Adventurer's Journal Vol. 3

It has, unfortunately, been a while since I've made journal entries. This time, I'm going to try a more linear entry style, and try to describe a little more specifically what happens.
A lot has happened since the end of vol. 2. Let me try to recount it briefly. (Ha!)

Yes, we finally destroyed Tyranthraxus. After that, we were escorted back to Shadowdale for a victory celebration of sorts. It seemed that Elminster had somehow found out what we were up to, and arranged the party. And boy, was it a party!

When I regained consciousness, about three days later, Gem and I decided to go off on our own for a bit, 'cause we still had a level or two to gain! So we wandered around the Shadowdale, Ashabenford, and Essembra dungeons again, looking for trouble. We also did a bit of disk-hopping; in order to do a few things over again (like the Beholder Corps!).

Eventually, we did accumulate enough experience, so we returned, trained, and rejoined the others. Then we all just bummed around Shadowdale for a while.

Needless to say, we got bored quickly. Even Rolane agreed that we needed to go find some trouble to get into. (Of course, he didn't phrase it like that!) So we decided to move out.

Now, for the last few days, I had been noticing a slight change in the "feel" of reality. I wasn't exactly sure what the change meant - or what had actually changed, for that matter - but I thought that we might try to find out.

We found out, all right.

We gathered up all our gear and met outside the Old Skull Inn. As Rolane and Harrison were just coming out to join us, something very strange happened. The "feel" of reality shifted abruptly. It felt somewhat like when we disk-hop, but it was much more violent. Then the ground seemed to fissure right beneath us! (Actually, it was more like reality, and not just the ground, which ripped open and sucked us through.)

I immediately lost track of everyone else. Not that I wasn't paying attention, but they just seemed to vanish.

It felt like I was falling down a pit, but I never hit the bottom. Instead, after what could have been a millisecond or a millennium, I appeared - motionless - on the ground outside of what seemed to be an abandoned town.

I knew immediately that I was on another plane of existence, because the distinctive "feel" of our 'home plane' was absent. This plane felt more "normal".

People did begin to appear a moment later - peeking out of windows, cautiously opening doors, etc. As I questioned them, I found out that right before I appeared, a "falling star" had landed exactly where I had found myself standing. Everyone thought they were goners, but were amazed - not to mention pleased - that all that happened when it hit was that I appeared, and the area wasn't flattened.

I reassured them that I wasn't a god or anything like that. Their reactions ranged from, "Of course not, don't be ridiculous," to incredulous, half-insulted.

"Well, they took that well," I muttered as I extracted myself from the neighborhood.

When I had time to think about it, I came up with the following theory: The 'falling star' that everyone saw was more like a magical-dimensional side-effect of the brief contact between my 'home plane' and this one: the point at which the 'star' "dislodged itself from the heavens" was where the contact began, its 'fall' was where the contact slid along this plane, and the impact was simply where the contact was broken (perhaps because it ran into the planet). Also, I believe that my feeling of falling was due to being caught in the middle as the contact dragged along this plane.

I wandered around 'Town' (this is all I ever head the city referred to as) for a while, and eventually I hooked up with a group of other adventurers, all of whom had also just recently arrived on-plane. (This place - the plane of existence in general, and 'Town' in particular - seems to be some sort of 'crossroads' plane. People from all sorts of alternate Primes seem to come and go almost regularly.) I'm not going to go into detail about how we got together. Suffice it to say that we met in a tavern and decided to go check out the local dungeon.

These guys were a very interesting bunch. The coolest of them would have to be Aglanar. He came from an alternate Realms. He is a half-"Dream Elf" (a variation special to his plane, I guess), Cleric/Ranger, who seemed to be a particular favorite of Mielikki, because he had apparently been granted a portion of her power! He had a holy symbol grafted into his chest, and he didn't need to choose his spells ahead of time. That is, he could choose which spell he wanted when he wanted to cast it. He had a number of animal companions/followers/henchmen, and seemed to have almost a telepathic rapport with them. An interesting coincidence: he's 5' tall with golden hair, just like me! Another coincidence: he went through a similar business as we just did. That is, the bonds, Fire Knives, Alias, and Tyranthraxus. Except, he went through it with the companions that he'd always adventured with. He also seems to have had exposure to technology - he carries a .357 Magnum around with him!!

Then there's Quicksilver. She takes this name from the silver mask that she always wears, along with billowing robes and cloaks. I've figured out two likely reasons that she wears these: one, she's a Drow. I have to admit, that even made me take pause, at first. Luckily, she's nicer than the other Drow I've encountered (but she can still be pretty mean when she wants to be!). I believe that she wears all that to avoid prejudices. Two: I hope that she and Sune Firehair (or Helani Celanil) never meet face-to-face, because the goddess might get jealous! Seriously! Quicksilver has the proverbial "bod that just won't quit"! The other reason for all the clothing (I think) is to cover it up so that the male party members won't just stand around drooling. (Yes, I've done my share of drooling.) She's a Cleric/Fighter, quite high level, and absolutely loaded with magic items! I've never been able to figure out exactly what her home plane is like, but she worships some god from the Norse mythos. She has very rarely spoken about her home plane.

The rest of the initial group were Camlach and Half-Mast. Camlach is a Halfling Fighter/Thief, and Half-Mast is Camlach's Human Fighter henchman. Why the human is named Half-Mast, and not the Half-ling, I'm not quite sure. (Maybe it's because he's a half-wit. I don't know.) Their home plane is called something like "Greyhawk", and seems to be pretty backwards, from what I've heard. These two aren't nearly as interesting as the others.

We started out as just the five of us: Aglanar, Quicksilver, Camlach, Half-Mast, and myself. In the dungeon, we picked up another guy. His name was Solitaire (hmmmm). He's a half-elf, Mage/Thief. Coincidentally, exactly the same levels as myself! He comes from yet another alternate Realms, and also seemed to have had exposure to technology - he carried around some very high-tech goodies. Much higher than a Magnum, that's for sure!

Well, suffice it to say, we explored quite a bit of the dungeon (it was a very big place), encountered some very interesting creatures, and found some really neat stuff (more on this later). Unfortunately, I didn't gain enough experience to gain any levels, and we eventually got tired of the place.

After a while, we took an excursion back to my 'home' plane. After a session of comparing magic items, ("Look what I have." "I've got one of these!" "I want one of THOSE!") an idea crossed my mind. I described to them how we could "multiply" magic items there, and everyone liked the idea. We all made up want lists, edited and revised them (I thought we were going a bit overboard; well, sort of. I had another 'bad feeling'.), and then we went. Quicksilver transported us there with a Plane Shift spell.

When we arrived, my 'bad feeling' got worse. Actually, I 'felt' that there was still something "wrong" with reality. I couldn't explain it to them, so I just kept quiet. We headed for the nearest town, which just happened to be Shadowdale. We entered the training hall, and began the process.

Aglanar acted as the "template" (that is, held the originals) because I had to be available to "run" the process, and I was the only one familiar with the system. It went well; I had to keep telling Aglanar which run we were on, but that's normal - as far as he could tell at the end, he was only removed and added once, because it was the same version of him that was pulled up and disposed of each time.

Anyway, it went off without a hitch. Aglanar traded the originals back to their owners, and we left the hall. That's when we found out what was 'wrong' with reality.

As we came out, we saw some of the buildings begin breaking down! Not falling down physically, but their ICONS were degrading!! My snap assessment of the situation was: the program is going to crash! Or, in other words, the world was coming to an end!! I couldn't very well explain this to the others, though, so I just recommended that we leave town as quickly as possible.

About half way to Shadow Gap, we stopped to rest. As I was pacing about, a gigantic hand appeared in midair - index finger outstretched, other fingers clenched. The symbol of Azouth, god of Magic-Users!! It poked me in the chest, and a booming voice said, "Don't do that again!" (or words to that effect.) After one final poke, it vanished. I suggested that we do the same, and Quicksilver obliged with another Plane Shift spell.

After I had a chance to think about it, I realized that the program wasn't crashing, but rather that reality had been undergoing some fundamental changes. The "expanded parameters" was my first clue. They had been even more expanded on this journey. Azouth's warning was my second. Why would he tell me not to do that again, if there would be no place left to do it in? And some other things I saw there lent more support to this.

Unbeknownst to the others, I did a little extra "sight seeing" while we were on my 'home' plane. Right after we were finished with the multiplication, I covertly saved our position and removed everyone else to disk. Then I went out on my own, to see if there was anyone from the party still there. I searched everywhere that I could, from Tilverton to Phlan (which was expanded in and of itself), from Hap to Teshwave, but I couldn't find any of them. I did, however, see some very strange things happening all around the Dalelands. And I heard vague rumors near the end of my wanderings about the gods having come to the Realms. I don't know about that, but there was some kind of disruption of magic during that period, which I suppose may have had some kind of connection. But I didn't find anybody - not even Balthezar or Teleskon, who were not even with us when reality spat us out.

Well, I thought, at least I wasn't the only one to get dumped somewhere else! This fact also told me that I'd better keep my eyes open when I returned to 'Town'!

When I was satisfied, I simply removed myself to disk, loaded the saved position, and then added myself back in (after dropping the old version of me). The others never noticed a thing!

After Quicksilver returned us to 'Town', we all started checking out our new toys. The items that I got copies of were:

a Ring of Mind Shielding (from Aglanar), at Quicksilver's insistence - she has a semi-cursed Medallion of ESP that automatically functions on everyone in range. Very distracting, she says.

a Portable Hole (from Aglanar) - a very useful magical storage device

a Tome of Clear Thought (from ???) - like the Manual of Bodily Health, but for intelligence instead of health

a Wand of Wonder (from Quicksilver) - a very powerful, if unpredictable item. That's what I like about it! And,

a Book of Infinite Spells.

This last one is actually somewhat misnamed (in my humble opinion). It has a lot of spells in it, but not infinite. But it was useful. It expanded my spell collection considerably. It even had some 6th and 7th level spells in it! Unfortunately, I'm not yet able to use spells of that power, but I didn't want to just pass them by (going through the book is a one-way trip. You can't turn back to something you've passed by!), so I decided to take a break from perusing it and do some spell research.

Quicksilver had told me once about a spell from her plane that allows you to write spells in your book that you couldn't normally. I made a spell quite similar. Mine also automatically enters the spell into your spellbook. Now, to do this I had to assemble a library and a laboratory, and I had to buy a building to house them in. This took a couple of months on its own, including the actual research time. I then copied the rest of the spells from the Book into my spellbooks. Camlach also let me copy one or two spells from the his copy, since he couldn't do so himself.

During this time (or was it earlier?), Quicksilver built herself a stronghold just outside town, and she let Aglanar add on a piece for himself. Someone (either Aglanar or Quicksilver) took Solitaire back to his homeworld, and he came back with a henchman, wife, and kid! (Wow. I wish I could work that fast! :) I have no idea what Camlach and Half-wit - I mean Half-Mast - were doing during this time, other than playing with their new toys.

I also spent some time researching another topic (again, more on this later), and made some connections in Town's underground "news service". From it, I learned some very interesting tidbits. Most importantly: I learned that there had been a "falling star" similar to the one in which I arrived almost a month before mine. And there had also been one more since mine!!

This revelation, coupled with the absence of everyone back "home" - as well as another rumor I heard describing a "very tall, fire-haired, lady paladin" who had been doing some big things - brought me to the conclusion that we all may have been dumped here. (Though there is an interesting time variable that I haven't figured out yet.)

The "paladin" I believed to be a reference to Tempest. She is very tall, and has the appropriate red hair. While she is actually a Cleric, she used to be a Thief, and since she is of high enough level to use her Thief class abilities, she can - and usually does - wield a Longsword. So the mistake is understandable.

After I was done with my inquiries and had some free time, I decided to go out and look into this. Since none of the others (Quicksilver, Aglanar, etc.) seemed interested in going out together again (or, at least, they hadn't contacted me) this was the best thing I could think of to do. I also wanted to test my theories.

I decided to go after Tempest first, since she was the one I was most certain was here. So, I set out in search of a temple to Mystra (Tempest's chosen faith). This in itself took me all day. When I finally got there, the place was closing down for the night, so I just Dimension Doored back home. The next morning, I Dim Doored over there again, and asked to see whomever was in charge. Since I didn't have an appointment, I had to wait all morning until the High Priest was free (?#!@ $&%^*ing bureaucrats!!), just for him to tell me that she wasn't there!! Luckily, though, she was simply out on a personal errand, and would be returning. (YESSSSS!) He didn't know exactly when, so I asked him to give her a message to contact me. He said he would give it to her, and I thanked him cordially and left.

Over lunch, I heard about another "falling star" hit! That morning!! While I was waiting for that $#!@&?ing priest!!!! After interrogating the person who mentioned it, I raced to that part of town (the opposite side, of course), questioned some witnesses (an old fat halfling and a trio of idiot local boys) who really hadn't seen much, and went over the entire area with a fine-toothed comb.

Unfortunately, I found zilch. Whoever it was who appeared ("A big guy in armor," the halfling said. Great. That narrows it down to just about any fighter or cleric in the omniverse!!) either hid or vanished again pretty quickly. The only thing I did notice, which may or may not really be related, was an Imperial Shuttle lift off outside Town and disappear. (Whatever an Imperial Shuttle was doing on this plane, I can't even begin to imagine!!)

There was also a bit of a demon army that began to assault the city, but they broke off after a while. I just wonder what they wanted.

Well, that day was shot, so I went back to the house and had dinner.

The next day, right before noon, Tempest showed up at the door! Over lunch, we caught up with each other, and traded stories. It turns out, she had been doing some adventuring with some new companions as well, and had gained quite a few levels. She's now 15th!!! I told her about my group, my trip home, my theories, and the previous day, and we decided to go out looking for more old friends.

We split up: Tempest went to check out some of the other temples (Rolane, Stephan, and Balthezar would likely be known to their respective churches), and I went to inquire at the Mages' and Fighters' Guilds (the former in case Gem was actually here and I just hadn't encountered her yet, and the latter because it might know about any of the others, seeing as they are all at least partially warrior-types). When we met that evening back at my house, neither of us had gotten any leads. "We're not sure," "Maybe. We'll check and get back to you," and "If so, we'll tell him you're looking for him" were the most positive responses we got. We decided to continue the next day, and Tempest went back to her temple.

Tempest showed up again shortly before noon (she told me that she hadn't slept very well), and I cooked up something to eat, before starting our search. During the meal, I suddenly heard someone call my name. Tempest, however, didn't hear it.

It called again. "Kickback, are you there?"

I realized two things at once. One, I wasn't actually hearing the voice, but someone was communicating with me telepathically. And two, I recognized the voice.

"Balthezar?"

It was him.

We talked for a while (when I told him that Tempest was here as well, he contacted her too) and he explained a few things. For one, he had gained psionics. Aside from being a little obvious, it was a very interesting change. Two, he had received word from his church about us just this morning, and made contact as soon as he could. Three, he explained how he got here. It was exactly the same as how we arrived, except that he was alone when reality ripped open, and during the "fall", he blacked out, and awoke somewhere in 'Town'. When he awoke is when he discovered his new mental powers, in addition to another change that had come over him. Four, the other change. He told us that he was no longer a Half-Elf, multi-classed Ranger/Cleric, but had somehow been transformed into a full Human, and was now functioning as a Dual-Classed Ranger turned Cleric!! He had no idea how or why he was changed, much less who or what could have done it, but he did say that he thought that the psionics may have been compensation, or something like that, for losing his Elven half.

