And Madness Followed
In The News
Sharn Inquisitive: Sul 8 Zarantyr - Front Page
Riot Breaks Out at Opera House - This Far at the Sharn Opera House, a new play by the illustrious Sophia Lasilaran opened. Most citizens will probably have seen one of the flyers which blanketed the town. Put on by the Queen's Players, the play, the world premiere of The Queen's Visitor was the talk of Sharn. Most of our more educated readers are probably aware of her past works - filled with disturbing imagery, mysterious evil, dark humor, and often madness. Yet, no one was prepared for what awaited them at this performance.
A riot broke out about half way through the play. There are conflicting reports of what happened. Some claim that they saw strange creatures, or horrible lands. Several of the people we questioned seemed to be somewhat unbalanced after the incident. Many have been complaining of persistent nightmares. It seems that the madness of this play was contagious.
Whatever the case, the acting company was clearly involved in some dark magic, which could have been disastrous, had not the heroes of Sharn shown up at the last minute. Reports are again conflicting, but it seems that they slew the acting company and some large monster which the actors had summoned.
A few have speculated that the entire process was some sort of act, put on to heighten the hype around the production, but The Inquisitive notes that causing your audience to stampede from the theatre is probably a bad move, no matter how much word of mouth it might generate.
Sharn Inquisitive: Sul 8 Zarantyr - City Page 2
More Silver Flame Killings - More grisly killings were associated with the Silver Flame this week.
On Mol 2 Zarantyr the watch made a gruesome discovery in the Sovereign Towers District. Fredrick Riptooth, a shifter native to
Then on Far, Saria Fineblood, a longstride shifter, was found, literally hacked to pieces on a skybridge.
The city is not only in shock over the brutality of the murders, but something more sinister may be afoot. Fredrick and Saria composed the Shifter membership of the Silver Flame in Sharn. With their deaths there are no longer any shifters among the ranks of the Flame.
This comes only two weeks after the Silver Flame Archieophant, Ythana Morr, was found dead after a fall from a skybridge. Investigations into that matter ruled the death an accident after the only suspect, Astar Kemlat, the new Archieophant, was cleared by the use of a Zone of Truth.
In an even more interesting twist, the Inquisitive has recently learned that a certain Sadie Wolfchild has connections to the Silver Flame in Sharn. Rumors are flying that she is romantically involved with a certain paladin, by the name of Merrin Tox, a member of the Cathedral. How, or if, she is tied to these events is unknown at this time.
Chronicle
Soft snow gently fell from the bleak winter sky, covering the airship with a thin coating of large flakes. While not unbearable, the weather was much cooler than any of the ships occupants were used to. Garen tinkered away, fixing the massive floating craft, which had been named "Slimer II" after the unfortunate end of the dirigible "Slimer". The rest of the group: Thaspar, Sadie, and Cora relaxed and began recuperating from their ordeal in the Mournland.
After several days of rest Garen announced that they would need to make a trek to the nearest settlement to get parts. There were some pieces and components which were simply too badly damaged to be salvaged. The ship had taken a major beating, traveling at ramming speed for over three hours.
After some discussion, it was decided that Cora and Thaspar would head into town. Since they were in Thrane they wanted to remain low-key. They had never been to this country before, and all the stereotypes they had heard were that the people of Thrane were closed minded and prejudiced. The irony of this stereotype was not apparent to them. In any case, Sadie, being a shifter, and Garen, being a warforged, decided to remain behind, while the others went to purchase supplies.
The morning was warm as the two trudged out into the snow. They passed the morning trundling though the hilly country of southern Thrane. Thaspar remained virtually silent, only offering the occasional nod or affirmation, while Cora talked on and on the entire time, happy to fill they air with anything her mind flitted to.
Around mid-day, as they came up over a bluff, they caught their first sight of Hallowfield, a small town, nestled in the valley below. Deciding that they would stop in for lunch, they made their way down to the settlement. Little could they have expected the madness which had gripped the town.
As they got closer they could tell that something was amiss. Buildings had been burnt, and there was an odd smell in the air. As they came upon the town in earnest they were shocked and revolted by what they found there.
