Crime and Punishment
Session Twenty of the Notoriety of Kings Campaign

Zephday, 45 Suntash 204 [continued]

Shaken from their meeting with Pryde the Chosen head back from the Palgrave Estate to The Wheel to confront Dimitri over what Pryde said. The streets of the capital are their usual bustling selves as merchants, beggar, hawkers and cutpurses vie for the group's attention. That they are the Chosen of Narramac is not lost on many people who stop, point and stare at them.

"Bless you, mistress," says a beggar as they pass. Ravenna turns, surprised to find that her purse is in her hand and that a rancid looking old man squatting by the side of the road is holding five shiny new crowns. Ravenna can vaguely remember giving the money to the beggar. Five crowns represents a month's wages for an honest man, and the beggar seems well chuffed to have so much cash. He thanks Ravenna again and scampers off into the crowd to be mugged.

"To give with no thought of reward," says Elias, quoting the inscription on her sword to Ravenna. The sorceress is puzzled, saying that she dimly remembers giving the beggar the money, but she isn't sure why she did it. It was instinctive. "Our instincts are changing," says Elias tapping his own sword. "They are changing them." Ravenna doesn't like it. She doesn't like not being in control of her own actions.

The group enter The Wheel and very soon Ravenna has confronted Dimitri with Fenton Pryde's words. After a little squirming the man admits that it is all true. That there is no wife, and that all he wants in vengeance on Pryde. He won't say exactly why he wants vengeance – "I won't say because it doesn't only involve me." In brief, he knows that Pryde really wants the Heart of Llysallian, he wants to hurt Pryde so he is going to make sure that Pryde doesn't get it. He is a gnome, and his name is indeed Damodred O'Hare. He concealed his racial identity because he knows that many humans are prejudiced against gnomes, and he thought he stood a better chance of getting the group's help if he posed as a Man. Ravenna is unconvinced by O'Hare's story and wants to ditch the gnome from their group. "You still need me," says O'Hare, and admits to being a spell-caster (an illusionist) of some proficiency. Nicos agrees that if they are going against Pryde then they need all the help that they can get. Grudgingly, Ravenna acquiesces.

She then turns to Elias. "I was thinking," she says. "If no dragon can pass into or out of Ashardon because of the curse Io laid on it – how did Quenqurial get out? If he could does that mean other dragons could? Does it mean that the dragon that's occupying your clan lands in Tibrai could enter Raith Keep?" Elias goes absolutely white. He declares that he must find someone to scry his home immediately! Nicos scoffs. "He doesn't have any lands," he says. "I do! Three thousand people!" affirms Elias, but Nicos is not convinced. "Yeah, and I'm a duke." Elias hops around a bit. "But I am a clan lord!" "Good," says Nicos, "That must mean that I am a duke." Elias is exasperated, but tries to mollify the situation be producing some of Narramac's special tobacco from his sporran.

The sorceress, tries to fight any control the sword has over her with its own rules. She gives the barman a sum of money – enough to cover free drinks for everyone for the rest of the day. Word soon spreads that the Chosen of Narramac are in The Wheel and buying everyone drinks, and shortly a large crowd of common folk have gathered to look at the heroes of the country. The party are surprised to find that they are the celebrities they are.

Nicos is immediately in his element, and begins to fall into the telling of great and largely fictional tales of their adventures on Narramac's quest. Elias is keen for him to tell the one where they came back from the dead in the Barrowmoors, he likes that story. However, he instructs Brack to keep an eye on the cleric to make sure that he doesn't give away any of their secrets. Like the location of Ashardon, and what happened when they went there. When Nicos looks in danger of rambling in that general direction, Brack hits him over the head with Elias' teaching stick. While Nicos holds forth, a discredited O'Hare returns to his room. He has convinced the party to continue working with him despite his earlier lies. He will return later in the day for a rendezvous with the mysterious woman who owed O'Keef 1500 crowns.

Elias, Raza and Arvan head off to Eurikas to see what they can find out about the Heart of Llysallian. Arvan has not been to the library before and is amazed at the miles of books and towering shelves everywhere. He's not sure about the white smock, gloves and slippers but he is willing to try anything once. He witnesses a gnome being thrown out of a high window by a bunch of clerics for casting a spell within the library. Elias leads the way to the dragon lore section and the trio begin their research. Arvan sticks to the few books that are in a language he can read, and soon realises that best help he can lend is moral support.

