"Those still look good," said an excited voice to my side. Elena, who had scaled up the stone block, was now pointing at the slippers on the she-vampire's feet.

"Probably what allowed her to run along the rim of the bowl without losing her balance," I responded.

"Well, I want them Jocko." And no sooner had she said this, than Elena had the slippers in her hands, and started to slip them into her pack.

"Aren't you going to try them on?" I asked. I wanted to find out if they worked. But she started to hesitate, talking about maybe trying them on later. I just couldn't wait to find out, so I offered to try them on.

"But they won't fit you, Jocko," she said.

"If they're magic, they'll fit anyone," I responded. Rather than answer me, Elena slipped the slippers on her own feet, and started to walk down the stone block. That's okay, they were too dainty for my feet anyway. I watched as she walked across the bowl shaped room without losing her balance, and then continued walking up the walls, and across the ceiling.

Trying to sound like I knew what I was talking about I called out to her, "You've got Slippers of Spider Climbing there."

While we entertained ourselves with the slippers, Galen was busy with the sword that had left him frozen, and nearly left the party without its Priest of War. Galen chanted and mumbled, casting a Detect Evil spell on the sword, and boy, was it evil! To make things even creepier, when he picked up the magical sword and held it close, trying to gain a glimmer of its purpose, he could hear the sword whispering to him.

"You're going to die. You're going to die," it said.

At least, that's what he told me. I couldn't hear a damn thing. But it seemed like a pretty cool sword to me, what with the ability to paralyze dwarves and all. Galen started going off about getting the thing destroyed, but I raised the possibility of selling it. Then he went off into a, "Not if it may someday be used against us" routine. Well, whatever. We can sort this out later.

Speaking of sorting out, merely looking around the bowl-shaped room was fascinating. Even if the room had been of mundane architecture, it still would have been noteworthy for the sheer volume of loot inside it. Elena wasn't the only one whose eyes sparkled as we surveyed the room. In front of each of the six doors was a finely wrought screen; near the stone slab a crystal bowl full of small gems, an incense burner just smoking away, an intriguing lantern hanging from the ceiling, carpets, porcelain vessels, ivory inlaid stands, you name it, it was probably there. And I did recall seeing in the casket a copper cage filled with jewelry. But I had been careful not to touch it.

No one had to give Elena any suggestions. She just marched up that wall, across the ceiling, and unhooking the lantern from its heavy gold chain, brought it back down to the rest of us.

"Good thing it wasn't trapped," she smiled.

We all gathered around as she turned it over and about. It was set with six crystalline lenses, and in a side compartment we found four additional lenses which were clearly meant to be slid into place in front of the fixed lenses.

"Boson should take a look at this," said Galen, after examining the lantern closely. "It's definitely magical."

The wizard replied, "I will. That's a good idea. But there are other items to examine."

That's right. I remembered the stuff in the coffin. So I levitated back up to the sarcophagus, and gripping the body by the ankles, yanked it out. With a satisfying "thump" it hit the cold floor.

"That's right guys," I said, "there's this copper cage in here. But I am not so sure I want to be the first one to touch it."

Galen recommended letting the owl do the dirty work. It took only a tiny bit of arm twisting, but Boson finally consented to using his Serpentine Owl as a guinea pig. As the rest of us waited on the stone ledge near the entrance, Elena walked back and forth along the ceiling. Pretty peppy considering she nearly died just a few minutes ago. Then Boson gave Hoots, the Owl the mental command to go and pick up the tiny cage, and bring it back to us on the ledge. We watched as Hoots flew to the center of the room, and swept down towards the cage. But as soon as he touched it, he squawked loudly, and flew back to Boson. And as we watched in horror, an unearthly, blackish, spherical creature with lots of tentacles came rising out of the cage, and floated towards us.

