Road to Kiev, Chapter Sixteen

All Hallow's Eve
Sunday, October 30th, 987 AD

During the first watch of our rest cycle, Ivan sees a humanoid to the south of the only unexplored exit out of the cavern (the one we've been sleeping in). He elects not to wake anyone and makes sure each subsequent watch knows about it. At precisely midnight, Isabela arches her back and hisses to mark the onset of Halloween.

Ghost of Halloween
Monday, October 31st, 987 AD

In the morning, we find that Nicolae is sick. Edward finds two puncture wounds in his neck and we all panic before remembering that Conrad had this exact same problem. Reynaldo, realizing he can't make Nicolae his hireling, calls for his death. He's shut up and we go south. After only a few yards, we meet a seven hundred-year-old Roman soldier named Flavius Rutilus Afer.

Flavius: Finally, you've come to get me!
Reynaldo: Er... I don't think so.
Flavius: You're very strange Roman soldiers!
Reynaldo: We're not Roman soldiers.
Flavius: How long have I been down here?

Reynaldo looks to his companions for some input.

Edward: Honesty is the best policy. Tell him the truth.
Reynaldo: If I wanted to do something stupid, I wouldn't have asked for input.
Gunther: Seriously, what else are we going to say?
Reynaldo: Fine. (to Flavius) You've been down here about seven hundred years.
Flavius: Ahh!!! No!!!!
Reynaldo: Give or take a hundred...
Flavius: I'll kill you all! Good thing I already destroyed the mechanism!

And before we can say, "What mechanism?" Flavius possesses Gunther's body. He tries to impale Gunther's body on Gunther's sword, but Reynaldo casts web. Flavius nimbly dodges using Gunther's amazing agility. Then he fears Reynaldo, Conrad, Reisha, Catarina, and Thalia. Anna calms Reisha and Catarina using God's merciful power while Nicolae tackles Reynaldo and savagely beats him into submission and then ties him up. Catarina and Nicolae then go after Conrad and Thalia. Edward, Ivan, Anna, and Reisha take turns beating on the possessed Gunther. Catarina and Nicolae manage to get Conrad and Thalia back, but not before they run into Glyphs that we had set up for protection the night before. Flavius finally jumps out of Gunther's body, but not before hurtling Gunther back into the web. We continue to strike true, and Flavius finally gives up the ghost, so to speak. We rest right then and there. During the third watch, Thalia notices a fluttering from the north, but the creature quickly flies away. We awake and heal. Reynaldo and Gunther both volunteer to put in the magic tooth, but Gunther wins the coin toss. He removes his incisor and puts in the old, fetid, Elven tooth. We try to figure out what it does, but come up empty. We rest again.

Walking and Nicolae Gets Sick (a lot of both)
Tuesday, November 1st, through Sunday, November 6th, 987 AD

We walk about seventy-two miles down this corridor. Nicolae also gets sicker and weaker everyday. Some highlights of the week:
On Tuesday, we find the barracks that Flavius most likely belonged to. We take three suits of armor and two short swords.
On Wednesday, one of our Glyphs explodes during the night, but we don't see anything.
On Thursday, Reynaldo gleefully cauterizes Nicolae's wound.
On Friday, Edward devises a plan of staggering Slow Poison spells to maybe keep Nicolae from getting weaker. Also, the corridor turns from south to east at the end of the day.
On Saturday, Nicolae tells us of a dream that featured Conrad's dead partner/lover Zoey. The dream apparently featured Zoey's heart greatly.
On Sunday, we find a fork in the road. Two parallel forks continue east so we take the northernmost one and immediately find a room that branches off the corridor. In it we find a magical, ceramic sculpture that's bolted down to the stone table it's on. It's in two pieces and they stretch out towards each other, but don't touch. We think maybe it's the mechanism Flavius spoke about destroying, but we really have no idea. We continue east, and then rest.

Action, At Last!
Monday, November 7th, 987 AD

First thing in the morning, Edward decides to lance the boils that have appeared on Nicolae's neck. Then he detects evil on the pus that has landed on the ground and in Nicolae's wound. Reisha casts a Protection from Evil on Nicolae which dissipates most of the evil in the wound. Suddenly, Catarina snaps her fingers and says that she finally remembers what the magic ceramic sculpture is. She says that ancient cultures used to make magical maps that changed when the terrain it was mapping changed. The two pieces not touching probably signifies that our route will be impeded in some way; either a cave-in, or a fallen bridge, or something akin to that. We continue along the corridor as it gradually curves northeast and we finally feel like maybe this is the undersea passage to the Crimean peninsula. However, the corridor sharply curves northwest and gets really hot. Fire creatures attack from pools of lava. We attack each other until both sides withdraw, leaving the match an obvious draw. We go two hours back the way we came and rest.

Resting and Planning
Tuesday, November 8th, 987 AD

We rest and decide to go face the fire creatures again. We plan a course of action and rest all day.

...But God Says We Better Not
Wednesday, November 9th, 987 AD

We walk back to the right before the sharp turn and Edward asks God if this is a good idea. God gives him the impression that it probably isn't. We take that as a sign and go back the way we came. We walk ten miles and rest, planning on going into the other fork.

End Chapter Sixteen