Chapter 13: The Sea Queen Escapes part 3 FINALE!

The following is a first hand account of the actions taken by the Heroes of Eros, as dictated to Sage apprentice first class Elik by Moep the Culinary expert and Collector of baubles, trinkets and valuables of all shapes and sizes.

    After three days at sea the Lone Ait finally came into view, I quickly directed the party to prep all packs and sacks with appropriate rations as I knew that nothing keeps an adventurer in good spirits and health as much as a good meal. We all were suffering under a strange malady that caused shiny fish-scales, and patches of barnacle like growths to sprout in most uncomfortable parts of our anatomy. It also seemed to cause an urge to drink sea water, which I found strangely refreshing. However, the chance to get ashore was greatly welcomed.
     We could see as we got closer that the small rocky isle was surrounded on all sides by an oily black pitch, the scent of it carried upon the breeze! I could see my companions were put off by the thought of having to get covered in the icky stuff, so as our expert boat captain beached us I called attention to myself. Fear not my stalwart companions for Moep shall show you how to land upon yon rocky shore without encrusting yourself in the vile black mire! I then (with great ease) swung on a rope from the yard arm of our boat out over the sickly surf, flipped in a circle and landed like a cat! This brought great smiles out upon the faces of my friends and quickly Chi and Tarek followed my lead and each of them quite acrobatically made it to shore as well. The rest of the party in good spirits now, came ashore as well.
    A short walk up the beach we spied a large stone structure some forty feet in height and seemingly constructed of a giant single block of volcanic rock. A large opening in the face yawned before us, the stone door lay on the ground sundered in half by violent seismic activity. I knew that lighting torches would not be wise so I had young Alexander use his staff to give us light to see by as we entered the stony edifice.My tactical advise being second to none, the group was also positioned in ranks of two.
    The first chamber was flooded with the black goo, and I could feel its warmth as my feet sunk into it. The walls were marked in many occult symbols that seemed to overlap and repeat themselves. The eastern wall bore a large geometric carving that was defaced by a jagged crack running from floor to ceiling. IN the center of the carving was a word..."Qeel Ilsha aaha", this meant nothing to even the most learned among us. A slight tremor shook us and I urged the group on toward our goal to find and rescue Cealheewhalool, for time was surely against us. Two exits from this chamber left with our first choice and we decided to head for the one to the right, as we neared it both Tarek and Tyrrian suddenly dropped into the watery muck up to their necks!! With lightning speed, and no regard for my personal cleanliness I reach out and hauled Tarek to

the goop!

safety. Tyrrian was weighted down by his heavy breastplate and would have sunk beyond our reach had I not wisely directed Alexander to lift the young warrior from the goop with his magics. This small setback was nothing for one of my expertise and I was soon able to devise a plan that saw us all across the hidden chasm and on our way. I also suggested to Tyrrian that he should not wear his breastplate in case of further such mishaps, advice the boy was wise to follow.

    The second chamber we came upon posed upon us the "Riddle of Fire", the floor still covered in the ankle deep inky tar and my stomach grumbling like a golden mountain basilisk. I was awed by the amber glow that filled the room. A large inverted triangle had been etched into the western wall of this chamber and a fist sized oval of amber was inset at each of the triangles points. Each piece of amber glowed with a pale yellow light, this seemed  to frighten Chi a bit as she began to wail about the chance the room could fill with fire if we were to touch the amber. I calmed her with a reminder that she had fresh cookies in her pack and I took that moment of diverted attention to inspect the glowing amber for myself. I quickly validated my hunch with a second opinion from Lars that they were not trapped in any way, and seemed they could be pried from their setting in the wall.(I let Lars double check things for me so he gets a chance to feel useful, the guy has some skills but needs guidance. He is an expert rock thrower though!) Unfortunately, at that moment Alexander became overwhelmed with the same fear that Chi had extolled. So I reluctantly left the amber alone to ease the unreasoning fear that had begun to overcome my fellows. I noted to myself that the others seemed to be on edge as well, and I urged us all forward once again.

