Day 80: Fireday the 7th, Kuthona, 4707

The rain still hasn't stopped. Shalelu had decided to use her divinely granted ability for the day to predict the weather for the next twenty-four hours. This was after I used my ring and it wasn't supposed to be raining, and that it wouldn't for the next forty-eight hours. Looking outside at the weather, I told this to Shalelu. She got the same result and we discussed this with the group. We determined that this was likely due to some caster or group of casters using spells in the area to force the issue. Tis caused our trek back to Turtleback Ferry to have even more impetus.

If someone was trying to force bad weather on the area non-stop, then they might be trying to cause the dam to rupture. We could try to head to the dam first, but we could fail to get there in time and the people would have no warning. If we went to the village first, and the dam broke, we would still be heading the right way. Jonathan noted that he could have a rain shield over us as we went, as long as we didn't go as fast as we did driving up. We looked to each other and noted that we would have to risk it, as getting to the town to warn them was vital.

We loaded up our belongings and Jonathan got on Faunra's bike. Shalelu said that she was going to stay with her step-father to ensure that the Fort was well defended. Honestly, we knew that she wasn't as skilled with riding one of these bikes as either Faunra or myself. We headed down the path at a good speed, not nearly as fast as we had taken to get up here, but a good clip none-the less. We passed by the obscured path that led up to the former Graul family house of horrors, and then to the wooden bridge.

Or I should say, where the wooden bridge was. It was gone. Jonathan had to float us across one at a time, and Dame Rebekah flew Bucepherous across. The storm winds didn't help the steed at all. Even with the practice in the bad weather yesterday. We made it the rest of the way to the town and noticed that in the few short days, more hours really, the flood waters had risen dramatically. The townsfolk didn't seem to like us much upon seeing us. We found out later that the townsfolk were blaming us for bringing Erastil's fury down upon them for the continued and worsening storms.

There were women and children in one of the ferries that the town was named for, and it was bashing itself against the former general store. Mayor Shreed was standing on the ease of his rapidly submerging church railing against the sins of the town and how this was the just verdict of Erastil on this sin plagued community. There are people in the upper levels of the church visibly trying to move things from the lower levels up. As we got close to the town, Jonathan noticed that there was a nightbelly boa headed right for the ferry that held the school children and the screaming schoolmarm.

Jonathan pointed this out to us, and we let loose with our ranged abilities. I shot out with my rifle, hitting it in the side with a sizzle. I was glad that we stopped so I could get a better aim, as I really don't know how good I could be on the run. Jonathan launched out a marble at the thing, likewise burying it in the thing's side. Faunra launched an off the cuff shot at the thing, and Dame Rebekah did as well, and with all of that, we saw the snake start convulsing and lower into the floodwaters. The children all praised us for saving them and the schoolmarm thanked us profusely. Mayor Shreed was livid that we were averting Erastil's divine judgment from cleansing this town.

A good distance up the river we noticed what could be mistaken by any person to be a massive black tree. It wasn't. Jonathan noticed it first, that there were tentacles instead of roots and the trunk was a massive torso, with a long snake like neck attached to it. It was kind of limp, like it was stunned, and was heading right for the church. Faunra blurted out, "Affwys Gwallgof". Black Magga was coming. We estimated that we had less than fifteen seconds before it would hit the church. Then who knows what would happen. It would probably come to and start attacking the church and the people in it. We needed to drive it off and we needed every advantage.

We started, as a group, to rush over to the church. While we were heading that way, Faunra yelled out that magical cold iron did the most damage to it, that it was resistant to spells, and that its very breath was maddening. In between that, she hit us all with a haste spell, to help us get there in time. I invoked my newly learned Mirror Image spell while Jonathan threw up an air bubble around all of our heads and our resident Warpriest Dame Rebekah called upon Iomedae to protect us from this Evil.

After six seconds we were only about thirty feet away. Enough for us to get into position. Faunra invoked her ability to Fly to get up out of range, and amped up her bow's abilities. She notched up the flaming arrows, and I was certain that they were giving off static charges too. I used the wand that Faunra had given to me and I said the word while touching Jonathan. Jonathan took his opportunity to Saiyan up his power, causing the rain to stop falling around him in a hemisphere. More important than anything, he went off to be right next to the church, where the monster was aimed towards. Dame Rebekah invoked a spell that I had never seen her cast before, and a Human male and an Elven Female, both armored and armed as paladins of Iomedae came into being and rushed off with her to defend the church and its inhabitants.