They have four hours until they must return to the tavern, and it takes almost all that time to find out anything about the Heart. A dusty tome reveals to them some information they already knew, and some that they didn't. Llysallian was a Sapphire Dragon (a race now largely extinct from Urova). When she died her heart fossilised into a faultless sapphire the size of a horse's head. The gem is worth a king's ransom. The gem, known as the Heart of Llysallian is said to be embued with many of the Sapphire Dragon's fantastic powers. The breath weapon of the sapphire dragon is not fire by powerful sound, although their most notable feature is their powers of telepathy. "That's why Pryde wants it," says Elias. "The power to read minds."

By the time the trio return to The Wheel the crowds have died down somewhat. Damodred O'Hare clomps down the stairs in his true form. He is a particularly ugly gnome, whose nose has been broken so many times that it leaves his head at a right ankle before boomeranging back wildly and slaloming down his face like a drunk skier. He also has galloping allopaechia on the right side of his head. "And you wonder why he disguised himself?" says Nicos wisely.

With the little time that remains, they begin to plan. A change self spell will allow either Ravenna or Elias to disguise themselves as O'Keef, but won't let them sound like him. Nicos, whose gutterhive accent would be the perfect choice, cannot have the spell cast upon him. Nicos gives Elias some pointers in sounding like him. This seems to involve waving his fingers around and saying "Hey!" at people. Eventually, decide that there is no time to waste. O'Hare says that he will turn himself invisible and wait in the Fluglehorn for support. Ravenna will turn into a generic thug and sit with Elias as he pretends to be O'Keef. Nicos says that she should be called Skaz.

The Fluglehorn is a very up-market drinkery in the merchant district, not far from Jhasik's Jewellers. There are sounds of laughing and singing from within, and as Elias enters he can see a bard (male) performing on the stage, juggling with illusionary balls of flame. Elias is still a little uncomfortable with O'Keef's body, but he and 'Skaz' sit at an empty table and await their contact. Outside, Raza is keeping an eye on the front entrance while Arvan and Brack guard the other two. Nicos is wandering aimlessly about the street, wishing he could go inside the pub and teach that bard some tricks.

Elias and Ravenna wait in the bar for approximately half an hour (Elias having to recast his disguise three times) before an elegant woman answering O'Keef's brief description walks into the bar. Raza saw her approach but could not quite make out her face beneath a deep blue hood. The woman stands regarding the bar for some time before her eyes fall on the disguised Elias. She pulls back the hood to reveal a face familiar to the party: it Scintilla, cleric of the Arcanum Incognita that was teamed with Alessandre during Narramac's quest! She strides purposefully to Elias' table and sits down.

Scintilla regards 'Skaz' coldly. "You were told to come alone," she says. Elias mumbles something of an apology and – realising he sounds nothing like anything else in the world at all – promptly decides to say very little. Scintilla looks a little puzzled, but reaches into her robe and pulls out a large pouch that is heavy with coins. She places it on the table. "It was everything you said it was," she whispers, sliding the pouch across the table. "Don't do me the insult of counting it here." Elias takes the pouch greedily as Scintilla stands. "Our business is concluded," says the cleric and quickly walks out of the tavern. Raza sees her go and tries to follow her discreetly.

Minutes later Elias and Ravenna bustle out of the Fluglehorn to be met by Arvan, Brack and Nicos. O'Hare also makes himself known, although he is still invisible. They ask what happened, and Elias explains who it was. A quick glance to the sky tells them that it is currently the dark of Zephyre, and so the priesthoods of Air will be weaker than normal. Of course, for the Arcanum Incognita weaker still means strong enough to take them out without breaking a sweat. "Where's Raza?" asks Elias. They realise that he monk must have followed Scintilla, which is probably as well considering that they don't know where she went. Brack and Arvan cast a cursory eye over the road for tracks. The streets are cobbled, but they reckon that she probably went straight ahead into an alley-way.

