Savage Tide Session 38

The party left their rooms at the Silk Purse (after a disturbing night's sleep thanks to Mendel bringing a barmaid back with him), and headed downstairs. Awaiting them was an Ethengari-looking gentleman with glowing blue eyes (a Arcane Sight spell), who introduced himself as El'Ariah from the Krondohar province of Glantri. He expressed suprise at seeing the party, having heard that some Glantian nobles of the von Drachenfels family were meant to be using this accomodation to take part  in the golem hunt, and El'Ariah was hoping to meet his fellow contestants.After the party explained they would not be taking part, he seemed disappointed, and left them to go about their business - but not before mentioning that the von Drachenfels were supposed to have some 'edge' they were bringing to the tournament.

Before leaving Alchemos, the party visited the Temple of Koryis to send their message to Farshore, explaining their absence, and speak with the deceased spirits of Stefanie and Rissashtak. Stefanie confirmed that she did not wish to return, having given her life i na glorious battle, and Risasshtak stated that whilst there were still demons to fight in his homeland, we wanted to be there to continue the battle. Zhedd argued that the party should only use a cheaper reincarnate spell to bring the warrior back, but the others felt this an insult to how Rissashtak had fought for the party in the battle and resolved to raise him back in Sasserine.

Dacien used his newly acquired spell Greater Teleport to more accurately transport the party back to Sasserine. They headed for the Church of the Whirling Fury and met with Lady Silvermane there. She listened with interest to the report from the expedition on the Isle of Dread, and still expressed her concern over not fully knowing what Demogorgon was up to. The party discussed the next plans, and she agreed that hunting down the source of the pearls with the Crimson Fleet seemed the only avenue left to understanding more about their nature. She offered to take the pearls from the party to study them, but Dacien wanted to hold on to them as a potential bargaining chip in the future.

When the party mentioned the intelligent bow they had found, Lady Silvermane offered to introduce the party to the immortal Ixion to discuss its future. She was a priest in part in his name through his presence on the Council of Intrusion, and so was able to gate the party to Pandius, city of the gods, where they could meet the Sun Prince. Stepping through the portal, the party arrived in a large chamber, seated opposite a table from the follow powerful immortal 'deities'.

Ixion (Otzitiotl) appeared a a young man with eyes of flame, Ka  (Kalaktatla) as a large dinosaur, Odin (Oloron) as an old man with an eye-patch and a raven, and Protius (Manwara), who appeared as a porpoise swimming in a pool to the side, seemingly disinterested  in the entire event. Ixion explained that he had convened the others as their powers had also gone in to the creation of the bow. Ixion seemed the more personable of the four, and claimed to be aware of the party's activities through Lady Silvermane and the Council of Intrusion. When the issue of what should be done with the bow came up, several options were raised, where the immortals might reward the party for delivering the bow to different destinations that might better suit its purpose.

1. Ka and Ixion both mused delivering the bow somewhere that might suit its purpose of defending the Oltec empire perfectly. They revealed to the party that the planet was in fact hollow, and in the Hollow World at its centre, fallen empires from history were stored and preserved so that knowledge might be saved, in a 'living museum' of delicately balanced lost civilisations. They explained that the Oltec Empire that had once spread across the now Isle of Dread was represented in the Hollow World, and there the bow could meet its goal of defending the empire. They seemed cautious about the bow knowing too much of the nature of the destination, and explained that certain magical effects ceased to function in the Hollow World due to its nature - severe restrictions on conjuration, divination and enchantment magic. But in return for taking the bow to the seat of the Oltec Empire, they would reward the party each with an item. Should the party choose this course, they suggested heading to Barleycorn Monastery in the Broken Lands north of Darokin, where the priests might be able to help with transport.
2. Odin seemed more matter-of-fact, and wanted to see the bow  in the hands of a warrior. Acknowledging the strong nature of the intelligence in the bow, he suggested the bow could actually be given to the spirit that possessed it! Odin explained that the civilisation on the isle of Dread now revere undead but this once once a form of undead called Deathless powered by positive energy. Corruption at the heart of the empire that contributed to its downfall led the shamans away from this practice. Several Deathless, including Macutotnal, the king inside the bow, lay in slumber guarding the source of this undead corruption. If the party could remove the need for his guardianship, destroy the corruption, the Deathless might take the bow and return to rebuild the Oltec way of life  on the Isle. In return for this deed, Odin would reward them with one item of more power.
3. Protius only chipped into suggest giving it to the aquatic races, or detroying it do the power invested in it could return to the immortals.

Mendel also asked about the Eye of Arik they were carrying. Ixion was surprised at its existence, and gave some background. Arik was a guardian created by the immortals to act as a sentinel on the look out for intrusions in to this dimension from Outer Beings, and to stand as guard and warden over the Pits of Banishment, an 'inescapable' prison dimension where dangerous creatures could be locked away. Arik had been tempted by the powers that the outer Beings offered, and so had to be locked away in the Pits himself. Dacien asked about the need for a guard at the prison, and Ixion explained his surprise at the existence of the Eye - that the only escape was by a creature 'opening the door to its cell from the other side'. The Eye contained some vestige of Arik's power, and so if brought to the Pits of Banishment might be used to free him.

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Back in Sasserine, the party left Aloysius to sell their loot, which should take a fortnight. He was operating form an abandoned tailors in Shadowshore. On the docks, Mendel, Faldak and Ji spotted the crew of the ship they had visited in Farshore harbour carrying the Shadow Elves, surprisingly already in Sasserine. It became clear that the first mate did not recognise them, and from Antony's questions and pub crawl, it seemed their memories had been modified. Dacien scryed for the albinos and found them in a smuggler's cave to the west - in fact the one they had first encountered the evidence of the danger of the black pearls.

Zhedd then persuaded the party to help him retrieve a sample undead from the Isle of Dread - his long overdue mission from the Witchwardens. The party travelled to Mora, and met with the Witch Doctor there, and thanks to Antony's skilful negotiation, a large amount of alcohol, and Mendel's offer of exchange of the secrets of their power (training etc), Zhedd was handed a topi zombie in a box. It was clear the locals revered the undead as 'Walking Ancestors', and the witch doctor hoped for the return of the zombie in the future, but understood how it might have much to teach the outsiders. Zhedd and Dacien delivered the zombie back to the Witchwardens, and were met by the Dark Priestess Annah Teranaki who was very interested in the party's work. Before the party left Sasserine, Mendel visited the temple of Asterius, and spoke again with the priestess Lirali Woarali. She confirmed that the assassins had retreated from the city, and in response to Mendel's offer of assistance, the church and the growing thieves guild would benefit from an exclusive trade relationship with the nation of Emerond to the south - all trade had recently been cut off and if this could be resolved  in the Church's name, they would benefit greatly.

