The Asylum Stone

Up a River

They returned to Magnimar, where they engaged in much buying and selling and Tristan restored his levels. After reporting to the Pathfinder guild, they discovered that the next shard was in the city of Kaer Maga, up the Yondabakari River. While they prepared, Sheila organised a boat, a magically powered paddle steamer with a Halfling crew. The trip took nearly two weeks, to the foot of the Storval Rise, with only a brief clash with some Boggards and a Giant Dragonfly to relieve the boredom.

They discovered that there was a way up the cliff known as the Halflight Path, controlled by the Duskwardens. After a little negotiation, they agreed to help escort other travellers up the path in exchange for passage and set off with Duskwarden Abra Lopati as their guide. As they approached the half way point, the wall on the left of the tunnel crashed down, revealing three Seugathi, the monster responsible for one of their late comrade Nathanial's near death experiences. The battle was long and arduous, with several members of the party suffering from the monsters aura of madness  but, with Abras aid, they vanquished their foes. 

City of Strangers

The rest of the journey was uneventful and they finally arrived in a small stone bunker on the outskirts of Kaer Maga, near a district known as the Warren. As the merchant wandered off muttering about the Duskwardens incompetence, Abra thanked them for their aid and advised them to find a guide. This proved extremely simple as they moved into the city through a huge gap in its walls, as seemingly half the towns younger inhabitants offered their services as guides. One introduced himself as Gav Nahli and seemed more intelligent than the rest, as he recognised them s Pathfinders. They employed him and, having given him some idea of their quest, followed him to meet an Augur, one of the trolls that make their living foretelling the future and divining hidden truths.

Unfortunately, there were a few local difficulties – apparently the Augers were on strike due to the actions of one member of a ruling family, the Ardocs. The Augur they met, Vargun, offered to aid them if they rescued her brother Augustille from Berkanin Ardoc, who had kidnapped Augustille and so caused the present situation. They agreed and, with little delay, set off for Berkanins house.
The house was situated forty feet up the inside wall of a massive chamber, as were most of the houses in this section of the city. After some discussion, Arkwright cast fly on them all (eschewing the arched stairway that formed the front entrance) and they flew up to the grounds. After their initial investigation, Ismeina reported that the uppermost room had no roof and that there was a chap in there who wanted to dissect her. After yet more discussion, all but Tristan flew up, to find the room empty apart from a large metal apparatus of some sort. At this point, Tristan joined them, having seen some sort of huge plant monster in the garden. The room appeared to be some sort of workshop and they moved out into a bedroom, with an en suite and an invisible catfolk rogue, who proved remarkably resilient in combat until finally being overwhelmed by sheer force of numbers.

From the tower they were in, a long ramp open to the outer chamber lead down to a second tower. As they set off, they came under attack from a Harpy, who caused them great problems, particularly for Arkwright who found himself left alone on the ramp at one point. Using their combined resources of magic and extreme gratuitous violence, they managed to kill the creature and moved into the second tower. Here they found the Harpies bedroom, an office and a shrine to Brigh, the goddess of inventors and constructs. After a quick search, they headed downstairs inot a large room with over-stuffed armchairs and display cabinets. In this room, they came under attack from a Tupilaq which proved very hard to kill – however, given time, they were eventually triumphant.

The Prophecy

They explored the rest of the house, finding little of interest apart from an exploding stove and some Terracotta Soldiers. They moved back to the lab, defeating the remaining Clockwork Soldiers and set about investigating the metal machine. Opening the large door on its front, they found a troll inside, being continuously dissected but alive thanks to its regeneration. They released it, but, through the haze of pain and drugs, it did not recognize their kindness and attacked, forcing them to knock it out (repeatedly). They left the house and returned to Vargun, who was delighted to see her brother again and set off to the healers to get him help.
Later that day, they headed to the augurs temple to see if they could get their prophesy now. As they greeted Augustille, they found him to be a civilised troll who was very apologetic for his earlier actions. Suddenly, he fell to the floor, frothing at the mouth and, peaking in Aklo, delivered the following prophecy:
 
