"I can get some of us out with dimension door," Ciprian began.
"And I can get other out with a teleport, but not everyone," Armania chimed in.
"We don't really want to split the party," interjected Gavril.
"Can't we just pop back in behind the inn?" Erevel queried.
"Not really the dimension door has a limited range," Ciprian answered.
"Do we know what time of day it is?" Agna asked.
"I'll go upstairs and look," Gavril volunteered.
"It appears to be the dead of night out," Gavril said as he returned.
After some wrangling the party decided that Gavril would get vanish from Ciprian and Armania would drink a potion of vanish. This way they could dimension step first undetected. Then Ciprian would bring the others and they would head to the inn.
All went well as the party stepped into a mostly empty street some yards away from the Infirmary.
As the group headed north along the docks, they were again stopped by the Cassomir watch.
"Where have you been?" the first guard asked.
"We went to see Miacknian Mun at his home," Ciprian responded. "But he wasn't home. So we waited there for him to return."
"How did you get in if he wasn't there?"
"His "children" let us in," Ciprian tried to bluff his way along.
"So you were inside with no supervision except "kids"?"
"Yes, but we just bided our time waiting. When it was clear he wasn't returning we decided to leave."
"Trouble certainly follows you folks around. Are you leaving now that Mister Mun apparently doesn't want to see you?"
"We will try again tomorrow, but yes we intend to leave posthaste."
"You better hope we don't find you with any obvious items from inside Mister Mun's residence."
"Can you escort us to the inn?"
"No we have to make our rounds. We can't escort some well armed party to their lodgings."
The guards then marched off to the south leaving the group to continue on their way. As the group approached the north end of the docks the glowing mystical pattern of the Yellow Sign appeared before them.
The hooded creature reached out and touched Erevel on her sword arm. The arm began to swell and turn purplish black as if the blood flow to it is restricted. Erevel took an extreme amount of damage and became staggered and sickened from the intense pain.
Meanwhile, Agna also found that she could not act against the aberration. Gavril moved around the the north and was repulsed by the awful reek and missed with his attack. Armania looked to the rear of the party and not seeing another enemy she yelled lets get out of here and turned invisible and moved toward a side alley. Erevel, her arm starting to swell and become even more painful stood babbling next to the creature.
Ciprian identified the aberration as a Hooded Harbinger but received no additional information. He then moved around to the north of Gavril and told him to grab onto Erevel and the three of them dimension door'd into the nearby alley. Ursina drank a potion of vanish and fled into the alley in beyond Armania.
Agna feeling as though she wanted to attack saw no one but the creature and Barnabas. Not being able to attack the creature she stood still doing nothing. The foul monster now moved toward Agna and surprisingly, Armania. It slammed into Armania with intense damage and tripped her as it stood moaning and its reek filled Armania and Agna's lungs. Gavril hearing fighting still happening activated his boots and sped back around the building to attack the hooded creature, but even with his sneak attack the damage was far less than he would suspect. Armania crawled away from the battle but was hit on the leg by the touch of the creature. Again the pain was intense but she did not see the leg start to swell, but still staggered she hid behind Agna.
Erevel even with her arm pain building moved south to try and find Ursina. Ciprian followed and did some healing which was successful but didn't seem to affect the arm. Ursina appeared and moved toward Erevel and used her healing ability to diagnose the wound. She cut a precise incision to the affected arm, Erevel took some more damage as the pressure of the entrapped blood flow was released.
Agna helped Armania to her feet as the creature then attacked Gavril with its touch. Gavril was flooded with intense pain as his arm was touched. Staggered he took a step toward Agna and Armania.
"We are leaving for the inn. Join us when you can!" Armania yelled at the top of her voice. Then the three of them vanished. Erevel shocked asked for more healing as she was still bleeding. Ciprian applied another minimal heal affect and took off to the north.
"Let's try and make a run for it! We can't fight this monster now."
Ursina, assured that Erevel was fine, followed apace. While Erevel, angrily decided to follow suit.
The group met up at the inn and prepared for the evening. Erevel had night terrors recalling the Hooded Harbinger. Gavril awoke with his strength seemingly to have seeped away even as he recovered some Dexterity. The rest of the party spent the night uneventfully.
