This time I used a bunch of Burger King coupons and got 4 Whoppers, 2 Double Bacon Cheeseburgers, 1 set of chicken nuggets, 3 soft drinks and 5 sets of small french fries. (It is supposed to be one coupon per customer but they apparently overlooked that.)

Games are on Tuesdays sometime around 5:30PM at World's Best Comics, 9714 Warwick Blvd Newport News, Virginia 23601.

++++ PROLOGUE ++++

Players have taken an excursion in to Hell on the second layer of Dis and are currently in the Tower of Dis looking to steal the Holy Avenger Sword currently in the possession of Dispater the Arch-Devil (a.k.a Vorgaal'Lad in HackMaster). For the record we are using the Planescape module "Fires of Dis" with a modified plot.

++++ START OF SESSION ++++

PART 1.

Last episode our Party was attacked in the library by a pair of Barbed Devils, a.k.a. Horned Devils. It took several rounds to defeat them because as much as Huang can inflict dozens of points of damage with one hit, I played a card that healed one after having lost 60 points.

The long term effect of this battle was that one of them cast a "Produce Flame" spell on Tujef, just after Numrendir handed him one of the books of the library shelf. The distraction of the sudden battle caused Tujef to drop the book. Thus Numrendir's "Bag of Holding" that Tujef was carrying was burnt as well as his breeches. All the items in the "Bag of Holding" that survived had to be shifted to other containers and the weight they were carrying increased.

Going back to uninterrupted research, Numrendir started work on one section in the library. I rolled a random 937 out of 1000 so I took my queue from the Dewey Decimal system, meaning "History of ancient Italy and adjacent territories". Numrendir, not knowing what Italy was, started searching 40 more Dewey Decimals per "Comprehend Languages" spell going forward. Numrendir picked out a history of "Vyet-Naaam" at 959 and "A Murica" on his second casting of the spell at 973, lastly he thought "General History of Extraterrestrial Worlds" might be useful at 999. (This presumed the reachable floor section of the library was relative to the Prime Material plane and Earth in particular. )

Just as Numrendir pulled out that last book, eleven more devils appeared of the Hellspawn * variety, holding dust rags, fresh non-volatile recyclable plastic bags and spray cans of Lysol (lots of Lysol). The Hellspawn leader demanded they get out. Elefus tried to negotiate saying, "The party will go if you answer some questions. I'll even give you this 920 assessed gold value gem!"

* Hellspawn are 10 foot tall red-skinned fellas with a single horn at the top of their heads.)

"No, this is our library, you're intruders. We'll let you live if you leave NOW and return the books you're about to steal, pointing to the empty slots on the shelf."

Meanwhile Numrendir sidled up to one of the eleven, slipped him some gems and whispered, "Which room is the safest one to escape to?" Showing the list of flower runes which he compiled. The Hellspawn pointed to one of the runes. Numrendir continued to whisper: "Take me and Tujef there." They immediately teleported out. Upon arrival, Numrendir slipped him some more gems and asked, "Can I be left here alone for 24 hours?"

"Sure." Then looked at Tujef then to Numrendir. "To each his own. But it will be a little timey-wimey." the devil replied, and teleported out.

Back with the rest of the Party, the Hellspawn leader continued, "... never mind returning the books," and looked at the empty spot where Numrendir used to be, "it appears YOU didn't steal them but you still got to go."

"But what about our questions?"

"It isn't our job to answer questions, we're here to clean the library. While you can stay in Hell as long as you like. No library for YOU!"

"But, but, but ..."

Exasperated, the Hellspawn says, "Gimme your gem, I'll take you to the Room of Gates, where your other guys went."

They all arrived in a doughnut shaped room with circles shaped onto the walls. Each circle was ringed by gems. Sitting in one section of the room was Numrendir and Tujef in the lotus position with their spell books on their laps and each one had a day's growth of stubble on their faces.

All together again, they explored the room. They sent Numrendir walking through one of the circular rings but he just ended up smacking is face against a wall.

