Sunset left a rose and purple glow in the western sky while overhead a deep purple spread from the east. Shadows grew longer in the city of Ordu-Aganei and brightly colored lamps were lit, reviving the vivid hues of the buildings with an entirely new dancing array of color.

In a large grassy field near the trade district the wagons of the sole caravan were circled around a central camp fire, and off to one side of the blaze a group of figures assembled in a circle.

The corpse lay atop a quilt set upon the ground. Light from the nearby flame danced across the lines of care and worry that had etched Bevelek’s face in life, giving the illusion that he was still breathing and might wake at any moment. But while Gentle Repose had ensured that Bevelek’s body remained viable, his soul had departed.

Vankor leaned in, pushing against the robed figure that knelt beside his brother, breaking her concentration.

“I need a little space,” Qatana admonished, “I have never attempted anything like this before.”

Vankor stepped back to the circle next to Sandru, who looked on with concern. The entire caravan was present, gathered around their fallen comrade while Qatana finished preparing for the casting of Raise Dead.

She took what looked like a scarf of deep green silk from her pack, on which was embroidered an arrow in silver thread, and laid it across Bevelek’s chest, with the arrow pointing toward his feet.

Pookie urgently whispered, “It’s pointing the wrong way!”

Qatana repositioned the arrow such that it pointed towards Bevelek’s head, and pulled forth a large diamond that flickered with fire in the torch light.

“What is the cloth for?” Koya asked.

“It is to remind me which way we’re trying to go with this,” Qatana replied.

Koya furrowed her brow, but thought better of responding.

Qatana began to chant, and while the others could hear her, they could not make out the words, although she did repeat the names of Bevelek and Groetus frequently. She gracefully passed her hands over the body, gently swaying in time to her chant.

The diamond turned as black as coal and then crumbled to dust.

A thin film of mist formed above Bevelek’s body and slowly encased him, like a cocoon or a spider’s webbing. It constricted tightly around his body until his face became a fiendishly grinning skull.

Vankor let out a gasp and cried out, “What the hells are you doing…”

But he was cut short by Qatana’s forceful shout: “Behold the benevolence of Groetus!”

The mist dissolved and there lay the body the same as before.

Koya knelt down before Bevelek and stared intently into his face. “He is breathing.”

A sudden fit of coughing and Bevelek sat bolt upright. “I don’t feel so well.”

Sunday, Abadius 31, 4713 evening
Caravan, Necropolis, Path of Spirits

Much has happened since we first arrived in the necropolis several hours ago, some good, but mostly bad. It says much about our circumstances when the most positive thing anyone has said about the day thus far was, “It could have been worse.”

Easily said. Things can always be worse, and might yet be.

It had started out well enough. The caravan had traveled about fifteen miles before halting in front of a chasm, over which spanned a stone bridge. Towers on either side of the path seemed to guard the way, but we kept the wagons well shy of them until the my companions and I investigated the area.

Sparna, Olmas and I approached the bridge, and using Detect Undead I scanned the area. But there was no need for such precautions. The doors to the towers on either side of us sprang open and half a dozen headless mummies came forward.

Ivan reacted quickly, erecting a wall of fire before the western door. Sparna set himself before the eastern door and greeted a mummy with his urgosh. Kali then put a wall of fire in front of this door. At the western door a mummy passed through the flame and lumbered towards Olmas.

We then began a slow battle of attrition: we would slay the mummies on our side of the flames only to have another one or two run through to replace their fallen brethren.

As with our previous encounter the mummies had an unwholesome affect, and Sparna, Olmas and Kali at some point in time succumbed to the fear and froze in place momentarily. This extended what would have been a relatively short skirmish into a prolonged engagement. I helped by frying two of the undead with a pair of Searing Light rays — an action enthusiastically endorsed by Star and Beorn.

Presently the walls of fire died down and we entered the eastern tower. Rubble filled the northern quarter of the hexagonal chamber, but did not completely block an opening in the wall. We could see arrow slits facing out, and a steep stone stair leading up and around the outer wall to a balcony, which provided access to more arrow slits higher up.

