This page was last updated: December 12, 2003 , "I'm attacking the darkness. hahahaha"

10/14/00    After Dimak is rescued from the evil clutches of Lord Percival, the party regroups outside the Château. We decide to retire to our rooms and rest before we gather more information about the castle and what we can expect. We also figure this will help lower the castle’s guard somewhat. As we relax in our rooms Percival musters the city guard to begin searching for the “thieves” who attacked the castle. The party deftly avoids discovery. Dimak plays as a beggar, the others obfuscate themselves in their room and Lylia excuses the city guard that comes to their room. Early the following morning Dimak checks out of his room at the Green Horse and Bob the innkeeper is gracious (due to the tip). Mak’era has reconnoitered the castle and discovered an increase in soldiers (mostly city watch) and the presence of at least one other monk. During the following two days we go to work preparing for our next attack on the castle. Everyone goes to work gathering rumors and the materials necessary for Dimak to make several clay flasks of Greek Fire. During these couple days the watch at the castle falls off somewhat, rumors spread about the giant at the castle, we discover that Percival rules through fear, but gives freely to the church to gain their favor, and many local minor nobles want Percival out of the way. We formulate our plan. Lylia will go in a day ahead of us and gather any more information she can and attempt to gain access to the tower when Mak’era attacks the castle using the Greek Fire. We will arrive prior to this attack and Dimak will signal Mak’era once we have made our way into the castle as members of the Matras Lumar. We will see if it works… The night before our “attack” on the castle, Mak’era and Dimak seek out the “assassins” who are watching the White Dove Inn. We surprise one of the watchers and Mak’era successfully hypnotizes him and we learn they are waiting for Dimak. Mak’era gives him a post-hypnotic suggestion to spot Dimak the following day shortly after we arrive at the castle, and to rouse the troops and chase after the villain who has fled the city. Melina attempts her own attack on the castle to retrieve the book, but aborts the mission when she is discovered, however she learns the monks have a limit to their ability to sense intruders. That same day Lylia gets invited to the castle and is given a rather informative tour of the castle. After Lylia “takes care” of Percival she heads up to the tower, but can’t get past the guards. The next day is when our plan is executed. We sneak out of town regroup and then ride back in with Tandorin imitating a Matras Lumar. We head straight to the castle, but get stopped by a fool at the front gate. Then we proceed in. Dimak and Percival exchange “words”, Mak’era’s puppet shows up and calls a major portion of the guards to take up pursuit of the “villain”. We enter the castle and Dimak signals Mak’era to begin her assault. Lylia is sent away for her safety, but she manages to make her way to the tower and get the guards to leave and she gets to the book and takes it exiting out a rear secret door, and then out the secret tunnel to the Château. Percival realizes what is happening and takes off to the tower with Dimak on his heels. Meanwhile Melina makes her way to the monks’ chamber and gets a magic bowl. After learning that it increases her power she turned into her ectoplasmic form and leaves the castle taking the bowl with her. Dimak ends up killing Percival, but gets cursed by a anti-magic ward that is protecting the book room, and begins losing his magic abilities and feeling sick. The constitution Ioun Stone that he carried loses all it’s magic, but actually saves him… somewhat. As Dimak flees the castle he grabs 6 Mithril swords, keys and a letter to Rillman from Percival’s office. Mak’era gets the strong boxes from Percival’s treasury room and drops them from the tower window. Two guards try to take it but Mak’era deftly deals with them. Tandorin comes with his horse and begins loading up the treasure. The zombies that were below the castle make their way outside and Mak’era uses her remaining Greek Fire to burn them. We all meet back at the Château once more and then travel back to the White Dove with all our booty. Melina sends to Tolvas, and General Staff and Fred the Cleric teleport in. Staff saves Dimak with the information contained in the book, and then he and Fred leave. Dimak reads the letter to Rillman and learns of Hollister and something called the ‘Dunót’. We discover that the swords are +1 (+2 vs. undead), and do long sword damage, but are short sword size.

A certain Lord Darrok is getting set to take Percival's place. There is a mysterious mage within the city who we discover is carrying out his own investigation and is also a protector of the people. After Dimak follows another man who wields the powers of the mind back to a home, he finds out about the mages role and where he lives. Dimak does his best to impress the local citizenry of the Matras Lumar's powers by walking away from a group of citizens and turning invisible.

We then decide to investigate the escape tunnel from the castle. We had already inspected the castle and discovered that the castle entrance is in good repair still, and there are still many people about. Mostly previous workers who are trying to get what they can and get out of town. We decide that the best course of action would be to enter the tunnel via the entrance next to the Château. Thankfully we meet up with Syn again and she leads us down into the Dwarven constructed tunnel.  Melina uses her various powers to help keep us from getting caught off guard, but experiences a fumble. After she recovers, we continue on. Dimak passes the key he retrieved from Percival's office to Syn. Apparently the key was something more than just a simple key because it allowed us to discover a secret passage.

Upon traveling down the passageway we came upon 4 men who were trying to steal some rather wonderful horses that once belonged to Percival. Naturally, we had to stop them and of course we did. One of the men turned out to be Alonzo brother to the late Adolfo. Dimak hypnotizes him and has him turn himself in as one of the conspirators in the death of Percival and destruction of the castle. The other conspirators having been killed he was the only one left :-). As far as the horses are concerned, Dimak makes friends with one of them and then the others follow suit. We discover that they are willing to be our steeds and that they are indeed the best steeds we would ever need. We sell our other horses to a merchant in the city, and then set off for our next exciting adventure...