The entire village was deserted. No-one walked the streets. Some buildings still stood, but others had been burnt or gutted. The buildings and snow covered streets were marred with terrific blood stains. And then there were the strange markings. Drawn in blood mostly, but some with paint, were strange repeated splashes and streaks. It was hard to make out just what they might symbolize.
Despite the blood and gore, there were no bodies to be found. As their walked slowly through the eeriness of the empty town, they began to hear scuffling, and then strange slurping, gurgling noises from within the buildings surrounding them.
Then, as they made to leave the village square, the doors of the small houses burst open, and over a dozen creatures poured forth, surrounding them. They were the villagers of Hallowfield, or, at least, they had once been. Now they were twisted perversions of nature. No one villager was the same. Some had blood crusted mandibles protruding from the torn flesh about their mouths. Others featured bulging purple or green sacks covering, or hanging from their face. One had a mat of writhing tentacles spewing from his mouth and the left side of his face. Arms were replaced with gruesome appendages, some covered in yellowish cilia; bodies were twisted into unnatural positions. One man was missing a good portion of his skull, and the interior dripped with a milky, white fluid.
They shambled forward. Some could barely move, while others were terrifyingly fast. The first horrors were upon Cora and Thaspar before they could escape, and soon they were surrounded by the grotesque abominations.
The creatures mobbed them. Cora could feel the sting as their thick tentacles crashed against her, Thaspar felt sharp pain as serrated mandibles ripped his flesh. The initial onslaught was terrifying. Surrounded by the creatures, there was no hope of escape.
Thaspar's blade whirled through the air, severing tentacles, heads, and other unknown appendages. Sacks burst with purple pus as Cora's blade shot out into the twisted villagers.
Despite their gruesome appearance, the creatures offered little resistance. Soon the confidence of the pair began to grow, as the aberrations began dropping like flies about them. Their blades were slick with slime and blood, and twisted heaps of limbs and organs flailed and twitched on the ground, and soon there were only a few remaining monstrosities shambling toward them. Cora and Thaspar readied their weapons, but then, with a loud bang, and a shower of timber, two huge creatures burst from a nearby home.
The strange animals had a disturbing, alien quality to them. Swimming quickly though the air, with no visible means of flight or propulsion, they lunged forward with surprising speed. Their skin was sickly pale and translucent and strange strands of organs gave off scattered light within the undulating sacks which were their bodies. Resembling aberrant eels, their mouths were filled with long needle-like teeth, and their white eyes stared forward blindly. Their toothy mouths were surrounded by a ring of wriggling tentacles. Guided by some unnatural or unholy sense they moved directly toward the elf and the halfling.
Thaspar turned to face them, but it was too late, he was amidst the stinging tentacles, with the massive mouth opening upon him. Cora too found herself outmatched by the creatures. Exchanging a quick glance, they both took off running as fast as they could. The beasts gave chase, their bulbous bodies undulating grotesquely, but they could not keep up. Soon Thaspar and Cora were outside the town, in the snow, panting with the exertion.
They decided to return to the airship for help after all.
They found Sadie and Garen on the verge of a snowball fight. After Cora had explained the situation, all four set off immediately for Hallowfield.
They arrived at the village, just before sundown. Just as before it was deserted. The bodies of the abominations that they had slain earlier were notably absent from the town square. There was no sign of the huge snake-like monsters.
The group began the process of searching the hamlet for clues as to what had happened. Inside the houses they found only chaos. Furniture was destroyed. There was more blood, and more strange symbols. The entire place was unsettling.
As they looked through the remains of what must have been the town hall, they were again attacked by the floating eel-like creatures. This time, they were ready. Working together as a group, they soon tore through the translucent sacks, which formed the bodies of the undulating aberrations. Without much difficulty the monsters were reduced to limp bags of translucent membranous skin on the floor of the town hall - their organs still quivering within them in long strands.
With the immediate threat removed, the group finished searching the entirety of the building in the small village, leaving only the large manor house on the hill to explore. Since this was, perhaps, the most suspicious building in the village anyway they made their way towards it.
They found the front door of the manner house unlocked - or rather the lock had been broken. Inside there didn't appear to be any sign of life - at least not immediately. The building clearly belonged to a modestly wealthy, but not grossly rich individual. While the building was still in good repair it appeared to be quite old.