Galen and I took a fraction of a second to discuss strategy. As I saw it, we could either stay and fight the thing, in our present weakened state or we could beat a hasty retreat out the way we had come, closing the door tightly behind us. As he saw it we could either make a cowardly run, leaving everything behind, or we could deal with this creature for once and for all right now. So I deferred to his wisdom, and stood my ground. Holding my stiletto in my left hand and my Flametongue sabre in my right, I spoke the magic sabre's name, "Irene" and the sword turned into a blaze of fiery metal. I was as ready as I could be. Galen started casting a spell.

As the creature moved within my range I lashed out and struck it with Irene, and as I felt an icy coldness creep back towards me, I got the impression that the Flametongue just barely avoided breaking. A lunge with the stiletto convinced me of this, as I watched my carefully placed jab shatter the stiletto into a dozen pieces. The creature struck me with one tentacle, as the other ones flayed past me. Damn, did it hurt! I felt the same chilliness, only worse this time. At this point, Galen finished his casting, and bestowed a Protection from Evil spell on me.

As I stood my ground, the creature began to drift back away from me. Boson raised his Staff of Power and started to use it, but before he could complete the magic phrase, the creature zapped him with a bolt of energy, jarring him, and causing his robes to begin withering away, as if they were aging rapidly. Not to be deterred, Boson let the creature have it with the staff's Cone of Cold spell. It was a great shot. He didn't even hit any of his own party members with it. Nonetheless, the creature seemed unaffected.

Then the creature floated in again, and blowing past me, attacked Galen. With a hit from the creature's tentacle, Galen's armor started corroding rapidly. Caldor, who up until this point had been pretty silent, made a few gestures of his own, and casted Faerie Fire on the creature, highlighting it in a glow that made it easier for me to see. I took advantage of this extra visibility then, and took a big whack at the creature with Irene. A really big whack. I whacked it so hard that the damn thing exploded in a collision of matter and anti-matter that took its toll on all of us, and dropped Boson and Galen to the floor, unconscious.

I searched Galen's pack for the healing potion that he had stashed, and after pouring it down his throat, he started to stir.

"Care to reconsider that idea about staying and fighting?" I joked. With defeat of the creature, as always, comes knowledge. We had just defeated a Xeg-Yi, an extraplanar creature with a very negative outlook on life. As Galen shook off the few pieces that remained of his once-sturdy armor, it was recommended that we pause, spend the night here, and rest up a bit. No one raised any objection to this suggestion. After helping to stabilize the wizard and bind his injuries, I retired to lick my own wounds, and write in my journal.

29 January, 714 A.I.
So, the night passed without incident. Big deal. I suppose I should have been grateful for small miracles, but at this point gratitude wasn't too high on my queue of "Emotions to Experience Today." From where I stood watch, I noticed Galen stirring. For a change, the dwarf was the first one to rise. But I guess with Boson blasted into a coma, he didn't have much competition. As usual, Elena was still snoring away as Galen commenced his morning prayer ritual to War. But eventually Boson awoke, and with a moan and a grunt, was soon up on his feet.

"Must study. Need to learn my spells," the elven wizard said.

He managed to get out one of his books, and open it up, but soon was massaging his temples, "Head hurts, and the words are all blurry."

I was about to get him to rest some more, when like out of nowhere came Caldor. Now, I know he really was somewhere, but I just write that to mean I didn't know where he was, and didn't know what he was doing, but here he now was. Get it? Without a word, this elven nature boy plunked down in the middle of our camp and started his own prayers to the Elements, or Nature or Metal or whatever the heck it was. I don't know.

Fortunately, before too long Galen was done praying and started going around the group doing some healing.

"Nice armor, Galen," I joked, as the dwarf brushed away a fragment of what was once his breastplate.

"Thanks," he replied. "I think I'll need to stay out of combat until I can get some new armor."

I tried to get Caldor to lend our dwarven friend his own plate mail, but Caldor was kind enough to remind me that in the first place, elf-sized plate won't fit a dwarf, and in the second place, it would be over his dead body that we'd get him to part with his precious metal. What a weirdo.