Raza has been able to keep Scintilla in sight as he carefully shadows her movements. However, when he follows her around a corner, the cleric has gone. Cautiously, the monk looks about. He was sure that he had been completely soundless. He then feels a strange magical tingle across his body and gasps as his muscles tighten up, and in is the victim of a hold spell. Scintilla jumps down from a window ledge and walks over to the monk. "Well, well, well," she says staring him in the eye. "Raza de Luna. What are you doing following me, I wonder?" Taking Raza under the arms she drags him to the side of the alley and, taking a set of manacles from her coat, cuffs him to a set of iron bars protecting a ground floor window, "Be seeing you," she says, and wanders off down the street.

Eventually Raza comes around, discovers that he cannot escape and begins to bemoan his fate. He activates his sword and begins to hack away at the metal of the bars. All the rest of the group can here as they come up the alley-way behind him is the resonance of metal on metal. They catch up with Raza, discover what happened, call him a Pratt and release him (Brack cleaves the chain of the manacles with is large axe). Arvan says that he is unable to follow Scintilla's tracks any further down the road, so they head off as best they can, guessing where she went.

Soon they have lost all hope of finding her, until Nicos asks in a tavern if there are any chapter houses of the Arcanum Incognita in the area, and within minutes the seven find themselves standing outside the House of Revelation. Like all chapter houses, there is no place for worshippers within the walls. The church looks itself is a small keep surrounded by high walls. At a curse from O'Hare, the spellcasters discover that the walls, doors, tower and even the ground inside is so heavily enchanted with defensive and offensive magic that they haven't a hope of getting inside unobserved.

"The Heart is in there," O'Hare says knowingly. When Ravenna asks him how he knows, he says simply that he can sense it. "Can't you?" Rationalising that Pryde evidently doesn't have the Heart yet, he must be sending someone to collect it at some point. However well guarded the courier is, he cannot be better guarded than a chapter house of the Arcanum Incognita. The party decide to wait it out and see if anyone appears to collect the heart.

Eight hours later they are still waiting. The have split into three groups (Ravenna and Brack, Arvan and Raza, and Elias, Nicos and O'Hare). The gnome has spent the time preparing the invisibility spell he had already cast, so he is once more at peak efficiency. None of them are convinced that they are well hidden. That Elias was able to spot Ravenna and Brack was a testament to how shoddy their hiding place actually is. They are just about to turn around and give up when something happens to stay their hand.

Two carriages clatter down the cobble street toward the House of Revelation. There are four men in each carriage, one at the reins and one more figure riding shotgun. On the second carriage is a woman that the group do not recognise, but on the first is the strange stone-skinned individual whom they saw in the Hadradan sun temple, and who is probably responsible for the abduction of Ravenna's Uncle Jhasik. The carriages continue past the chapter house, before turning in a wide arc to come to rest outside the gates to the citadel, facing the way that they came. Stone gets down from the carriage as the gates in the wall open slowly.

Ravenna is quick to react. Dumping an invisibility spell on herself and Brack they begin to move in to the carriages. The others stay where they are, apart from O'Hare who seems to have vanished from Nicos and Elias' company. Clerics of the Arcanum Incognita (Scintilla amongst them) hand a heavy chest over to Stone. Some words pass between them, but none of our heroes can gather what is said. Stone hands the chest to the four men inside the lead carriage and clambers back on board.

Brack has successfully sneaked around the carriages and clambered onto the rear running board of the separate carriage. "I'm here," whispers O'Hare. The gnome is also invisible. Ravenna is significantly less well-versed at moving silently than her stout companion, and Stone hears the sound of her invisible boots clipping the stones of the street. He does not wait to discover what made the noise, having his driver spur the horses onwards. Both carriages jump forward before Elias, Nicos, Arvan or Raza can react.

Ravenna downs the final potion of speed that they discovered in the lair of the wizard Wenneb and easily keeps pace with the carriages as they shoot off along the street. Back outside the chapter house, the remaining four are at a loss for what to do. Nicos tells them not to worry. He knows Uris like the back of his hand, and assuming that those carriages are off to Pryde's estate in Chapel Lane, he knows a short cut that will allow them to head their enemies off at the pass. Nicos paints a convincing picture of them climbing a low building and leaping onto the carriages as they shoot past. This idea appeals to the swashbuckler in their souls, and the others allow Nicos to lead the way through dark alleys, back gardens and fish ponds.

