Overseer's Log, Volume 1

- for even more of The Band's adventures see Volume 2 of the Overseer's Log.

## The Band Came Together

Within the walls of Wicklow four strangers meet for the first time.

They are each here for there own reasons. Some arrived willingly while others were forced to come by circumstance.

But now they stood, within one of the most well guarded places in The World, told that they must board a cart that they will drive while following critic and complex instructions, making tailing them or predicting the final destination a difficult endeavor. Following these instructions they are led to a location deep within The Underworld after nearly a week of travel by cart between Underworld Portals by an Wicklowan Iron Maiden.

* There, they find a mansion and within it a bespectacled man wearing a Wicklowen priest who explains to them their new job.
* Together, they must pose as a newly formed mercenary band and explore what lies trough the Portal located next to the mansion. Mapping out the network and the individual layers, all the while making contact with whatever people lie beyond the portal and forming connections.

## The First Three Doors

After getting to know one another and preparing their supplies the Band heads out. They begin their journey of discovery by passing trough and identifying the three Underworld layers the Portal behind their mansion leads to.

The first of the three exits led to an area of barren rocky hills, with orbs of water affixed and floating in the sky (that contained small fish of many different kinds, the only native animal life on the layer). This layer lowered the weight of anything it it considerably and, if one had bad luck, you could get caught up in a strange phenomenon where gravity would begin to pull you in random directions of disappear altogether.

The second of the three portals led to a deep dark jungle that was home to a strange humanoid native that had the ability to control a kind of canine Magical Beasts. Luckily for the band, the Wildman was capable of understanding speech. A few carefully selected not-truths and they convinced them to let them to let them leave without a fuss.

With that, after returning to the mansion once more, all that remained was for The Band to ready themselves for the last of the three portals...a peculiar forest.

The air was dry and only a single kind of tree, one with long tendril like vines that grew in the place of leaves. The thick and heavy vines, hanging from the branches, touched down to the ground and were long enough to even carpet the forest floor.

However, The Band could not shake a feeling of suspicion. Something was amiss within this layer.

Cautiously, they stayed near the Portal and began to collect samples from their immediate surroundings - only to rouse the hibernating monstrosities that lay dormant within this layer.

As soon as The Band cut of a branch from one of the trees the vines began to shake, as twigs and dried branches began to rise from the ground and combine, taking the forms of dreadful humanoid beings...

...so The Band booked it as fast as they could, without giving them a chance to allow the rising army to cut them off from the portal.

The shortest expedition they ever made, they came back trough the portal before their supervisor had the time to get back to his office within the manor.

And with that, the first step of their adventure had come to a close.

## Doors Beyond Doors

### - Ruins of Fears Forgotten:

The next stop on their journey of exploration - a ruin that once was a thriving town.

There, The Band discovered a single Demonic Beast within the old, now decrepit, temple site. The Wendigo, starved and sleeping for moment, made its home in the ruins and it was clear to the Band that the threat posed by this creature was such that they could slay it with the weapons they had on hand.

Motivated by the desire to make their future trips easier, to use this ruin as a staging area in the future (and to earn a sizable income by delivering the body of the rare Demon to Wicklow) The Band set out to kill the Wendigo.

And, after a fair amount of bombs, poison, stabbing and blasts of Holy Light - they did just that. With the layer secured for future missions The Band brought back the Wendigo's body to the manor.

### - The Lake:

After doing some more work on their cart The Band set out on their next frontier.

An immense lake at the center of an enormous underground cavern.

Populated by Blue Drakes..........and an unknown life form with the head the size of the average Human.

As soon as they secured the portal they got the heck out of there.

### - The Fallen Outpost:

Underworld settlements can fall for a number of reasons. A bandit raid, a Dungeon Keeper feeling particularly miffed that week, a Demon assaulting the location and infecting everyone present with a flesh rotting malady simply for the heck of it and, of course, self destruction.

This Duergar trading outpost, probably one that was only active for a short while, was large enough to house a few dozen people at best. It contained some wares, primarily armor and weapons though the vast majority of the items in question had fallen to the tooth of time. The few remaining usable items were hidden in some stashes (well, hidden until The Band broke in) protected by wards meant to keep them unnoticed and in prime condition.

The former residents of this small settlement littered the corridors and rooms of the underground structure, long since being reduced to bones and wasted away. Their end, as The Band learned the hard way, was of their own making.

As they found out after the fact, the stone statues that killed the former residents (and tried to kill them) had been animated via the trapping, and infusion of, Spirits. The Band seemingly had more luck then the Duergar, as they managed to pull trough the situation of the statues going homicidal and come out victorious (if a fair bit bruised up).

That day they returned to the manor with some new weapons and armor, a fair amount of unmarked gold coins, a whole immobile statue soldier (with infused an Spirit), a detailed account of all the things they discovered and a former development journal that belonged to the Duergar that had been spearheading their project,

The manor got a head of one of the statues (what that had been shattered during the conflict) added as a decoration in the hallway.

It was a good day.

### - Are Those Birds?:

The short answer is yes. Demonic birds. Demonic man-eating flocks of birds.

Two days after their jaunt to the former Duergar outpost The Band chose to go trough the other portal from the layer that once was a home to the Wendigo.

The portal led to an Underworld layer with a vast open green sky over a dried canyon filled landscape.

One with a flock of birds flying in the distance.

A flock of low-ranking Demonic Beasts.

The Band was careful however and set up a trap. provoking a small amount of the beasts to fly trough the portal and closing the exit behind them gave them a chance to keep their numbers manageable and to slay a number of them to bring back to the manor. Though it had been made evident that if a large number of these birds swarmed them they would be in serious trouble. As with "The Lake" they decided they would return to this layer once they acquired some specialized gear.

## New Ventures

### - The Things in the Dark:

The Band, once they set it up that any suspicious movement involving the assassins that were sent after Quintus would get reported back to them, decided to continue on with business as usual. Chao got set up within the manor, Hue preformed backroom dealings and Throthgar revealed his onion garden that he had made behind the manor. Meals were eaten, fun was had and supplies were readied for their next expedition.

The next stop was the Underworld layer connected to the Duergar Ruins that The Band referred to, with an immense amount of originality, as **The Darkness**. But exploration of the layer ended very quickly. As The Band passed trough the portal and entered the perpetually dark realm they discovered some concerning things.

1. The darkness within the layer seemed to dampen light and sound, and the mana filling the air was as dense as one could expect from a high ranking Magical Hotspot.
2. The Portal seemed to be located at the end of a cobbled street, surrounded by old and rotten wooden buildings.

and finally...

3. The layer was inhabited by a swarm of seemingly aggressive, dog-sized, eyeless, black creatures that did not appreciate the new, yodeling, visitors.

A mad dash back to the portal ensued as The Band struggled to not get surrounded by the creatures and when they escaped The Band managed to snag two of the creatures, taking them back to the manor and Vuisulia in order to examine them.

What information they did discover matched what was located in some old texts left behind by the manor's original mysterious owner, but something seemed amiss about their behavior. Like they were being...directed by something while they were on their home layer...

### - Nabster and Yami:

And that something was only noticed by one person within The Band. Nabster kept the fact that he caught a glimpse of a being within the darkness a secret and planed his secret return to the layer that night, pouring over the books in the library hoping to ready himself in whatever way he could.

When everyone fell asleep he snuck into Altair's office and took the keystone and made his way trough the portal. His attempt at stealth did not succeed due Meek standing watch at the Duergar Ruins, but at that point he was only a step away from his target. After convincing Meek to let him past he made his way into the darkness and found the being he had caught glimpses of earlier.

They spoke, with Yami hinting that he knew information about Nabster's father and telling him where to go to find out more. The exact contents of their conversation had to be kept secret however and Nabster promised this to Yami.

On his way back though, Nabster was made aware that his trip did not go unnoticed. Altair waited for him and was ready to do battle with Nabster should he have turned to Evil and compromised the operation, but instead was caught in awe as Nabster reveled that the being he spoke with was indeed Yami, the Spirit of Darkness that was a familiar to the founder of Wicklow that had disappeared for two millennia.

A Spirit that Wicklow had been searching for this whole time.

### - Those Few Unexplored Places:

Unaware of the adventure Nabster went on that night The Band woke up to have breakfast and decide on their next point of exploration.

It was decided that they would look at the portal exits connected to Vuisulia's layer and Candyland.

These trips were...eventful to say the least.

They discovered that Vuisulia's layer connected to the Crimson Keep of Lady Scarlet, a Maiden that has a fair amount of influence withing the Underworld, as well a town within Vonderwald. The Band opted to meet with her, as the town was being besieged and no one present was of the mind that getting involved with that was a good idea.

After their meeting ended on a positive note, they took the opportunity to explore where the portal connected to from the Crimson Keep. The tundra of the Un'Tak Tribesland and the nest of a Colossal Viper.

It took them a full minute to decide to steal an egg from the nest of the highly dangerous Magical Beast.

Once that bit of poaching was over The Bnd went over to Candyland whereupon they met Sugar - the Sugar Spirit. The entity born within a cupcake that Julia bound to what became Candyland decades after the fact. Hue also got to enact his petty vengeance upon Julia, only "remembering" to deliver her requested supplies now, several months after they met.

With that, and some members of The Party on the verge of mental breakdown, The Party confirmed that the remaining portal leading away from Candyland went into a strange white space with no air and went back to the manor to rest and recuperate.

### - Going Back To Paradise:

The Band, with the conclusion of the contract to deliver Grand Blight Materials to the Lucky Charm, received a letter requesting them to come to Paradise City once more to discuss future business ventures with Leppy.

Attracted by the possibility of future gains The Band set out on their newest trip.

Paradise was just as lively as ever and on the day of their arrival they took the time to separate, sight-see, network and some even to invest in local businesses so they could establish future income. Everything was going well.

Then came their meeting with Leppy, which ended on a high note. It seemed like everything was going well for The Band this time.

Then Leppy showed everyone his newest acquisition. A magic artifact staff that was shaped like a large sewing needle and possessed the initials M.E. carefully engraved amidst the many glyphs that adorned its length. He explained that it was an immensely old magic item and that he was planing to sell it within the next few days.

Certain members of The Band realized that that staff just might be the property of one Marian Ettle.

Certain members of The Band wanted to purchase the staff.

Certain other members of The Band wanted to turn around and flee Paradise City, pretend they never saw anything, and never return.

They agreed on a compromise where they would tell Leppy to get rid of that item as soon as possible and return the next day (and then they would continue to argue whether or not they should purchase it).

