May 1, 2001

Today's adventurerers are:
Me, currently a Rogue/Sorcerer (5/2)
Tarn, The Barbarian Cleric and now Templar of Kord (4/4/2)
Coletan, The Wizard (9th)
The new guy, Ragnar, a paladin (5th)

We continued on our seemingly never ending quest for the Mudship. In one particularly notable room, we were ambushed by four ropers. We failed to see them concealed against the stonework of the cavern and before we knew what was happening, all four party members were in their clutches. The very touch of them drained all of my strength, rendering me helpless. If I could only move it would have been a simple manner to free myself, but all I could do was watch as Coletan teleported away, and the two fighters threw their might against them. Just as everything was going black, Tarn broke free of his and started to come to my aid. But it was too late.

I remember being in a wondrous, ever-changing landscape of forests, towns and tunnels with lightly guarded treasures everywhere I turned. All the merchants I met gave me exceptional prices, all the treasure chests had simple locks, all the guardians were too clueless to notice me slipping by. I even remember being in a tavern, swapping adventure tales with Bradobaris himself...

The I heard, "Milo, It's time to come back..."

Don't bother me. I'm dead, and I think I like it.

"Milo, we need your help getting that Mudship..."

Get it yourself!

"Milo, we're in Marsember now, and you have some money you haven't spent..."

Marsember? I have money? What time is it? Maybe I can make it to Gathan's Wand Emporium before it closes! I wonder if he still has that Wand of Invis I've been eyeballing. Maybe Naffel Mangum got his newest shipment of magic items in. I better check it out.

So, I picked up the Wand of Invisibility and we headed back to the managere. The humility of being beaten by the Xorn was really starting to get to us, so we went back to their chamber for a re-match. The combat went much differently this time. Coletan even charmed one of them, which gave us fewer to fight.

After the fight, the charmed Xorn gave us a clue/riddle. The take home message was that we had to touch all of the entrance doors to the center chamber before any of them would open.

We did that, and entered the center chamber. There was a vampire looking chick standing on top of a sarcophagus. She asked us why mortals always rushed to their deaths. We figured that was a rhetorical question and opened fire.

The first several rounds she avoided us and kept casting buff spells on herself. I used my wand to find out that her name was Drelza - daughter of Iggwillive. Coletan and the fighters decided we needed a way to make her come down and fight. The fighters flipped the lid off the sarcophagus. Coletan unrolled the portable hole next to the sarcophagus. In an amazing feat of strength, the paladin flipped her coffin out of the sarcophagus and into the portable hole. Coletan closed the hole. Drelza shrieked. I laughed. Drelza flew down to the fighters and tried to lop off their heads with her scythe. The rage must have thrown off her golf swing because she couldn't hit shit. The fighters laid their usual beatdown on her. It wasn't long before she took gaseous form and retreated. But, she had nowhere to go, so she went up to the ceiling to rest for a bit and rethink her plan. Coletan scooped up the gas with the bag of holding and held onto her for safe keeping.

The sarcophagus had 6 books inside - a Manual of Bodily Health, a Manual of Gainful Exercise, a Manual of Quickness in Action, a Tome of Clear Thought, a Tome of Leadership and Influence and a Tome of Understanding. Wow. Also, there was a secret passage that led to the underground storage chamber of the mudship. Cool. Now we can blow this pop stand.

We split up the books as follows - Tarn received the Manual of Gainful Exercise because he worships a god of strength and all and it only seemed right. The paladin Ragnar got the Tome of Leadership and Influence because he said it would help his 'purty' - I'm not sure if he meant pretty or purity... I of course got the Manual of Quickness in Action, because thats my thing, and Coletan got the Tome of Clear Thought, because that's his thing. That left the Manual of Bodily Health and the Tome of Understanding. We haven't seen the Monk or the Bard in ages, so we decided to give the Tome of Understanding to Tarn because it will help is clerical powers, and the Manual of Bodily Health went to me because the party is sick of raising me from the dead. I hope it helps. Thanks guys!

We picked a nice sunny day to air out the bag of holding on our way back to marsember. Bye bye, Drelza!