Eventually, we decided that mental communication just didn't cut it, so I gave Balthezar directions, and he came over to the house. Then we spent the rest of the day trading stories, again. Balth had also been doing some adventuring with new-found companions, all of whom were humans and had psionic powers!! They were messing around in yet another nearby dungeon (possibly different entrances to the same labyrinth??), and had been working out of 'Town' for a couple of months as well.

(It's amazing how we could all work out of the same city for so long and never once bump into each other. It is a pretty big city, though!)

We also explained to him what we'd been up to - on our own and together - and some of my theories. It was he who pointed out the very easy method of finding out if any of the others from our party were now here that fate had handed us:

"My psionics," he said. "If they're on this plane, and within range, I should be able to contact them. Eventually, at least."

It sounded like a good idea, so we told him to give it a try. He tried Teleskon first, then Rolane and Harrison (we had to describe them to him, because we picked them up after Balth dropped out). The results were universally negative. (That is, they're all not here. Bugger.) Balth was pretty exhausted after that, so we decided to retire for the night. I put Balth up in the guest room, and Tempest returned to her temple (as usual).

The next morning, Balth was just getting up when Tempest arrived, an hour after Breakfast. But he looked like he had needed it last night, and he said that he was all charged up again psionically. So, after I scrounged up something for him to eat, we got back to the psionic search.

The only two left to look for were Stephan & Gem, (Teleskon, Rolane and Harrison were checked the previous night, and Balth, Tempest and I were obviously here), whom he checked in that order.

It took him quite a while to pronounce Stephan not here. (He mumbled something about getting some false leads.) But, as luck would have it, he found Gem pretty quickly! The strange thing was, he said that she was right on the edge of his range, which is quite a distance! (Thousands of miles, if I've heard right.)

Well, he put on a Mindlink with her, and talked with her for a bit. At my urging, he asked her if she had acquired any means of getting herself here (i.e. Teleport spell, magic item that does such, etc.). He said that she said that she hadn't, but she did have a Psionicist friend who might be able to help, and that she would talk to him, and have him contact Balthezar when they were done. Balth had already dropped the contact by the time he told me this, so I decided not to have any objections.

After an hour of vainly trying to teach these two to play Sabacc, Balth finally received the call. This Psionicist-dude told him that, yes, he has a Teleport power; that, yes, he could bring Gem along; and, yes, he would be willing to do so. However, he also said that he was going to have to go into some kind of trance to gather enough energy, and it would take two days to do so. And lastly, he used a power to see through Balth's eyes in order to be able to visualize his destination. He said that he'd begin the trance tonight, and contact us when they were ready.

Well, now that we had checked on everyone, we discovered that we had yet to decide what we were going to do, now that we were all back together (or as good as together). Ever since Balth had shown up and told us about his transformation, I had naturally assumed that we were going to try to get him turned back to normal. The others, however, hadn't. But when I mentioned it, they thought it was a good idea. Especially Balth; he said that he was starting to miss his half-elvenness, and would like it returned, not to mention that he'd like to be an active Ranger again.

We brainstormed for a while, and, to make a long discussion short, we ended up deciding to have Tempest use a Commune spell to ask Mystra, Goddess of Magic, what we should do. We then came up with a bunch of questions for Tempest to possibly use, such as "Can it be done simply with a spell, like Polymorph Other," (or something like that), to several more general ones with multiple paths to accommodate several possibilities. And there was one last thing that I asked her to check on, that I've been promising more about for several pages now.

Early on in my adventures with Aglanar and them, we found a most curious . . . um, vehicle. It looked vaguely like a cross between a sailing ship and a giant, wooden fish. This "ship" had been in a chamber which was open to the air, and it seemed to have flown in and landed.

When I looked into this at the Mages' Guild, what I was told amazed me: It was a SPACE SHIP. Of sorts.

The space ships I'm familiar with could be described as "airtight metal buildings with fire coming out of their rears." More accurately (and technically), they are self-contained and maintained mobile environments made possible through the use of high-technology.

Needless to say, space travel in a low-tech, high-magic world is very different. (Different planes, different laws of physics.) For one thing, there's no "high-technology"; ships are run by magic. And second, you don't have to force atmosphere (air) to come with you by trapping it in an airtight can. It clings to your ship and comes along of its own accord. That's why my "ship" looked kinda like a sailing ship.

The thing is called a "Spelljamming Ship". As I said before, it's run by magic, and therefore can only be operated by spellcasters. It absorbs the energies of memorized spells to propel itself, but a 'mundane' crew is still necessary (for maneuvering, etc.). Finding this thing was really a thrill for me, because I had never expected to run into space travel in this incarnation. Planar travel, sure, but not space travel.

I explained all of this to Tempest and Balthezar, and eventually they understood. What it was I wanted Tempest to ask about was whether the ship would be useful for the project. (I'm going to go claim it one way or the other, but I want a good justification to hand to people.) I figured, if this quest was like most, it would probably entail a lot of traveling, and the ship would make that a lot quicker.

Well, all that took up the rest of the day, so Tempest headed back to her temple to rest and memorize the spell. I nagged her into letting us come over for the casting, but she insisted that we wait in a waiting room.

We arrived at the Temple to Mystra shortly after breakfast, and met Tempest. She showed us where to sit, and then disappeared into the meditation chapel.

Ten minutes later, she emerged with an astonished look on her face (which was also faintly glowing, but that faded so quickly that she never noticed it). We inquired as to what freaked her out so much, and she explained as follows:

Apparently, when she cast the Commune spell, Mystra decided that she wanted to have a more personal chat with Tempest, so she brought Miss Gigantism to her home in the Outer Planes! There, they chatted; Tempest got some answers, and Mystra had some things she wanted to say as well. Apparently, some major things have gone down since we left our 'home plane' ... [Editor's note: See the Avatar Trilogy for details.] ... and she apparently wanted us to know.

Anyway, Tempest found out what we needed to do for our quest; or, at least, how to get started . She said that Mystra told her that we were supposed to travel to the city of Estuary (wherever that is; I guess someone in 'Town' can tell us), where we're supposed to find a man named Sergi. Apparently, he's going to be expecting us, because all we have to do is identify ourselves, and he'll tell us how to proceed.

She did say to take the Spellship (Yes!!), and told Tempest about the others. Rolane and Harrison, she said that Mystra said, were not on this plane, and not likely to show up either. They are "busy elsewhere," she said. Teleskon, according to Mystra, is not currently here, but may show up eventually. And Stephan ... well, there's a story.

Remember that last 'falling star' hit, that I went chasing after? That was STEPHAN!!! And I was right: he arrived and disappeared very quickly. It turns out that, he met up with a friend of Tempest's, who had just taken off that day (she was in some kind of trouble). They met up, and Stephan went with her to help. Where they went, I know not, but they were now on their way back. ETA: about three days.

So we decided that, since we were already waiting for Gem and that Psionicist-guy, we may as well just add a couple more days, and wait for Stephan to arrive. Actually, having him on board (literally and figuratively) would be nice. As it is, we have no currently-operating Warriors, and only five people lined up.

Tempest then told us that she had to rest, and we decided to reconvene after lunch. Balth and I then returned to my house. Over the midday meal, I convinced him that we should go see the Spelljamming ship, and when Tempest arrived, she agreed pretty quickly.

We packed up some dinner, rented Balth a horse (I was a bit surprised that he didn't have one already, but he said that he hadn't really had need for one so far.), and I led them to the dungeon that I, Aglanar, Quicksilver, and others had been exploring. Luckily, nothing new had moved in, and I guided them to the landing chamber.

I could have sworn that it was in better condition when we originally found it.

I mentioned earlier that it seemed to have flown in and landed. Correction: it flew in and crashed. Luckily, the damage was (relatively) minor. That is, it could have been MUCH worse. One of the ventral fins had snapped off, the others were somewhat damaged, and there were some holes and gouges in the hull. Otherwise, it seemed to be fine.

(Note: it doesn't seem like this ship was intended to land at all, seeing as it has nothing along the lines of landing gear. This may make things difficult.)

We examined the ship (mostly myself, climbing about) and eventually decided that we could fix it. Not that afternoon, but it could be done. What we did spend the rest of the day on was drawing up plans on how to go about fixing it.

When I was climbing around inside, I found some floor plans for the ship, and some other drawings of it. These helped us to figure out what the ship was supposed to look like. I also found some charts and maps. One, on top, we later identified as a chart of this planet's system. There were several other charts of several different systems. I found one that I think is where Camlach came from (or, at least, like his homeworld), one for a place called Krynn, and one of the Realms, which or some reason looked - or more rather, felt - very familiar.

Anyway, we drew up our plans and figured out what materials we'd need, then headed for home.

The next morning, we met Tempest and went shopping. My Portable Hole really came in handy for this. I then went out to see what I could do about hiring a crew. I got some recommendations from the Mages' Guild, then went from tavern to tavern (many seedy, some cheesy) seeing what I could find. I found lots of good prospects, but didn't make any firm arrangements because eventually Balthezar contacted me to remind me that Gem and the Psionic-Guy were due to arrive soon.

Unfortunately, I was on the other side of 'Town' at that point. ("Why couldn't you have called me earlier!?!") Luckily, I had a Haste spell memorized, so I cast it on my horse and myself, and we raced home.

Just as I was coming into the stable, I felt a touch on my mind. The Psycher-Guy was contacting me! He opened his Mindlink, and explained that he wanted to get familiar with me as well (I certainly can't blame him for that! :) and therefore decided to contact me when they were ready to come. So I thought at him for a while as I saw to the horse, and ran into the house to inform the others.

Tempest was already there (she kept Balth company through the afternoon), so I told the Psi-Guy to come as soon as he was ready. He said it would just be a couple of moments.

Tempest, Balth, and I clustered in the study, as that was the place we chose to have them teleport to. After a few seconds, a shimmering began to appear in the middle of the room, but then faded out again. About thirty seconds later, the shimmering reappeared, grew into a field of energy, then coalesced into two figures: a male human in brown robes, medium height, not particularly muscled, but rather scholarly-looking - obviously the Psi-Guy; the other, a beautiful female Elf clad in orange robes.

"Gem!" I cried, and ran over to hug her. The others greeted her similarly (she was just a tad surprised to see Balthezar, as he was not with us when we got sent here), then she formally introduced Psi-Guy to us, and vice-versa.

We then fell into the usual rap session: We explained to Gem and Psi-Guy what we'd been up to; alone, meetings, the Commune spell, the quest, and the Spelljamming Ship. Then it was their turn. Gem explained that when the Realms spat us out, she went through the same falling sensation and 'falling star' business as the rest of us, to find herself standing in a forest. As she wandered about, she stumbled across an adventuring party on their way to a dungeon. They had need of a Mage, so she joined them. They had some fun in there for a while, and then one day, when they had gone back to civilization for training, Balth called, and the rest is history.

Psi-Guy then told us about himself. It turns out that he's from another plane as well, but has been here for a few years already. His home plane is, in his own words, "apparently fairly unusual and seemingly unique." That is, there doesn't seem to be very many duplicate planes, like there is for the Realms (i.e. our version, Aglanar's, and Solitaire's to name a few . . .). Anyway, he's been on this planet/plane for a few years now, and has done a good but of traveling. Though, he says, the planet is HUGE, so that doesn't say much. (As luck would have it though, he does know where this "Estuary" is, that we have to go to.)

Well, we talked on for a while, and got to know him fairly well. He left early to go to bed, saying that he was really drained by that teleport. So the rest of us chit-chatted until Tempest and Balth decided to turn in as well (Tempest returned to her temple, of course). Then Gem and I stayed up until who-knows-when, catching up on each other a little more personally, going over the spellship repair plans, and trading spells (we had each acquired some interesting spells that the other hadn't, and decided to update our collections). We finally fell asleep at about 2 a.m. (or whatever the local equivalent is), slumped across each other on the floor of my bedroom.

The next day, Psi-Guy slept until noon, and then after lunch we went out to the ship to commence repairs. Pouring over the charts we found the other day, I discovered last night that this ship does have a "class" name. It is a "Tradesman", and it seems to be one of the most common ships in arcane space.

The first thing we had to do in order to fix the thing was to get it out of the way, so that we could construct supports. That was the easy part: we just stuck Balth in the Helm (which is the magical seat which draws the energy from the spellcaster to power the ship), and had him fly it up off the ground. Then we threw together the supports, and had Balth ease the ship down into them. Luckily, it held. Balth climbed out, and we got to it.

About three hours, four Fabricate spells, an Enlarge, and a Cure Light Wounds later (I took a minor spill), we finished. And after we splattered some paint on it, it even looked decent! Admittedly, it is just a patch job, so we will definitely need to take it somewhere for some real repairs some day. That is, if I don't just get another, better ship.

The repairs took up pretty much all of the afternoon, and we had eveningfeast right before painting it. Then we went back home (for Tempest, as usual, her temple), but not before we had Gem render the ship invisible (To protect it now that it's all fixed up. She did it so that she could cancel it later. See below . . .).

The next morning, Tempest showed up just as I was on the way out with Gem to actually recruit our crew. She had packed up and moved out of her temple. Today was the day that Stephan and her friend were supposed to return, and I guess she figured that as soon as we found him, we'd take off on our quest (which is what I'd been planning on, at least). She took up a position near one of the second floor windows, apparently watching for them. I guess she knew what she was doing.

Well, Gem and I took off (figuratively, this time), to meet with the people I had talked to before. Half of them turned out to be nowhere to be found. Out of those that were left, a handful were no longer interested (either they got better offers, or had short attention spans), and we picked the ten best out of the rest. Those we hired were: Duncan, a trying Dwarf Fighter/Thief; Geordi, a human Mage turned Ranger; Darius, a young Elven Fighter/Mage/Thief; Lynn, a Human girl, right out of the dishroom, but with lots of potential; Joachim, a novice Human Fighter; Andrew, Joachim's younger brother, and a decent cook; Caitlan, a Human Paladin turned Priestess; Wolf, a somewhat wild Half-Elven Fighter/Mage/Cleric; Thoric, a young Human Bard; and Bob, a veteran Halfling sailor. (Is that self-contradictory??)

Gem then led these people to the ship, and supervised as they got familiar with it. In the meantime, I headed home. On the way, I caught a glimpse of Quicksilver on her way somewhere, but before I could catch her attention and bug her, she disappeared into the shadows of the alley.

When I arrived, I joined Tempest on lookout duty. I'm not entirely sure what it was we were looking for, but we didn't see it.

Gem and the crew spent the night at the ship, and the rest of us stayed at the house. I spent most of the evening packing up my library and laboratory into my Portable Hole (I don't want to just leave it behind, after all!!).

The next day, shortly after Morningfeast, we checked on Gem, via Balthezar's Mindlink. She was doing fine with the crew. They were learning to work the ship properly, and she was introducing them to the rest of us (description, etc.) and how we do things. She said that they'd be ready to fly anytime, which is good, because we may have to fly at any time. I then took up watch at the window, with Balth and Psi-Guy as company and backup. Tempest, surprisingly, had gone downstairs to the stable and was hanging around with her horse. I guess the waiting had been driving her nuts.

About mid-morning, things began happening. I was standing at the window, when I saw an explosion in the distance. Since buildings don't get their roofs blown off very often around here, I figured we ought to check it out. Psi-Guy volunteered, lay down on the floor, and began Astral Projecting. When he arrived, he set up a Mindlink with me and began a play-by-play description of what was going on.

