Well, last night they finally learned who and what is behind a lot of the evil they have been facing. The group has been battling the Illithids in preparation for an assault on the Aboleth (in the Night Below set) and already knew of that evil. Unwittingly they've joined with four demons shapeshifted into human (female) form, and also signed a contract with a group of illithid to join forces (though the illithid will have nothing to do with the "ladies", the only reason given: they ally themselves with the Githyanki, the Illithid's mortal foes. The Illithid are hesitant to reveal the demons for fear of becoming the demons targets in the future) in the final assaults on Great Shaboath. And in doing so... they also encountered Richard Tangent, a long-time foil and source of adventures for me. This chap (who claims he's *not* a god and will people stop worshipping him? *grin*) warned the group not to go the Isle of Shadows, for there their destiny awaited them. (Being able to see into his own future - not possible futures, but exact future, no variances allowed - makes him rather... disdainful toward "destiny" in general. He prefers not to know so he has the illusion of freedom of action. Even if it's preordained, at least he'll be surprised by what happens!) Naturally, to prove themselves to the Illithid, the tentacled ones insisted that they go to the Isle of Shadows. ;) And after what wasn't a really difficult fight (though I did skip the fear steps - they did an excellent job of destroying the upper alter (turned it to mud, and when the mud froze, put a flaming sphere on it to melt it) and when I first insisted they roll saves, they all failed - thus being unable to go down the steps! I let myself be distracted and only asked for one set of saves. *chuckle*) against a Priest-Lich and some Shadows (Sunburst from a Wand of Illumination - rather nasty little attack - at least vs. Undead.) and after a lot of hinting, let the Bard realize what needed to be said. And thus they found the vaults. With more cursed diamonds (having encountered cursed gems in the past in temples of demon gods, they did an augury on them and found that these were cursed as well. *laughter*), as well as a disenchanted mace of disruption and a wand of ice, they found a coffin. Within? The (presumed to have been dead) arch-mage Iggliv. Who then lays a bombshell that she's the leader's many-great grandmother, Iggliv Shadowbourne. And that Deidre, the paladin they freed earlier, was her daughter (and the leader's many great aunt). Needless to say, the youngest Shadowbourne, when he meets Deidre again, is going to smack her upside the head. :) Before she could give the Younger Shadowbourne the Book of Bone (also referred to as the Book of Death) and the Shadow sword, his greatest enemy arrives. Garrick. (The chap Timestopped them and when they had no idea what was going on (being frozen in time) Garrick took both sword and Book. That's when he taunted Iggliv, calling her daughter. Iggliv mouths "run" to Fredrick, looking scared, and he said "I don't run." Then he cast the teleport spell, yanking everyone in the room (except Iggliv and Garrick) to the surface. ;) (Why run when you can teleport? *grin*) My problem? I need advice on the prophesy. What to say about it. What not to say about it. :) Basically, Garrick is trying to become a God. He needs the Book of Flesh in order to do it. But if the group forsakes their quest against the Aboleth, then the Aboleth will finish the Tower of Domination and take control of the world. (Damned if they do, damned if they don't. *grin*) I've hinted that to stop Garrick, they need to find his True Name and finish a Naming Spell to strip him of his magickal powers. But the last person who knew his True Name died 3,000 years ago. (Iggliv didn't know, otherwise she'd not have imprisoned him in a magickal tomb, but instead stripped him of his power.) But I don't know where else to go with this. :) Rob ---------------------------------------------------------------- GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