### - A Green Problem:

The next day The Band went to Leppy's shop to follow up on the situation with the needle-staff only to discover Leppy yelling at Hammel in the middle of the store. As it happened, a "wealthy person came and gave a fortune to purchase the staff", or so the employee claimed. In reality he accepted a measly five gold coins for the staff and any details about the person who he sold the staff to were fuzzy.

The Band immediately understood what had happened and tried to calm Leppy down but in their attempt to placate the merchant they triggered a spell left by Marian Ettle where once his name is said outloud a suggestion will trigger and cause any under its effect to attack and kill any who have witnessed the name being said.

Hammel and the other shop attendants who were present when Marian came to the shop proceeded to arm themselves with whatever was in the shop and attack Leppy and The Band.

However, while this hypnosis would definitely be a danger to some The Band has been in far stickier situations and quickly incapacitated the assailants.

From then on, at least according to some of them, began the race against time.

Few people knew that a figure like Marian Ettle was alive and about and with the meeting The Band had with him during their explorations he was more then likely aware of exactly who might have shared information about him.

With varying levels of urgency The Band proceeded to redecorate their wagon and exchange their mount at the market. They then proceeded to hightail it out of Paradise and back to the Mannor, stopping at Slux's tavern at Lavalake to once again repaint the wagon.

They made it to the manor without incident, but the situation was tense as they were all aware of the danger that a Spell King wanting them dead truly posed.

### - And so..:

Two weeks isolation with heightened defenses. The portal would be closed for that period and no one will go either in or out.

Those were the measures taken to see whether the Green Spell King would try something.

Some were less happy with these measures than others. But Altair was adamant about that being enough (sharing with Trothgar the information he received from Wicklow, where The Light itself stated that, for their operation, Marian Ettle would be "a non-issue").

Information Hue discovered by chance as well, as he broke into Altar's office in an attempt to find out information that would help him escape from the manor and what Hue increasingly thought was a mission that would end in their deaths. So increasingly unnerved was Hue by recent events and how they had been handled that he had went beyond merely preparing escape routes and stashes for "what-ifs" and now began plot his escape in earnest, using walking their Grisaia as an excuse to case out the surroundings on the Manor and stow away several hidden stashes (under the constant watch of Altar who was needed to get in and out of the Mansions barrier).

Other members of The Band were not so distraught. For them the two weeks were spent doing things that their recent travels did not give them time for.

Quintus had taken to caring for Monty, his newly hatched (munchkin) Colossal Viper as well as improving his new invention - "The Poison Press". He also noticed that Hue was planing something, as he was clearly behaving suspiciously.

Throthgar tended to his onion garden. Seemingly doing the impossible and making a Zyreeman non-standard crop grow in Underworld soil.

Chao took to experimenting with the bodies that The Band had gathered in the morgue, developing new potions by using his on body for the tests. The resulting sounds of the underground lab being wrecked and muffled screams of pain did draw some attention but we ignored under the direction of Ailana who stated that Chao would "be alright".

All the while Nabster was doing some soul searching, seeking to temper himself and control his emotions and dark urges.

He failed.

As it turns out suddenly changing your entire temperament and a life's worth of habits over the course of a few days of introspection is not something that can be done.

So he turned to more external means. Seeking advice form Altar he was given a copy of the Teachings of The Light which he read over the two weeks of isolation. He found The Teachings...lacking. His own experiences clashing with the worldview that The Teachings preached was right. What he wanted for himself was something else. Not the path of Good but not the blind surrender to his base Evil urges. What that path would be he could only guess at the moment...

### - The Bonsai Hylt Forest:

The "Mana Forest". The portals entrance lay beyond the layer that contained an immense Canyon and The Band did not know much about it other than the fact that it was clearly filled with large amounts of mana and home to a forest of trees each easily at least a meter thick.

So they went.

At first, the entire forest seemed to be very peaceful. Despite The Band being being on edge they found no signs of any dangerous beasts or demons, nor had the local flora sprung to life and tried to eat them. It had, rather miraculously, seemed like nothing could possibly go wrong.

So of course a large amount of Dryads slowly exited what The Band had discovered were small Hylt trees and surrounded the now dumbfounded group. They were not aggressive, they even seemed curious more than anything, but most of the members of The Band were keenly aware of just how dangerous the current situation could become should they earn their ire - so they slowly made their way out of the forest of Ironbark trees.

### - The Reaper's Playground:

Once The Band had left that layer and returned to the Canyon they discussed what they had just experienced. They were all aware of how unique and valuable the place they were just at was. If they could somehow get access to even a fraction of the resources there they would be able to acquire the kind wealth with which they could buy entire gold mines. But all that was merely wishful thinking unless they somehow managed to get along with the Dryad's there.

Deciding to put off the issue till later they opened the only portal in the node that they had yet to explore. The Canyon connected to the Hylt forest but also to an old battlefield and, considering they had ended their prior expedition early, they had the time and resources to explore that branch.

That proved to be a bad decision.

Upon entry into the battlefield they were called by, and followed, a skeletal warrior who was urging them to get out of sight. He led The Band to a cave and explained to them the situation.

A wounded Horned Reaper with a cross shaped wound on her chest had emerged from the portal and massacred his entire mercenary band some 20 years ago. She has been on this layer ever since hunting and killing any of the stragglers who she allowed to survive the initial attack. Necro, as the Death Knight was called, had been hiding from her and trying to make a dash for the portal to no avail for the whole of the past 20 years.

The Band had one bit of luck however. Their wagon, once they got rid of any unnecessary weight and cargo, was quite fast (in no small part due to them having a good driver and their alchemist being able to dope the animal that pulled it).

What followed was careful timing, planing and a mad dash towards the portal. Weaving their way between smoke, fireballs and debris The Band (with the inclusion of Necro) drove to the Portal and just barely made their escape.

They were back at the Canyon and had removed the keystone from their side so they could not be followed. The Band then decided to stay there for a few days, not wanting to risk the Horned Reaper getting the timing right for opening the portal and butchering the lot of them.

They would just have to survive of the local game...which should not be all that difficu...

Or not.

As it turned out, the Canyon is also inhabited by a strange and ferocious breed of Griffins. Griffins which gave it their best shot at killing The Band on their way out of the Canyon.

However, they were nowhere near the level of the monster they had just escaped so The Band, dodging a few close calls and taking some damage to the wagon, ended up returning to the mansion with two Griffin carcasses and a very long story to tell.

## Establishing the Brand

### - The Return From Trees and Reapers:

Upon The Band's return they report the rather unsettling reality that there is a Horned Reaper two portal jumps away from their mining operation and three portal jumps away from their own base. A Horned Reaper that Altar identified as one of the High Ranking Demons involved in the "*Infernal Wave*", an incident where a group of powerful demons attacked the town of Dawnflag some twenty years ago, masterminded by a notable warlock. The Horned Reaper in question being one of the few survivors among the attackers whose whereabouts where unknown until the Band's most recent bout of bad luck.

But not all the things they talk about are quite so dour. They also discover that the "Bonsai Hylt Forest" has existed for at least several hundred years, as Altar managed to find sparse notes on the layer that used to belong to the Mansion's former owner. Necro the Death Knight had also agreed to work for The Band as part of the mining operation after they explained the many changes to The World that happened during his time trapped by the Horned Reaper.

With that discussions end The Band began preparations for their next journey, this time into the town in Vonderwald that they discovered a while back.

Some dissected the carcasses, some rearmed and restocked their wagon and others went on small trips to nearby layers to make so business deals. All in all. some two days later they were back on the road and ready to trade with whatever town they found.

### - A Profitable Deal Ja?:

In comparison to the action packed adventure they had just experienced their trip to Vonderwald was downright cordial in comparison.

They were received, had to pay no toll, sold the supplies they had brought and discussed potential future trade, all without encountering any obvious danger!

So of course a large part of The Band suspected the worst.

The story the mayor told them seemed true enough but it the more suspicious Band members thought that some crucial details were being left out. Supposedly, they have had several changes in leadership recently which has left them in a vulnerable position and forced them to open up the Portal that was, until recently, been closed by order of their former tyrannical ruler. The current regime was relatively stable and with them holding out against a Dungeon Keepers assault recently they were in the need of some building materials.

The mayor's story seemed to check out as they subtly asked amidst the locals but decided not to push their luck with investigating too much and lest they overstayed their welcome.

Quintus and Nabster even talked to a local engineer about improving some of Quintus's gear. Unfortunately they were not able to convince him to leave the town and join them as a permanent employee.

On their way back form a calm and successful trip they even confirmed the exits from the local Portal before they went back to the Mansion.

### - Conspiracies Abound:

While expanding their map of the network is all well and good The Band came to the decision to secure some of their routes and holdings, as well as explore some places they have been putting off for a while.

Yes, The Band decided to get some diving gear ready and explore the great lake that is one Portal hop away from the Gravity Layer. A salt water body of water several miles across inhabited by several kinds of magical beasts that should not live nearby each other they had a hunch the layer would be a source of profits one way or another.

But first they needed to clear the shore of the layer from the Blue Drakes nesting there. The beasts would make it difficult to come and go to the layer and getting rid of them would be a necessary step before they could begin their exploration.

It took a bit of poison, smoke bombs and a fair amount of ammunition but The Band took care of that in short order, even discovering that Giant Squid inhabit the lake (which is composed of saltwater, despite having several creatures which should live only in freshwater within it) as the tentacled monsters were drawn by the scent of the blood that entered the water.

The Band had free reign to build their little harbor and set out on their underwater adventure....or so they thought until Fungarion soldiers led by the scion of the Shadowgale family came asking for them.

As it turned out having an operation going on this close to the city attracted the attention of its defensive forces. The usual procedure for a random group of adventurers setting up shop like that would be to scatter (or kill) them but Okzyrn Shadowgale had other plans.

He offered to let The Band go about their business but Quintus would have to agree to a meeting with **Terno Shadowgale**, Okzyrn's father and head of Fungarion's standing army.

It was not an invitation that The Band would do well to refuse.

They took the offer and were escorted by Okzyrn all the way to the noble house of Shadowgale in the noble district of Fungarion. The meeting was...informative.

The lord Shadowgale asked for all the information The Band had uncovered surrounding the bounty that was placed on Quintus and paid The Band a fair some for their efforts. He revealed that Quintus' mother had been the head of counter-intelligence in Fungarion and that finding the person who was behind her murder was a longstanding duty of the lord. With Quintus' disappearance all those years ago and getting stonewalled by the other powers within the city the investigation had become a cold case - but thanks to The Band poking around where the Shadowgale's could officially not their list of suspects was now significantly narrowed. It was then that Terno requested that they end their meeting and that Quintus comes back tomorrow, as he had another appointment he had to go to.