The room to the north housed a number of alcoves, each with a funerary bier that had been ransacked. A door in the far wall led to a semi-circular room with three additional funerary biers, but of more elaborate design. Like the others, these too had been disturbed. The walls here had been painted with pictographs of bucolic scenes which had been defaced to show the dead rising from their graves and attacking the living. Prints in the dust on the floor indicated relatively recent passing of feet.

The western tower was much the same as its eastern cousin, but without the rubble.

Obviously this place had been used to bury the wealthy devout of Desna who perhaps wished to start their journey northward a little further along the Path of the Spirits. But followers of Fumioshi had discovered this place and made it their own. We estimated that there were probably two dozen humans that had been buried here and turned into undead. We had only accounted for ten at that point.

It seemed wise to move out from here as quickly as possible, and so we went toward the bridge to continue scouting the way ahead.

Only I could not walk onto the bridge. It was like a giant invisible balloon was blocking the way, and no matter how hard I tried to push through, I remained on the near side.

We then saw the pictographs on the abutment that proclaimed, “Here the dead walk. Trouble them not nor bar their path.”

Detect magic revealed a strong aura of Abjuration, and when Ivan threw a rock and it passed over the bridge without any resistance, Kali suggested it was protected by an Anti Life field.

Ivan and I tried to dispel the effect, but with no luck.

This would make moving the wagons across a challenge, but we quickly came up with ways we could use to (at least temporarily) create our own span to get them over safely.

In the meantime it was easy enough to use Airwalk (Olmas and Ivan) and Fly (the rest of us) to get to the other side and continue scouting.

There was a glow of dim indigo light from the south, toward which the path rose gently. Following it we entered a vast chamber that opened up to nearly a hundred feet wide as it bent westward, and more than twice that high. In the center of the cavern was a lake, and it was out from here that the deep blue light radiated. Far above we could barley make out a deep blue ceiling with glittering points of reflected light, making it look like a clear night sky.

A closer look at the water and we saw that the indigo light came from something deep down below and not the water itself. A large pillar, shaped like a large twisted dead tree, poked up above the surface from the center of the pool.

The main road continued through an opening to the west, but a smaller passage led up and to the northwest. Across the lake to the south a closed door beckoned.

We cautiously moved around the water, with Radella and Sparna leading the way, where we found an ancient desicated corpse lying on the floor at the western tip of the pond. It had a a magical sword, cloak and goggles, and the flesh on its fingers had pulled back such that the bones stuck out like claws.

Ivan called out, “Undead,” as we gathered around.

Undead? It seemed inert. I reached down to take the sword, and the thing stood up and glared at us with glowing red eyes.

At that moment a large white harry creature stepped into the cavern from the northwest. Fortunately Sparna and Kali had stopped there to watch for anything surprising us from that direction, and we heard Sparna call out, “Yeti!” as we sprang into battle.

I cast Blessing of Fervor to help my companions.

The revenant (for that is what we guessed the undead creature to be) struck out at Avia. Ivan shot it with a pair of arrows, and Avia struck back. Olmas then moved in and cut it down.

Meanwhile over at the Yeti Sparna had hacked at it and Kali had summoned a dire ape. Avia had moved over to help, and Ivan began to pepper it with arrows.

The yeti seemed well taken care of (I almost felt sorry for it), and Olmas and I stood looking down at the corpse.

“We could really use those magical items,” Star stated as a matter of fact. “I don’t know…” Pookie began, but her little voice was soon drowned out by Beorn screeching, “Yes, yes. We must have it! Take it! Take it!”

Hmm, sure. We had just defeated it. I reached down for the sword again, and again the thing stood up. This time it struck at me and then grabbed me, squeezing tightly. “I said that this was a bad idea,” Pookie snorted.

Fortunately the yeti was quickly slain, and the others joined in to make short work of the revenant (again).

