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"Phon Quartermail. 3^rd Door Westarn side of Crispin Streat. Blak hair, yung."

"After: the red wairhuse on Able row. 2 hours after dusk, Theoday."

Disheartened by the death of Ansrahel, the team took a week off from delving. They sent Ansrahel's body back to the Moonsilver forest and sold the plunder they'd taken from Toridan Cran's hideout. During this time they met the merchants Rastor, Ebbert and Myraeth, each of whom would become good friends to the group.

Zade, the balding, skinny bartender from the Ghostly Minstrel introduced them to Doric Forgekin, a stonelost dwarf who was also a priest of Lothian. Doric carries a spear and a large journal he keeps regularly, and exhibits only a little of the classic dwarven gruffness. A Ptolus native, his family resides in Khaled Del. When he speaks of the Dwarvenhearth, he does so with reverence and sadness. Doric joined the little band out of an interest in the caverns below Ptolus.

Rip and Sorin discovered the Smoke Shop in the far eastern end of the North Market. This store is the primary outlet for the wondrous goods of the Shuul, and sells the best gunpowder in all Ptolus, in Rip's opinion. The shopkeeper is one Gunther Edlund. Gunther is more technician than salesman, and has little patience for those not versed in the arcana of his machines. Luckily, Sorin and Rip are right at home with such technical details and their trips to the Smoke Shop are as much about trading jargon as it is about purchasing supplies. Doric and Khayman both grow rapidly bored whenever they accompany the other two to this place.

27^thof Rain

The team decided to return to Cordaris. In gearing up at Rastor's and Myraeth's Oddities, they met Rastor's apprentice, a bright and eager teenage boy named Iltumar Shon. Impressed by Iltumar's energy, the team allows Iltumar to perform small tasks such as running messages or sharpening blades and agree that someday he might become an adventurer.

[GM's Note: Yeah, I know the source material has Iltumar at the Bull and Bear, not Rastor's.]

The team heads back over to the North Market entrance to Cordaris. After making sure that no one is following them (they don't want to reveal the location of their find. After cautiously reconnoitering the "obelisk room" and assuring themselves that it was ooze-free, the team began to search out the surrounding spaces. In a secret armory they discovered a burnished suit of chainmail that was both very light and strong. Doric assured them that it was dwarven make, possibly from the Dwarvenhearth itself.

Listening at another door, Sorin found that the rotten wood is full of aggressive white grubs that quickly burrow into his ear! He could hear them munching…and then he couldn't hear from that ear at all! The entire team quickly retreated from Cordaris and races to the Lothianite Church of the Lawgiver, where they shelled out most of their remaining funds to cure Sorin of the deadly infestation.

Later in the day, they returned to Cordaris. After wandering several corridors, they ran into a team of orcs! Apparently, Gorti Jurgen's information was wrong and not all the orcs of Cordaris had been killed. A quick battle ensued in which the orcs were aided by a swarm of bats. Baeddyn's ferocity and the accurate aim of Rip and Khayman soon gain victory for the team. The orcs are not local semi-civilized "Spireman" orcs, but are barbarians from some distant land…strange.

After more wandering through serpentine corridors, the team encountered yet more orcs. Rip bluffed them with an empty dragon pistol and they ran for cover. Baeddyn charged through a hail of arrows to close with the orcs, but the hail was targeted at Rip, who fell unconscious and near death. A battle ensued in a chamber filled with dragon statues and ended when Doric slew the orc captain with a decisive thrust of his spear. The orc's dying words, in broken Imperial were "The Legacy demon is not for you!"

30^thof Rain

Having retreated to the surface and rested again after their battles, the team was preparing to return to Cordaris when a tall priest of Asche, god of cities, approached them. His name was Mand Scheben and after asking about Toridan Cran, said that he had a risky proposition for them. Mand asked them to meet him later that day at Castle Shard in the Noble's Quarter.

Unsure about the priest or his unknown proposition, the team leapt at the chance to see the legendary Castle Shard. Famous as a relic of the most ancient days, the fortress was as famous for its mysterious residents as for its lightning moat. The team readily agreed. They even went out to purchase more formal clothing and to acquire a suitable housegift for their hosts (a small enchanted crystal from Myraeth's Oddities).

[GM's Note: Castle Shard has an acid moat in the Brick, but I liked the idea of a lightning moat. I thought I'd just come up with the idea, but I think I must've unconsciously stolen it from Phil Foglio's "Girl Genius".]

Castle Shard was every bit as imposing and unsettling as the team had imagined, from the lighting moat to Kadmus the manservant who seemed to know their names and favorite foods without being asked. He even served Sorin a pouch of "Uraqi Red" tobacco which the former sailor had so loved on his long journeys, but which was nearly impossible to get in Ptolus.

