The session started with the party splitting up, relatively speaking. Rusteen and Dr. Fever decided to stay outside and interact with the street brawl, while everyone else (wisely) decided to ignore it and go inside the Redmarch Inn to get beer, food, and beer.

Those entering the bar found the place to be nearly deserted, as most of the patrons were apparantly outside watching (or taking part in) the fight. Three patrons were involved in a card game, while three others were quietly watching and drinking. Twig promptly got a bottle of Scotch and a bowl of potato soup, and proceeded to sit down near the card game and eat her meal. Shazarr decided to be generous and order the least ordered items on the menu, while Ginaea decided that she needed to try a new experience and ordered the strongest drink in town.

That ended up being the Adamantine Anvil. It was served in a very thick wooden mug, and was made from a number of different varieties of dwarven spirits. Part of the experience of drinking was to consume the concoction and then pound an iron spike into the table with the mug before the drink finished burning its way through. Ginaea managed to pound the drink but was unable to pound the spike since the alcohol pounded her into unconciousness.

Meanwhile, Rusteen and Dr. Fever were dealing with the street brawl. The ranger jumped right in, just to have a little fun and add to the body count. The modron decided that he'd rather just attempt to help the unconcious victims. At least, that was the original plan. Dr. Fever, while tending to the senseless, also tried to determine the cause of the conflict. At its center, he noticed a human man and woman, both of whom were the most beautiful specimens he'd ever seen. The modron knew that he absolutely must possess them, for futher study. So, he promptly waded into the center of the fight, picked them up, and headed towards the inn. With the objects of their obsession suddenly taken away from them, the street brawl promptly took up the chase.

It was about this time that Zin arrived in town and made his way to the Redmarch. Although he too wisely avoided the fight, it would seem that the fight was not going to avoid him. He entered the bar, just in time to hold the door open for Dr. Fever and, unfortunately, the half score of people chasing him. At this time, the DM would like to point out that things got rather messy.

This because everyone in the bar instantly become subjected to the magical compulsion affect on the two humans. Which means that everyone (with the exceptions of Zin and Rusteen) wanted to possess those two people. So now we've got about twenty people fighting over two others who really have no idea what's going on and just want to get the hell out of there. Shazarr charmed one of the two people; Dr. Fever covered the room in fog to hide them from everyone else; Twig wanted to make them ugly so only she would want them; Ginaea twitched unconciously; and Jack entangled Dr. Fever to steal the woman for himself. Plus, of course, a large number of NPCs simply trying to pound the snot out of one another to make sure they end up with the prizes.

Finally, Zin put a temporary stop to things by Mind Blasting the entire room, which knocked nearly everyone unconscious. Dr. Fever and Rusteen remained awake and took the two humans who were the cause of the trouble and hid them somewhere in town for an hour or so. Jack and Ginaea (who had regained consciousness but not sobriety) ended up upstairs in a room "getting better acquainted". Zin, for his part, wisely grabbed four bottles of alcohol to hand to Twig so she wouldn't beat him up once she recovered.

In the aftermath, people were finally able to put the pieces together and figure out what had happened. It turns out that the khaasta had been in town two days ago. They sold a couple bottles of the stolen beauty to these people. It seems that if the stolen beauty is applied to beings who already have all their beauty, they become too beautiful and all who view them want to possess them. However, this did seem to be a temporary effect, and the compulsion (and beauty) would fade after a time. (Although they were unable to determine how long of a time.) Additionally, the lizardfolk were on their way to a place called the Realm of the Norns.

In addition to this information, the party picked up two new members - well, one wasn't that new. Zin, the githzerai seer, had rejoined the party after disappearing for a time after Augustus' tests. He primarily complained that the party was "late" and "not where it was supposed to be". (It seems he'd been expecting them on Ysgard nearly a week ago.) The new member was a half-elven gambler by the name of Jack van Burace. Although the party wasn't normally inclined to pick up a total stranger, one that was a Clueless Prime, they did so mainly on the word of Rusteen. It turned out that Jack was a friend of Rusteen from back on their homeworld. Jack had apparently fallen victim to a random portal and had appeared in Ironridge three days ago. He since realized that he's incredibly far from home, and needs some help. So, he's going to accompany the party until he can figure out what the heck is going on. Shazarr and Twig quickly took a liking to Jack. Shazarr, because Jack claimed to have been responsible for helping to kick a so-called god's ass. Twig, because his rat familiar smoked and drank like a fiend.

After a day's delay to recover from the magical compulsion, alcohol, and Zin's psionic assault, the expanded group left Ironridge and once again took up the task of tracking the khaasta. After a day of travel, the party ran into an unusual resident of the Outlands. The party's caravan was approached by a massive stone tower that walked upon four gigantic, metallic legs. The group was then hailed by the tower's lone occupant, an eccentric gnome. It turned out that he was looking for the khaasta as well, since he wished to buy more of the "wondrous bottles". Deciding to accept the wizard's offer of hospitality, they entered the tower and directly him towards where they suspected the lizardfolk to be heading.

During the journey, they found the gnome to be acting rather strangely - even for a gnome. Ever so often, on a regular basis, the wizard would excuse himself and then go off into another room. After a couple rounds of this, Twig decided to listen at the door and see if she could find out what was going on. It seemed the the gnome was talking to something, or perhaps multiple somethings, that he referred to as "my pretties". Shortly after informing the party about their host's mental condition, Dr. Fever came to the conclusion that it might not be a good idea to go storming into the realm of a god in the company of an insane wizard in a tower capable of destroying the landscape with every step. So, Twig managed to convice the wizard to stop the tower at the edge of the territory and let the PCs go ahead and find the khaasta for him.

Of course, what she neglected to tell him was that she was also going to sneak into the room and steal his "pretties" - six large gemstones. (And, as it turned out, Rusteen had already stolen a wand from the gnome and planted it on Twig.) So, the party had managed to get out of the tower and move into the Realm, before the gnome found out about their thefts. The party now had to run as the tower stormed into the trees after them. Much to Shazarr's chagrin, a display of divine might saved their bacon. The tower, and the gnome, vanished with a loud *pop* - apparently being Unmade by the Norns. (For those that don't know, the Norns are the Norse powers of Fate.)

Finally, the party found the trail of the khaasta and followed it to the base of a massive fallen tree. The trail went directly up the trunk, and ended at a shimmering portal. The party stepped through and found itself on one of the many branches of Yggdrasil, the World Ash. (This legendary tree is a way for planewalkers to move between planes, without having to bother with portals and keys. Of course, more walking and climbing is involved, and the Infinite Tree doesn't go everywhere. But, it is a handy alternate means of travel, especially if the portal you want is being guarded. For more information, please consult your Mimir.)

The session stopped here. The next will cover the party's travel along the tree and their eventual confrontation with the khaasta.

Authored by: Ken Lipka E-mail me: krlipka@yahoo.com

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