Each member of The Band, to a greater or lesser extent, realized immediately that staying the night in Fungarion would result in someone coming to slit their throats in their sleep. The position they were in was simply too precarious and their is no way that some Fungarion noble involved with the plot would pass up the chance to kill them.

### - Conspiracies Abound, part 2:

They were very much right.

However a bribe to get the innkeeper to vacate their shoddy inn for the night, enough booby-traps to turn the building into a deathtrap and the fortune of the would be assassins being in way over their heads resulted in the morning coming with The Band a bit tired and just a bit richer as they sold their assailants bodies to necromancers and slave traders (depending on who survived the night).

They also found out, after interrogating one of the lower ranking assassins, that this was **the third** attempt at Quintus' life. Third because, after their battle with Zola The Chained, another group led by a person called "The Slasher" had come after them.

This group, as they found out, had been killed before ever reaching Quintus by what the assassins thought were The Band. As they had not gone about murdering assassins in their sleep this obviously confused the group as that meant that some third party that knew about the Quintus' location, the assassins route and how to kill them in such a way that they would not get discovered by Zamild's Keeper Sight.

Something that they would have to keep in mind for the future.

But, revelation or not, they had a schedule to keep. Quintus had a meeting with Terno Shadowgale in the afternoon and he needed to be ready. Nabster provided him with an enchanted amulet, spells imbued into it so that it warns the rest of The Band if Quintus should be in danger and escorted him to the residence where the meeting would take place.

They waited. And they waited.

Until Quintus came out and told them he could not tell them what he learned yet - not while Wicklow could be listening.

So Hue proceed to use some guile and trickery so they could ditch Thorthgar (who was in reality well aware of what Hue was trying to do but let him do it anyway), who among the group had loyalties that lay firstly with Wicklow, and went to as good of a place they could find for the sake of privacy.

Quintus revealed what he had learned in the meeting - that his mother was in fact the head of counterintelligence in Fungarion. She had been a well respected within the city and Terno himself was resolved to find the mastermind behind her death. Terno's current prime suspect - Wicklow.

This made things complicated. Even if Wicklow was not behind the assassination itself they had earlier told Quintus they did not have any information on her - something which was highly unlikely if the individual in question had thwarted no less than six grand operations to infiltrate Fungarion.

Quintus had been lied to.

Nabster, Hue and Quintus agreed that a conversation with Altar was in order.

They want back to pick up Throthgar (who told Hue something that caused the smuggler to feel very uneasy involving a bar tab of his being paid for by someone) and drove a day out of Fungarion to make a call to Altar.

The call, which was supposed to be Quintus pressing Altar to tell him the truth, took an unexpected direction as the scrying connection was redirected. Facing Quintus from the mirror was **The Crow** - the masked and mysterious head of Wicklow's intelligence branch.

What followed turned some of their previous assumptions on their head entirely.

Quintus's mother was in fact an agent of Wicklow from the beginning. A disciple of The Crow even. Then The Crow gave Quintus an offer - take the position proposed by Terno Shadowgale and truly follow in the footsteps of his mother. If he did The Crow would support him and he will be in the best possible position to uncover the truth of her death and of the bounty placed on his life.

Quintus took that offer.

## The Inquiries in Paradise

After a sentimental farewell party at the manor **Quintus** **has left The Band**.

The rest of the group, now feeling the lack of their former band mate, went about their business as best they could.

They still needed to set up the docks and boat so they could explore the lak......

And *another* person showed up asking for them. This time it was Leppy.

The Grand Merchant wanted to talk to The Band involving Marian Ettle and had sent the trader to pass on the message as well as look into The Band's current operations to see how "their" investment is working out. After The Band have Leppy a slightly reluctant tour of their operations in the local operations (as certain members were suspicious of the Grand Merchant's interest and everyone had to be careful not to reveal the existence of the Manor), they prepared themselves for another trip to Paradise.

Few people or beasts are willing to cause trouble when faced with two wagons pulled by Grisaias (even if only one of them is a fully grown adult) so the trip itself went rather smoothly.

It was once they got to town that things got far more complicated.

A message was given to The Band. A message urgent that warranted Chao and Throthgar interrupting Hue's private time at the Succubus Club. The Head Priest of the local Temple of the Unraveler had requested the presence of "the most informed members of The Band for a discussion as soon as possible".

This was a more sensitive situation then could be thought of at first glance. The topic of both meetings was obvious - Marian Ettle. But if both the Grand Merchant and the High Priest both request a meeting at the same time then The Band choosing someone first could be interpreted as snubbing the other.

And both parties were not in a position where The Band could afford to do something like that.

The plan they came up had its flaws, but they decided to split the group and have one group go to the Grand Merchant and the other to the High Priest. That would send the message that they respect both parties, but would have the downside of making The Band look like they are unwilling to side with one or the other. These meetings ended well enough, as both groups managed to come back alive and well - albeit with some warnings about the fate that would befall them if they chose to spread information about Marian Ettle.

For now, they would be alright ("for now" being important).

...now some members of The Band needed to deal with their seemingly unending health issues.

Going back a bit it time - The hiccups that lasted for most of the trip to the city (which Hue was not aware were caused by Chao slipping him some strange salts) had finally gone and Hue had finished his work checking on his investments and the current market situation in Paradise. He was looking forward to cutting loose in the cities pleasure district when the rest of The Band had interrupted him in order to tell him about their second summons. During that interruption Chao handed Hue a neutralizer for the academical concoctions he had taken in preparation for his night out.....

....only for Hue to find out, now that the situation had calmed down, that he had not been given a mere neutralizer - but a potion that outright kills a persons lust for a period of a few days.

### - The Devastating Effects of Sobriety:

Luckily there was a cure, or rather, Chao also possessed something to counteract his own suppresser agent.

In his usual steady and cool manor Chao began to concoct his newest bit of alchemical brilliance. A few shakes of a beaker and waves of his hand and Chao had ready an extremely potent body modification agent capable of turning any male become a metaphorical breading stallion. One he was willing to go with Hue to the red light district to prove the effectiveness of.

His paranoia placated, and Hue never being a man to shoot down an offer for a night on the town, the two men went on their merry way - leaving Throthgar and Nabster with some free time.

Probably a few days of free time, the pair judged.

Nabster decided he would use them elsewhere though, not content to enjoy what Paradise had to offer. Assuming that Chao and Hue would be busy for the next two~three days he asked Throthgar to accompany him in leaving the city early. Still unsatisfied with his knowledge and mastery over his own powers Nabster decided he was going to seek out the aid of an expert in magic they could trust (namely the Grand Master Wizard that lived in Candyland).

His orc compatriot agreed and, after buying back their purple drake and taking a lions share of the wealth The Band had brought to the city, set off onto the highway leading away from Paradise in small, newly purchased wagon.

No sooner did they decide to head off then Chao and Hue stop in their tracks. Hue, now in a state of chemically induced clarity, had been having a pleasant conversation with Chao on the nature of empathy and the costs and benefits of constant use of alchemical potions. A peculiar bit of bonding that lasted all the way until they reached the Succubus Club... and then it hit Hue

He had grown too used to the place. Knew too many names. He had gotten attached beyond the simple carnal desires he was supposedly coming there to quell.

And so he dug his heels into the ground in front of the building, unable to will himself to enter once more. Chao actually seemed upset that he lost his chance to demonstrate his alchemical concoction, adamant that that was the only reason he was upset and that the ladies themselves were of no consequence.

The two turned around and retraced their steps back to the inn, only to be surprised by the note left behind by their now long since departed companions.

It was then that Hue became positively ecstatic. He wasted no time before he giddily told Chao they should split the money that was left in the wagon and head off their separate ways.

Without the watchful eye of Throthgar or any other agent of Wicklow Hue finally had the chance to escape his work. Even if the job payed well Hue had come to the conclusion that Wicklow had no intention of letting him go and was fully intent on using him for all his worth before he eventually ran out of luck and died within the Underworld.

Then he discovered that that the wagon only contained enough money to afford food and supplies for the way back.

He was a bit upset about that,

While Hue was quaking in fury about how Throthgar and Nabster left the two of them with enough money to ensure that any spending spree they went on would end up with them being sold into slavery and considering selling the current wagon and Rossie in order to get travel funds Chao began to inquire more deeply about why it was that Hue was so against being a part of The Band when he sold the idea to Chao with such enthusiasm.

So Hue tried to do just that. **Tried** being the key word.

It was then that he made his third unpleasant discovery of the day. He was under the effect of some kind of contract magic. One which prevented him from speaking about the true nature of their employer.

It was then a special kind of bond formed. Hue and Chao had hatched a plot to preform invasive surgery and see if Chao could remove whatever is the core of the spell. A sinister plan to remove a binding between a smuggler and a mad doctor/alchemist.

What could possibly go wrong?

### - Halfpint Highway Robbery:

Evil cities have not shortage of people leaving them in a bad mood. But when a person finds out that their life depends on a magic contract they were tricked into accepting - and then a messenger delivered a note reminding them of that fact (and they have to pay the messenger on delivery for what they are about to find out is a death threat)...

...that is a special kind of sour.

So when, after driving down the highway for some time, Hue and Chao happened upon a smoke covered battle on the road Hue was having none of that and readied some bombs and the wagon mounted heavy crossbow.

When he found out that the battle was in fact between the other part of the band and some bandits - he pulled out the good flashbangs.

The groups doing battle were not very happy about that however. Here they were trying to kill each other and someone just starts unleashing a downright spiteful amount of ordinance on them.

And so, in a turnaround so fast it it would make Dungeon Keeper's blush, the two groups joined together against the new threat - and proceeded return fire at the now fleeing Chao and Hue.

The pair managed to get away, but Throthgar and Nabster had now formed a bond with their would-be robbers. Handing them some money and exchanging contact information the two groups unglued themselves from the specially made binding aged they had been bombed with and each went on their way.

### - Giants On The Run:

Days later, when the two parts of The Band returned to the manor they got an earful from Altar for their behavior but the matter had to be put aside temporarily as an urgent matter came up.

A **Fire Giant** had been brought from Zyreema to the layer belonging to the city of Lava Lake - and had escaped his captors.

The giant was now on the run and Altar wanted The Band to go and rescue him, aiming to save his life and possibly increase their manpower at the Manor.

And so The Band set out, passions cooled down over the days it took them to return.