Kadmus led them past an open gallery containing the Shard itself, a house-sized piece of mysterious stone, pulsing with magical energy. In a stately conference room, Kadmus introduced them to Lord Zavere, one of the two Lords of Castle Shard. Sorin had already told the team that Zavere was rumored to be a redeemed villain, a former servant of dark gods and still a very dangerous and important person.

There, Mand and Zavere laid out their proposition. It seems Toridan Cran had an even more dangerous brother named Linech. Linech Cran was a drug smuggler, responsible for importing the deadly narcotic shivvel into the city and was hiring adventurers for reason. This was very interesting to Sorin, whose cousin had been addicted to shivvel. That cousin's debts had forced Sorin to take up the life of a sailor to help pay back the Balcazar criminal organization (a still-open debt) and had eventually led to the cousin's death by overdose.

Mand and Zavere wanted the team to get themselves hired on by Linech and see what he was up to. For this, Zavere offered them an even 1,000 gp. Realizing they could also take Linech Cran's pay, the team readily agreed. Besides, they realized that Zavere could be a powerful and useful patron.

That evening, Baeddyn, Bethan, Doric, Khayman Rip and Sorin traveled to Rivergate, where Linech had turned an entire neighborhood into his private compound, known to all as "Linech's Burrow". After staring down the guards, the team was escorted to Linech's house where they shortly met the man himself and his dwarven bodyguard. They were startled to see in the office a life-sized golden statue of a man dressed in rich clothing.

Linech explained that his daughter had died overseas and that her body was being returned to the city on a packet ship named The Arrowhead. The ship had foundered three days before in rough seas just off the coast and Linele's coffin had gone down with the rest of the cargo. Linech described it as a unique glass coffin and offered them twelve hundred gold, as well as any salvage they could find. Linech would send his halfling servant Seanus, who would carry potions that would allow the party members to breath underwater. The party agreed to the task and promised to return the next day.

Returning by night to Castle Shard, they met with both Lord Zavere and his partner, the astonishing Lady Rill. A powerful sorceress, Rill floated through the room in a seated position, surrounded by songbirds and a diaphanous gown. Both listened to the tale of Linech and his daughter. But it was the mention of the gold statue that really got the attention of the lords of Castle Shard. Rill made them describe the statue in detail, and both she and Zavere seemed to recognize the statue and think it was important. Zavere offered to pay the team an additional two hundred gold each to accept Linech's offer and a cool one thousand gold to "liberate" the statue. Curious, the team accepted.

31^st of Rain

The team traveled east across the city to the docks, where they looked for information about the sunken ship. They soon turned up rumors that there were "devil-men of the deep" in the bay and that the Arrowhead did not sink in a storm but was rather burning when she came within view of the shore. She burned to the waterline and then sank. A fisherman named Old Fisk had seen four men in purple and gold armor rowing away from the wreck just before it sank.

Sorin recognized the colors as belonging to the Hussars, a tiny knightly order of religious fanatics who worshiped the goddess of swords. The Hussars were rumored, if that could be believed, to be working as enforcers for the Balcazar crime family!

1^st of Bloom

The team returned to the Fortress of the Redeemed to ask a question of Yuethi Mooncircle. There, they met with Algoz, the troll guard with whom they would spend so much time over the coming months. Algoz, a troll "redeemed" by the Brotherhood was a decent sort of fellow, if one could ignore the enormous size, squinty yellow eyes and tendency to place his huge face inches from your own.

Once they had the attention of Yuethi, they asked whether or not Linech Cran could legally simply come to the Brotherhood to to demand that they release his daughter. The elf wasn't sure of the legalities since they so rarely took on humans…and never undead.

2^nd of Bloom

After resting for the night in Sorin's apartment, the team returned to Rivergate and Linech's Burrow. There, they found that the guards wouldn't let them in, telling them that Linech wasn't taking visitors (actually, the language was a lot more colorful than that.) The Burrow seemed to be readying for some sort of siege. After intimidating their way into the Burrow, they proceeded to Cran's office, accompanied by the guards.

Inside, Cran was conferring with his bodyguard, a stonelost dwarf named Ruror Greatblade. Linech demanded to know where his daughter's coffin was. When they told him what had happened, Linech flew into a rage, threatening to have them all killed unless they got him his pocket watch. A battle ensued during which Linech leapt out the window to escape them. Baeddyn dove out the window after him, both of them falling two stories. Now outside the Burrow on a street in Rivergate, Baeddyn subdued Linech and the rest of the company soon followed after lowering the gold statue of Lord Abbercombe on a rope.