Elena was awake by the time Galen walked over to her to do some damage assessment and control. Sensing her great need, he reached into his pack and removed the Holy Icon of Ravenloft. Within minutes, the combination of the power of the item and Galen's own power of prayer got Elena up and about in tip-top shape, climbing the walls (literally) and filling her pack with the entire bowl of gems. I made a careful note in the Fire Wolves' Accounting Log.

Meanwhile, our wizard and erstwhile researcher had turned his attention to some of the goodies that we had found in the room. Boson cast a few Identify spells, which he had the foresight to study that morning, and spent a good portion of the day trying to figure out how that funny lantern worked.

Galen helped too, now to think of it: he studied the lantern for about five minutes before revealing, "It's magical."

The sheer awesome might of his skills of observation was astounding.

I took it upon myself to look at the coffin a little more carefully, but to be honest, I didn't see anything special about it. Elena then came spider-climbing her way up the side of the stone block, and clearing her throat, pointed out a hairline crack in the stone wall of the sarcophagus that had somehow slipped by my powers of observation. I immediately tried to dig my fingers into the crack, but succeeded only in jamming my left pinkie.

"Isn't there something you could stick in there?" asked Galen.

Yeah, sure, why not use Irene? The icing on the Tsojcanth cake would be to see my Flametongue sabre snap into three easy pieces. But that gave me an idea. I levitated to the ground where I had dumped Drelzna's body, and picked up the sword that had almost finished off Galen.

"I don't think you'd complain too much if this shattered, eh Galen?" I chuckled. Levitating back up to the coffin, I used the evil sword to pry open a section of stone block that was quite loose, and revealed a compartment within the coffin that contained a few items sitting on a shelf.

The most striking items were a set of well-crafted leather and brass bound books, seven of them to be exact. They weren't labeled on the spine at all, so I yanked out the first one. Nothing on the cover either. Wow. Subtle. Only thing left to do was to open it up. Yup. Open it up. What bad thing could possibly happen from opening a book anyway? Not like it was going to be a Book of Poisonousness which causes me to immediately drop dead. Ha Ha! Eh, well, I was probably worrying for nothing. The book would just probably contain descriptions, articles and illustrations on everything from "aardvark" to "crop rotation." So I opened the book and started reading. It started going on about how to be an effective leader, and about generating an aura of competence and concern, and all kinds of stuff on improving your composure and quite a few tips on using the right kind of makeup to highlight your cheekbones, and conceal the sallow dungeon-adventuring complexion which some heroes got. Cool. A book like this could definitely improve one's charisma. Hadn't I once heard of something called a Tome of Leadership and Influence?

Calling down to Galen, I started tossing stuff down to him so that Boson might more properly identify some of it. In addition to the seven books, there was a set of metal bracers, a small scroll, and in the deepest recess of the coffin, what appeared to be the initial object of our quest here to this God-forsaken place, a stone wolf skull.

As I floated down, Galen, who had unrolled the scroll, was pointing at it, "Look at this, Jocko."

On the scroll appeared to be a section of map, indicating one of the caves here in Tsojcanth. Galen took our own genie-generated map and sure enough, we managed to locate a cavern in the southwest portion that pretty much matched up to the one on the scroll. But there was more on the tiny scroll: in the corner of it, was a drawing of a tiny insect, some kind of fly or something, and etched underneath were the words, "Friar, R. I. H."

"What's R.I.H. mean?" I asked.

"Let me get a look at that," said Elena, taking the scroll. "Look guys, there are more letters, even tinier, squeezed between the R, I, and H."

"Well, what do they say?" asked Boson.

Elena looked up, "They say 'Friar, Rot in Hell'."

So it appeared we had found a clue to the last resting place of the Black Friar, Franz of Shelneck. I had to fight the urge to head off immediately to the room in an attempt to recover the body. Damn that Valinore and his spell of ensured obedience. But intelligence and desire for combat readiness outweighed enchantment-induced urgency, and when I returned to clarity, I overheard Boson beginning to describe, in an excited voice, some of the things he had found out about the lantern.

