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Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Bonegarden.

(So, I was wrong. The group wasn't at the tomb of the Blood Governor. They were still talking amongst themselves as the Midnight Peddler drove away. We pick up the action still on the doorstep of the Ossuary.

The group wanted to see if they could heal Sebano, as Maximus had some restoration spells prepared. They caught up with the Midnight Peddler, and Jon and Feanor kept him busy while Max and the others distracted Sebano with Tim's wolf companion familiar. Sebano had demonstrated a desire to pet Shadowfang before, and the Peddler at that time had indicated that his servant loved dogs and had recently lost one.

More wheeling and dealing then took place, with Jon suggesting that the group had a more powerful wizard. This piqued the interest of the Midnight Peddler, but Jon refused to tell him who the other wizard was.

Max tried to cure Sebano, and the hunchback resisted, squirming away and insisted that "It keeps in the bad thing! It keeps in the bad thing!" He repeated that phrase loudly enough for the Midnight Peddler to overhear. The Peddler calmly explained that Sebano's condition is voluntary, as he'd forfeited a portion of his soul to contain a great evil.

And speaking of great evil, the Peddler said that if they were going to venture to the Blood Governor's tomb, the Governor was in possession of a talisman of ultimate evil. The heroes, he said would be wise to retrieve it, since having such an artifact in the possession of one as evil as the Blood Governor was dangerous indeed. He said he'd return the favor of they retrieved the talisman for him. They asked if Sebano could open the door to the Ossuary, and the Peddler replied that no door is a barrier to him. If they could find Sebano's dog, he'd ask the hunchback to open the door for them. If not… their only recourse was to get the golem's crannequin from the Blood Governor.

He once more rode off in his casket-wagon, and the group made their way toward the Rose Garden/Hedge Maze. They had decided that it was likely the least dangerous route to Descent, whatever that was. They also decided to investigate the Crematorium, since it was on the way.

Approaching the Crematorium, they noticed that the flag of Modron was flying from its roof. Max approached, calling out to anyone inside. His foot crushed a bottle, and it erupted in a powerful fire trap spell. Voices called out to them from inside the Crematorium, demanding that they identify themselves. They did so, and were told approach but to be wary of the blue bottles.

They found that the Crematorium was the battleground of a besieged group of adventurers, some from Modron, who'd been trapped in the Bonegarden when their cleric was slain. They were desperate to escape, running low on supplies, and besieged by wights every evening. When asked why they were in the Bonegarden, they explained that they'd been sent to find a hair follicle from the head of a lich. They'd been unsuccessful in finding a lich, and insisted that there must be none in the Bonegarden. Their wizard, Zey, had lost his main spellbook, and he was reduced to making "fire mines."

While the rest of the party were talking with the others, Feanor opened the cremator, and was admonished by Eliosk, the gnome. He shut up after the elf suggested that he'd be a nice fit for the oven. Investigating the ashes, Feanor found, of all things, a scrap of paper. The paper later turned out to be a scroll of protection from energy (fire).

The other party's leader Devisha insisted - strongly - that one of the party's clerics help them escape right away. Even with Maximus and Zeedek in the party, the heroes were none too ready to waste their clerics' own ability to help them escape. Devisha's desperation became all too apparent then. Upon hearing their refusal, she rose her axe and angrily insisted once more that one of the clerics help them. The other members of her party also armed themselves, but the twin human warriors tried to counsel her against this madness. There were a few tense moments as the two parties faced off, but it never came to blows. Jon smoothed over ruffled feathers (a combination of good roleplaying from all the players and a good Diplomacy check… I combine role-playing and "roll-playing," giving bonuses to social interaction checks if they are accompanied by good roleplaying), and finally convinced Devisha to wait for them to return. He promised that they would be back before nightfall, and would escort them out at that time. As a show of good faith, Iliya left one of her hippogriff effigies behind to help defend the Crematorium if need be.