    The tremors had obviously taken a great toll upon the chamber we now entered. The ceiling was partially collapsed and the floor upheaved by the earthly forces. Mounds of rubble were strewn across the goopy floor leaving the narrowest of paths to an exit on the far side. What caught all our attentions though was a flickering emerald glow visible among the jumbled rocks along the wall to our right. Taking the weight of leadership upon myself I had the main group stay in the doorway where it seemed safest. Then I asked Alexander to accompany me to investigate the emerald light. (I had assumed it to be magical in nature.) I carefully led the wizard through the tumbled wreckage, pointing out danger areas to his untrained eyes. A slight tremor must have caused a large pile of rubble to loosen as we passed it, and though Alexander is strong in magic he is weak physically. I knew therefore, that he would suffer greatly and I used myself as a shield to deflect the jagged shards before they could do the poor mage harm!

I'm okay......

Dusting myself off and making sure Alexander wasn't harmed (as any good leader would) we turned to look upon our glowing prize. There propped up in a pile of rocks was a three foot long ovoid of clearest crystal that seemed to contain a swirling mud that emanated the green light, suddenly the rock pile upon which it rested came to life! My quick reflexes allowed me to scoop up the big crystal and deftly maneuver myself back towards the party. Alexander is not so spry and must have slipped in the rubble leaving him open to a vicious bite from the horrid reptile that revealed itself! I quickly dispatched Chauncey, Tyrrian and Max to deal with the reptile and aid Alex. As Sally tended my wounds, I was able to convince Chi to use her supernatural powers to summon a creature to our aid. Doing so at my behest she brought forth a large sea crab with mighty claws to aid our warriors who were struggling with the rock lizard! The lizard thrashed and began causing more debris to fall upon our heads and it was then I remembered that Sally can cause the very fibers of the land to restrain enemies. Under my direction she was able to pinpoint the creatures limbs and hold it in place so our Warriors could attack it! Chauncey the brave fellow leapt in with bravado and dealt the creature a mortal blow by piercing it through the skull! We rested a bit and looked at our options. I deemed we take it more cautiously from this point forward and in the safety of the hall we left the crystal ovoid covered by Tyrrian's breastplate. We also gutted the rock lizard and left the corpse for later retrieval. I then pointed out the most likely areas of danger from the rubble in the chamber and verbally coached Tarek as he scouted out a safe path for everyone to take so we could continue.

    We then entered a huge, yet bare chamber. Its sole decorations were eight pillars and a narrow alcove in one wall. The alcove contained a titanic door of hewn stone, the face of which was covered in the same repeating pattern of symbols we had seen in the first chamber upon entering this place. In the center of the mighty door was a large keyhole, from which flickered a lambent flame, illuminating the room with a flickering  ruby light. We had entered from the south and another exit lay in the far northern wall. I had Lars come up and kneel next to me as we looked upon the stone door. I placed my hand on his shoulder assuring him of my confidence in his journeyman skills. Lars was able to determine that the door was safe and not trapped. I called for Alexander to give the Red-Metal key to Lars as it was obvious this was its home. Thankfully, and from my prior tutelage on proper haberdashery, Lars had thought to wear his sharkskin gloves. It was those alone that saved his hands from severe burns as the key was placed into the hole where it began to warm with unearthly heat. Four turns clockwise and the now white-hot key was drawn into the keyhole as the heavy stone door rose into the ceiling. What lay in the next chamber surprised us all!