When Black Magga crashed against the church, Mayor Shreed shook in his boots and rushed inside. When she came back up, we returned the favor and fell upon her. Faunra hit her twice with great precision. Once in the neck, with a billow of blood from the wound. I followed up with four rounds from my pistol, each one being slightly less accurate than the last. My first round struck Black Magga in the eye, causing her great pain. The rounds went into mainly body shots after that, but that first one was vicious. Jonathan went into a blur of action, throwing a flurry of empowered cesti punches, landing about three of his five punches. At the same time, Dame Rebekah hacked into the beast with her blessed divine blade twice, with the final strike severing Black Magga's head entirely.

This left us with a conundrum. The beast was entirely too large for even Jonathan to lift telekinetically; we could tell from just looking at it. Dame Rebekah decided to start hacking through the thing's tentacles and hacked off the thing's neck, leaving only the trunk. Jonathan worked on removing the tentacles away from the town and then the rest of the body. It was just at the limit of his abilities to get the trunk, he was literally sweating aether and blood was trickling out from his eyes, ears, and nose. We helped a little with the rescue efforts until everyone was safe. We didn't notice it immediately, but the rain had stopped, and the flood waters had receded a little. All in all, it went very well, conditions considering. It was then that Faunra and I remembered that the dam up the way might not be safe and might collapse further or something.

Faunra and I briefed the rest of the group, and we all decided to head up there. It would be a three-hour trip and we could stop off back at the Fort if we couldn't get back to Turtleback Ferry before dark. We told the schoolmarm where we were heading because we didn't want to bother with Mayor Shreed. We got mounted up on our horse/bikes. Jonathan got on the back of Faunra's bike this time. We took off as fast as we could to get up there. As we passed the path up to the fort, I made the conscious thought to pass along the news to Shalelu. We were within the natural distance of the radios, so Shalelu managed to respond quickly, acknowledging what was said and saying that they would be on the lookout for the reinforcements.

When we made our way to the gorge. We saw the giant dam, suitably decorated with giant stone skulls. Apparently the aesthetic of the designed was to use the skulls as flood gates, if the staining out the mouths of the skulls can be trusted. But that wasn't the problem. On the far end, the dam had been recently damaged, by what I estimated was malicious repeated impact adjustments. And the rain had just started back up again. We got to a decent distance from the dam and stopped our vehicles/mounts. Dame Rebekah asked Bucepherous to defend the bikes, and I thanked her. We quietly walked up the path and up a set of stairs to make our way up to the dam.

While we were walking, Jonathan noted that there were large shapes slowly walking over to the other side of the dam from where the damage had been done. I noted that they were probably heading over to start on the second side. When we were almost up to the top of the stairs when Jonathan stopped us. He told us that there was the stink of evil at the top of the cavern that was at the top of the stairs. We slowed our progress and made our way up. Jonathan took point and stopped us. He quietly pointed out that there was a section of the ground in front of us that was hard to cross without causing noise.

We looked at each other and decided to quickly rush through the area to get to the other side. We were confronted in the cavern by a large two headed Giant. Apparently they are called Ettins here. It screamed out "YOU NO BRIBE ME! I SMASH YOU FOR SKULLTAKERS!" from both of its heads as it charged at us. We were quicker however. I snapped off a shot with my rifle, and Faunra fired off an arrow at it. Jonathan hit it with a rock, knocking out the left head, and Dame Rebekah took aim at it with an arrow. She must have been out of practice, because she missed. Jonathan took a flail to the ribs when the thing got close. I mean his telekinetic field reduced the damage, but he still got a slight bruise. I stepped back about five feet and fired off again, putting a round through the thing's conscious head.

Jonathan levitated it up and over into the side room, saying that we could deal with the remains later. We quietly made our way to the top of the dam, on the causeway across the top. Jonathan pointed out that there was a group of five ogres up ahead on the causeway, that looked like they were exhausted. I asked everyone if this would be a good time to jump them and everyone agreed that it would. We all looked over the group of ogres and one of them seemed to have fairly decent gear. I figured that everyone would target that one first, but I didn't communicate that to the others, so that was my error.

I hit that one with a good shot. Not an excellent one, but a good one. It got up and yelled at the others to get us. Faunra took aim at two different ogres, dropping the first, but only wounding the second. Somehow we both missed the one that had charged us, and slammed its ogre hook into Dame Rebekah's shield. Jonathan stepped up to the bat and knocked it out with a series of unpowered attacks. Dame Rebekah, thankful for the breather, stepped in front of everyone and prepared to take the main brunt of the charge. She got targeted by the three ogres that remained, including the one that had better gear, and one of them ended up hitting her with its hook.

I stepped back and fired at it again. It still didn't drop. I guess I wasn't used to fighting something as drooping as it was, because while my shot did strike, the wound was a lot less lethal than I would have expected for as much focus and attention that I had put into it. I'm normally a much better shot. Faunra took my lead and started pelting arrows into the main bad guy. Not that it dropped him. Even with her energy charged shots. Maybe the atmospheric humidity is effecting both of our weapons? Jonathan stepped up in front of Dame Rebekah and did some combination punching and kicking that dropped one of the ogres who had been attacking Dame Rebekah while she stepped up and did some swipes at the heavier armored one, dropping it.