[GM's Note: This running battle took a long time to run, with adversaries popping up and retreating through doorways. The details are all a bit fuzzy now, more than a year later.]

Later, at Castle Shard, Rip and Doric met Zavere and arranged the transportation of Lord Abbercombe's statue. Rip met Narasha, a female satyr with antlers and a frisky disposition. She took an immediate liking to Rip and began chatting him up on the spot. Rip wasn't too sure about this alluring but inhuman woman, and made his excuses to leave, to her amusement and disappointment. Kadmus told Rip that Narasha had once rescued Zavere and that he now provided her a place to live.

[GM's Note: Narasha makes an interesting foil. The players are never quite certain what to make of a lusty antlered amazon. Rip's player was a bit embarrassed, but Bethan's player (the only woman in the group) thought it was hilarious.]

Doric meanwhile, met Moynath Autumnsong, a reclusive and arrogant elf who was one of the ranking members of the secretive mage's guild known as the Inverted Pyramid. Moynath had little interest in speaking to the dwarf and simply returned to his chambers.

While the company was gone, Sorin confronted Linech. Sorin's cousin had been corrupted by his addiction to shivvel and Sorin's own life had been threatened by the Pale Dogs because he could not pay off his cousin's shivvel debts. Blaming the half-orc for his troubles, he beat Linech badly and finally killed him.

[GM's Note: I was disappointed by this unheroic act. I didn't stop the player, but I had it occur "offstage.]

4^th of Bloom

The company sorrowfully brought Baeddyn's body back to the surface and with the assistance of Brother Fabitor, held a memorial service at St. Gustav's chapel. Bethan informed the group that she did not want to stay on without her brother. She made preparations to takes his body back to Ren Tehoth.

[GM's Note: Baeddyn's and Bethan's players decided to leave the campaign at this point. They had been with us for several campaigns including all of the Banewarrens, but had gotten burned out on gaming.]

Khayman then traveled to the Delver's Guild library in Oldtown where he researched Kaled Del. He discovered that it was a small city of stonelost dwarves inside a gargantuan column in a well-known part of the Dungeon called the Eternity Cave. The Eternity Cave lay at the terminus of the Giant's Stair below the Clock Tower in Oldtown. He also learned that the Fireseekers are a clan of dwarven nobles.

Meanwhile, Sorin and Rip traveled to the Undermarket and asked Gorti Jurgen to find them a warrior for their group. She had just the person, a powerfully built litorian named Chrothar who wielded a big but unwieldy greathammer. Chrothar was a champion of life and had just joined the Guild. After some introductions, he joined the team.

[GM's Note: With the departure of Baeddyn and Bethan, the team felt unable to return to Cordaris. So Doric's player created Chrothar, and Doric became an NPC. I allowed them to keep Doric in the party because they needed the healing support and because it gave me an in-character way to make suggestions…]

Returning to Delver's Square, the group visited Ebbert's Outfitters to purchase dungeoneering equipment. In addition to more mundane gear, Sorin bought a collapsible 10' pole, while Khayman bought a wrist sheath for his wand.

That afternoon, they returned to Cordaris and descended to the "Book Room". Persons unknown had cleared the rat carcasses away, but the book remained in its magic warding and the portcullis remained closed. Sorin passed the collapsible 10' pole to Uri Fireseeker, who could just reach the portcullis controls with it.

The party quickly released the three prisoners and learned their stories. Uri was a noble dwarf who had been captured by the Knights of the Legacy. He had been exploring a nearby portion of Ghul's Labyrinth when the Knights had seized him on the orders of the mad Velator, Timerian. They had treated him well until driven out by invading orcs, who had badly abused him over the last several weeks.

Kanagi was a woman of unearthly, if severe, beauty, albeit with a barbed tail and small reddish horns on her brow. She was a half-demon, half-nymph. Amazingly, according to Sorin, although very rare, this combination was common enough to have a name: she was a forlaren. Kanagi's voice was harsh and grating. She claimed that she had been kidnapped from the Moonsilver forest by Knights of the Legacy on the orders of Velator Timerian, who had then stolen her voice.

The strangest prisoner was Shim. Appearing as little more than a shadow, Shim could be seen dimly if he stood still and allowed you to see him. It was almost as if the eyes of an onlooker would slide off him of their own accord, and Shim could disappear from plain sight merely by wishing it. He explained that he was a "skulk". Khayman had heard of skulks as bogeymen who stole babies and spoiled milk. Shim spoke in a constant whisper, and explained that he was here seeking entrance to the third level of Cordaris, where something called "The Legacy" was kept. He denied knowing what the Legacy was, precisely.