The party spent some time examining the various rooms of the manor house, and turned up several disturbing discoveries. They found a library and study, filled with books. Some of these books were benign, books about acting, and the history of art and magic; but there were other books there. Dark books. Books which had made it onto the banned lists even in Breland - the most tolerant nation in the world. Some of the books gave a person a shudder from just touching them.
In addition, in the study they found a leather-bound book in the desk drawer. The book was entitled The Queen's Visitor, and appeared to be a play of some kind. The text was impossible to read, for it was composed more of symbols, and strange scribblings in some unknown language, than anything else. It was hard to say anything for sure, but the markings had a distinctly evil feel to them. The only thing that they could make out was several references to something called "The Codex of Dreams".
The other disturbing oddity was a symbol, painted prolifically throughout the study. It was on books, on the walls, on the desk, and scrawled throughout the margins of the Queen's Visitor. It was the same symbol which had appeared in the town. Made from 4 simple brushstrokes, they spent some time deciding what it might represent.
The bedrooms did not reveal much, except that in addition to the master bedroom, all three guest rooms had seen recent use.
Before searching the basement, the party decided to investigate the attic of the house. A set of stairs led up to a trap door into the attic. The attic itself was a large unwalled space. It was stacked with crates, as well as large backdrops and decorations, which appeared to be set-pieces.
It is within the attic that they found the sole survivor of Hallowfield. Huddled behind a crate was a whimpering young woman.
Her hair hung in black mats about her face, and her eyes darted back and forth between the group - bearing a mixture of terror and insanity. "Please don't hurt me," she pleaded.
"It's ok," Cora said, "we're here to help."
"We just want to know what happened in the town," Sadie added.
"The town!? The town!" the woman was descending into hysterics.
"Shhh," said Garen, "what's you're name?"
"M-Maegan," she replied through a sob.
It took quite a bit of soothing and coaxing for Cora and Garen to calm the woman down, and get some idea of what had happened in this little town.
About a week ago Sophia Lasilaran had held the world premiere of her new play, right in Hallowfield. Reclusive in here later years, the dark playwright had lived in the hamlet for some time, in the very mansion where the group found themselves. The other residents were used to her and her twisted sense of humor. Though she had written several plays from the mansion on the edge of town, this was to be the first time one would be performed right in Hallowfield - and the world premier as well. The entire town showed up for the spectacle - and the entire town perished because of it.
Maegan was busy in the fields, and was late - a fact that saved her life. She arrived on the outskirts of town to see a bright flash of light. Rushing to the towns square, she saw something which shattered her sanity. Everywhere, the people of Hallowfield, her friends and relations had morphed into horrible perversions of nature. Writhing, tentacled horrors were spewing forth from the square. Maegan ran, but the horrible things pursued. Finally she managed to flee the town and take up shelter in the attic of the manor house.
Maegan was quite weak from lack of food and in a terrible state after her ordeal. The group decided to take her with them, and she made no complaint.
Before they left the manor house, they completed their search. More dark books were found, but no new clues came to light, until the searched the basement. The lower level was just an unfinished dirt hole, but after a long search, Cora found something very interesting. Tucked into a small nook in the northern wall was a book. It was "The Codex of Dreams". Just touching the tome gave Cora almost sickening shivers, and she though she could hear a faint humming noise coming from its blackened pages. The book was simply pulsing with evil power.
Sophia was definitely up to something.
"Do you have any idea where Sophia might have gone?" Garen asked Maegan.
At the mention of Sophia, the young woman shuddered, and looked away, but finally answered, "She did mention that she was going to put on her second performance in Aruldusk."
Since the party had just been consulting a map of the region, they knew exactly where to find Aruldusk. It was a large town, about a half-week's journey to the south. They had considered it as a place to purchase airship parts, before they decided on heading to a fort instead.
They decided that there was no time to waste. They left Maegan in the care of the nearest farmhouse, and then force marched to Aruldusk. The airship was in no shape to make the journey, so they went on foot. For two and a half full days they marched, stopping only briefly for rest. Finally they reached their destination.
They could see that something was wrong, even in the distance. A reddish plume of smoke went up from the center of town, backlit by the failing sun in the winter dusk. Shouts could be heard, as well as loud crashes.