Just then one of the other rings nearby light up with a bright light and they could see through it to the other side, a dark dismal gray wasteland. Just as abruptly, a small Spiny Devil went through carrying a large sack the contents thereof seemed to writhe and wiggle.

"Hey! whatcha doin'?" asked the Party.

"Basically, my job, harvesting from the yonder fields." replied the little guy.

"Where is that?" the Party asked.

"The Gray Waste. Are you going through?"

The party took a closer look through the portal at the gloomy wasteland. Otherwise known as the recycle bin of the lower planes ... "No thanks. We'll wait." they said.

The little devil asked "You sure? This portal closes in two minutes!"

"No really." they said without much thought. "As long as you're here, how do these portals work?"

"They're activated by a 'Gate Key.' This one here uses a Pepsi bottle cap.", replied the devil.

The party thought for a moment then asked, "What's the current key for the Prime Material Plane?"

"I've no idea." said the devil. "I get my keys from my supervisor. And they change keys every so often."

"Who's your supevisor then?" they asked.

"Dispater. Sorry got to go, I'm on the clock." and he teleported out with his bag.

The party continued investigating the walls. Sometime later they heard another sound. There were several devils in boots, helmets, backpacks, and camouflage gear all lined up to enter an open gate. They were going through the gate rather quickly. It seems as soon as one teleported in, it stepped in line to march through the gate.

The party asked one bedeviled devil apparently in charge (they could tell by the butterbar of his collar device), "Where it was his troop was a-going?"

"The Abyss, for the Blood War." replied the officer.

The line marched through for what seemed like an hour. Then the portal closed.

The party got the idea that any of the mundane items they were carrying could be Gate Keys. They tried them all until Huang used his deck of "Cainia's Casino" souvenir playing cards that he acquired from the "lost & found" drawer at the hotel.*

* Long story and I didn't mention it in an earlier post, I tend to not remember every detail at posting time.

As Huang pressed his card deck against each portal he could find, one finally opened up to a starkly cold scene of mountains of ice and wind. Off in the distance was a bright set of glowing runes (actually alternating blinking neon and argon), which after a language check was determined to read: "Cainia's Casino - You Bet Your Life".

The party decided not to go down that path and instead, decided to sit down and study the the library books they had stolen. Through rigorious study, it was determined that the gate key to get them back to the Prime Material plane was the Plus 5 Holy Avenger sword they had been asked to steal from the Lord Dispater.

Their next goal having been rather set in stone by the most powerful weapon on the universe, "The Plot Device", the party decided to try another petal in the Flower of Holes.

Stepping through they found themselves in a triangular room with what appeared to be three muscular humanoids with dog-like heads. (a.k.a. Celestial Lawful Good creatures called Hound Archons.) Their arms and legs were bound by giant snakes embedded in the three walls. They all begged to be let free but all warned that one of them was an impostor demon from the Abyss.

The dilemma is that one of them could lie as it pleases while the other two would always have to tell the truth.

++++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR ++++



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++++ CHARACTER ROSTER ++++

PART 2.

CHARACTERS

Count Elefus, Human Male Abbot
Sir Huang - Superior Master Monk of the Stone Tiger Order
Dame Honda - Human Datai Samurai
Numrendir - Human Ensorceler
Slade Wilson - Dwarven Professional (belayed entry, left back in Frog Town)
Gargoyle - Elefus's sidekick.
Rubbio - Redeemed Thief


MISSING or CAPTURED CHARACTERS (PCs or NPCs)

Junkbot Jackson - Tracker/Adept
Gerry Castagere, Human Fingersmith, and ever loving devotee of Elefus
Fundisha - Half-Elf Swordsperson
Sir Weasel, Human Guild Soldier, Enchanter, & Champion (Stayed behind in Blackmoor).
Nine Pilgrim Henchmen of various levels. (Left back in Blackmoor with Weasel.)

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++++ RECORD KEEPING ++++

PART 3.

This missive is also posted on two forums and one blog:

viewforum.php?f=76
http://www.furiouslyeclectic.com/forum/ ... php?fid=13
http://furiouslyeclectic.com/tracker/99997

Tracy Johnson
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