Shim knew more about Cordaris than anyone they'd met, and gave them some general knowledge about its layout and inhabitants. Cordaris, he warned them, was once the home of the Knights of the Legacy, but that these had been supplanted by a large band of orcs seeking to destroy a demon. Shim believed that this demon was the Legacy. A few of the Knights still held out on the second and third levels of the complex, and those on the third level had locked themselves in. So far, the orcs hadn't found a way past the wards. There were many dangerous creatures wandering Cordaris, a result of Velator Timerian's experiments with sound. There were shrieking cats and moaning bats and tiny goblins that lived in the walls. Oh, and fountain of blood…

Shim then drew a symbol in the dust and told the group that it was the sign of the skulks. If they needed to contact him, they could proceed to "skulk alley" in Oldtown and draw that sign. It would attract the attention of the skulks, who could find him. He then simply…disappeared.

The team gave clothing to Uri and Kanagi, as well as some secondary weapons. They told them how to leave Cordaris and arranged to meet them later at the Ghostly Minstrel.

The company then turned its attention to the floating book. Doric determined that runes of sonic power created the field, and that anything entering it would be shattered by sound. Being a master of sound magic, Doric took out his tuning fork and touched it to the field. It produced a sound like a beautiful female voice. At this, Kanagi came running back, claiming that it was her own voice! Somehow, Velator Timerian had used the forlaren's voice to power the wards on the book.

The group decided that they needed help, and Sorin remembered that there is a small knightly order in Ptolus dedicated to music and song. The Knights of the Chord had their headquarters in the Feasthall of Jode, god of song. Sorin went to consult with them, while the rest of the group waited in Cordaris.

Sorin returned with a woman named Meralis Kevron. She was a Knight of the Chord and a specialist in runes. She determined that the velator's runes were corrupted, meaning that they combined runes of sound with runes of chaos. She suggested that there had to be a control rune somewhere not far away, and that rune would allow them to deactivate the field. She also warned that the chaos runes were powerful and had to be drawing on a nearby power source. Most likely this was one of the many "chaos wells", vortices of raw chaos that dotted Ghul's labyrinth. If one was nearby, this is probably what had driven Velator Timerian mad to begin with. Meralis also sketched how she believed the control rune would have to look.

Lastly, Meralis opined that the functioning of the field required Kanagi's presence. If she left or died, the field would fade. However, if she did that, her voice would be gone forever. If, however, the Control Rune was deactivated while she was nearby the field, she might be able to get her voice back.

Unable to stand the wait, Kanagi impulsively reached into the field and grabbed the book. She later said that she guessed her own voice wouldn't hurt her…at least not much. In this she was right; only she could bypass the power of her voice. However, she had not reckoned with the power of the chaos runes. As she breached the field, they vomited forth a wave of pure, insane chaos. Everyone saw madness incarnate for a split second, colors man was not meant to see, and shapes impossible in any natural universe. Then, it was gone. The walls nearby had been transmuted to wood and the cloak Kanagi was wearing was changed to a slimy fungus. But Kanagi herself was also changed. The arm she had reached into the field now hung lifeless at her side, a thing of immobile iron.

Now the beautiful forlaren had neither her voice nor her arm. After determining that she was otherwise unharmed, the group turned their attention to the book. A large leather volume bound with an iron hasp, it turned out to contain the tale of the Legacy.

According to the book, the Order of the Legacy was created centuries ago and hundreds of miles to the south, near a region known as Mrathrach's Pit. In that wilderness, an angel touched a local lord named Timonius Creed and gave him a secret power and told him about the creation of the world of Praemal. Part of the great mystery is contained in the phrase the angel spoke to Timoius: "World and inhabitants, we are one." Timonius kept the secret power until he was old and dying. Then he passed them along to a young woman named Cordaris, who locked it in a tower. Urulu, an orc shaman heard about this secret power and his tribe sacked the tower, killing Cordaris. The only survivor was a monk named Sister Deirenn, who fled into the wilderness with the Legacy. With it she found and tamed one of the many chaos wells below Ptolus. She then founded the Order to protect the Legacy until its time would come. According to the book, the Legacy is the essence of Order and Purity, and can "neutralize chaos."

5^th of Bloom

After a bit more searching around beyond the jail complex, Sorin found a hidden library with many interesting books. One of these was the journal of an Order member disenchanted with Velator Timerian's mad decrees. The writer claims that the Velator had decided to use the power of a chaos well to force the Legacy to serve him. He believed that sound magic was the key and had kidnapped and captured sonic creatures and beings from around Ptolus for his mad experiments.

