The session started with a rather large argument. The party was trying to decide where they were going to go next to accomplish more of Augustus' missions. First, they argued about whether they should try to make a gatetown slide, or to head into Arborea or the Beastlands and seek an imbalance in nature. While they did quickly settle on the slide, they couldn't come to a decision on which town they should slide and who they would rather work with (such as the Harmonium or the Baatezu, for example).

Finally, at a combined urging of Dr. Fever and Terrazin, the party reluctantly agreed to travel to Fortitude and help the Harmonium with their "Harmonious Ascension" - a planned, and forced, slide of the gatetown into Arcadia. Prior to leaving Sigil, the party stopped to ask a few questions of the local faction members in order gain an idea of what it was they were walking into. They learned three main facts.

First, everyone who entered the town would be subject to an "inspection of moral character" to make sure that no "undesireable elements" were left in town and could thus slow or spoil the event. Second, a legendary paladin and member of the Harmonium - Daneel, Smiter of Fiends - would be arriving to lend his presence and aid in completing the ceremony. Third, the slide was targeted for the end of the current week.

Given this information, Twig and Rusteen decided to attempt to hide their moral characters (such as they are) and still accompany the rest of the party into Fortitude. Upon arrival, Twig and Rusteen slipped through the crowd to avoid the inspection, while the rest of the party calmly accepted it. While they were happy enough to let Dr. Fever, Shazarr, and Terrazin into town, they *highly* recommened that Jack enter the Confessional and confess his sins and flaws before moving deeper into town. "The Confessional" is an immense public ampitheatre where people are expected to confess their sins before the gathered throngs and led the crowd determine their penance.

Jack, instead of confessing to the sins he knows he has but doesn't view as sins in the first place, instead took the podium and began to work the crowd into an appropriate Harmonium-supporting frenzy. Twig, deciding to cash in on the fervor, began selling shirts with "I love the Harmonium" on them. Dr. Fever remained very confused, while the rest of the party decided to watch the crowd - just for something interesting to do. And they did spot something interesting.

They spotted Dr. Fever forcibly shoving his way through the crowd and into an alley. Given that Dr. Fever was also standing right next to them, this was a very interesting event. Rusteen was the first to pursue the double, with the rest of the party (save Jack and Twig) not too far behind. The second Dr. Fever moved through the alleys of town, eventually entering one in particular - from which the cries for help from a woman followed by the oath of a paladin soon issued.

When Rusteen entered the alley, he saw none other than Daneel, Smiter of Fiends engaged in mortal combat with four fiends and Dr. Fever. Thinking quickly, the woodsman drew his bow and fired - directly into the chest of the paladin. He managed to get off two more shots before Terrazin and Dr. Fever arrived and subdued nearly everyone with a combined mind blast and entangle spell. Unfortunately, half of the fiends were unaffected. As such, they were able to overpower the now severly wounded and disabled paladin and rip his sword arm from his shoulder. Claiming the arm (and holy avenger) as their own, the fiends gave praise to their lord, Dispater, and then vanished.

The rest of the party quickly rushed to the paladin's aid, while Terrazin questioned Rusteen as to just what the hell he was doing. Rusteen claimed that he saw a woman change into the paladin and so was shooting a shapeshifting imposter (ignoring the fact that the second Dr. Fever was also most likely a shapeshifting imposter). Soon afterwards, a large squad of Harmonium arrived and forced the party to help bring Daneel to the local barracks and confined them for questioning.

The party's questioning was handled by Tonat Shar, Mover Four of the Harmonium and the Factol's right-hand man. As the party related the truth (more or less), they did clear themselves of obvious attempted murder charges, but still left themselves (especially Rusteen) under deep suspicion. They were asked to stay in town for a day or so while a company of Harmonium soldiers were dispatched to recover the stolen holy artifact. Terrazin predicted that the Harmonium would have done better to send the party instead, and was soon proven correct.

