Day Nine

We passed through the mysterious one way portal to the unknown and arrived in a desert of black sand. There were mountains in the distance and red lightening piercing the sky. Nothing else could be seen. Victor told us that we had arrived in Banehold, the realm of Bane. We took this opportunity to rest.

The next 'morning,' we readied ourselves and discussed plans on how to get out of this place. Before we left the spot of arrival, we noticed a demon charging us. Our sorcerer recognized it as a Glabrezu, a humongous entity with four arms, two with blades for hands and two with pincers.

Victor suggested that we don't attack it right away and instead let it talk.

The Glabrezu stopped before us and did indeed speak. It offered us whatever we could want in return for service to it. Victor warned us to not head any of its words, they were all lies and it was trying to trick us. We attacked it.

The fight was hard. Most of our attacks either missed or were repelled by its thick skin. We did little damage to it. Then, the demon stopped the fight and again offered us the chance to serve it. We refused. Our cleric said, "I have sworn an oath to serve Lathander. I shall never serve you."

At the mention of the name of the Morning Lord, the Glabrezu went insane with rage. It leaped at the cleric and attacked him fiercely. When the blows stopped, he was almost dead (3 HP). The rest of the party took that opportunity to strike the distracted demon. The cleric healed himself (up to 17 out of 25 HP). The attacks mostly failed.

The Glabrezu again attacked the cleric with each of his arms. The four attacks killed the cleric of Lathander (-10 HP). The demon then ran off, its rage expended.

The party stood around the body of their fallen comrade, wondering what to do. Some wanted to try first aid, but he was beyond any help.

But then a portal appeared behind the body. The party sensed an aura of beauty and goodness emanating from the portal. Hilda picked up the cleric and they went through the portal. Victor stayed behind.

They found themselves in a beautiful realm. Before them lay a lake and beyond it were mountains. Two enormous figures stood there, across the lake. They heard in their minds a request to swim across the lake. They did so and found the water to be holy. Their bodies and minds were healed. They climbed from the water at the feet of the two figures. They were the gods Tyr and Lathander.

Lathander revived his cleric. Tyr explained that Bane is attempting to enter the material world and take it over. Lathander told us that we are the chosen few that must stop him. One of us will eventually find the power with which to combat him and kill the god. We have certain tasks that we must accomplish first. The first task is to claim the Pendant of Abyssal Warding, an amulet that wards off demons.

We asked about Victor. Tyr said that though he is a vampire, he is on their side. He is a devoted servant of Tyr. He is to be trusted. We will be returned to the world and will see Victor again soon.

Day Eight

Apparently, we met up with a goblin in a cell last time. His name was Splug. We charmed him and spoke with him. He said he would lead us to Victor.

He led us through the dungeon until we came to a glyph painted on the floor. Splug warned us that these glyphs summon things. We questioned him all about it. He said that when he touched one once, he heard all these sounds around him, but never saw anything. He got scared and ran away.

We touched it and immediately heard moaning coming from the distance. The sound kept getting closer. Eventually we lost our nerve and ran. Splug led us through the halls until we ended up in a large room filled with zombies. D'oh.

We fought them. We prevailed. Huzzah!.

Splug attempted to lead us out of the room up a staircase, but it was blocked by fallen boulders and rubble. We searched around a found a secret door that led into an armory. We searched the room, found nothing of interest/use. After an argument about whether or not to tie up Splug, we spent the night in the room.

The next day, we followed Splug some more until we eventually found ourselves in a room with four sarcophagi in it. After a detecting magic and searching for traps, we opened them. Three were empty, but the fourth had four platinum dragon statues in it. They were clearly idols to the dragon god Bahamut. In this room was a set of double doors that exuded a dreadful, ominous aura of doom. We of course investigated. Nothing seemed out of place, so we opened them.

In the next room, we saw a sight we were ill prepared for...

There was a large demon, a ghour, standing within a circle. Behind him was a headless, disemboweled corpse in black robes. We entered the room and spread out. Then we saw that the demon was actually conversing with a vampire, Victor.

Victor attacked the demon with bats. We helped him defeat the demon. It wasn't easy. Three of us almost died, but in the end, we prevailed. An interesting highlight of the fight: the party cleric decided to summon a monster. The party bard suggested that he summon it to fall right on top of the demon. He prays up a Fiendish Squid that fell right onto the ghour. It suction cupped itself to the demon and wouldn't let go. Eventually the ghour ripped it from its head and threw it against the wall where it fell down like a wacky wall walker.

Victor told us that this was his home. Kaladril the cleric (the dead guy in the room) and his goblins invaded it. The cleric had drawn the circle of containment and then summoned the demon. However, he made a mistake in the circle and the demon got out and killed him.

Just before he died, the cleric had opened a portal on the wall to try to escape. We toss a bit of rope in the portal, it is severed. It seems to be a one way portal. We turn to take the doors out of here, but they are gone.

We ask Victor where the doors went. He says that he doesn't know. We say that this is his house, but this room isn't part of it. The party cleric says that he's heard of this sort of thing. It's a place outside of reality that a magic user can create. Victor confirms this, calling it an extra-dimensional pocket. We have no choice.

We jump through the portal with Victor the Vampire in tow.

Day Seven

We left the room and entered another room from whence the goblins had come. They had been eating in here. We picked the lock on the door to the south and entered a long hallway that ended in locked double doors.