It was some tavern. Stephan was there (according to the description that Psi-Guy gave of him), along with a VERY pretty, young Human girl (apparently Tempest's friend), a bunch of Zombie-ish creatures, and some sort of demon. There had been a combat taking place, and Quicksilver had just arrived to help end it. (She was the one who blew the roof off.) The Zombie-things had been hacked to pieces, and the demon beaten back. Then, just as it looked like it was over, some dude appeared, grabbed the girl, and they vanished. Stephan then seemed to hear something, and Quicksilver picked him up and flew off. Psi-Guy's astral form followed. Stephan seemed to be guiding Quicksilver, as if following a homing beacon or something.

At about that time, I heard Tempest yell "NITA!!" from the stable. A second later, her horse, with her on it, bolted out of the stable, ran for a while, then lifted off and flew! (That is definitely NOT a normal horse!)

Psi-Guy followed Quicksilver and Stephan to some old, deserted building, where they found the dude, the demon, and the girl - chained to a wall, with a glowing sword floating at her neck.

By ones and twos, more people started showing up, including Tempest, Aglanar, Solitaire & wife & henchman, and others that I don't know. Combat ensued; all of them trying to get at the girl through a force-field that enclosed her and the dude.

At some point, Tempest cast a Holy Word, which didn't do much besides irritate the evil dude. He responded with an Unholy Word, which also didn't do much, except that it forced Psi-Guy abruptly back into his body.

Luckily, he had familiarized himself enough with the location, so he could Teleport there. Psi-Guy explained to Balth where the place was, then Balth contacted Gem and told her to fire up the ship, pick him and bring it and themselves to the battle as soon as possible. Then I grabbed hold of Psi-Guy, and we Teleported there.

By the time we had arrived, someone had set up a psionic Dimensional Door, and they were getting into the forcefield. Since it seemed they were doing fine, I decided to hang back and not get in the way.

At some point, a figure appeared next to the girl, and started removing the sword. I strained to get a better look, and it looked familiar. Faceplate, wings, tailfins, nose gun, red armor skin; all that was missing was a big, red Autobot symbol, and it would have looked exactly like an Autobot Mini-Vehicle I used to know: Powerglide! As it was, the resemblance was far too great to be coincidence, though I doubt that it is the exact one that I used to know. I figured it was probably either an alternate from another plane, or a duplicate. Unfortunately, he disappeared shortly thereafter, so I wasn't able to get any more information at that time.

Eventually, the dude and demon were defeated, and the girl rescued. I was finally introduced to her. Her name was Tanita, she's a VERY powerful psionic, and she was one of Tempest's adventuring companions before I found her! (So that's why Tempest was so agitated!) She also seemed to be the godchild of Aglanar, and a relative of somebody that Balth had been adventuring with!!

I also managed to talk to Stephan for a while, to find out what had happened to him, and to tell him what we were planning. He confirmed that it WAS him who appeared in the "star-strike" that day, and he met Tanita shortly thereafter. She was on the run from some powerful evil dudes who wanted to use her power. They then met up with a guy named Eric and a bunch of weird friends of his. They then took off in that Imperial Shuttle that I'd seen, and went to consult a good power. They got back yesterday, and the fun started this morning when the demon came to visit their inn.

When I told him about the quest, he seemed to have mixed feelings. He said that he'd like to join us, but he had taken up a duty to Tanita, and being a follower of Torm, God of Duty, that's a big deal to him. He said that he'd discuss it with 'Nita at some point and get back to me.

After a while, there was talk regarding beating a hasty retreat, and I mentioned that we had the Spelljamming ship on its way, and everybody agreed that it would be the best way to go. So we waited until it arrived, and piled on via Dimensional Doors. We then flew right back to the room that we found had it in, and landed it right back in the supports we had constructed for the repair work.

We hung around there for the next few days. At one point, I asked people what they knew about Powerglide being here, and boy, did the answers surprise me!

It turns out that Powerglide (or, as everybody else knows him as, The Red Knight) was the other person who Tempest and Tanita had been adventuring with! He's been here at least as long as Tempest, and is even higher level, they believe, as a Fighter/Mage. What really surprised me though, was that they made him out to be a really nasty, evil bad dude! They also said that they think he's one of the ones who are after Tanita!

I really couldn't swallow this at first. The Powerglide that I know is a show-off, yes; a bit arrogant, true. But mean, callous, violent, scheming, and power-hungry?? Of course, it probably isn't the exact Powerglide that I know - probably a duplicate of some kind, as I was - and therefore would not have to be identical, or even similar, in disposition. I eventually told the others that I recognized him from my "original" incarnation, and decided to get in touch with him.

I found out from Tanita and Tempest where he was living, here in 'Town', and composed a message introducing myself, giving a (very) brief synopsis of my condition, and suggesting that we get together. I sent it off and waited for a reply at a specified location.

A reply did come after a while, and he agreed to a meeting. I told the others, and they demanded to know where and when, so that they could set up observers "to make sure he doesn't try anything." However, since: one, I can take pretty good care of myself; two, a condition of the agreement was "no company;" three, I was pretty sure nothing would happen anyway; and four, I didn't want any of them around either, I told them to set up around a clearing about fifteen minutes ride south of 'Town'. They did so, and when the time came, I Dimension Doored to the real meeting spot: one of the other rooms in the dungeon!

He was already there, and we got down to business. The first topic of discussion was confirming each other's identities and seeing if we were from the same plane (originally). It seems that we are. Then we discussed other things, such as: his designs on Tanita, the others' apparent bias against him, whether he knew of any convenient gate back to the plane of origin, and whether he's made any interesting innovations regarding the interface between magic and technology. He didn't really say anything of interest about any of these points, but I'm not sure to take him at face value. At any rate, nothing important came out of the meeting, and I Dim Doored back.

For some reason, the others were not pleased with me when I returned.  Luckily, I explained things to them, with Gem's help, and they saw the light.

Eventually, we decided that if we were ever going to leave to get on with our quest, we ought to do so soon, for two main reasons: first, there was talk of a major conflict to take place soon; and second, the city seemed to be under attack, and air traffic was getting thick.

So we made our preparations, bid people farewell, and lifted off. Stephan had decided to come with us; he said that Tanita let him out of his duty to her. Something seemed to happen as we left, so Psi-Guy Mindlinked and Sight Linked with Tanita to see what it was. It turned out that Powerglide had sent an image, and wanted to talk with her!

After going around 'Town' to avoid most of the air traffic, we set a westerly course, because that's the way that Psi-Guy said that Estuary was.

About ten minutes later, something really weird happened.

We each felt a mystical touch to our minds, and then Aglanar spoke! "My friends and I are under attack by an evil force. Will you come?" And we each got the feeling that if we consented, we would be transported to the scene.

Since they must have really been in trouble to need OUR help, we decided for most of us to go. Gem, however, stayed, but only because she was at the Helm at the time, powering the ship.

BOINK!

We appeared back in the Spellship landing chamber, along with a LOT of other people, whom Aglanar had apparently also summoned. Then the fun really started.

Two sections of the wall blew out, stunning a number of people. Lots of people and creatures then began pouring out of these new openings, and attacked. We began to retaliate, but then time appeared to stop . . . for our opponents.

It was later explained to me that it was due to a powerful spell Quicksilver had acquired that time was altered. We got to go through two days worth of time in the span of a minute for the baddies!

We used the days well. I learned more about the situation: It turns out that the girl Tanita wasn't just a powerful psionic, but was in the process of metamorphosizing into a deity! That's why the forces of evil were after her - to sway her to their side! Apparently there were massive baddies attacking, and the good guys needed lots of help! That's where Aglanar's sending came in.

They had summoned lots of people from all over: There were a few people from Quicksilver's homeworld; more of Aggie's old companions, as well as a whole other adventuring company from his world; a few assorted other people who I still really don't know who they are; and even a few familiar faces! Apparently Aglanar had heard about Rolane and Harrison, 'cause they were there, and Teleskon was also present, having materialized on this plane on his own only moments ago.

We talked with them for a while, then got down to preparing for the fight. A couple of people made spellbooks open for copying, which I eagerly took advantage of! People were healed (and Solitaire actually had to be resurrected!) and near the end, preparatory spells were cast. During this time (just a minute for them) the enemies, seemingly under the command of Powerglide, retreated back into their passages. 'Nita put up telekinetic force-fields over the openings to keep them out, then time caught up with us.

Then the battle really began, as dozens of new, demonic creatures materialized, and we beat on them for a while. At a few points during the conflict, some of our number fell. Solitaire bit it before the "Day of Grace" (as Quicksilver called the spell); Axe, Solitaire's henchman and Lenar, Tanita's brother, also fell later on. Each time, there was a surge of power that emanated from the girl. When Lenar fell, she completed her metamorphosis into deityhood, and declared the battle over . . . and therefore it was.

The evil bad dudes left. Tanita, along with her mother Sabrillin, Tempest, and a dude named Eric went off elsewhere, apparently to get her brother Resurrected. The rest of us decided to throw a victory party, so this guy named Jonathan flew us all back into Town.

We passed Gem, flying the Tradesman, on the way, and she eventually joined us. The party wasn't exactly the wildest that I've ever been to, but it was quite nice for two primary reasons:

One, we were able to fully catch up with Rolane, Harry, and Teleskon. When reality opened itself up and spat us out, most of us ended up here. Teleskon appeared moments before the conflict started, in another 'falling star' manifestation. (I guess the time coefficient was larger in his case than in ours - or something like that.) He has also begun manifesting a minor psionic ability - some sort of shapeshifting power! Rolane and Harry, on the other hand, ended up somewhere completely different. Than here, that is. According to them, where they appeared was almost identical to our 'home world', except slightly back in time! They ended up going through all that crap with the bonds all over again, with four other people!

Two: A stipulation of the spell that Aglanar used to summon all these people with was that he had to perform one Quest, as the spell, for each of them, and he started "taking orders" at the party. Tempest and Stephan, not surprisingly, passed, the reason being that they would have wanted to help anyway, as 'Nita is a good friend. Psi-Guy also passed. He simply said he couldn't think of anything he particularly needed done. (Gem and Teleskon didn't get anything, obviously, 'cause they didn't come via the spell.) Rolane and Harrison simply asked to be returned to where they were before being summoned (they have apparently become somewhat fond of that plane and the people they've been hanging around with), and so Aggie Plane Shifted them back. Balthezar asked if Aggie knew of an easier means of getting him turned back to normal. Aglanar asked Mielikki, and the answer came back "no".

Then came me. It took me a little while to choose exactly what it was I wanted him to do for me, but I came up with something I thought was good. I told him to get me what I thought I had been getting a while ago. That is, when I got a copy of that Book of Infinite Spells, I thought that it was a book that would hold an infinite number of spells, not a book that already had a lot of spells in it. I asked him for a book with infinite capacity for spells (or, at least, as near to infinite as he could get). The specifics I left up to him, like exactly what it was, where he got it, etc. He seemed to understand, and said he'd have to work on it for a while.

Later on, as we were slowly trying to extricate ourselves, Stephan announced that he wasn't going to come with us after all. He said that he had things to think about and wanted some time to sort his life out. So he told us to go on without him, and perhaps he'd find a way to join us later on. (I suppose it's kinda just as well. We did have Teleskon, and we have generally preferred to keep our numbers to six.) So, after saying our farewells to various people, we marched off back to the Spellship.

We arrived to find that the crew had fought off a kobold hunting party. It was only a small one, luckily, so they only suffered minor injuries, which Tempest took care of quickly. We then prepared for takeoff, and did so. Since 'Town' was no longer being assaulted, we flew right over the city, setting a course almost due west.

This time, we weren't interrupted ten minutes later, and sailed off on the way for our quest.

We left the continent in the afternoon of the second day, and have been flying for five days straight over open ocean. It's been pretty quiet for this past week of traveling, which is nice because I've been able to (finally!) bring this journal up to date!!

I shall now take up a day-by-day entry system, using a time reference in the general format used by many of the civilizations I've had incarnations in; most notably all of the alternate Earths. It will be in the format month/day/year, with the /year being the tens and ones digits of my (and Gem's, of course) "true" age (for this incarnation, at any rate). Since we are currently one-hundred and eighteen years old, the /year section will be /18. For the month and date sections, I will use standard twelve month years, and thirty day months. I will arbitrarily designate as 1/1 the day on which I began the process of bringing the group back together. That would make today: 1/20/18.

1/21/18

This morning there was a bit of an ocean storm, but Psi-Guy managed to navigate us through psionically. Strangely enough, somewhere in the middle of the storm, we seemed to hit some kind of . . . 'discontinuity' is the only word that can really describe it. It was mostly me and Gem who sensed it, and that is probably only because we are more sensitive to the fabric of reality than the others. We can only hope that it doesn't mean something bad.

In the afternoon, we finally spotted land! Psi-Guy made a quick check, and told us to turn north. We did, and continued on, following the coastline.

1/22/18

Shortly after noontime, we spotted the city of Estuary! Earlier that morning, we had cut across a bit of a peninsula sticking out, and turned west, as we seem to have reached the northern edge of the continent. We decided that just flying right into town wouldn't be the best idea in the world, so we found a suitably hidden and defensible clearing, took the ship down, and left it there with one of the minor spellcasters in the crew in the hot-seat. We then walked toward the city gates.

As we approached the gatehouse, we saw a figure leaning against the wall. When we approached, Aglanar greeted us, fended off our inquiries of how he got here (not to mention how he knew we would be here!), and said that he had something for me. Apparently he had completed my quest, and appeared here to deliver it.

He drew out a book, the size of a traveling spellbook, and handed it to me. "Sorry," he said, "but I couldn't find one that was empty."

I stared at him for a minute. "Not empty? NOT EMPTY!?!" I exclaimed, and hugged the book to my chest, then shook Aggie's hand. "Thank you very much!" I added, and pumped his hand vigorously.

For some reason, he reacted with a pained facial expression. Then he looked to the ground and muttered "I'm going to regret this . . ."

He then took his leave, vanishing into the wilderness. I stowed the book for later examination, and we turned our attention to the gate guards.

To get through, we had to pay a small tax, our weapons had to be "peace bound," and we got the usual speech about magic use (that is, no Fireballs inside the city). The guards watched us as we went in, up until I turned around and waved to them.

The city was about average. Wood and stone alternated as building materials, and the roads were packed dirt. There were plenty of people going about their daily business, and we attracted just enough attention to tell me that adventurers were not too rare in these parts. After getting a bit of a feel for the place, we began our search for this dude named Sergi, that Mystra told us to find. We decided to split up. Tempest and Balthezar went to look for a temple to Mystra, Gem and Psi-Guy went to talk to innkeepers and bartenders, and Teleskon and I went to investigate the "shadier" parts of the community.

Having a tough-looking dwarf along was handy, as it dissuaded people from giving us problems, even with our weapons bound.

We met back with the others three hours later - near the gate, as we had arranged - and traded info. Tempest and Balthezar had found a shrine to Mystra, but no full-fledged temple. They also checked the rest of the religious community, but didn't get any leads there either. Gem & Psi-Guy and Teleskon & I, however, did get some information, which was useful, if a bit disappointing.

The only person named Sergi in the city was the 'town fool'. He was a homeless beggar whom everyone liked, but no one took seriously. He 'lived' in the north-east section of town, and survived on other people's generosity. It didn't sound very reassuring, but we decided to check him out anyway. (Much of it was at Tempest's insistence that Mystra wouldn't have led us wrong.) So we set out to the north-east, and tracked him down.

When we found him, he was playing a fiddle for the local children, and when the show was over, we approached him. He was a small, brown-haired man, dressed in a combination of fairly new and worn-out clothing. He was picking up a hat containing a mixture of copper and silver coins when Tempest (since it was her goddess who sent us to him) introduced us to him. She told him we were adventurers on a quest and that we were led to him by the goddess. As she spoke, we could all see his face grow more serious, and when she finished, he invited us to follow him "home". We accepted, and he led the way.

