Flaming White Apes

The following morning we headed ashore to speak with the chief once again. He and some of his tribe met us on the beach as we arrived. We asked him some detailed questions about the volcano, the evil, the demon, etc. but getting any relevant information was difficult. All we could discern was that the tribe believed that there was a demon living in the volcano and he was coming out (possibly at night) to terrorize the jungle. Because of that, they are afraid to go in to gather food and water.

We decided to see if the ape leader could shed some more light on the issue. In one of the huts, he and the other ape were being attended to by some of the tribes’ women. When we entered, one ape was unconscious but the leader was awake, although very weak. Telepathically, the ape greeted Elvis and immediately asked if we would help them defeat the evil. We were determined to first get a better understanding of what exactly was going on. The ape described the evil force was like the wind – the “spirit” of the volcano. He feared that a group of young apes violated their sacred taboo and foolishly entered a cave in the volcano and that was what awoke the demon. In the cave the young apes discovered the jewelry that they were trading with the tribesmen. However, some time has passed since the apes were last seen and the leader doesn’t know what happened to them.

I began to “speak” to the ape and he turned to me directly to “listen”. It appears that with this telepathy, you must concentrate on only one person at a time to be able to communicate. The ape was getting very tired, but I wanted to know what happened to the four ape corpses we discovered on our way to The Crown Rock. He said that he knew of this tragedy and it was the evil wind that accosted them and tore their bodies apart. After he answered my question, he fell unconscious. With this information, we headed back to the tribe one last time. We mentioned to the chief that we were planning to go into the volcano cave to investigate and he became very scared and concerned for us. I asked him if he has ever seen the volcano erupt and he said he had. Apparently, it’s not too frequent, but the last time was about 10 moons ago. He believes that when it does erupt, the volcano wants some sort of sacrifice.

We cautiously headed towards the volcano as planned. Elvis whipped out his spyglass to scout ahead and noticed a cave opening at the base of the volcano. Once inside, we found the walls of the tunnels to be irregularly shaped out of volcanic rock. We heard a noise down one pathway that sounded like a footstep that someone – or something – accidentally made. Bravely (or stupidly) we decided to find out its origin. While walking along the corridor, we heard a ruckus behind us followed by someone yelling in pain. Hans tripped a pit trap and fell ten or so feet onto some spikes. We lowered a rope to pull him up and as we did, screaming was heard in our heads and rocks were coming at us from all directions! We turned to find six red-eyed, shaggy albino apes attack us. We were really caught off guard but Elvis continued to help pull Hans out of the pit. With our two best fighters preoccupied for that moment, the apes took advantage and beat up on us quite handily. We were able to defeat one of the bushy beasts; however we were outmatched and decided to make haste for the exit.

The group vs. angry white apes (first encounter)

Back at the village, we went to tell the ape leader of what happened and he believes the white apes we encountered are the foolhardy, young apes that entered the volcano caves weeks earlier. They are now cursed with the taboo and have been transformed. He seemed distraught about the news so we left him so he could rest. We went back to the ship and rested for a few days until we felt strong enough to take on the white apes again. Once we returned to the village, we found it had been ransacked and the hut where the apes were resting was in shambles. Worse still, there was blood everywhere and the apes themselves were missing.

We went back to the caves and prepared a trap for the apes. Laying a bear trap on one side of the pit, we planned to lure them into an area then set them ablaze with flaming oil. I nervously went to taunt the apes and they began to chase me down the corridor. Initially they stopped short of our trap and began to throw more rocks at us. We pulled back a bit more expecting the apes to follow us and they did. The bear trap snagged one of the hirsute buggers then Chris set the oil on fire. The most of the apes lit up like a bonfire and the corridor filled thick with smoke from their burning white fur. Even with that advantage, they were still quite difficult to defeat. With the help of a few paralyzing darts we were barely able to claim victory. Once again battered, we headed back to the village and the tribe was happy for our victory, yet their joy was tainted with some anguish. That night, the tribe lit a huge bon fire as both a ceremony to protect the tribe and to celebrate our conquest over the apes.

Buh-Buh-Buh Booty!

Aboard The Hairy Tentacle, we were heading towards what we hoped was the island with The Crown Rock. The winds were not favourable to us today, but that could change at any time. Agnesia continued to show his amazement at the detail of our map and as he studied it, he mentioned that it would be several days until we got to the island.

