their enemy, dodging spears thrown from the hobgoblins above, while Elumai and Jonas enter from the upper door. Lobkorr quickly shows how he got his nickname, by lashing out with the chain and lassooing Finial around the neck -- "You're Lobkorr's little doggie now!" -- catching the paladin in a grip which slowly crushes his windpipe. Berend charges past with the full fury of his axe, and it's a massive blow, carving a great slice of flesh from Lobkorr's shoulder... but the huge barbarian, although staggered, still has the energy to laugh as he pulls the choke-chain ever tighter around his new pet's neck...

In which making new friends is easy while everyone wants the same thing, the dubious fate of a wayward halfling comes into focus, and several offending eyeballs are indeed pluck'd out...

Roster
Azurami - Eladrin Wizard 4
Berend - Dwarven Fighter 4
Elumai - Eladrin Wizard 4
Finial - Half-elf Paladin 4
Jonas - Human Ranger 4
Xavier - Dragonborn Warlord 4
Retired
Corrash - Dragonborn Warlock (Fey-Pact) 4
Mord - Dwarven Fighter 4
Romto - Halfling Cleric (of Pelor) 4

Elumai decides to make the acquaintance of Orontor, a thin, somewhat dishevelled and stringy-haired gentleman, who has been quietly observing them. After closing the door to the Customs House behind him he does reveal that he might have some work to throw their way, and offers to meet them in a couple of hours at the Halfmoon. The company agrees.

In the meantime, they decide to take a look around. Jonas determines to investigate the east side of the Hall -- and the Mages’ teleportation circle in particular -- while Berend and the others prefer the prospect of a shopping trip to lighten their moods (and purses).

Jonas crosses the river to investigate the magic circle. It is inscribed onto the rocky surface of a raised plinth of rock, a complicated pattern in the shape of several concentric circles of carved runes which surround the form of a bronze minotaur. It is somewhat different in style than the statues at the entrance (more heroic and stylized), and squats amidst the runes at the centre of the plinth with arms wide. It is smooth and featureless, but obviously old, the relic of a bygone era.

Traffic through the hall doesn’t seem to pay the circle of runes any more respect than they would anything else; several people step up onto the plinth and cross below the gaze of the statue as Jonas observes. Soon however, three more unusual individuals approach. Hooded, their features obscured, and dressed in woollen robes the colour of bleached bone, they slowly ascend to the plinth before arranging a selection of offerings at the foot of the statue. The gifts seem mundane in the extreme -- a strip of salted beef, a dusty bottle of what is presumably a spirit or wine, a string necklace – but they are placed with reverence and as the three supplicants withdraw, they bow in quiet veneration of the statue.

Departing, Jonas spies an emblem embroidered into the backs of their robes, barely visible -- the image of a shattered skull – and something else as well. Getting a better look at the face of one of the men, he is shocked to see that where his left eye should be, there is only a gaping red hole. His interest piqued, he slips into the crowd and follows the trio to the south-western corner of the Hall, where they meet up with eight more of their number, all with shaved heads and the same desecration of flesh, standing in a circle and chanting a murmured hymn.

Getting as close as he dares, he overhears various whispered fragments of their conversation – “The offering has not been taken… our patron has gone silent…” – before they catch on to him and move on in irritation.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group descends on the Deepgem Company, run by the old smith Ulthand Deepgem. The shop is lit only with the simmering red glow of the forge at the rear, and Ulthand himself, a leathery-skinned, grey-haired old dwarf with a beard like a thick grey scarf down to his lap, sits rocking in his favourite recliner while his apprentice tends to business out back. Berend browses the shelves of weapons and armour, and chooses a fine set of spiked gauntlets to accessorize his scale, before taking the opportunity to get Ulthand’s opinion on his sample of flurock.

As with seemingly everyone else, the dwarf is repulsed by the material, not just for its apparent stink (which is still undetectable to the adventurers), but also because of its uselessness. Ulthand dons a greasy, elbow-length leather glove and takes the fist-sized piece of rock off Berend, banging it on the ground where a sizable fragment crumbles away. “Whatever it is, lad, it’s no good to a dwarf,” he concludes in disgust.