Finding the Giant turned out fairly simple. A few questions at Slux's tavern revealed that a group of slavers had been chasing him and The Band had supposedly missed them only by a few hours. From there it was just a question of flowing their tracks until.....

They had found their target surrounded by the slavers, fending them off by somehow magically making the terrain even more unbearably hot.

From there it was just an unfortunate set of events for the slavers. Between the combat experience that The Band had acquired so far and the fair amount of ordinance they regularly carried within their wagon the group of slavers were quickly forced to surrender (their boss getting decapitated by Nabster seemed to have been the deciding factor).

From there it was just a matter of convincing the Fire Giant, Xanthia, to come with them. He did, warily, accept to go along with them, his body bruised and tired from being on the run for so long. He even accepted a potion from Chao that the alchemist claimed would allow him to board the less-then-giant-sized wagon.

The then polymorphed-into-a-chicken Xanthia was taken back to the manor (with the new slavers-turned-employees handed over to Meek, happily choosing any fate other then being on the receiving end of Nabster's wrath).

### - Contracts For The Old And The New:

Xanthia, once Altar revealed to him the true nature of The Band, was visibly relieved. He had taken a significant risk going along with them to an unknown location, and an even greater risk making any sort of agreement with the sponsor of the odd group...but his hunch had turned out right.

Learned as he was on the topic of the arcane he found the contract offered to him agreeable and lacking any of the obscured caveats or hidden sections meant to trick him later on that he had been taught so much about. Whats more - the "co-signer" of the contract had their name written in Angelic of all things, which made this situation have two possible outcomes.

**One:** By signing he was agreeing to make a pact with an extraordinarily well informed warlock or an actual divine agent of the Dark Gods.

or **Two:** He was about to make a deal with someone who was not who they appeared to be...

Luckily it turned out to be the latter. Considering the scale of what was on the line Xanthia was very happy that gamble had turned out in his favor.

**Xanthia Clo'or has joined The Band!**

But Xanthia was not the only person to be offered a deal they were not expecting - as long overdue conversations with Hue and Chao were next on Altar's to-do list.

Hue was difficult to deal with in a "I am quite angry about the whole contract that could cause my head to blow up" way and Altar was now sure that the smuggler hated him. Luckily for Altar however Hue was a professional - which in this case meant he would bite back any feelings he had until an opportunity to act on them presented itself.

He could still be used.

So the first thing Altar did was reveal to Hue his current contract with Wicklow and offer him a new one - one that actually had an expiry date for his service and gave him control over the portion of his income that had been put away in a Wicklowan account (which Hue would never get access to). As soon as Hue was aware that a better deal could not be made (as he was far too much of a realist to hope that Wicklow would just cut him loose) he immediately demanded an additional amount on money be given as a form of recompense for tricking him into singing the first contract.

Altar had seemingly predicted that as he just took out a bag of coins from bellow his desk - readied in advance for that exact demand.

Hue even asked for *less* money then Altar had estimated.

Chao on the other hand was similar in that he was honest in what he wanted - bu the honesty was directed in more of a dangerous direction.

He did not keep it a secret that his research, or "his art" as he called it, was one of the things of the utmost importance to him. So important that his pursuit of it resulted in him getting banished from his homeland. Whether he worked for Wicklow or some Dungeon Keeper only mattered as far as how much it would facilitate that research.

And so once more a large amount of money was handed over, promises were made about who/what can qualify as a specimen for his research - and another person decided to work for Good.

## Lives On The Line

### - Stay Away O' Lunablight:

Nabster had not forgotten about his desire to improve his control over his powers. Deciding to put off his trip to the Archwizard of Candyland he instead opted for a secret excursion to speak to Yami once more. Informing only Altar of his destination and goal he went to speak to the Spirit of Darkness.

However Yami could not give what Nabster wanted in full.

The Spirit was could not tell Nabster more about his powers - though it was uncertain whether he was unable or merely unwilling.

But he could give him a hint. A feeling to focus on. He aided Nabster in touching upon his power but whether he improved or not depended entirely on Nabster's effort from that point on.

In gratitude Nabster offered to aid Yami in some way and informed him on his current progress on the mission the Spirit gave him, but the only thing wanted seemed to be for him to "find Lunablight".

However Nabster did not expect Yami to follow up with...

"Find Lunablight and...... keep her away from me."

### - Two is the start of a pattern:

A few days was all it took for The Band to be faced with yet another emergency. Xanthia did not even finish settling down before a message was sent from Meek, informing everyone at the manor that a force of 30-something cloaked individuals had just passe by the former Duergar outpost and went to Amnivile.

There was no hint of panic this time, despite the urgency. The Band had grown accustomed to quite a few things by now and their experience had filled them up with a fair amount of confidence. Even if negotiation was off the table each of them felt they could solve this situation one way or another. They armed themselves and saddled Rosie, forgoing to take the wagon as to prioritize their response time. They thought they were prepared.

They were not.

The moment they all entered Amnivile the keystone of the Portal behind them disappeared in a blur of motion and they found themselves facing some three dozen armed humanoid sized and carefully crafted wooden puppets....led by the Green Spell King - Marian Ettle.

They had not expected that.

What followed may perhaps been one of those rare moments when several people fall into sync with the kind of ease that only comes to those face to face with their potential death.

The Spell King wanted the group to cease investigating him, to sign some magical contracts and to leave terrified of the things he could **and would** do to them should they stand in his way. The Band was a minor nuisance to his plans on their own - but if they started kicking up dust that minor nuisance could attract the attention of the big players and that would be bad.

So when they started to visibly panic, to splinter and argue amongst themselves Marian felt that all was going well.

When they started to plead for their lives. offering treasures that Wicklow had hidden on a nearby layer in exchange for their lives Marian felt glee as he watched them squirm.

When they led him to a layer, desolate and littered with bodies of soldiers he walked trough the Portal, certain beyond measure that there was nothing they could do that could possibly threaten him. If they spoke truly then he could get his hands on a potentially useful resource and if they lied he can take his sweet time torturing some of them as an example for the others.

Yes. There was nothing they could possibly do. Then one of them removed the keystone behind him faster then his dolls could react.

As The Band breathed a collective sigh of relief and shared a moment of levity as the dolls fell lifelessly to the ground, their master no longer present to empower them and move them to action, they thought they had claimed a victory over the Spell King once more.

He then proceeded to show them how wrong they were.

The Green Spell King worked his Magic and tore open a gate in space. The keystone simply unneeded in the face of his power as he used the existing framework of the portal to make a mockery of their attempts to leave him behind. He soaked in the horror within their expressions as the hole grew and grew...

Then he noticed the Horned Reaper charging towards his turned back.

### - Attempted Murder In The Canyon:

This time, after several moments of standing frozen in suspense, The Band let their bodies relax.

The Portal was once more closed and the keystone removed. The now lifeless puppets became the victims of The Bands relaxation smashing as Chao and Xantha requested that some parts be kept whole as specimens for later.

They reported their success and survival to Altar and decided to stay in the Canyon for a certain amount of time before they decided to reactivate the Portal. As they moved into the lower Canyon and took shelter in the cave they rested in the last time, they enthusiastically discussed what they were going to do about food and water while they waited.

Then Nabster noticed that the keystone was missing.

Then he noticed a eerie Halfling sized hooded figure standing at the entrance of the cave - one that no one else could see for some reason.

Their first response was to shoot first and ask questions later.

He immediately brought the presence of the figure to the attention of The Band. Chao responded almost instantaneously and threw an alchemical concoction which that into a mass of sticky webs upon impact where Nabster was pointing. Hue came after that, noticing the silhouette of a person outlined by the white gunk and shot at it.

Only after the seemingly impervious invisible figure shrugged off several projectiles did The Band decide to ask of the figure's identity.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the figure was in fact the ace in Marian Ettle's sleeve. He coolly informed them that they really should have accepted his master's offer and just signed the contracts - before slamming what seemed to be two shields together with a thunderous clang that echoed through the entire Canyon.

And informed the Horned Reaper of their location.

What followed was a quick succession of the figure disappearing in a rising pillar of fire and the Band trying, and failing, to make their escape before the Horned Reaper descended in front of the cave.

### - Sweet Escape:

Thanks to each member of The Band playing their parts, the group managed to escape the Canyon and leave behind a disabled portal and the Horned Reaper on the other side of the portal.

Xanthia being able to open the portal temporarily with his Rune Magic had saved their lives.

Now, fatigued and still afraid of the Spell King's retaliation The Band stood in Amnivile wary of the portal stone placed upon the stairs to the church. After much debate on whether it's a trap, Xantha grabs the stone, tired of waiting around.

After seeing if the slaves and security are safe (And introducing them to Xanthia), The Band heads back to the Manor for their debrief.

### - Marian Mystery:

The Band goes through a large scale Light Magic circle on Altar's behest to prove a clear psyche and begins discussing what happened in the Canyon.

While talking, The Band and Altar noticed inconsistencies in the movements of the portal stone and hooded figure in the canyon. Whereas, the portal stone was placed into the portal the moment The Band headed down the canyon and the portal stone disappeared during the time the hooded figure could only stand in front of the cave. Along with the sudden disappearance and movement of the Portal keystone The Band is left with more questions than answers. Just when they believed the debrief was over, Wildman called in to report that the portal opened once again with no one coming in or out from either side. The meeting finally adjourned with everyone needing a much-needed rest.

While Hue sleeps in, the rest of The Band take this moment of rest to focus on their own tasks

Throthgar, when entering his room discovers his book had obtained new pages onto The Puppeteer's Story introducing the Wizard who is a lover of The Puppeteer.

Chao takes apart one of the string dolls to discover a masterful recreation of human anatomy with simplistic materials able to be controlled by anyone with the know-how and magical capabilities.

Xanthia read's up on dwarven runic charts for some variety.

Nabster tests out his divine capabilities on discovering the limitations of his sight and coming across a new ability with him able to see the past of an object.

The next morning, The Band meet up and decide to go to Candyland for their next destination, but just before they were all packed up ready to go, Throthgar heads to the Light's shrine to pray.

While praying, Throthgar notices a light coming through his eyelids as he was personally taken into the realm of The Light, where the light asked Throthgar to investigate what Gadaric Lunablight had done to Marian to make him act in peculiar ways. Throthgar swears to The Light that he will get this done and is suddenly taken back to his praying position.