The party still had time to kill whilst waiting for the funds from their loot, and so decided to deal with the dragon turtle on the north of the Isle of Dread. Back in Farshore, Antony's sea Captain Nosmo Beldan had reported sightings of the turtle near the harbour. Some of the locals had also claimed to see a red falcon in the sky to the east, and Mendel spotted this at night - a giant red falcon seemingly made from wood, lit up and hovering over the islands where they met the Hulean preists previously. They party spent some time planning how best to approach the dragon turtle, and decided to repair the Sea Wyvern they left wrecked  on the north of the island enough to limp around in the the cove and use as a platform for their attacks. A carpenter helped with the makeshift repairs, with wood shaping spells from Zhedd. Nearby they met with some tortles, who reminded them of the dragon turtle being worshipped by some of their kin, and it guarding the birthing grounds they used. After some trade, they also revealed the dragon turtle had coral golems to add to its defences.

They limped the ship into the deep waters of the cove, and used the horns to attract the dragon turtle's attention as they had done before. It emerged moments later with a sneer, and was caught by surprise as the party attacked. A vast amount of magical firepower was unleashed from Dacien, Zhedd and Gerald to attack the creature as it tried to capsize the ship, and eventually Zhedd's summoned crocodiles tore it to pieces, leaving the body floating in the bloody waters. Somewhere below was its lair and collected treasure....

Savage Tide Session 37

The giant eel-like demon thrashed in the chamberer, as Faldak and Ji were thrust aside by its sudden appearance. Zhedd quickly teleported Banshee out of harms way, as Dacien racked his brains to identify the creature - a wastrilith, an aquatic demon that usually avoid direct combat, and has a vulnerability to fire. Before they could act, however, a wall of ice appeared between the demon and the bulk of the party. Quick thinking from Mendel saw him use the arrow of disintegration to blow a hole in the wall and press the attack. Soon after the creature was dead. There was no sign of the two headed creature returning, so the party started to explore the area. They found a statue of Demogorgon in a side chamber, with a fragment of a gold annulus held in its arms - similar to the one the party had found in the village of Mora.

Antony found a passageway south, and Dacien confirm with a use of locate object that the kopru had fled in that direction. The party found two pools which appeared to lead to underwater passageways, and signs that the two remaining kopru had come this way. As the party prepared to enter, there was a ebllowing roar form the main chamber - the two-headed demon had returned. The party returned to the room, and spread out along the walls to attack. The beast was in the centre of the chamber looking healed form its previous wounds but drained of energy. Wary of the original encounter, the party feared it may be an illusion. Faldak and Ji hurried forward, and spotted the real demon hiding in one of the rooms. As the party tired to pin it down in the room, it teleported behind Mendel and attacked. This allowed the rest of the party to close in. Driven by an desire for vengeance, the beast would not flee, and the party soon brought it down. A it died, the body collapsed in on itself in a bubbling mass of black ichor. Dark smoke rose form the putrefying corpse, and coalesced into the image of Demogorgon, whose gaze fixed the party. One head snarled in anger, whilst the other hissed "You have my attention!".

The party then return to face the kopru, cowering in their flooded cavern. Gerald warded Faldak with a freedom of movement spell, and the dwarf used his necklace of adaptation  to breathe under the water. Zhedd conjured a pod of dolphins to guide them, and turned into a dolphin himself to tow Faldak along under the water. Together, they cornered the two remaining kopru and between a wet dwarf and some summoned crocodiles, they managed to defeat them. The cave contained lots of furniture carved from coral, and appeared to be where the kopru kept most of their treasure. One chest was chained to the floor and trapped, and Anthony soon found out why - one trap caused him to grow gills, and an innocuous handbell inside the chest dropped a fireball when accidentally rung. The party were then more cautious retrieving a set of bellows form the chest - which Dacien later identified as Bellows of the Fascist Swarm that could summon a swarm of bees to attack hippies (CG creatures in preference).

The party then spent a day ensuring they had cleared out the complex. They found no sign of other kopru, but did find underwater routes that lead into the main lake. A small fish informed them a large predator guarded the lake, and as a shadow loomed overhead, the party quickly retreated. Zhedd wanted to approach the treants again before he left. Zhedd communed  again, and picked up the treants trial, as well as spotting that several demons still plagued the lands around the plateau. Mendel accompanied him, and, dodging a flock of wyverns, they managed to find the treants. Zhedd informed them that the island had been cleared of skinwalkers, and the treants again thanked him for removing the taint of civilisation form the plateau. They seemed resistant to accept any further help, and eager to see the party leave so that they could reclaim the land for nature themselves without man- or elf-kind.

Dacien gathered the party to teleport back to Farshore, focussing on Professor Aldwattle's laboratory. As the spell neared completion, a fly darted up his nose, causing him to lose concentration. The party vanished and reappeared in an alchemical laboratory - but not the one they intended. As a bookcase golem started to move to defend its masters room, Dacien quickly dimension door'd the party out to the street. They found themselves in an immaculately kept cobbled road, an avenue with well kept plants and topiary. The smell of smoked haddock and hot metal filled the air. A passing dwarf with a wheelbarrow informed them they had arrived in Alchemos, on the continent of Bellisaria in the Empire of Alphatia - a great many hundreds of miles from their intended destination. Alchemos was the home of the Alphatian School of Alchemy, a prestigious site of learning.

The party started looking for somewhere cheap to stay, when Mendel decided to pick somewhere more upmarket, and spotted a lavish inn named The Silk Purse. At the door, after an initial look of derision, the proprietor seemed to mistake the party for some expected guests that were due to take part in 'The Hunt'. The party happily went along with the ruse, and were shown to a lavish suite of rooms. The next day, Dacien and Zhedd did some research at the library and Mendel and Antony did their 'research' at the taverns. They found out that The Hunt was actually an annual event where the  Alchemists Guild would unleash a hellish alchemical golem of their own devising upon contestants trapped within a maze of invisible force fields. There had only been 2 winners in recent years, and taking part was seen as an act of desperation by down-on-their-luck mages looking to get their hands  on the 100,000 gp prize for defeating the golem and leaving the maze. The party (almost universally) began to think taking part was a Bad Idea.