Kali frowned, as she sometimes does when trying to remember something, and finally said, “I think you can only stop a revenant by finding whatever was troubling the spirit and resolving it.”

“Well, it seems obvious that it was killed here,” Ivan offered, “and so maybe we just need to find whatever killed him and kill that.”

While he was talking I saw something translucent shifting about about the tree shaped pillar in the center of the pond. “Hey, did you see that? There’s something over on that tree thing!”

Moving with surprising swiftness it flew over next to me and sliced at me with its incorporeal claws. A wave of weakness washed over me, and my friends joined together in a chorus of, “No! Stand strong!” With that to fortify me I managed to fight off the attack, but still felt less capable, and realized I could no longer cast my more advanced spells. I still knew them, but simply lacked the energy required to invoke them.

This was bad. But it could be worse. It soon was.

I yelled out, “It’s a spectre — beware its touch!” and the others bravely moved in to engage it. We quickly discovered that weapons — even magical ones, and spells only had a limited affect on the undead creature.

It reached out and struck at Olmas, who shivered and nearly collapsed from the drain of energy. “Oh, no.” Takoda cried out.

I then saw two more specters appear around the tree and make their way towards us. Oh shit.

I then noticed that these creatures had only moved over the water. “Get away from the water!” I called out, “I don’t think they can leave it. Use ranged attacks.”

I stepped back and reviewed my list of prepared spells. Spiritual Weapon was a relatively low level spell, but it would be effective against incorporeal creatures and I could still cast it. Moments later a glimmering heavy flail appeared next to the first spectre and bashed it.

The others stepped away from the water, and it looked like we had the situation under control when a pair of yetis entered from the western portal. Ivan grinned and placed a wall of fire between us and then. That seemed to do the trick, and we did not see them again.

Then Sparna said, “Well crap, I forgot I still had this.” and he held up a terracotta statuette of a warrior as a Spiritual Ally formed next to one of the spectres.

With two force weapons beating upon them, plus the rain of normal ranged attacks, the spectres were doomed, and slowly but surely they fell one by one.

We had turned our attention to the wall of fire and were deciding what to do next when the Status spell I cast each morning on Shalelu and Ameiko indicated that they were being injured. Things got even worse.

“The caravan is under attack!” I shouted. Kali used her wand of Haste and we raced back to the chasm. Airwalk was still active for Olmas and Ivan and so they continued on toward the caravan, while the rest of us crowded next to the edge.

I pulled out the wand of Fly and soon Sparna, Radella, Kali and I were able to cross and fly to across.

Four more headless mummies had come up from behind and attacked the caravan. Ameiko and Shalelu led the defense, but it was not going well. Ivan quickly got things under control by creating a wall of flame between the mummies and the caravan crew, and as the others arrived they attacked the mummies remotely, slowly wearing them down.

It looked like they had the situation well in hand, and so I flew back to the chasm and stood watch. We did not need any more surprises.

A short time later Olmas joined me. We didn’t say anything. We didn’t need to. We had both been crippled by the spectres, but while I was already beginning to feel a little better, Olmas still looked weak and shaken.

I had my friends to thank. Their effort to protect me had drained them, and they were a sombre and unusually quiet lot, although I could hear Pookie, McLovin and Takoda discussing what needed to be done next.

Sandru showed up and began to move the wagons forward as far as possible, and some time after the rest of my companions, except for Ivan (he insisted on staying at the back of the caravan and concentrating on keeping the wall of fire up until he fell asleep), joined Olmas and I.

“One of the drivers was killed,” Kali began, and my mice became quiet. “I asked Sandru if we should preserve his body so he can be raised, and he thought it a good idea.”

“So, add Gentle Repose to that list,” Takoda said softly.

“Okay,” I replied to Kali. “I’ll be able to cast that tomorrow morning. I think that by tomorrow afternoon I’ll be able to cast higher level spells again, like Restoration.”