He led us down a few streets, his walk taking on a grace that was surprising to find in a person such as himself. He turned into an alley, and moved aside a pile of rubbish concealing a door, which he then opened (without so much as a lock to unlock) and waved us in. The room beyond was comfortably, if not elegantly, furnished.

He invited us to make ourselves comfortable, on the limited seating room there was, and sat down on the floor before us.

"I've been expecting you," he told us, and his voice took on an inflection which I can only describe as 'noble'. That is when I seriously began to believe that there was more to this person than meets the eye.

"There is a prophesy in these parts," he continued, "that a group such as yourselves would come and restore the Temple of Light."

We gave him questioning looks, and he launched into a story about this "Temple of Light".

To summarize: The early settlers of this region were a headstrong lot, didn't like having people tell them what to do, so they developed religions based not on Gods, but on natural forces or philosophies. Seeing as most of these people were upright, moral folk, the religion which gained the most support in the area was based on a philosophy of goodness. A temple was built, in the manner of the deity-based religions. It was not so much a holy place dedicated to a power, but was more like a focus for the magical power that the philosophy attracted. The most important artifact of this temple was a three-part obelisk, which stood in the center and was the primary focal element of the temple.

Eventually, according to local history, other cultures - especially those with "normal" god-based religions - became jealous of the enlightenment that they had achieved, and banded together with the forces of evil and darkness. They assaulted the temple en masse. The priests of the temple fought valiantly, but the enemies were too strong, and the temple was razed.

"All was not lost, however," as Sergi continued. "Because before the defenders were overwhelmed, the heads of the clergy dismantled the obelisk into its component pieces and took them away to be hidden safely."

He paused, so I took the opportunity to ask, "So how does all of this relate to us?" In an attempt to bring the conversation back on track, I added, "I mean, we're supposed to be finding a way to transform our friend here," gesturing at Balthezar, "back to his original state, as a half-elf."

Sergi grimaced, and continued in a placating manner. "Yes, this does relate to your plight. Allow me to continue, and all should become clear."

He stood up, and walked to the other side of the room. After a moment of contemplation, he continued. "All religions, as you will no doubt agree, have their own trademark miracles. They cure the sick, or restore the blind, or heal the lame. It is said that transformations - such as you are searching for - are well within the ability of the Temple of Light."

Before any of us could get a word in edgewise, he continued. "The Temple epitomizes Good, and one of the components of Goodness is Truth. Now, you say that your friend has been changed from what he is supposed to be. Well, then in this change, Truth has been robbed from him. The Temple should be able to restore him to normal by reasserting this Truth."

"But you said that the temple was destroyed." Tempest commented softly.

"Yes," Sergi replied, "the building was destroyed. But the important part, the Obelisk, was saved and hidden. This is what you must seek. The forces of evil have decreased in strength, in this region, since the fall of the temple. If the Obelisk were to be found and reassembled, the Temple may be restored and its power can be used to restore your friend."

From his tone of voice, it seemed to me that this man had more interest in seeing the Temple restored than a historian could possibly have. It almost seemed as if he had a personal stake in this whole story. I was about to comment on this, when Gem turned the conversation to more practical matters by posing the question: "Then how can we find the pieces of this Obelisk?"

This seemed to be exactly what Sergi was waiting for, because he responded with a sudden excitement in his voice, which strengthened my suspicions.

"The only piece of the Obelisk that's location can even be guessed at," Sergi continued, "is the basestone. The crown was taken away by the high priest, who disappeared with it and was never seen nor heard from again. The body was taken by an archmage who was affiliated with the clergy. Rumors say that he took it 'beyond Ardana'."

"What is 'Ardana'?", Psi-Guy asked, speaking for all of us.

Sergi looked taken aback for a moment, as if someone had just asked what a tree was, but then regained his composure and replied, "Ardana is our world."

"As in, the name of this planet?" I interjected, having the most experience with locating myself in unknown locales.

"Yes," Sergi replied patiently. "Ardana is the name of our world, upon which Christa and Solanis keep their constant watch."

We determined that Christa and Solanis were the names of the moon and the sun of this world, respectively, and also the names of the gods commonly associated with them. With all of this cleared up, he sat down on a box, and continued in his explanation.

"The basestone, however, was carried off by a great and noble Brass Dragon," he said with a raise in his voice which almost sounded like admiration and awe, "named Cupruzin, who was another of the Clergy Elders. He is said to have flown night and day, holding the basestone of the Obelisk, down to his lair in the Sea of Rock, and has been safeguarding it there for the centuries since." We determined that the 'Sea of Rock' is a desert at the south end of the continent, which we narrowly missed bumping into when we hit the eastern coast.

"It is he that you must seek," Sergi went on, "for he holds the key to locating the other two pieces."

"What exactly is this 'key'," I asked, and added, "And I thought you said he was in possession of the basestone itself?"

"Yes," Sergi responded, nodding his head, "the basestone and the key are one in the same. All of the pieces of the Obelisk are bonded to each other by the powerful magics which were channeled through it. Once you posses one, you can - with the proper incantation, which Cupruzin can provide you - locate the other two pieces."

Sergi then sat up straight, and looked us each in the eyes. "I have told you all that I can," he said. "It is now time for you to fulfill your destinies."

With that, he stood, and indicated for us to follow him out. As we left, Psi-Guy asked him if he could give us more explicit directions of where to find this Brass Dragon he was talking about. All Sergi would tell us was, "Travel to the Sea of Rock. Cupruzin is said to live in Skull Mountain." He then ducked around a corner, and when we tried to follow him, he had disappeared.

"Well, that was unusual," Gem commented as we headed back to the main road, and most of the others nodded as if that was all there was to it.

Psi-Guy, however, looked a bit preoccupied, and Gem asked him what he was thinking about.

"I am slightly puzzled," he replied. "I am not sure it is anything to be very worried about, but I do not remember people referring to his world as 'Ardana' the last time I was in this area."

"As far as I know," I added, "this composite planet has no name for itself per se."

"Exactly!" Psi-Guy said. "That is what puzzles me."

Now it was Tempest's turn to look puzzled. "But wouldn't the world that this area parallels have a name for itself? Like 'Toril' back home?"

"Oh, naturally," I replied, proud of her for remembering so much from my cosmology lessons. "Assuming that this part is a place that parallels some other plane . . . " My voice dropped off as I looked at Gem.

"You don't suppose . . . " I began, but saw that she had already caught what I'd come up with.

"That 'discontinuity'?" she offered, and then everything clicked.

Tempest looked at us both as if we were going absolutely crazy, which she has had the opportunity to do frequently in the past.

"What?!" she demanded. "What are you two talking about?!?"

"We have to be on a different plane!" I cried. "That would explain everything."

Tempest narrowed her eyes at me. "How can you tell? And how in the Realms did we get here?"

I sighed, and then began to explain. "When we went through that little ocean storm yesterday, Gem and I felt some sort of 'discontinuity'. Like when you're riding in a wagon along a cobblestone road and then suddenly you bump up onto the wooden drawbridge of the castle. You're still on some kind of surface, but the transition is definitely noticeable."

Tempest was still looking at me as if I had just proclaimed a nearby tomcat to be King Azoun, so I continued. "You know how Gem and I have a sense for the fabric of reality? And how it was getting weird right before we got spit out of the Realms? Well, when we went through that storm, suddenly the 'feel' of reality shifted slightly. We had no idea what it meant at the time, but since we now have more evidence, this makes much more sense." She still didn't seem to believe a word I was saying, when Psi-Guy, of all people, came to my defense.

"I too felt a momentary disorientation while I was psionically navigating up through," he said. "At the time I thought nothing of it, so did not mention it."

That seemed to convince Tempest, since Psi-Guy is about the most level-headed of us all, and if he agrees with my theory, it can not be that far-fetched. So we started walking again, having cleared up that minor mystery.

But then Balthezar asked: "Then how do we get back?"

That stopped us in our tracks again.

"Back?" Tempest asked, seeming to have finally accepted what I was saying. "Why would we want to go back?"

"You know, our quest?" Balthezar replied. "To turn me back to normal?"

Tempest thought for a moment, then put a hand on Balthezar's shoulder.

"But this must me where Mystra intended us to go to in the first place," she said, putting her own spin on the idea. "Sergi was expecting us. He knew we'd be sent by Mystra. So she must have known that this is where we'd have to be, and sent us here herself."

"Now wait just a . . . " I started to say, but Tempest cut me off and continued.

"So there's no reason for us to go back to that weird 'composite' world," she said. "We can do what we need to, and are destined to do, here . . ."

Gem finished her thought: "And when we're done, then we can worry about going elsewhere."

"Okay," Balth said, nodding. "I get it now."

So we stared walking again, but got stopped one more time when Teleskon came up with yet another minor mystery.

"But if this is a different plane," he commented, "then what is a shrine to Mystra doing here? She's a God from the Realms!"

"Just because a deity is known on one world," I explained, "doesn't mean that she can't be known on another. In fact, many of the gods of the Realms show up in other pantheons. Tyr is a member of the Aesir, from the Norse pantheon, Loviatar is in the Finnish, Oghma and Silvanus," I glanced at Balth as I mentioned his god, "are from the Celtic, etc. And, actually, most non-human pantheons are common to all worlds, including the Dwarves!" This last comment seemed to strike Teleskon's pride first, but then worked its way in and started to convince him.

"So, it's not impossible; nor, for that matter, even unlikely," I continued, "for a god or two from the Realms to be worshipped here."

Balth and Tempest seemed about to say something about this, but then looked at each other, and apparently decided to save it. They were probably going to try to refute my argument, but were not so sure about their own position, so decided not to bother.

Teleskon looked quite satisfied by this time, and cheerfully suggested that, since this all was figured out now, we ought to find somewhere to have dinner. Since it was getting rather late, we all heartily agreed, and went to find a good tavern in the area, and we ate. It was rather nice to actually get some good food for a change (apologies to Gem; your cooking isn't that bad, but after being on shipboard for a week, a nice tavern-cooked meal is quite a change!).

While we ate, we decided to stay here in the city for the night, so we could make preparations for the next part of our trip tomorrow. Bath contacted one of the crew members, and informed them of our plans. We then went and rented rooms at a nearby inn. One for me and Gem, one for Balth and Teleskon, and singles for Psi-Guy and Tempest, 'cause they each said they wanted some privacy for meditation or whatever.

And I've been up almost all night writing this.

I just took a break to check out my new spellbook that Aglanar gave me this afternoon. When we started to look at it we discovered that the covers were covered with Explosive Runes! Luckily, Aggy-baby had included a command word to deactivate them just inside the cover.

1/23/18

After Morningfeast, we split up to run errands: I went off to get information on our destination, buy maps of the continent (and hopefully the world) and a chart of the system. This last one I couldn't get anywhere; I guess this city doesn't get much space traffic. Tempest and Balth went to find the ruins of the Temple of Light; to see if there was anything there that could be of use to us, and just because they wanted to see it. Teleskon, Gem, and Psi-Guy, meanwhile, went out to purchase provisions and supplies to refresh our stocks on the ship. Nothing turned up at the ruins, and the shopping went smoothly. By midday, we were ready to move out.

We left the city, and went back to the ship. Balth then took the Helm, and we proceeded south. By evening, we were approaching the mountain range that forms the northern border of the desert. We decided to stop for the night, since crossing a mountain range during the night could be dangerous. We wouldn't want to collide with a mountain, now would we?

We stuck some of the spellcasters in the crew in the Helm for the night (just to keep us aloft - we're not going anywhere!) to give Gem a rest, and turned in.

1/24/18

This morning, we crossed the mountains. It took about three hours to fly over them, and then we reached the desert itself. One of the maps that I'd bought yesterday indicated that this "Skull Mountain" was a lone peak in the middle of the desert, and that it was somewhat to the west and south of where we were. So we turned south-west, and started looking for it.

The mountain came into sight sometime right about noon, and we corrected our course slightly in order to go right toward it. A couple of hours later, Tempest and I were standing on the forecastle of the ship, when all of a sudden, a bolt of lightning struck the ship! Right on Geordi's head! Tempest and I managed to jump mostly out of the way, but were wondering where that could possibly have come from, as there was not a cloud in the sky!

We learned the answer as somebody behind us yelled "Dragon!"

I leapt to my feet, and looked up. There was a large, reptilian form closing in on us; almost the exact shade of blue as the sky. Darned Blue Dragon snuck right up on us by hiding against the sky!

The smart thing to do at that point would probably have been to turn tail and run, seeing as we really weren't prepared for a skirmish with a dragon at that point, and we actually could go much faster than it could.

However, I called out an order before thinking: "Battle stations!"

Crew members ran to man the ballista and the catapult, and Gem, Psi-Guy and Teleskon came running up from below decks. (Balthezar was busy on the Helm, at this point, and so couldn't come.)

The dragon strafed right by us, took a chunk out of our mainmast, and snatched up Duncan in its claw and ate him. I cast Magic Missiles at it after ducking, but they didn't seem to affect it. Tempest performed a Prayer to Mystra, Teleskon shot it with an arrow as it was moving away behind us, the ballista missed it as it was beginning to come around to face our rear, and then Gem fired a Cone of Cold from her Wand of Frost at it. That really made it mad (as Blues really like the heat of the desert), and it sent some Magic Missiles of its own at her, then veered off.

We started to come about to face it, and I sent some more Missiles at it. Teleskon got it with more arrows, and Tempest jumped onto her horse, Judas (who had been flying off on his own for a while, but came back at Tempest's call) and took off. Psi-Guy faded into Ectoplasmic Form, and Gem took cover. The catapult fired at it but missed.

The dragon veered back toward us, and opened its mouth. Almost with some kind of inspiration, Gem started casting a Feather Fall spell. The dragon's lightning bolt struck the ship right on the front and tore all the way through, causing the ship to start coming apart.

"Abandon ship!" I cried, and started throwing crew members overboard (after checking with Gem to make sure that her spell had affected everyone, of course). Tempest, who was still riding Judas nearby, brought a Flame Strike down on the lizard's head. It apparently decided that it'd had enough, and started flying unsteadily away. (I was surprised that it could still fly at all, with all the damage it had taken.) In the meantime, all of the crew were floating downwards, Psi-Guy had set up a Dimensional Door to the Helm room, and Gem went through to pull Balth out. The ship plummeted to the ground and crashed in the sand.

When the rest of us gently touched down, Tempest joined us. She reported that she had watched the Blue Dragon as it retreated, and it had flown off in the direction of Skull Mountain!

"Great!" groaned Balthezar. "We get shot down in the desert, and our goal has been taken over by the enemy!"

"Could anything worse happen?" I asked rhetorically, continuing Balth's thought.

Gem tapped me on the shoulder. "Um, Kickback," she said. "What's that large, dragon-like shape flying toward us?

I looked up in the direction she was pointing, and saw the large, dark winged shape against the light of the afternoon sun.

"Oh, no." I commented dumbly. "Uh, Run away?"

"Don't worry," Tempest said calmly. "It's not evil."

We all looked at her as if she had just declared a nearby cactus to be Elminster.

"And how do you know that?" I asked.

"If it was," she said, looking at me sternly, "Judas would have spooked."

Teleskon grunted. "And he'd be able to tell this?" he asked, at which the horse let out a snort that nearly sounded indignant.

"Just wait," Tempest instructed us, and we obeyed as the dragon approached.

