Teleport is Broken; Harald Prays for Death and Gets His Wish
We spend two days with Mustali, father of Walid, in his Ottanid estate in Persia. Laws are broken, fun is had, and Harald gets back the mage levels he lost fighting the Mage Doom in the Tower of Silence. Justinian goes off to delvier his tigers to the Patriarch in an effort to get him catnapped again. We say our goodbyes, and then Teleport to the Trap back in Sicily. Scrying ensues, with Harald looking in on Ogier the Dane, who is dungeon hacking; Bevis of Hampton, who has killed shitload of dragons and written us a note using their pieces. He's too busy kowtowing to a Lich Lady to notice our scry. We set the thieves on the slave ship that they thought about targeting earlier, and then we're off to Montalban, where some loot is said to await us. Ailyll goes ahead and build us a platform, then Harald scrys on her and Teleports after with Nali, Mamun, and Walid. Only we arrive in front of a different ruined castle on a blasted heath, and there is no Ailyll to be seen.
Ailyll waits around on her platform for about an hour twiddling her thumbs. She meets a very friendly (and very clever looking) horse who warns her that when the sun sets scary undead monsters come out of the castle. He offers to carry her away to safety but Ailyll is loathe to stray too far from the meeting point. She instead goes to seek shelter at a nearby abbey. They lack a common language but the monks are able to communicate that while the abbey is very safe (really, we mean it..) they have a strict no-girls policy. Ailyll walks off a short distance then turns into a bat and hides in the rafters. Night falls and the monks all turn into horrible undead and wander off into the woods. Ailyll has but moments to be annoyed at their dishonesty before she herself turns into a werewolf and goes off to massacre the nearby citizenry.
Harald and the guys decide to check out this ruined castle when they are charged by a giant mutated sheep-monster. It gets taken down without too much fuss. Harald spies inside the walls and sees a lot webs and an invisible giant spider with people arms in the front and a wolf's head. Everyone sneaks up on the castle, and a different wolf-headed giant spider jumps out and starts fighting, and his buddy with the arms shows up with Mirrror Images on. Mamun keeps trying to use his awesome fire ring, but these jerks roll well with the magic resistance. It seems like we'll prevail, but Walid starts failing poison saves like there is no tomorrow. Which there isn't, technically, for those who fail this save while their cleric is a hundred miles away. Harald, seeing Walid swell up with the death juice, decides to try Teleporting everyone to where they were supposed to meet Ailyll. No dice, but they do end up outside a monastery with a monk who can cast Slow Poison. Walid and a very wounded Mamun stay with the monks while Harald and a very wounded Nali try one last Teleport. This time they end up in a dungeon, and they meet Ogrid the Dane and get some info on the Demogorgon from him. He also mentions that a high-level wizard named Othric (long O) is running around in the HRE trying to collect undead warriors. He likes to change his shape. This rings a bell with our heroes. Ogrid takes them out of the dungeon. Harald and Nali buy horses and ride towards Ailyll-land, which is about a day's ride away.
On the way, a werewolf attacks them. It's Ailyll! After a beat-down they rest. Then some undead show up. Harald throws up a wall of fire, slightly scorching them. He decides to keep it up until morning. At some point an 8-foot tall bronze minotaur steps throught the wall and then turns back. Or was it just a dream? In the morning Ailyll is a bashful human, and she heals folks. Harald magics up some steeds and everyone rides toward the monastery holding Mamun and still-poisoned Walid. Everything is sort of working out.
Suddenly, Harald disappears. Poof. Just a riderless steed sitting there, looking confused. Ailyll and Nali wait around for a bit, unsure of what to do. They see a guy riding up, looking very knightly and chivalrous. He is on a phantom steed, which is kind of weird, but he offers his help when the party explains the sitch. The "knight" explains that he is so ugly he has to travel in disguise, and that his disguise is about to wear off. He goes into the woods and comes back in a mask and cloak. Ailyll thinks he seems like he is lying about everything he says, but he is probably really trying to help. She also fails to notice that he is John Cresentius. He seems upset that Harald disappeared like that, because he seems to hold Harald in somewhat high regard (naturally). He escorts the duo to the monastery and then takes off.
Harald, on the other hand, was riding along, trying to help out a party member, when BAM! he's in a shifting interdimensional "Maze" of some kind. There are four 8 foot tall bronze minotaurs with glowing axes there. Also, Throk appears, paralyzing Harald with fright so that he can't act, even though he knows this is a bullshit illusion spell. While he is sitting there like a chump three minotaurs axe him to a negative. He stays consious and tries to run, but it seems those glowing axes are capable of "wounding", so he loses a bunch of blood and hit points and goes down, cursing whatever malevolent force thought he had any chance of getting out of this one.
The party minus Harald is reunited, and after some resting and healing they go into the woods and scry on Harald. He is naked, very wounded, and chained and netted to a throne in a cave. His stuff is in a pile near him, out of reach, and there are some bronze minotaurs around. There is a table of delicious-looking food in front of him. He leans forward to take a bite and harpies shit all over everything. This goes on and on, and is described in way too much detail. He detects the scry and tries to give the party some scanty clues he has gotten out of the harpies as to where he is, but it isn't much help. The party tries to plan something. Maybe try to recruit the nearby elves of the Grey Veil?
Harald waits for a while, hoping to see his friends, or even less asshole-ish enemies, come bursting in. They don't, and being covered in harpy filth is only fun for the first hour or so, before it starts to solidify. Harald thinks over his options. He has no spells, he is at a bad negative, he's chained up, and he has unsleeping enemies watching his every move. He decides to turn a page in his Book of Infinite Spells, because the current page is Sink, and while entombing himself in the living rock sounds really good about now, it takes too long. Maybe he'll get Passwall, or Dimension Door. Heal would be a big help, or even Knock. Just not Disple Hallucinatory Terain, he prays. The page turns, revealing....LIMITED WISH!!!!
"Wow, I'm one guy lucky enough to cancel out his terrible unluck from time to time", thinks Harald. He wishes himself Teleported to his friends with his stuff. He doesn't miff the spell, explode his heart, or cause the page to turn. It doesn't quite work like planned, as most of his stuff doesn't make it. Guess that is the next adventure, along the frequently repeated theme of "Let's go risk life and limb to try and get back where we were before this started". Sometimes you just hate life.