A false book in the library proved to be the control for a secret door that led to a treasury. The team hauled out chests of silver, gold and copper coins, so many that they had to make several trips to cart it all out. They took this loot to Hammersong Vaults in Oldtown, a dwarven repository of precious belongings where they rented a medium vault.

They left Kanagi and Uri in the "Book Room." By this time, Uri was fully armed and armored thanks to donations from the team.

When the company returned to Cordaris a few hours later (and having stopped for a hot meal) they journeyed deeper into the first level. They fought a swarm of bats led by a giant, shrieking bat called a mobat. They wounded it and it retreated, but the party was too injured to pursue. They retreated to their makeshift base camp in the Book Room and rested.

6^th of Bloom

The team discovered a room with many defaced holy symbols, and wondered if the orcs had been there. One of the doors was trapped with an enormous falling hammer that smashed Chrothar, requiring much healing. Some ways beyond this was a complex that would become infamous among the company as "The Bloody Bones". A large ornate fountain apparently filled with blood occupied the center of a large cathedral-like gallery. When Chrothar crossed certain runes on the floor, animated skeletons emerged from the fountain, dripping blood. More emerged every few seconds until the company retreated. They won a hard-fought battle against the skeletons and fell back, unsure of how to proceed.

10^th of Bloom

Having rested for two days, the company returned to Cordaris determined to defeat the Bloody Bones. They theorized that if they ran at full speed, they could cross the "Cathedral of Blood" in roughly twenty-two seconds. This would produce a manageable number of skeletons, but would leave them stuck in the unknown regions beyond.

This they did, and were pursued into a chamber on the far side by eight skeletons. This chamber held a desecrated altar and was inhabited by an undead creature the team named "The Hanged Man". It bore a noose around its broken neck and used ropes to attempt to seize the intruders and draw them towards it. The company dealt with this abomination and the skeletons. They then examined the altar and found a flat stone engraved with the control rune, just as Knight of the Chord Meralis Kevron had predicted.

They took the control rune with them to the Book Room (running the gauntlet of skeletons again) and broke it in Kanagi's presence. There was a burst of glorious song, and the forlaren received her stolen voice back. She was extremely grateful to the group, hugging each one.

Then, with Uri Fireseeker in tow, they all retreated once again to the surface. Khayman rented an apartment above Nubble's Music in Midtown and allowed Kanagi to live there until she figured out what she wanted to do.

13^th of Bloom

After receiving a summons from Lord Zavere, the company traveled to Castle Shard. Zavere wanted them to find the outlaw Shilukar and learn from him the key to restoring Lord Abbercombe to life.

They traveled to Oldtown, to Skulk Alley and made the sign that Shim had shown them. The Skulk appeared after some time and told them Shilukar was well known to the skulks. He told them they would find the dark elf in an empty scrap lot on Brandywine Street in the Guildsman District. He also mentioned that Shilukar was the master of the blue-furred gnolls that had been plaguing the district.

Traveling to the scrap yard in question, the company set up an observation post on a rooftop across Brandywine Street. After waiting a few hours, they saw no one and so went to investigate the small tin shack in the scrap yard.

[GM's Note: They just flat-out failed to notice the periscope that Shilukar had set up. Although the gnolls were unaware of the surveillance, they spotted the PC's the moment they entered the scrap yard.]

Sorin entered the tin shack and discovered the hidden trap door. He dropped down in, only to find himself confronted by four large demonic gnolls with blue fur. They tore and bit at him and he was extremely lucky to get back up the ladder quickly enough to survive. He rounded up Rip, Chrothar, Doric and Khayman and returned into Shilukar's lair.

15^th of Bloom

As Sorin, Rip, Khayman, Chrothar and Doric continued their search of Pythoness House, they found the rooms used by the former brothel and fought against the horridly animated corpses of the slain prostitutes who whispered words of love and lust as they tried to choke the life out their would-be clients. Still later, they fought a battle against animated dolls once kept by the prostitutes.

Moving upwards through the keep, they fought more ratmen and swarms of rats, led by two half-crazed ratlords mounted on armored dire rats. The ratlords had obviously joined the cults of chaos. Chaos symbols were shaved into their fur and ritual scarring covered their bodies.

In a corner tower, they discovered three unusual objects; a jar of urine, a candle with a word inscribed on it and a leather-bound tome. Strangely, the jar of urine radiated magic. Unsure of what it was, they later tried to smash it against the statue of the fat man. It refused to break. Sorin delved into the collective memory and learned that the word carved into the candle ("Segginal") was the name of a Crimson Coil member who disappeared before the cult was destroyed. They never discovered why this name was carved into the candle.