 
The interpretation of prophecies not being their speciality, they followed Varguns advice and headed for the Therassic Spire. Here, an elderly librarian basically told them to go away until they happened to mention the Sihedron, at which point they were ushered in. After a limited exchange of information, Koifa (the librarian) offered them money and access to the library if they would investigate a problem for her. She explained that for some time the library had been in telepathic contact with a race called the caulborn, who lived beneath the tower. Recently, the caulborn had been in contact to offer help in retrieving an item of great power (a Sihedron shard) from a realm they called the Dark Forest and to tell the librarians of a secret door in their tower which had lain undiscovered for millennia. A band of adventurers were hired and sent in but no word has been heard of them since and they never met the caulborn. She asks the party to investigate the disappearance and recover the shard and check that the caulborn emissaries have not been harmed.
On their agreement, she lead them down into the cellars to a door with a ring of elderly librarians sitting round it. They moved through the door and through the first room, where they had some problems with a head-sized blod of purple liquid which kept casting symbol spells as they walked through. Eventually, they reached the corridor beyond.

The Undercity

After spending some time trying to deal with their various damage from the purple blob, they started to explore. A door to the north lead to a summoning chamber where a bound Couatl attacked on sight. However, when it saw Tristan (who appeared to be Sorshen to it), it’s attitude improved considerably and it told them it could be freed if a Thassilonian object of great power was presented in the summoning circle and a phrase spoken. Having ascertained that they could gain little knowledge from it, they freed the Couatl, which gave them some feathers to allow them to summon it, before vanishing.

To the south, they found a room with many chains hanging from the ceiling. As they entered, they came under attack from three Kytons, which proved themselves to be deadly adversaries before they finally fell. The next room contained an Orrery, which they thoroughly researched but did not interfere with before moving on.

In the next room they saw a female monk making a wordless keening noise over the body of a Halfling – they had found Hasari and Perotus, members of the original band of mercenaries. As they approached her, Hasari attacked and they set about trying to subdue her.

Unfortunately, part way through the combat, a Hellwasp Swarm emerged from the Halflings body and joined the monk in the assault, complicating matters considerably. Even with this added peril, they managed to subdue the monk and returned her and her husband's body to the Librarians.

The Blubbery Gnome

They rested while Arkwright stayed over in town having returned the Hasari and Perotus. On his return, they ventured to the next room, which seemed to be some form of gladiatorial chamber. Within were a Brain Ooze and two Gibbering Mouthers, which proved a stern test for the party, especially Arkwright, in a truly epic pitched battle fighting toe to toe and in some cases teeth to shoulder. Eventually, the aberrations were defeated and the rooms treasure collected – a magical crossbow and some human bane bolts. After spending a while recovering, they moved on.

The next room contained a bloated Gnome, standing near a lever in the centre of it. Tristan charged in, grappling the blubbery Gnome and holding him, as the others beat him unconscious, suffering only mildly as he used Shout, the only spell he could cast without having to grapple. Eventually subdued, he was delivered to the librarians trussed up like a turkey and gagged.

Seeing the Light

They rested ‘overnight’ then moved through an arch in to the next room, which was flooded to a depth of two feet with a Grodair in a cage in the centre of it. As they gathered round an arch in the far wall, steel shutters suddenly dropped, blocking both arches and the water level rose alarmingly. They reacted in their own ways – Ismeina tried to disable the door in the arch, Arkwright and Magda moved back to the walls and Tristan attacked the Grodair. Deciding everything was pointless and they were all going to die, they all followed Tristan's lead and a short battle later, had a big pile of sushi and the water drained away.

They spent the next few minutes battering away at the steel shutters until they had broken through both of them. Finally, they reached the room beyond the arch, only to find a polite Dark Naga and a door with a polygon of Onyx at its centre. After some time, they decided that the door was far to difficult to puzzle their way through and set off to clear the rest of the denizens of this place, leaving the Naga still puzzling over the door.

