The party leaves Firouz's palace, after a wonderful ceremony by Tiron, and heads off to Marsember. There is, of course, no ship passage available, so our heroes all bear the heat (except for the lucky ones with magical rings!) and head on out.
After six uneventful days and nights of travel, the party arrives at Marsember and rejoins with Rolonda who is happy to see them, but saddened at the loss of Fugnus and the state of poor Delf. After staying for a day in Marsember, and getting supplies and stuff, our heroes leave for Suzail. Entering the "big city" 6 days later, on the 15th of Eleasias, the party finds that the state of affairs between Sembia and Cormyr has settled down a bit. Without even having to make a point of it, the people here have already recognized our heroes as the ones who saved Yasmin. There is much rejoicing and partying for the next few days and nights.
Meanwhile, Tiron searches for a priest to perform a Raise Dead, but is unsuccessful. Raphael, however, has been informed by the Mages Guild that a Wizard, called Ruthrezl, can do a Dispel Magic on Delf for a price: 1500 gold pieces. This payment is due whether the dispel works or not. Ruthrezl is a 15th level mage. He will be in town for just another day or so, so he will need to be contacted soon.
Meanwhile, Raphael and Raven begin the task of identifying the items taken off of Nazir. They find out his ring is a +3 Ring of Protection, his bracers are Bracers of Defense (armor class 4), his crystal ball enables its user to perform telepathy, and his sword is a Scimitar +2.
The rest of the party quickly tracks down Ruthrezl, who (after receiving his payment!) casts the Dispel Magic on the Delf-Frog. Unfortunately the spell does not work. He sadly reports that he is not of a high enough level to dispel the powerful magic cast on Delf by Nazir. He is, however, able to point the party in the directory of a wizard who may be able to help them.
Our heroes track down the wizard who says he will be able to help them out. His price: the party must deliver a message to his nephew in Hill's Edge, a town two valleys over from Suzail. The party agrees to this. The powerful wizard casts Dispel Magic on the Delf-Frog, then says that when the message is delivered, Delf will revert back to his normal state. The wizard gives them a description of his nephew and an envelope containing the message, and bids them well.
Our heroes stock up for the long trip and leave Suzail the following morning. After many days of travel, they arrive in Hill's Edge, the center of adventuring activities in this part of the world.
The first thing the party notices is a dark-robed man, lean and menacing, standing in an alley, talking to another man. A few moments later, the robed man gives a bag to the man, who then leaves. This scenario is repeated twice more. Then they see a fourteen year-old boy approach the robed man.
The boy talks to the man for a few seconds, then leaves with a nervous smile. The robed man suddenly looks down, and, realizing his purse strings have been cut, takes off after the young thief.
"That looks like the nephew," Cel says. "We better make sure nothing happens to him." The party rushes after the robed man, who chases the boy around a corner and into an alley.
Suddenly the party hears a scream! As Brau'ni and Cel round the corner, they see the boy lying on the ground, his singed body clutching the robed man's purse. The man stands over the boy, an enraged expression on his face, partly from the theft, and partly from the dagger sticking out of his left shoulder.
The robed man looks up at the party (the rest of whom have joined Brau'ni and Cel at the entrance the alley), and a flaming sphere appears at his fingertips, rotating wildly. Raphael, thinking quickly, casts Paralyze on the man, who suddenly freezes, the sphere winking out. The party rushes to the aid of the boy who, although badly burned, is still alive.
As Tiron tends to the boy, Cel takes the Delf-Frog out her pocket, and gives the envelope to the boy, explaining they've been sent by his uncle. The boy stands up under his own power and reads the message. As he does so, the Delf-Frog transforms into Delf!
"Cool!" the boy exclaims as he runs out the alley.
Raphael reluctantly releases his hold on the robed man.
"I'll remember this!" the man snarls as he leaves the alley. "The Zhentarim will remember this!"