Khayman opened the book, which bore the title "Codex of the Cults of Chaos." However, it turned out to be so hideously vile, so innately evil, that reading even a small portion of the tome blasted his mortal mind, leaving him in shock.

The party retreated from Pythoness House during one of the random periods when the magical wall was lowered. Mand Scheben, the priest of Asche, restored Khayman's fractured psyche, but insisted on keeping the book for later destruction.

Sorin used the time to try to sell certain…questionable…paintings in the city. Using his encyclopedic knowledge of Ptolus's seedier side, he decided that he might be able to find a suitably upscale and unusual buyer at "The Cockpit", an illegal gambling den in the South Market. This was a place where games of chance went hand-in-hand with unlicensed gladiatorial games and black market dealings of every description. The owner was an Uraqi businessman named Agga-Shan. Sorin knew he also ran the city's classiest gambling parlor and brothel, the White House in Oldtown. Sorin was reasonably friendly with Naosh, the Cockpit's half-orc bouncer and managed to fence the paintings.

18^th of Bloom

Rip, Sorin, Khayman, Chrothar and Doric had searched most of the lower floors of Pythoness House, and now had an idea that somewhere in the upper towers resided an "earthbound demon" called a rhodintor. It found them before they found it. The powerfully built goat-headed demon and its two hellhound guardians attacked them on the battlements of the main house. It almost contemptuously waded into their prepared defense at the bottom of a staircase, calling them "mortal insects" and "unworthy to feel his axe".

Chrothar and Rip tried to hold it back at the bottom of a staircase while Sorin, Doric and Khayman peppered the demon with ranged attacks, but it was far too powerful for that. It bowled them over and charged Khayman, nearly tossing him over the parapets. Only desperate action by all involved forced the demon to look to its own defenses, allowing Sorin to pull Khayman back from the precipice. In the end, the demon was slain. Its stinking carcass began to putrefy almost immediately. The team was badly beaten and nearly dead themselves. They retreated to Khayman's apartment in Midtown and rested, cared for by Kanagi.

[GM's Note: The characters were 4^th level. They had fortuitously buffed up just moments before the attack, and had many magical defenses engaged. Even so, the Rhodintor very nearly killed them all. They hung on to survive this battle only by using every single hero point possessed by every single character. I strongly urge GM's not to let their characters fight the rhodintor unbuffed. Use whatever clue bat you must to get the point across.]

20^th of Bloom

Once more unto the breach, the team searched the upper towers of Pythoness House. Using Maquent's journal as a guide, they discovered the location of the second half of the Spiral Contrivance, as well as the brothel's secret treasury. One of the many things they found here was a gold ring bearing the symbol of a broken square. Sorin delved into the collective memory and discovered that this was the symbol of another chaos cult known as "The Brotherhood of Venom."

Having cleared Pythoness House above ground, the team then used Maquent's journal to surmise that the creepy statue of the fat man controlled access to the cellars. And so it did. Presented with the Spiral Contrivance, it revealed a secret panel in its stomach. When the Contrivance was placed within the panel, the statue slid back to reveal a hole leading into the cellars.

[GM's Note: The players got frustrated with me and felt I was being arbitrary because they never worked out the sequence of events with the statue. I'm not sure they even realized that the ghostly voice was connected to the statue. Anyway, the statue only opens during "Condition #3, when the statue says, "Chaos is the Key." I'm not sure they realized that the "Spiral Contrivance" was a chaos symbol and a key. Nonetheless, they got in.]

Down below, they faced the skeleton of a hill giant. It guarded another hole leading deeper, this one with covered with a strange magical membrane. The skeleton was enormously strong and tough. The team had to retreat and luckily several benefited from levitation spells allowing them to get to the escape hole. Chrothar presented a chaos symbol to the thing, causing it to pause its attack just long enough for the others to escape.

[GM's Note: The PC's could have taken the hill giant if they'd been as buffed up as with the rhodintor. But they were unprepared for such a powerful guardian just below the chaos statue and nearly suffered a TPK. GM's beware. Give them an avenue of retreat. I allowed the presentation of the chaos symbol to pause the giant's attacks as a reasonable story inference that undoubtedly saved their lives.]

26^th of Bloom

After recuperating, the team went to Hammersong Vaults to retrieve the "unopenable" chest they'd recovered from Cordaris (which they'd taken to calling "Velator Timerian's chest"). Doric used Neveran's All-Key to open the chest, and felt part of his own life-force sucked out of him and channeled through the key! Inside the chest were a shield, a flail, a wand, fifty flasks of liquid, a crystal decanter and an aged scroll. All but the fifty flasks were magical. The party quickly determined that the scroll was written in a variant of Celestial, the language of the angels.