They left Devisha's group there, somewhat dejected and some of them feeling as if they were watching their last hope walk away.

The party discovered that the Rose Garden Hedge Maze consisted not of actual roses, but of vampire roses spread out in a labyrinth nearly 200 feet across. Going through on foot would be dangerous, to say the least. Not only that, but according to Timm, vampire roses were mobile. It's likely that the maze could change behind them. Fortunately, they had Iliya with her hippogriff effigy. They sent her and Max in first to scout around and see if they could determine who or what the Quiet Gardener was. They discovered that he was a horrible type of undead known as a mohrg, and the hedge maze was also swarming with zombies - no doubt under the Gardener's control.

Using Iliya's hippogriff, they flew in Zeedek, Feanor, and Iliya who were immediately beset by vampire roses. Timm flew overhead in eagle form, blasting with spells thanks to his handy Natural Spell feat. Iliya sent the hippogriff back for Jon and Max. The Quiet Gardener was taken out by Feanor and Timm before it got into melee range. After chopping down a half dozen zombies and a dozen vampire roses, the group finally had enough breathing room for Feanor to topple the angel statue at the center of the maze. He did so, and with the help of the effigy managed to clear away the tombstones blocking the passage to Descent. He also found an old cloth bag, which he tucked away to examine later.

The passageway they'd uncovered was far too small to allow Shadowfang and the hippogriff to enter, so, reluctantly, Iliya and Timm sent them back to the Crematorium in the hopes that Devish and Company would look after them.

They ventured down the shaft, and found that the bag contained a garlic clove, a shadowy key which Jon determined existed at least partially on the Plane of Shadow, and some other bits of treasure. Interestingly enough, they key had a design on it that led them to believe that it went with the eerie windmill they'd seen from a distance.

The tunnel ended in a simple wooden obstruction, and with a few heaves they pushed it out of the way and into… a bedroom? The wooden obstruction was actually a wardrobe. Before they'd spent too much time exploring this incongruous room, a ghost appeared before them and introduced himself as Lewis, the Mortician. They chatted with him for some time, and finally learned that Descent was a town, a small thorp in a large cavern beneath the Bonegarden, and the last refuge of the living. Strange it was that the living had buried themselves deeper than the dead. He didn't know of Rani the Protector, but he did warn them of the machinations of Lord Slan and Esbat, but he didn't go into any detail as to who or what they were. Lewis also gave them the name of Hezmon, who he suspected was his murderer. He then insisted that the party leave his private chamber as they'd found it. They did so, and wandered into the town of Descent.

They spent some time there, wandering around the market place and marveling about a town of the living in such a place as this. Straight away, they encountered a starving mongrel with a collar that bore five keys. Remembering the symbol on Sebano's hand, they knew that this had to be his poor lost dog. Timm soothed the animal and befriended it, and from then on it accompanied them wherever they went.

They found the town's only inn, The Charnel House, and avoided it. A passerby on the street directed them to Rani's Apothecary, and at long last they met the mysterious Rani the Protector. She was a telepathic, green-skinned Celestial, sent here, she explained, to defend the poor souls of Descent. She healed the wounds Maximus had sustained from the fire trap for free and sold them some healing potions at a reduced rate. She also volunteered more information, for free, which was a welcome relief to the give-and-take of the Midnight Peddler.

They found that the Blood Governor was indeed a lich, and was one of the mortal world's most powerful wizards before he died. It was he who was interested in finding a wizard, no doubt in order to find some spell that could release him from the Bonegarden. She mentioned Ristiko and his vampires, suggesting that now that the Ossuary's golem was destroyed (as the party had told her) the vampires might gain in political influence. Their superhuman strength meant that they were the ones strong enough to open the Ossuary doors without the aid of the golem. Asked about Karthe, she said that he was a creature known as a Doomed Warrior, similar in many respects to a Death Knight. Tereza, his lover, was a vampire, and this was, in part, responsible for the hostility between Karthe and Ristiko. The party just shook their heads at the depth of intrigue and political dealings that were going on in an area as small as the Bonegarden. When one can't kill one's enemy, combat becomes useless and the only thing left is personal and political might. The Bonegarden was in a stagnant status quo, with artifacts being traded back and forth, won and lost, and power bases frequently shifting.