The big lizard wafted along, and then descended toward us. However, instead of an attack dive, this was more of a slow drop for landing, and he pulled up a little ways away from us (like, fifty feet) and settled to the ground. We could now make out the color of it's scales, which (luckily) turned out to be a nice, warm brass. It looked at us, and tilted its head. "Having problems, little ones?" it then asked, in a more-than-slightly condescending manner. This annoyed me, and so I responded with as much sarcasm as I could muster.

"Oh, not really. Aside from losing two crew members, being shot at, and crashing our ship, we're just peachy. Nice day for a picnic." Tempest scowled at me, and Gem poked me in the back for being so rude, but it didn't seem to matter, as my sarcasm was completely lost on the beast anyway.

"Hmmm. Those blues really are a nuisance, aren't they?" it growled. "Going around making trouble all over. It wasn't enough for them to take over my lair, but now they're terrorizing nice little mortal passers-by. Wicked lot they are. They took over my lair, did I mention that? Just came in one day and evicted me. Three of them just waltzed right into my cave and demanded me to leave. Just like that. Now, if I had had the time to call in a few friends of mine, then they would have had much more of a problem of it. And that one, Static, I think his name is, his mental powers really make him tricky to deal with. So, like any intelligent being, I fled. This was only a few days ago, now, and I haven't had the time to find some backup to go back to Skull Mountain and take it back. In fact, I was just on my way to talk to a friend of mine when I noticed that cad, Static, taking off to fly around a bit. Unfortunately, he had rather a head start on me, that is why he got here before I did. Sorry about that, I really am. It's just this thing with the mountain and all . . ."

Tempest interrupted the Wyrm before it could continue. "Excuse me, but did you say that Skull Mountain is supposed to be your lair?"

It glanced down at her, slightly annoyed. Apparently it doesn't worry about being talked back to, so long it isn't while it is talking.

"Yes, yes," it answered. "That's what I said. But those blues came in one day, and . . . "

"Is your name Cupruzin?" she asked, cutting him off again.

This took the lizard by surprise, but he recovered quickly.

"Why yes, I am Cupruzin. You humanoids have heard of me?" I detected more than just a little bit of pride sneak into his voice for that last question.

We then explained to him why we were here (i.e. Balthezar, Sergi, and that Temple of Light story), and he seemed a bit bemused.

"So, Sergi is still clinging to that prophecy thing, eh?" he said with a chuckle. "I would have expected him to have grown out of all that by now. But then, what with your arrival, maybe there was something to it after all." He paused for a moment, thinking, then continued.

"Come, follow me to my lair. My temporary lair, that is. The blues have taken over my real lair, as I've already told you. It's only a few minutes fly from here. Of course, you fellows might have trouble with that, so I suppose we may as well walk."

So we marched northward - after salvaging everything from the ship that was still intact - back toward the mountains, chit-chatting with Cupruzin along the way. He told us more of his story.

About two centuries ago, he was involved with the Temple of Light. This was back when he was younger and more adventurous, and he thought that hanging around with humans for a while would be a neat pastime, and a good opportunity to further the cause of Good. He was a tremendous asset to the Temple, and rose in trust and authority in the clergy. When the time of the assault came, he was entrusted with one of the pieces of the obelisk, and he didn't even need to be told what would happen if the religion were totally smashed. So he carried the basestone to Skull Mountain, hid it in one of the side chambers off of his lair that he didn't use very much, and sealed it in. He had even started to forget it was there, lately.

He had gone back to the area of Estuary now and then since the attack, and he said that it was about a year after the attack when some of the surviving priests started coming out of hiding and prophesying about 'heroes who would someday restore the temple'. Cupruzin said that, originally, he had thought this prophecy to be a load of hogwash, and that the best thing they could do would be to wait things out. The only problem was that nobody knew where the other pieces had been taken, so it would require some kind of epic quest to find them. So he kept in touch with the followers of the religion for a while, making sure that at least one or two trusted followers knew where he was to be found. Eventually, most of the followers died off, due to short lifespans, and Cupruzin had thought he'd pretty much heard the end of it.

Then, a couple of decades ago, a family of Blue Dragons came to settle down in the desert, and a constant rivalry between them and Cupruzin inevitably developed. The blues were jealous of his nice home in Skull Mountain, and had been coveting it ever since they had arrived. Only a few days ago did they muster up the courage to attack, because their kid had finally come to the age where it would be helpful in the fight. Cupruzin would have been possible to defend the mountain against two blues, but three was just a bit more than even he could handle. (I shouldn't have been surprised at his lack of modesty, seeing as it is a trait shared by almost all dragons, but he'd been annoying me from the start, so I decided to do him one better.)

"Okay, then," I said as we entered the cave he was currently living in. "Since the basestone is in Skull Mountain, and the blues are living there at the moment, I guess the all we have to do is get rid of the blues. We get the basestone, you get your home back, and we're all happy."

Again, my sarcasm was completely lost on the lizard. "Excellent!" he exclaimed. "I'm sure that a party of adventurers like yourselves would have no trouble with that band of blue terrors. I would do it myself, as I said before, except they're just a little too strong for me. I was just on my way to find some help, in fact, but this will work perfectly. Do you want to go right now, or wait until tomorrow? You do look like you could use a bit of a rest."

"Um, that's not quite what I . . . " I began to say, but Tempest grabbed my shoulder, and pulled me back before I could finish my objection.

"Thank you, kind Wyrm," she said to Cupruzin, as she clamped a hand over my mouth. "It is fair that we deal with the blues," she said more to me than to him, "but we definitely need some time to prepare."

Cupruzin then showed us to a nearby chamber, too small for him to use, but fine for the six of us, and said we could rest in there. Tempest then released me, and I turned to face her.

"What was that for?" I demanded, as the others circled around me and Tempest, to watch.

"One of these days, Kickback," she said, "your mouth is going to get us killed. That's not the way to talk to a dragon. Especially one that saved us from the desert."

"I've heard that one before," I retorted, and was about to point out this was more work than we really needed to do, when Gem spoke up.

"Just listen, though," she began. "Three Blue Dragons shouldn't be that tough to deal with. We've handled worse. And, since nothing else was said about the blues' treasure, it is natural to assume that those who do the work, get the spoils."

I took a moment to calculate just how big a blue dragon's hoard would probably be, multiplied it by two and a half (one was supposedly a youngster), and what I came up with was enough to change my mind.

"You know, you have a point there, sister," I conceded, and the company let out a collective sigh of relief. We then turned to the matter of the injuries we had acquired in the fight with the blue. Tempest began healing people. Balth, however, seems to be somewhat magically disabled. Not only had he been on the Helm, which sucks out all of his spellcasting ability for the day, but he also doesn't seem to be able to regain any spells of third level or higher. So even if he could cast anything right now, he would have only cast a few weak ones, in order to save his more powerful ones until they're really needed. Luckily, Tempest was able to carry the job by herself, seeing as she has gotten quite powerful.

We have also decided that since the ship is gone, we may as well send the surviving crew members back to 'Town'. So Tempest is going to memorize a Plane Shift spell tomorrow and send them back in the morning, before we make the assault.

1/25/18

We got up at dawn this morning, and Tempest, Balth, Gem and I memorized spells. I then gave the surviving crew members the rest of their pay, plus a sizable bonus for all the trouble. Tempest then had them join hands in a circle, and Plane Shifted them back. We then worked with Cupruzin for a bit to come up with a plan for attack.

When our planning was complete, he flew us over to Skull Mountain. It is quite an impressive place, I must admit. It is a lone mountain standing in the middle of the desert, miles from the range that forms the northern boundary of the desert. It isn't especially high, as mountains go, but being the only thing in the middle of a flat rocky wasteland, it is pretty impressive. It has rocky slopes going up for miles, and the top is shaped vaguely like a skull, hence its name. It was to the cave which forms the left eye socket that Cupruzin flew us, as that is the entrance to his lair. Actually, we flew in to the back of the mountain, and walked to the other side, so that we wouldn't be noticed.

Somewhere outside the cave, we found a decently level spot, where we stopped and cast some preparatory spells. Then Psi-Guy set up a Dimensional Door, and we went through, into the main chamber and attacked.

The dragons were sitting around there in the main chamber, and (understandably) were somewhat startled by our appearance. The chamber was a large cave with several branches going off in various directions, including up; this one formed something akin to a skylight, fully illuminating the area. This we had been pretty much expecting. There were a bunch of gruesome statues lining the walls, which Cupruzin had not mentioned, but quickly revealed themselves to be Gargoyles - we guessed they were brought in by the blues. We also noticed that one of the side caverns had been barred off and was currently serving as a makeshift cage for a bunch of Manticores. Apparently captives.

The battle was actually fairly easy. Teleskon took most of the Gargoyles out single-handedly, after I cast Enlarge and Tenser's Primal Fury on him. Balthezar essentially took down one of the blues by himself, Psi-Guy mentally zapped the other big one, and then 'Skon took it down. (It was actually still alive, it just thought it was dead. I quickly made that reality, before it could wake up and cause trouble.) Before it came down, however, it breathed on Tempest and Gem, and Gem went down! Luckily, Psi-Guy was right there, and quick with a Potion of Extra-Healing.

After its parents fell, the youth released the Manticores, who seemed (understandably) quite irritated, and they attacked anyone in sight, including the dragon itself! Since the Manticores were simply unwitting pawns, Balth recommended that we simply subdue them. So Gem Held two of them, Balth gave me his Wand of Paralyzation, which I used on one, and the other was caught in a Stinking Cloud. The blue took down one of the held ones before Balth blinded it with a Continual Light spell right between the eyes, and Psi-Guy zapped it.

Tempest then negotiated with the Manticores, using a Tongues spell, and told them that we'd release them if they didn't attack us. They accepted, and we let them go. Meanwhile, Psi-Guy was doing the same thing with the Dragon, telepathically. It still seemed a bit unbalanced from the mind zap, and I guess Psi-Guy offended it or something, 'cause it leapt up at him, and only because Gem jumped in front and skewered did he manage to avoid getting eaten.

When all this was through, we called to Cupruzin and told him it was safe to come in. We filled him in on what happened, and he seemed pleased.

"Well, I suppose you all will be wanting the stone now, and then you'll be moving on then," he said. I detected a note of regret in his voice - as if he doesn't get visitors much, and didn't want us to go so soon.

Apparently Tempest heard it too, 'cause she spoke up. "Oh, I don't know about that. We could use some rest after this. We did get somewhat beaten up."

"And besides," I added, "there's the little matter of the blues' treasure. 'They who beat 'em, get the spoils,' as they always say." Actually, nobody ever said that to my knowledge, except myself at that very moment.

Cupruzin looked at me, and apparently had not thought about that particular matter. Luckily, he agreed, noting that, while we were already getting the basestone, we were probably going to have to put in plenty more work for it. He led us into another one of the side chambers, into the main den where a huge pile of treasure was sitting. Since his own collection had been integrated into the blues', we agreed on a fifty-fifty split of the contents of the pile, which came to quite a total on both sides.

Having dealt with that, Cupruzin then led us to yet another side chamber, which seemed to have been caved-in a long time ago. He started moving the debris away, and we gave him a hand. When the passage had been cleared enough for us to pass, we climbed in, and found the basestone.

It was a rectangular block of obsidian, three feet wide, five feet long, and two feet high. It had ornately carved, sloped sides, and a ridge around the flat topside, where the body of the obelisk would obviously fit in.

Cupruzin was still working at the opening, when we told him to forget about it. "But how are you going to get it out then?" he asked, to which I pulled out my Portable Hole.

We had to rearrange the contents of the thing in order to fit the basestone in, but it did fit. It took Tempest, Balth, Teleskon, Gem and me to carry it in, however. The dang thing was really heavy! Of course, it is made out of solid obsidian.

While we were carrying the thing in, Psi-Guy was chatting with Cupruzin. They were discussing the quest, and Psi-Guy apparently asked him about how this thing is supposed to help us find the other pieces.

"Well," Cupruzin began saying as we left the Hole, "the pieces are all attuned to each other, you see, and the legends say that the chosen ones - that would be you all - can utilize this property to locate the other pieces." I finished folding up the Hole when Psi-Guy posed a further question.

"How is this done, then? Sergi told us you could provide us with an incantation of some sort."

"An incantation?" Cupruzin asked rhetorically. "Well, I wouldn't phrase it as such, but it was said that if the need should arise, that a priest of exemplary goodness could access this power by standing before part of the obelisk, and speak its name."

"Well, what's its name then?" I prompted.

Cupruzin took a breath, then continued. "The Dwarven Master Craftsmen who constructed it," he said, glancing at Teleskon, who suddenly was paying more attention, at the mention of Dwarves, "dubbed the Obelisk 'Dornish Riem Tok'.

'Skon's woolly eyebrows pulled together as the Dwarf thought, and Balth came over to him and asked him what it meant.

"The dialect is kind-of strange," he replied with a grunt, "but I think it means something like 'stone of great power'. Pretty unimaginative name, if you ask me."

"It is descriptive," Cupruzin retorted, "as you will no doubt discover." He then led us back to the main chamber, ripped the door off the makeshift cell that the Manticores had been in, and told us we could stay there. He wanted to check out the rest of the complex to make sure that the blues hadn't ruined anything.

So we settled in, and Tempest healed those who needed it. We started to discuss everything that had happened, when a horrid smell wafted into the chamber. It was then that we remembered about the carcasses that we had left in the main chamber! We put the conversation on hold, and went out and cleaned up the battlefield. We dragged the dragon corpses out of the cave, and tossed them down the mountain. On the third one, we stopped for a moment, and took some meat before throwing it away. I'd always heard that dragon meat was tasty - if a bit spicy - but had never actually tried it. I don't think we'll let Cupruzin know about his, however.

We came back in, and resumed our little talk in the main chamber, where most of us had flopped over from fatigue. The topic of conversation turned to finding the rest of the obelisk, and how difficult that could be, when Cupruzin came back into the room.

First, he was somewhat surprised that we had cleaned up, but I commented that since we made the mess, it was our responsibility. That kind of attitude coming from me surprised everyone, including myself, but I figured it was true so I said it. Next, he offered to help us on next step in our quest.

"I do know the location of the stronghold that belonged to the wizard who was entrusted with the body of the Obelisk. There might be some clues to its location there," he said. "I could even take you some of the way there, if you'd like." I got the feeling that this offer was not only to help us along, but to maximize his time with us. I couldn't really hold it against him, as the years must get awfully lonely, so I accepted in the name of the whole party. Since nobody contradicted me, they must have agreed.

After that, we dragged ourselves back into the side chamber, and settled down for the night, again. Psi-Guy and Tempest fell asleep almost immediately, while Teleskon and Balthezar spent some time playing cards, and Gem and I began scribing some spells into our spellbooks. (Cupruzin had let us have a couple of scrolls from the treasure pile.) When we were done with that, 'Skon and Balth had also turned in, and I started writing this. Gem spent some time chatting with our host, but came in and lay down next to me just a few minutes ago. I think she's asleep, but you never can quite tell with her.

1/26/18

Everyone slept late this morning. Gem, Tempest, and I had a lot of spells to memorize, Psi-Guy had been psychically drained, and Balth and Teleskon were just plain physically exhausted.

So, after lunch, we decided to take the basestone up on top of the mountain and give the locator ability a try. Tempest, being the most powerful priest on hand, stood over the stone and chanted the words. Unfortunately, nothing happened. After looking at it for a while, Balth gently pushed Tempest out of the way, and gave it a try himself. This time, a spot on one of the sloped sides began glowing blue, and then a blue line of light shot from the stone, off to the west, and into the ground!

We all looked at Balth with surprise. Tempest patted him on the back, and seemed rather impressed. However, Cupruzin, who had come along to watch, looked at the line of light, frowned, and grumbled, "That can't be right."