    A large octagonal chamber was revealed. The walls bore more carved symbols that flickered with silvery green light. Strangest of all was the thirty foot sphere of water that hung in the air midway between floor and ceiling. Within was not one, but three slender female figures! One of which bore a corroded diadem encrusted with barnacles. Alexander not used to direct encounters with pretty young women began muttering to himself and playing with his red glass wand (if you catch my meaning), myself, Tarek and Max ever aware of the plight of maidens in distress headed directly in to see what succor and aid we could provide to the poor creatures. At first we thought ourselves too late, but Tareks keen eye caught the supple movement of nubile breast as they lightly breathed, time was on our side! The silvery light from the runes on the walls was flickering and threatening to go out, I bid Lars to get some torches lit and bring me one quickly. I was about to ask Alexander for his thoughts on how to get the women out of the sphere, but he was yammering to Sally about evil hell-spawned harlots; the boy needs to get out more I tell you. I then saw that one of the young women seemed to be conversing with Tarek; now that lad can say a mouthful to a woman with a wink and a smile; he had drawn his sword and pierced the watery cell that held the girls captive. Now, in the next few moments there was a lot of confusion, the runes sparked and went dark just as Lars got two torches lit. The watery sphere collapsed, dumping not only the women on the floor but the rush of a thousand gallons of sea water swept Tarek off his feet. Tyrrian rushed forward brandishing his hammer and invoking the Gods Sashu and Sinakad while Max and Chauncey flanked the shirtless Warrior to the right. The Sea Queen did not need to be rescued you see. She needed help escaping. It was Tyrrian invoking Sinakad that clued me in, Sinakd burns with hatred for beings of chaos. I directed Lars to flank left of Tyrrian with me to aid Tarek whom we could see was now at the mercy of not a beautiful mer-woman, but vile lesser female demonette! Over my shoulder I signaled Sally, and she began to call forth the bindings of the earth! The demure Sea Queen herself turned to Chauncey who without hesitation brutally smashed and broke her jaw with his polearm! Infuriated by this she shed her mortal shape and became a horrid monster, ten feet tall with a giant shark maw where her belly should be, also from the waist down she sprouted four thick octopus like tentacles!!! Tyrrian held the Queen at bay while the earthly bindings took effect, Max was able to deflect the attacks of the second demonic handmaiden away from the shirtless youth. With the aid of lars who distracted the hellish female I was able to draw out my trusted blades Banquet & Tetanus and save Tarek from her clutches. We all gasped as the Sea Queen lashed at Chauncey with a tentacle that almost took off his head, the Warrior prepared to attack again but was blasted by a watery missile hurled from shark maw! The force of the blow cast him across the chamber slamming him into the wall so hard it cracked. Chauncey dropped lifeless to the floor. Max was able to rush to Chauncey's side as Alexander used his magic energies to take over attacking the vile handmaiden. With strokes so savage and quick I dispatched the temptress that assaulted Tarek and Lars and I were able to drag the wounded thief to safety. Sally looked to me worried about Tyrrian and his proximity to the Demonic Sea Queen. I knew the boy would not retreat, so I gave Sally the go ahead to do what must be done. Calling upon Mesha in our most dire of need Sally was able to open a portal that sucked the Demon back from whence it came!!!! The prison (for now we knew it for waht it was) began to crumble and shake all about us, we quickly gathered our wounded; Chauncey was clinging to life, and with the aid of Alexander were able to whisk everyone out the way we came upon a large disk of blue energy! We all suffered slightly from falling debris as we stopped to collect the items we had left in the doorway of the lizard room, but Chauncey suffered a skull shattering blow causing us again to fear he would certainly die. We emerged from the stone structure as it began to sink into a pool of bubbling pitch along with the rest of the island itself. Brave Captain Hookah awaited us in the Dragon boat and we all boarded safely. The Lone Ait sank into the sea leaving only a oily slick to mark it ever existed.

    We returned then to Modron four days later, and received a Heroes welcome. I have to say that all the members of our band under my leadership were able to perform admirably and defeat the Demon that wanted to escape and cause untold havoc upon the inhabitants of our fair lands. We also met a rather nice Mer-man chap called Brooshqual. He paid us a visit on behalf of the Sea Queens people and thanked us fro setting her soul free of the Demons influence. He also awarded us a huge black pearl! Oh and he cured us all of that nasty Sea-curse too. All in all I'd say it was a pretty good day for myself and my stalwart band of heroes. Why I hear Lars has a ballad or two in the works, no doubt it will regal my leadership abilities, so are you hungry?

[Later conversation with other group members seemed to cause quite a variation on the exact events and how they played out.]