����������� Book Four, Chapter Two, �So it�s four against a city then. Genocide R�Us.�

����������� 23/01/99

It�s the 20th Azura 725.

Last time...We now come out at the bed of the ocean at the entrance to the city. It is a wondrous place of white stone under a dome. Soaring towers impossibly high. You can see the sea beyond the dome...now read on.

The city is circular and covered with a magical translucent dome. We are looking down on it from the side on the underwater mountain (a.k.a. the island). Below us is a staircase that goes back and forth down the side of the mountain to the city. It is also covered in a force filed effect like the city. We are about half mile away.

((It�s Eidolon the sky city map))

Down to the bottom to the marble. The dome glows but we can�t see too far into the sea. We are about a mile away. About three quarters of the way along there is a gap of about 15 feet and the tunnel starts up again. Aruth prods the end with his staff.

� Sir Martyn ties rope around his waist and walks through it to the other side. Aruth goes next, but has a problem getting through. Zytsi goes next, calm song and through no worries. Daniel is next and has three goes getting in. A shark tried to attack him, Sir Martyn shot it and it bleeds. More come and have a feeding frenzy.

Onwards, wet, drip, drip. Onwards to the city - twin towers at the gate, and standing outside the gate are two men. We are a hundred feet away. Undead or constructs? Aruth and Daniel think they are not men, slightly greenish hair, not quite human features. Onwards to the city. They seem slightly insubstantial, more insubstantial than Undead. At 50 feet away, they yell something at us.

Sir Martyn blathers way, they blather back and we don�t understand. Sir Martyn advances, 20 feet they got insistent. �Bard, make a note that we must improve our underwater item preservation techniques.� says Sir Martyn. Sir Martyn continues to advance and has 20 crossbow bolts fired at him. Oh well the city is populated then.

Run away. Sir Martyn grabs one of the bolts, slightly insubstantial and spongy. We discuss it a lot, as usual.

New plan Aruth casts Speech (rank 4) on Sir Martyn and he talks to them. He goes forward, six guards now. �Halt and state your business in the city of Ridow.�

�We are on a mission from the Goddess Larani�

�We know of no such Goddess.�

�We seek the Eye of Kor.�

�We have never heard of such a thing.�

He is speaking to one that wasn�t there before. He goes off and comes back with one of them in blue robes who speaks. �Well follower of false goddess.� Not a good start. Sir Martyn gives the standard quest spiel, elf demon version complete with the Eye of Kor. �So you�ve come to cause the destruction of our city.� They run back inside. Sir Martyn rejoins the party.

Here comes another discussion. Submarine round the outside and over the walls, straight to the centre and the city dome comes down. Sir Martyn goes to talk to them again.

The Eye of Kor is the eye of their god. He keeps the darkness away, what sea? The War hammer is the god�s war hammer. Sir Martyn swims past in regular fashion, like patrols even.

We go back, seems to be our basic plan nowadays. Sir Martyn goes through the gap in the tunnel, and makes heavy weather over it. Daniel straight through, then Zytsi and finally Aruth.

It�s a proper city with towers, and streets, white marble, but not much from a distance. We are oscillating and vacillating and Sir Martyn wants to Dream on it. We go back to the vast chamber. We are safe. We are in an underwater with no way in or out. Nothing can get to us. So we set watches. Three dreams:

1) Removing the Eye of Kor,

2) Should I continue the quest or go back,

3) The Temple of Kor.

He sees himself and companions within the orb in a very large temple made of black marble fighting a large marble statue 30 feet high wielding a large war hammer and has a gem as an eye.

All in favour of doing now says aye, three for it and Sir Martyn against so he can say I told you so when it all goes wrong. The sharks patrol the gap in the tunnel. We now have 8 hours to do it, four of which are spent travelling.

We go back to the top of the stairs, down the stairs into the tunnel, two thousand feet. Daniel sets up the orb in the water. Operated mentally, by the person who activated it, it can accommodate up to ten people - it grows to fit them.

Engage cloaking device, that�s Aruth�s Shadow spell. It stops the faint glow. Daniel is the Submarine Captain (a very important title for a lute-playing bard). Over the top of the city and down on a tower. Aruth spots a pack of sharks with something else.

Later on, we get attacked by a pack of sharks, they are large - but not fish says Aruth. They attack but we continue to the city, Daniel parrying his shark as he pilots the submarine to the tower top as per the plan. In the second round, Sir Martyn is knocked down. Zytsi hits one a lot. In the fourth round, we arrive at the tower. It�s hard getting in. Oops. Sir Martyn gets knocked down a lot, Aruth is down on hit points, then Daniel goes too. Meanwhile Zytsi attacks the guards.

Sir Martyn turns the submarine into a holy shelter of Larani, for 12 rounds. He sticks Aruth and Daniel back together. The spell goes down and Aruth and then Daniel the next round (with the Orb) and Sir Martyn didn�t until the next round or so. More herbs.