I might have been a bit too enthusiastic about our imminent victory, and might have said something about that is what degenerates get. The sole remaining ogre ignored everyone else and cast a baleful eye at me. He stepped up and took a swing at me with his ogre hook. I dodged by leaping back and fired off one more round at him, dropping him. We all breathed a sigh of relief, and Jonathan took the time to launch the ogres off the dam and onto the beach down below. I told everyone that I was certain that they alone had not caused the damage, and that we would need to check out the dam to make sure it is safe.

We made our way to the center of the dam and were confronted by another cranium cenotaph. A pile of carved giant skulls made of stone, like the rest of this dam. The entries into this were obviously the teeth. And they were very stuck. The doors showed signs of repeated battering and bashing. I asked Dame Rebekah if she thought that it would be wise to try and force our way in thru those doors. Dame Rebekah looked at me and shook her head. She looked up to the eye sockets above and pointed. Jonathan made with his ability and lifted each of us up by their shield before flying up on his own.

We all made our way up to the eye sockets and down on the other side. We looked around and heard a high pitched guttural growl before we were assailed by four angry trolls. They had been hiding, somewhat successfully among the green ropey fungus. Jonathan noted them and we were successfully unsurprised. Jonathan told me directly that I should spread my fire among the standing ones. Jonathan stepped up as soon as he told me that and charged up his cestus to the point that he actually blew it up with the third hit, leaving only the skull remaining. Dame Rebekah stepped up and did two slashes that severely wounded the one that she had stepped up to. Faunra took aim and spread some shots among the two undamaged trolls, wounding them each.

I followed through with Jonathan's order and took a shot each one of the three who were not downed. No scope, no aim, cheat mode straight to the skull for each. I managed to drop each one of them with my shots. I swear I didn't plan it like that, but each one dropped as soon as the burning hot bullets penetrated each one. It would have looked like some horror version of GTA V.

Jonathan picked up the remaining skull of the one he exploded and tied his hair to his belt. I was kind of confused, but whatever. He wanted a trophy, I guess. We looked through the rooms that were connected to this chamber and it looked like the trolls had been here for a while. Dame Rebekah and I looked through the east one while Jonathan and Faunra looked through the western one. We split up to look through the next rooms and I found an old storage room on my side with a LOT of fungus. I wonder how long it has been since people actually lived here and took care of the dam.

Apparently on Jonathan's side, there was a collapsed room, which had access to the outside. All four of us convened together and went to another door which had some bloody runes on it. None of us knew what it said initially, but Faunra activated some power that she had this whole time and translated it to mean, "BELOW DWELLS WET PAPA GRAZUUL! ALL HAIL WET PAPA GRAZUUL!". I guessed that it would mean their head chief or something was in there, so we all mentally psyched ourselves up and got the door opened.

We were totally dismayed when we opened the door to see a whole bunch of stairs heading down. It looked like it was about one hundred and fifty feet of stairs. I started to walk down the stairs when Dame Rebekah stopped me. She looked to Faunra and Faunra cast a spell of feather fall. Dame Rebekah smiled and threw me off the stairs as Jonathan and Faunra jumped as well. Dame Rebekah was the last, but we all drifted down the stairwell. It took us fifteen seconds to make it to the floor. During that time, Faunra invoked her Mirror Images from a Scroll, and I followed suit with my own spell. Dame Rebekah blessed us all, and Jonathan started boosting up his power.

During the last little bit before we landed, Dame Rebekah invoked a spell to cause her sword to heat up like the sun, and Faunra cast a spell to make herself vanish, which was a nifty idea. There were six flickering images of her where she was, but none of them were actually her. That is a decent trick. I had five images around me, but I couldn't concentrate on them for long or I would get a little dizzy. I spent the time preparing to be the first to strike against whatever we found down there.

Immediately on landing, we saw a giant sodden version of what we had faced above. Faunra dropped three arrows into the thing and it didn't budge. I shot it two times, one in the shoulder and once in the skull, and it didn't drop. Dame Rebekah rushed in for a slash, expecting her armor to save her, and the ghastly looking trident that the scrag held in its hand rushed forth and stabbed her as she got too close. She continued with her hit and opened up a deep slash with her enchanted blade, searing into the thing's flesh. Jonathan fired off the killing blow, by launching the head of the troll he had picked up earlier into the thing's chest, bursting out the back, and went rolling over to a pile of skulls by a model of the site.