I turned to him and asked what was wrong, and he replied, "I could have sworn the body was not buried under this desert."

Balth, who had simply been standing there, staring down the line, spoke up.

"No," he said, in a reflective tone of voice. "It's going much farther than that. An almost . . ." He paused, and just when we thought that he'd gone catatonic, continued, ". . . inconceivable distance." He then shook his head, as if to clear his mind, and then explained that he was getting some sort of 'feel' for the distance from the basestone to the body, similarly to when he had contacted Gem telepathically. Gem had been at the edge of his range, which he felt was an incredible distance itself. He described his current perception as being at least a 'thousandfold' of his telepathic range.

"If that's so," I commented, multiplying a few things out in my head, "then it can't be on this planet!"

"Well, isn't that nice to find out, right after we lose our Spelljamming ship," Gem commented.

"Then we'll just have to find another one," Tempest stated matter-of-factly.

"So, we actually get to go into outer-space this time," Balth commented, as we lugged the stone back into my Portable Hole.

"Once we find ourselves a ship," Gem added.

"Well, considering that it was that wizard who took it away," I said, closing up the Hole, "he must have had a Spelljamming ship or two of his own. Therefore, the best place to find one would probably be his stronghold. Another good reason to head there."

"We could, of course," Gem added, "buy ourselves one, if we find somewhere that sells them." She then looked at me with a slight grin on her face. Oh, a challenge?

"And how many Used-Spellship yards have you seen?" I replied. "I'd say our best bet is still that wizard's place. Unless he's still around, anything there should be open for the taking."

"But what if somebody else has already taken it?" Balthezar asked.

"Aw, don't worry about it," I said. "If that is the case, then we'll deal with it when we get there."

So we climbed back down to the cavern complex, and spent the afternoon chatting with Cupruzin. We had decided to spend the day here, and move out tomorrow, as we had wasted the morning sleeping. This suited Cupruzin just fine, and we took the opportunity to plug him for more information on the world.

There are three major continents (plus the polar ice caps), of which I was able to buy a good map of the one we are on, and the eastern. All three are inhabited by sentient humanoids, but those on the southern are mostly nomadic, and it isn't very well explored. Most all of the action involving the Temple of Light took place on this continent. In fact, it mostly happened in the north-eastern quarter, right around Estuary. (Seeing as that was the main area of influence of the religion, it makes sense.)

On the whole, religions are quite diverse. The eastern continent follows several separate pantheons, based on geography. This continent has some representatives of those religions, some other individual faiths, and a fair number of 'philosophical' orders, into which the Temple of Light would be classified. The southern nomads have a few gods of their own, but mostly worship elemental- and other forces. These 'force' religions are also known in other parts of the world, as most Druids here serve the force of Nature, instead of a specific Nature deity.

There is one moon (Which we have already observed. It is currently gibbous waxing.), which is named (as I mentioned before) Christa, after the most popular moon-goddess. Days are a normal twenty-four hours, months are generally about thirty days, and years are a normal 365 days. There is one sun, commonly associated with the ruler god Solanis, and it turns out that it actually does orbit around this planet instead of the other way around. (Some backward peoples still believe that Ardana orbits it, since they say that Solanis is the most important thing in the universe, and therefore must be in the middle, but most people just ignore them.)

We hit the hay (or in this case, stone) early this time, so that we can leave the mountain before dawn. Cupruzin may enjoy flying around under the midday sun, but we would prefer not to fry on his back.

1/27/18

We got up plenty early today, rigged up a harness for Cupruzin (so that we all could ride him, sans Tempest and Judas, of course), and took off before dawn.

We flew for a good eight hours until highsun, then we landed and napped through the afternoon. Cupruzin lay down, back to the west and curled up. He extended one of his wings over the gap in the middle, where we were sitting, to shield us from the sun. I think he also magically adjusted the temperature for our benefit.

We stayed like this until Eveningfeast, then we flew for a few more hours. By twilight, we reached the south-western edge of the mountain range. Cupruzin landed on the peak of one of the first mountains and told us he had to signal to an ally of his. He then let out a trumpeting call, which was answered a minute later from another peak.

"What was that?" I asked.

"An invitation," he responded, "from a friend of mine. The same one that I was going to talk to the other day when we met. She has invited us to stay the night in her lair. There is a Red which lairs a few miles from here, and he could bother us.

In the distance, a winged form came flying into view. In a moment, we could make out that it was a dragon, and it was covered in bright red scales!

"It's the Red Dragon!" Balthezar called out, and we all began to ready ourselves for combat.

"No, no, no!" roared Cupruzin, nearly deafening us. "She's not a red - and make sure you don't say that to her face! That'll really get us in trouble. She's a Scarlet Dragon, and a very good friend of mine. Now put those things away, and try to look your best."

We shut up after that, and put our weapons away. The other dragon landed nearby, and she and Cupruzin conversed for a moment. Now that she was closer, we could make out a subtle difference in color. She was a bit darker than a Red would be. A moment later, she took off, and we climbed back onto Cupruzin, and followed.

She led us to her lair, and the two big lizards spent most of the evening talking together. (From what I could tell, Cupruzin seemed quite taken with her, but she seemed a bit young for him. Of course, with dragons, who can tell about these things.)

Rosa, as Cupruzin called her, showed us to a small storage cave, where we could stay, and brought some meat for dinner.

At about ten o'clock (or local equivalent), we took the basestone outside, and tried the location thingy again. This time, the line shot almost straight off to the east. That means that the body of the obelisk must be off planet, or the position wouldn't change so drastically.

Tempest and Balthezar took a walk after that, and Gem and Psi-Guy went off somewhere to do some stargazing. I'm starting to notice a distinct pairing-off taking place. And since Teleskon is keeping himself busy practicing his psionic shapeshifting, I've been left almost completely to myself for writing this.

1/28/18

We got to leave a bit later in the morning today than yesterday, since we're getting into nicer climates.

We bid farewell to Rosa at about eight o'clock, and thanked her heartily for her hospitality - and especially for whatever it was she caught for morningfeast. After Cupruzin cooked it for us, it was excellent! As we took our leave, Cupruzin asked her a favor, and she took off to keep an eye on Skull Mountain for him while he was away. He didn't want someone else coming by and taking it over while he was gone.

We flew about five hours over the mountain range, and then stopped on a rocky crag for lunch. After resting for another hour or so, we continued on for another five hours flying, until dusk began to arrive. By this point, we'd nearly reached the edge of the mountain range, so we set down on another peak, climbed down a ways into a defensible valley, and set up camp. We spent some of the time before turning in telling stories, and I told about a couple of adventures in previous incarnations. As usual, nobody but Gem really understood most of it, but Cupruzin was quite curious about the whole thing. So I spent a fair amount of time explaining to him, after the others had wandered off to do whatever. Eventually they came back, we chose shifts for guard watches, and turned in for the night.

1/29/18

Today was overcast from the start, and by noon, we were grounded by wind and rain. We tried to walk for a while, but the cold and wetness was really making Cupruzin miserable, so we stopped at the first decent overhang, and he curled up under it and we have been waiting for the rain to stop since.

1/30/18

The rain from yesterday lasted all night, and well into the morning. Cupruzin still didn't want to budge after it stopped in the afternoon, but we coaxed him out, and got about five hours of flying time in before dusk. (Actually, it was still very overcast, and we just flew until it got too dark.) We made camp in a gorge, which Cupruzin nearly filled up! Tempest and Balthezar went off for a stroll again, but Psi-Guy has stayed to tutor Teleskon a bit, so Gem has actually been keeping me company for a change toni...[scribbles as the pen is ripped from Kickback's hand]

2/1/18

Cupruzin left us today. When we broke camp this morning, he announced that he really had to get home, and gave us directions to the wizard's stronghold. He told us that there is a river one day's walk to the north, and that we should follow that river downstream to a town called Celtsi. We can then take a frequently-traveled overland route to the city of Westhold. The fortress is on a nearby mountain, at the shore of a lake, and we can surely find it ourselves from there.

Sure enough, by evening, we found the river. It is fairly small right here, but I imagine that we are quite close to it's source.

2/2/18

We stumbled upon a homestead on the river this morning as we were following it to the west. We convinced the 'lord of the manor' to let us hire him to take us down river in his livestock boat to the nearest city. (100 gold pieces was a very convincing argument.) So by afternoon, we were back to 'civilization'.

After paying the entry tax, and stashing our weaponry in my Portable Hole (they wanted us to turn them in, not just peace-bond them!), we rented inn rooms, and looked into booking passage down river. I talked a merchant into hiring us as guards in exchange for a trip to Celtsi, since he was planning to stop there anyway. Unfortunately, he isn't planning to set sail for another eight days! Well, I suppose we could use a bit of a rest!

Oh, by the way, this city is named Tensic, is fairly large, and seems to be claimed by a kingdom along the southern coast of the continent. It is the main center of trade with the northern territories, because it lies on this river that flows almost all the way across the continent. Like I said, it's a fairly large city, but nowhere near the size of 'Town'; or even Waterdeep, for that mater.

2/3/18

Today, I made some inquiries, and discovered that this planet does have a bit of space contact after all. Not a lot of ships actually come to this city, but I was finally able to get my hands on a decent planetary chart.

It turns out that this planet, Ardana, is actually the center of the universe, as we heard before. The planet is a bit smaller than Toril (its diameter is about 3000 miles). The first planet out is considered to be "the moon", and (as I've mentioned before) is usually named Christa. The second planet isn't considered a moon for three main reasons: 1) it's so far away, and isn't very visible from here; 2) it's a purely air world, which contributes to its non-visibility; and 3) it orbits in the opposite direction than most of the other planets!

The next 'planet' is the sun, and after that is a cluster of rocks that may have once been a planet but has since been shattered. Next is a large ice world with an impressive ring system, and the last planet is essentially another sun, but since it's so far away, it just looks like one of the stars. This last one also orbits in the 'wrong' direction, and I can't help but wonder if this is in any way significant.

Tempest has just announced to me that we are going to see a play tonight. Apparently, she was accosted by an acting troupe this afternoon, and ended up buying tickets. Well, I just hope it's good.

2/4/18

The play last night turned out to be an ambush! When the curtain went up, we were the only ones in the playhouse, and Wererats and Werewolves started pouring out from backstage! Luckily, we managed to defeat them, even without most of our armor and weapons! Balth was the only one to take any damage; he says he feels fine, but we're keeping an eye on him anyway, just in case he might have gotten infected with Lycanthropy.

Today, we went and got all of the magic items we got from the Blue Dragons ID'ed. Balth got a helmet which has turned out to be a Helm of Teleportation, and Psi-Guy got a ring which is a Ring of Warmth, and a few potions needed to be done. The rest of the day we spent just taking it easy, and keeping an eye on Balth. And we're making sure not to go to any more plays!

2/5/18

We slept in today, and wandered around town. Nothing of particular interest happened.

2/6/18

We took a walk in the hills just outside the city. Psi-Guy Dim Doored us in and out of the city, so we wouldn't have to pay the entry toll again. We stumbled upon a band of Kobolds, which we actually managed to defeat without slaughtering. (It was Balth's idea, and I felt that it was a good challenge.) We captured their leader, which was apparently named Nyarth (Psi-Guy kinda zapped him), and convinced him to move his band away from the city. He seemed rather impressed with our abilities, especially when Teleskon turned himself into an Otyugh and scared a large number of his warriors away. We then shooed him off, and returned to the city.

2/7/18

We heard reports today of a band of Ogres massing nearby to assault the city. I thought it sounded suspicious from the start, but Balth insisted that we check it out. (He has a particular grudge against Ogres, after all.) So we left the city, by the same method as yesterday, and searched around a bit. We found the Ogres waiting for us, with some friends. After a drawn-out (and rather annoying) combat, we finished off all of the Hill Giants, Trolls, and most of the Ogres, except for a few which ran away. We had Psi-Guy mind control one of them to come back, and then picked through its brain. It was messy business, but we learned that the beasties had been summoned by some big-time evil dudes and told to attack whomever came into this area. In other words, somebody had set a trap for us.

We made him lead us to where all the tribes' loot (including the payment they received for the ambush) was hidden, then sent him off. We collected it up (after all, we ought to get something out of this), and went back to the city and split it up.

2/8/18

We spent today training (for those who were ready), and getting items ID'ed and appraised.

2/9/18

Same as yesterday.

2/10/18

We set sail aboard the merchant boat today. The captain started out grumpy, and I have the feeling that it isn't likely to change later on in the trip. So we're taking turns wandering around the boat, making it look like we're doing something important.

2/11/18

Second day of sailing. The captain says that it'll take us approximately six more days of sailing to get to Celtsi, plus some time for a couple of stopovers at towns on the way. So all in all, it looks like it will be another eight or nine days before we arrive there.

2/12/18

Third day of sailing. We put in temporarily in a town where a tributary joins the main river flow. We only spent about three hours here, while the boat was unloaded and reloaded. While wandering around a bit, I got a feeling like we were being followed. I didn't say anything at the time, but I could tell that at least Gem and Tempest had also noticed (not surprisingly). So we wound our way around, and I think we wore out whomever it was. When we took off on the boat again, everything felt fine.

2/13/18

We made good time today, and got farther than the Captain expected - which cheered him up a bit. We made it all the way to the next stop, where we've put in for the night.

An interesting thing just occurred after I wrote the previous paragraph. Powerglide (a.k.a. The Red Knight) showed up, and wanted to talk to me. He told me of some battle that may take place soon (ala the stuff with Tanita), and told me that if we keep out of it, he'd be very appreciative. As in rewardingly grateful. Hey, that's fine by me. I just won't let the others know!

2/14/18

We set out again at dawn and continued sailing. (Nobody even has a clue that Powerglide visited yesterday, luckily.) The morning was uneventful.

Sometime shortly after noon, however, we had to stop because there were some trees lying across the river! The captain stopped the boat a few dozen yards from the blockade, and we Dimensional Doored to land and began getting the trees out of the way. When we were just about done, we heard a scream from within the forest nearby. We dropped what we were doing, and went to check it out.

We raced into the woods, and all of a sudden were face-to-slimy-face with a line of Skeletons and Zombies! Needless to say, Tempest and Balthezar made short work of the skeletons, and got rid of a few of the Zombies. The rest of us waited until they had finished Turning, then started into them. Gem and I each felled a Zombie with Magic Missiles, and damaged a couple more. Teleskon winked out of sight, apparently having used his Ring of Invisibility. Psi-Guy went intangible, and the remaining Zombies started moving toward us. I thought I saw some movement behind the Zombie line, but couldn't be sure.

Tempest then drew her sword, and charged the Undead. She chopped one zombie in half, and nicely parried all that got near her. About ten feet away, Teleskon appeared, and diced another befuddled Zombie. Gem and I both opted for defense, and cast Mirror Image spells on ourselves, while Balthezar joined the fray. All of a sudden, another Zombie off to the side blew up, sending flesh and bones into some of its comrades. I looked around and saw a wispy Psi-Guy looking satisfied with himself. Teleskon demolished another pair of Zombies, and blocked several claw attacks.

Gem and I then drew our swords, and the fifteen of us (two real, thirteen illusionary) joined the melee. Along with Tempest and Balthezar, we managed to massacre the last of the Zombies right then and there. However, before we could even catch our breath, over a dozen Ghouls and Wights emerged from the foliage and attacked. A Ghoul caught Tempest with her guard down, and paralyzed her. A wight zipped over to where Psi-Guy was floating, and raked him across his his ectoplasmic chest, sucking the life right out of him. This took him kind of by surprise, but he realized that Tempest was in bigger trouble, and chose an action, which he admitted later was intended to help both of them: he Teleported away from the Wight, next to Tempest, in order to defend her. In the meanwhile, Teleskon was chopping more and more Ghouls into convenient, bite-sized pieces.