Next on their agenda is Gendar’s Curios, run by a drow merchant who has given his name to the shop. It’s a welcoming affair, built of large stone bricks and a slate roof, and it even has a window of sorts, in which is displayed various salves, powders, herbs, and bottles of ambiguous intent. Elumai, in particular, senses an opportunity for the spending of her money, and engages the whispery-voiced, one-eyed elf (although he wears a patch over his left eye) in barter for any Rituals he might be able to offer. At first, he seems reluctant, more interested in what the company can do for him in return for the exotic goods he provides, but the gleam of the party’s money proves too enticing, and he sells Elumai a ritual book containing the Ritual of Enchant Magic Item.

At this point Jonas rejoins them and relates his encounter. The emblem of the shattered skull is quickly identified by his companions as a symbol of Vecna, ascended lich and God of Secrets, and it seems clear that these acolytes have removed their eye in veneration of that most evil of deities (and perhaps their hand as well? Jonas did not see one way or the other). This raises the question of what they’re doing here, why they’re offering such apparently worthless tributes, and why their “patron” is quieter than he or she should be.

They return to the inn to contemplate these matters and await Orontor. As the bell signifying the end of trading hours rings out across the Seven-Pillared Hall (despite the fact that no bell is to be seen), he emerges from upstairs, with two strangers – a dragonborn, and an eladrin – in tow. He seems very pleased to see the company, and tells them that his two “guests” may have interests which “align with our own”. As he says this, the dragonborn circles the table, sizing up the party and receiving a frosty glance from Jonas in the process, but he eventually sits and introduces himself as Xavier. His companion, whose cloth raiment and the orb she carries at her waist suggest she is in the same line of work as Elumai, introduces herself as Azurami.

TODO: physical descriptions

Orontor describes the work he has in mind, becoming increasingly more incoherent and paranoid in the process. He reveals he is one of the Mages of Saruun, but by his language it appears he is a low-ranking and put-upon member of the organization, given the jobs no-one else wants (watching over Brugg, for instance), frustrated with being marginalised from the greater works of the Mages, and feeling like his talents are being overlooked. Paldemar, the head of the Mages, is a particular focus of Orontor’s ire, and its Paldemar’s apparent links to the Bloodreavers – who, Orontor claims, have made various clandestine deals with the Mages – that he wants to use to his advantage, sending the company into the Bloodreavers’ lair to do as much damage as they can, and if possible, kill their leader (who they already know is a hobgoblin named Krand).

Orontor’s jittery manner and the self-serving nature of the commission doesn’t sit well with the adventurers, but newcomer Xavier, detecting their reluctance, has more to add, recounting the chain of events that brought him to the Seven-Pillared Hall. Three days ago, he was travelling the Plain to the south of the Gash, when he came upon a caravan that had been attacked and destroyed. Amongst the dead bodies, a soldier, with his dying breath, implored Xavier to seek justice and rescue his kidnapped captain, Matorna-Reevash, as well as recover the cargo they were escorting. What that cargo was, he did not say, but it was apparently the property of the Court of Cloaks.

Orontor, detecting a surprising lack of enthusiasm from the party at the prospect of being compensated for committing bloody violence (well, with the exception of Berend), latches onto this lifeline, promising that the hostage Xavier spoke of was surely being subjected to egregious tortures every minute that they sat in comfort debating whether or not to even attempt a rescue.

Still, this does not seem to be enough, and Elumai, sensing an opportunity, demands that as part of the payment, he arranges an audience for them with the Mages. Orontor is incredulous, reminding her that this is an unsanctioned commission designed in fact to strengthen his position within the order… but the tenacious eladrin insists (despite Berend’s protestations), and Orontor has no option but to acquiesce, wondering aloud how he will pull off such a feat without raising suspicion. The deal is struck, however, and he takes his leave.