Doric was taken to St. Gustav's Chapel, where Brother Fabitor Thisk told the party that restoring the drained soul energy to Doric was beyond his power, but that if the party would return that evening, he would summon a "Prelate Brother" to aid them.

Meanwhile, the various magic items were taken to Myraeth Tuneweaver at Myraeth's Oddities for identification. At the same time, Khayman and Rip visited the Malkuth at the Pale Tower in Oldtown (just a few blocks from Pythoness House). After being admitted by The Graven, the Pale Tower's intelligent stone golem, they were soon ushered into the presence of Aoska the half-celestial. This unicorn-horned woman is one of the Commisar's Twelve Commanders, and a powerful member of the Malkuth. She discussed both the possibility of raising Chrotharfrom the dead and the contents of the Cordaris Scroll.

Aoska seemed startled and upset by what she read in the scroll and refused to translate it, though she did return the scroll and asked the party to loan it to her so that she could show it to the leader of the Malkuth and seek his advice. This mysterious being, known as the Winged King, would know what to do. Khayman and Rip agreed and agreed to return the next day.

That evening Doric went through a "ritual of purification" administered by Prelate Brother Ascinar. This senior churchman was an old-fashioned fire-and-brimstone devotee of Lothian and opined that Doric's condition was the result of allowing himself to be too near evil and corruption. With a slap to the face and a series of heated prayers, Ascinar "drove out the demons" that plagued the dwarven cleric.

[GM's Note: I pictured Ascinar as part of "The Conciliators",a Lothianite faction that still sees all magic as demonic, and so saw the drain effect on Doric as possession by a demon. And who's to say he's wrong?]

27^th of Bloom

The next day the party returned to Myraeth's Oddities to learn that their shield, flail and wand were all magical and related to fire, but that to function they had to be dipped in alchemist's fire each day. They kept the wand and shield, but sold the flail to Myraeth. He then told them that the crystal decanter was strong magic and was intended to contain something called the Legacy, which seemed to be a sort of quasi-deity or force.

Returning to the Pale Tower, the party spoke with Aoska, who had consulted the Winged King. The Winged King had agreed to return Chrothar to life specifically because of the party's apparent connection with the Legacy, the Night of Dissolution and something or someone he called "The Seven". He required that the party agree to serve the Malkuth in an unspecified manner at some point in the future, and everyone agreed. Then Aoska read the Cordaris Scroll to the party. Its contents were shocking!

According to the scroll, it was knowledge revealed to the woman named Cordaris by an angel named Odaen. The scroll claimed that the world of Praemal was built specifically as a prison. Its creator, Praemus, tricked powerful evil beings of pure chaos called the Galchutt into entering Praemal. Once there, they found that they could not escape. They tore at the fabric of Praemal but to no avail. Like all who enter Praemal, there was no escape for the Galchutt. But the mighty Galchutt foresaw that one day they would indeed escape. Mortals, the very beings created to act as jailers, would one day rouse the Galchutt from their aeon-long slumber and bring about the Night of Dissolution, when the prison world would be destroyed and the Galchutt would be free to ravage the greater universe.

The angel further claimed that when Praemus created the world, it was to be judged by forces more powerful even than he. The emissary of these forces was a powerful angel known as the Blue Lady. She came to Praemal at its creation and judged it to be good, and so worthy of continued existence. Somehow, her very entry into Praemal created an echo or ripple in the fabric of the world known as the Legacy. This was what Odaen entrusted to Cordaris, and what Cordaris eventually brought to Ptolus centuries ago.

[GM's Note: Some of this was revealed earlier in the "Cordaris Book". But the scroll contained a more complete copy of the legend and the first intimation that the world itself had been created not as a habitation for mortals, but as a prison for the Galchutt. The stakes of the Night of Dissolution are now clear. The chaos cultists may be crazy, but that doesn't mean they're wrong…]

Stunned by this knowledge, the party thanked Aoska and left, returning later with the body of Crothar.

Rastor from Delver's Square then approached them. The litorian shopkeeper was worried about his clerk Iltumar Shon. Iltumar, it seems, had been hanging around with the wrong sort of people and Rastor was sure it would lead to no good. He believed that Iltumar had joined the republican movement under the banner of a group known as the Brotherhood of Ptolus. From reading the "cult book" located in Pythoness House, Khayman knew that the "Brotherhood of Ptolus" was really the murderous chaos cult known as the "Brotherhood of Venom". Rastor asked the party to talk to the boy, as he idolized them.