When asked about a safe way out, she said that the safest route, for them, was through a tunnel containing 36 mummies. If they ran straight through, they should make it with little trouble thanks to the shambling pace of the mummies. They thanked Rani for her help and her assistance, and she warned them to be ever on their guard against the Blood Governor, Esbat, and Lord Slan. Their presence was no doubt going to cause ripples in the politics of the Bonegarden.

They left Descent, but had some trouble getting out of the room with the mummies. Max stopped to clear a path, and Iliya became paralyzed with fear at the sight of the bandaged horrors. This delay was costly, and Max was pummeled harshly by the creatures as Timm flew back to Iliya to help her with a dimension door spell to the other side of the room. Zeedek tried to heal Max, but was unable to and actually injured himself thanks to the ring of blades spell Max had erected to protect him from the mummies.

Finally the group had enough of a gap between them and the remaining mummies to make a break for it. They fled up the passageway, coming to an iron gate with a heavy padlock. Feanor made short work of the lock, and they found themselves at the base of the hill on which stood the Ossuary. They slammed the gate shut and locked it to keep the mummies from following, and set off through the Bonegarden to find the Midnight Peddlar and Sebano. They had a dog to deliver.

TIMM wrote:

---

just a bit of clarification for those who may read our adventures

The party rested another day, and after some talk decided to brave one more foray into the Bonegarden. They wanted to talk to Rani, and see if there was any way they could orchestrate an escape from Descent for those who wished to escape. This had to be done quickly, for if time was given for word to get around, it may reach the ears of those in power in Descent - Esbat and Lord Slan.

So, with Magrieshal in tow (who'd made it clear to the party that if she were to venture back into the Bonegarden, she was going to line her pockets), they assailed the "mummy room" to clear a path out of Descent. The plan was to send in Feanor to act as bait, buffed up with fire resistance from various sources. With the elf surrounded by mummies, Timm would drop a fireball into the room. Feanor would have to rely on his uncanny reflexes to save him from any fire damage that made it through his magical defenses. The weakened mummies could then be dealt with in a more conventional manner. The clerics would spare their turn checks to have more available with which to escape.

The plan went more or less as they had hoped, but it took two fireballs - one of which Feanor was able to avoid completely by careful placement of the spell by Timm - and Iliya lost one of her hippogriff effigies after she'd become surrounded by the undead things. Better it than she, however. It could be rebuilt. She could not. Feanor was afflicted with the hideous mummy rot, unfortunately, but in the end all three dozen mummies were destroyed… for now at least.

Iliya remained in the mummy room, to see if her destroyed hippogriff effigy could be repaired.

The rest of the party made their way to Rani's Apothecary, where Feanor received her healing attentions. Jon, still curious about finding the remaining pieces of her heart wandered around descent with an active locate object spell. He found a piece in the Refinery, but as he and Max neared it, they were stopped short by the guards - a half-dozen skull devils! (I'm using my stats for "lesser demons and devils," the 3.5e conversions of the demons and devils that were weaker in 3.0. "Skull devils" are lesser bone devils.) Not wanting to push their luck, the heroes backed down and returned to Rani's.

They discussed their plan with her, and she agreed that it was something that needed to be done quickly. She said that "Elmedina" could get the word out quickly, but did not say who or what "Elmedina" was. Rani was hesitant, like the party, to let too much time pass on this plan, as Lord Slan and Esbat would not let their slaves go so easily. If enough time passed, the plan would certainly reach their evil ears. Rani did inform the party that Esbat was a "winged fiend' (again, using my alternate stats for devils, a winged fiend is a lesser pit fiend) and Lord Slan was an abyssal vampire - one of the demonic creatures said to be the source of vampires. Jon asked if she knew about the pieces of her heart, and Rani said that she didn't know what they were, but if they existed in Descent, if anyone knew of them it would certainly be Elmedina.