Gem and I, with our typically synchronized thoughts, each fried a Wight with a Burning Hand spell. Teleskon served another Ghoul its own head, and Balthezar disemboweled one. Psi-Guy opened up another Dimensional Door, and dragged Tempest through, away from the fight. Teleskon demolished yet another Ghoul, which really started getting the moldy ones mad, and they tore into us afresh, so to speak. A Wight actually got a lucky shot in on me with its energy draining touch, which did not please me at all.

Then behind us, a person appeared. She appeared human, dressed in a revealing robe of bright red and orange, and had long, braided red hair and an unholy red glow surrounding her eyes.

Suddenly, I realized that she was moving her hands in the patters for spellcasting. She then shattered a small glass tube, and a swirling mass of energy leapt from her fingers right toward Gem! Luckily, Gem noticed it coming, and was able to steel her will and resist the spell. I still, however, had no idea what it was she cast!

We decided to take one thing at a time, and continued destroying Wights magically, while Teleskon and Balth dealt with the Ghouls on a more physical level. While we were doing this, however, the lady in red moved around us and cast another spell (which I also couldn't identify, that is, until the effect occurred), and launched a stream of acid at me and Gem, just like a Black Dragon! This really smarted, and proved to us that she was a target worthy of immediate attention.

Luckily, all of the other undead were gone by this point, so we could concentrate all our firepower on her without distraction.

Teleskon rushed up and gave her a few really nasty cuts, which broke her concentration on the spell she was preparing. Balthezar did the same, and Gem tried to Hold her, but it didn't work. So, I took out my Wand of Wonder, and tried it on her. All that happened, unfortunately, was a blast of wind that didn't even toss her hair very much.

The lady then caught Balth's eye, and seemed to gaze into his soul. Teleskon, realizing that she was probably enchanting him, thrust his sword, and skewered the #&@$%! We hoped this was the end of her, but had no such luck. The blow simply forced her to assume Gaseous Form, and that's when we were sure we were dealing with a Vampire.

She started to flee, but there was no way we were gonna let her get away, after the grief she'd given us. So, while the others pursued on foot, I cast a Dimension Door and appeared well ahead of her, so that I could cast a spell as she passed by.

Unfortunately, she was smarter than I gave her credit for, and veered off to go around. Luckily, Psi-Guy made Contact with her, and zapped her. I then cast a Wall of Force around her, and she was trapped. We then had to decide what to do with her. None of us were really in the mood to interrogate her, and Psi-Guy was pretty much drained - but we didn't want to let her go; couldn't move her, as the spell is stationary; and couldn't wait for her to solidify, as the Wall wouldn't last that long. So we decided the only thing to do was to get some sunlight on that spot. (It was a fairly thick section of forest we were in.)

We decided that the only way to do this (practically) was to have me climb up into the canopy, and get rid of some of the branches. So I shinnied up a tree, and Balth told me which branches to pull down, to get enough sunlight at the right angle while doing as little damage to the forest as possible.

It worked, and the Vampiress was burned away.

By this time, Tempest had recovered from the paralysis, so we didn't need to carry her back to the boat. The captain wasn't too happy to see the shape we came back in, but was just as glad his ship had been left out of it.

We finished the clearing job, and sailed on. Below decks, we spent some time healing ourselves. The energy drains that Psi-Guy and I suffered are curable, but Tempest says that it will be so straining on her to do so that she'll only be able to do one a day, over the next two days. (She has to memorize the right spell first, as well.)

Tempest and Balthezar have been talking a bit this evening while I've been writing. I've caught snatches now and then, having to do with their priestly spellcasting, and some weird stuff. One, Balth is still unable to memorize anything higher than second level; and two, Tempest thinks that she cast more Cure Light Wounds spells today than she had memorized. I don't really know what it all means, but I'm going to keep my ears and eyes open.

2/15/18

This morning, Tempest memorized her spell of Restoration, and cast it on me. So I'm back to normal. Psi-Guy offered to go second, apparently 'cause he didn't loose much. Of course, neither did I, but that's not the point.

The spell was very taxing on both of us, but Tempest says that she can deal with it, and I won't be shown up by her!

2/16/18

Tempest restored Psi-Guy first thing this morning.

The captain says we're over halfway to Celtsi now, and the river is getting wider and stronger. This morning we put in at a city where a fairly major river merging is. It's the first real city we've been at since Tensic. We have now entered the "civilized" North.

We only stayed in that city a couple of hours, then set sail again. We've turned the major bend in the river, and are essentially on the final stretch toward Celtsi now.

2/17/18

Tempest and Balthezar have been playing around with their spellcasting the last few days, and have made a very odd discovery. They've found that they don't need to memorize their spells in the same numbers as they want to cast them! For example, Tempest gets nine spells of first level. If she wanted to cast nine Light spells before, she would have had to memorize only Light spells. Now, she just needs to memorize the spell once, and when she casts it, the spell is not wiped from her mind! So she could memorize nine different spells, and cast any combination of those nine!

Tempest has a feeling that this is just how magic works here, so she thinks that Gem and I might be able to do this too! We're going to be practicing in the next few days, much to the captain's discomfort.

2/18/18

During our experimentation today, I found something really weird in my spellbook. Actually, I didn't find some thing, but an absence of something. That is, I found a hole right in the middle of a batch of spells, where I'm sure there wasn't one before. I don't remember what might have been there, 'cause it's a batch of spells that I can't use yet. But I'm going to have to pay more close attention and see if any more "holes" appear!

2/19/18

Kept sailing and experimenting. No new "holes", but we seem to be figuring out the laws of magic here a little better. Boy, is it nice!

2/20/18

We've finally reached Celtsi! The captain wasn't exactly sad to see the end of us, and the feeling's mutual.

We stocked up on supplies, and (those of us who need them) bought some good horses. (Balth made sure that they were of high quality.) We looked into hooking up with any kind of caravan going in that direction, but there are none leaving within the month. Luckily, there is a nice road leading almost straight to Westhold, so it should be a fairly easy trip.

We're gonna spend the night here, and start off in the morning.

2/21/18

Well, we were supposed to leave Celtsi today, but a really bad storm came up last night. So we decided to stay for the day. And good thing too: it got so bad in the afternoon that there was property damage, and we ended up going out and helping some of the townsfolk either save their property or themselves!

It seems to be lightening up now, so we should be able to set off tomorrow.

2/22/18

The storm did let up this morning, so we took off at dawn. The road is all muddy though, so it's rough going.

2/23/18

Second day out of Celtsi: things have dried up nicely, and we've made it to the next city. Boy, at the rate we're going, we should be in Westhold within four more days! It's nice - for each night we spend on the road, we get to spend one in a town! This sure is the life!

2/24/18

Very cold this morning. Looks like winter is coming up sometime soon.

We ran into some trouble this afternoon. A squad of soldiers, with two wizards as backup, ambushed us as we were coming out of a gorge. They were wearing this funky black, spiked armor, which rather reminded me of the Zhentarim. They attacked us without provocation, and proved to be difficult opponents. Unfortunately, our horses (excepting Judas) didn't survive the fight (due to Fireballs and Cones of Cold). And, when we had finished off all of them except for the leader, he backed away, then pulled out a small emerald statuette. Teleskon (who was under the effects of a Tenser's Primal Fury spell at the time) charged him, and tackled him just at the moment that he activated the charm. They both disappeared.

We weren't entirely sure what to do at this point, so we regrouped and conferred. Balth tried to Contact him, and was able to make a connection! We were glad he was still alive! He then tried to establish a Mindlink, but it took a moment for him to set it up.

When he got it working, he said that 'Skon seemed to be still in a berserk state, because his mind was pretty much completely open. Psi-Guy then set up a link of his own, but 'Skon wouldn't communicate with either of them. Balth continued trying to calm him down, while Psi-Guy tried to access 'Skon's visual cortex and link into his sight. He had just gotten the connection, when they both (Balth and Psi-Guy) spasmed, and then collapsed.

When they came around, they reported the following: 'Skon had just come out of the fury, and saw a beautiful crystalline hourglass, which he had been about to smash. Still a little dazed from the spell, he grabbed it, and turned it over, and Balth heard him think something like, "I wonder what this does..."

Both Balthezar and Psi-Guy then violently lost their connections, and the shock made them pass out.

From this, and some info that Tempest called upon Mystra for, we have deduced that Teleskon has been sent through time. Whether backward or forward we're not entirely sure. We think he's okay, 'cause Mystra said that we will eventually see him again. But for now, there's nothing we can do, so we'll just continue on our way. I don't think 'Skon would want us to waste too much time worrying about him.

I'm pretty sure that the little guy can take care of himself. Or, at least, I hope he can.

2/25/18

Well, since our horses didn't survive the ambush, we've been having to walk the rest of the way. Nothing of significance happened today, but if we still had our horses, we would have been at the next city by now.

2/26/18

At about noon today, we crested what was to be the last hill before the next town, but as we got to the top, a disastrous scene came into sight. The town was being ravaged by some gigantic monster! It looked like a fifty-foot-tall humanoid armadillo! We couldn't just let this continue, especially because we needed to sleep somewhere tonight, so we made for the city to stop it.

When we arrived, Tempest led with a Flame Strike, which did absolutely nothing except get its attention. Balth took a chunk out of its leg, then I launched a Lightning Bolt at it. This simply bounced off, which went to show how magic-resistant it was. Gem then tried Magic Missiles, which scattered when they hit. One actually reflected directly back and hit her! Psi-Guy tried to Contact it, but just couldn't. (He said later that he just couldn't find its mind. It seemed to be psionically inert or something.)

It then took a few swipes at Balthezar, but luckily didn't get any good hits. Balth hit it again, and Tempest ran up and started casting something. I cast a Fly spell on myself (in preparation), and Gem did a Mirror Image on herself. Psi-Guy went Ectoplasmic, and Tempest cast her Blade Barrier. Now that affected it! Unfortunately, it also made it mad, and it scurried out of the area of effect . . . trampling Balth in the process. Gem and Tempest went up and hacked on it, while I cast Improved Invisibility on myself (also in preparation), and Psi-Guy telekinetically threw stones at it.

It tried to whap Gem with a claw, but missed and got it stuck in the ground. It chomped on Tempest, but luckily not too badly. Then Balth, Tempest and Gem sliced at it, while I flew up behind it and backstabbed it. It started flinging its tail toward me, but that was easy to dodge, and it kept after Balth, Tempest and Gem. Then we just kept pummeling it until it fell over.

A couple of minutes later, though, it started getting back up! So we chopped at it for about five minutes straight, until it was not much more than hamburger. We gathered up as much of the remains as we could, Tempest cast a Dimensional Folding spell, and we tossed them through the gateway she created, into the sea, a couple dozen miles off shore! When the first piece went through, though, it grew into a whole 'nother beastie, which then fell into the water! The rest of it seemed inert, but we threw it through anyway - just to be on the safe side - despite the fact that Tempest and Gem thought pieces of it might be valuable. We then went into the city and helped with disaster relief. There were a number of injured, but luckily no fatalities.

After helping with the wounded, we were put up by the town government in the best inn, as "local heroes". We've gotten pretty worn out by the last few days (and I'm ready for some training), so we decided to stay here for a while.

2/27/18

I spent the day training, and the others took some of the magic items from the soldiers in for identification. We got a nice pair of magical bracers and a Ring of Protection from the wizards, and a bunch of somewhat magical suits of Banded Mail, shields, and longswords from the soldiers themselves. We tried to give them to the local Mages' Guild, but they wouldn't take them. They identified the sigils and runes all over the stuff as those of a couple of the local deities of the evil variety: Arik, God of Tyranny and Oppression (no wonder they reminded me of Banites), and Gamora, Goddess of Violence and Hatred. So we decided to hold on to them until we found some way of disposing of them properly.

My Portable Hole is starting to get really full.

2/28/18

I'm still training; the others went out to buy supplies and new horses. I should be done sometime this evening, so we're planning to set off again tomorrow.

2/29/18

We set out on the last leg of our trek to Westhold this morning. The weather started off clear, if a bit chilly, but just after midday, a storm appeared suddenly. It was like the thunderhead came out of nowhere, and I suddenly experienced a sense of déjá vu. When a face appeared in the cloud, it came to me: Fracto from Xanth!

I was about to comment about it to Gem when something else hit me. Namely, a bolt of lightning from the cloud! Luckily, I wasn't hurt too badly by it, but it did stir the others to action.

Tempest led off with a Blade Barrier, which it simply pulled out of the way of. Balth pulled out his bow and shot at it with arrows, but they passed through it without effect. Psi-Guy went Ectoplasmic (as usual), and Gem threw a Fireball at it, which did seem to have an effect!

The cloud began broiling itself up, and we took the opportunity to regroup. Gem cast a Fly spell on Balth, then he and Tempest (on Judas) flew up and started attacking it with their swords. They tore into it, and tore it apart within minutes.

Tempest healed me up after landing, and we rode on. Nothing else of note happened during the rest of the day. We expect to reach Westhold sometime tomorrow.

2/30/18

Last night, about midnight, we were attacked by a bunch of Drow. Luckily, Tempest woke a few minutes prior to the attack and warned us, so we were able to cast a few preparatory spells. Unfortunately, they didn't help too much, and the battle was going very badly for us (Judas actually went down) when, out of nowhere, Stephan appeared, and tore into the Drow. We had already taken a few of them down by this point, but he creamed most of the rest. Those who survived ran screaming into the night.

There was joyous-reunion-type-stuff thereafter, and then we settled down again for the rest of the night, with Stephan standing guard (since, apparently, it had been daytime for him where he just came from).

In the morning, we searched the bodies (which we had stacked nearby) and found a bit of cash on them, but nothing else, as all their equipment dissolved in the daylight. Apparently the Wizard was one of those that got away. (Damn.)

Stephan told us about himself over Morningfeast. After the "Tanita Wars", he wandered around 'Town' for a while, trying to straighten his life out. He made a pilgrimage to a monastery at one point, and had some fun there chasing Yeti. Then he came back to 'Town', meditated for a while, and then decided to come after us. He traveled over to the version of this continent on the 'Town' world, and didn't find us. (Which confirms that we're on another plane. We'd pretty much figured this out, but hadn't really known for sure until now.)

So he hung around there for a while, trying to figure out his next move, when he ran into Sir Greymantle (one of the guys Balth had adventured with in 'Town' before we joined back up. He was also a player in the "Tanita Wars".). Since Greymantle has become a fairly powerful priest since the last time we'd seen him, he offered to help Stephan in any way he could, and asked his deity just how to do that. He was told to use a Plane Shift spell to put Stephan into the Astral Plane, where Stephan could find a Color Pool to wherever we were and go through. The funny thing is, the Color Pool he found was silver, which indicates a portal back to one's home plane! So that means that we're back on our own (ahem) native plane! It must be another Crystal Sphere (local equivalent of a star system) though, because this sure isn't the Realms!!!

Well, anyway, we informed him of everything that's happened so far and he was excited to help, so we set off for Westhold shortly thereafter. Since we didn't have an extra horse for him, Gem and I doubled up on my horse and let him ride hers.

Amazingly enough, we made it to Westhold with no further obstacles, and we've made inquiries about the wizard's stronghold. Nobody wants to guide us to it, but we have gotten fairly detailed directions, so we should be able to find it ourselves.

