"A Bridge Divided" a D&D 3rd edtition campaign
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Chapter 4
" One Step Forward, Three Steps Back "
page 16 ' Reunion and Redemption '

Leaving Dunnealgate with the only good information that they could get from Micheal's six goons who were ruling with an iron fist they met up with Conti before entering the Hullack Forest. They heard that something was going to be happening in the town of East Cameron because of a sealed letter that they found in one of a goon's room. So Conti took strides with Enutrof as they walked into the forest east towards East Cameron. Curiosity getting the better of her and because Pandora didn't really tell Elly anything about Harfein she started to inquire about the Party and Harfein itself. Cade recounted to Elly some of the basic facts about Harfein and even going deeper into a little of its history. In the middle of him recounting his story most of the Party suddenly realized that Elly was missing. Enutrof quickly used his Ranger skills to find one set of footprints in the slightly muddy ground moving off to the south. Cade took a ride on Kai while Myr and Enutrof mounted Conti so they could move quicker and hopefully catch up to Elly's kidnapper.

While following the tracks the trees started to thing out until the Party came upon a clearing and the walls of a town. However these walls have seen the test of time and were slightly crumbling and the tracks lead directly through this towns front gate. Enutrof and Conti went around the east side of the wall while Kai explored the west and to Kai's surprise he found that this town sat at the edge of a 100' cliff. Since Myr couldn't sneak as well as everyone else he boldly decided to enter the front with Cade following in the shadows. That move made Myr the target of the first trap that was set for them. As the ground gave way under his feet he started to fall into the pit but Cade made a quick move to grab Myr's hand. However the halfling didn't take into account the size and weight difference and both Cade and Myr then fell victim to the trap. At this time Enutrof was at the eastern gate examining around for any traps and finding a pit trap at this entrace he entered very cautiously. Kai was able to save himself from falling down the unexpected cliff by grabbing hold of a firm branch. He then returned to the northern gate only to find Cade and Myr ten feet down a pit. Kai reached down to grab a hold of Cade who was standing on Myr's shoulders. Myr then used Cade as a way to then help himself get out. With that behind them Kai decided to take to the roofs while Myr and Cade continued along main street to the town's square.

Making it safely to the fountain that was at the square Myr's ears perched a second when he heard something and he started to walk to the south-east. Cade, however, thought that he should travel to the north-east through some of the Alleyways. Enutrof saw not only Myr moving in his direction but also another trap, this one however was a fishline attacked to some darts that were set to be shot. Kai was only a few blocks and 15 feet above where Cade was sneaking along the streets. However someone even better then Cade at not being seen or heard snuck up behind the halfling picked him off the ground and put a knife to his throat. Cade was pressed tightly against his assailents breasts as she whispered into his ear, "Let her go because the girl does not belong to Micheal, leave now or I will kill you all". Being release from the assailents grasp Cade dropped to the ground and in the blink of an eye he was alone once again. But as Kai was jumping from rooftop to rooftop he was able to spot a cloaked figure running below him. As soon as he landed on the roof he lowered himself to the ground to chase the figure down but was unsuccesful. Cade realizing that a mistake occurred spoke outloud, "We aren't with Micheal. We're after him too. We are only protecting Elly. I think we are both on the same side." With all of this commotion being made Kai was able to follow the sounds back to find Cade.

Enutrof and Myr were continuing to travel south as that was the basic direction where they heard some noises and also where Conti was able to smell Elly. Passing by a few houses and avoiding a few traps that were left for them they came upon a longer looking house that was still intact with its door closed. A shadow fell over them and turning they saw a female elf standing high upon a roof. "I said she's now mine and won't be yours ever again. Leave before you die!" With that a fireball went streaming through the air and struck her square in the chest but she was able to stand back up. She grabbed an arrow from her quiver cocked it back on the string and whispered on the wind "Slay". The arrow went screaming though the air directly at Myr and with only feet to the target "Nooooo" could be heard. As Clive jumped between the arrow and Myr he was struck down. "Stop," screamed a familiar voice.

Charisma jumped down from the roof when she realized of the terrible mistake that she made. She ran to his side and threw Enutrof out of the way as he was in the middle of bandaging Clive's wounds. The entire Party was now standing around with Kai in the lurch about the identity behind Myr's savior. Charisma pulled the arrow out of Clive before she applied some healing ointment to him. "You're Charisma aren't you. The beautiful elf who is a master with the bow. I wondered why you were so nice to me, Clive has told me a lot about you." Clives eyes then started to flutter as he was regaining contiouness again. "Why would you do such a foolish thing, Clive," asked the relieved Charisma. "Because these are good people, they even saved my life." Charisma then welcomed the party into the house where she was keeping Elly, which is also the same house that she used to sleep in. Charisma appologized for mistaking the Party for Micheals men because they were about to walk directly into one of his boarder camps. They told her over the meal that they needed to get to East Cameron and that they thought they were strong enough to take on a few bad guys. Charisma then explained that there were almost a hundred men camped there and they would most certainly be killed. She did however know of an alternative route which wouldn't alert Micheal but the only catch was that it could be a little more dangerous because it involves going through the Swamp of Dispear.