"... just amazing the power this thing can harness," the wizard was saying. "It is known as Daoud's Wondrous Lanthorn, and it requires crushed gems as a fuel source. That's probably the reason for the bowl of gems." Elena adjusted her backpack self-consciously. Boson continued, "It can be used to cast a variety of Color Spray type spells, each of which is all but infallible at ranges of less that ten feet." He then opened the little compartment in the side of the Lanthorn and showed us the gemstone lenses, explaining, "This diamond lens will cast Color Spray up to a range of thirty feet. This ruby one will cast Hold Person or Hold Monster. The emerald will cast Haste. I am not sure what this topaz one does, or even if it does anything by itself, but here's the really exciting part." Involuntarily, I moved closer. "If I use all four of these lenses and spin the Lanthorn around, it will generate a Confusion spell outward in all directions from the center, where I am holding it." I noticed how careful he was to state that he was the one who would be operating the thing. Well, that was fine with me. He's the one with the magic and the things and gizmos and stuff and all that. I don't think the thing would last more that a week if I was the one carrying it. Looked pretty delicate what with those lenses and all, and, what, was Boson still talking? "... Prismatic Spray, but I calculate that there would be at least three other lenses needed to do so, and sadly, they are missing."

"Boson, these are magical, why don't you put them on," said Galen, as he tossed the elf the bracers that we had discovered.

To give the wizard credit, he didn't hesitate a bit but slid them right on.

"I feel somehow safer," Boson noted, "they must be Bracers of Defense. Great. Thanks guys. I can really use them. Especially since I don't wear any armor, and my robes are all in tatters from that Xeg-Yi creature's attack."

Galen looked down at his own armorless state and sighed.

Grinning, I had to point out, "At least both of your Fire Wolf worg cloaks seem to be as good as n..."

"What about the wolf skull and the books, Boson?" Galen asked, cutting me off.

Boson's eyes widened, "Give me some time with this stuff, okay fellas?"

Some time later, Boson had filled the rest of us in. The stone wolf skull was definitely the nameless artifact that we had been seeking for longer than six months. It could be used against werewolves and wolf-type creatures, but Boson was unsure how to invoke its power. In addition, he got the sense that it could be used to return from whence it came. You heard me correctly. I actually used the word "whence." It just seemed to fit, okay? The rest of the little books appeared to contain some helpful magic as well. With the exception of one of the books, which was a sealed and closed spell book which Boson really didn't want anything to do with, the other six volumes contained similar instructions for exercises, techniques, and strategies for improving one's intelligence (Tome of Clear Thought), wisdom (Tome of Understanding), dexterity (Manual of Quickness of Action), constitution (Manual of Bodily Health), charisma (as I mentioned earlier), and Lord be praised, strength (Manual of Gainful Exercise). I knew which one of the books I wanted.

The day was pretty much shot by this point, and we decided we could do with just a little more rest and healing. So we spent another night in the bowl shaped room. And as usual, I used my period on night watch to work on this journal entry.

30 January, 714 A.I.
"...Dog!! Mighty fine job yer doin' of swabbing the deck! Eh, Dog? Look at me, boy!" The voice echoed in my ears. "Dog!" There is slapping and punching. "Dog!" I see a bucket lifted up by a tattooed arm, and heaved towards me. "Try cleaning that up, Dog!"

I finally seem to regain my voice, and shout back, "My name isn't Dog! Stop calling me that." My voice is shriller, and more tremulous than I've heard it in a long time.

"So, you don't think your name is Dog, eh?" The voice was becoming softer, even as it got closer, nearly blotted out by the roar of the sea at my back and the salty mist spraying up from beyond the deck. Images. Getting closer. Swinging, slapping, no where to escape.