Back near the entrance, they looked in to a room they had left on their way in, to find an enormous plant which Arkwright told them was a Moonflower, a non-native plant. As Magda cautiously approached, it seized her and grappled her in to what appeared to be its mouth. As she struggled out of its grip, Arkwright and Tristan attacked it with magic, using Fireball and summoned fire elementals. Izzy moved in, only to be grappled in her turn – she used escape artist to avoid it and so it was Arkwright's turn, who was grappled just before the plant was finally killed.

The final unexplored room was a relatively small, brightly lit chamber. As they surveyed it, Magda came under attack from something invisible and unexpectedly retreated, as Tristan advanced in to the room and used Deeper Darkness to reduce the lighting level. This revealed three creatures which Arkwright identified as Lurkers in Light. The Lurkers used Daylight to bring lighting levels back to the point where it rendered them invisible again and battle was joined, with everyone (even Arkwright) going in to the room to fight. The going was difficult, as the concealed Lurkers proved to be quite an irritating opponent, until they all retreated and shut the door. Arkwright, however, was annoyed and returned to cast fireball into the room, killing all of the Lurkers outright. Then it was time for bed again.

Through the Door of Greed

They returned to the annoying door and equally annoying Naga, which they spent some time trying to persuade to leave – it refused, saying it must complete its mission. Eventually, Arkwright gave up and they went back to staring at the door. Tristan suggested trying the symbol of Greed,  Karzoug's symbol, on the grounds it was carved everywhere else in the dungeon and as they did so, the door slid open. At this point the Naga cast lightning bolt at them, to no ones great surprise, and a brief and, for the Naga, ultimately disappointing struggle ensued. After returning the Naga to the librarians, they passed through the door in to a large cavern with a river running through its centre. As they began to cross the bridge over the river, the room suddenly darkened, their light sources suppressed.

All but Arkwright retreated out of the darkness, while Arkwright cast invisibility and tried to hide at the edge of the cavern. Three Hydrodaemons lumbered out of the river and one seemed to notice the evoker, attacking him. The others moved in on the rest of the party and a lengthy and at times near lethal combat ensued, with Arkwright near death and the others hard pressed. Finally, after a not inconsiderable time, the party were victorious and regrouped to heal.

The Black Keep

 They spent a few minutes healing before moving on through the tunnels, finally reaching a large cave with a menhir at its centre. Standing by the figure were two figures with over-sized grotesque skulls and no eyes, while further away floated a brain like mass. The Caulborn welcomed them and explained that the menhir was the gateway to the Dark Forest and thence to the Black Keep, where the shard lay. They issued warnings that the realm was peopled mostly by the undead and that they should take great care when they arrived – the menhirs had a side-effect when used by the living, that they released swarms of carnivorous grubs. Arkwright cast fly on everyone and they went through, evading the predicted swarm with ease and using magic to annihilate them.

Unfortunately the fireballs were noticed by the guardians of the area and three Wyverns came to investigate, attacking as soon as they got close. They proved very difficult and tenacious foes, using up yet more of the parties resources in the dangerous realm before finally succumbing to the spells and blows of the adventurers.

They healed a little and moved on to the looming, lop-sided structure at the heart of the forest, the Black Keep. Moving in through the front door, they found a large hall, decorated with a bas-relief of a headless horseman and with suits of black armour in each of its four corners. Tristan moved swiftly to cross the room, at which point thick green fog filled with undead visions poured out of the farthest two statues and a female voice welcomed them, letting them know the master had seen their coming.

The fogs proved to be Hungry Fogs and the speaker a Manananggal. It took them some time to realize that the damage they took from the fogs was healing the Manananggal but once they did, they concentrated their attacks on the fogs and quickly simplified their plight so that they could deal with the Manananggal alone. The combat was a close run thing but they finally were victorious and, pausing only to rifle the corpse and heal, they moved on.