Savage Tide Session 36

Zhedd's Escape
As the rest of the party disappeared with Dacien's teleport, Zhedd and Banshee were left behind with two mocking baboon faces leering hungrily at them both. Zhedd quickly dimension door'd  the pair of them upwards and out over the lake on the surface. Using illusions, Zhedd kept the two of them hidden as he sought out a refuge to hide and await contact from the others. He found a crevasse on the sheer cliffs that surrounded the plateau, and created a ledge to rest upon. Having rested and memorised new spells, Zhedd communed to get a feel for the creatures that lived nearby, and identified a powerful unnatural creature living in the lake on the plateau, and the treant he'd met earlier currently somewhere  in the forest to the south. Zhedd searched the forest for some time, luckily avoiding any encounters, until he found signs of the treant's passage. The treant recognised Zhedd, and agreed that the druid could accompany him to a meet with his grafted partner for safety. In return, the treant explained he was distraught at the 'two-legged civilisation' that had come to the plateau and cut down trees to build structures, and exacted a promise from Zhedd that the druid would destroy any further spread of this 'civilisation'. In the meantime, Zhedd found a pool and, after failing to contact Dacien, managed to scry Mendel and pass on the message about where he was hiding. Dacien came up with a plan to retrieve Zhedd, and after a series of teleports the party were reunited in Farshore.

Catching breath in Farshore
The party had filled Lavinia in on what had occurred and looked to return to Sasserine to get supplies. Getting an update on events in the settlement, it appeared that Manthalay Meravanchi had started an operation to source criminals from the natives and ship them back as slaves, to keep a trade ticking over for the growing operation. Lavinina also introduced the party to two phanaton that were seekign adventure with the party in return for passage away from the Isle of Dread - Gerald, a reincarnated dwarf, and his companion Lenny. Three new ships were in harbour - one of Karameikan origin, looking to resupply on the voyage south, a ship of Vanyan pilgrims heading south, and the other a strange ship of dried aged wood with rigging and sails made from webbing. Of the latter, there had been no sign of activity on the ship, save for a pteranodon which had been caught in a spider-web bag on the central mast, and was fluttering listlessly.

The Karameikan ship Ekaterina was strange for not docking at one of the jettys and remaining further out in the harbour - also, all windows were blacked out. The crew had made little contact save for the first mate Ivan Ivanov who was overseeing supplies. None of the crew had been ashore for leave. Mendel spied on the ship from one of the clifftops and saw a pale figure hiding in the shadows. When Ji and Faldak escorted the supplies to the ship, there as resistance to let them board, but Ji persisted, drawn by the smell of stale sweat, and also spotted the strange figure. Slipping the first mate some coin, Ivanov let slip that he was carrying a cargo of strange albino humanoids he'd picked up from the caves to the north, at the behest of some shadow elves  form the nation of Aengmor.

Mendel spoke to the head of the Vanya missionaries, Heinrich, who spent most of their time in weapons training by the docks. They were headed to Raven's Scarp on the southern continent of Davania as part of a pilgrimage to a place called Vanya's Rest. They suggested approaching Steefanie's mercenary contingent for burial rites, but felt that the death in battle against a major foe would suffice.

The webbed ship caused more interest, and the part approached it. Strange metal plates adorned it surface, and after hailing the ship, something from within tapped on the metal sheets. After contact was made, a group of large dark spiders emerged on deck and spoke in piping voices. The leader introduced himself as AckAck, of a race of planar spiders known as Chak that called the Astral plane home. They often travelled as merchants, picking up exotic wares and information to trade. They explained that they had been drawn here following ships from the Material Plane that were sailing on other planar seas, and they were curious who and how. The ships carried flags of a skull over crossed swords on a red background - the same flag the party had seen carried by the Sea Reavers of the Crimson Fleet. After exchanging tales, and signal books, the party were able to trade with the Chak and get the supplies they needed.

Round Two on Taboo
Once the party were rested and prepared, and items identified or traded, the party returned to the temple on the plateau. They gathered at the top of the stairs descending to the chamber filled with mud pools, and cast their spells in preparation. The chamber below was empty, so the party hurried through the broken wall as they did before. In the main chamber, four kopru, a crocodile demon, and the two headed beast waited for them. In the arms of the statue now rested the defiled bodies of Stefanie and Rissashtak. Battle commenced, and the party fared better this time, as they resisted more of the attacks and ere able to focus on dealing damage to the large creature. Some of the party succumbed to the confusion, including Banshee, and were caught in melee with the beast. Then, with the kopru killed or driven off, as the demon was looking increasingly beaten, it suddenly vanished, and in its place, conjured forth by some demonic pact magic as far as Dacien could tell, appeared a large thrashing eel-like demon. It wasn't over yet...

Savage Tide Session 35

The party gathered at the steps down to the steamy cavern full of pools of bubbling volcanic mud. Feeling emboldened by the Heroic Feast Stefanie had conjured for them earlier, they set about planning their approach to tackle the kopru base of operations. Dacien and Stefanie drew up wards against evil mind control, and the party huddled in a protective circle as the descended the stairs. The cavern was very large, with thin, slippery mineral-encrusted walkways criss-crossing the pools. The heat was nearly unbearable, and each of them was covered in sweat within seconds; sweat that had nowhere to evaporate to in the humid, sulphurous foetid air.

Stefanie took off her armour to avoid sinking into the pools, as the more nimble team members scouted ahead. The occasional bubble of boiling mud burst over a party member, and more than once Rissashtak and Faldak lost their footing and fell in. They knew the kopru were in hiding, and it was Antony who spotted them first, as two muscular kopru swam at them through the mud. Throgiff was caught by surprise,  and crushed by its muscular tentacle. Mendel was caught too but managed to escape. The halfling was overcome, as his skull was crushed and his body dumped in the pool of mud. Taboo temple had claimed its first victim of the day. But not before a quick acting Ji retrieved the body and its goods.

The two kopru were killed, and Antony saw another in the distant shadows disappear back into the mud. Macutotnal's anger against the kopru came to the fore, as the intelligent bow took control of Mendel, and argued to press the attack. The rest of the party managed to counsel caution. From then on the party decided to travel together. They explored the northern half of the chamber and found, encrusted in a large stalagmite, a skeletal body sat upon a throne. Macutotnal/Mendel explained that this is where the king of Thanaclan would receive guests before entering the temple to the west. The body bore a ring - the king's insignia with a power of telekinesis - and a bronze bastard sword with a sun emblem, that was strangely light for its size.