They agreed and sought out Iltumar at the Ghostly Minstrel, where they noticed that he wore a ring with a "broken square" symbol - the same symbol they had seen at several points in Pythoness House. They knew it to be a chaos cult symbol. When confronted, Iltumar denied any such affiliations. They let him go and sent Sorin to trail him. Although he had told them he was going home, Iltumar detoured through Fairbriar and headed for Tavern Row. As Sorin trailed him through the alleys of Fairbriar, a woman dressed as a priestess of Lothian ambushed him. Very badly injured, Sorin fled into a nearby busy street for safety, and the assassin broke off her chase.

Later, with the whole group assembled, Khayman located the dagger he had given Iltumar a few hours before by the use of a "Locate Objects" spell. It was in the ground floor of a cobbler's shop. The group paid off a serving wench from the Rat's Nest restaurant who was apparently serving as a watchman. They then ascended to the shop's second floor and confronted the three thugs guarding the door, who fled after Rip's gun killed one instantly.

Quickly descending into the ground floor, the party located a group of hooded chaos cultists in the middle of a meeting. The gunshot had summoned their protectors, however. An armored aram (centaur) burst out of the back room with his two thuggish cohorts to confront the intruders. An "eldritch web" spell froze everyone but the aram, who was immensely strong and charged Sorin, nearly killing him with a single blow. As Sorin retreated to be healed and Rip faced the aram alone, Khayman identified one of the cultists as Iltumar and killed the rest with a sorcerous blast of air tinged with lightning. The battle with the Aram was desperate, and was won by only a narrow margin. After trying for many rounds, Khayman managed to stun the aram and Doric was able to drive his spear into the thing's heart. Rip was brought back from the brink of death.

They determined that Iltumar still thought his fellow cultists were merely republican plotters and demonstrated to him the truth of the matter. Sickened by the truth, the boy promised never to have anything to do with the Brotherhood again. Rip found some papers on the aram that confirmed the cult involved was the Brotherhood of Venom, and that an important "joint project" was hidden at a certain house on Yarrow Street in Oldtown. He also knew that the cults of chaos were attempting to destroy a powerful relic of law in a place called the "Kaleidescope Temple." They also found the bodies of the murdered cobbler and his family.

4^th of Sun

By the end of the week, the party had sold all the loot and recovered the now-living Chrothar from the Pale Tower.

[GM's Note: The Winged King is not listed as one of the four priests capable of casting a true resurrection. Nonetheless, it seemed appropriate and allowed me to tie the company into some very powerful and very good forces.]

Khayman and Chrothar visited Star Jewelers in the Guildsman District. These "Craftsmen to the Stars" offered to buy from them any particularly pure gems. Their clan has a spellcaster who can use particularly pure gems to divine the secrets of magical objects.

Off in the North Market, Rip ran into an armed party of Shuul at the Smoke Shop. They were all dressed in leather dusters and most had shaved heads. A few had small, blinking devices attached to their heads or ears.

6^th of Sun

The Company returned to Cordaris and once again encountered the wooden palisade. This time, it was reinforced with several more orcs than before. After defeating them, the company had to defeat a second group of orc archers behind a second palisade. This time, the orcs had laid their palisade just beyond a pit trap. Sorin narrowly avoided falling into the trap.

Just beyond this, they encountered a truly gargantuan mountain troll, chained to a wall. Its reach was just long enough to prevent them from passing by. The troll was blind and wore an eyeless helm that gave it an even more savage appearance. The company enraged the troll, which pulled its chain out of the wall and chased them, but fell into the pit trap, where they were able to slay it.

Beyond that, they came to what they would later call "The Elevator Room". Dominated by a smashed statue of an ancient velator, the room was guarded by a hill giant that the party fought in a cat-and-mouse battle in and around the broken statue.

This room contained four niches, which the company eventually deduced were elevators, two going up and two going down. Deadly walls of sound blocked the niches. Demonic faces carved above the niches "searched" for something each time anyone approached. It was eventually discovered that the symbol of the Knights of the Legacy could activate the two "up" elevators.

Sorin searched the collective memory and learned that the "down" elevators could only be activated by a special symbol, and that only Velator Timerian had possessed such a symbol. Timerian had worn it with him when he was pitched into the Chaos Well by Sorin. However, a second trip into the collective memory revealed that Timerian had hidden a second, backup symbol in a lamp not far away, and this was quickly recovered.

[GM's Note: Elements of this "second level" of Cordaris were taken from WotC's "Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde" adventure.]