They took the last half mile at a run.
For the most part, the streets were deserted. Frightened eyes peeped from windows behind locked doors. Lying forgotten on the street were dozens of flyers advertising "The Queen's Visitor - a play by Sophia Lasilaran." They followed the sounds of fighting, which brought them to the center of town.
There were large barricades erected in the streets, manned by watchman, townsfolk, and the odd soldier. From inside they could hear shouts, gibbering noises, slopping sounds, and one voice yelling out phrases about the Queen of Dreams. This was all very unsettling. All the hands manning the barricades pointed the four of them towards the constable for the town, Colbert Radcliff.
After a few minutes they found the burly warrior, shouting commands to some peasants, erecting a makeshift barricade. He looked very worried, but as soon as his eyes fell on the Thaspar, Garen, Sadie, and Cora, he made straight for them.
"You are exactly who I am looking for," he began breathlessly, "I don't know where you are from, but we need your help."
Radcliff explained that a traveling acting company, The Queen's Players had come to town earlier that day. Everyone was in a tizzy about the world premiere of "The Queen's Visitor" which was to happen right in Aruldusk. Radcliff wasn't at the play, but apparently something went dreadfully wrong. The attendees had been transformed into horrible abominations and were destroying the town. They were currently barricaded within the town square, and surrounding streets, but the barricades wouldn't hold forever.
Radcliff asked desperately if the group would help, and, of course, they agreed, since that is what they had come here to do. Before they entered the town square, however, they asked Radcliff, what had become of The Queen's Players.
"I have no idea," was his response, "but a lot has happened. The lightning rail left shortly after the commotion began, they could have easily made it onto that."
"Oh, where was the coach bound," Sadie asked.
"It would have been the express train to Sharn," Radcliff replied.
Each privately thought about his statement with a terrified sickness in their hearts; but at the moment, the immediate danger was the mob of aberrations, destroying Aruldusk. The four quickly ascended the nearest barricade, and dropped into the center of the madness.
They were keeping their eyes open for any danger, and especially Krunk Cihilar, a local dwarvish hero, and Geoff Bresnick, the mayor of the town. Both reputedly attended the performance.
Aruldusk within the barricade was very different than without. Buildings had been vandalized, signs and doors torn down, lanterns smashed on the cobblestones, and litter strewn everywhere. Worst were the bodies - dozens lay dead, in varying states of wholeness. Body parts lay in gutters and hung from broken windows. Corpses lay festering in tangled heaps, in many cases bearing the signs of cannibalism.
Here and there, as they moved slowly toward the town square, they would spot a lone abomination lurking in a shadowed alley or in a ruined building, hunched over something red and wet, or simply twitching in a nervous heap.
The citizens of the somewhat backwater Aruldusk had always prided themselves on the large open-air amphitheatre in the center of town. Magically heated, to allow year-round use, it gave the townsfolk the sense that they had as much art and class as folk in the big city.
Now the amphitheatre was in ruins. The same, strange symbol was painted everywhere, often in blood. The seats had been torn apart, and bodies lie strewn without. The central, recessed stage area was filled with brackish bloody water in which more corpses were floating. Standing in the midst of this was a man, who matched the description of the town’s mayor. He was raving something about The Queen of Dreams, and her visitor.
The small knot of adventurers was slowly making their way toward the amphitheatre, when, without warning, dozens of deformed townsfolk suddenly rushed towards them from every street and alley. They were ambushed by a huge mob. Each was different. There were tentacles, sinuous membranes, bulbous white eyes, cilia, organs hanging in fleshy sacks, and gruesome toothy mouths growing on the exterior of the creature's heads. The sickening abominations lumbered forward. Yet, standing over the maelstrom of madness was another figure. More powerful. It looked like he had once been a dwarf, but now sickly green tentacles emerged from his mouth, and his appendages writhed and stuttered. Holding a large axe, he shouted a gurgling cry, and the mob rushed around the heroes.
In an instant everything was flailing tentacles, and biting ragged teeth. Sadie's blade slashed through two of the lumbering beasts. Cora dropped one, while Garen's axe ripped through the slavering horde. Thaspar meanwhile hacked his way toward the powerful dwarven figure. They locked in combat, and the throng of monstrosities beat around them.