Ji used the telekinesis to move an arrow with a light spell cast upon it about the chamber and assess the layout. A well of boiling water lay on the southern wall, and Antony's keen eye spotted a buried box containing several emeralds. They also spotted a breach in the western wall, from where Ji had heard a bestial roar earlier. The party headed there next, narrowly missing a walkway that almost collapsed under them, which Zhedd then filled in by turning the mud to rock. The crevasse led to a small cave filled with the skulls of many different humanoids. Each skull bore signs of the brains having been scraped out through the nose. A passageway led out to the west and drier ground, so Stefanie set about putting her armour back on, whilst Ji did his best to give the skulls a more dignified send off. Faldak moved up to fire an arrow around the corner to the west, only to see a terrifying beast staring back at him; a disturbing cross between kopru and baboon in a twisted semblance of Demogorgon himself. A demonic crocodilian creature was entwined around his legs.

Ji tried to speak but Faldak had fired an arrow. The party geared for battle, only to find the creature was an illusion, which was still able to cast spells! Ji, Mendel and Faldak fought through into a large partially-flooded temple, where they were swarmed by six of the crocodile demons. The soundd of hawking and snorting came from the north, and a viscous acidic glob of snot and bile flew from the darkness to cover the trio, burning their skin and very souls. Mendel fired a light arrow back in that direction, and illuminated the real creature, stood in front of a fractured statue on a dais where there was also a melon-sized black pearl throbbing with eldritch energy. Zhedd conjured a solid fog about the creature to buy time whilst the others fought off the crocodiles. The wicked barbed tails on the demons caused wounds to bleed heavily, and Faldak and Ji began to struggle under the pressure. Suddenly, the large demon appeared in their midst, bringing an aura of fear and confusion with it which scattered the party immediately. It's tentacles carried a rotting power that caused flesh to slough off and decay.

A frantic battle was fought. Antony almost died, but managed to skip into the water ans swim to the pearl, which the party washed free form the bile and semi-digested brain matter around it, and slip into his haversack. He was met with a glob of energy draining snot for his efforts. Ji found a pile of treasures in a side room in which he was hiding in fear - likely the possessions of Noltus Innersol, given the blood-stained symbol of Ixion in their midst.

Once the crocodiles were dispatched, it left Stefanie fighting a vain battle alone against the beast. Rissashtak was being crushed by one of its limbs, but managed to escape. Ji, Mendel, and Rissashtak rushed to surround it, but the demon lashed out at all of them in a flurry that caught them all by surprise. Rissashtak and Stefanie felt their hearts rot from the inside before the life ebbed out of them. Two more victims to Taboo temple. Ji fell to the floor convulsing, and bleeding his last.

Dacien finally realised the game was up and called for retreat. Zhedd swapped a rat from  bag of tricks with Ji and the party desperately ran into Dacien's teleport spell back to Farshore. The beasts's mocking voice followed them "I will kill either your healer or your means of escape! I will find out where you live and kill everyone there!"

Savage Tide Session 34

Before the party could rest, they were alerted by Dacien's alarm. Looking outside their chamber, nothing was visible, but Zhedd could make out the sounds of someone casting invisibility spells. The party crowded around the doorway, as Stefanie tried to use a jet of water to find the invisible foes - a couple of feet were spotted, but quickly retreated. In the end, Zhedd launched off the balcony on Banshee to locate the enemies, and was pounced on by two Vrocks that appeared mid air. Soon after, a skinwalker appeared near the column of flame, and launched a fireball into the midst of the party. Two more skinwalkers started to move to flank the party but Faldak cut them off. The vrocks spread their toxic spores amongst the party, and leapt into melee.The foes were soon brought down, but the spores continued to eat away at the party. Eventually, all were healed and managed get back to rest.

The party decided to venture to the lower levels via the main steps they had seen to the west, and found themselves on a landing. to the east there was a flooded murky chamber with a large snake motif running around its walls. Antony snuck down a corridor to the south and found a storage area - urns, crowbars and fishing equipment, next to a large underground oyster pond. As Antony beckoned the others to join him, three Hezrou teleported to flank the party and attacked.

Their stench sickened several of the party, but Dacien and Stefanie acted quickly to use their magic to send two of the toad-like demons back to their extraplanar holes. The third was killed off soon after, allowing the party to continue. The urns held strange substances - a quivering red mud or planar origin, and disturbing headless insects, not immediately recognisable as being of this planet. Stefanie and Zhedd went to explore the oyster pond, but Ji noticed Zhedd starting to behave strangely - under the influence of kopru mind control. Before they could command him to act, Dacien used protection from evil to ward off the kopru influence, but by the time the party ran across the chamber to find the beasts, they appeared to have disappeared into an underwater tunnel. The party did their best to block the tunnel, finding another that led into the lake outside too, and returned to the oysters. Six of the creatures were abnormally large, black and pulsating with red veins. Cracking these open with the crowbars was difficult, and caused the oysters to shrill and shriek with an unearthly keen. Inside each of them was a large black pearl.

The party set off back to the north, and followed a flooded corridor west. Antony stepped into pool that contained a green slime, and had to be rescued by Ji burning the slime off as it ate away at his legs. Whilst ji set about clearing the pool of the rest of the slime, the rest of the party bound and gagged Zhedd in case the kopru mind controlled started again. What they hadn't factored in was his ability to shapeshift, and so, under the kopru influence, Zhedd turned into a squid to escape the bonds and flee. Mendel quickly pinned him to the wall with some well placed arrows, allowing Dacien to break the enchantment the kopru had on the druid, leaving a sullen Zhedd to skulk back to the party.

In a room at the end of the corridor, the party found an old library of wax tablets, that had long since lost their writing for the most part other than a carefully bound section of stone slabs. An obsidian dagger was also hidden in  a stone drawer, and seemed to draw shadows into itself as it avoided the flickering torchlight.

In another corridor, the party were attacked by a large ochre jelly, but managed to fend this off to battle out of the water. Antony cleverly spotted the risk of opening doors in flooded corridors and cut off the top half of another door to access the chamber beyond, without washing themselves away. This led to a steam vent that the party bridged, and beyond that a statuary. Mendel entered first to investigate the room, only to be trapped by a falling portcullis, as four of the statues moved to attack. Zhedd summoned a wolverine to swap places with Mendel, but it was taking too long and Mendel was being beaten heavily by the statues, so Dacien dimension door'd him out. The statues were relentless, and bashed down the portcullis to pursue the party. It became clear the party's weapons were not harming the creatures, so they retreated, laying a trap by the steam vent. Ji acted as bait to lure the statues forward; the first one fell intothe steam vent and backed solid, and the next two got swept away by the on rush of water as they broke down Antony's dam. This left one for the party to defeat in melee. The wounds the statue caused itched and were difficult to heal, draining the party of much of their remaining healing to finally cure them.

