Finally, an adventure which shows the party isn't always motivated by money...

After surviving their "simple" delivery mission, the party was back in an Arborean tavern, drinking and discussing what to do next. Surprisingly, they were actually considering acting on the information gained from the baernoloth and going to seek out the magical gem called the vuulge and then finding the Maeldur Et Kavurik. In the course of the discussion, Rusteen actually suggested that the party finally go to Baator and retrieve that lost Holy Avenger that the Harmonium had asked to find nearly a year ago. (As it turned out, he was really suggesting that they get the sword merely to break and that their real goal was the arm that went with it so they could use said paladin's arm as a way to frame the Harmonium for the removal of the fiends' ability to teleport.)

Fortunately, someone showed up with a much saner adventure idea. Attalus, a proxy of Zeus, showed up and sat down at their table, promptly throwing his arms around the shoulders of Rusteen and Oz. He declared that the party was obviously just the sort of heroic people his god needed to help with a small problem. This immediately put Shazarr in a bad mood. However, the proxy seemed to ignore the Athar's jibes and instead focused on Twig (as the apparent spokesman for the party) and Rusteen (as the man seemed quite attracted to the burly woodsman).

The job Attalus had in mind was for the party to "slip" in the temple of one of the Titans on Carceri - Crius, the Titan of Weight and Density, to be precise - and resuce a dwarf by the name of Polydeuces, one of Zeus' numerous sons with a mortal woman. In return, Attalus would see to it that the party would be allowed to attend a party thrown by Dionysis. Twig, Oz, Jack, and Rusteen immediately agreed to this, especially since they were in danger of running out of money for drinks (again). Shazarr, partly in support of his friends, and partly because he realized that this would be an opportunity to show up one of the Powers, reluctantly agreed as well. Buttercup simply went along because Jack was going.

The matter settled, a little bit of research discovered a portal that would take the party near to the Titan's temple. Of course, they neglected to do research on the particular layer of Carceri they would be travelling to. Stepping through the portal, the party found themselves in the center of a rope bridge which connected to halves of a town and was suspended over what loooked like a bottomless chasm. The strong winds which nearly blew them off the bridge didn't make matters any more enjoyable. That, and the fact that Buttercup is apparently very afraid of heights. (This phobia is what finally made Buttercup and Oz come to an understanding; he would bathe and she would let him Dimension Door her over any uncomfortable heights.)

In fairly short order, the party made its way over to one half of the town and intimidated a local into telling them about the local area. The local knew only that the Titan's temple was far out of town, and that the nearest tavern was in a different town. Rusteen in what seemed to be an innocent mistake, decided to thank the man by tossing some money his way. The resulting fight for the money provided the town with some much needed entertainment.

Leaving town, the party slowly made its way through the treacherous mountain paths. They came across a much larger bridge and, through the use of magic, telported across the gap and thus surprised some people who would have tried to extort a toll from them. (Actually, Twig and Rusteen decided to walk across the bridge. Shazarr won a bet as Rusteen nearly fell to his death when a very strong gust of wind came along.) From the toll gang, the party got directions to the next town, the Titan's temple, and a nearby cave where a barmy fiend was said to be holed up.

Naturally, the party decided to investigate everything except the temple. They first visted the other town, and by refusing to give up their weapons, managed to piss everyone off and get the town to attack them. Of course, Buttercup quickly subdued the people into submission with her incredibly fearsome aura. The party was then able to go about the important task of getting a drink in the town's pitiful excuse for a tavern (two stools, one tap, six mugs). Quickly destroying the burg's stock of alcohol, the party then went to bother the barmy fiend to try and get more info about the temple.

The visit mostly paid off. The fiend was a very sickly-looking female arcanaloth, who was apparently in some form of exile. Twig, the most chaotic of the party, managed to get in tune with the fiend's ravings and got some information out of her. The information concern the existance of a back door to the temple that should be relatively safer to sneak into the building by, rather than the front door. In exchange for this info (and some food that Twig gave her), the fiend asked a favor - if the party should come across a baernoloth by the name of Daru Ib Shamiq, they should try to kill him.

In the next session, we see the party's version of sneaking and scouting.

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

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