We're staying the night here in Westhold and are going to go out there first thing tomorrow.

Tempest and Balthezar didn't go for their normal stroll this evening. I think Stephan's appearance has thrown a kink into their relationship, seeing as he is Tempest's old flame and all. I think I may have to take him aside sometime and tell him about it, and have him and Tempest talk it over too. Gem and Psi-Guy are still going strong, but they've no reason not to!

3/1/18

Beginning of our third month! Yay!

We got out to the location of the Wizard's Stronghold today.

We rode out shortly after Morningfeast (Stephan told us he has a Portable Hole now, so we transferred the Basestone into his, ‘cause mine is getting very cluttered), and arrived at highsun at the bluffs overlooking the lake where we were told it should be. There was no sign of it, however, so we dismounted and looked around a bit. When Judas took off to fly around for a while, he came almost directly back after flying out over the lake, and Tempest said that he had seen an opening in the cliff below us.

I cast a Fly spell on myself, and went down to have a look. It seems that the Stronghold is inside this cliff, right under where we've been standing! There is a balcony cut into the cliff side, which has a door and a couple of windows, all of which seemed securely closed and sealed. I tried using a Knock spell to get in, but (interestingly enough) it didn't work. I came back up, and we tried other things, including Dim Door, Teleport, Passwall, and Dimensional Folding spells, but none were able to get in. Psi-Guy even tried using his Dim Door, Teleport, and Astral Projection powers, and they didn't work either! So we've decided to camp out here for the night, and try some other spells tomorrow (since we don't have them memorized at the moment).

Tempest has been pretty much avoiding both Stephan and Balthezar all day. She went off for a ride on Judas this afternoon, and came back for Eveningfeast in a huff. I think she and Judas may have been arguing. (I can only imagine what getting advice on your love life from your horse is like.) Balth seems totally confused by the whole thing, and has been off sitting by himself for most of the day. Stephan has finally figured out that there's something wrong with those two, but not exactly what yet. I would fill the poor boy in, but I don't think the time is quite right. I want to give Tempest a fair opportunity to deal with it before stepping in myself. Gem and Psi-Guy are still so wrapped up in each other, I'm not sure if they've noticed all this yet or not!

3/2/18

Yeesh, will it ever end? Probably not, as we are adventurers, and our job description is basically: wander around, looking for trouble. But it sure seems like trouble is looking for us a lot nowadays.

Okay, this is what happened last night: about halfway through Gem's watch, she heard something. It turned out to be Harpy-song. Luckily, she wasn't charmed, and managed to wake the rest of us up. It seemed like an entire flock of Harpies was uprooted and sent after us, because a grand horde of the smelly birds came up the hill and set into us. Luckily, Harpies aren't exactly Drow, so we were able to take care of them fairly swiftly. Unfortunately, of those that we didn't actually kill, the ones we managed to capture as they fled killed themselves before we could question them, almost as if they didn't want to risk us finding something out. Now that makes me even more curious than ever as to what it may be! Oh, well. It looks like we're not going to find out that way!

However, the battle did have one good result: it got us into the Stronghold. It was kind-of weird, actually. During the battle, another figure joined the fray: it was winged, and I nearly took its head off before I realized it wasn't a Harpy. It was actually an owl, of sorts. It was considerably bigger than a normal owl: its wingspan was at least 4', and it was colored white, with orange highlights. It joined the fray, and began using what seemed to be spells to drive off the Harpies.

After the battle, it landed and talked to us. It turns out that this "Space Owl", as it called itself, actually lives inside the fortress - it's a descendent of a Space Owl that served the owner of the Stronghold - and has been waiting for us!

Apparently, it's kept in contact with the followers of the Temple of Light, and heard about the prophecies and that we had shown up recently. It just happened to have been sleeping when we were trying to get in earlier, and only noticed that we were here when it heard us fighting the Harpies.

Introductions were then exchanged, and he said his name was Turin, and that he would be happy to help us in the quest. We accepted gladly, and he led us into the fortress.

The first thing he did was to lead us to quarters for us to spend the night in, and so we slept the rest of the night away, not bothering to memorize different spells in the morning, since we were already in.

In the morning, he told us what he knew about the master of the fortress. It was all passed down from generation to generation, but he claims that all Space Owls have eidetic memories, so it must all be correct.

The Wizard, named Arazyr, had been a major ally of the Temple of Light, and one of their most powerful adherents. When the attack that demolished the Temple took place, he was one of the elders that was entrusted with a piece of the Obelisk. Using powerful teleportational magics, he brought the body of the Obelisk here to his Stronghold, but he knew he couldn't keep it here for long.

Arazyr, however, had plenty of resources at his disposal. He was not only a supporter of the Temple, but he also conducted a fair-amount of Spelljamming trade, and had a number of ships of his own. So he loaded the Basestone onto one of the ships, and had most of his apprentices, staff, and crews follow him as he flew the Basestone off-planet. He left but a single mage and his familiar, a Space Owl, to watch over the Stronghold until his return.

When a year had passed, and the apprentice still hadn't heard from Arazyr, he ventured out of the stronghold, leaving his familiar. The last mental contact the familiar received from the mage told him that there were prophecies of champions who would someday restore the Obelisk, and that the familiar should remain at the Stronghold until they came.

That just happened to be Turin's grandfather, and (luckily) he discovered one day that a clan of Space Owls (a "Parliament", as he called it) was nesting nearby, and found a mate. He was, however, killed while defending the Stronghold, so one of his chicks took on his responsibility, and passed it similarly to Turin, who has been here for somewhere going on fifty years now. He said that he'd been thinking recently of finding a mate as well, but with our arrival, it looks like he will be able to fulfill his grandfather's duty himself.

It was Gem, again, who turned the conversation to more practical concerns.

"So, do you know exactly where it was that Arazyr took the Obelisk?" she asked.

"No, unfortunately, I do not," he replied. "He did mention that he was taking it to a special research facility he had, on another planet, but my grandsire's master was not given any more details, in case he was captured and forced to reveal its whereabouts."

"That is logical," Psi-Guy commented, and he started to remind me of someone I knew from a previous incarnation, but I couldn't quite place it immediately. I just remembered this evening that it was Sobek, my Vulcan Chief Engineer from my Starfleet incarnation.

"I guess that means we'll have to use the Basestone to locate it, like we've been trying so far," Tempest added to the conversation.

Turin looked questioningly at her, his left ear pointing nearly straight up.

"Can you do that?" he asked.

"Yes, the Dragon Cupruzin, who was guarding the Basestone, gave us an incantation which makes it point toward the next piece," she replied.

"It points toward it? How?"

Balthezar then described the incantation, and the blue light that pointed out the next piece. Turin was fascinated by this, so we told him that we'd give him a demonstration later.

He then took us to the docking area, so that we could pick out a ship. The dock was pretty much just that: a dock. There is a lake at the base of the cliff side, and a small bay extends into the rock. Whether that was natural, or if Arazyr constructed it himself, even Turin doesn't know. But it forms a nice little pool, where piers have been constructed in the water, forming docks to accommodate ships of various varieties.

And some of the docks were occupied, too. Ships of many types floated in the water, and there were some that sat on the ground in an adjacent chamber. Unfortunately, most of the ships were decrepit hulks which looked like they wouldn't survive even being boarded. Upon closer investigation, their conditions seemed to me to be more due to damage than passage of time, but we did find a few ships that were still in good condition.

Turin told us that Arazyr did have a fair Spelljamming fleet, and that most of the ships that were left when he and his followers departed were those that were awaiting repairs for previously inflicted damage. The few intact ships that were left were those that were either too small to really stand up in combat, or that Arazyr decided were not suitable for the mission, for one reason or another. The serviceable ships that were left included two Tradesmen, the same type as our old ship; a Hammership, which is even bigger than the Tradesman, and would probably require even more crew; a Galleon, which looks like it was basically a sailing ship that somebody put a Helm into and called a Spellship; two Mosquitoes, which were far too small; and a Dragonfly ship, which is the one we decided to take. It's big enough to hold what we need it to - the Obelisk - but small enough that the six (or seven, if we count Turin) of us should be able to run it by ourselves.

Turin then helped us prepare the ship, instructing us how to set up the rigging and all, and we got the thing ship-shape in no time. (Pun intended.) Gem and Psi-Guy rode down to Westhold to buy provisions, after Turin showed us where a back door was, hidden behind some rocks on the hillside.

While they were out, we tried the incantation on the Basestone, to check on the location of the next piece. The blue thread shot out as usual, this time going down into the ground at approximately a 45 degree angle. Turin looked at this for a moment, obviously running over something in his head.

"Well," he said, "it couldn't be on Christa, she'd be almost straight down by now. It has to be either on Hoth, or on Gallandros, if it's on a planet at all, that is."

I blinked, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "You didn't just say 'Hoth', did you?"

"Yes, actually," the owl replied, "I did. Do you know it?"

"Um, I know a planet named Hoth. It isn't an ice planet, is it?"

"Yes, actually," Turin continued, "it is. What an amazing coincidence."

"Yeah, I'll say," I replied, somewhat warily. I don't like coincidences like that. I wonder if that means we're going to suffer some sort of major setback on that planet. Of course, we're not exactly Rebels fighting an evil Galactic Empire or anything, so I'm probably making more out of this than I should.

Tempest's voice brought me out of my daydreaming. "How can you be so sure about which planets it could be on just by the direction of the beam?

"My good mistress, we Space Owls naturally memorize the positions of all the planets in our home Sphere," he replied, with a hint of pride in his voice. "Call it a gift. We frequently use this ability to serve as Navigators on Spellships, a position I would me more than happy to fill for you all. I've been cooped up in this Stronghold for far too long, and I would love to actually see Wildspace first hand. I remember everything my sire told me about it, of course, which he learned from his sire, and frankly, I've felt the stars calling me for years."

"Well, we'd be happy to have you," I replied. "A native guide is usually the best, and if what you've boasted is true, we shouldn't have to worry about getting lost."

"Splendid," Turin said, his feathers ruffling up a bit more with excitement and pride. "There is just one thing I need to do first. I should inform the local Parliament that the 'Chosen Ones' have arrived, and that I am leaving. But first, I do need some sleep. So if you will excuse me . . . "

He then retired to his nest, and we packed the Basestone back up, and waited for Gem and Psi-Guy to return. We sort-of drifted off in separate directions, each exploring different parts of the Stronghold. However, by the time I found the others again, Stephan had apparently confronted Tempest about what was going on, and they had worked everything out. I knew they would. Tempest and Balthezar were back together again, having found an understanding with Stephan, and everybody was happy.

As Gem and Psi-Guy were making their way back into the fortress, something really weird happened. I was still wandering around the fortress, but according to Gem, it began with a "meteor strike" - just like the ones that accompanied our arrivals on the 'Town' world. What came out, though, was a small robot! Well, actually it first appeared as a small metallic cylinder, which transformed into a robot, and immediately asked for me. After a little confusion, Gem came down and found me, and I came up to talk to it.

It turned out to be a messenger from Powerglide, come to offer me an opportunity to share in the fruits of some research he'd been doing related to the relationship between magic and technology, which we had discussed the first time we met. However, since then I've acquired the equivalent of what I was looking for at the time: unlimited spellbook capacity, in the form of the spellbook that Aglanar found for me; and more flexibility in spellcasting, in the form of the way magic works in this world. So I really wasn't interested anymore, and let the little gadget know that.

The robot wasn't programmed to deal with this response, however, so Powerglide ended up coming in person (or, at least, in projection) anyway! (I was actually really proud of myself for having found the one situation that he had least expected.) We discussed the matter a little more thoroughly, but I steadfastly turned down all of his offers I reasonably could, without completely alienating him, using the equivalent acquisitions I mentioned above as my outward rationale. My actual reasons, however, were a little more personal. For one thing, he seemed a little too eager to do things for me all of a sudden, and I figure that he wanted to get me in his debt somehow. And that is a position that I want to avoid, if possible, for its own sake, as well as the fact that the idea of dealing with him had, all of a sudden, given me a really creepy feeling; which in itself was reason number two. And I'm in the habit of listening to sudden attacks of intuition like that, since they usually mean something.

I couldn't turn him down flat, though. As much as part of me may have wanted to do so, another part wanted to keep every option open. I agreed to keep the little messenger robot, so that I could contact him if I wanted to for some reason; such as if I changed my mind, was the rationale. So I had it go to 'standby mode', and put it in my Portable Hole for storage. He then disappeared, and I went back into the fortress... where Gem was waiting in ambush for me the moment I came in.

This time I told her what happened, and in the process had to tell her everything about my dealings with Powerglide, including why I turned him down. That defused most of her anger, but she still wasn't very happy about me keeping the message 'bot. She is very concerned about it, but does respect me enough to let me make my own mistakes (almost exactly her own words), so didn't make too much of a stink.

And with that, we returned to our preparations. When the rest of us hunkered down for the night, Turin took off to run his errand, and I have lost track of time so badly writing this . . . this entry is WAY too long for one night's writing, but a lot happened! Luckily we elves don't need that much actual sleep!

3/3/18

Geez. What a day.

It turned out to be a DAMN good thing that I stayed up so long last night, writing the previous entry, because shortly after I put my writing implements away, we were besieged!

I was just about to lay down to get a few hours rest, when I heard a dull THUMP, and felt a vibration. Now, we were underground. Anything that could make the floor vibrate this far inside the cliff side had to be BIG!

I woke everybody else up, and we barely managed to get ourselves fully equipped before the assault force made its way to the level we were on.

When we heard what sounded like a horde of giant cockroaches, we decided to lay low for a moment. And it's a good thing we did, because suddenly a platoon of creatures that resembled Beholders came racing past, evidently searching for something. We guessed it was us.

Now, we have been able to defeat Beholders in the past. But only when there were just a few of them, or when we had an unfair advantage. However, right at that moment, we didn't have the time to prepare any advantages, so we chose the better part of valor: We ran.

Psi-Guy set up a Dimensional Door to the docking/landing bay, and we piled aboard our chosen ship, which I've suddenly decided to name The Insecticon's Revenge, just because I can't resist the irony. (It is a Dragonfly-class spelljamming ship, after all, and even looks like one, so even those that don't actually know what I'm talking about shouldn't get too confused.) As we were preparing to lift off, though, the Beholder platoon started spilling into the bay. I threw a Wall of Force in front of them, and to my own surprise, it actually stopped them! It wasn't to last, though, because a regular Beholder - one that actually looked like the ones we're familiar with - arrived soon thereafter, and used its Anti-Magic ray to nullify the wall, and prevented us from lifting off.

As soon as somebody let Psi-Guy know what the problem was, however, he psionically immobilized the normal Beholder, shutting off the ray, so we could use our magics again. (Apparently, he had never encountered Beholders before, so didn't know their abilities.) Thereafter, finishing them off was relatively easy, and we took off.

Just as we made it outside of the cliff-face, however, we were attacked by a ship that looked like an enormous Beholder - obviously their spelljamming ship. Luckily, Turin showed up right at that moment. He had apparently seen the Beholder ship attack from a distance, and had flown back as fast as he could. He managed to help us evade them by skimming the surface through the mountains, which he could enable us to do, since he was intimately familiar with the terrain.

After we managed to lose them, we headed upward, and left the planet just as dawn was about to break. Well, it was a little before dawn would have broken on the surface, since we were so high up, but it was close enough. We could see Christa -- this planet's moon -- in the distance.

For the rest of the morning, most of us have been catching up on the sleep we missed last night. I took a bit of a nap right after we left the atmosphere, but most of the others slept well into the afternoon, so Gem & I have been talking to Turin, discussing our route, and how long it should take.