A set of stairs led down, and Antony went ahead to explore. The stairs opened up into a large chamber filled with bubbling pits of boiling mud. Anthony felt a kopru invade his mind, and managed to break free before it took real hold. Running back upstairs, the party decided to avoid this for now, and find somewhere to rest - the kopru would wait for another day...

Savage Tide Session 33

Cleaning themselves off the ichor from the flesh jelly, the party pressed on deeper into the dungeon. The chamber that housed the fleshy monstrosity was empty, save for the putrefied remains of various humanoid bodies. Antony spotted a trap by the main entrance to the dungeon complex, so the party headed south into a larger chamber. Steps led down to the west, descending into the darkness from where a warm, damp sulphurous smell wafted. The chamber itself was bare, but the floor was covered in hundreds of crude flat metal rings, each of which bore 4 sigils carved on each face. None of the party could decipher the sigils, so the party snuck across the chamber best and quietly as they could, until Stefanie kicked up  a ruckus in her metal armour and all sense of subtlety was lost. Some of the discs were pocketed to examine later.

To the south lay a large vaulted circular chamber. Statues the party recognised as representations of Ixion/Otzitiotl (Sun), Odin/Oloron (Moon) and Protius/Manwara (Star) stood around three concentric circles of depressions in the centre of the floor. In each ring was a ball, bearing a symbol of a sun, moon and star. Pillars bearing an engraved snake, likely a depiction of Ka/Kalaktatla flanked each statue. Around the walls of the room was a fresco that showed the rise to power of a skilled Oltec archer with a bow made of lightning, who with support from his patron immortals, ascended to become ruler of a great empire, and fought off the threat of a plague of wingless dragons known as linnorms. Mendel was struck by the similarities between himself and the likeness of the archer, even though there was none. The party debated for some time whether it was Mendel’s density to travel back in time and save this great empire. Eventually, they recognised the similarities between the stone amulet Noltus Innersol had acquired and the layout of the chamber, and surmised that the balls should be moved around the circles of depressions according to the hidden code. Once they had worked out the sequence, the chamber filled with light and a bow crackling with energy appeared in the centre of the chamber - the Nimbus Bow.

Reaching out to collect the bow, the other saw Mendel drop his current bow to the floor as his fingers touched the Nimbus Bow. Mendel started referring to himself as 'Macutotnal', and cast a wary eye at the party if they dared to desecrate of loot the complex. Mendel had acquired an intelligent item, and so far, it was dominating him. Most of the party seemed happy to welcome their 'new' companion. Faldak snuck behind and quickly picked the holy bow up from the floor.

The next chamber was filled with mummified bodies, still in their finery with gold visible in the torchlight beneath their wrappings. Mendel/Macutotnal waned against looting the bodies, but Stefanie, sensing undead, joined Rissashtak in calling to their immortals to banish the  creatures. Eight wraiths emerged from the bodies and besieged the party, but through faith, fist and fabulous fighting were fought back.

A long winding corridor took the party deeper into the complex. A small alcove contained some offerings to a statue of Demogorgon, which Stefanie found to be cursed before they could destroy it, and was nearly left unable to cast the spell to remove its influence. Around the corner, Faldak's keen eye spotted the flagstones seemed loose, and he called Antony to a half before continuing. After much prising, they managed to lift a flagstone, only to cause a whole section of corridor to collapse into  a chamber below. For now, the party use the rope of climbing to move across the gap, and left the lower levels to explore later.

The noise had alerted the guards in the next chamber - a large vaulted entrance hall with a large pit containing a column of flame. Poking his head around the corner, Antony was spotted by another skinwalker who cast a spell to flood the corridor in a mind-befuggling gas. Dacien was quick to counteract the magic, as Ji dashed forward full pelt into the skinwalker and landed a kick solidly in his chest, sending him flying back into the flames. Battle began as a mob of skinwalker archers attacked Ji, and the rest of the party hurried to form a line at the entrance to the room. Stefanie cut the battlefield in half with a blade barrier, allowing the party to focus their efforts on the skinwalker chieftain and his pet ape. Ji and Faldak were almost brought low by the skilled warrior, before Stefanie used an expensive scroll to restore their health. That turned the tide of the battle, and as the chieftain fell, Zhedds summoned wolves allowed the party to pick off the remaining skinwalkers. All save another mage, which fled through the exit.

The party set about looting the chambers, and found several magic items and ancient relics in the chieftains chamber, which Dacien set about identifying. Another room held a defiled alter, its walls papers with the stretched skin of countless victims, and covered in obscene runes. Peering out the exit, the party saw something glowing on the floor of some steps leading down to the waterfront; fearing it a trap, they retreated and Dacien warded the corridor with an alarm spell. A final room was bare, it's floor covered in dust which the party then found concealed a trap door. No one was able to open the door on a few tries, and weary from battle, the party rested up for the night.

Savage Tide Session 32

The party continued to explore the 'taboo' island. Skirting around the eastern side before heading towards the cliffs, they encountered more skinwalkers, who had prepared an ambush. Faldak caused the undergrowth to entangle them as Antony's snuck by, and the party soon managed to turn the tables. T othe sourtheast they found another ziggurat - this one collapsed and inhabited by spectres. Antony, who had reluctanly clambered down into the ruin in the first place, bore the brunt of their attacks until Stefanie called upon Vanya to hold them t bay whilst the others sent them back to their graves. This ziggurat bore the markings of the immortal Khoronus, and it appeared the others were also dedicated to members of the Council of Intrusion; matching the deities they had seen on the artifact in the aboleth city deep below them.

