����������� Book Five, Chapter Eight �Bowlhead dies, gets addicted and loses a hand�
����������� 14/12/2002
The Bardic laptop has been replaced. Sir Martyn can whinge about upgrading the Bard but I can upgrade myself. And I did. It only just arrived in time and Harn was the first thing to be put on it. So here we are in Trevor�s new place and ready to go.
We started by bringing Bowlhead up to speed. Some of the very early tales weren�t known to Aruth and Daniel either. Then we had a look over what gear we have, and talked about going to Azadmere. Then there was a long discussion about left hands and which one Sir Martyn should put on.
So these are the various hands, final agreement from the Universe
Silver � Elvish � 5 month long charges, a bit dull really. Probably the on sent to him from Melderyn.
Bronze � Khuzdul � socket, 2 year long charges so lasts three years, and an unknown power
Laminated � Agrikan and very, very old and this would be stupid to wear, from the Temple of Naveh.
Having finally decided to believe the Bardic records that we are in Elfland we will consult the Elves about the Eye of Kor and about some left hands. Perhaps recharge the staff, or perhaps not. That�s a not, we need to go to Melderyn to do that. Niltiniel Risfuin told us we needed the book to open up the correct gate to Midgaad. So that�s alright then, we don�t have worry about who was right.
We are in Elshavel, the capital of Elfland. We have started, again. Bowlhead wants to meditate, being a follower of Siem. Devotional stuff is on the menu for him. We tell him not to go out into the woods alone or he�ll just get lost. That�s a well known fact about the Shava Forest. He has a quick meditate somewhere appropriate.
So we go and see Niltiniel. The book is written in Ancient Sinderin. She welcomes us. Much to Bowlhead�s surprise she remembers meeting Siem. Her brother was a close adviser of Daelda and we have a problem. We have the Eye of Kor (its green b.t.w.) which has great healing powers and great destructive powers. It depends on the nature of the of the person who uses it. So we should give it to Daelda when he is in his good form, rather than the bad form.
Daelda is dying and is inhabited by the daemon Adlead. Both souls are needed to keep them alive. Adlead is as bad as Daelda is good. One keeps the body alive and the other controls things, and they alternate. (See pan31, a.k.a. Book 3 Chapter 1) The gem will stabilise things, hopefully on the side of good. So give it to him when he is in good form, he can�t get out in any case. Currently he is unkillable, when the Gem does it stuff it will be come one being as a force for good or ill, but it will then be killable.
Has she ever met Lothrim, No. Does she know of any one who has? No.
And now it�s the Artefact�s Roadshow.
The silver one was made by Magle, up the road. A nice hand which doesn�t do a lot. Made at the request of the Primate of Harn for Sir Martyn. Beautifully made. Needs a ceremony to put on.
The bronze one is Khuzdalese in origin and is a more unpleasant item. Her gut feel is that its evil, but doesn�t emanate evil. A hand of deceit and death. It is powerful item but really not a good idea to put on. Does not need a ceremony to put on, oh what a surprise! Where did we acquire it, ah yes from the people who wanted Sir Martyn to put it on. That was the Temple of Naveh of course.
The laminated one is exceptionally ancient, and definitely of Agrikan origin. She would have to spend sometime examining it to tell more, which could take years. She doesn�t think its inherently evil but is a force for chaos and destruction. She refused to pick it up. It needs a ceremony to put on. This was the one we found in the Temple of Naveh and that Sula really sent to Sir Martyn.
So Sir Martyn wants to put on the Agrikan one. Well I don�t know the ceremony to put that one on. An Agrikan Temple could put on the hand Sir Martyn, or Daelda could with the Eye of Kor could. Sir Martyn tells Niltiniel that not telling the Primate of Larani that Sir Martyn wants to put on the Agrikan hand is as important to him as us not telling anyone about the Daelda Adlead business.
Spend three days in Elshavel plus two days travelling and two more days in Ulfshafen. Arrived on� the 9th� Nolus and leave on 12th Nolus. Arrive Ulfshafen on the 14th Nolus and leave 16th Nolus.
Its dry for the whole day when we sail! Summer thunderstorm on the 17th. Calming Khuzdul by means of songs uses all Daniel�s power points. We arrive off the coast of Bejist on 18th Nolus and we unship the wagon. Hitch the horses to the wagon and get into the wagon, much to the surprise of Bowlhead. We fly off over the marshes and go to Bejist. As we approach mist arises and the skies darken, visibility down to 10 feet. �Natural� says Aruth who pays it no mind and lands by the tower.