On the rear of the second carriage, Brack decides that it is time to make his move. He knows that the chest Stone received is not in this coach, so he must somehow get over there. He tells O'Hare that he is going to climb up and take control of the carriage. "Good luck," O'Hare says. "Let me know how you did." With a shrug, the ranger clambers up the back of the moving carriage, the roof wobbles wildly under his feet, but Brack maintains his balance. No-one inside the carriage, or the driver and the woman before him have noticed his appearance. Quickly the dwarf sums up the situation. It is too far for him to leap from carriage to carriage, so he opts to take these two out as quickly as possible.

Deftly, Brack jumps forward in-between the driver and the woman. With a mighty shove he tries to knock both of them onto the road. The driver is an easy target, and seems quite surprised as an invisible force shoves him from his seat and he rolls off painfully down the road. Ravenna barely avoids his flailing arms and legs as she trots alongside the coach. The woman is more of a problem, however. Although caught by surprise she is far stronger than she appears and holds firm in her seat. The invisibility spell is instantly dispelled by Brack's actions and now he is visible, vulnerable and face to face with a woman who doesn't look too pleased to see him.

The woman attempts to fling Brack from the carriage, and it is only the dwarf's lightning reflexes that prevent him from being smeared over the cobblestones. He grins and tries to punch her lights out, but she resists. A little narked the woman reaches into her robes and produces a thin cylinder made of crystal. Brack only has time to note that it is alive with an eldritch glow before a lightning bolt manifests out of nowhere and strikes him firmly in the chest. The dwarf is blown back down the carriage, but saves himself by catching hold of the lip that runs the perimeter of the coach's roof. Brack's problems are set to get worse however, as Stone has seen the flash of electricity and is making his way across the roof of his own coach to teach the ranger a lesson he won't forget.

Meanwhile, Nicos has led the others out on to a road that he claims the carriages will be trundling along in about five minutes. Looking around they catch sight of an awning, and pull themselves up into an elevated position. They have a clear view of the road in both directions, but what are they to do. Arvan says that he will use his magic to fracture the wheel of the lead carriage. That should stop both of them. Everyone agrees that it is a good plan. As long as Nicos has led them to the right place of course.

Stone takes a run-up and leaps from the back of his carriage to land between the horses of the second coach. Ravenna sees this and tries to stick him with a sleep spell while he is in mid-air. Her spell has no effect on Stone, but it does overpower the driver of the Stone's coach who nods off, then falls off and lands chin-first on the road.

On the second coach, Brack has seen Stone's acrobatics, but there is little he can do about it as the wizardess has clambered onto the roof with him. She and Brack are now squaring off on the roof of a runaway coach in the dead of night. The drama is not lost on them. Brack tries to fillet the wizardess with this axe, but the motion of the carriage hampers his aim, and the hands of the men inside the coach are now snaking out to capture his ankles. One even tries to climb up and get the dwarf, but Brack kicks him in the nadgers and he falls over board.

Ravenna, now visible herself, throws a further sleep spell inside the first coach hoping that those within will succumb to its effects. She is unsure of her success. Brack is now facing Stone and the wizardess on the runaway carriage, as both coaches come within sight of Raza and the others atop the awning. Arvan gets ready with his spell, knowing that he will have to time this just right if he is going to stop the carriages. Looking closer they see that neither carriage has a driver, which could be considered a bad thing. Arvan reaches up and draws the energy he needs to cast the spell. As the coaches thunder toward them, there is a loud crack as one of the wheels of the lead coach splits in half. Things get very messy, very rapidly.

The lead coach bucks and flips onto its side, crashing down upon the horses that were pulling it. There is a sickening sound of splintering wood and the coach skids painfully to a halt in front of the awning. Seconds later the second carriage, driverless as it is, ploughs head long into the back of the first. The horses are neatly sandwiched between the two and with nowhere to escape as rapidly compressed into little more than burgers. The second coach slams violently into the first. The sudden deceleration does little for the warriors on the roof. The wizardess, Stone and Brack are thrown into the air. Brack hits the ground with great force, and shoots off down the road on his tummy, sparks flying from his chainmail. Stone and the wizardess suffer a similarly painful fate.