"Hey! What's that?" Tiron asks. He bends down and picks up a piece of parchment laying on the ground. "It just has one word on it: 'Zuntar'."
A moment later the party spots a bluish-black snake flying through the drizzle. As it approaches them, it turns metallic green and speaks. "Greetingsss! If you're Dalmanu, ssspeak the word!"
Without hesitation, Brau'ni answers back. "Zuntar!"
The snake drops a parchment case into Brau'ni's hands and flies off. Brau'ni gives the case to Tiron, who opens it and reads what's on the parchment inside:
Dalmanu -"The 'Great Enemy'," muses Raven. "That's what the Zhentarim call Elminster! We have to get there first!"You are instructed to cease current surveillance of Hill's Edge. Gather all available Zhentilar soldiers and proceed immediately to the east edge of the Dusk Wood, directly north of the Leaning Stone. There you will search for an ancient path composed of five stone tiles. Travel in secrecy and kill anyone encountered en route.
Signal me when you arrive at the pathway. Touch the sigils in order: Spider, Arrowhead, Eye, Snake, and the path will teleport your group underground. Investigate the area fully before attempting to return to the surface. Report your findings to me directly; the lost Art you reclaim is of great importance in our struggle against the Harpers and the Great Enemy.
Success or failure will be rewarded in kind. Agents will be sent to assist in two days time.
The party goes to the Get Drunk Here tavern and sits down at a corner table. Raphael and Raven have an idea: construct a fake message, create the illusion of the snake, and drop the forgery into Dalmanu's greedy little hands. The fake message will, like the real message, instruct Dalmanu to cease his surveillance of Hill's Edge, but will then order him to return to his superior for further instructions. The message is placed in the same case the original message came in.
Raphael and Raven leave the tavern and wander around town until they spot Dalmanu. Raven takes the case, casts Fly, and ascends into the air. Raphael then does his magic, transforming her into the snake they saw earlier. Raven flies over Dalmanu, and drops the case once he says the magic word. Dalmanu reads it and rushes off, an evil grin on his face. Raphael drops the illusion and he and Raven return to the tavern.
The party retires for the night and sets out for the Leaning Stone the next day. After an encounter with a friendly man atop a horse (who surely would have been killed if Dalmanu had come this way) and a quick battle with six goblins, our heroes come to the tiles. They are arranged south to north in this order: Spider, Arrowhead, Snake, Eye, blank. Rolonda touches the sigils in the order specified in the message. As each member of the party steps on the plain tile, he is teleported into a 30' by 30' chamber with two alcoves containing statues.
As Raven explores the room, she steps into one of the walls and disappears! Raphael uses the crystal ball's telepathic powers and learns that, although she cannot return to the party, she is all right.
The party closely examines the statues. Tiron is able to lift one of the statues off of its base. In a recess lays a ring, which Tiron puts on. Delf, examining the other statue, pulls down on one of its arms. Out pops a scroll containing Dispel Magic, Hold Undead, and Water Breathing.
Seeing nothing else of interest in the room, the party walks into the wall and joins up with an unharmed Raven in another 30' by 30' chamber with three doors.
A booming voice cleaves through the air. "Your objective lies ahead. Choose your path wisely, stripling! Those who choose wisely will join me, those who choose poorly will die."
The party examines the doors. Each has runes written over them. One of the doors leads to the Path of Strength, one to the Path of Wits, and the other to the Path of Obstacles. The party chooses the door labeled "Path of Strength".
Delf opens the door into a short corridor leading to another door. Delf opens that door into a room seventy feet long and thirty feet wide. The room contains dual rows of pillars, ten feet apart. As Delf and Cel try to step in the room, six skeletal arms brandishing scimitars appear, accompanied by a howling wind so strong it prevents them from entering the room. Tiron steps into the doorway and dispels the arms, the wind along with them.
