The World of Telvar

We traveled up the rocky ground toward the compound. When we were about 50 feet from it, some voices finally responded to our hails. We told them that we wanted to help them off the island. Unfortunately, it appears that some of them, at least, didn't want to leave. We could hear them arguing about an attack on us, but figured it was a bluff. They demanded our surrender. We started backing up.

That was when two Light spells, a Hold Person, a Web, and a Charm Person hit us at the same time. The charm failed on Quentin, the Hold caught Drew and Morgan, but Tyveris resisted. The Light spells hit Morgan and Felix, while the Web hit everyone but Gaston.

That was when we realized that our strategy had been, in hindsight, a poor one.

We surrendered summarily, especially when one man, who was a wizard, whispered something about not resisting and we might survive this.

They decided to use us as bargaining chips for getting a few of their men off of the island. Their demands were: 1) transport for three men so that they could contact allies and restore the island to its former glory, and 2) that all but one of the "Pirate" (Petethalian navy) ships withdraw. Two men escorted Tyveris back to the beach while the others were dragged into a prison room in the compound.

The compound, by the way, was a ruined temple. The whole thing had collapsed in the pirate attack, leaving just a ground floor, and a trapdoor leading to a basement with about 10 rooms, where the entire group, which consisted of 10 people, stayed.

Tyveris spent a long time convincing the two guards with him that he would need to be free to a) get past the two skeletons we had _Turned_ and left alone, and b) signal the ship.

They eventually did so, with a loaded poisoned bolt pointed at him while he did so. He signaled and rejoined Major Ursa. The major refused all of the conditions, and asked Tyveris for ideas. He suggested a storming of the island, because otherwise all of his friends were dead. The major refused, and Tyveris and he slept on it that night, having been given 72 hours to respond.

But something else happened that night.

At 3 AM, the mage who spoken the cryptic words earlier entered the prison. He was an adventurer named Odeon who had come to purchase spells and had been trapped when the pirates attacked. He wanted off quite badly and was willing to free the imprisoned group to help him escape. Picking up a few weapons (a short sword for Felix, a scimitar for Quentin, and some other non-proficient weapons for everyone else), and some leaves for Quentin, they made their way quietly out of the compound. They snuck down the rocks toward the beach.

Suddenly, a huge spiny many-legged beast jumped at Drew from behind. Drew clubbed it, but its pincers sank into him. Moments later he jerked spasmodically and fell over. Meanwhile, Gaston sliced at it with his dagger. The mage had sprinted away and sent a _Lightning Bolt_ (I think) at it, but it appeared to have little effect.

Quentin slashed but missed. Morgan pumped it full of arrows, doing some significant damage, but it appeared invincible. It jumped at Gaston, who slashed valiantly at it, but was hit and jerked in the throes of poison and fell over. Felix continued ripping at it, inflicting massive damage with his short sword. Angrily, it turned at him. It slashed at him, brutally damaging him, but Felix swung and dropped the beast with a massive hit. Seconds later, he sighed, jerked, and fell over. Quentin cast a cure spell on Drew, but it appeared to have little effect. Promising Odeon fifty gold pieces, Quentin, Morgan, and Odeon dragged the bodies down the rocks to the beach. Moments later, a horde of giant rats came at them from behind. Odeon dropped Felix and threw a _Web_ spell at them, freezing them in their tracks.

The problem of the two skeletons remained. Without Tyveris to turn, they would have to fight. That pitted Quentin and Morgan without their good weapons and without armor against them. They tried to sneak around the spot, but to no avail. The two skeletons popped up. Morgan destroyed his quickly, and Quentin hurt his as well. Morgan turned to help Quentin, but was too late to prevent the shot dropping Quentin to the ground. He sliced up the skeleton and stabilized Quentin.

They continued down the beach and signaled as dawn approached. The boat came with a angry and relieved Tyveris, who attended to them on the boat.

Drew actually recovered while on the beach (the cure spell had made the difference). Felix and Gaston had stabilized, but they were comatose. They needed a _Remove Paralysis_ spell cast on them, which was available at the Nevronian church in Carse two days away. Odeon got his 50 gp, and agreed for 100 gp more to tell us and the major all about the status of the Isle, and the people who lived there. We'll post all that information in a later report. The highlights were: there are three dangerous people on the island, Ozymandius, Ogmund, and Bayleaf. Ozymandius is a cleric capable of casting Create Food and Water, which is how they survived the winter. He has declared himself High One following the death of the actual High One. Ogmund is a stupid but brawny fighter hired to train the guards. He has become captain since the death of the High One. Bayleaf is the only non-human, an elf fighter/mage who is there mainly for the money, rather than loyalty to the religion or Ozymandius. If Ozymandius dies, obviously they have lost, because they have no food then. There are also four clerics of varying skills, and three guards. The thing we fought used to be a pet of the High One.

Meanwhile, we set sail for Carse. Tyveris negotiated and paid for two _Remove Paralysis_ spells (for 250 gp total) cast on the Gaston and Felix. Quentin recovered and is working for the druids there. Felix was fine in a few days. Gaston was up and about, but has suffered major permanent health loss. He still wants revenge though.

The party, excepting Quentin, has volunteered to be part of the strike force that finishes this mess. Our reward is shot, but hey, we're alive, and we want to kill them, which we may get the opportunity to do. The major himself is a hammer specialist and a veteran warrior. Several marines will be coming with us also.

So far, the main plan we've roughed out is to wait for a sentry to emerge and take him out (Command spell will do this nicely if necessary). They have two options: they can assume the sentry died from something on the island, or that something else happened and they had better look for him. If they send a search party, we've hit gold. Wherever Ozymandius is, we hit them. If he dies, we've won.

Dissidence is quite high. It appears that only Ogmund and Ozymandius REALLY want to stay there. Bayleaf is staying only because of the money-- if we can lure him away, we might have them.

It's going to be interesting. We certainly do not have the sheer power levels that they do. One plan is if we can somehow get Morgan down into the basement at night, he can sneak up on and kill Ozymandius. If it fails, he is quite obviously a dead man.

If there is only one sentry he can be taken out quietly by a Command. If there is more than one, we need surprise to do it.

Finally, as a general Telvar note (our characters don't know all of this) the reason Major Ursa is willing to risk his marines is that the political situation "changed" in Sark 14 days earlier. Thanks to a spectacularly successful plan by Dunstill and Illic (I hope I spelled it right), the Far World Navy vanished and Sark is in utter chaos.

At any rate, I believe the party is unanimous in its sentiment:

Let's get em, boys.