The party on the awning look at one another. The mangled remains of both carriages have come to rest directly in front of them (and about five feet beneath them). Nicos congratulates Arvan, but the druid is feeling a little guilty about the horses. The group are about to throw themselves into action when they feel an icy chill descend, their stomach tightens and they each feel profound terror taking control of them. Elias, Brack and Nicos manage to resist the fear, but Arvan and Raza take flight over the roof-tops. Ravenna too, only arrives to flee, so overcome is she. Both carriages empty of men, who are running on fractured and broken legs away from the source of the fear. Stone too has gone. Elias looks around for the cause, but can see nothing obvious. To his poorly trained senses it seemed like necromantic magic, but who would be throwing that around?

More pressing concerns suddenly overwhelm his senses. The wizardess is getting to her feet. He calls to Raza to help him and drops down to the ground. He and the monk hurry over to deal with the spell-caster, along with Brack who has painfully staggered to his feet. Leaving his companions to take care of matters, Nicos jumps down onto the overturned carriage and hurries to retrieve the heart.

The wizardess does not prove to be much of a threat to the combined forces of Raza, Elias and Brack and she is soon subdued (although not killed). Like the heroes they are, they then begin frisking her unconscious form for booty. Elias discovers a magical ring, but he is uncertain of what it does, and is not about to put it on to find to out. While his friends plunder the helpless, Nicos wrenches open the door to the carriage and gazes down into the interior. He sees Damodred O'Hare staring back at him.

"It's all right!" calls the gnome, holding the chest. "I've got it!" He rises his hand to Nicos, "Give me a hand up!" Nicos is about to do just that when he pauses. Suddenly, he doesn't trust the gnome, he doesn't trust him at all and prepares to do a quick alignment check on the little bleeder. O'Hare reacts very quickly. He jumps up in the air and catches Nicos' shin. A green paralysing jolt is discharged and Nicos collapses to the top of the carriage, helpless.

O'Hare pulls himself out, still clutching the Heart when he is spotted by the others. He smiles at them briefly before casting the expeditious retreat spell and blazing off down the road as fast as his little legs will carry him. As a gnome this isn't very fast, and Raza quickly gives chase knowing that he will be able to keep up with their new foe. The fact that O'Hare had taken the party for complete muffins is not lost on Elias who is a little peeved, as he rolls Nicos onto his back to conclude that the cleric has been paralysed by some sort of ghoul touch spell. He sends his familiar, Hedwig, off into the sky to keep an eye on Raza and O'Hare.

Raza pursues the gnome along the darkened streets. It would seem that O'Hare is making his way to the docks. Not wanting to be follow, O'Hare turns and fires a magical ray at Raza that hits him firmly in the chest, sapping his strength. The monk begins to flag and O'Hare thinks he has lost him. But Raza is determined. He does not need to rest, he tells himself, he can go without it. The sword flares and Raza continues on as before, taking advantage of whatever magical powers drive his weapon. O'Hare curses and reaches into his jacket. He removes a live spider, speaks an incantation, swallows it and scurries up the side of a building. At the top he pauses to wave at Raza before leaping away from roof-top to roof-top. Raza follows as best he can.

Ravenna and Arvan eventually return to the scene of the crash and are informed of the events that led up to O'Hare's theft of the Heart. Nicos also comes round, and is ready to kick some gnomish butt. Elias is still in contact with Hedwig and proposes that they move off in the right direction, hoping that Raza has been able to corner their foe. Raza has not no such luck, unfortunately, and is walking the docks in search of O'Hare. Under Hedwig's direction, the rest of the party find him on the wharf-side staring out to see. The gnomish privateer that Ravenna and Arvan saw docked three days ago. It is a hundred yards from the dock and heading slowly out to sea. It all begins to fit into place. All O'Hare wanted all along was the Heart and now he seems to have got away with it.

Not so! says Elias. He has spied a rowing boat attached on one of the jetties. It looks as though it is designed to hold three people at most, but it will fit six. There are oars inside it, and the party certainly has a will to catch O'Hare! They quickly shin down the ladder into the rowing boat. Ravenna feather falls down, and Brack jumps in nearly knocking everyone overboard. He is reminded that dwarves have no natural buoyancy and that he will sink like a stone should he fall overboard. Arvan and Brack grab an oar each an propel the small boat forwards.