When asked if there was anyone the party could take with them on very short notice without causing too much of a scene, Rani urged them to rescue Wrenli, a woman being used against her will as a target for Nazgang the Knife-Thrower.

Feanor, Timm, and Magrieshal decided to search the mummy room for treasure, and told the party they'd be back. Jon, still overpowered with the urge to find the pieces of her heart, cast invisibility on himself and crept towards the Refinery. He wanted to see how close he could get, and even dare enter if he could do so undetected. Maximus had other plans.

After giving Jon some time, Maximus recruited Zeedek to see if they could take down the skull devils. After a few rounds of buffing, the two clerics attacked. Two skull devils went down quickly, but just as quickly eight more teleported in along with a bearded devil! Seeing that things were getting bad quickly, Maximus grabbed Zeedek and fled across the great cavern towards the Food Processing Plant. His plan, it seemed, was to ignite the cold war between Lord Slan and Esbat by leading one faction into open combat with another.

Jon winced, smacked his forehead, rolled his eyes, and buried his face in his hands. All invisibly, of course.

Four of the skull devils remained behind to guard the Refinery, and soon Jon was nearly smashed between the door and the wall as Esbat opened it from within. One of the skull devils informed him what happened, saying that Lord Slan had made his move. Esbat beat the skull devil to the ground, and growled at it that Lord Slan does not employ clerics. This was a move from some other player. He dismissed the four skull devils to Rani's Apothecary and told them to deal with her. They scampered away as Esbat shut the door. Jon ran off after the devils, eager to assist Rani fend them off if need be.

So this is where we left the party. Maximus and Zeedek are running top speed through the center of Descent, with eight skull demons teleporting in, around, and after them as they make for the Food Processing Plant. Jon is running top speed after four more skull devils on their way to assault Rani. Timm, Magrieshal, and Feanor are making their way towards the mummy room. Iliya is in the mummy room sifting through the remains of her hippogriff effigy.

And a huge, honkin' monkey wrench just got thrown into the delicate politics of Descent.

Having rested and stocked up, the party set out for the ruins of Mathen Manor to close the heteroclite portal. They found the town of Byrny nearly overrun with dwarves and soldiers from the City State. There were two throngs in Byrny, and at least one more on the grounds of the Mistwood Mines.

Having taken on the appearance of a dwarf, Jon was able to find out that the dwarves had been contracted from Thunderhold to mine the mithral, but were being held back while assayers and mine engineers examined the area. Jon briefly toyed with the idea of causing an uprising amongst the workers, but thought better of it.

The next day they set out for the Mistwoods, passing close to the ruins of Mathlyn which was being rebuild by soldiers from the City State. They tried to ride past discretely, but were stopped by a detachment of soldiers. The sergeant in charge informed them that the entire region was interdicted to travelers. The Overlord was making sure that his interests were protected! Not wanting to cause trouble with the soldiers and thereby make the Overlord's most wanted list, the party agreed to return to Byrny.

There they bought passage on a barge going to Dwarfport the following day. Midway through the journey, they bluffed the bargemen into believing that the barge was being attacked by scrags. They leapt into the water, and made their way through the murky swamps at the convergence of the Stillring and Loudring Rivers. Timm scouted out the area in eagle form, and found that the remainder of the throng rumored to be in the area was posted at the Mistwood Mine. The entrance to the old carrion moth cavern and the ruins of the Mathen Estate were not under guard. Fighting quicksand and mosquitos, the party finally left the marsh behind and re-entered the carrion moth cavern.