We passed many of the known islands that are charted on our map. While passing the Isle of Bone, we could see many piles of white rocks. We were told that many degenerates live there and rumour has it that there were once palaces of kings there – before a plague – and now only demons live in the caves. Smaller, uncharted islands are scattered all around the Sea of Dreams, many of which are simply rest stops for sailors to grab a quick meal from a merchant and possibly rest before heading off to sea again. Many rumours can be overheard or bought there, I’m sure.

After sleeping the night below deck, we awoke to find it was a very windy day and fortunately in a favourable direction. The wind was helping move the ship at a brisk pace. Later in the day we finally reached a group of islands sitting in the middle of what seemed like nowhere. Agnesia navigated the ship towards one of the islands that he thought might be our intended destination. He took the ship around the west coast wisely avoiding the reefs that were to the north of the island. Getting closer, we could see a large, smoking hill on the west coast, just as our map indicated. The whole coast near the southern part was pure, white sand with a thick tropical forest just behind it covering the middle of the island. Palm trees were scattered all about the beach. The men in the crow’s nest yelled down to us that they saw natives on the island. A short distance from shore, Agnesia dropped anchor and the crew began to prepare the boarding vessel to head ashore.

Once on land, we were approached by a small group of natives. We weren’t sure how they would receive us, so we were on our guard. Once they got close enough, we saw that they were a sorry sight. They were very emaciated and not at all threatening. They advanced towards us with hands extended, so we gave them some food and fresh drinking water. We tried to communicate with them, but it was difficult. Agnesia mentioned that one of his crew would be able to help translate. When he finally came ashore, he spoke to the chief and through the translator we learned that the tribe normally gets their food from a group of apes (or monkeys) that live in the jungle. However, the chief told us that some sort of evil creature is killing them. When asked what this “evil” was, there was no clear answer except that the natives have some sort of taboo about the smoking hill. Without this trade with the apes, his tribe has been starving from lack of food. The chief offered us a basket filled with jewelry if we would help eradicate the source of the evil. From what we could understand, the chief said that the apes give him the jewelry in exchange for fish, but how or where the apes get the loot from is a mystery (at least to us). The jewelry he handed over was mostly crowns and tiaras and most are adorned with strange demon like creatures.

We decided to try and locate Crown Rock to see if our map had any legitimacy. While following the beach on the east side of the island, we eventually happened upon five small reptilian/ lizard type creatures. We were able to cut into the jungle at that point and avoided a confrontation. Moving through the overgrowth in the tropical jungle was horrible at best and when you add in the heat and the insects, the whole situation was almost unbearable. We approached a small clearing and the stench of death was strong. This rocky area was littered with eight or so ape corpses that were all completely ripped apart. Whatever happened here was not something we wanted to experience. It was disturbing to say the least. We needed to get our bearings, so Chris was able to levitate above the jungle canopy to get a better look at the surrounding area. He spotted another clearing about 50 yards away, so we headed in that direction.

While continuing through the thicket, we heard some noises around us and in an instant we were attacked by four wild boars. They caught us a bit off guard, but we were able to eventually defeat them and collect some of their meat for rations. We fought our way through the brush for about half an hour before we entered a small clearing. In front of us stood a large boulder that looked like a crown. On the ground were some smaller, white stones that someone had laid out in the pattern of an arrow. The arrow was pointing towards the boulder, so that was a good indication we were in the right spot. A few minutes digging in the sand underneath the boulder and giving it a good heave-ho finally dislodged it from its resting place. Underneath we discovered an old, locked iron box. We smashed the lock and inside found a beautiful mahogany box with gold edging. It was quite beautiful and very heavy for some reason. Upon opening it, we were quite pleased to find five pieces of gem encrusted jewelry and 500 platinum pieces! The platinum pieces were strange. They all had this image of a six-fingered hand stamped on them. Overall, it was not a bad haul for a day’s work.

We secured the treasure in our packs and were about to head back to the ship when we heard a strange buzzing sound from the edge of the clearing. It was getting louder and the next thing we knew five giant killer bees were attacking us. We were a bit more prepared for an encounter then before and were able to dispose of the pests with little trouble. We began the trip back and after a while we broke free from the oppressive foliage. While walking along the beach on the east side of the island, we were surprised when four apes came out of the jungle towards us. Knowing that these creatures are usually quite strong, we were on our guard but they did not attack us. In fact, they looked like they were drugged or drunk. They could barely walk and had a confused look about them. One ape collapsed and another came over to us. We tried to help the fallen one, but he died even before we could do anything. In our heads we began to hear voices. Somehow these animals were communicating with us without even speaking! He asked if we knew where the chief was and Elvis “thought” back to him that he was in the village and that they should follow us since we were on our way there. They did accompany us and when we arrived at the village, the apes began to communicate with the native chief. I’m not sure what was said, but for now we wanted to go back to the ship to rest for the night.