## Sweet Escapades And Victories in Shadow

### - The Hunt for the Quinticorns:

Now accompanied by Cecelia The Band (except for Chao, who stayed behind to catch up on some lab work) went on their merry way yo find, hunt, and possibly capture some Quinticorns. What they found were menacing, ferocious and highly territorial Magical Beasts that seemed to want nothing more than to stomp their skulls open and slurp up the resulting brain goo.

And they were majestic.

Hue seemed quite taken with them and insisted that one must be captured and made the best Quinticorn it could be.

Several near impalement later the band was impressed by how a candy horn could hold its own in a swordfight and they returned to Julia's home, one Quinticorn body loaded and one Quinticorn captured.

When they arrived Julia greeted them, having returned from her errand.

Then, seeing that they had met and she could keep silent no longer, she explained the situation about Cecelia. Telling The Band the tale of how she arrived in what would become known as Candyland with a child on the way and how she had raised that child within the layer for all these years.

Her request for The Band not to tell Wicklow about the existence of Cecelia (as the circumstances behind her conception were sensitive to say the least) was met with agreement - and certain members of The Band requesting that their wagon be enchanted.

Once those deals were struck one other agreement was made behind the non-candy home of Julia. As Hue was trying to talk Sugar into using its powers to empower their newly captured Quinticorn. They agreed on something in the middle as the Lord Spirit mediated a magical bond between Hue and the creature that was hence named **Lemon Sharp**.

Their numbers increased by one creature that only Hue understood, The Band slowly finished up their business in Candyland.

### - Something Smells Fishy Here:

Before they left Candyland they were informed that their superior's superior's superior (and de-facto ruler of Wicklow) Lorelei Nighstein would be coming to inspect their operation in around ten days. They were also informed that before she arrived they would also get a visit from certain other high ranking Wicklow operatives.

Nevertheless The Band's triumphant return from Candyland filled them renewed confidence and a desire to get things done before the visit came to be. The long put off exploration of the lake layer was now set to begin.

Some water breathing potions, harpoons and lots and lots of tethers later The Band dived into the lake and discovered a myriad of wondrous, deadly and potentially profitable creatures within the depths.

Depths that, to mild surprise, went down far lower then the expectations of most.

Depending on the depth one dived to it was possible to find 4 foot long carnivorous fish, what appeared to be man-sized seahorses and small aquatic ferret-like creatures capable of firing a jet of water that could blow a whole straight trough any of the previously mentioned creatures.

And the lake went even deeper.

The Band decided to call it a day and cease going deeper once they found a large armored black crab beast (having also caught several large piranha-tuna earlier).

One very intense underwater fight and some very intense fishing later Chao exclaimed that he was "calling dibs" on the crab they managed to capture alive. As soon as he gathered his tools and readied the storage near the lake as a makeshift lab he began to run experiments on the creatures physiology.

The rest of The Band decided to go back to the Manor and see what their haul tastes like.

### - So...That Was Unexpected:

The good news: Magmat (the red orc that The Band had acquired as a slave from Paradise) opened up to Meek and the two had a moment of bonding over how bad of a dad his father was. Meek felt quite proud of that and told the trio of Nabster, Throthgar and Hue that while they cooked the fish.

The bad news: the fish had traces of mercury within the meat so they had to scrap the idea of frying it. Fish sausages and fish balls it was then.

But, it was while the fish was being boiled and the heavy metals removed that a new revelation was given to a certain member of The Band.

Hue, after being prompted by Throthgar to inquire what exactly his contract with Lemon Sharp entailed, discovered that he suposedly possessed enough mana to not only contract Lemon Sharp, who was a Mid-Ranking Magical Beast - but could in fact contract quite a number of such beings before nearing his limit.

Hue took this revelation with a fair bit of skepticism, but trusted that his new mount had no reason to lie and his current physical condition seemed to back up his statement (as he felt no fatigue of any kind despite Lemon Sharp drawing on his energy).

He deemed further investigation necessary and consulted his band-mates, who met his statement that "it turns out that I am awesome" with even more disbelief then Hue did. Nabster becoming slack-jawed as Throthgar's and his careful inspection of Hue's magic uncovered something they had not seen before, a fairly large amount of a very strange and mutable power.

It was then that the The Band decided to go their separate ways for that day.

Hue went to Candyland once more to ask Julia about his condition (not trusting Altar and opting to sidestep him in this case), taking Meek along with him as a companion and mounting Lemon Sharp.

Throthgar and Nabster wanted to visit Yami as Throthgar was given a divine oracle that he should inquire about the accords made with Marian Ettle.

The results of both of these inquiries left the members of The Band shocked.

### - Time For Some Shopping:

While Hue decided to keep his mysterious noble lineage, the reason behind the strange power, secret from his superiors, the other discovery was something everyone was made aware of.

A meeting was called and The Band was now faced with a disturbing reality.

Yami was, and had been, under the effects of a curse of madness cast upon it by the Unraveler of Secrets. But the curse had now, due to the recent attempts at communicating with Yami, either intensified or Yami's resistance to it is quickly reaching his limit. And when Yami reached his limit - the barrier protecting Wicklow would be no more.

The Band readied themselves, some looking for knowledge and some expanding their repertories as they awaited the arrival of "experts". High Cleric Troy Tasina and Ozchara hastily made their way to the Manor and together with The Band they planed the coming operation.

Soon enough, The Band found themselves going to Fungarion once more - their mission: to acquire a high quality mana crystal that Troy would need for a ritual to remove the curse from Yami.

They expected that they might run into some potential bounty hunters again...but they did not expect a full blown attack by an entire regiment of Dungeon Keeper Zamild's assassins followed by an attack by the youngest daughter of the infamous Silvermane bounty hunters.

After somehow managing to escape their pursuers The Band successfully (in no small part due to Chao unveiling his polymorph potion and transforming into a chimeral monster) negotiated and purchasing the crystal from the Daggersleuth house of commerce.

But they did not end their day there. They had decided that enough was enough and that they were going to bloody the noses of their would-be killers in response to their efforts.

In the case of Zamild's men, they proceeded to run a smear campaign where they spread the information that a Dungeon Keeper was infringing on the rights of the Union of Underworld Cities by acting within one with impunity. Something that would prevent Zamild from ever openly doing something like what he did now ever again.

On the other hand they delt with the source of the problem for Chao's bounty. They got a meeting with the Fungarion noble Firius Stormspear, who was the one who had posted the bounty in the first place, and decided to placate him. As it turned out, the lord Stormspear had a particularly bad reaction to a potion overdose and he blamed Chao as the potions original creator. Chao agreed to help the lord recover and The Band even managed to get a certain holy sword out of the deal as a side benefit.

Then The Band went back to the manor.

### - When Band Meets Party:

And there they met the advance party that Wicklow sent in front of their leader. Several elite guards led by an Elf named **Aymar**, a warrior of great skill known as Simon and the Warden of the Grey Enclave known as Sin.

The last of which one of The Band was acquainted with on a previous occasion. That occasion being when Sin had tricked him into signing a contract without explaining the details behind certain lethal penalties for improper disclosure of information.

And so Hue shot him with a crossbow at first sight. Which Sin laughed off as his demonic flesh closed, seemingly treating a crossbow bolt to the leg with the same seriousness as one would a bug bite or a random itch.

The two did not get along.

After that rough meeting The Band ironed out the details of their exact plan and set a time for the operation to start, giving them half a day to rest and prepare for departure.

This time was spent mostly productively, as The Band members sought to make use of their individual skills. In particular, Throthgar assisted Troy in preparations for their ritual, Altar taught Nabster a spell they were going to need during the mission (one Altar had specifically prepared so that Nabster could learn it with his unique Magic) and Hue was tuning up the wagon along with Bro and Sisca.

**Mostly** productively as they did allow themselves some measure of distractions.

Throthgar and Nabster spent some time with Simon, who had been surprised to discover that the holy sword they had brought back had been one The Party (B) had recovered oh so long ago. Nabster and Simon even spared in the training grounds and the two seemed to get along in their own unique way. Throthgar was still less than happy to see the former members of The Party (B), as they brought back a lot of touchy memories.

Hue however made no effort to hide the fact that he found Sin's attempts at "conversation" to be a distraction at best and outright annoying at worst. The two had spend the better part of an hour in a back and forth that only resulted in Hue being left fuming and Sin (probably) not succeeding in goading Hue to do what he had wanted.

Eventually however, the time for the mission came.

### - Curses In The Dark:

The darkness was an oppressive, heavy thing. Light and heat were smothered within the realm, as the very location denied them. Shadow coiled and spun forming reaping winds of pure dark power that assailed everything within the realm, cutting and cleaving stone.

In addition to all of that were the Darkmites. The swarm of low-ranking Magical Beasts seemed never-ending as they came at the wagon in torrents of teeth and fury.

But The Band persevered.

Even as they sped trough the narrow streets of the ruined town, even as some of the Wicklowan soldiers that came with them died due to the dark winds rending their bodies apart.

The Band managed to secure Yami's material body - a vessel granted to Yami by Gadaric Lunablight himself in days of yore - and began using it as a connection in order for Troy's divine aria to cleanse the cure affecting the great spirit.

It was a harrowing and gruesome experience. Every moment seemed like it could be The Band's last as even a single slip up would result in all of them being consumed by the swarm, the dark winds or being felled by the form Yami's body had taken in response to their attempt at cleansing.

But The Band was victorious. Yami was free of the curse once more.

And it was then, in the calm after the battle, that they learned much.

Now free of madness Yami was able to impart on them the answers to many questions, even drawing on the Soul of Gadaric Lunablight, which had become a part of Yami long ago,

Thee identity of Nabster's father, the truth behind Hue's power and the power that held sway over Marian Ettle all became known.

What The Band would do with that knowledge would be a matter for a later date.

### - Oh, Ye Of Little Faith:

The band arrives back to the manor and as Altar was telling everyone to rest up Simon cuts in and tells him "We should throw a party because we've just done something amazing." After Simon says this and further snide comments about Altar having a stick up his butt. Altar accepts his idea and begins prepping for the celebration to let the party begin.

The Celebration begins as the Band, Party B, and all those in the manor (Ailana and Altar just doing the cooking) have a decent time. Hue is all but dazed and due to his newfound realization didn't celebrate rather get absolutely drunk. Throthgar drinks with Simon, Bro, and Siska and has a good time. Simon recognized the two dwarves as comrades in arms he has fought together with under Derrik's direct command in Raventhorn.

Nabster however, is the only one who doesn't join in on the festivities as he decided to rest in the library for peace and quiet... but get's interrupted. It didn't take long for Troy to seek out the Nephalim and begin an enthusiastic talk about believes, religion and the glory of the Light, completely failing to reed the mood. Nabster suffers through the sermon while Troy ignores all hints that his presence is not welcome.