Jonathan walked over to pick up the Troll Head and stopped short, as a scorpion composed of dead scorpion part and skulls of former victims. It leapt down and pinned Jonathan in one fell move. Faunra launched a trio of her special arrows from her special quiver. These were designed to not only bypass material resistances, but also reduce those resistances for others. Then one of her regular arrows launched itself into the things side. I popped off the two rounds that were remaining in my magazine, as I had forgotten to reload it after the previous troll encounters. The thing twitched, it's claw a millimeter away from closing on Jonathan's throat.

Jonathan got up and launched the thing into the ceiling repeatedly until it was just pieces. He stood up and grabbed his troll head before brushing himself off. We collected ourselves and made our way to the last door of this place. That was when I truly learned that Hell was real, or at least a version of hell. When we entered the last room, we saw a crimson pile of ash and a desiccated devil. It looked just like what I had always imagined a devil to look like. Angry red skin, scales, a tail, wings, horns, and very uncomfortable looking bone spikes all over its body. I could tell that it was at one time a lot beefier, but that it was before it had been drained until it was in this current state.

The devil begged us to free it for several minutes with all kinds of reasons. From threats, to bribes, to offers, to begging, then whimpering and pleading based on our good natures (Jonathan snickered at that) before we finally got its name out of it, Avaxial. Avaxial must have known that wasn't really in a position to bargain, and Dame Rebekah almost ran in to slay it outright, but Faunra pointed out the engraved magic circle that bound it in place, and kept it that way. Dame Rebekah grumbled but accepted her logic. Faunra noted that she had indeed heard of this Devil before, back in her own time.

Apparently, back before the Fall of Thassilon, Avaxial had been a Devil that was known for tempting those of power. Faunra snickered a little that one who had tempted so many powerful spellcasters had befallen a trap such as this. She asked who had placed the pit fiend in this condition, and he grumbled that it was Karzoug. Karzoug, that name keeps coming up. Faunra asked if it knew about the reason why it was in this condition. Avaxial said that it was being used as a battery to help operate the flood gates.

The devil added that the dam drained the life-force of whomever was in the two circles together to do a controlled release of the water to bring it back to manageable levels whenever it got too high. Avaxial noted that the pit fiend who was in the other circle disintegrated the last time that the dam overflow was released, some fifty odd years ago. That was why he needed to be released, that the dam was pulling on him to be get the energy that was needed, but without the other circle having something living in it, it couldn't complete the process, and if he was released he could escape and survive. Without warning, Jonathan tossed the head of the troll that he had been using as his ammunition onto the other circle.

We looked at him a bit oddly as the circles flared up. The troll head seemed even more emaciated and the pit fiend completely disintegrated into dust. Jonathan recalled the troll head to his side and tied it back to his belt. I don't know how I feel about this. We felt the dam rumble as the overflow started to move, lowering the level of Storval Deep. We left to go up to the top of the dam and went over to the other side where the damage had been done. It was beyond our ability to repair at this time, but Dame Rebekah noted that if she continued to be presented with new blessings from her lady, then we could come back and start to repair the damage. In fact, the water level was lowering now so that it should be safe for a good long time.

We made our way back down the stairs, and back to our steeds. Jonathan went to sit with me and I wouldn't let him. By I could see that the Troll head was still alive and moving. Jonathan was basically torturing this thing and I told him as much. Dame Rebekah and Faunra agreed with me, and we gave him an ultimatum, that we put the poor creature out of its misery or he doesn't continue on his quest for vengeance with us. Jonathan started to complain, but I told him that he was torturing this thing much the same that he was tortured. He relented and we burned the head until it stopped moving. Jonathan decided not to get on any of the bikes and we all made our way down to Fort Rannick.

It was getting dark, so we stopped off for the night there. We told them all of what we had found, and helped out a bit more with getting the place situated. The recruits from Turtleback Ferry had not yet made it to the Fort, so they were still on their own. I conjured up several of the unseen servants for them to work around wherever I was to try to help out. They couldn't carry much, but together they could drag about five hundred pounds of whatever was needed to be moved. After a few hours, we were treated to some venison stew and a meal with the remaining Black Arrows. Shalelu had been helping all of them recover from the injuries that had been inflicted upon them by the Grauls and the Ogres.

After the meal Jakardros confessed that they had not found the body of their commander, or any of his effects. Lamatar, as the commander was known, wasn't among the deceased, and none of the surviving members had witnessed him being at the fort, as he was off on one of his "communion walks." We went back over his effects, and Faunra discovered a reference to a section of the Shimmerglens that might be where he had travelled to. We decided to head there on the morrow. When we eventually settled in to bed there was still some time left on the unseen servants, so I set them to clean and polish all of the room and equipment around me while I went to sleep.