After donning their armour and, in the case of Xavier, meditating on the upcoming fight, they heave open the Dragon Door and set forth into the labyrinthine tunnels of Saruun Khel. They quickly pick up halfling tracks on the other side, but remembering Rendil’s earlier advice to simply “stay right”, advice which he also apparently followed, they push on through the dark until eventually they come to a rectangular arch. Built into the stone lintel are five carved eyes, staring out at them, and an investigation of the doorway reveals neglected and long-since seized-up machinery, perhaps designed to change the configuration of the eyes by lowering recessed stone ‘eyelids’ hidden in the carving. In any case, the mechanism is useless, and the archway doesn’t seem dangerous, so they move on.

The tunnel on the other side opens into a large chamber like an audience room, with a balcony at one end, and a metallic double-door leading to the east, on which is carved the image of a single, staring eye with multiple eye-stalks. Rendil’s tracks lead directly to this door, and there are muffled voices speaking goblin on the other side, so the party decides to make use of the balcony. Xavier takes the opportunity to unfold his wings – unusual for a dragonborn -- and springs to the upper level in impressive style while the others clamber up with varying degrees of skill. A single door also leading east appears to be unlocked, and Berend barges through... much to the consternation of his new dragonborn companion, who has counselled a cautious and meticulous approach to the task at hand thus far.

On the other side, two goblins sit at a table, lazily sharpening their axes, while two larger goblinoids – hobgoblins, by the look – lie snoring on filthy beds. Taking them completely by surprise, the party rushes the room, and battle is joined. The quarters are confined and movement is difficult without attracting the opportunistic blades of their foes, but soon all-but one of the creatures has fallen to a barrage of magic and steel, and the last hobgoblin, until now forced to improvise by smashing a brazier of smouldering coals over Jonas’ head, finds himself facing a full complement of experienced adventurers.

Quite a racket has been raised by the melee, however, and the attention of the party is no doubt diverted by two other entrances to the chamber, leading to who-knows-what...

In which a halfling is saved, a wonderful smell is discovered, and it's amazing what you know about minotaurs when you put your mind to it...

Roster
Berend - Dwarven Fighter 4
Corrash - Dragonborn Warlock (Fey-Pact) 4 (shadowy insubstantial NPC 1)
Elumai - Eladrin Wizard 4
Finial - Half-elf Paladin 4
Jonas - Human Ranger 4
Mord - Dwarven Fighter 4 (shadowy insubstantial NPC 2)
Romto - Halfling Cleric (of Pelor) 4

The party pushes east along the circular tunnel (they realise after a while that the strange surface gives them unusual traction on the rock), and traffic gradually increases in both directions. Traders and travellers of all shape and size pass to and fro, and eventually, as the tunnel narrows and begins to fracture into smaller off-shoots, more people start emerging from side-tunnels and even chutes in the floor and ceiling. Accosting one lost-looking half-elf, they confirm that they are en-route to the Seven-Pillared Hall.

In time, the tunnel contracts to a mere thirty-or-so feet across, and it changes in character to something much more akin to other passages the company has travelled, a rough thoroughfare carved by the sweat of men and women into the rock. As they approach the Hall, they notice a half-open doorway in a nearby alcove, from which gruff raised voices can be heard. Most everyone else is giving the door a wide berth, but a potential break from the monotony of the long walk is too tempting for them to pass up.

"Come on out little fish, we'll get a good 10 gold for you!"

Inside they find a store-room, with several barrels lining the inner wall. Piles of crates, some of which lie smashed on the floor, reveal it as such, and four hobgoblins dressed in ad-hoc armour seem to be making sport with a halfling cowering in one corner. As Berend kicks the door in, one of them turns and orders him back out, stepping forward to shove him back through the entrance, but Finial is having none of that, grabbing the creature before it can do much more than lay a hand on the dwarf, and thusly battle is joined.

It's a straightforward affair, with the party's practised opening salvo's doing their job, until one of the piles of crates in a far corner is pushed over by a robed hobgoblin who appears to have emerged from a secret passageway. Spitting curses at them for disturbing the legitimate work of the Bloodreavers (a name familiar to the PC's), he unleashes a whip-like finger of crackling energy on Berend, who finds himself painfully engulfed by the magic and pulled off his feet to the back of the room, where the hobgoblins he has been dealing with attempt to engulf him. Another electrical attack from the warcaster's staff deals him more damage, but supporting from his friends soon turns the tide and all but one of the hobgoblins is killed.