Here we all looked at Olmas, who nodded grimly. If we were lucky the Restoration would bring him back to his full capabilities. If not… then we were looking at another week before he could receive another Restoration, and then another week after that, and so on.

“It looks like a lot of tomorrow’s energies will be spent recovering from today. But if we knew more of what was beyond the lake chamber we could perhaps prepare to do some additional exploration as well.”

Kali smiled. “I have just the thing.”

A few minutes later and Kali had drawn up a simple chart of what her Arcane Eye had found. The northwest passage, from where the first yeti had come, led into a twisty tangle of natural caverns in which more yetis lived. This warren connected to a worked stone complex of catacombs, which led back to the main path.

The main path continued west into another large chamber. An exit to the left continued up, while in the center a wooden platform had been erected on which a throne sat. Sitting on the throne was the largest yeti Kali had yet seen, and he was surrounded by a dozen more.

We’ll need to be as close to full strength as possible before taking on the entire yeti population of the caverns, not to mention the oversized yeti-king.

We briefly discussed tactics and strategy, and agreed that sealing off the main force of yetis from the “throne room” was a good strategy. Stone Shape could probably be used to our advantage, but really this called out for Wall of Stone, which none of us can cast just yet.

Perhaps tomorrow we can return to the lake chamber and explore what was behind the southern door. To this thought Takoda added, “But first we should restore Olmas.”

Toilday, Abadius 15, 4713 evening
Caravan, Path of Aganhei, Domagolki Forest

We were sitting around the fire, enjoying a much needed meal of roasted meat and vegetables with fresh baked bread, when Olmas suddenly stopped talking as a vacant look came over him.

“Oh, that’s much better,” quipped Timber. “Quiet,” I admonished, and watched Olmas to see what he would say next. We had seen this before whenever Suishen privately talked to him, and always Olmas reacted the same: a startled look followed by sudden silence and various facial expressions, depending upon whatever insight the intelligent sword deemed fit to impart to its bearer.

Clearly Olmas was not as used to voices speaking in his head as I, and was not adept at hiding when such conversations occurred.

“Ah, hmm,” Olmas began. “It seems that Suishen has decided we have done well enough that he is granting me access to more of his abilities. Three times a day he can make me resistant from the cold, and he can also produce flaming bursts when I hit particularly well.”

We all looked at one another, and Pookie echoed what most of us were thinking, “It’s a fine time to grant abilities that would help us on the high ice now that we have just come down from it.”

Pookie had touched upon a sore point in our party’s relationship with Suishen. Many of us had already expressed our opinions of what we would have done with the sword had we been the ones unfortunate enough to wield it.

Sunday, Abadius 20, 4713 evening
Caravan, Jaagiin

We arrived in Jaagiin at mid day, and aroused the usual looks and comments from the locals seeing a caravan coming down from the ice at the wrong time of year. We continued to stick to our fabricated story, but I wondered if it was already way too late for subterfuge.

Jaagiin is about the size of Sandpoint, and so it offered more services and variety of goods than Ul-Angorn. We planned to take advantage of this and sell some of the items we collected on the high ice.

When Ameiko announced she wanted to go shopping I said I needed to get supplies as well (true enough: we needed components for a new wand of Lesser Restoration) and would accompany her. I looked over at Shalelu and pointedly asked, “Didn’t you need to get some supplies too?” She gave me a blank look, and so I winked, adding, “You know, for the, um, thing you mentioned.” She got the point and agreed to join us, as did Olmas.

It turned out Ameiko used shopping as a euphemism for gathering information, and she was quite good at it.

We learned that news of the death of the white dragon near Iqaliat had already reached this side of the ice. While it is unusual for caravans to travel during the winter, apparently locals often make the trek via dog sled, and do so quickly.

Complaints about the unusual ferocity and frequency of winter storms were commonplace. At first we thought these were outdated reports from the ice, and our intervention at the Storm Tower had put a stop to them. But most of the storms the locals talked about were from the south, in the passes of a large mountain range directly on our route.

