First off, let me apologize for not writing these last couple of months. Most of you who have been following my exploits probably thought I had fallen in battle with some beasty. I assure you this is not the case. I decided keeping a day to day journal was not a wise thing to do while we were being stalked by some unknown entity. If the person or being tracking us came upon my journal our party's security, and more importantly my security, could be compromised.
A lot of events have transpired since my last journal entry. I will try to catch you up in as few installments as I can without leaving out to many pertinent details.
My date was a disaster.
I put that behind me.
We spent the next several days playing shadow games with our stalkers.
There were many.
Street urchins were everywhere. It was hard to travel around town without tripping over the little critters. They were spreading rumors of our exploits around town, blowing them way out of proportion. It was good for our rep so we let them.
There were young adolescents. They were mimicking our attire and mannerisms. Hero worshippers you would call them. I am a glutton for fame but I did not think we qualified as hero's. Foremost among these was a young farm boy by the name of Dug. He was strong and quick it seemed but was lacking in the brains department. He reminded me of Mordin but without the brutishness.
Speaking of our minuscule barbarian friend there still was no sign of him. We assumed he gave up adventuring after his transformation.
The Baron's men were watching us. We believe he felt threatened by our new found fame for some reason. Hopefully he doesn't feel to threatened and has us thrown in chains or something.
There was also a shadowy presence. Someone more skilled than Skylar, Vickey and Shakes at remaining hidden. Try as we might we could not determine who this sinister stalker was.
We determined to make another foray into the Enigma Vaults. Our plan was to do a small bit of exploring, then grab all the valuables and kill the Ghost Demon, Abraxus, on the way out.
That failed big time.
Our first encounter was with a couple of minor spirits.
They whooped our asses and made it look easy.
First off, they sang a song that put us in a daze. The only one to resist this effect was Draco. If it wasn't for him we would have all died right there. Dragon boy smacked us around until we snapped out of it. Second, our weapons passed right through them most of the time. They went all insubstantial on us then would phase back in and attack. The only things that worked for sure was my magic missiles and positive energy bolts. And I didn't have enough power to slay even one of them. Third, their touch drained our health. most of us were crawling out of there. If Abrandon was not covering our retreat by brandishing his cross and driving the spirits back, most of us would have joined the spirits in undeath.
We crawled past Abraxus on his bridge on the way out and we could only surmise at his power. If two minor ghosts could beat us so easily, what could this demon of ghosts do?
It was a downtrodden and sober group that left the Accursed Halls this day.
We spent the better part of a week recovering. None of us wanted to admit it, but i think we lost our edge. The group of us brooded over ales at the bar. Abrandon's prayers at breakfast were muted at best. None of us talked about plans over dinners.
It looked to me like this might be the end of our party.
And then one day as we entered our private room at the Green Forest Inn for breakfast, there sat a familiar muscle bound gnome with his legs propped up on the table. His first words were, " So! You guys miss me?"
It was a miracle.
A miracle named Mordin.
"Mordin!" We all yelled in unison.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" He yelled. " Stop it right there! I go by the name Max now. Maximus Fodder."
We all looked at each other, and then Vickey said, " We are good with that."
The next couple of hours was spent catching up. Mordin, or Max as he is called now, had spent the last couple of weeks getting to know his new body and letting the numerous ladies of the night in Thornkeep getting to know it also. Apparently he was running low on money and asked, " So? When we going back down into the dungeon?"
We told him of our last couple of trips into the Enigma Vaults and of our defeat at the hands of the singing ghosts. "Pfft." He informed us. " You didn't have me then." Grabbing his magic axe he said, " Let's go."
It was a slaughter.
Of the ghosts.
Mordin may have lost his stature, but he lost none of his ferocity. He swung his axe at one of the ghosts and predictably it phased out, the weapon passing right through, but then he reversed his swing just as the spirit rematerialized and opened up the things throat. Ectoplasmic blood gushed out all over our diminutive berserker, causing him to laugh maniacally. Draco and I blasted the other through a wall with disrupt undead spells, which I instructed him were effective against these creatures. When it stuck his head back through the wall Skylar was waiting there with the Sword of Zog and lopped it's head right off. It looked kind of silly with it's upper torso hanging headless out of a wall and gushing ectoplasm. We removed wax from our ears that we placed there to protect us from their songs and cheered.
We looted the Enigma Vault's. I cast a Tenser's Floating Disk spell and placed the corpse of the alien wizard upon it. I had preserved the corpse with Oil of Timelessness so that it didn't decay previously and now I was glad I done so.
Abraxus awaited us on the bridge.
He shrugged as we approached him and vanished in a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared two Giant Pythons were in his place. We hit them so hard and fast they were dead in the first few seconds.
As we left the dungeon with all our spoils I said to Draco, " That was kind of anti climactic." he just shrugged.
Halfway through town I broke off from the rest of the party and made my way to the Goldcloak Tower with my burden. In the main room to the oh's and ah's of all her apprentices I tossed the body of the alien wizard to the feet of Illara Starcloak.
She smiled as she met my gaze.
I smiled back.
She looked down at the corpse at her feet and palled. " That's a Mi Go." she whispered.
My blood ran cold, for I knew that name.
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