The party crosses the room without incident and opens the far door into a corridor, which turns right and ends in a door fifty feet later, which Delf opens into a triangular-shaped cavern. Its left and far surfaces are eighty feet long. A path, its right side dropping off to the stone floor below, slopes up beside these walls to a stone door centered in the far wall. As the party ascends up the path to the door, a Manticore swoops down upon them!
Delf is hit with a tail spike, and Cel clawed and bitten by its lion's claws and teeth before our heroes can retaliate. Brau'ni is knocked off the path to the floor below by the vicious attack. Raphael attempts to paralyze the beast, but fails. Cel has better luck, striking it a solid blow with her long sword. Raven joins in the fray, a volley of Magic Missiles striking the creature.
Suddenly, Tiron jumps on the Manticore's back! The Manticore, enraged, attempts to shake the cleric off, giving Delf and Cel a chance to attack. Although Delf misses, Cel's aim is true, her long sword killing the beast, sending Tiron crashing to the floor!
As Tiron dusts himself off, Delf comes up to him. "We don't need our only cleric doing stunts like that! Watch yourself!"
Tiron merely grins at his angry friend. "Praise Correllon! Ride 'em, cowboy!"
Delf opens the door into a 30' by 30' room, in which floats a large boulder! Upon further examination, the boulder is not a boulder at all, but a Beholder! The party inches their way around the room (as quietly as possible!) and leaves it without waking up the slumbering creature.
The door out of the room leads to a ten foot wide corridor, which leads down some steps to a door. The room behind this door is 30' by 30' and contains six doors, each with runes written over them. Like the other room, the doors are labeled: two lead to the Path of Strength, two to the Paths of Wits, and two to the Path of Obstacles. The party discovers they cannot open the doors labeled Path of Wits and Path of Obstacles and, once the door they came in closes, cannot open that door, either!
Delf opens the only door which can be opened and finds himself in a corridor which dead ends in a wall. After some searching, Cel finds a hand-shaped depression in the floor. She, then Delf, Tiron, and Brau'ni place their hands in the depression to no avail. Raphael places his hand in the depression. The wall suddenly lifts, revealing a triangular room. Blackened bones litter its floor. In the center of the room is a burned staff, a skull shrunken by fire, and a metallic object. Delf kneels down and suddenly the door crashes down behind him! Raphael opens it back up again. Upon closer inspection, Delf discovers the metallic object is a silver key. As he picks it up, a flaming skull floats up out of the floor and fires a volley of Magic Missiles at him! Tiron tries to turn the skull, but fails. Delf, smarting from the attack, drops the key. The skull speaks.
"Who are you?" the skull asks Delf.
"I am Delf. Who wants to know?" the Half-Elf fires back.
"I am Nereth!" the skull answers. "I have been here for ages. Are you here to train?"
"Yes. Why did you attack me?"
"I am testing you. Fighters know when to fight and when not to fight. All of you!" The skull peers at the rest of the party, still standing in the corridor. "Come in!"
"How get we get out of here when the door closes?" Delf asks, picking up the key.
"You have the means to exit," Nereth replies.
Just after the rest of the party enters the room, the door crashes shut behind them. Delf finds a keyhole in the wall opposite the door and inserts the key, turning it clockwise. The wall comes up, revealing a corridor beyond.
"Fare thee well!" Nereth calls after them, as they proceed down the corridor to a door at its end. The door opens into a rectangular room, a shimmering oval of blue-white light suspended above a dais against its far wall. Every so often, sparks streak from the oval, striking and blackening the floor. The charred remains of a tentacled creature lay on the floor.
Tiron casts Protection From Lightning on himself and enters the room. He spots another door along the wall, and notices the sparks are coming from the shimmering oval in regular intervals. The party waits for the next lull, then rushes over to and out the door.