Overpowered and scared to death. I raise the mop in my hands and closing my eyes, swing with all of my might, shouting, "Job!! My name is Job!" There's a sound like a stone hitting a cantaloupe, and then a loud thud. Oh my God! Oh Jesus. Oh...Oh...Oh!! Then I am being shaken and I hear my name being called. But it is neither "Dog" nor "Job," and I am brought back to the present with the sound of the name I assumed long ago...

"Jocko? Jocko, wake up, you're having a nightmare or something." I opened my eyes to see that my shoulder was in Galen's grip.

I looked at him, yawning, "What time is it?"

"It's only about seven. You managed to wake nearly everyone who wasn't on watch. Except of course for Elena."

I looked across the bowl-shaped room to see her dozing.

"But it's all for the best anyway," continued the dwarf, "I need to pray, and of course the elves were already up." He moved off into an isolated spot and began his daily ritual.

After some time had passed, Galen was able to go around bestowing some magical healing on our group. Considering all we had been through, we weren't in that bad shape. Before moving onward, there was still one curious magic item for Boson to investigate, the copper cage with all of the jewelry in it. Boson was studying it intently.

"I've used several Identify spells, and have been able to find out a couple of things." The elven mage pointed to the tiny door of the cage. "This device is known as the Prison of Zagyg. I've heard it rumored that there are only five of them in existence. Seems we're lucky." He laughed a little, as I just kept staring at it.

"What does it do, Boson?"

"I was just getting to that. You see, I don't think it is made of pure copper. It seems to be an alloy of sorts, copper and some heavier, stronger metal."

Caldor reached out to feel the cage, his fingers lingered briefly before he ran them across its surface, "Is this alloy the key to the function of the cage? I mean, is the metal what gives it the power to do what it does?"

Boson looked up at him, "That is uncertain. I think that the command words to activate and use the Prison are in that sealed spell book that we found in the sarcophagus. Perhaps more information such as metallurgic data is to be found there as..."

A voice interrupted. "But what does it do?" It was Elena, who I hadn't even heard wake up.

"I was just getting to that, Elena. Using the command words, one can use the Prison to shrink a person or creature to about three inches in height, and imprison them in the cage. But this is only if one knows the Truename or a detailed history of the creature to be imprisoned."

"That sounds evil," I said.

"It sounds barbaric," echoed Galen.

Boson held the cage to his chest, "I don't know if I like it too much either, but in any case it's Wizard Locked or something so I can't open it to get the jewelry."

I saw Elena's face fall at this.

Boson continued, "And I don't think that it's the time or place to open that spell book. It's probably trapped or something."

A hasty survey of the room showed us that we had gone over almost everything, and I was starting to feel a strong compulsion to move on. "Galen, are you feeling Valinore's Geas spell kick in?"

"Yes, I think we've rested enough. Let's go and recover the body of that Black Friar, Franz. I of course, will have to stay out of combat."

I once again, noted his armorless state, and just nodded.

Our group formed a rough plan, and headed towards the room which the tiny map had indicated to be the final resting place of the Black Friar, Franz of Shelneck.

I turned to Boson, "I think you should send Hoots scouting around the room."

I noticed some initial hesitancy on his part, and I guess I can understand it. The owl was pretty cute, and it would be a shame to see it attacked by six Gorgimeras or something like that. But Hoots scouted the room, and gave us the basic layout. Unfortunately, as far as we could see, there was nothing in it. Boson called our attention to an area of the room that was obscured, however.

Caldor stepped up at this point, "I know something that can do some scouting." He started gesturing and gyrating, and before I knew it, there was a tiny little whirlwind hovering in front of him. "Dust Devil," Caldor explained.

Galen, lighting the Candle of Invocation, remarked that a boost in his priestly ability might be prudent at this time. So with the Dust Devil in the lead, Galen and Boson in the back, and the Candle lit, we moved into the room slowly.