The Party agreed to let Charisma take them around Micheal's men and after a night of rest everyone was ready to head out. Getting to the second city that seemed to be in a larger dissarray then the last one a shiver went down everyone's spines. Both Conti and Myr's Raven also felt uneasy because of a temple that still stood intact near the center of town. Slowly appraoching it they saw a murder of crows circling the bell tower then a loud bong rings out in the silence as the bell starts to ring. Cautiously the party entered the large double doors of the building only to have the doors slam shut, and lock themselves, leaving Charisma and the animals still outside. But Myr saw what he was looking for, upon a pedastool in the middle of the second area and bathed in a light he saw a magnificent Robe of a deep violet color etched in black and patterns of fire raising from the bottom. "Beautiful isn't it," said a voice. "Sure is," answered Cade until he realized that he didn't know who that speaker was. Everyone turned around as a cloaked figure walks up from behind them. He walked past Myr to the other side of the pedastool so he could admire the robe. "I have been here protecting my Robe of Many Things. Look but don't touch," stated Morbis who continued to gaze at the Robe. Since he didn't seem to be a threat and also because Myr was able to pass right through him the Party felt that they should split up to give a quick check around the temple. Enutrof continued trying his hardest to open the front doors but with no success. It seemed as though Morbis was keeping the doors shut and would only open them if no one was close to his Robe. So quick thinking by Myr had everyone stand near the door as he slowly backed away from the Robe until he was sixty feet away. As Myr cast Mage Hand upon the Robe it dissapeared like it fell through the floor and yet again the front doors slam shut. Not wanting to leave Myr alone with a now pissed off Morbis no one tried to exit but instead turned their attention back to Morbis who's cloak dissapeared to reveal the Shadow that he has been. Morbis touch felt like cold death on Myr as he felt his strength being taken from him. Two of Enutrof's arrows flew past Myr and right through Morbis but the two missiles that Elly launched had better luck. One of the magic missiles from her ring was able to hit the shadow while the other one past right through him like Enutrof's arrows. Understanding what was happening Cade cast magical weapon upon Kai's hands so that he could use them to hit the incorporeal Shadow. Taking the front was reason enough for Morbis to touch Kai with his touch of death and although some of Kai's strength left him he was able to deal enough damage to the already hurt Morbis to finally put him to rest.

With Morbis defeated his power over the temple started to fade as well. The temple's age and destruction started to show for the first time and the doors also opened. Wanting the Robe the party pulled up some of the stone floor so they could start digging down until they hit worked stone. "So that means that there has to be a passage underneith here. We need to find the way down," said Cade. Looking through all the rooms they found themselves in what used to be Morbis's bedroom. Cade walked into the fireplace, which had no chimmney attached to it, and started to feel around until he found a hidden switch which open up a secret door that hid stairs that were heading down. Using a light spell on a rock Cade took the lead in this dark passage which opened up into a single room with the pedastool and the Robe that they saw up above. Kai moved in close held out a sack he had and replaced it with the Robe after Cade searched around for traps. Realizing that he used his money sack he grabbed it back from the pedastool. Not wanting to take refuge in this town the Party traveled a few miles out before making camp.

With another half a days travel the Party was able to make it to the third town which boardered on the Swamp of Dispear. A Large and deep hole was near the center of town with large crevices in the ground reaching out from that position deep into the swamp, the town, and all around it. Charisma told them, "This happened back during the Mage War. Three Armies clashed at this spot. While we were dealing with the Rogues pet green dragon Darwin chased Logenous into the center of town. He told me later that Logenous was sitting on top of all of the barrells of Atmose Powder and he triggered the explosion with a lit torch. Those crevices are a result of that explosion and that's why I never liked that Atmose stuff. We're going to have to travel north around the town through the swamp. The only problem is with all of the death that happened that day this place is cursed and its infested with skeletons, so we're going to have to move as fast as we can through it."

The Party reached the edge of the swamp and Charisma gave a sigh at the though of having to travel through such a unclean place. Almost reaching the half-way mark the Party seemed to be making good time. Except for a few body parts floating by Cade, who was in the swamp up to his neck, literally. A low deep growl could be heard comming from the ctiy but before they had a chance to figure out what it was eighteen skeletons rose up from the swamp waters to surround and kill the Party. That was when the Party found the source of the growl when a few buildings got destroyed as Barrel-lith stood up on its four legs. It's spiked tail flailed about destroying a few other locations so it could spread its wings and take flight. Charisma knew that no one in the Party except her and Clive would have a chance to hit or hurt this creature so they quickly traveled south so they could fight better on dry land. Clive told Elly to be careful and asked Conti to protect her. Even though they were just skeletons the sheer number of them was starting to take a toll on the Party. Kai was able to shatter a few while Conti used her giant maw only to have more skeletons raise up to take their place.

Charisma and Clive were able to reach dry land and quickly took to the roof tops. They release a few vollies of arrows and bullets at Barrel-lith which only angered it more. When it came within range Barrel-lith did a fly by attack on Charisma with it's two front claws and continued on past her toward the rest of the Party still in the swamp. Seeing more food not that far below it Barrel-lith dived down breathed in a deep breath and released its breath weapon at the already hurt Party. Both Cade and Elly fell. "Elllllyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!," screamed Clive as soon as he saw what happened.
Session on Saturday, January 17th, ~1-6pm page 16