The session started with a summary of the session that wasn't. Given that I felt that the last adventure had dragged on a bit too long - mainly due to my errors - I summarized how the adventure would have ended up had we actually played it out. Namely...

The party had just put a major dent in the operations of the bandits. They'd slaughtered a tribe of kobolds (who instantly became undead and wandered into the mine), and torched all of the surface buildings related to the working of the mine. They'd found letters explaining that everything that had been happening was all the plot of some baatezu who merely wanted to steal all the silver left in the mine without anyone bothering his minions. At this point, the party was in the process of loading up a wagon with a large number of silver ingots, while Rusteen was trying to get them to go into the mine and track down and destroy the portal he felt certain was present inside.

The occupants of the mine had other ideas. The undead in the mine came out to get the party. The came in large numbers and in waves, such that Dr. Fever ran out of positive energy and was unable to turn them any more. While this and some combat did take care of most of the undead, the last two which were not turned forced the party to flee and leave the silver behind. This is because the last two undead were shadows - insubstantial undead that can only be harmed by magic weapons or a few specific spells. Since the party had no magic weapons and Que couldn't cast enough of the required spells, the decision was made for them and the party left the mine.

So, the group returned to town and prepared to (finally) return to Sigil. On the way out, the party decided to inform the town militia what was going on at the mines so they could round up some force and make sure the bandits didn't move back in. In the process of doing so, Rusteen finally met up with the head of the new "elite guard". And, shortly after returning to Sigil, he realized that the orc was most likely his nemesis Vermylion the Mercykiller.

Once the party returned to Sigil, they found a note from Augustus waiting for them. He had reviewed all of the data gathered on the last mission and wished to give them their payment, as well as discuss the next possible job for them. Having nothing better to do, and wishing to experience something as far away from the Prime as possible, the party decided to respond to the note.

For the first matter of business, Augustus was very pleased with what the group had provided him. Pleased that a fellow Sensate was pleased, Ginaea brought up the point of obtaining additional sensory mimirs so that the group might always be recorded, even as Augustus was reviewing their assigned missions. The senior factioneer felt this was a good idea and would see what he could do. After this comment, Augustus handed out payment from the trip to Heliopolis (and the resulting side adventure chasing after the Khaasta).

From there, he brought up the subject of the next mission. He declared that after the last job, the party had earned his trust and that Augustus would now start assigning more important (and thus, a bit more difficult) tasks. Also, his instructions would get a bit more vague as he knows he can count on the party's creativity to get the job done. After all this high praise and buttering up, the party was then handed its next task - to play delivery boys.

Augustus wished the party to deliver a gift to an old hag named Moxelpik who lives at the Rotting Spire, on the Second Gloom of Hades. The gift was contained in a rusting iron chest with a magical lock. The Sensate explained that it was actually more of the journey that was important, but the gift needed to be delivered, so he was looking to kill two birds with one stone. Part of the trick was that Augustus didn't know exactly where the most convenient portal to Niflheim was, but he did know that a member of the Fated called Sadu had been the last person to use it.

So, the party took the chest back to the Eye of the Beholder where Rusteen tried (and failed) for an hour or so to get into the chest to see what the gift was. Although no knowledge was obtained, whatever it was did make the chest warm, acquire a small amount of condensation, and it did occasionally tap back. After this experiment, Rusteen went to his faction's headquarters to find Sadu. Unfortunately, all he got was a bunch of past tense information. (He WAS a rather corpulent human. He HAD an enormous sweet tooth.) It appears that Sadu had gone barmy and was now a guest of the Bleak Cabal in the Gatehouse.

So, the party went into the outskirts of the Hive to try and gain entrance to Sigil's insane asylum - as visitors. After a disturbing encounter with some of the orphans in the Bleaker's care (apparently some of the kids know EXACTLY how their parents died), the party found a clerk. They proceeded to irritate the factioneer until she was forced to tell them where Sadu was housed. The group then moved deep into the Gatehouse and attempted to figure out the numbering system on the cells of the inmates. After a time, the party finally found Sadu.

It seems he'd been a guest of the Bleakers for quite some time, as all of his fat had left but the skin still hung in folds and bags on his bones. At first, he refused to talk to them. It was then the party realized they didn't listen to the clues very well and had forgotten to bring some candy. Fortunately, Shazarr charmed the man and got him to talk without the aid of sugar. Deciphering the ravings, it was determined that the portal was in a well under a warehouse; the key was rotting flesh. It was also guessed that there might be some cranium rats present in the building as well.

After mistakenly heading to the Market Ward first, the group found the specified warehouse in the center of the Hive Ward. The group then broke into the abandoned building and started to search for some kind of entrance to tunnels beneath the warehouse. During this process, a pair of gigantic moths attacked the party. The creatures had a skull pattern on their wings and apparently had a taste for gnome as they swooped down and started to carry Que away. The fight to kill the moths was a bit harder than expected as the pattern on the creatures' wings caused magical confusion, and their very presence drained strength from all in the immediate area.

After dispatching the moths, the party found the trapdoor and entered the very narrow (5' wide and 5' tall) tunnels beneath the building. Once there, they found and fought four small zombies as well as a smallish pack of cranium rats. A couple of effective stomps from Ginaea knocked all the rats out, allowing the party to easily dispatch the vermin. This left the party free to explore a pair of chambers, loot the body of a dead thief, and fiddle with a statue. It was Shazarr who recognized that one simply had to turn the wrist of the statue so that it made the oh-so-familiar "wanker" salute and thus open the secret door which hid the well.

The next session will involve the party using the portal and traversing the Second Gloom of Hades.

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

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