The sheer number of abominations was overwhelming. They pressed against Cora, Sadie, and Garen, crushing them under their weight, ripping and tearing at the defenseless heroes. Yet, the three continued slashing on, their weapons downing beast after beast. Soon the cobblestones were slick with greenish red blood.
Both sword and fist proved ineffective against the dwarven aberration, who had once been the town's hero. He was too well armored. Thaspar hadn't scored much more than a glancing blow. Meanwhile the horrors around him were pulling him down. He struggled to remain standing and deliver another hit. His fist slammed down on his opponent, but then he collapsed, and felt the weight of dozens of wriggling monsters on top of him. The struggled in vain as their claws tore his flesh.
Just as blackness was closing in around Thaspar he felt the weight lifted. Cora pulled one of the horrors off him. Sadie, and Garen had tossed the halfling into the fray to save some time. She came tumbling into the mob, dagger whirling. Soon Sadie and Garen were there too, cleaving abberations, left and right. Soon the mob had dispersed, and it was four against a single aberrant dwarf, already wounded by Thaspar’s earlier onslaught.
They soon ended his misery.
The town square, soaked in blood, was oddly quiet. The eerie silence was suddenly broken by the shrill voice of the mayor, "The Queen will open the door for the visitor!"
Strangely the mayor, though utterly insane, had not transformed; neither was he violent. They led him back into the custody of Constable Radcliff.
With the immediate danger to Aruldusk dealt with, the group’s first priority was making it to Sharn as quickly as possible. Radcliff told them that the Lightning Rail wasn't scheduled to run until the morning, and it might be cancelled. After some discussion with him, and the house Orien officials they managed to get a special emergency ride. The train pulled out, towing only one car. It was on an express route for Sharn. They just hoped that they could arrive on time.
As the train rocketed through the night, Garen worked on a scroll, which would help them in their plan. The plan was originally Sadie's idea. They would use a sending spell to notify Merrin about The Queen's Players and their deadly performance. By dawn the scroll was complete.
Sadie sent a message to the paladin, telling him what they knew (in 25 words or less) and he responded that he would do what he could.
Then, they could do nothing but wait impatiently as the lighning rail coach chugged through the Brelish landscape. The beautiful farmland and forest was lost on them. Soon the snow ended, and the sub-tropical forests near Sharn were whipping past them, and then Sharn itself, appeared on the horizon.
They burst from the coach the instant it stopped, and looked around the nearly deserted platform. There were some surprised looks from people - as no train was scheduled to arrive at that time. It was early evening - they had to find the Queen's Players - fast.
It didn't take long to find out where they were. The flyers were everywhere:
World Premiere
The Queen's Visitor
One Night Only
Sharn Opera House
6 PM - Tonight
At least they knew where the play was set to go on, and when, but the large clock in the station read 5 minutes past 6.
They quickly flagged down a skycoach outside the station, and were in the air, speeding toward the Sharn Opera House. Considered to be on of the centers of culture in the city, tonight it would be the site of unspeakable terror - unless they could stop it.
"You're not going to get tickets, you know," the cabby said lithely, "they're all sold out."
"Just shut up and drive," Sadie snorted.
Barely taking time to pay, they bounded from the skycoach toward the opera house. It was a massive stone structure, with large wooden doors. The only time Sadie had been here previously was on here first date with Merrin. It was quite possible that they would meet here again - though under less happy circumstances.
The doors were locked. Sadie set about unlocking them as quickly as possible. It was a complex mechanism, but here fingers worked nimbly, and after several seconds, the massive doors creaked open upon the foyer.
The reception area was deserted. Even the box office lay empty. They ran as quickly as they could up the labyrinthine path to the rear of the seating area, and they caught their first glimpse of the Queen's Players.
The large seating area had a gently sloping floor, allowing everyone an excellent view of the large stage area. Overhead balconies provided even more good seats. The entire audience sat in rapt attention, a full house of silence as all eyes were fixated on the performance on stage. They could also see Merrin, standing in the aisle, hypnotized like the rest of the audience.