The submarine has 3 charges - one used - there after roll 1d10 and if roll a 1 then it doesn�t work (not subject to re-rolling) I know this having used it.

They are translucent not insubstantial. Move the dead bodies of the trap door where Zytsi put them and down the spiral staircase - Sir Martyn, Zytsi, Daniel and then Aruth. Down to a chamber with 5 fishmen, Sudden Light is stunning. Charge - Sir Martyn juggles his weapon (the morning star for this room) and Zytsi attacks the only non-stunned one. Sir Martyn�s stunned foe applauded his juggling so he fumbled again, and then starting pulling faces at him so Sir Martyn and then Zytsi killed it.

Down and to another room with another 5 fishmen. Sudden Light stuns three, charge (they noticed us) Sir Martyn uses the shooting mace for this room, and the wrong hand sword and morning star, then the thrown morning star. Even Zytsi throws his war hammer. The thrown dagger, oh well the quick draw skill doesn�t fire so he charges with a spear. So Sir Martyn is practising by using all of his weapons.

Next floor. Same again. But one runs for the gong. Morning Star right hand and shield bash used in the wrong combination. Thrown morning star - again - and fumbled sword. Aruth has killed more than Sir Martyn has. One more room. Sword in right hand, morning star in the left and took one out in one round. Daniel used a stun song II stop the gong being sounded (it�s an 80% chance of the 8 per round wound will open and start to bleed).

So that was the last floor of the tower and now we have to sneak across a city. Food storeroom at the bottom of the tower - fresh fish, salted fish, dried fish, salt and various seaweed and plants. At least one guard outside - assume two. There was, with spears, who doesn�t notice the silence and there are no passers by. Not their lucky day - open the door smack them and pull them in.

Next it�s the 20 foot wall, marble walls and street but its mostly empty apart from the - grappling hook and ropes. �Come on lads, once more for Larani.� Sir Martyn and Aruth get the ropes up. Daniel, then Aruth up and over down the other side. Zytsi close behind with Sir Martyn coming last. It�s the plan and it nearly works. There is a 5-foot walkway round the other side with a garden and bushes and 15-foot trees.

�We avoid the patrol but Daniel steps in a bear trap and Sir Martyn hides in the bottom of the tower. Up the wall and over the other side. Lots of traps, sneak through the woods. Across the road and into an alley - with a slight delay as someone was putting stuff into a dustbin. Down the alleyway and across the road - it was a busy road and we get spotted (what a surprise) and run. They are people and we are having to push past them in the not quite so small alley. A local nutter tried to grab Zytsi, so Zytsi hit him and he fell over. Hue and cry, Woodall stops the first mob. Down the small street into a park scattering families with kids. 80 or 90 in the mob behind us. See some guards one runs and one dies. Sir Martyn fires the mace at him, but he got lucky and survived. Into the centre where there are more woods. A random passer-by goes into the woods and gets taken out by a falling tree trap.

Down between the two wooded bits with traps, guard ahead of us, passers-by trying to get out of the way, big white temple up ahead at the end. Lets hope its there. Major temple with entrances, and four guard buildings and a large number of guards. �So it�s four against a city then.� Up to one of the doorways and four guards in the way. Barge past into the temple - pausing only to give Aruth a nasty abdominal wound, and opens Daniel�s 8 per round wound.

Dais with large statue with one blue gem eye and a normal looking hammer on its open hands. Zytsi calls the hammer nothing happens. Sir Martyn throws grappling hook to catch the hammer to full it off. He does so and Zytsi catches it.

We stand between the legs to defend ourselves; Sir Martyn says �Stop or we destroy the city.� They can�t understand him. Zytsi throws the hammer at the statue�s gem -doing everything it can do (except the Earthquake) all in one go and it was a great deal smashes the gem and knocks the head off. Larani, it is awful, it�s horrendous. It�s an artefact, it�s a Khuzdul artefact!

The city is destroyed. They all die, dissolved by the water. We are in a pool with the submarine up. We survived but got blown out of the city. Aruth points the way out and Daniel steers us back to the city. It is now taken hundreds of years of damage in a few minutes. Go to the centre have a look, spiral out search pattern, and what do we find - nothing in abundance.

Go back up the tunnel to the vast chamber, �cos it�s black and may fit the dream. It doesn�t. So we can get the boat, down and out back to the island. We see our boat going away. Unsink the boat and camp for the night. Watches.

Dreams again. We�ve destroyed the wrong city, says Daniel and the Universe nods.

1) The Eye of Kor

2) What do we do now?

3) Daelda

Larani is not pleased we destroyed the wrong city and a repeat of the previous dream and she is not pleased with Sir Martyn.

We will have to find and destroy the other city of the rival god where the Eye of Kor. The hammer is a destroyer of cities, and Zytsi has it for one round and took one out. The boat was thinking about staying but Larani told them to go. Back in a month.