The last one, a snivelling creature called Krawg, throws himself on the party's mercy with no expectation of being spared. Under interrogation he reveals that he answers to Krand, the leader of the Bloodreavers, and if the company has any particular grief he should take it up with them. He is also coerced into revealing that the route to the Bloodreavers' hide-out is through what he calls the 'Dragon Gate', something the company will know when they see.

Eventually, he is released, but Finial discreetly arranges with the rescued halfling, one Rendil Halfmoon, to follow the creature and report back to them. Rendil eagerly agrees to the task as partial payment for his rescue, and tells the party to meet him later at the inn owned by his mother and named after the family.

Neither the room nor the dead hobgoblins are of further interest, although the secret door opens onto a short tunnel which opens out, via another hidden hatchway at the other end, into a stinking refuse pit in what the company assume is the Seven-Pillared Hall. They stop short at climbing out of the pit in full view of everyone to find out, however, and retreat back to the main tunnel after stashing the dead hobgoblins in the garbage.

Soon they reach the Seven-Pillared Hall within the underground catacomb known as Saruun Khel. The cavern is huge, several hundred metres across, festively illuminated by flickering multi-coloured baubles strung from the buildings and walls, and teeming with traders, travellers, beggars, places of business, and other passing traffic.

The doorway itself is guarded by two gigantic minotaur statues, dozens of metres high and looking sternly down on the entrance. Channeling a distant history lesson, Elumai informs the others that the minotaurs are dressed in the garb of arbiters, high-status followers of ancient, honor-bound traditions within the minotaur culture.

The most obvious first port of call is the Customs House, an imposing building directly opposite the main entrance. There is a queue of people within, who, when their turn is called, are handing over various amounts of cash to a pale, grizzly-looking man with stringy black hair, who then marks a ledger before seeing to the next in line. Hovering menacingly in one corner, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a mean expression on his face, is a massive ogre.

As the party pushes through the line to get some information, the creature steps forward and accosts them, demanding to know what trouble they're thinking of starting. Berend cannot resist a stand-off with the ogre -- whose name they discover is Brugg -- but in the ensuing face-off they discover that this is a clearing-house for the 10% tax imposed on all trade by the Mages of Saruun, Brugg being the thuggish enforcer who ensures that all payments are made. The man taking the traders' money is the current mage on duty, Orontor. Amazingly, they leave the customs-house without causing any trouble.

The next port of call is the Halfmoon Inn, a sturdy brick-and-mortar affair with a pleasant atmosphere. Erra Halfmoon is incensed to hear about the danger her son Rendil has got himself into, and grateful to the company for saving his bacon, and soon, room and board is arranged. They engage the talkative woman and learn a few more things.

The cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Seven-Pillared Hall, with its diverse races and unusual calm, is entirely down to the mages, who rule through their enforcer Brugg and the enigmatic Ordinator Arcanis, one of their number who appears irregularly to pass judgement on disagreements which can't be resolved peacefully. When asked about local trade she recommends the Deepgem Company, run by Ulthand, although she suggests they should tread carefully because he has apparently suffered a recent bereavement. Of the feral creatures that led them here, Erra knows little except their name, something she heard Brugg say in annoyance once ('shadow tacks'), and of the florock ore, she knows nothing.

Unable to uncover any more information on the strange ore, other than re-confirming their hunch that the feral couriers must be working for the mages, the party returns to the statues. Upon close inspection, they discover a worn-away inscription in a forgotten language that Elumai is forced to employ ritual magic to decipher:

"The Crown of Kvorn's Glory
Baphomet in Shadow"

Plumbing the depths of their knowledge, Elumai and Jonas identify Syosik Kvorn as a long-dead minotaur emperor, while most of the party recognise Baphomet as a demon prince of some repute, but what the inscription actually means remains a mystery for now. Also on the plinths, two circular indentations facing each-other across the entranceway raise the party's interest... Berend theorises that something is designed to be slotted in between them. (And all the while, Elumai notices Orontor, the mage from the customs house, observing them with casual interest from the doorway of the building.)