A day and a half later, Tonat Shar asked the party to come back to the barracks. It seemed that only three soldiers had survived to return to Fortitude and report on the failed assault. It would seem that the Hardheads were just too sodding obvious to make it through Baator. So, the Mover Four asked the party to go in the faction's stead. Rusteen was told to go or die; the rest of the party could volunteer and receive payment. Tonat also offered to pay for some initial expenses. Naturally, the party agreed as none wanted to be on the Harmonium's bad side as well as the fact that this quest would satisfy two or three of Augustus' requirements.

So, the party returned to Sigil and stocked up on healing supplies and a plane shift scroll. On their way back to Rusteen's bar, the party was ambushed by a group that had been preparing for the ambush for quite some time. (The group consisted of a bald human female, a male gnome, a dwarf, and a leather-wrapped floating mummy.) And things went very badly for the party.

First, Terrazin failed to spot a psionic sensor which was remote viewing the group prior to the assault. This led to the party being surprised and allowing the attackers to soften them up with a pair of fireballs, the attack of two summoned fiendish giant praying mantises, and the invisible dwarf. This surprise round put Terrazin on the ground. While Rusteen, Shazarr, and Twig were then quick to react and start dealing with the evil bugs, the mummy and spellcasters quickly removed more of the party. The gnome killed Shazarr with a phantasmal killer spell, while the mummy forced Rusteen to drop his sword and run away. Twig managed to resist a strength draining spell which was cast on her. Dr. Fever suffered a blow or two from the dwarf. Jack did manage to toss off a thunderball which lightly damaged the enemy wizards, but did destroy the gnome's mirror image spell.

Dr. Fever risked more injury by grabbing Terrazin and moving him out of harm's way. While the dwarf's blows did not kill him, the lightning bolt from the gnome (which was cast after the druid got in line with Jack and Twig) did. Terrazin managed to avoid dying as Dr. Fever protected his body from the brunt of the attack. Twig escaped unharmed, while Jack did stay on his feet. In the following round, Twig put a mantis on the ground while Jack struck the three visible attackers with a lightning bolt. This proved to be a key decision.

Immediately after taking damage, the mummy moved between the two wizards, grabbed them and then the trio disappeared. This allowed Rusteen to come back to help finish off the remaining bug and try to kill the invisible dwarf. The survivors of the party were able to drive the dwarf away as Jack's familiar was able to sniff out his location, allowing Jack to throw lightning bolts blindly into the melee and let Twig and Rusteen land some blows. However, the dwarf was able to escape due to a haste spell. Although the party was able to track him for a distance, the dwarf managed to heal his wounds enough to stop the trail of blood which the party had been following. But, at the dwarf's last known location, they did find a letter that had been dropped on the ground.

"Bayla,

"Our time is now. Too long have we arcane spellcasters tolerated the upstart arts of mental empowerment. Psionics is a vile corruption of the mind, and it must be eliminated in all its forms. So, too, must we destroy all creatures who call upon psionic powers.

"Something important has happened. The Waking Event. You don't need to know the particulars, but know this: We have an opportunity to cripple all the arts of psionic manifestation, everywhere.

"Seeker will lead you and identify the targets I've selected. Despite its heritage, it serves us well. Sometimes you must fight evil with evil, though it burns the hand.

"There are six targets. These are the Six Who Will Choose. Kill them all. Kill your targets, and we have a chance to destabilize psionic powers forever!

"Once you have eliminated these Chosen, we will turn our sights to the Colorless Lodge, our most potent and evil enemy. If we take out the Lodge, the necromancer will be easy. I will provide other Wilder reinforcements as needed for your efforts, or elect a new team leader altogether if you fail. Do not fail.

"E.W."

And thus ended the session. When next we meet, the party will have to heal and figure out how to raise/reincarnate the fallen members of the party and whether to continue to pursue the holy avenger or take a detour and seek out the reason for this attack.

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

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