The stage itself had been decorated to resemble a throne room. In the center of the stage was a great throne of what appeared to be some kind of sickening yellowy-green stone gilt with gold runes - some of which seemed to writhe and twitch. A colonnade of pillars led off behind the throne, beyond which was an amazingly realistic backdrop of a strange, alien city. The dark waters of a lake dominated the horizon, and 13 moons shone in the sky above.
On stage, four figures were visible. Their voices echoed through the hall, reverberating off the walls in a strangely hypnotic cadence. On the throne was seated what must have been the titular Queen of the play, a figure dressed in robes that concealed the actor's face completely. She was sitting quietly as she gazed upon a figure before her, perhaps a prisoner. This actor was androgynously handsome, wearing a form-fitting suit of chainmail, and wielding a whip of what looked to be a braided length of his own hair ending in a cruel, razor-edged hook. To either side of the throne stood the remaining actors. One was a lean, muscled man with an expression of contempt on his chiseled features. He wore a chain shirt and held a scimitar before him.
The fourth figure was clad in a green robe and revealing clothing. Her hands held a long gnarled quarterstaff, and her face was hidden behind a feminine porcelain mask, the brow of which bore the all too familiar symbol. Although she was wearing a mask, her voice was clear, and the lips of the mask were moving to match her words.
"Strange is your home, O Queen, but stranger still is my land!"
Garen found the performance strangely fascinating. Something about it transfixed him. He slowly took an empty seat in the aisle to watch how the action unfolded.
Sadie fought the hypnotizing quality of the play, but she felt herself succumbing to its influence. Charging down the aisle she screamed and hurled a flask of alchemists fire amid the actors. Arrows flew over her head, from the direction of Thaspar, aimed that the woman wearing the mask.With the disruption on stage the audience was beggining to stir. The fascination was being broken.
Thinking quickly the masked woman blurted, "The villages are attacking. They know too much."
Yes, though Sadie. Maybe the action on stage was all part of the play. The villagers really were attacking...
Cora was on the roof. Before they had entered the auditorium, she had cast spider climb on herself. Now she was clambering down the domed ceiling toward the stage. Below the actors were loosing their concentration under the barrage of attacks from off-stage. Cora decided to up the ante.
Another flask of alchemists fire plummeted onto the stage from above - smashing all over the actor with the whip. He shrieked with alarm and began tried to put out the flames, but then collapsed to the stage. Coras dart plunged into the large black man with the scimtar. He doubled over in pain, then fell to the ground in the throes of death. An arrow from Thaspar's bow thunked into the masked woman - she gasped in alarm.
Everything was silent for a moment - then chaos.
The spell was broken. Garen, Merrin, and Sadie regained their senses, as did the rest of the crowd. It took a moment for the horrible situation to dawn on the crowd. There was one shriek, then another. In an instant everything was screaming.
The patrons stampeded from the theatre, destroying seats, and trampling each other in blind terror. Merrin, Garen, and Thaspar had to brace themselves with all their strength to avoid being pulled along, or crushed under the inexorable tide of paniced nobles.
Directly in front of the stage, Sadie was able to avoid the sea of running bodies, and make it quickly up onto the raised platform. By this time the actor with the long hair whip was back on his feet - having recieved healing from the woman in the mask. Sadie focused her attention on him, scoring several blow in quick succession.
She was a whirl of steel, tooth, and claw as she bore down on the actor, but then, she felt herself slowing. The world around her grew faster and faster. It was like everyone around her was whizzing buy. Not again, she moaned internally - she had been hit by a slow spell.
As the crowd subsided Garen and Thaspar rushed up the aisle. The woman in the mask was ready. Suddenly swirling golden lights seemed to surround them. They were both blinded. The elf and the warforged continued to stumble their way up the aisle.
Despite being blinded Garen arrived first. Hefting his metalic body on stage he moved to directly attack the woman in the mask. The queen on the throne had stood up to reveal herself to be a he. That meant that the woman in the mask must be none other than Sophia Lassilaran. Garen moved to attack the evil playwright, when suddenly a seed of confusion grew in his mind. Who were they fighting again. What was they point? Who was he? What was a warforged? Why were the apples a basilisk? His axe raised in mid-swing, the warforged began babbling incoherently.