Jaagiin has three inns, and when we returned to the caravan later on I suggested some of us head back into town to see what we could hear at each pub.

“That’s a great idea!” Ameiko said as she reached for her lute. Uh oh. I glanced over at Kali, who’s eyes had widened and nostrils flared, but she remained silent. We decided it would be best if the entire party came along, just in case.

Nothing bad happened. Ameiko played and sang at each of the inns, and we heard a variety of local gossip, basically confirming what we had picked up earlier. All in all it was an unexpectedly uneventful evening, which would have been relaxing had we not all been on edge waiting for some form of attack.

Moonday, Abadius 21, 4713 evening
Caravan, Jaagiin

I spent most of today at the caravan working on a Wand of Lesser Restoration, while the others prepared the caravan for our trip south. We leave in the morning.

Moonday, Abadius 25, 4713 evening
Caravan, Path of Aganhei, south of Jaagiin

The days have passed uneventfully as we moved steadily south. The soft tundra has given way to firmer soils of a forested upland, and the ground has risen little higher each day.

Yesterday we passed by a cabin with smoke pouring from the chimney. The door opened and several trappers watched as we passed by. I waved, but they just stared glumly after us.

Today we came across a large pile of animal carcasses a short distance off the path. Shalelu and I investigated and found that the bodies had been badly slashed, but not as if someone butchered them for meat, but rather they did so for fun. The pile was frozen solid and I estimated they had been there at least a week. Sick.

Ivan asked for a Sending spell. Interesting. I typically only prepare Sending when I want to contact Elias in Kaer Maga, as I did after we came down from the ice. Ivan will his spell in the morning.

Toilday, Abadius 26, 4713 evening
Caravan, Path of Aganhei, south of Jaagiin

Today just after noon we climbed around the shoulder of a large hill and saw a line of white tipped jagged peaks reaching up into the blue sky before us. The mountain range is called “The Wall of Heaven” and there is one pass through it: Altan Zuud, “The Golden Pass”.

As the day progressed dark clouds crept around the peaks, reaching towards us and blotting out the sun. The temperature began to drop and the wind picked up. Not long after snow began to fall. It will be a cold and comfortless night.

Wealday, Abadius 27, 4713 evening
Caravan, Path of Aganhei, at the feet of The Wall of Heaven

The wind and cold intensified overnight, and snow was now falling thick and heavy. The caravan moved slowly toward the pass, but before the weather became too severe we stopped and set up camp for the night.

On the shrieking wind Kali and I thought we could hear a hysterical laughter that reminded me of the crazed cackling we had heard at Dead Man’s Dome.

Oathday, Abadius 28, 4713 evening
Caravan, at the feet of The Wall of Heaven

If anything the storm had become worse overnight.

We decided it was too dangerous for the caravan to move onto the pass, and so my companions and I made our way on foot to scout out the trail. After only an hour it became clear that we could not go this way.

The snow and wind kicked up to beyond blizzard conditions, and rocks small and large came crashing down around us.

Some sinister force was behind this storm, and there was no way the caravan could pass this way. I wanted to push on to find the source of the storm, but the others pointed out that the storm could be hundreds of miles in width, and we would be vulnerable the entire time we were exposed to its fury.

We returned to the caravan dejected. Ulf said the only alternate route was many miles to the east, where we would then need to find a way to cross the Gulf of Khorki, which he thought far too dangerous a course for the caravan.

The only other choices were to wait out the storm here, consuming our provisions, or return to Jaagiin to wait it out. But if this storm had been summoned to block our passage, then there would be no waiting it out.

Desperate, Kali decided to perform a Harrowing, with Koya looking on. Unfortunately the results were not obvious or helpful. Even Koya seemed unable to draw any useful conclusion from the cards.

The only action I could offer was to prepare to summon a planar ally the next day to scout out the source of the storm and report back to us its nature and location. It would be somewhat expensive, but it might be our only way forward.