Before Nabster loses the last of his patience though, Simon arrives to the rescue and quickly tricks Troy into leaving. Then he offers Nabster a drink and begins a more relaxed conversation. The two find a common ground in their annoyance for the priest and their existence as outsiders, even some kind of kinship, as Simon sees his younger self in the Nephalim, and tells him such. Around that time, Throthgar joins the two with some more drinks. He and Simon continue to tell stories of Party B and how they first met each other and how they met Meek. Simon explains how the adventures helped him to understand Troy and the teachings of the Light better until he found his own value in them. The stories are punctuated by the lesson that without Troy and Wicklow practicing Mercy, none of them would still be alive, as the Good people have had any right to execute Simon, Meek, Throthgar or Nabster for their crimes at one point. They also clear up some misconceptions Nabster seemed to have about the Light and the virtues. Simon explains that the virtues are ideals only one mortal each genreration truely achieves. But that shouldn't stop the rest from aiming for them. Also a good balance is more important than excelling in a single virtue, as the case of the fallen heroes like the "Exalted Golden Paragon" had very clearly demonstrated. As a final note Throthgar adds: "The dark gods what you to become their best servant. The Light wants you to become the best version of yourself – for your own good as well as for the good of all." With that they leave Nabster to his musing.

At some point later in the night Simon challenges Bro and Siska to a drinking contest for old times sake. And loses again.

The next day Simon, together with Party B, confronts Altar about the holy blade Hakatath and how it ended up here. Altar reveals that its last rightful owner had just recently perrished in battle and the sword then swiftly brought to Fungarion, where the Band acquired it. Party B then announces that they will leave earlier than initially planned to make a detour and deliver Hakatath to Galande befor they continue to their original destination: Albion. Their assistance is urgently required there as many islands within the Mist are being invaded by huge armies of undead walking up from the shores. Simon also mentions that he looks forward to seeing his girlfriend again.

Nabster, who was nearby coincidentally, managed to listen in to the conversation, but lacked the insider knowledge to understand everything. His interest is piqued when the name Merlin is mentioned repreatedly, and not always in an unfriendly way.

As Party B leaves Altar's office, they notice Nabster in the nearby library and Troy wishes to continue the conversation from the evening before. Nabster uses the opportunity to ask about keeper Merlin. Simon shows him a signed wanted poster of the Ancient Keeper, tells the story how Party B has been one of the first groups of adventurers to reach Albion throgh the Mist, how they had attempted and failed to invade Keeper Merlin's dungeon, Avalon, and how Simon nearly died in a duell against a Horned Reaper. (But wisely leaving out the part why they are still alive.)

Shortly after that, Party B leaves.

## The Bonds We Made Thus Far

### - Alchemy, Scarlet and Wonder:

The celebration over The Band's victory had to come to a rather swift conclusion as Chao's situation required them to once more make haste to Fungarion.

Fortunately for all the people involved things were going smoothly on all fronts. They delivered the tools and regents that Chao needed without another assassination attempt being made on them. Chao even succeeded in stroking the ego of Lord Stormspear and preventing him from snapping due to impatience or frustration.

The Band even discovered the larger political ramifications for the actions of Dungeon Keeper Zamild and how well connected he was in the upper echelons of Fungarion - and the fact that they were been used as bait by the Shadowgale's in order to entrap those individuals and uproot the Dungeon Keeper's connections.

For the next few days Chao worked on finalizing the Lord Stormspear's transformation while the rest of The Band met with some of their associates they had not gotten to seeing recently due to their busy schedules.

They dropped off some new samples and goods to Vusulia, visited Bredborg and sold them some supplies (learning that they had recently repealed the attacks of another Dungeon Keeper) and they visited Lady Scarlet - which lead them to learn some moderately disturbing facts involving Moslyeas and the protective measures placed around her daughters.

### - The Sweet Life Can Not Go On Forever:

Candyland had always been a sensitive topic within the Mansion. Due to Julia's wishes the majority of The Band (or rather, everyone but Hue) was still covering up the existence of the Archamge of Candyland and her daughter.

That said, there was only so much they could do. Altar stopping a meeting midway to bring up the topic they had been been quiet about shocked some, but was accepted begrudgingly and The Band came clean.

Altar did not expect what he heard. He had some expectations but once he got the full picture he was properly flabbergasted, as with every sentence they spoke he got to understand that the situation is extremely personally related to Countess Lorelei.

The time had come for him to visit Candyland and its de facto overseer and to confront her about the truth she had been hiding for decades. The conversation was awkward but at the end Julia and her daughter Cecelia agreed to come to The Manor, and Julia even told her daughter about the true identity of her father - the former knight of Avatar Island: Herveus The Resiliant.

### - The Countess Arrives And The Band Departs:

The arrival of Countess Lorelei Nightstein was a rather important affair for everyone in the Manor. When her carriage arrived everyone in The Band was busy around the manor either trying to help the new residents (which included her and her private guard) settle in or pointedly tried to make sure to stay out of the way.

There was even a rather large squabble whether or not is is appropriate to poison the Countesses meal, with some arguing that not poisoning it might be understood as rude.

Still, the formal dinner went off without a hitch (or too much of one at least) as The Band was given permission to depart from the Manor for their usual business.

Some members of The Band took this suggestion as an opportunity to put as much geographical and dimensional distance between them and the Countess and decided that it was the perfect opportunity to leave before her opinion of those specific members of The Band sours for any reason.

And thus the wagon was ready for departure the next morning in record time.

The Band had decided to inquire about Moslyeas' daughters and while some may have insisted on this on less than pure intentions the group decided to give it a shot. They followed the few clues they had and, *in less then a day*, they had managed to uncover the secret of a city state. Discovering that the current Lord of Lava Lake was in fact the ward of Meme, the youngest of Moslyeas' daughters.

That was a problem for some. Certain people wanted this investigation to take longer than that.

Clearly the only reasonable option was to take a detour and try to net some treasure on the side. Luckily for them a new section of tunnels was uncovered in the "Bone Fort", an Underworld layer that was right next to Lava Lake. Supposedly this section might contain some treasure so The Band did not need a lot of time thinking it over to investigate.

### - Vault 37:

*"Here lies the vault of Our Veiled Lady, no. 37".*

Such was written on the door, located deep within the strange and labyrinthine "Bone Fort". At first The Band decided to be careful, with Nabster carefully going to scout ahead under the cover of his magic - only to come right back outside to the rest of The Band as he uncovered the magical trap located at the entrance to the vault that was able to break his invisibility spell.

It was then however, that Nabster spotted the same mysterious hooded figure that had nearly got them killed back in the canyon, exiting and then returning into the vault as if to bait them.

Then it was decided that caution must be thrown out the window in favor of decisiveness and murder.

The Band readied themselves and tried their best to not just charge into a trap. Taking effort to disarm and dismantle whatever nightmarish traps the sick architect of the vault had brought into reality.

This included immortal True Demons having their arms and legs sawed off before getting strapped to stone slabs behind one-way mirrors. The mirrors, standing on both sides of a long narrow corridor, hiding them from anyone unaware and unlucky enough to approach - who would fall victim to the terror inducing gaze of the Wendigos.

Another thing the vault included was the frozen body of a still living High Ranking Demon of the Vermin Lord, set to thaw if someone approached, slay any intruders and lay eggs into the bodies of any it did not devour.

At the end of the vault however lay their target, the now visible (after he chose to take off his cloak and begin a discussion with The Band),whom they promptly decided to not try to kill once they noticed that he was backed by some two dozen armed puppets.

**Doggon**, a strange, stout dog-faced puppet creature spoke with a disturbing amount of both eloquence and confidence. The fact that he was wearing a nearly full body set of adamantium armor and shields (two of them, one in each hand), and The Band was fairly bloody from their previous fight, only served to give his words a kind of credibility that made the band seriously consider his proposal.

Sign a non-aggression pact between them and The Green Spell King - and everybody walks away peacefully (and The Band could even keep whatever was left within the vault).

After some serious consideration The Band agreed and soon made their way back to the Manor (passing by the wreckage of what was left of the toll station that Asmodius' minions had set up, left behind by the disgruntled Slux and her associates) where they reported the results of their newest adventure.

### - Conversations At Home:

Hue's master plan to avoid contact with Countess Lorelei.......did not work out.

In short order from their arrival each of the members of The Band found themselves caught up in some very personal conversations.

Even Sin and Cecelia joined the fray. One out of duty, ordered as he was to make nice with Hue, and the other out of worry, as she sought out Throthgar in hopes to get advice about what to do.

But soon enough The Band had to get back to work (after some intense negotiations about a vacation with Altar) and they escorted the Countess to the realm controlled by Yami.

The result of all of these conversations was knowledge of Fear's vaults, the officers that used to work for the Green Spell King and the rather disturbing knowledge that the Grand Merchant was covering up information about Hue and The Band much in the same way Wicklow has been doing, his motives opaque.

## The Things We Do For...

### - Take Me Down to Lava Lake City:

Introduction letter in hand The Band made their way to Lava Lake City where, in what was now a rote occurrence, they were faced with the unexpected.

Avoiding a stampede of lava lizards The Band met with "Seven", a being that introduced itself as the creation of a Dungeon Keeper's warlocks now on the run throughout The Underworld.

Their meeting resulted in the strange construct joining The Band for their trip.

**Seven has joined The Band!**

After that The Band made it to the city proper and confirmed with their own eyes just how bad the damage caused by the previous conflict and the current rule of the Lord of Lava Lake. They split into two groups with one canvasing the markets and the other meeting with one of the two High Priests of Isubiar.

Both groups learned what they could and, while they did not find out the exact location of Meme, they managed to gather clues that could lead them to their target. They met back together and began to plan their next course of action.

Then the earthquake started.

### - Greetings To The Lord Of Lava Lake:

...and so, after that the quaking finally subsided.

It was a good thing that the forces of Lava Lake City were so well suited to their specific foe, as the collateral damage caused in a battle with a High Ranking Fire Spirit would usually have been far worse. They returned as a procession, led by **Lord Lavus**, and with them brought the remains of the Spirit.

A mystery remained as to why had the Spirit went on its rampage in the first place, as well as why did it appear that so many of its seemingly stray shots were perfectly aimed to strike Nabster (despite being lobbed from over the city wall and across the entire city) - but that would have to wait.