Back at the edge of the stage, Thaspar was trying in vain to climb onto the platform. Blinded, he could not seem to make the 4 foot climb. He just couldn't get leverage to get up.
Merrin had better luck, in his sighted state. Bounding onto the stage, with his armor glistening, and shouting a warcry he bore down on the whip bearing actor. "The flame will cleanse all evil," he shouted, as his greatsword burst into silvered flame and crashed down on the actor, killing him in a single blow.
Standing next to him, Sadie was awed by his combat prowess, but then a thought came to her. Maybe he was trying to kill her too. He might even be one of Sophia's illusions. He had been the enemy all along!
Merrin was very happy to see Sadie, as they were a romantic item, and he turned from the slain bard to speak with her. He suddenly felt a sharp dagger in his side. Sadie had stabbed him! He didn't have long to ponder this turn of events, however, before he succumbed to the same confusion spell.
Thaspar had just managed to clamber blindly onto the stage when he heard something big bearing down on him. He could not have seen Garen, shouting poetry at the top of his lungs, blinded by golden glitter, run as fast as he could off the stage and go careening into the front row seats.
Cora was high above the action. Still clinging to the ceiling she was hurling darts into the fray. She noticed one of the company - the one who had been dressed as the queen - begining to levitate off the stage, and prepared to engage him directly. When she noticed Garen run crazily off the stage, however, something about it struck her as funny. She knew she shouldn't laugh, but she couldn't stop herself. She felt the giggles welling up inside her. The whole thing was absurd. Thaspar was groping along the stage floor, Sadie and Merrin were wandering around like zombies. It was hilarious.
She burt out with a racous laughter. She tried to keep it in, but she just kept laughing and laughing. She couldn't catch her breath. She chortled and guffawed at the top of her lungs. She felt her grip on the ceiling slipping. Wouldn't it be hilarious if she fell?
Sadie heard loud laughter descending quickly from above, followed by a loud thump. There, on the floor, near the stage, was Cora. She was obviously badly wounded by the fall, but for some reason she was giggling uncontrollably. That's it, thought Sadie, her mind still muddled by the spell, Cora is the mastermind. She's laughing at our demise! Still slowed, the shifter plodded off the stage and swung her dagger at Cora. The halfling quickly rolled aside, and started laughing even harder.
In the mean time Merrin had wandered over and attacked Sophia, but after landing one blow, he had instead become fascinated by the reflection of his own face on his sword.
Thaspar, on the other hand was still of sound mind, though he couldn't see a thing. Making his way by the sound of casting spells, he found himself near enough to Sophia to attack with his fists. Despite being able to see nothing but golden glitter, he managed to land several punishing blows on the playwright. The entire time he had trouble keeping his feet, but he couldn't tell why.
As he attacked his sigh slowly returned. He could clearly see Sophia before him, and under his feet was a thick puddle of slimy grease. Ha, thought Thaspar, that didn't stop me. He moved to attack, and promptly fell down.
Still confused, Sadie made her way back to attack Sophia, but she was still moving in slow motion. She had only made it half way when she suddenly came to her senses. Quickly taking account of the situation, she saw that both Thaspar and Merrin were attacking Sophia, and meanwhile the actor who had been on the throne was levitating away to safety. He shrieked as Sadie's arrow slammed into him.
Behind Sadie's back Merrin decided to leave Sophia. His mind still muddled, he had decided that Cora was the biggest threat. The halfling was still lying on the floor, in the throws of hystrionics. He brought his massive greatsword down on her twice. Cora found this particularly hilarious. She couldn't breath she was laughing so hard.
Garen seemed to have finally finished his poetry recital, and regained his wits. He clambered up onto the stage. He was just reaching Sophia, when Thaspar struck her with the side of his hand. Her body crumpled to the floor.
In that instant the Sharn Opera House was filled with a nauseating flash of light. A malignant portal suddenly ripped open the stage area, giving them a vision of a vast lake. At the far side of the lake rose strange, alien towers. Between the towers was a second portal to a world of twisting nothingness. Black tendris suddenly shot out from the second portal - misty lines of arcane power. Each one lighted on one of the people on stage, and dozens shot out the entraceway. Then, without warning, the waters of the lake roared into the opera house, drenching everyone in cold.