Stop off in Pentastadion

For the next few days, we sailed around just off the coast of Ilyria. Agnesia and his crew of a dozen or so salty dogs gave Elvis, Chris, Hans and me a crash course on how to sail the vessel. We decided on a name for the ship. We’re calling her The Hairy Tentacle.

During some down time we researched through the numerous journal notes from the treasure chest and the effort may have paid off. Whoever wrote it made mention of some treasure that’s located on or near a place called “The Crown Rock”. We then checked all the small map pieces and as luck would have it, one of them showed some sort of island that had the words “Crown Rock” on it and an arrow pointing to an “X”. We can’t get too excited yet, but it looks like we could be on to something.

We asked Agnesia if he knew where this island was located and when we showed him our large map detailing the Sea of Dreams, he was quite interested in it. The map that he uses for his navigational purposes is newer than ours, but oddly it’s not as detailed. How could our much older map be more complete then his? We both found that to be very strange. Regardless, he is familiar with the area where the island is located so we plan to head there after a quick stop in Pentastadion to finish up some business in the city.

The short trip eastward went smoothly and once we docked, the crew was quite eager to find the closest watering hole to whet their whistles – *very* eager. We all hunkered down at The Kit and Caboodle for a good long night of drinking. The place was a cesspool of creeps and other undesirables. Elvis was kind enough to buy the first round for everyone and long into the night we lost track of time, beer, and brawls. As the place was closing down, Chris noticed a group of shady characters staring at him but they left the place before we did. He then recalled that he owed some money to a mobster named Kron for a loan he took once during a night of reckless partying. That was some time ago and apparently Kron hasn’t forgotten about it.

We left the bar well expecting a confrontation with the thugs and they didn’t let us down. A good number of them approached us on the docks and quickly surrounded us. They told us that Kron was “out of the picture” and that someone by the name of “the lord” wants payment of 1000 gold pieces. Chris argued that he only owed Kron 500 gp’s, but was told that the lord paid off his debt to Kron. We took that to mean that they killed Kron and are coming after Chris to collect the money owed (at a significant mark up). We obviously didn’t have that much on us, so these kind gentlemen were nice enough to escort us back to the Hairy Tentacle to get it. Along the way, I was close to casting a charm person spell on the head goon, but thought the wiser because even if it did work, we probably couldn’t handle the rest of the thugs. There were just too many of them.

En route to our ship, we asked the men about their boss. They were surprised that we’d never heard of “the lord of the shaded fifth”. Apparently he’s a big time boss who controls a large section of the city and bullies in on the smaller mobsters (since they usually don’t have enough muscle). I can only assume that he has connections with a Thieves’ Guild and ties to the black market in Pentastadion. We eventually got to our ship and paid the men the money. Probably better that way. We can think of it as an investment incase we ever decide we want to take any work from this lord person or sell him some questionable merchandise we happen to find. We tried to rest for the remainder of the night but were constantly bothered when crew members staggered back from who knows where at all hours of the morning. I thought it best if we don’t ask them any details of where they were or whom they were with. Sometimes things like that are best kept quiet.

The next morning I needed to run some errands in town before we set sail. I went to the blacksmith to pick up the bone armour that I commissioned him to make for me. I’ve been very anxious to get it and let me tell you, it was worth the wait. It’s quite exquisite yet very creepy to think that this outer shell I’ll be wearing as protection was once living bone from various creatures. The breastplate is made from the rib cage of some large animal and the helmet is the skull from some massive humanoid. When I put the helmet on, the upper jaw comes down just above my eyes and gives quite a menacing look. It turned out exactly how I hoped it would.

Next, I went to quickly visit the alchemist Drosis but it turned out to take longer than I expected. I sold him a few of the strange items I’ve collected recently and he was kind enough to teach me some interesting concoctions with some of the other weird and mysterious matters I’ve acquired throughout my adventuring.  Once that was done, we picked up some supplies, food, water, fishing gear, etc. for the journey south. We were finally able to weigh anchor sometime around noon and head towards Crown Rock for more adventures!

