Lucius' Journal

Page 137:...and just as soon as I was about to leap in to pull her out, a peculiar dwarf riding on top of a spider suddenly appeared, and took Aeriana away, leaving the dangling rope behind. I noticed a note floating in the now ankle deep water, and grabbed it, but a pair of giant octopi dropped down just after I did that. After almost getting squeezed to death by their large tentacles, I finally had a chance to read the note, which was esentially a kidnapping note, and they demanded that we leave the Banewarrens for good!

We resolved to find out where they had taken Aeriana and mount a rescue, since any negotiation with these kidnappers could not possibly end well. We went to Jevvica at the tavern for advice, and there, to our suprise, we met the performer there, and he claimed that somehow, he was Aeriana! Well, we certainly didn't believe him at first, but he seemed to know things that only Aeriana and we would know, and he was also willing to help, so we agreed to let him. She remembered a few things before awaking in up in her new body, and from those details, we were able to determine that she was being held at the old, closed down churth of Lothian. I was a bit surprised to hear that, but we had to act, and act fast.

We quickly went to the church and sent our intrepid gnome ahead to scout. He stayed in contact with us using a pretty handy message spell, and informed us about a dwarven sentry standing watch. We resolved to move in under a spell of silence (cast on a coin that I held), and rescue Aeriana's body before we alerted them and let them take her away again. First, we disabled the sentry by casting a slumber spell on her, and it worked! We quickly made our way to the 2nd floor in silence, and decided not to kill the dwarf, since it would certainly be dishonorable to strike down a sleeping foe. However, Aeriana wisely decided to take the dwarf's greatsword, in case she woke up.

We made our way up to the 2nd floor, and things were going well until we faced off against a reptilian beast (later determined to be a basilisk). The barbarian charged forward without thinking, exiting the zone of silence, and I suppose creating a loud ruckus (because I certainly couldn't hear a thing). It wasn't long before several more enemies showed up. Despite their fearsome look (several wielded two wicked looking shortswords), they weren't much of a challenge. We continued upwards, to the top floor, and encountered Brother Hef! I wasn't sure if he was possessed or not, but before I could shout out a word, he attacked us. He had a crazed, evil look in his eyes, and I smote him in the name of Lothian, but not before being wounded badly by his fell blade. I might have to rest a few days before being ready to continue adventuring again.

The shock of seeing his old man turn evil must have driven Bemmut insane, because after the battle, I was just about ready to whack him over the back of the head with the flat of my blade when Aeriana subdued him with another sleep spell.