The Band decided to capitalize on the Lord's triumph and potential good mood to set up a meeting where, under the pretense of of purchasing the newly acquired core of the Fire Spirit, they would also inquire as to the wellbeing of Meme.

A few letters and a team effort to acquire some gifts for the Lord later and they had set up a meeting with Lord Lavus.

The meeting went...about as well as could be expected. The Lord drove a hard bargain but The Band succeeded in their true intentions as well as acquired the core of the fire spirit.

What they discovered was somewhat distressing however.

### - There Is A Lot At Stake Here:

Soon enough, after a small trip outside city limits so they could communicate with their own people and talk to Vusulia via scying mirror, The Band returned to the cathedral of Isubiar and stood before the rows of burning sacrifices atop the stakes.

They looked at the stake where Meme supposedly was.

Lord Lavus, supposedly fed up with Meme's "spoiled behavior", had given her to the church as a sacrifice not even a few months into his stewardship. Something the High Priest had failed to mention in their previous meeting.

Now The Band was looking at the stakes, the sacrifices still conscious despite being burned alive. Some for days and some for months on end. They looked amidst the victims, screaming in agony, and searched for any of the features they could use to identify Meme that remained amidst the sacrifices charred exterior.

It was only when Nabster made use of his power that they could breathe a sigh of relief. The vision he had, a glimpse into "Meme's" memories, revealed that the child sacrifice had in fact been a Dark Elf. Meme had not been sacrificed.

And with that, as if he had planed it all, High Priest of Isubiar Alphi Blazethorn walked up to them.

A short conversation and some pleasantries later the High Priest had all too eagerly agreed to let The Band have access to the cathedral archives.

It was there The Band happened upon a book, the personal journal of the Head Priestess of the cathedral, conveniently left upon a table - the magical protections on it disabled.

Via examination of the book and further confirmation by looking thought the records The Band learned that High Priest Alphi had taken over the duty of overseeing the sacrifices and preforming the rites of just as it was time for Meme to arrive. They had also learned that the temple itself was suffering financially and from a manpower shortage due to the conflict with Paradise City under the current - the byproduct of which was the rampage of the Fire Elemental from two days ago. If the Head Priestess did not reacquire the core of the being then she would lose face within the church for her failure to preform her duties.

Meaning that The Band, who now had possession of the core, had a sizable amount of leverage.

Once their permitted hour within the archives was up The Band requested a meeting with High Priest Blazethorn and confronted him about the true whereabouts of Meme, going so far as to bribe him by offering to give him the core so that he may wrest power from the Head Priestess and become the de facto person in charge of Lava Lake's cathedral. Their plan was to sweeten the pot for him - to make it easier and profitable for him to ensure that Meme remained hidden and safe.

He offered them something they did not expect.

The Band was given an option to join hands with Alphi Blazethorn, a High Priest of Isubiar, in overthrowing Lord Lavus and his sister, the Head Priestess, from their positions.

They accepted.

### - Are You Up For A Spot of Regicide?:

Their first order of business was to gather other potential allies and the eventual replacement for Lavus. Alphi himself stated he had no ambition to run the city and fulfill the duties of Head Priest by himself for a prolonged period of time. He told The Band the identity of the person the population would most likely back if sh became Lord.

The former Chief of Lava Lake's Military and current owner of a tavern outside of town - Slux.

And so The Band went to meet with her and see if they could convince her to act. It took some convincing and it came with a catch - but they did it.

Her younger sibling, Etho, the soldier in charge of the cities defenses, had displeased her father during the incident with the Fire Elemental. His mother had been taken hostage and he was given an order to go to Paradise City and preform an assassination on an important figure there by himself. Something that everyone involved knew was a suicide mission.

If The Band could save her brother's life then she would join them. He had left a day ago.

So Hue set out to catch up to him before the hour was up.

The rest of The Band, now joined by Slux, began to prepare for what was to come. Slux had the right to challenge her father for leadership of Lava Lake by their laws, but this challenge was not a one Vs. one affair. The Lord determined the nature of how the battle would take place but the tradition was that it would be some form of battle between two teams, led by the Lord and the Challenger, in the arena as violent monsters are introduced as a "chaotic element".

The Band got to work. After getting some of their resources in order Slux issued the challenge and the Lord stated it would be a 7 Vs 7 battle. Each side began to secure members for their teams, with the Lord having a distinctive advantage withing the city as few people were left alive within Lava Lake with the skill to rival the Lord's closest allies.

But that is where the power of money and connections came into play - and The Band had both.

Hue, who had caught up to Etho, convinced him to abandon his suicide mission and risk it all with them. The two went to Paradise City together and, after secret negotiations with the Grand Merchant, acquired aid for their endeavor in the form of manpower (in the form of mercenaries that joined up with Hue and in the form of a Silvermane that joined up with the other part of The Band outside of Lava Lake) and a faked assassination of Etho's original target.

On his way back to Lava Lake he also made of some of their other connections and hired the group of bandits that had, once upon a time, attacked Throthgar and Nabster on their way back from Paradise City.

The rest of The Band split apart and enlisted some more aid from other parts of The Underworld. Nabster and Slux succeeded in calling in an old favor the vampire of the Duke Mountains, and the pair of Throthgar and Chao, accompanied by Eilana, set out to convince Lady Scarlet to aid them.

The good news was that she readily agreed, the information that Lavus had betrayed Moslyeas' trust and gave his daughter of as a sacrifice quite enough for her to vow bloody vengeance.

This promise of aid was made all that much more convincing by the fact that it was made over the ruins of Bredborg, as the entire town had been reduced currently flaming ruin with any survivors remaining being eaten alive by her offspring. A fate that befell them as their former mayor did not keep his promise of protection of another of Moslyeas' daughters (due to him dying).

Their team was now ready.

### - Fire Fire Coming Down:

Their team assembled and measures to sabotage their competition complete, The Band came to the arena.

On their side:

* Silis Silvermane, a mercenary from the infamous Silvermane clan.
* Nabster, The Band's own resident Nephilim.
* Lady Scarlet, Crimson Spider Matron and high ranking personage within Fungarion.
* Dominique, the former head of Virla's personal forces.
* Yagama, the Hobbit highwayman and contractor of a powerful Bog Spirit.
* Duke Troarkess, vampire warrior who used to be in charge of training the entirety of the Fungarion standing army.
* and finally - Slux, the chalanger for the position of Lord of Lava Lake.

On the opposite side:

* Maulhul, the chief smith of Lava Lake.
* Vidarok, the master of the arena.
* Taaiyan, high ranking fighter in the arena.
* Murdol Axehand, current arena champion and brother-in-law to Slux.
* Sunuguk, Magical Adviser to the Lord of Lava Lake.
* Scaobre, the spymaster to the Lord of Lava Lake.
* and the Lord of Lava Lake himself - a champion of Isubiar - Lavus.

The battle was, to put it mildly, heavily stacked in favor of The Band. Overall Lavus' side may have had more battle hardened individuals but making sure that all of the powerful beasts in the arena would only attack the Lord's side, making sure that Sunguk's visit to the red light district the day before would leave him poisoned as well as talking Murdol into holding back during the battle...well - the result was evident.

Slux had claimed victory in the challenge, slaying her father and becoming the new Lord of Lava Lake.

What came after was Alphi's responsibility. The Black Cardinal of the Church of Isubiar himself was made aware of the Head Priestess' failings and with the death of Lavus he decided that she would disappoint the Dark God no longer. She was taken away and Alphi was designated as the new Head Priest of Lava Lake.

After that Alphi simply needed to deal with the matter of cleaning up any remaining elements within the city that would disagree with the new Lord and to dole out rewards to supporters.

### - To Reap What You Sow:

The Black Cardinal of Isubiar did more then just replace the Head Priestess that day. He also made a proclamation that a grand festival was to be held in Lava Lake, one that would be blessed by the Dark God of Fiery Passion himself.

The Band, after careful consideration, decided to get out of time before they fell under the city wide blessing that would "embolden" the population in such a way that the birth rates would skyrocket after it. They did not however, leave before getting their rewards and then some.

After more careful consideration they noticed that **Seven had left The Band!** And according to Nabster's Magic it seemed he had left willingly with a group of the Green Spell King's puppets. But as they could not do much about Seven leaving of his own volition they decided to let the matter go for now, focusing instead on whet they could do at the moment.

While some members of The Band sold specially made energy potions to the population (making a sizable profit due to the many people who wanted to be ready when the festivities left their bodies in worse shape then their spirit) while others visited the new Lord of Lava Lake and the new Head Priest, claiming their prizes.

They received the Lord's blessings to do their business within the city while paying no taxes of tariffs - ever. They also regained the Fear blessed sword they had given to Lavus earlier.

As for Alphi, the new Head Priest bequeathed onto them something that had not been seen in millennia - a pale Orc. Not an albino Orc or something of that ilk, but a specimen of the species which the Orcs once were - before they were made into one of the Dark Races.

That specimen alone would be worth several times her weight in pure gold.

But, alas, something ill had to occur to balance out all the good fortune that had fallen into their lap.

It was at that time, while the others were talking to Alphi, that Throthgar was kidnaped. The only warning he, or any of them had, was the feeling of the contract they had with the Green Spell King snapping.

He was taken at knifepoint by an invisible puppet to outside the city limits while the rest of The Band rushed back towards the inn.

What Throthgar discovered was...confusing to say the least. Dogon, who had been waiting for him, reprimanded and cursed at the way the rough way puppet had brought him, apologizing to Throthgar and insisting that there was no intention to break their agreement on non-violence.

The reason they had called him was due to trying to uncover information on an "Ice Demon" that was responsible for an incident that Throthgar was caught up in. They wanted information, any information, that Throthgar had about the creature in question.

When he told them what he knew, Doggon let him go, even giving him new copies of the contract The Green Spell King had given The Band earlier.

### - The Aftermath Of The Lava Lake Incident:

The startled Throthgar did not receive a warm welcome on his way back to the city. By that point the rest of The Band had caught up to him and certain members of it were very concerned about the possibility of Throthgar being brainwashed by the Green Spell King.

The ride back was tense.

But once they had parted ways from all of their passengers and allies they returned to the Manor as usual.

There they were informed that none of them were, in fact, charmed or brainwashed.

They were however, left perplexed as to the nature of Marian's true goals and actions, realizing that the contract had been broken *before* Throthgar had been taken away, meaning something else the Green Spell King had done had broken the contract. In addition, Throthgar had revealed his involvement with the "Ice Demon" to the rest of The Band and the existence of a peculiar storybook that's pages filled out whenever they met with the Spell King.