Finally the party made their way to the cliffs where they had seen a large entrance previously on the shorefront. Another ziggarat rested here, inscribed wit hthe sigils of all the council's immortals, and just beyond they heard the shouts of a skinwalker (strange as they had seen these creatures use telepathy earlier), answered by another muffled voice in the same tongue. ANthony scouted ahead and saw a cluster of huts with a lone skinwalker on guard duty. Under a greater invisibility spell, he left the rest of the party hidden by the ziggurat and snuck forward with Faldak and Mendel to launch an attack. Antony used a wand of fireballs to sow confusion as Mendel sniped at the skinwalker guard and his companions emerged from the huts. A powerful skinwalker spellcaster emerged and Faldak was the unfortunate victim of a feeblemind spell, taking him out fo the fight as suddenly the soil become far more interesting. Seeing the flames, the rest of the party rushed to join in the battle, but Zhedd too was feebleminded. Antony continued to spray fireballs around - even launching on inside a hut from where he'd heard voices before. Mendel was suprised a a red-headed halfling appeared behind him and planted two arrows in his neck - but his return volley gravely injured the halfling and caused him to surrender.

Soon, the skinwalkers were defeated, and the party gathered round their two feebleminded companions and the strange new halfling guest - whose skin bore the same ruddy tone they had seen on the Crimson Fleet pirates. He introduced himself as Throgiff, a member of the Crimson Fleet from a land he called Cimmaron. He was apparently exiled here after embarrassing his captain Longshanks LeShiv in a game of cards; left on the island to oversee the slaves that were sent here, and the delivery of the shadow pearls from the skinwalkers to the korpu, via a tunnel hidden at the ziggurat's peak. He was completely disillusioned with his lot, and his only interest was to get off the island and escape back home. He said he had a ledger monitoring the number of slaves sacrificed and shadow pearls delivered to the Crimson Fleet's base in Scuttlecove; but the ledger had been destroyed when Antony fireballed the hut in which he was staying. The leader of the fleet, Cold Captain Wyther, kept in touch with Throgiff via a crystal ball with telepathy, but had not been in touch for a week or so; and Throgiff had no knowledge that Vanthus had died. After some debate, the party agreed that Throgiff could accompany them if he helped them confront the skinwalkers in their base. He agreed; but had not been inside their lair. Still, he happily showed them the secret entrance they used, hidden in an alcove to the north of a large set of broken double doors built into the cliff face.

The party rested, and the next day entered the structure carved into the cliff. It appeared an ancient but well built structure, and showed signs of a lot of use by the skinwalkers. The secret door led to long corridor that ended in another secret door, which was easily located and opened. Beyond was a small chamber with a carving of a ziggurat on a pedestal in its centre. An inscription in abyssal, which Throgiff translated, read "The blood keeps safe the flesh", and indeed there were signs of dried blood in channels around the surface of the carving. The warning became clear as the party headed south, and triggered a trap which sent a giant boulder rolling down the corridor towards them. Zhedd quickly shaped a stone lip across the corridor behidn them, and Dacien created a wall of force to divert the boulder safely to the side.

At the end of the corridor they found a chamber with an altar soaked in blood, much of which was pooled around the southern wall; searching here, Antony found a secret door which opened to some stairs leading down into a waterlogged passage. Ignoring that for now, the party continued east, and saw the rear of the broken double door in the distance. Before they coudl aprpaoch, they were overcome by an awful stench of rotting meat and decay; as a giant flesh jelly emerged from its lair at the sound of approaching meat.

This oozed from its pit towards the party, the stench becoming unbearable so that ll but Fladak's strong stomach emptied. They fled, a hastespell adding speed to their staggering, and launched fireballs from affar as the corridor filled with flesh behind them. The session ended as Zhedd appeared behind it and his last fireball blew it to pieces; spattering the rest of the party in gore.

Savage Tide Session 31

Peering out the window of Dacien's hut on last watch, Zhedd and Antony spotted movement in the long grass of the swampy savannah of the plateau. Using the spyglass, they appeared to be lizardfolk. Waking the others, they ventured outside and called out. A cautious reply came back in broken common, as a large lizardfolk warrior stepped forth, with some smaller companions behind him. He introduced himself as Rissashtak, a ranger/cleric of Ixion and part of a warband led by Noltus Innersol. As Rissashtak became assured the party were not part of the evil on the island, he explained that Noltus had led a warband of humans, lizardfolk, phanaton and rakasta to the plateau to confront the dark machinations of the kopru. They appeared to be operating from an island in a lake at the centre of the plateau, and Noltus had led a scouting party there, planning to rendez-vous with the band last night on the northern shore of the lake. The lake was seen as taboo by the lizards, for Kalaktatla himself guarded its waters, so Noltus only took a select few lizardfolk warriors with him that were willing to risk the wrath of their patron deity. But he had not returned. Rissashtak offered to escort the party back to camp to wait for Noltus, or to visit a human village on the southern shore of the lake that might hold more information. The party decided to follow the lizardkin to their camp first.

The lizardfolk camp was little more than a camouflaged set of mounds dug into the swamp to hide them from observation. There was no sign of Noltus here, so Rissashtak offered what hospitality he could, before pointing the party in the direction of the human settlement. He promised to try to contact the party if Noltus should return.

Heading west, the party came upon the settlement only to find it deserted. Crude huts were left abandoned, and Faldak saw signed of combat - humanoids attacking the village from both sides whilst something snake-like emerged form the water. Approaching the central hut, that was built out over the lake, a strange mist started to form around the party. Suddenly, a telepathic voice entered all their minds, accusing them of hiding their true nature and demanding they leave the sacred site. Realising that Antony's ring of mind shielding might be what the creatures referred to, Antony removed the ring and managed to placate the invisible assailants. They turned out to be couatls, servants of the immortal Ka or Kalaktatla, the protector of lost cultures.

They had been summoned here by the chieftain Űmläüt, who had called upon them for aid the battle that took place here, but sadly too late. The cleric was one of Ka's most favoured, honouring some of the most ancient practices of his worship on Mystara, and so his body was being treated with the reverence it deserved. The couatl allowed the party to speak with his body and question him, so the party rested whilst the couatl finished their ceremonial preparations of the body. The next morning, as Stefanie prepared her spells, the other found a small pteranodon in the village, clutching a stone upon which was written the letter 'N'.Stefanie used a sending to clarify that this signified the return of Noltus to the lizard camp. Pressing on withthe questioning pof the priests body, the party learnt that a band of skinwalkers had attacked the village, led by a strange demonic ghoul-like creature, and aided by a bulbous-eyed eel demon. Dacien recognised the description of the eel creature as a wastrilith, a most evil and magical aquatic demon. Űmläüt

 also informed the party that he realised now in death how the kopru had manipulated the villagers their whole lives, leading many to the island  in the centre of the lake, but for what reason he could not say.