So we park and go to the Temple, which used to be Naveh but was Larani last time we were here. Knock on the door. There are acolytes in Larani clothes so it hasn�t changed hands again. Sir Martyn Yanyez de Barbudo, the Champion of the Primate of Larani, is welcomed. We are shown in and refresh ourselves. The Abbot arrives and is pleased to see us, but Sir Martyn forgets to introduce Aruth when he introduces the party. Aruth sulks and doesn�t go to dinner with the priests and spends the night in the stables with the rest of the peasants. The Bardic songs include references (all non-burnable ones) to the driver and expert tracker. Sir Martyn says he prefers to remain with the animals, �Ah a man of piety� says the Abbot.
Sir Martyn is given a letter to deliver to the Primate. He explains that it might take some time. Not a problem, as they have no passing visitors.
Day dawns and we go off to the hole in the ground. By the ruined tower with it�s not widely known about ethereal version. The hole goes to the cellar of the real tower.
Unadorned white marble cellar with a hole in the roof. The walls seem continuous which seems unusual, not slabs. Stone with Sindarin carvings and the concealed door is beyond that.
There was a note tied with a red ribbon. Its from Sula. She says she is pleased the gift she sent has finally been received, that must be the Agrikan hand. She obviously has a viper in the nest which she will have to deal with. While we are in Midgaad if we happen to run across a pendant known as The High Lord�s Wroth she would be happy to enter into negations about its ownership.
The concealed door is not there until you touch the wall, which isn�t really there. Put hand out as we go forward and keep going. The walking seems to be downwards for 10 minutes. Then into the vaulted red stone hall, lit by a sourceless light. Up the staircase into a chamber, this should be above ground but we aren�t. How strange, in fact it�s just like last time. We see the sea from each portal, all six of them. Breezes can be sensed and waves can be heard. One goes to the next floor, that�s the south portal. Go through it, after preparing and faffing around for a bit. There was a discussion about what to do in the next room. We compared notes and it seems that sir Martyn has a more accurate record of the exits.
�����������
Sir Martyn�s list of exit portals � not quite the same as Daniel�s
SE�� - Ulfshafen
S���� - Elshavel
SW - Pesino
NW - Kiraz
NE -� Azadmere
N��� - (Don�t go there)
So if it all goes horribly wrong go south east.
Sir Martyn prays for guidance and we go through when Larani says. Interestingly enough I thought we took the wagon through, but we didn�t. No we leave it behind at this point. Not forgetting the cook and the porters, but not Balatar the Fish though this wasn�t immediately obvious. Though the south portal into another room. We all come in from different portals and the view from them is different from each other. So we don�t immediately know which was is south. And of course the Elf cum Daemon is here, dripping blood all the time. Aruth and Daniel thinks he is the good version, Zytsi thinks he�s the bad one and Sir Martyn isn�t sure.
There was some chit chat with the daemon. Is he lying when he says he�s good, and that he will revert to the bad side in 13 minutes time? Sir Martyn asks Daelda if he would attach the laminated hand for him. He says he can do it, but it�ll take sometime. Once the process has begun it the ritual can�t be interrupted, not even by the other half. Sir Martyn does give Daelda the Eye of Kor.
When Daelda picks up the Eye of Kor it pulses with green light. He but hasn�t started the ritual to attach the Gem to himself, and it will take about 15 minutes to perform. It all goes as expected, and he changes to become more human. The nasty version is now here. More chit chat with daemon, and Sir Martyn manages to amuse him � we brought Bowlhead as someone for the Bard to look down on. He does the ritual to attach the Eye to his chain around his neck.
And then the one to attach the Agrikan hand to Sir Martyn stump. We form up into a circle with Sir Martyn in the middle. Light streams from our hands and we start taking damage from the lightning bolts. He reverts to the good version. Walls of fire are next, and we take more damage and Bowlhead bursts into flames. Impact from falling rocks comes next, Zytsi collapses is knocked out for a day, well that breaks the ritual. Or does it? Sir Martyn uses his re-roll thingy to stop it happening. Well he is the one most affected by breaking the ritual so it�s allowed. Bowlhead casts a regeneration spell on himself, so he is getting hits back faster than he looses them. Cold finally for more damage all round. Now a beam of light appears over Sir Martyn and we all get hit by a beam of light and take holy criticals. All the blood vessels in his arm burst and the hand adheres to his arm. It gets dark and there is a thunderclap and Sir Martyn takes a slaying critical when he�s left on 6 hit points and all the bones in his upper body crack.
