We Fight a Mighty Superior Party, and Lose

We kick around Syracuse for a bit, collecting info. It seems the Emir, Yaya Sr., has dug up something big and taken it away. Shit. He also seems to be/have turned into some kind of fish monster. Ce la vie. He relocated his court to Marsala instead of Palermo, citing a need for cooler climes. TrapoII also seems to have gotten really popular, and all these guys keep turning up. There's some weird gnome theif/crazy mages, a couple of tough dwarf fighter/thieves, a mess of high level girls, and Famous Hamish O'Reilly, halfling theif extraordinaire. We buy him a boat to put them in, and sail it to Palermo. There we meet with an imam named Obediah, who went to Italy to get a Commune regarding the weird behaviour of the Emir. He only got one question: "Has the Emir been possessed, enscrocelled, or replaced?" God said No, but it was mentioned frequently that the preist casting this has a very literal-minded God. We hear a bunch of rumors, like the Emir is digging stuff up all over the island, and he uses a lot of slaves, gotten by Barnacle Bashim, to do the work. They are often never seen again. Also, he's a fish monster, or at least he acts like one, though he looks human enough. He eats raw fish, and his penis has shrunk or something (blame Hal). We also meet [Saiiq]], who has been doing recon for the Fatimid Caliph. We team up, and head to Marsala.

In Marsala we cast a Divination on doing some recon and trying to pick the various local badasses off one by one. We get a totally bogus divination that in no way prepares us for the shit that's about to go down. Stupid God. Anyways, we wait for nightfall, then send Ailyll and a bunch of thieves off to explore. They are all Nondetecable, and they Pass Without a Trace, and they are sneaky as all get out. Doesn't matter a whit. The check out a big warehouse at the edge of town that is under construction. While Ailyll, in bird form, is looking around, she notices two mice checking her out and acting unmouse-like. She goes to grab one, and then they turn into Slaad and start hitting her with fire spells. Luckily she is immune, and the theives try frantically to get in and help her. She ends up failing a Fear save, and runs out while the theives fight the Slaad. Famous Hamish takes off to get the rest of the party, but his little legs just won't get there in time. TrappoII runs much faster, and brings back Harald and the gang. The Slaad are dispatched, and we take thier bodies back to the boat to feed to Giant Beetles.

Meanwhile, Famous Hamish has been looking for Ailyll after Trapo lapped him. He sees her unconcious, being checked out by some guards who have shot her. While he is getting ready to backstab, this guy named Erix shows up. He looks like a human wearing normal clothes, and he's got a long sword covered by a bag. We had heard he was one of the Emirs retinue, and that he was some kind of badass. Great. He takes Ailyll from the guards, and then Cloud Kills them. Jerk. He's gone when the smoke clears, so Famous Hamish goes back to tell the party.

The theif team and the main team merge, and all head off to the Emir's so-called palace. It is in fact a shack built over a deep hole in some cliffs over the sea. There are a lot of guards in front. Harald summons some monsters, and gets those damn heucuva again, along with some sandlings. The huecuva turn into pretty girls and get some info from the guards, and allow themselves to be escorted into the palace. The sandlings pop up and together they take out their escort. In the front Sunflower sings some guard into diggin her, and then Harald Sleeps a bunch of them. One guy remains wake and charmed, and we pump him for info. Seems there is a staircase going down two levels. Level one has a bunch of archers who will shoot us, then level two has some elite guards and the entrance to the Emir's suite. We do some sneaking and tricking and take out the archers with no trouble. The elite guys are a little tougher, but not a serious problem. The room they guard has a big, round door, with a hermetic seal. The guards say that they never open the door; the Emir's men always open it from the inside.