Betrayal! (or “We were going to sell it to you anyway!”)

Now that the evil Telekis was defeated, we desired nothing more then to escape these wretched tunnels. We quickly exited his chamber, only to realize that we didn’t thoroughly explore the many books that were in the adjacent library. Most items there were quite mundane and non-descript; however there was one large tome resting on a pedestal that caught our attention. The writing was of some strange script that was more pictorial then words. We took the book with us for future examination. We also discovered an old, barnacle-laden treasure chest in the room. It looked as though it’s seen a fair amount of time at sea, so how it got in these caverns was a mystery. Part of a name was written on the chest and could barely be made out. It read “Arborous”? Not sure who or what that is, but nonetheless, we opened it and discovered a bunch of scrolls inside. One in particular was a map of the islands just south of The Lost Continent. This may come in useful if we ever decide to explore that area. The other papers in the trunk seemed to be journal entries and smaller scrolls referencing some areas on the bigger map.

Map of islands south of The Lost Continent

Once we were done scouring the library, we continued on our way towards the exit but found it to be blocked by three giant black widow spiders. Having already had our fill of spiders, poison, and webs, we decided to make haste for an alternate exit. Once there we made our way out of the subterranean caverns for the final time, leaving Ralph behind. Believe it or not, I was growing fond of Ralph and I shed a tear when we parted. He was a good, good friend, albeit unaware that he was charmed to act so, but nonetheless I’m going to miss that ol’ half goat bastard!

Back at the encampment, Claus was there packing up the last of his gear. Elvis, Christopher, Hanselhopf, and I were discussing what we should do with the Death’s Head gem. Elvis and I wanted to take it to the purple monks for safekeeping. Realizing it was a very powerful and evil artifact, we didn’t want it to fall into the wrong hands and have it be used by anyone for nefarious deeds. However, Chris and Hans were of the mindset that it could send many gold pieces our way, if we sold it. Unable to come to an agreement, we resolved the stalemate with a hearty round of stone-parchment-blade. We paired up into two groups with Elvis taking on Hans and Chris challenging me. Both contests resulted favourably for Chris and Hans, so therefore we must sell it. We decided to take the gem to Alexey Romanov to see if he’d be interested in buying it.

Approaching Alexey’s manor, the place is once again a raucous scene. This guy will use any excuse to party – and I say that with admiration towards him. Entering the place, his assistants directed us to a sitting room while they notified him of our arrival. Some sitting room it was! Drinks, opiates, and ladies were plentiful. It was more like his personal den of debauchery. Time was lost as the smoke from the hookahs filled our heads and the vices we enjoyed took effect. Eventually, Alexey joined the festivities and in typical fashion, he greeted us with a huge smile and an up-beat demeanor. After the salutations and small talk, the conversation turned to business as we produced the Death’s Head gem. As expected, he was very happy for our success and was eager to strike a deal to obtain the powerful artifact. Some numbers were bandied about and when an agreement was reached, Alexey offered us a toast to seal the transaction. The merriment quickly took a wrong turn once we realized that Alexey had secretly slipped a drug into our drinks. We were helpless. While drifting in a half catatonic state, we noticed that his countenance drastically changed from the cheery personality to that of a scowling fiend. We were all so easily taken in by him. How foolish of us to make such a rookie mistake. Rule number one in adventuring: don’t trust anybody!

Regardless, this was the situation we found ourselves to be in and instantly everything in which we were partaking vanished. The women, the drinks, and the party itself all disappeared. Even the room changed from a luxurious lounge into a cold and unkempt room of some decrepit, old manor. It was all just an illusion! In our groggy condition, his words became jumbled to our ears. As he took the Death’s Head from us, his eyes were transfixed on his new possession and through his twisted, maniacal smile he said “Excellent!” and let out a sinister laugh. He then turned to one of his assistants and barked out a command for him to do something, but the details after that became hazy and all went dark. We awoke some time later without the Death’s Head gem in our custody. The tome we procured from the library of Telekis was also missing. Oddly enough, in their place was a “payment” of 500gp. We can only assume that Alexey left us the money, but we may never know for certain. As a side note, when Claus regained consciousness, he told us how terrible he felt for what happened. He said that it’s not typically his nature to trust people so quickly and regrets ever meeting Alexey. My suspicion is that he fell victim to a magical charm spell cast by Alexey; similar to the spells I cast on Ralph and Willis.