If that had been all that had come through the portal, Sadie would have been glad. She turned around, after the sudden shock of being soaked to see a huge monstrosity before her. It was a horrifying mix of octapoid, insectoid, and humanoid limbs, with a hideous face that was nearly all mouth.
Sadie ran.
The splash of cold water seemed to bring Cora to her senses. There was nothing funny about what was going on. Still under the influence of spider climb, she ran to the nearest wall and began to climb it to safety.
The monster seemed to have had a strange effect on Garen. He just stood, staring at it, gibbering incoherently as the beast lumbered toward him.
Thaspar saw that he need to act fast. He put himself between the horror and Garen, and attacked the beast with full force.
The beast returned the favor.
The sickly fangs of the abomination ripped through Thaspar's flesh. With the bite, he felt a strange feeling. A feeling like his common sense was ebbing away. Insanity was welling up within him. He tried to fight it.
Next two massive claw raked his body, then stinging tentacles battered him from all angles. When the creature was done, Thaspar was a wreck, in both mind and body. He feebly tried to take a healing potion.
No sooner had the potion touched his lips, was he struck once again for massive damage. His mind was realing. He felt like he was on the verge of madness. He could see blood pouring from his body.
Garen could see that Thaspar was in bad shape. Once again in charge of his faculties, he rushed forward, swinging his axe at the aberration. Then, in one fluid movement, he pulled the elf along with him, away from the creature. With Sadie's arrows thunking into the beast they ran. The creature was powerful, but it was slow. It struggled to slither up the aisle toward them.
Sadie could see that the monster would not reach them at the other side of the playhouse for some time, but that the last member of the acting company was about to escape. He was levitating, and pulling himself along the ceiling to freedom.
With a shriek he plumetted from above, landing in a crumpled heap over one of the seats, Sadie's arrow protruding from his skull.
Everyone had now retreated to relative safety, but the question that was on everyone's mind was - how are we going to keep this abomination out of Sharn? As it turned out the question was moot.
With a loud scream, and a flash of light the portal suddenly closed. In an instant the monster, and the water from the lake was sucked back inside, and with an explosion of arcane energy the portal dissapeared.
They were left in the Sharn Opera House with four dead actors, and a few badly wounded nobles.
****
In the end the watch arrived to clean up the mess. The nobles were sent to the nearest House Jorasco enclave for healing. Once the chain of events was pieced together, Sharn City Council was most grateful. Everyone involved was given an ample reward, but Sadie, Thaspar, Cora, and Garen were just happy to be back in a non-destroyed version of Sharn.
Timeline
- Mol 2 Zarantyr - Encounter in Hallowfield
- Zor 5 Zarantyr - Reached Aruldusk and fought mob
- Far 6 Zarantyr -
- Sar 7 Zarantyr - Presented with Reward
Heroic Actions
- Cora simultaneously defelected seven attacks from aberrant villagers
- Thaspar cleft three abberations with a single blow
Heroic Quotes
- "You know, Thrane isn't how I expected it." - Sadie (while fighting the second mob of aberrant villagers)
Adventure Names
- Robert - ?Diabetes? BEAN CUP!!
- Robyn - The Show Must Go On
Legends & Lore
Sharn is sometimes referred to as the Gate to Xen'drik. The huge southern continent is primarily covered in lush jungles, and Sharn is the closest port to the only real bastion of civilization on Xen'drik, the city of
All persons wishing to plunder Xen'drik and return to Sharn, must purchase permits and pay tax on their findings. Even with this overhead, dozens of treasure hunters set out for the continent each year to find their fortunes there. Some never return, but those who do often bring relics beyond imagining.
Statistics
Date Played: July 15, 2006
Session Length: 9 hours
Experience Gained: 3000-ish/character
Foes Vanquished: 12 Aberrant Villages, 2 Wystes, Mob of Madness, Aberrant Dwarf, 4 Bards, Huge Aberration
This adventure is a heavily modified version of "And Madness Followed" which was published in Dungeon Magazine Issue #134, by Matthew Hope. A very small amount of the text of this chronicle is copied (and modified to past tense) from the original adventure.
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