There is also a door leading to some cells. We look for Ailyll there, but there are only some Gripli. We free them, and they say that the Lesser Master (probably Erix) imprisoned them. He works for the Lords of Chaos, who are the Gods of the Gripli. The problem is that they are shitty gods to have around, so the Gripli are out God-shopping. They think Kodmelos seems like a bargain. However, the Lesser Master has a plan to take out Kodmelos by attacking from underneath him. It seems there are tunnels under the whole world, like some kind of Hollow Earth. The Gripli want to stop this, but they kind of suck at doing anything without getting captured. We tell them we can help, and they should meet us later, outside.

We go back to the guard room and get ready to rumble. We spell up, wishing we had Ailyll. Harald casts Greater Malison through the door, and then Dispels magic as we open the portal.

Behind the door we see the following:

• Yaya Sr, sitting in front of a plate of fish parts, looking bemused.
• Yaya Jr, wearing a viking helmet that looks like it has spent some time underwater.
• Puff the magic Catman.
• A 15 foot tall Marid.
• Erix, holding a very very (+5, most likely) sharp looking sword. It looks to have something in common with Yaya Jr's helmet, like they were made by the same guy. Say, Weyland.
• Barnacle Bashim, grinning like the douchbag he is, with four arms and his own private arsenal of magic weapons.
• Some dancing girls.
• A guard, holding a cord that keeps up a tapestry in the corner of the room.
• Two hairy rhinoceruses, charging at us.

A big fight ensues. Harald takes out Puff and Yaya Jr along with one rhino with a Color Spray before anyone can do anything. Thieves fight the other rhino while their brethren sneak in. Bashim is taking out thieves, people are getting backstabbed, Erix is doing a shit-ton of damage with that sword, and Yaya Sr is using a bunch of innate magical abilites. Like Confusion, for example. He Confuses Harald just as he was about to take out Bashim, and Confuses Famous Hamish just after he had stripped Yaya Jr's helmet. Famous Hamish soon wanders off into unexplored parts of the dungeon, loot in tow. Things start to go badly. Erix takes out Impetuouso, who was wielding Incousicas, one of our few remaining magic weapons. Erix picks up the axe and seems to be talking with it. The he uses it to chop us up. Nothing like a strong jackass with a +4 axe and +5 longsword. Did I mention that he can only be hit by magical weapons? People are dropping like flies, and the bad guys seem fine. They start making demands, like "You killed our two Slaad?!? Well then, we should kill two of your guys, to show you what it feels like.", and other unreasonable nonsense. Saiiq, taking blows from Harald, grabs an earthquake rock and some Giant Weasel dung. "Everybody be cool, or I'll kill us all (expect for the genie, and probably Erix, since he seems to be extraplanar, and Bashim can probably get out, but still..). We hem and haw, then Erix decides to be a dick and kill the guy holding the cord. Water starts to gush in. Bashim drags Puff and Yaya Jr out of the place, while Erix, Yaya Sr, and the Marid cover the exits to make sure we don't escape. The room floods completely. Luckily Harald had cast Airy Water prior to the fight, but he still occasionally attacks anyone nearby. Still, everyone huddles close in order not to drown. The Yaya Sr Dispels the Airy Water. Shit shit shit.

While we run out of air we try to figure out what to do. Saiiq casts Water Walk on everyone so that the none swimmers won't drown if we manage to escape. These guys can totally kill us in a fight, and they are in their element. We're mostly at or near negative hp, some at a very low negative. At last Saiiq get everyone to back towards Erix, who is standing in front of the water inlet. Saiiq sets off the earthquake, surprising our enemies with his balls of steel, and we thrust out the hole by the ensuing tsunami. Many take damage, but no one dies. We pop up in harbor, and get to the boat. Luckily it weathered the tsunami well. We get the hell out of dodge, realizing that Famous Hamish (and the loot) and Ailyll are still in the dungeon somewhere. After eight hours of boating Harald is still confused. Saiiq manages to Dispel it. Ailyll shows up, having escaped. She says some tunnels are still intact, and Famous Hamish is wandering around them. Also, there is a giant robot down there. We turn the boat around, and head back for more trouble.