After coming to terms with the recent events, we gathered ourselves and headed into town for a good nights rest at an inn. The following day, my comrades and I went to visit the purple monks at the monastery to let them know what transpired with our adventure. Needless to say they were disappointed to find out Alexey was not who he seemed to be and that he now has the Death’s Head gem and the strange tome. But ultimately, all they really wanted was for all the strange occurrences in Ilyria to stop and for the evil artifact to “go away”. So from that stance, they were pleased. I showed the strange rune inscribed ring that we found in Telekis’s treasure hoard to one of the monks named Brother Gerald. We were told that he knows many arcane languages, but the runes on the ring were unclear to him. He did indicate however that it might be a powerful artifact. I’m curious to find out more about it.

Back in Ilyria, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that the townsfolk planned to gather that evening to honour us for ridding the area of the great evil. When nightfall arrived, we headed towards the town centre to find the entire area filled with people partying and celebrating Ilyria’s “new dawn”. Many of the people we rescued from the caves were there along with the leaders of the town. To show us their appreciation, the townsfolk presented us with a sailing ship that they rebuilt. It was fantastic! We were hoping to do some high seas adventuring. We were exhilarated with the gift, but there was a small problem. None of us knew how to sail it. Fortunately, one of the townsfolk volunteered to come along with us to help with that task. It was none other than Agnesia! We were very thrilled to have him join us and to have him help navigate the seas. The celebration continued into the early morning and the next thing I remembered was waking up – very hung over – in a room below deck of our new ship. We were just off the coast of Ilyria sailing eastward. It seems as though our seagoing adventures have begun!

Quinua: The Shepherd of Souls

Now that we’ve located the Shepherd’s Staff, we decided to go back to the area in the caves where the spirit of King Agamemnon spoke to me. Entering the area, I could sense many presences. The shadowy spirits began to flicker and jump around and eventually they took shape into a small army of ten well-armed, ghostly warriors. One larger spirit appeared at their lead – it was King Agamemnon! They all looked very fierce and quite frightening, as they weren’t actually “alive”. I spoke to the king (not Elvis – the *other* king) about what transpired and he explained that his son (Morgellon – a name that pained him to speak aloud) and daughter (we never got her name) both betrayed him, so he left them to the will of the goat-men during their uprising. He was determined for me to lead my “flock” to the depths of the caves to seek out their revenge, but I mentioned that we hadn’t yet located the Chime of Opening. He informed us that there was another chime in his daughter’s room; located in an area of the caves we never got around to exploring yet. We set off to recover this important device, but not before King Agamemnon’s warning to us that she has become a dangerous undead creature that we should avoid coming in contact with.

Upon entering this unexplored area, we first noticed that it was quite unlike the rest of the cave. The halls were swept and clean and a series of torches that lined the corridor cast a pleasant and inviting light. We entered a well-kept waiting room where two beautiful women stood, both dressed in flowing robes. Always on his guard, Never Nervous Elvis barked at them that we were here to see the princess. They were taken aback by his abruptness; however we were cordially directed to her chambers through a door on the far wall. We entered to find the princess lying on a lounge with her lady-in-waiting at her side brushing her hair. Without hesitation or introduction, we asked her the location of the Chime of Opening. I can’t say that what occurred next was too much of a surprise, however disturbing and unwelcome it was.

Without a word, the princess rose from her lounge and began to approach us. As she got closer, the light in the room suddenly began to flicker off and on and in between the confusing flashes we saw horrific images of great beast-men violently hacking the women apart with their claws and weapons. Painful screams of agony were only made only worse by the blood and gore splattering all around us. The lights came back on and our entire surroundings appeared different. Our surroundings changed to that of a typical cave chamber, dirty and decrepit and the women were hideous wights that were about to attack! We were fooled by a devious illusion! We weren’t caught off guard though as we got in the first attack. I sensed that my newly acquired staff would be able to help me somehow, so I stood forward with it and spoke some words that I hoped would frighten off these creatures. My words were convincing enough to intimidate three of them into submission, but for how long we didn’t know. Ralph and Willis held off the one stubborn abomination while the rest of us frantically searched the furniture in the room for that elusive chime. Luck was with us as we finally located it in the drawer of a vanity. We quickly secured it and dashed for the exit, but as we passed through the door we saw that Willis had fallen victim to the wights’ energy drain. Unfazed, we kept running as fast as we could without looking back.

Our group about to battle some wight bitches.