As the party set out to retuirn to Rissashtak, they were set upon by a flock of wyverns, which were quickly fought off, although Stefanie too a viscious poisonous barb to the stomach. Weakened, she pressed on wit hthe others into camp, where they met with Noltus - a loud brash Ostlander cleric, who warmly welcomed them and bade them to share a feast. Bulgan, Noltus' bloodhound wombled over, and started sniffing the party members, particularly the spell casters, as Noltus explained he had been well trained to sniff out necromantic components to help the righteous missionary hunt down evil dabblers in undeath. Stefanie grew suspicious, and moved to the side to cast a divination, but Bulgan followed her. in the midst of her spell, the bloodhound suddenly transformed into a horrific giant babboon-like creature, which proceeded (and succeeded) to chew her face off.

Noltus suddenly vanished, and the band of lizardfolk set upon each other - with Rissashtak looking horrified and confused in their midst. It appeared 'Noltus' and his band of lizardkin had used some power to shapeshift, and were in fact a demonic party from the island on the plateau. A drawn out battle ensued, which left only Rissashtak from the warband standing. Stefanie's death was a blow to the party, and they decided to return to Sasserine to have her raised. Rissashtak vowed vengeance on the skinwalkers and, picking up Noltus' weapon, asked to come with the party.

In Sasserine, Lady Silvermane/Gwynwharwf brought Stefanie back whilst Mendel sought out Aloyisus to have some goods fenced on the party's behalf. The party then returned to the plateau to explore the island. From the shores, they could see an entrance built into the cliffs on the western face of the island, looking like some ancient temple. The water around the entrance was interspersed with floating pontoons. The party decided to fly over the lake and into the jungle behind the cliffs. The thick vegetation here showed little signs of habitation, bar some ancient abandoned ziggurats and other more tumbledown stone structures. The party encountered another band of skinwalkers on the trail, which they dispatched, and made preparations to explore the island further.

Savage Tide Session 30

Before the party left for Sasserine, Manthalay Meravanchi asked for a letter to be delivered to an Emil Draskus in Shadowshore district of the city. In return for a letter of introduction to Zasker Grankus, a former mercenary that now runs the arena in Sasserine, Mendel agreed to deliver the letter. Dacien collected the group, and then teleported them all to the docks of the city. Most of the party had shopping on their minds, and set about equipping themselves for the expedition to the centre of the Isle of Dread. Mendel visited the temple to Asterius to speak with the head cleric, Lirali Woarali, about his investments. As Mendel entered, Lirali quickly ushered him to one side, and gave him a warning - assassins had been hired to track down and kill Mendel and Zhedd! The order had come out from the Taskerhill family, in retaliation for the death of their child to some archer bushes that Mendel and Zhedd had been responsible for planting in their gardens - itself, a retaliation for some underhand business practices in the logging industry. Lord Taskerhill was also financially backed by the Kellani family, who still bore malice to the party for their part in the death of their daughter Rowyn in the Lotus Dragon affair. Lirali had instructed city residents faithful to the church not to pursue the bounty, but knew there were plenty of local Hinterlanders desperate for coin that would take their place. Before Mendel left, Lirali also offered to have the not to Emil Draskus delivered - warning Mendel that Emil was the less-than-reputable lord of the Shadowshore district, and that little good could come from a partnership between Mathanlay and Emil.

The rest of the party shopped for their goods - finding the magic items they were after, but not the rarer materials, which seemed to only be available to those with the right connections or who could pull in the right favours. Zhedd visited the Witchwardens, who still harangued him about the missing sample topi zombie they had requested from his adventures on the isle of Dread. With a warning that membership was not to be taken lightly, Zhedd sought to rejoin the others. Mendel and Stefanie visited the arena, and with the letter of introduction, met with Zasker Grankus. Initially distracted and blunt, he soon came round to the idea of large specimens form the Isle of Dread being put on as spectacles in the arena. He offered to reward them for any creatures they brought back, even aquatic ones where the arena could be flooded for the entertainment of the crowd.

When the party rendezvoused in the evening, Mendel passed on the warning about the assassins. The next morning, the party went together to visit the Church of the Whirling Fury and Lady Silvermane.The silver chains that barred the strange building melted away as they approached, and the doors swung open. The interior was largely bare, and Lady Silvermane stood in its centre. As the  partystarted to fill her in on events on the island, particularly what they had found in the aboleth city and the kopru's plans, she paled and bade them silence. A portal opened in front of them, and she ushered them through. The party emerged into a giant forest full of lush foliage, on a plane that Dacien assumed was aligned with Brynn - the plane closest aligned to the Sphere of Matter. Lady Silvermane revealed that she was in fact an exalted celestial creature called Gwynharwyf, and Lady Silvermane was a mortal identity or avatar she had created for herself. This allowed her to pursue her goals, following the immortals Djaea and Khoronus in protecting Mystara from interference of immortals, but also keeping a wary eye out for signs of Outer Beings making incursions into the Prime plane that might threaten all of creation. Gwynharwyf also alluded to a long, bitter enmity with Demogorgon that meant she was especially interested in the activityies of the kopru on the island. She asked the party to return to the aboleth city to confront Rakis-Ka and ensure the safety of the artefact there so that the dark secrets of the aboleth, themselves servitors of the outer beings, could not be reclaimed. The party also mentioned the strange stone flask they had found, emblazoned with the insignia of both Djaea and Khornous - their turned out to be an artefact sacred to the Church of the Whirling Fury that allowed drinkers to rethink or re-imagine choices they had made  in their life - much as Djaea herself mulled and agonised over every decision. The party gave Gwynharwyf the flask, and in return, she used some of her celestial power to infuse Mendel's bow with holy energy. The party left, promising to return to inform Gwynharwyf/Lady Silvermane of what they found on the central plateau, and just what Demogorgon's plans might be.

The party then made their was back under the Isle of Dread to the aboleth city. The shimmering blue curtain that held back the water was not in the chamber where they last found it - but in the corridor a mile or so further on. In the cavern itself, they found Rakis-Ka by the artefact, larger than before, and glowing with a crackling blue light. They party had carefully prepared themselves, and through a combination of  resisting the barrage of spells, and battering through his defences, managed to cut Rakis-Ka down, resulting in a large explosion of arcane energy. Amongst his belongings they found some detailed mathematical theorems on the nature of the universe which could provide incredible knowledge and insight - but Rakis-Ka's last words that he 'would still destroy them all' hung in the air.

