Meeting With the Greae, Calling a Truce
After leaving the Psilloi the party rode their camels to the Plains of Sisthene (ie, the Plains of the moths). There we found, as promised, a large temple/palace made of solid gold in the middle of a small lake. A pretty lady was sitting on the steps, surrounded by some scrawny looking guys in loincloths. The woman starts talking lovey-lovey to Harald. Harald disbelieved, and the woman was revealed to be a half lady-half deer (the top half was the lady), and the guys were burly fellows, armed and armored. More of them hid behind the temple pillars, bearing bows trained on our heroes. Harald warned the party, then the fighting started, with the woman (or rather, Lamia) cursing at the girls and swearing to make Harald and Mamun part of her harem. She lost, rather badly, with all her guys getting taken out. Two were turned into retards by Sunflower, apparently forever. No one lost Wisdom, thank goodness. We got some info on the temple from the Lamia and stole her eyeballs, which had fallen out at some point. We promised to return them if we emerged alive.
A few feet into the temple we met a snake, a cat, and a bird. The tell us we must pass three tests to meet the Greae: The test of the asshole Lamia, the test of the gift, and the test of the Moths of Doom (aka Gloomwings). Then they turned into imps and demanded we give them our magic items. We start to fight, and immediately everyone but TrapoII is Confused. Most soon wander away. Trapo, however, decides to be the ultimate badass, and he holds his own against these chumps for twenty rounds, making save after save against poison, chopping off imp bits, and refusing to give up the party's magic weapons. He goes to a negative just as the others come out of Confusion. Ailyll runs to help Trapo, while Harald Lightning Bolts the imps (and her), killing two of the imps. One gets away with the Belt Knife. Trapo gets Healed, and we continue into the temple. We find a smelly Lamia sex room, and some other empty chambers. Then we are set upon by the foreshadowed Gloomwings. Guess what? Everyone but Harald gets Confused. Harald chops up Gloomwings, Slows Gloomwings, and then chops up more Gloomwings, leaving him with a single hitpoint. The party comes back, and we proceed deeper into the temple. The next room has a bunch of lions, so another fight ensues. Everyone gets badly beaten up, but we win. Through the next door we find the Greae themselves, along with nine gorgeously attired warriors. Their chamber makes the rest of the palace look simple in comparison to its gaudiness. Gold and gems abound. The Greae sit in the back, looking creepy as hell, passing around an eye and a tooth between them. Harald flatters and scrapes and gives them the vast majority of the party's gold in exchange for a Medallion of Herakles. This one-time time lets the wearer perform any one feat of Herakles, be it mucking stables or dressing as a woman in the service of an Amazon. Or stealing some Golden Apples. We thank the ladies, and get the hell out of Dodge.
We get back to Fez without any problems. Once there we propose a second night mission to take out Ibn Jerthum, and King Xeri says OK. He comes with us as we head out into the desert. We get near the camp, and Ailyll magics up a storm. Mamun sneaks off to reconnoiter. Did I say sneak? I meant Mamun makes some noise, gets caught by a guard, and sends the camp into an uproar. Ailyll drops some lightning on the tent, and we rush in to do battle. Sure enough, there's that damn Living Throne. There's also an elf mage, and a weird misshappen dwarf Earth cleric. Soon the Phantom Blot shows up as well. Xeri gets Held in the first round, disappointing the party. We all fight for a bit, and the preist and dwarf go down or surrender. The Blot sure is tough, though, and that throne is no joke. It looks like a toss-up, and then Jerthum himself shows up, hands covered in blood. Lots of blood. Then the Grey Executioner makes an appearence. He starts dropping Power Words and Flame Strikes. We call a truce, and Harald doesn't get to keep the Boots of Elvenkind his summoned huecuva have stolen for him. Harald teleports out everyone but Ailyll, Trapo, and Xeri, who are in OK shape. They start the long camel ride back, but get attacked midway by the Shadow That Glides by Night, a giant pitch black winged horror. It promptly drains the magic from Germanicus' shortsword, and then turns Ailyll into an evil bat and they fly off together. Trapo and Xeri get back to Fez, and Harald Magic Mirrors Ailyll. She is a bat, frolicking with a bunch of other bats in the mountains. IN the background that Shadow is fighting a red dragon. Ho hum. Harald Teleports there, but then can't find Ailyll in the crowd. A Sleep and Color Spray later Harald has narrowed his search down to seven bats. He Slows them, and gets them all in a bag. He manages to teleport back before the dragon or Shadow notice him.
After beating the beats to see which one has Ailyll-like hp, we try to cure her. Nothing works, so Harald decides to go back to the Court of Otto III, figuring the assembled Saints can do something to help. He Magic Mirrors Bernward, who is in a Masonic Temple doing monk training. Harald, Bat-Ailyll, and Mamun teleport there, but end up one floor off. Two guys beat the hell out of everyone, doing Master of Flowers type damage and attacking a million times. We try to calm them down, and Bernward shows up. The other guys want to kill Harald and Co., and Bernward is looking awkward. Harald volunteers to be knocked out and put in a dungeon, and lo, it is so. When he awakens shortly thereafter, he manages to convince Bernward's pals that he can make everything right by casting Forget on himself and party. This is done, leading to a weird situation whereby noone in the party knows how the hell they got to Aix, their current location. Adelbert of Prague manages to Dispel some magic to return Ailyll to her shape, and we agree to do a mission to destroy a horrible Living Idol in Pecheng when we finish with Sicily. We Teleport back to Fez, then to our boat, resting in Syracuse harbor.