We relocated King Agamemnon and his men then headed directly to that strange door we discovered a while ago that electrocuted Elvis when he tried to open it. This time we struck the chime once and the pure tone that it produced caused the doors to open effortlessly. Beyond are some stairs that head to a dark level below. As we continued down, bones of the dead were everywhere. The door at the top of the stairs slammed shut and a loud, screechy voice taunted our presence in the corridor. Numerous blades appeared out of the walls and began to move towards us. Elvis hit them with his faithful sword and some of the blades broke, but didn’t stop coming at us. Chris was able to quickly slink past them, but Hans wasn’t as deft on his attempt and took some serious wounds. Following in Chris’ footsteps, Ralph showed great dexterity (more like luck, actually) and somehow avoided the blades also. Elvis and I retreated to the safety of the stairs until the blades came to a stop. Once they did, we simply walked past them uninjured.

A strange door that opened only with the Chime of Opening.

The corridor led to a very large chamber with racks upon racks of wine and other foodstuffs. It appeared to be some sort of massive pantry. We barely had time to search around when two black, rubbery creatures came towards us looking for trouble. One quickly latched onto Elvis and gave him some problems when Ralph got in a solid shot with his sword and killed it. The other one was stubborn too, but we were able to get the best of it after a short battle. We’re not sure what these things were, but no matter. At this point we discovered there were three other passages leading out of this room. I decided to use one of the spells from that scroll I found in the mummy’s tomb – the enchantment that helps to locate a desired object. I got the paper from my tunic and read the mysterious words aloud while concentrating on an image of a large, skull shaped gem. The incantation worked as a trail of light could be seen heading out of the room via one of the passages. We followed hastily so as not to waste time.

It led to a room with many shelves that were filled with various, ancient tomes. Oh, how I wanted to stay and research each one, but the magical trail of light was indicating our goal was beyond yet another door. There was a strange powder lying on the floor across the front of the other exit. Inspecting it proved to be some sort of material that is used to impede the spread of fire. Cautiously, we brushed the material away and continued through the door. Beyond the door was what I believe to be the Halls of Darkness (as mentioned in the letter to Morgellon). No light could penetrate so following the path was challenging. We eventually made our way into a large room where rotting corpses and bones of unfortunate victims littered the area. After a quick visual scan of the area, we saw a set of stairs that ascend to a large bed with many crushed, velvet pillows all around. Lying on the bed was a most repulsive sight. A fat, naked man was upon it; he appeared to be dead due to much of his flesh rotten from decay. At his side were two “women” – creatures that were more horrific than the ones we fought earlier.

The grotesque man then lifted his head and looked directly at us. He was actually alive! Or whatever his version of alive was. The ghostly King Agamemnon cried out for battle and began to curse the wretched name of Telekis as he and his men quickly charged to attack the creatures. In an instant, the fat, decaying lich began to levitate above the reach of his enemies’ weapons. Knowing that he’d be difficult to defeat from that vantage point, I recalled that my new scroll contained a spell that could conjure an orb of fire. I was hesitant to use it at first, as I’ve never cast such a powerful spell but then I thought if I didn’t act quickly, the opportunity to attack him might be lost. The strange words from the scroll resonated deep within me and I urged my gods to grant me their full consideration. They did not disappoint. The gods were either unhappy with Telekis or pleased with my efforts against him, as a massive ball of fire shot from my hands and exploded directly on Telekis. Charred and severely damaged, he spiraled to the ground and for a brief moment I felt bad for him. That moment of absurdity quickly passed and we continued the assault on him and his wraith wenches. In his last few breaths, he attempted to cast another spell, but Christopher took advantage of his vulnerable state and slew the once mighty lich before the magic could take form. King Agamemnon and his men helped finish off the wraiths and once all the evil was cleansed, the darkness that enveloped the area began to dissipate. With a countenance of relief and deep satisfaction, King Agamemnon approached me, dropped to one knee and conveyed his gratification for helping lead him and his army of souls to this confrontation with Telekis. Having concluded their mission, the spirits then dispersed into the ether.

Looking around the room, our eyes were quickly drawn to the prize we’ve been longing to attain. The evil Death’s Head gem was waiting for us on a pedestal beside the bed of Telekis. Careful not to touch it, Elvis threw a tarp over it and secured it away. Also in the room we found some chests containing all types of gold, gems, and Thracian jewelry. One ring in particular stood out amongst the other valuables. It was inscribed with some peculiar ancient runes. We plan to take full inventory of the treasure, but for now, a quick breather…