The Pale Stranger

The door to the right lead to a ruined tower which, from the smell and mess, was the lair of the Wyverns they had met earlier. To the left, the door lead into the stables, where a Pale Stranger greeted them with the cry ‘Rustlers’ and a fusillade of bullets. Tristan tried to sunder one of her guns as the others joined the combat – he swiftly decided sunder was a silly idea and joined the others in a full on assault. Despite dealing damage with her guns, the Pale Stranger was no match for the combined force of the party and soon went the way of all things.

After searching, they moved up the stairs to a landing with three doors and a set of double doors leading off it. A door to the right lead into a library, where a Pukwudgie ordered his Wraiths to attack them. Unprepared for combat with incorporeal beings, the Wraiths proved a considerable nuisance (certainly more so than the Pukwudgie) and things got relatively desperate for a while, before the Wraiths finally began to fall and they could follow their normal practice of ganging up on things.

The door to the right lead into a relatively opulent bedchamber with a sunken bath – it also contained a Nuckelavee, a deeply unpleasant fey. This time, combat was hard and nasty, as they struggled to penetrate the feys DR. However, with a few well chosen spells and pure unadulterated violence, they won through.

The Dark Rider

They spent a little time recovering from their exertions then headed to the final door to the right, leaving the double doors to the last. Beyond the door was a tidy workshop come living space, with an obvious corpse seated in a comfortable chair with cushions scattered at its feet. As they looked in, the corpse looked up at them, smiled and welcomed them, bidding them sit with it and talk. Tristan quelled his immediate impulse to release the undead from the horror of its existence and turned away, as Arkwright and the others did as it bid. The lengthy conversation on mechanical engineering soon drove the others away but Arkwright was in his element and a considerable time passed. During the conversation, he learned that beyond the double doors were the mastiffs of a creature the undead (or Maligast of Eox, as he introduced himself, with some further details of his world) named as the Dark Rider – some form of headless horseman. Eventually, even Arkwright felt it was time to move on and he and Maligast parted on friendly terms, much to Tristan's dismay.

Beyond the double door there were indeed dogs – Shadow Mastiffs, which proved more of a threat than expected until Arkwright started lightning bolting them. As the last of the dogs fell and they surveyed their surroundings, the double doors opposite those they had entered by opened, revealing a headless figure in black armour atop a fiendish warhorse. He greeted them by hurling a head at them, which exploded with dark energy, before he charged into a host of spells and swords. The combat was swift and brutal, but the horseman and his mount were no match for the combined efforts of the party. Having defeated there foe, they searched the side rooms, finding a statue of the Dark Rider in one and some Mohrgs in the other.

The Shard Chamber

In the room beyond they found a bright blue pool and two side rooms which contained piping for some form of hidden machine.
They moved into the final room to be confronted with a twenty foot all pillar, partly organic and partly mechanical. Round its base were the corpses of three angelic figures, plugged into the pillar and silently screaming. Ismeina climbed the unpleasantly warm and damp pillar and retrieved the shard from its top. As she did so, the angels screamed in mortal pain before crumbling to dust, the air went stale and the light outside dimmed. A wave of necromantic energy was unleashed from the pillar, affecting Tristan, whose skin paled and became foully gangrenous as the curse of living death took hold. For some reason, they decided to leave the demi-plane quickly.

As they passed through one of the outer rooms, Maligast of Eox attacked and an exchange of magical energies between him, Tristan and Arkwright ensued, as Ismeina and Magda found him extremely difficult to hurt. Eventually, he succumbed to the barrage of fireballs from Arkwright and they set off again, only to be met by the Caulborn, the wards against them having ended when the shard was removed from the pillar. The Caulborn attacked and were easily defeated, allowing the party to leave the plane and return home. Tristan removed his curse as soon as possible and they reported back to Sheila.