The door opens into a corridor, ending in a door, which opens into a six-sided room, its floor littered with skeletal remains. As Delf and Cel cross the room, Delf happens to glance into mirror hanging from the door. Delf's image steps out of the mirror and takes a wild swing at the startled adventurer, missing. Delf hits his mirror image with his long sword, then both he and Cel swing and miss, the mirror image dodging nimbly out of the way. The mirror image counters, drawing Delf's blood with his own long sword. Tiron jumps into the room to his friend's aid, but misses on his own hasty attack. Delf and his mirror image then attack simultaneously, striking each other! Cel swats and hits the mirror image, just before Brau'ni rushes into the fray and kills it with a well-placed blow from his battle axe.
Raven hurriedly covers the mirror with her cloak. Tiron turns around to motion Raphael and Rolonda into the room, and freezes. His is staring directly into another mirror, set on the other door! His mirror image steps out of the mirror and charges the surprised cleric. Tiron counters, striking his mirror image. Just as the mirror image raises his sword to strike Tiron, Raphael casts Paralyze, immobilizing both of them. Delf, who saw the whole thing, quickly rushes over and kills the mirror image. Raphael releases his hold on the relieved cleric, and the mirror is covered up.
A search of the room reveals a Potion of Healing, two green gems, and two daggers. Delf opens the door into corridor, then the door at the end of the corridor. The room beyond is 30' by 40'. Two blackened bodies lay on the floor. A skeleton, burning from the shoulders up, holding a scepter, approaches the party. Cel jumps to the front, swinging but missing with her long sword. The skeleton retaliates, its sharp fingers raking her skin. Raven, now with a clear shot, whistles Magic Missiles at the skeleton, striking it on its chest. The party presses its advantage. Delf jumps in, hitting the staggering skeleton with his long sword. Tiron attempts to turn the undead creature, but cannot. Brau'ni hits the creature with his battle axe. Raphael's illusionary Cone of Cold has no effect, however, and enables the skeleton to regain the initiative. It points its scepter at Cel, and strikes her with a red beam. Cel fights through the beam and manages to hit the skeleton with her long sword. Raven finishes off their adversary with another volley of Magic Missiles.
Suddenly a fireball erupts in the center of the room, catching everyone in its area of effect! Delf slumps to ground, unconscious. Tiron rushes over and tends to him. With all of the excitement over, the party is finally able to survey the room: it has three doors and a large chest resting on its floor.
Delf walks over to the chest and opens it. It is completely empty. On a whim, he moves it aside, revealing a trap door! He opens it. It drops ten feet into an unlit corridor. Weakened by the fireball and noticing that this place seems to be keyed to mages, Delf motions Raven over. Raven drops down through the opening and walks down the corridor to a door. A single word is inscribed on it: "REWARD". Beneath the inscription, set into the door, is a red tile. Raphael, who was just behind her, touches the tile. Nothing. Tiron gives the ring he found in the first room to the illusionist. He puts it on and touches it to the tile. The door swings open!
The room beyond is small, its ceiling only six feet high. The party's eyes are drawn to a coffer, resting on a dais covered with purple velvet. Above the coffer float six whirling daggers, pointing down at the coffer. Raven steadies herself, walks over to the coffer, and plucks it off the dais. The menacing daggers remain where they are. Raven opens the coffer and sees an ornately-made jeweled ring and a black sapphire. As soon as she takes them out of the coffer, it glows blue, and a mouth appears from the glow!
"Well done, brave mage. Let's see if you can survive the path back."
With that, the coffer glows blue again, then returns to normal. The party leaves the room, goes down the corridor, then back into the room with the three doors. They find they cannot open the door they came in, and open one of the other ones. This door leads to corridor ending in a door. Cel opens the door into a small square room with a door across the way, and a skeletal being, dressed in robes, sitting in a chair, holding a rod, floating ten feet above the ground!
"Why do you disturb my rest?" the hoarse voice rasps.
"We only wish to pass," Cel responds.
"You shall not pass this way," the skeleton replies and raises its rod, pointing it directly at Cel!