Other then that they were treated to a reward for their newest acquisition as Duchess Lorelei herself handed over an obscene amount of gold coins in exchange for the pale orc they had been given.

Now, perplexed, wealthy and tired, The Band decided to call it a day. They would face their future issues in the future.

## A Wild Vacation

### - Tag Alongs:

The Band, having given a sizable chunk of their newly acquired obscene amount of money to fund the Wicklow's operations in Fungarion, finished all of their standing duties at the Manor.

With Bro and Siska joining them they set off to the town of Onihara in the land of Yuihon. On their way however, they met with an unexpected individual.

A traveler going to the same place they are going to, with a letter from Crow stating that she will be joining The Band for their trip. A cheery, short statured and positively suspicious Mia.

**Mia has joined The Band!**

The rest of the ride was a tense affair as a good portion of the group scrutinized every move their new companion made. Until a new problem surfaced.

Fleeing/attacking bandits.

Fleeing because they were running away out of the forest, clearly panicked.

Attacking because they made the very poor decision of attacking The Band's wagon in hopes of taking their wagon to make their getaway.

They were fortunate that whatever was chasing them ceased its pursuit one they made it out of the woods. And that The Band did not immediately murder the lot of them.

The captured bandits explained that they had been celebrating their newest successful job in their camp when an invisible assailant suddenly proceeded to massacre them. Certain members of The Band suggested we leave it at that and continue to Onihara.

Those people were ignored and The Band went to investigate the bandit hideout.

Their captives seemed to have told the truth, as the area was absolutely littered with bodies and gore. The lot of them had been carved up by some bladed weapon. Beyond the bodies however they found all of the bandits belongings, including some weapons of excellent quality. Which raised the question - what or who killed them, if they were had not attacked to eat or rob them?

The hint, they hoped, lay in their recent "successful job".

They searched a cave that was part of their hideout and within it found a young man that the brigands had captured and put in a cage. After a lot of deliberation it was decided that the young **Devan Ironhorn**, son of a pair that Chao and Hue were personally acquainted with, would be taken by them to Onihara - thereby increasing their rag-tag group with another unexpected tagalong.

### - Onihara, The Town of Opportunities:

The good thing about The Band's proactive approach to to travel is that, between the bounty they got for the bandits and the payment given by Devan's butler, their stay at the inn payed for itself. The blissful start of a vacation began with good rooms, fine dining and a soak in the hot spring baths... And also talks of taking a new job protecting Devan and his butler, **Goostre Feno Miraquinal Adreauchur**, from assasins that have ben chasing them for several months.
But that was a subject for another time as The Band had split up to enjoy the sights and opportunities of the town. Buying the local booze by the barrel, having pleasent and completely non-violent interactions with the local populace and...

...

...

It took less then a full day for them to get caught up in people trying to kill them.

Less then a day.

As they enjoyed the sights the separate members of The Band became targets for assassination. Chao and Nabster had a murder of carion bird beasts swarm after them while hunting and gathering outside of town. Throthgar was stabbed after taking part in a sumo match and Hue was targeted by an assassin who had infiltrated the inn they were staying at.

Luckily The Band turned out alright, if a tad worse for ware. Chao and Nabster fended of the Magical Beasts and returned to town, although one of the hunters they were with had perished. Throthgar, Mia and Devan caught their assailant and imprisoned him in the towns garrison, with the aid of a Knight Captain of Avatar Island. Finnaly, Hue was almost none the wiser. He opened the door for room service but instead of receiving fresh linens he was greeted by the bisected body of some poor sap dressed as one of the inn's staff. Moments before said Knight Captain returned from his outing and another worker discovered the body.

Hue ran away, almost on instinct.

It took till the evening until The Band regrouped and defined their plan of action. A long day of panicked running, wound tending and urban subterfuge. At the end of said day they pooled their findings.

Amazingly, this had nothing to do with Devan and Goose, or even Zamild. Not directly at least. After their new Blue Oni bodyguard removed the captured assassins suicide vest and Mia fiddled with his mental state he came clean about the whole plot.

The assassins turned out to be hired/coaxed or downright blackmailed by a warlock who works for a Dungeon Keeper in the neighboring province. Supposedly the bandit leader The Band claimed the bounty for for was being bankrolled by him and he firmly believes that they are here with the explicit goal of targeting him.

Meanwhile this whole time "**Straightface**", one of the Green Spell Kings puppets, had been protecting The Band with all the intensity of a mother bear - making the situation more and more complicated. He met up with The Band and confessed to being the one who slaughtered the bandits, split Hue's would-be assassin in twain and shanked the Knight Captain in a back alley when it looked like he would catch up to the members of The Band he thought were murder suspects.

So now The Band was convened to discuss how they would get rid of their pursuers and make peace with the wounded-but-recuperating Knight captain in the room over. It was a heck of a way to start a vacation.

### - Plots And Complications:

So everyone was in agreement to launch an attack on the neighboring township and dispatch the warlock who had claimed the area.

It aided matters greatly that no one was keen on letting the neighboring necromancer keep going about his buisness. Both the Oni and the local militia would very much like to see him gone. Even Straightface was willing to help, provided that The Band aid him in the future with setting up a meeting between him and the leader of Onigaeshima.

Everyone was in agreement and a plan had been worked out. One week of preparations and then they would strike the Keeper Minions like a lightening bolt.

Now they jut had to wait. See some rakugo, visit some of the local funhouses while the supplies and the people covertly got ready...and Hue has been damseled.

One last trip to the red light district while the vacation could still be taken advantage of. That was the idea. How could he have known that one of the "entertainers" he had hired had been some kind of crazy freerunner that could even outpace Straightface?

The rest of The Band soon found out about their comrade being kidnaped and took chase - except for Mia, who found her own way of dealing with the problem that nobody saw coming.

### - Peculiar Meetings In Peculiar Places:

Following Lemon Sharp turned out to be a good call. The creature seemed to know where Hue was so simply by tracing its steps they were slowly gaining on the kidnapers. It was while following the Candy Quinticorn that they met a very peculiar individual however.

The Band, now accompanied by Levi Mason, moved up the mountain scape in search of their respected kidnaped associates.

Meanwhile certain people were making their way down the mountain. Hue, having broken out of his cell and leaving behind his (much slower) fellow prisoner was doing his darndest to escape the ever looming voice of the kitsune on his tail.

By riding on a spinning log. That was tumbling downhill as he steered it with a stick. And the log was on fire.

And the mountain was on fire.

It had been a long day for Hue...

Hours later the last part of The Band returned to town, Levi and Henry in toe. They left the still burning forest fire behind and returned to the inn. Some had scrapes, most were tired but there was work to be done. An additional meeting was to be held between the representatives of each of Onihara's factions, now with the addition of Albion's representatives, who agreed to help in return for aid in facilitating their meetings with the leaders of Yuihon.

In less then a week they would ride to war.

### - Vampires, Undead Oni, and Killers:

The battle plan itself was not complex.

They would march the combined forces of Oni and volunteers from Onihara at the town where Hikohide had holed up, engaging any enemy forces they met along the way. The Band itself would remain hidden and attack the town from a different angle, sneaking in to defeat (assassinate) the Necromancer and his lieutenants while they are distracted by the attacking army.

All made easier by the alchemical creations of Chao, who developed and produced an improved version of what was used by Hikohide's assassins to target Nabster and himself. The oncoming army now had the ability to sick every monster in the surrounding mountains at the Undead horde.

A good of a distraction as they could get really.

So it was only a matter of time before Throthgar, Mia, Chao (In Harken Form), and Levi Mason arrived at Hikohide's Office, with Hikohide standing beside a group of skeletons with crossbows at the ready.

Hikohide had been expecting them.

The Band noticed a group of Undead Oni, heading up the stairs behind them as well. The Band made haste and quickly dispatched the skeletons only for Hikohide to retreat past them to join up with the Undead Oni, smirking all the while and pissing the band off.

Meanwhile, Nabster and broken into one of the windows on the first floor only to find three Undead Oni already waiting for him in the room. Nabster began combat with them only to realize that he was taking too long the kill one so he retreats into the hallway only to find two more there. Just before he decided to retreat, Straight Face comes in through the window activating some kind of Un-holy energy in himself backing up and joining Nabster in slaying the Oni.

Upstairs, The Band (Throthgar, Mia, Chao (In Harken Form), and Levi Mason) deals with the remaining skeletons, chases and catches up with Hikiohide only for the Oni to act as shields for him as Hikohide (getting full of himself) begins monologuing about getting these Oni Hundreds of years ago and how beautiful their deaths were and how he owes Onikira for these wonderful specimen and wished to obtain him and a comrade. Making use of Hikohide being distracted by monologuing, Throthgar goes back into the the War room that was now cleared out secretly charged "Turn Undead" broke through the the paper walls as he saw Chao did landing a successful attack onto him.

.....

.....

.....

### - Return to Onihara:

The Band returned to Onihara with the wagon filled with the injured before the main force, discovering that the people in town are enraged and gathering in front of the Yakuza manor. Malicious rumors are being spread about the Oda that sound suspiciously like stuff that Hue was planing to spread.

They drop off the injured and recive a reward from clan head Oda for their contribution in battle, with the clan head pulling Hue aside to talk to him about the rumors and, confirming the smuggler was not behind it, offering his appologies for his previous behaviour. He revals that his eldest daughter had killed herself due to a love gone arwy and feared the worst for his youngest. Hue does not accept his apology as sincere due to the clan head excusing his daughters behaviour due to her circumstances and, in no small part, being offered the dagger that the clan head was planing on killing him with as recompense.

They leave on tense terms, but overall The Band is elated over their new treasure.

But then the The Band faced with their new task - setting up a meeting with the Pale Oni and aquiring the Sword of the Demonslayer as requested by Straightface.

### - The End of a Vacation:

The request for an audience goes trough and after a few days The Band is welcomed to Onigaeshima island, home of the Oni.

The audience goes well, thanks to their thorough preparations and their superb choice of gifts, with the Pale Oni acccepting to give them the sword under the condition that they bring a person capable of transporting it without immedielty going insane upon contact.

It was then that Straightface revealed himself in their private meeting and he exhanged words with Jirai-douji as if they were two acquaintances seeing each other for the first time in years. He is given the chance to take the sword. With a twist.

The Band is tasked with keeping him from carving up the place and all the people in it untill he resumes control of himself.

While it was very much easier said then done they succed and all bargins have been concluded. Contact information has been exchanged and The Band wraps up their buisness in Yuihon before heading back home.

- Devan and Goose join the party.