We took the caravan back north a dozen miles to get out from the storm, and in the morning we will assess our options and make a decision.

Fireday, Abadius 29, 4713 morning
Caravan, at the feet of The Wall of Heaven

Some time after midnight Koya came out from her wagon in a highly agitated state. “I was given a dream about the Harrowing, and I believe I understand what it was telling us!”

“It is thought that Desna lives at the northern star, and the spirits of those faithful to her journey there to live with her for eternity after they die.”

“Legend tells that the followers of Desna in eastern lands delved a passageway through the roots of The Wall of Heaven so their souls could easily travel to be with Desna.”

“They called this tunnel the ”Path of Spirits”, and it is said that its northern exit is west of the Path of Aganhei. Nobody knows how far west, but the entrance to the cavern is flanked on either side by statues of Desna.”

Ulf was skeptical, but he admitted that “Nobody ever goes west because there’s no reason to go that way, and so I suppose there could be a way into a tunnel like Koya says.”

When the dim echo that passes for morning’s light began to dawn we broke camp and started westward. Kali has Nihali scouting ahead.

Fireday, Abadius 29, 4713 evening
Caravan, Path of Spirits

A couple of hours after mid day Nihali returned very excited: she had spotted a statue to our left not far ahead.

Presently we came upon the opening of a narrow valley with a pedestal of stone on either side. A statue of Desna perched upon one, but the other had toppled and lay in fragments on the ground.

A quarter mile south and the two ridges forming the valley came together. At their apex was the entrance to a cave.

We had little choice but to enter. The storm had been growing all day, and already we could hear the screaming of its winds among the peaks above us.

Thanks to our preparations for a winter crossing of the Crown of the World we were ready for the dark. The tunnel walls are lined with columns upon which human skulls have been set. The skulls all face north and have been crudely painted with a red daemonic face.

Kali thought the skulls were symbols of Fumioshi, the Tien god of dishonor, envy, graves and undead. They served as a warning to us to be on the alert for undead. Their spacing became further and further apart the deeper in we went.

During part of the watch Ivan had mentioned how he used Deathwatch as a long duration crude form of Detect Undead. Clever. I made a mental note to adjust my usual set of spells to better handle undead.

We set up a marching order with Sparna and Ivan leading out in front of the caravan, with me halfway between. Kali and Radella were just in front of the lead wagon, while Shalelu brought up the rear after the last wagon.

10 miles later we stopped to make camp, and after a hasty meal we set up the watch. It was then that I noticed the footprints in the dusty floor ahead of the caravan. Large humanoid prints of shod, partly shod, and unshod beings going to and fro. Takoda summed up exactly how I felt with “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” I let the others know that we were not alone.

Starday, Abadius 30, 4713 evening
Caravan, Path of Spirits

Early this morning a group of headless figures shambled toward the caravan. Sparna spotted them first and spread the alarm, and then planted himself firmly between them and us, urgosh in hand.

I moved up with Sparna and noticed that each of the creatures was surrounded by pale glowing wisps that made it difficult to see exactly where they were. I commented on this, but Sparna remained silent and still, as usual.

Olmas moved up with Suishen flaming and at the ready, and then he too became still and quiet.

“Well, what are you all waiting for?” asked Star, “Attack!”

Suddenly a circle of flame surrounded the four creatures, and a wall of fire sprang up between them and those of us on the front line. Ivan and Kali had been busy and Star squeaked out her approval.

I noticed that Sparna and Olmas had yet to move or say anything since the creatures had approached, and realized they must have been paralyzed. There was little I could do to assist, and so I flew above the flames and the headless zombies and began to channel energy.

Between the flames and the channeled energy the creatures were soon reduced to dust. A few moment later Sparna and Olmas were released from whatever force that held them.

After discussing their appearance and behavior Kali and I concluded that these creatures were some sort of mummy.

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful (as it could be while traveling along an underground road beneath mountains to escape a supernatural storm) and we managed to travel 25 miles.

