The party spent the night in Renaulton’s royal guest house.

In the morning, Warden (Renaulton’s ruler and former PC) brought some information to the party.

A history keeper had been scouring the old records and found details about a time in history (roughly 500 years prior) when Mt. Hellysium (a nearby volcano) had erupted. For 40 days, demonic imps had circled the volcano until it erupted and opened a portal from an otherworldly realm.

Destructive lava and demons laid waste to the region. A great demon named Methouhlah reigned over the blackened area for 130 years until it abruptly left for reasons unknown.

An order of demon hunters scoured the volcanic caves underneath Mt. Hellysium searching for clues until they had found an ancient text describing a crystal known as the Abrogate Crystal. The crystal was described to have immense power including the ability to banish demons and extinguish a volcano!

Warden also had learned that race of people far to the south worshipped a number of different crystals including one that matched very closely in description to the Abrogate Crystal.

Without any better ideas, the party decided retrieving the crystal would become their quest. It was a long journey though… the current-day demonic imps have already been circling the volcano for 5 days. If history were to repeat itself, that would leave 35 days for them to get to the Sheyan desert, retrieve the crystal, and return it back to Mt. Hellysium.

It was a 15 day trip by horseback or they could take the river Qwallo which had a strong southern current and get down in 10 days. The party elected to take the river.

On their way to the river they had to pass by the volcano where they had an encounter with some of the earlier described demonic imps. Dyme was felled by the demonic poison but the party did prevail in the end.

They avoided the dark termite-like spire that had been erected near the volcano recently despite Fizban feeling a strong compulsion to head towards it.

At the river Qwallo they traded their horses for a handsome river boat and thus began their long cruise towards the southern lands of Sheya.

The river had a fairly dangerous current but the boat was piloted adeptly by Nedraw with Betamax providing direction from the bow and sustained minimal damage.

Their first encounter on the planned 10-day cruise was with a lizard race of Sahaugins. The Sahaugins had fashioned their canoes out of stretched human faces which indicated quite clearly that they were not friendly.

The Sahaugins gave chase, swimming deep under the river and climbing onto the boat but the party was able to fend them off.

Each night the party made camp on a nearby shore and prepared for the day ahead. On the fifth day, they arrived at a swamp village that was inhabited by friendly humans. The village was named Wajalli and was led by a man named Waja.

Waja had them participate in a “blood-share” ceremony as dictated by loyal custom. He took deposits of all their blood and then mixed drops together in a bowl in order to see how they “interacted”. Apparently the interaction was favourable and Waja showed the party great hospitality.

There were few things odd in the village. For one, there were a lot of very attractive people (notably women) which seemed unusual for such a backwater rural village. Also, they noticed multiple sets of twins…

During the night, their individual huts were all visited by a beautiful female and they all engaged in sexual relations. Dyme (a young teenager) lost his virginity.

In the morning, the women were gone but some had left a trail of moss in the huts? Curious.

They decided they didn’t have enough time to really investigate this properly so in the morning they continued on their cruise bolstered by a fresh gift of delicious cooked river eels from their host, Waja.

Their long cruise continued and there were a number of encounters with spitting cobra’s, hangmen trees and even a fight with two displacer beasts that phased right into the middle of the boat. Dyme was felled again and had to check vs permadeath but managed to stay alive.

One morning, Fizban realized why his back had been so slimy and strange sensations recently. He had sprouted wings! His devotion to Entomon, God of Insects was bringing numerous physical changes to his body (including loss of hair, fingernails, weight etc). He was able to flutter them to get about a foot off the ground.. with practice and training, would he be able to fly?

Eventually the clime changed and they arrived in the riverport town of Careb at the edge of the Sheyan desert.

At a jewelery store, they pooled money together to buy a Ring of Regeneration, and a Ring of Fire Resistance.



From the edge of Careb, they could see the great pyramid. Home of the pharaoh Necratahnem and perhaps where the Abrogate Crystal was being kept.

On the morrow, they would set off to retrieve it.