There is little wind and the chances of catching the gnomish ship are good. However, it is the worst journey any of the group has embarked upon, and certainly twenty minutes of the most concentrated terror they've experienced for some time. Brack and Arvan find it difficult to row at the same speed, and they spend far too long splashing around in circles. When they finally have their act together, the boat is lying so low in the water than it begins to sink. Brack, Elias, Ravenna and Nicos start to bail furiously. But they can't seem to bail fast enough and the boat begins to dip below the waves. There seems nothing can be done, until Nicos stops helping them. With the tremendous drag factor of Nicos' guileless anti-agility the rest of the group manage to get more water out than is coming in and they are saved. Brack is tireless in his rowing, but Arvan has to swap with Elias and Elias with Raza before they reach O'Hare's ship. Just as they bump along side they notice another ship rounding the headland and coming toward them. On the deck they can see Stone.

With a flurry the group throw a rope up the side of the vessel and scurry aboard. All apart from Nicos who plummets back into the other boat a couple of times before slowly crawling up to meet the rest of the party. The deck of the ship is completely abandoned. Brack investigates the figure at the wheel of the ship. He discovers that the diminutive helmsman is in fact a corpse, that is continuing to pilot the vessel in a manner what screams "Necromancy!" at him. Just to be on the safe side, the dwarf decapitates the creature. Looking up, Brack sees Stone's ship scrape alongside them. Stone and at least twenty marauders look ready to pound the party into small smudges on the deck.

Nicos acts without thinking and conjures a flaming sphere on the deck of Stone's vessel. Stone and all but one of his men leap aboard O'Hare's ship to avoid the flames, while Nicos enacts an astoundingly ill-thought-out attempt at one-man piracy by boarding the burning ship. He and the only one of Stone's men not quick enough to jump look at each other warily. Nicos smiles as he commands the flaming sphere to set fire to the entire ship…..

"Where is the Heart of Llysallian?" Stone demands as he strides across the deck to meet the party. Elias quickly explains that the gnome has it, and they are here to take it from him. At this moment, all sides hear a terrible groaning sound as the single line connecting O'Hare's ship with the burning vessel strains and snaps. The burning ship with Nicos on board begins to drift helplessly away from the rest of the party. Nicos believes that he may have made a tactical error, as the man in front of him draws his sword and does his best carve Nicos a third ear.

Stone doesn't look too pleased by this turn of events, however, he has no time to react as a booming voice can be heard from below decks. "Fools!" yells O'Hare. "You are too late! You cannot stop me now! No-one can!" To the peels of maniacal laughter dozens upon dozens of gnomish zombies swarm out of hold of the ship. The thought of battling a collection of moth-eaten, two-foot tall berserkers is something of a relief to the party, until they come to realise that these zombies are much more of a threat than they could imagine.

The creatures swarm at the party and at Stone and his men. They leap and grab and jab and pull. They leap up and grab onto hair, arms, clothing and anything they can reach. They are not strong and they are not skilled but there are so many of them that even Brack can't hack them down faster than more appear. "I say we put our differences aside for the time being!" Elias calls to Stone. "Agreed," he replies. One by one the party members are dragged to the ground. Some manage to struggle up, only to be pulled down again. Once on the deck the zombies try to pin them while others scuttle in punching, raking and gouging our heroes. Ravenna's spells mostly effect the mind and are useless against creatures such as these. She is pulled to the deck and kicked into unconsciousness. Raza somersaults up and takes to the rigging in an attempt to avoid the creatures. From his vantage point he can see Stone fall under the swarming arms and legs of the undead. Only Brack manages to hold his footing as he hacks his way slowly below decks searching for O'Hare. Arvan is on the deck and completely beset by these creatures. Seeing no choice, he uses his magic to shape the wood beneath him, opening a hole into the ship. He tumbles through the hole to safety, almost landing on top of Brack. Seeing a way to safety Elias shakes off some of the creatures and dives for the hole. Raza, too, drops down from the rigging into the hold. The zombies do not follow them. They have lost Ravenna and Nicos, but the remaining four members of the Chosen press ever onwards.