Cel ducks back into the corridor, as Tiron comes to the doorway and attempts to turn the skeleton. After the unsuccessful turn, Tiron casts Protection From Evil on himself and reads Hold Undead from the scroll. Tiron crosses the room, opening the door on its other side. The party quickly follows suit, crowding into the corridor beyond.
Cel opens the door at the end of the corridor into a room whose features are obscured by a thick silver mist. She is able to barely discern doors through the mist, and enters the room. She quickly ducks back into the corridor. The mist burned her! Brau'ni lights a torch, throws it into the room and closes the door, hoping to burn off the acidic mist. He opens the door to a room whose features are still obscured by a thick silver mist! Suddenly a skeletal bat swoops in from the room and flaps around the corridor before flying back into the room. Raphael throws a fireball into the room (making sure to quickly shut the door). The mist is still there when the door is opened, however. Raphael then casts Alter Self on himself to give him a bear's hide, hoping its thick skin will protect him from the burning mist. He enters the room and tries to open the nearest door. Just as he realizes he cannot open it, two javelins whistle from the door, one of them striking him! He retreats back to the corridor, the mist starting to burn even his bear's hide. He tries to cast Wraith Form, but finds out that he cannot! Tiron casts a Dust Devil into the room, hoping to dissipate the mist. This attempt also fails. Incensed, Tiron rushes into the room and tries another door. Just as it opens, the cleric is struck by two more javelins! He motions the rest of the party to follow, and they rush across the room to the door. Just as she reaches the door, Cel is struck by two javelins and falls to the ground. Delf quickly pulls her into the corridor, and Tiron is soon able to revive her. Battered and bruised, our heroes decide to spend the night in the corridor.
The next morning, Tiron administers heals to needy party members. Brau'ni opens the door to the room beyond. It has a large obsidian statue of a winged, multi-armed scaled reptilian beast on a platform in its center. There is a two-foot wide moat filled with bubbling liquid completely surrounding the platform. A hole is visible in the creature's grotesque mouth.
Brau'ni and Raven cross the room to the door, but find it shut tight, impervious to both Brau'ni's prodigious strength and Raven's knock spell. Tiron enters the room, the door slamming shut behind him! That door also will not open.
Further examination of the statue reveals a single word engraved in its base: "SACRIFICE". Tiron steps across the bubbling moat, takes a gold coin out of his pouch, and tosses it into the statue's mouth. The mouth chews on the coin for a short time, then spits it out! The doors remain shut tight. A bloodstone tossed in the mouth yields the same results, as does a topaz worth one hundred gold pieces thrown in by Brau'ni. Raven takes a magical dagger from her belt and tosses that in the mouth. Suddenly the door opens and the three exit the room into a corridor. As soon as the door behind them closes, the other door opens, allowing Delf, Cel, Raphael, and Rolonda to enter the room. Taking a cue from his comrades, Raphael throws a magical dart into the mouth, and the four quickly rejoin the rest of the party in the corridor beyond the room.
Brau'ni opens the door at the end of the corridor and steps into the room with the six doors. It turns out they have taken the Path of Wits. Crossing the room, Brau'ni opens the other door labeled Path of Wits, enters the corridor beyond, and opens the door at its end into the room beyond.
This room contains a huge stone disk and a motionless robed body laying in a corner. Delf and Raphael walk over to the body for a closer look. The human female's blond hair falls over a face covered with black spots. They take a ring and wand off of the body and rejoin the rest of the party, who are looking closely at the stone disk.
The disk consists of three wheels, arranged in concentric circles. The inner wheel has an arrow inscribed on it, pointing east. The middle and outer wheels each have four symbols inscribed on them: the symbols seen on the stone tiles back at the Leaning Stone. Unsure of how to arrange the symbols, and now trapped in the room, Tiron casts Speak with Dead on the corpse. Her face animates, eyes staring intently at the cleric.