Over the next couple of days the party made their way to the surface and then used Stefanie's air walk spells to whisk them to the plateau. The climate here was much cooler, and the air filled with drizzling rain. They landed at the lip of a grassy plain, and could see forests in the distance to the south. heading  in that direction, Zhedd spotted a treant uproot itself and head away. Hurrying forward, Zhedd questioned the treant about what was happening on the plateau, but it had little insight - save that there was a village of humans by a lake in the centre, and he had heard the screams of his brothers from an island in the middle of that lake. Dacien decided to summon a shelter so the party could rest and investigate in the morning.

Savage Tide Session 29

 The next step was for the party to escape the ziggurat. The party prodded around  in the black pools of acidic tar and searched the base of the structure but could find no further way out. Mendel and Zhedd tried to communicate with the ziggurat, and saw some level of response but struggled to make out anything intelligent from it. Back at the uppermost level of the ziggurat, Dacien, created a sensor to view the exterior, and saw a squad of the remaining kopru and troglodytes slowly working their way up to surround the sphincter-like exit. The party prepared another two-pronged assault - Dacien dimension dooring with Stefanie, Ji and Faldak into the midst of one band of kopru, and the others working to provoke the sphincter into opening so they could escape and attack the other group. After a few swift round of melee and fireballs, the party had taken the ziggurat. Questioning some kopru that surrendered, they learnt that others had fled the chamber, but they knew little else about operations here. Apparently the kopru leader the party killed previously was responsible for liaising with a groups known as 'skinwalkers' that arrived from the 'city above' through the tunnel in the ceiling above the crater to the north. They delivered the pearls to the kopru, who then fermented them further in the ziggurat before passing on to the troglodytes to deliver to the pirates, the Sea Reavers of the Crimson Fleet. They had little dealing with the events outside this cavern itself. The skinwalkers were described as some mixture of human and rakasta, but it wasn't clear exactly what they might be.

The party holed up in a side chamber to rest and recover spells. During their watch, Dacien and Ji spotted a ant-like creature climbing a structure a few hundred feet away, and making some notes, before returning to the west, where the crater was. Before setting off after their rest, Mendel fired an arrow with a message into the crater, to ask the creature they left there, Rakis-Ka, if their may return and examine the sealed tunnel above - and to parley about this in a clearing to the south. Rakis-Ka bellowed angrily that he would not abandon the crater for them to move in, and as per their bargain he expected to be left alone. Mendel then found himself mentally compelled to leave the chamber, and as it had been his idea to pester Rakis-Ka in the first place against the others wishes, the party happily went along with it until they got to the exit tunnel, where Dacien broke his enchantment.

The party felt that to completely destroy the production of the shadow pearls, and to find the master pearl that controlled them, they would have to continue their exploration on the city above, which the korpu had indicated was at the highest point on the island.Stefanie used find the path to confirm that the only clear route to he plateau was back the way they came, so the party struck back out down the tunnels. The route was mostly clear, but the party sought out the aboleth they had encountered previously to put an end to it. The found Irgzid sitting in the chamber, claiming the aboleth was dead having been killed by some kopru that fled the chambers below, and he was waiting for their return. The party saw through the ruse, and Mendel and Faldak started firing arrows into the water as Stefanie lowered its level to leave the aboleth no place to hide, despite its illusions. Mendel dove into the stagnant slimy water, only to find himself left unable to breathe air by the aboleth slime, and that his cursed fishing rod finally activated to summon a shark in the water next to him. After much use of create water and portable holes, Mendel was finally restored.

In the chamber with the shimmering barrier, the spirits seemed more restless, and as Stefanie and Ji passed through, they heard cries of "He's eating us, he's eating us! You let him eat us!". Stefanie later prayed to Vanya, and was told that certain immortals were disappointed in her actions, but Vanya was looking forward to a battle that was looming. Mendel also prayed to Asterius, and saw only visions of a bone abacus and a longing to tally up greater profits.

The party made it to the exit, checking in on the albinos on the way and finding their settlement deserted, and then sought to scale the cliffs to reach the island surface. Atop the cliffs, they found themselves  on a mountain range and in the distance towering above these and shrouded in clouds, they spotted the plateau the kopru had mentioned. Stefanie attempted to carve Dacien's face into the rocky terrain to make the area distinctive for a return teleport and the party then decide to head back to Farshore to rest, identify gear, sell items, and prepare.

In Farshore, the party reported back to the council on events, and learned of what had been happening since they departed. The bar owner had fled, leaving Lil and the other saved prostitutes in charge of Krunk's bar. A ship had left Farshore for Sasserine carrying good to trade and to try and entice traffic back to the port - also carrying some residents that had decided to flee for a safer existence. A dragon turtle had been spotted in the harbour, but keeping its distance. Finally, Vanthus' body had been stolen, which given the tracks the party deduced to have been taken by Leaping Demons. Stefanie scryed but could not find him.

Vesserin, the head cleric, also let them know that the feebleminded warrior they party had rescued was in his chapel - strangely comforted there more than elsewhere in the settlement. He had also noticed that some of his tattoos echoed imagery of  the immortals Djaea and Khronous. Stefanie healed the tribal warrior, and, his mind restored, he introduced himself as Jakara. He had been sent to the seven villages by Noltus Innersol, a missionary priest of Ixion, to warn them of the demon threat on the plateau, which in recent times had increased its attacks on the jungles below. Noltus, travelling with his bloodhound dog Bulgan,  had banded together humans, lizardfolk and phanaton to fight these 'skinwalkers' which Jakara described as his fellow tribesmen taken by the demons and somehow bonded to rakasta's cat like bodies in some unholy amalgamation. He offered to train the party in fighting demons, but his main goal was to help prepare the other villages to defend. Noltus had also asked him to recover his stone medallion, which apparently had caused him visions that originally led him to the island. Vessrin explained he had visited Farshore some months back, drawn by his visions, and left the medallion with him for safekeeping. Noltus seemed to be drawn by his patron Ixion to uncover some legendary item on the island.

The medallion itself seemed to depict the immortals Oloron/Odin (moon), Otzitiotl/Ixion (sun), Manwara/Protius (stars) and Kalaktatla/Ka (knowledge), working together to create a bow. The party agreed to take the medallion to Noltus on the plateau, after they had visited Sasserine to equip themselves for the battle. Mendel asked Manthalay for a letter of introduction to the arena in Sasserine for business, and Manthalay agreed, saying there may be other items he could also take.