The next day was spent finding a ship to ferry the party to Katheer. The harbormaster said that there would be a ship leaving for Katheer tomorrow. He believed that the heroes would be able to catch a ride for 200 gold each. Ciprian thought that was rather high but the harbormaster indicated that it was the going rate. According to the harbormaster the trip would take about 2 months.
The ship was the Incredible, a nice, well appointed ship captained by Yaqib al-Marah. He only had two cabins remaining which the party reserved for 190 gold apiece half due immediately. Yaqib indicated the ship would leave on the morrow at an hour after sunrise.
Ciprian asked about the possibility of helping to protect the ship in case of attack but the offer was refused as the Captain was sure of his crewmen.
Ciprian spent the rest of the day in the university library and the at the Sceptered Inn, home of the Esoteric Knight of Evolvement, investigating Katheer and Okeno.
Katheer, also known as "Glorious Golden Katheer", is the capital city of Qadira, and serves as the seat of power for the Satrap Xerbystes II. The city possesses a canyon-like harbor and is the center of trade for goods to and from the distant Empire of Kelesh, as well as from throughout the Inner Sea. Each day, ships arrive from and depart for the major trading ports throughout the Inner Sea region, including Quantium, Absalom, and Katapesh. Katheer is also renowned as a center for learning, and contains dozens of academies of mathematics, philosophy, and healing.
Katheer contains more than two dozen colleges and centers of learning, and the greatest of these is the Venicaan College of Medicaments and Chirurgery, which has perfected advanced healing practices that provide Qadira with an advantage over Taldor, where the healing arts are less developed.
The harbor city of Okeno, located on the southern coast of Stonespine Island off the eastern shore of Katapesh, is the third-largest city in Katapesh. Also known as the Yellow City, Okeno sprawls into a jigsaw of districts, once one moves away from Yellow Harbor, and no walls surround the settlement. The island has a large population of gnolls who often come to the city to purchase slaves. Okeno boasts the most profitable slave markets, known as the Fleshfairs. The slaves are carried by Okeno's well-known yellow-sailed slave galleys.
In the morning Gavril awakened even further weakened from an apparent disease. Ursina used restoration to help Gavril reacquire some of the strength but he would need more help to rid himself of the Devil Chills. Otherwise the party awakened refreshed and headed for the Incredible to be early for the departure.
Captain Yaqib did not meet the heroes but allowed his purser to collect the remaining cost of the passage. They were led to two cabins at the prow of the Incredible on level 2. The cabins were well appointed and the party was pleased. The first week was spent talking with the crew to determine if there were any secrets involved with the cargo or the purpose of the ship. Using Ursina's capability to discern lies and Ciprian's Diplomacy they found that the ship was exactly as advertised. It carried food stuff, building materials and cloth destined for Katheer and Qadira beyond. The captain was steadfast and trustworthy. They found upwards of twenty or so seamen on the ship.
Given this the party discussed taking another journey to the Dreamlands to reduce Armania's Night Terrors. Also most of the party wished to help recover sanity if possible. As their cabins were too small to perform the ritual, Ciprian approached Yaqib about using the galley at night. Yaqib asked about the ritual and its purpose. He was somewhat skeptical but agreed to ask the cook if the galley could be used.
"You may use the galley between sundown and three bells. The cook needs to start preparations early so you have to be out of the way." the Captain said returning from his discussions.
"Thank you and the cook. We will make sure and be done earlier," Ciprian responded.
That evening the party headed to the galley just at sundown. The cook met them on his way out.
"Don't touch any of my tools or food supply. If you do there will be hell to pay," he warned the group.
"Thank you for your kindness," was Ciprian's response.
The party set our performing the ritual, Ciprian was the sole caster as his level now allowed him to easily perform the mechanisms of the ritual. The staircase was passed around as usual and after the required 50 minutes he threw the staircase on the deck and ... nothing occurred. No stairway was opened in the deck going down, no apparent change in their surroundings occurred in any fashion. The staircase model just lay on the deck. Everyone looked around confused.
Erevel said "The other times we were on the deck of the Sellen Starling outside. Maybe this only works outside."
"Possibly," Ciprian said. "Armania can you determine what may have gone wrong?"