Suddenly, three giant, fly-like creatures with human features swept into the room, hovering twelve feet of the ground, and began making this droning sound. The droning was so monotonous that I started to feel sleepy. But I quickly shook it off, there was work to do. But, just then, I heard the sound of metal clattering to the floor, and turned to see Caldor lying on the ground in a blissful slumber, his Dust Devil friend continuing to move into the room, on assumedly prior instruction. Galen began casting. Elena's magical sword, Hellsbane (on loan from John of Fulk), had started to glow a deep blue. Her warrior blood boiling, she charged at the nearest creature and, using her Slippers of Spider Climbing to run up the wall alongside it, carved a rather large piece from the grotesque fly-thing. Galen finished his incantation, and, with a crack and a smell of the Wrath of God, a Flamestrike squarely hit the furthest creature. However, when the smoke cleared, the creature appeared unharmed. Having moved into position, Boson unshuttered the Ruby lens of the Lanthorn, shedding blood-tinged light on two of the creatures. When the light subsided, one of them plummeted to the ground, motionless, and was immediately beset on by the Dust Devil. I took this opportunity to run up and attempt to carve a piece out of the motionless one. He was pretty easy to hit, but his mobile buddy then swept in and did more than just knock the wind out of me. I was hurt, I was bleeding. Oh wow! I started to get scared. Really scared. But I got a hold of myself, and turn to the fly-guy hovering over me, and whack that one with a hit that caused major damage and bleeding. Fly guts were starting to cover my Fire Wolf worg cloak.

The droning continued, and this time Galen succumbed to the Sandman, his little legs tucked in all snuggled up. Boson changed positions, and prepared to use the Lanthorn again. The two mobile creatures hit Elena and myself, respectively, but we persevered. Then something really odd happened. Just as he was about to unshutter the Lanthorn, Boson found himself being levitated, quite quickly towards the ceiling. Clutching the lamp tightly in an attempt to protect it, he was slammed against the stone ceiling and then dropped to the ground. He was hurt, but still conscious. With my first swing I finished off the creature that was still hovering over me. Elena appeared to be holding her own quite well, so I turned my attention to the immobile one, a sinister glint still appearing in its eyes. I slashed at it, and though it was pretty unresponsive, I knew that had to hurt.

Elena swung and missed, leaving her vulnerable for the counterattack which followed. Then Boson started to levitate again, and instead of the ceiling, he was thrown directly at me. I tried to avoid the falling elf, but the shot was too well directed, and I am knocked to the ground. As the Dust Devil continued to scrap with the immobile one, I managed to get up and launch an attack on it that cut out huge chunks of fly guts.

As Elena finished off the creature she had been fighting with, I yelled to Boson to try and grab the body of the dead creature for ballast. I saw him crawl over to the body and hold on for dear life. With a final slash, I finished off the creature that Boson had immobilized, leaving us with three corpses of...well what were they? Suddenly, as from nowhere, it came to me. We had just defeated Lesser Chasme, a type of demon.

As she wiped off her blade, Elena pointed to it, saying, "This Hellsbane works great. I'll have to thank John."

Once the two sleepers had awoken, we searched the walls and floors for the body of Franz. No body. But eventually we found a circular plate in the floor with some unrecognizable rune carved into it. After fifteen minutes of scratching our heads and prying with our fingers, one of us got the idea to try and use the Key of Azuruth to open the thing. As Galen waved the Key over the plate, the rune started to glow, and then the entire plate slowly slid away, revealing a ladder leading down a long shaft, out of sight, into darkness.

I suggested a plan. "Elena, why don't you and I go down there and check it out, while Caldor stays up here with the unarmored members of the group."

Caldor objected to this, "Why wait behind? I am uninjured and I've got my plate mail." As he said this he smoothed a bare hand over the metal.

"But if you also go, Caldor, then we are leaving behind an unarmored Priest of War and a seriously injured Wizard."

Caldor fixed me with a stare, and started to object again, but I decided it was best to relent. "Okay, fine. I will wait here with these two. Caldor and Elena should go and check out what's down there."