"What killed you?" Tiron asks.
"Black poison sprayed from the center of the inner wheel when I tried an incorrect combination."
"What are your theories on the combination?" Tiron asks his final question.
"I first tried to align the symbols on the middle and outer wheels. When I pointed the arrow to the Spider, the poison sprayed me. Desperately, I began to align the symbols in the order they were on the tiles, but perished before I could do so." Her eyes close and her head slumps to the ground.
Since Brau'ni is the most resistant to poison, he begins to align the wheels. Before he does so, he places his cloak over the hole in the inner wheel. He lines the symbols up in the order they were on the tiles, then points the arrow to the south. With a click, the door opens!
Brau'ni steps through the door and into an eight-sided room. Bookcases line two of its walls. A suit of fluted armor stands near the far door. Upon a desk rests a tin coffer and an obsidian paperweight atop a stack of papers. There is a box underneath the desk, which Raven picks up and places on top of the desk. Inside the box are four ornately carved red candles. Raven opens the coffer, setting off a fire trap! Singed, the mage drops the coffer onto the desk, and joins Tiron in scanning the bookcases. Two books catch their eye: "1001 Traps" and "Gemstones". As Tiron pulls the books off of the bookcases, the suit of armor silently animates, hitting Cel in the back with its battle axe! Our heroes are eventually able to vanquish the animated armor, but it is a difficult battle, the armor being impervious to edged weapons.
It turns out "Gemstones" is not a book at all! Its hollowed-out inside contains an amethyst, a topaz, and a king's tear. Brau'ni crosses the room and opens the door into a twenty-foot long corridor leading to a door at its end. The room beyond has a brightly colored ceramic tiled floor. Each tile is square, two feet on each side. The left quarter of the floor is tiled in black, the second in white, the third in green, and the right in red. Tiron takes a closer look at the tiles. The black tiles each bear a dagger, the white a religious symbol, the green a sword, and the red a staff. Tiron takes a step onto the white tiles. When he is halfway across, the tiles around him suddenly tilt up, revealing skeletal hands, trying to drag him down! After his attempt to turn the grasping hands fails, Tiron makes a jump for it, landing by the far door, just out of reach of the hands, safe.
"Just run across!" Tiron yells to the rest of the party.
"That's easy for you to say," Cel replies. "You haven't been dead yet today!"
The rest of the party avoids the hands by running across the red tiles (which bear the staff). The party goes through a door and into the room with the three doors to the paths of strength, wits, and obstacles. Raven walks through the wall which led them to this room, the rest of party following. They find themselves back in the first room in the complex.
"Well done, mage!" The booming voice is back! "Remember the lessons you have learned here today!" With a flash of bright light, our heroes are teleported back to the surface.
"Who are they? They're not in our party! Attack them!" The party turns as one to the voice and spies four people in the underbrush. Raphael casts a fireball, catching all four in its area of effect. All four drop to the ground amidst the burning brush. The party's victory is short-lived, however, as a fireball erupts all around them! Cel and Rolonda fall to the ground, unconscious or worse.
"Nice sword, cleric. I have two just like it!" an evil voice calls out over the distance. "I took them off of the body of your friend, the late Lady Shrae!"
The party sees three figures step out from behind the trees.
"Vera!" snarls Tiron. The mage holds two of the Shards of the Day. Tiron's own Shard of Midnight completes the set, which holds the key to unlock power unimaginable.
"Don't worry, Vera, this shouldn't be too hard. I've beaten them before!"
"Llurella!" Delf hisses through clenched teeth. The woman who betrayed them at Myth Drannor!
"This is going to be fun," the woman next to Llurella smiles. The party recognizes her as well, from long ago: the woman the party accidentally freed from the magical Sword of the Dales.
"We have you outnumbered!" Vera yells. On cue, twenty soldiers brandishing bows appear from the dense undergrowth, completely surrounding them!
"Join us... or die!"