They gave the ethereal diadem to Feanor, thinking that since he was chaotic he'd be able to control it better. They first went to the "space" obelisk. In his mind, Feanor could see hideous, odd, creatures sailing in a bizarre metal ship through the vastness of space. As Feanor tried to shut the obelisk down, it spat out will-'o-wisps at them. Try as he might, Feanor could not muster the strength of charisma required. Once the 'wisps were defeated, the party regrouped and had Jon give it a go. Bolstered by eagle's splendor and a cloak of resistance, he was ultimately able to shut down the obelisk.

Next, they ventured to the obelisk surrounded by azure fungus. They set off the explosive mushrooms with some summoned fire elementals and a fireball. As Jon approached this crystal, he saw the strange creatures Feanor had described on an even stranger alien world. The odd metal ship was leaving that world behind. The dimensional slug was summoned once more, but Jon was able to shut down the crystal before it could do anything.

The next crystal was in the carrion moth breeding cavern. This crystal gave Jon the mental image of the strange metal ship falling from the sky over a landmass he recognized as the peninsula on which was built the City State. (I know the peninsula has a name, but I'm not enough of a Wilderlands scholar to have it memorized.) Now having the hang of things, Jon shut down this crystal before it summoned any umber hulks.

The final crystal, a mile away beneath the ruins of Mathen Manor, provided a mental image that Jon, with his bardic knowledge, was able to identify as being the Uttermost War. The odd creatures in their odd metal ships must have been the markabs. This crystal, too, was shut down.

Feanor climbed the shaft leading up to the old barn, and chanced a look out to verify that the heteroclite portal was indeed gone. It was nowhere to be seen. At long last, they'd finally completed their quest.

Warning: This post from here down contains spoilers for What Evil Lurks.

They returned to the City State, and with an odd smile Langwellan the Blue told them that he'd heard that the village of Woe was having wolf trouble. He asked Timm if he'd be willing to travel to the muddy little town to see if he could find out the truth of the matter from the local wolves. Timm agreed, and the party set out through the swamps to the north of the City State for the village of Woe. They arrived at the village in the midst of a dismal rain.

(I'm running What Evil Lurks, and Woe is standing in for the village of Leafton in that module.)

At first the party spoke with the town mayor, who seemed certain that this was merely attacks by starving wolves from the Dearthwood, but did express some concern that a person as powerful as Langwellan felt it necessary to send adventurers out to look into the matter. He told them of the recent disappearance of the farmboy named Mathfrid, and that his father could likely be found drowning his sorrows at the Plough and Circumstance Inn. He also directed them to the ranger Cadyr the Culled, who'd mentioned that woodsmen have also gone missing. Timm's companion familiar Shadowfang, a horse-sized wolf, was staring to cause some great concern in the locals, so he sent him into the woods to keep hidden.

Jon went to the Plough and Circumstance to talk to Lothair about the disappearance of his son Mathfrid. Zeedek and Maximus visited the Temple of Ehlonna to talk to the clerics there. Feanor and Timm investigated Lothair's farm to see if they could find evidence of what had taken Mathfrid.

Lothair was able to provide little more information about Mathfrid's disappearance, only that he'd heard his son scream and found odd footprints near the scarecrow he was working on.

Zeedek and Maximus learned from the priest of Ehlonna that no one had actually seen a wolf in the area. They were only assuming that it was a wolf that took the boy. The priest theorized that the people were calling it a wolf because, quite frankly, anything else would be too frightening to contemplate. Denial could be a powerful thing. The priest further told them that if it was wolves that were killing people, it may well be Ehlonna's will.

Timm and Feanor found the strange footprints by the scarecrow, but despite the passage of time, the rain, and the mud, they were clearly able to see that these were no wolf prints. Having seen similar foul creatures in the Bonegarden, they recognized these as the footprints of ghouls. They led into the Dearthwood.

Soon the party met up again to share what they'd learned. The evidence told them that wolves were not the culprit, and who- or whatever it was could be found somewhere in the great dark forest beyond the village of Woe.