So a subconscious unpain goes off and he is still sort of going.
So Bowlhead puts out the fire and we stuff herbs and healing into Sir Martyn. Then Bowlhead takes the damage from Sir Martyn and dies. I don�t think he�ll be taking religious ceremony damage in a hurry again. He did take rather more damage than he expected. So we pumped healing into the Healer and eventually he gets better. But he is now addicted to Mirena Berries, oops. I wonder who had a lot of them.
We all lose 5 points of con, except Sir Martyn who gains 20 points. Boy was he popular. Balatar appears from behind a pillar and says �Thanks for that guys� and steps into the south-east portal to Ulfshafen.
Everyone gets 5000eps, except Bowlhead. That�s for finally finishing that quest, and Bowlhead is learning some harsh facts about Harn. We go to Ulfshafen, come into a glade near the town. We lend Bowlhead some clothes and head for the nearest pub. There is one clothier and two pubs here. We are least like to get thrown out of the Homeward Sail. So we go on a two day bender. And that�s when the boat gets back so we can return to Bejist. Sir Martyn thinks about sending a letter, and Zytsi sends a letter back to Azadmere. Bowlhead scores 10 Mirena Berries and we told him it wasn�t enough. Later on Daniel buys 50.
So we got back on the 19th Nolus.
Sir Martyn goes to see Niltiniel Risfuin in the capital. Takes 2 days to get there, spends half day there and two days back. What does she know about Midgaad? It is the land of great warriors, trolls, and giants that the Elves were driven from. The humans are very warlike, and rather like the Ivians. A slightly rougher version of Harn, rougher and tougher. They speak Sindarin there.
Travel north and seek the end of rainbow. Cross the rainbow and pass the guardian, big bloke with a sword. Seek the man with the all seeing eye, he can answer all your questions. So he can tell where to go. To open the portal successfully we need to perform the ritual in the book.
Sir Martyn fetches the party. So two days back again. 26th Nolus is when we are back in Elshavel. Daniel gets coached in the ritual from the woman. Zytsi asks about Hazot and its go see the all seeing man for that sort of information.
We set off 29th Nolus by boat and it takes 3 days. But now we don�t have the wagon. Trudge through the Marsh for a half a day or go round it for three days. Zytsi doesn�t like it but he is getting used to sailing. So the marsh day is the 2nd Larane as we spend the night on the boat.
We go through the marsh and nobody goes into a wrong bit. But Zytsi almost puts his foot on a log that tried to bite him. The marching order is Aruth, Zytsi, Bowlhead, Daniel and Sir Martyn. The crocodile was really just comedy relief. Bowlhead has an inspiring chant which Daniel can harmonise with it. Aruth hit it once, it fumbled and bit the log that Zytsi was standing on. Sir Martyn tried to charm it and fumbled and didn�t. So Zytsi hit it and then Aruth did, which killed it. Do we want to save it for the skin? We save it but decide it is silly and throw it back.
Bowlhead says that there is something wrong, there is no wildlife around here. Despite the warning Sir Martyn doesn�t spot it coming, and neither does Daniel. Sir Martyn gets away with it but Daniel gets grabbed and is being dragged off. The tentacle gets hit a couple of times, then Bowlhead gets attacked by Sir Martyn�s tentacle. The fight goes on, this thing is tough. Daniel is freed but Bowlhead gets caught. Hack, hack and accidentally Daniel cuts Bowlhead hand off, the left hand. We found it amusing which annoyed him somewhat. We did free him and Daniel and said he�d got Yulpris and that would work, but take sometime.
We get to the Larani Temple and get Bowlhead a bed. They can�t stick the hand back on so it�s the Yulpris then. Sir Martyn uses one of his Yulpris and takes Daniel�s Yulpris into party stocks. You see Daniel�s Yulpris has had the bad side effect (the healing coma) removed, unlike Sir Martyn�s. It will be fully operational in 63 days time. So Bowlhead gets a week long healing coma. We get bored and what about the wagon, the horses, cook and porter � at least we got pissed.
So we can leave on 10th Larane.