We did encounter several side passages, but each of them dead ended a short distance in. We also noticed that they looked natural, like fissures opening in the rock, whereas the main tunnel was smooth and obviously shaped stone.

Sunday, Abadius 31, 4713 afternoon
Caravan, Path of Spirits

We made 15 miles today when the spacing of the columns that line the tunnel became closer. Moving forward cautiously we entered what appears to be the necropolis that Koya had described when she told us of this odd path. There is a huge chasm barring our way and stretching off into the darkness to our left and right. A bridge crosses over the chasm, and towers carved from the stone walls guard either side.

We are suspicious, and the caravan has stopped before reaching the towers. We plan to head out on foot and scout the way over the chasm before leading the caravan forward.

 

Starday, Kuthona 22, 4712 noon
Storm Tower

“You never listen to me — you should have killed her!” Star fumed.

“I took the best action available given our situation, and the sylph was killed more quickly because of that,” I replied.

This argument had been going on for some time, and I was already weary of it. Sending Radella up to attack Katiyana had been the tactically wise thing to do. Radella was much better at melee than I, and we needed to take the sylph down as quickly as possible.

I would have joined Radella and Sparna in pressing the attack had Katiyana not died so soon after two of our primary fighters got their first real chance to engage her.

But Star was beyond reasoning with, and I noted from their silence that some of my other friends had taken her side. Only Huffy and McLovin tried to calm her down, but they had always been the most reasonable of my cadre. Something needed to be done or I’d never hear the end of it.

“How about this,” I offered as a compromise, “we’ll spend more time practicing and improving our fighting techniques from now on.”

There was a moment of silence followed by a reluctant, “As long as you really mean it” from Star. The others relaxed, sensing that the most bellicose of them was standing down.

It had really been a tough battle, and was a hair’s breadth away from ending in disaster (for us).

From the tower’s mid level Radella had experimented with the control panel, figuring out how to send a platform up to the top level with a covering to protect us from the terrific wind that howled down the center shaft.

Kali sent up an air elemental to scout up above, and it reported back that their was a great tumult of wind with lightening arcing out from large gems. Frozen undead were walking about.

By this time Radella was fairly confident she could summon the covered platform, and so Kali detonated a fireball and sent two earth elementals up to wreak as much havoc as possible. She was rewarded a few moments later when a pair of bodies fell down from above.

The rest of us prepared for combat with a Magic Circle Against Evil, Protection from Energy spells (for both cold and electrical damage), and Ivan cast Hide from Undead upon all of us. I then cast Fly upon myself and used a wand to confer the same on Kali, Radella, and Sparna.

We took the magical platform up.

Stepping off I could see six large blue glowing gemstones set high in the walls about us. Bolts of lightening zapped from them up and out a thirty foot hole in the ceiling, above which hovered the enormous swirling blue ball of energy. Beneath each gem was a small platform at least fifty feet above the floor.

Hoarfrost spirits were shambling about, and a winged blue skinned woman was leaning out from one of the platforms above. She released a spell in the midst of us, but I could not sense any affect, although some of my companions looked alarmed. This was obviously Katiyana, whom Tunuak had so idolized.

The plan seemed obvious: slay the sylph first and then mop up the undead.

Kali cast haste upon us as the woman hit us with another spell, and a sphere of color exploded about us.

Radella, Sparna and I began the arduous task of flying up to Katiyana, battling the hurricane force winds. Olmas had earlier asked Suishen for Airwalk, and he too began to climb up, but as soon as he stopped the winds slammed him against the wall near the sylph.

I assumed we would all fly up, but for some reason Kali and Ivan remained on the floor, trusting in the Hide From Undead spell. Surely they realized that the spell would end once we attacked. Ivan had to know, right? And Kali was smart, she must know. I returned my attention to Katiyana.

Olmas whacked at Katiyana as I moved in and bestowed Touch of Idiocy upon her. Radella landed nearby and hit her hard.