On the other ship, the flaming sphere has long since evaporated, but it has done its work. The ship is ablaze and sinking, and Nicos is still engaged in a sword fight with a rather tenacious opponent. Operating at full defence as always, Nicos is trying to convince the man that that they should be working together to try and save themselves and not trying to kill one another. "Never!" shouts the man, "My brother was a Watcher! He died protecting Oblivios from your kind!" Nicos shrugs, sees no way forward and stabs the man through the chest, killing him. Any satisfaction he might feel at the successful duel is mitigated by the rather alarming rate at which the ship is sinking. Seeing no alternative he leaps over the side and hopes very much that he can learn how to swim before he drowns.

The crew deck of O'Hare's ship have ceilings that are only five feet high. This is quite unusual even for a vessel of the gnomish marine. The party see an ominous glow of sapphire blue emanating from the cargo deck, and quickly make their way to the ladder leading down. Brack leads the way, followed by Elias, Arvan and Raza. In the hold they see a sight that makes them wish they were still fighting the zombies.

The hull of the ship opens out below the waterline to create a chamber much larger than one would expect. Set into the deck, the roof and the bulkheads are a number of enormous bones making up the complete skeleton of a dragon. At the far end of the hold is the enormous skull. Hanging in the air, just where the heart would be in a real dragon is the Heart of Llysallian. The Heart is glowing with a pure light that infuses the skeleton with energy. As Brack sets a foot in the hold, there is a grinding sound and the bones move slightly. "He's animating a dragon," Elias exclaims. "This is bad." At this point Brack turns around and buries his axe in Elias' chest.

Meanwhile, in the water Nicos splashes, gasps and dog-paddles his way back to the rowing boat the group stole from the dock earlier. With a great effort the soggy cleric pulls himself up into the boat. He pauses to cough raucously for a moment and then collapses onto his back to stare at the stars. A few hundred yards behind him he can see Stone's ship disappearing below the waves. Thinking that his friends must surely need him Nicos gathers up the oars and tries to work out how to use them.

Elias stares at the dwarven waraxe in his chest with more than a modicum of surprise. Brack stares blankly at him, his eyes glazed over as if possessed by some nasty magic. Brack's mind (currently trapped in a gem and peering at the conflict helplessly) can certainly attest to the fact that this is the case. Looking closely Elias can see that Brack's magical sword has retreated back into its hilt as though Brack is no longer in charge of his own body. Sensing no choice in the matter, Elias stabs at Brack. Whatever force is controlling the dwarf doesn't know how to use the war-axe and as Brack's body flails wildly Elias, Arvan and Raza take Brack down. Just as the last blow is struck Brack feels himself being sucked back into his body again, just in time to be knocked unconscious by his 'friends'. And then there were three.

Raza leads the way across the room followed by Arvan and Elias. Elias says that the gnome must be using some sort of magic jar spell to attack them. They have to find him as soon as they can before someone else is possessed. At this moment Arvan's scimitar slides back into its sheathe and he turns on Elias. Unlike Brack, Arvan doesn't fight back allowing Elias to cut him into small pieces and take him down. Elias hates doing it, and knows that he is playing into O'Hare's hands, but time is of the essence. Already, the skeleton is beginning to flex above him. Very soon they will have a fully formed Dracolich on their hands! He calls to Raza to find the gnome! The only place in the room O'Hare can be is behind a pile of crates on the far side of the hold. Raza races over there, but when he looks over the top, the hidey-hole is empty. Elias takes down Arvan at last. And then there were two.

Elias rushes over to Raza. He can feel an attempt to gain control of his mind and manages to shrug it off (somehow). Raza gropes around behind the crates and discovers that there is something back there. Something invisible! Raza and Elias begin to hack away at the invisible form. There is a growl from the dracolich above them, but they keep working. Even when they know where O'Hare is, there is some sort of magical field protecting the gnome. Raza feels something try to possess him, but he shakes it off. Then with a flurry the monk buries his kukri into O'Hare's skull, the gnome gives a moan and dies.

Acting quickly, Elias turns around and leaps into the air. The head of the dracolich swings slowly to regard him as he plucks the Heart of Llysallian from mid-air. As he does so the blue glow is immediately extinguished, the bones lose their energy and the head of the giant creature sags lifelessly. Elias looks at Raza and both breathe a long sigh of relief.

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