Armania thought for a few minutes then answered "The staircase seemed to grow larger but I sensed that it did not become heavier. Also I did not feel the electric emanations from the circle that we always had previously."
Gavril and Ursina were ready to give up and return to their hammocks. "Can we try some other destination than the Caravanserai?" Ursina asked.
"Maybe, but there are only a couple I would try to return to. Maybe the city with the gala for instance," Ciprian countered.
Having exhausted the possibilities for the night the group left the galley for the dining area. Just as they all moved into the area the glowing Yellow Sign again between Erevel and the stairs up. Immediately Gavril, Agna and Armania got that blank and confused look in their eyes. Gavril then attacked Erevel. The Hooded Harbinger appeared and moved directly to Erevel and touched her arm. Erevel reacted with horror as she recalled the last time when her arm began to swell up. The pain was not as intense at this time but she was still staggered. As monster moved next to Erevel became aware again of the musty, carrion stench wafting from the Harbinger and a fog clouded her mind. Armania stood babbling next to Ciprian in the rear.
Erevel raged and attacked with her sword which inflicted damage but not as much as she expected.
"It must also have some other reduction as my sword was ineffective," Erevel interjected.
Ciprian then began a Bardic Performance against the creature. Agna then fired an arrow into her own foot, followed by Ursina moving next to the creature and attempting to cast Inflict Critical Wounds but the spell fizzled as she attempted it. Gavril stood still babbling to himself.
The monster now had two enemy in front of him so he attacked with a slam against each, doing damage and then Erevel and Ursina found themselves prone on the deck of the ship. The Harbinger then moved away by five feet. Armania then beat herself with her quarterstaff. Erevel crawled forward and attacked from prone again she hit critically but still the damage was limited. Ciprian began a Virtuoso Performance and started Inspire Greatness on Erevel. Agna stood babbling and Ursina stood up and cast Retribution on the monster but again the spell fizzled in her hands. Gavril then stood babbling.
The Hooded Harbinger then moved back from Erevel and a wave of evil swept over the party. Erevel, Gavril, Agna and Armania found themselves paralyzed, breathing but not able to move speak or take any action. Ciprian began to look very worried and stopped his Inspire Greatness and began Inspire Competence on Erevel who still failed to break the paralyzation. He then Heroism on Ursina and prayed for the best. Ursina tried one last spell, fear, upon the monster. This time she succeeded and the Harbinger became shaken. The held heroes were trying to break the hold o the spell on them but were unsuccessful. The creature then moved forward directly to Ciprian and attacked with its touch which inflicting wracking pain and causing Ciprian to be staggered and he also was taking bleed damage.
After the held characters again failed to break the spell, Ciprian took more bleed damage and then cast a cure spell on himself to stop the bleeding. Ursina also took the time to cast a heal command upon herself. The monster then touched Agna and she was wracked with pain but no swelling of her arm. The Harbinger the stepped between Gavril and Agna. Armania broke her paralyzed condition but still confused she attacked Agna. Ciprian knowing that it would be minor, stepped up and attacked with his sword. Agna broke her paralyzation but being confused attacked Armania. Ursina enchanted her holy book and strode forth to attack, again the damage was limited but at least now they new that lawful weapons could harm the monster.
At this point the Yellow Sign faded and the confused characters felt under their own control again. Gavril still could not break his paralysis and the Harbinger attacked him with its touch attack. Armania finally freed cast magic missiles at the monster. She then heard her own doom predicted while the rest of the party heard unintelligible mutters. Erevel's mind fog lifted and she finally broke her paralysis, stood up and moved next the the creature, taking a slam attack for her trouble. Ciprian again did minimal damage with his sword, while Agna finally was able to attack feebly. Ursina wailed away with the Holy Book as the party finally felt the tide may have turned.
Gavril though was still paralyzed and the monster touched Armania, doing great damage and her arm began to swell and turn purple, she was sickened and staggered from the pain. Armania then took more damage and fired magic missiles once more, dropping the monster between the party members.
Ursina rushed to Armania and slit open her arm to release the blood and gore. This also caused bleed damage which Ciprian quickly healed with a cure spell. Gavril at last was not held and Armania drank potions of curing.
DM's Notes: The extended battle with the Hooded Harbinger garnered the party 3200 XP and they now have 156,288 and are at 11th level.
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