She was not a happy sylph.

With Hide from Undead now cancelled, the hoarfrost spirits shuffled towards Ivan and Kali. I saw them close in on Kali, but so had Sparna who swooped down to her aide, thus freeing the three of us next to Katiyana to focus on her.

Unfortunately for us she summoned a red daemon. Unfortunately for her Olmas had been the focus of the Magic Circle Against Evil spell, and as the daemon appeared it was forced off the platform, plunging fifty feet onto the hard stone floor.

Later I found that this was not as fortuitous as it could have been. Ivan was standing directly beneath us, and had been paralyzed by the touch of an undead. The daemon landed next to him, and while injured it was still alive, and seriously pissed off.

Sparna had faired no better, and he too was paralyzed, standing rock still next to Kali. Those of us above were oblivious to their plight.

Katiyana flew away from us, but whereas we had to struggle through the wind, she flitted about as if it were dead calm. In her place appeared a daemon made of pure force.

“Hurray! Pookie called out.

“No, Pookie, that one isn’t ours.”

I chased after the sylph and touched her with Bestow Curse, as Beorn cackled loudly (it being his favorite spell). Radella joined me, carving deep gashes in our foe.

Katiyana was even less happy now, and she dispelled Fly from Radella, who drifted dow to the floor.

Katiyana’s force daemon flew over to harass me, giving the sylph the perfect opportunity to use Hold Person.

“Move, move, move!” my friends chanted. But I was held firmly in place.

Olmas then tried to Airwalk into combat, but the winds threw him across the room into another wall. Realizing the futility of trying to move about in this fashion he climbed up to the nearest gem stone and began to smash it.

Clearly this had been the right thing to do, because Katiyana sent her force daemon to stop Olmas. Katiyana flew to another platform, and Sparna, who had since recovered from his paralysis, flew up and bashed the crap out of her.

“Bitch!” shouted Badger.

Down on the floor Radella wasted no time in pulverizing the daemon, which vanished with a pop! and a cloud of greasy black smoke.

Kali had not been idle all of this time, and suddenly the wind in the room ceased. She had flown up to the ceiling and used a spell to summon a structure of force, which blocked the wind.

I broke free from the Hold Person effect and briefly pondered my course of action. “Kill her! Kill her!” screamed Star. Yes, this clearly needed to be done, but how to do so as quickly as possible?

I flew down toward Radella, with Star screaming shrilly all of the way, and touched her with the wand of Fly. “Go, kill her!” I yelled, pointing up at Katiyana.

And as quickly as that it was over. Radella grievous wounded Katiyana, and when the sylph tried to flee Sparna and Radella put an end to her.

We next focused on the undead (with Star spouting obscenities the whole time), and once they were gone we flew up to the gem stones and smashed them all.

The lightening stopped and the glowing maelstrom above soon dissipated. The winds stopped.

It was dead calm, and some of us flew out the hole in the roof to gaze at the silent star lit landscape surrounding the tower.

Down below we stripped Katiyana’s corpse and flung her into a bag of holding.

[424]	scroll of Cleanse
[425]	+1 breastplate
[426]	masterwork buckler
[427]	Headband of Mental superiority (+2 INT, WIS, CHA) (Radella)
[428]	spell component pouch
[430]	shards of blue crystal (from the walls)

We descended to the base of the tower via another magical platform, and wondered if there might be a basement level and began to search. We moved into the previously unexplored mushroom side of the tower.

Mixed in with the small edible mushrooms were much larger, invisible fungi that wanted to eat us. They would appear briefly just before biting, and then vanish.

Suishen had granted Olmas the ability to See Invisible, and with his direction we were able to kill the fungi. My inability to consistently hit the creatures did nothing to improve Star’s mood.

We collected bits of the aggressive dead fungi, which turned visible shortly after perishing, and I harvested a good number of the mushrooms for cooking.

We have rested a short while, and I have taken this opportunity to write a journal entry and sooth an irate battle mouse.