Caldor started down the ladder first, followed by Elena Spider Climbing her way down. Things were pretty uneventful for the first twenty feet or so. Then Caldor sort of fell. At the time it occurred, all I remember hearing was, "Whoah!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!" Followed quickly thereafter by a sound like metal armor being dashed to pieces on a stone floor, while the body that was once contained within the armor lapses into unconsciousness and starts to bleed heavily from internal injuries. But as Elena quickly recounted to the rest of the group, when Caldor had reached the twenty-first rung, the ladder suddenly retracted into the stone shaft. So Caldor sort of fell, for over 100 feet. With a flash of deja vu, Elena and I started climbing down to check things out, I using my Boots of Levitation and her the Spider Climb slippers.

After traveling down over sixty or seventy feet, I could see Caldor. He was lying, immobile, in a crumpled mass on the stone floor, surrounded by his own pooling blood and pieces of the suit of plate mail armor that he was no longer wearing. As I levitated down to his side to begin binding and bandaging his wounds, I saw an old man dressed in black robes, seated in a chair in the opposite end of the small chamber. A chamber which I noted was very, very cold. But the cold didn't really bother me at all, so I tried to put it out of my mind.

I started to engage the man in conversation, explaining that I merely wanted to bandage my friend and prevent him from dying, and as soon as that was done, we would be on our way. Silent, the old man just stared at me. I heard a "Pssst!" from above me, and looked up to see Elena, concealed in the shaft, pointing to Hellsbane, which was glowing a deep shade of blue. I knew we were in for a mess of trouble.

As Elena leapt down to my side, the old man started to charge me, and as he did, his form changed from an old man to that of a twelve foot tall, demonic looking creature with an insect-like head, bug eyes, huge mandibles, and a powerful tail. It also didn't escape our notice that he was toting a huge spear. Steeling myself, I resumed bandaging Caldor, who appeared to be on Death's door. First it jabbed me hard with its huge spear, then it bit me. I felt like I had been ripped in half. Don't think I could have taken another hit like that. It swung at me with its tail, but I jumped and dodged it. Elena managed to sneak around behind the creature, and hit it really hard. It made some kind of hideous noise.

Elena swung at it again, and missed, but I rallied and whacked at it twice, causing no small amount of damage. The creature, as if planning something sinister, started to withdraw and reposition itself, leaving itself wide open to an attack of opportunity by Elena. With consummate skill, Elena brought the blade down right on its bug-like skull, leaving the creature momentarily dazed.

The Roguish Warrior quickly took advantage of our foe's disability. With a roar, she lunged at the creature, and sliced it right through the middle. Then we both watched in astonishment as the creature began melting away into nothingness. I heard an echo saying, Gelugon, or Ice Devil.

"Wow, that was great Elena." She nodded her acceptance of the praise, and after making sure that Caldor was stable, we searched the cold chamber.

We easily located another rune-covered plate, very similar to the one up above. After calling to Galen to toss the Key down to us, we opened it up to reveal the body of a man that had been frozen solid. Closer examination revealed that he looked exactly like the Gelugon had appeared in its human guise.

"Could it be a coincidence?" I asked.

Elena looked at me, trying to figure out if I was joking, and said, "What?"

Lifting up a large tied-off sack, that was stashed with the body, I clarified my thoughts, "I guess we have found Franz of Shelneck."

"Yes, now what's in that bag?" Elena wondered.

True to my promise, and the enchantment I was under, I didn't let Elena open the bag. After working out the logistics involved in hauling up one dead, frozen Black Friar, one unconscious elven Priest of Elemental Power (sans shattered armor) and one unidentified "Bag of Stuff," we all headed back to the bowl-shaped room to rest and recover. I took some comfort in the knowledge that I was almost done completing the task that Valinore had charged us with. All that remained was getting all of this stuff through the blizzards, rock slides, and worg attacks that awaited us on our return back to Barovia, and ultimately Valinore's tower.

But for right now, all was at peace with the five Fire Wolves, and I took some time out to work on my journal.