Once again, a few pages at most can I jot, while Merlaine tends my wounds,
and we prepare once again to journey into that foul and wretched pit of a
temple.  But we have in the main achieved a great victory yet again!  Only
one thing remains yet to be done, and it is that doing upon which I now
depart.  But I ramble, forgive me but my mind is numb with fatigue and
battle.

             I suppose that when one leaves a unit of heavy cavalry in ones
backfield, one can expect it to attack from the rear.  And it would seem,
that that is just what this particularly annoying cavalry, whose name is
Enkil, has done.
        The night had passed with no incident, only the rumbling of a
thunderstorm overhead, which made us glad of the shelter afforded by the
ruins of the roof of this temple.  Vasquez of course, mumbled and cursed
the skies for dropping so much water.  It was just after third watch, and
we were about the business of shaking off the last wisps of sleep that a
slender young maiden appeared, simply appeared out of the air, right in the
temple door.  She wore not a stitch of clothing ,and did not seem to mind
the rain she was standing in the midst of.  Nor did she appear to be
getting wet.
             We greeted her politely, all the while making sure our weapons were
close at hand. She said her name was Rumashalka, or something like that.
She announced that she was of the valley, and had come to tell us that our
friend Melody had been taken ill with what was believed to be the wasting
sickness as she had gone outside to relieve herself.  Rumashalka said that
she, and her sisters in the valley would care for Melody until she was
well.  We thanked Rumashalka for the news, and the care of Melody.  We were
about to ask her more questions about the valley when a sudden look of
concern came into her features and she said " I must go, there will be
lightning soon."  And with that she was gone, vanished the same way she had
come.
            In our travels we have met Dryads before, and from all appearances,
Rumashalka would seem to be one of those tree dwelling spirits, which would
explain much.  It is no wonder the slavers said that evil spirits dwelt in
the forest, for Dryads generally are of a benign or helpful nature, and
would surely make life difficult for anyone who aroused their anger, by
cutting down trees for firewood, or large whipping posts.  So, the Dryads
don't like the slavers, and seem to at least not mind Melody, good.
        
            As is usual with powerful attacks from the rear, it came at a bad
time.  All of us but To- Gurrick and Rupert had set to our morning rituals
of purification.  Not being a mage, To-Gurrick has no use for morning
rituals, and so grumbles and gripes endlessly about having to clean up the
camp and pack the party supplies while we sit and "fiddle with our water
and trinkets," as he puts it.   Rupert is more quiet about his dislike of
the few small morning chores he is asked to do.
              As it was, several of us, as well as To-Gurrick noticed amidst the
crashing of the thunder, a loud rumbling crash that did not sound at all
like thunder.  Abandoning our rituals, those of us that had been alerted
roused from trance those who had not noticed the difference in the rumble.
Once we were all up and armed, we charged through the courtyard to
investigate.  The sound had come from the end of the long corridor, where
the altar was located.  Since it was still dark due to the clouds, we had
to advance some way down the hall of shattered statues before we could see
what had caused the noise.
            When we could see the rear of the corridor, what we saw was a thick
billowing column of greasy smoke, with pieces of the shattered altar
scattered about the already rubble-strewn floor.  As our eyes took in this
sight, it changed.  Out of the billowing blackness came five huge ogres,
armed with massive flails and armored in thick chain.  With but an instant
to look around, they charged down at us.
            Since the ogres were already nearly upon us, we took a defensive
stance and hefted our weapons.  Brianna and Vasquez fired arrow and bolt
into the advancing juggernauts, both shots bouncing off their overly tough
armor.  I waited with axe at the ready and To-Gurrick merely snarled at the
advancing foe and flexed his massive cestus-sheathed hands.
            It was Merlaine however, who made the next decisive move, she
completed a casting and ensnared all but the most rear-ward ogre in a
webbing spell.  Enraged at their entrapment, the ogres bellowed and
thrashed at the web.  Since they were armed with flails, they could not cut
their way out, but had instead to rely on their massive strength to tear
their way free of the entangling mass.   While they were thrashing about,
we fired more arrows into their midst.  Only rarely did our shafts score a
hit solid enough to get through their armor, most bounced harmlessly off.
            Inside of thirty seconds, one of the ogres tore free of the webbing
and the mass vanished like the morning mist, only to be replaced by a fresh
webbing spell that Merlaine had been preparing!  This enraged the ogres
still further.  To-Gurrick was at my side, fuming at being kept from the
fight for he had no bow nor any distance weapon.  The fight continued like
that for perhaps a minute, the ogres tearing at an entangling sticky
shroud, winning their freedom only to have it replaced instantly, all the
while we kept up a hail of arrows and bolts.
            Eventually the moment came when the ogres tore their way free, and
Merlaine failed to cast her spell.  We immediately dropped our bows and
hefted our blades once again.  All but Bob, who lowered his spear and
charged the mob of enraged ogres.  Even To-Gurrick was confused at this
obviously suicidal action.  To be sure, Bob got in a good solid hit, the
tip of his spear went deep into the side of an ogre.  Then that ogre, along
with two others, stopped their headlong charge and swung their massive
weapons at Bob.  Much of Bob's blood was shortly thereafter smeared on the
corridor wall, and he was barely able to stand and defend himself.  Perhaps
he had forgotten how hard ogres hit.  However, once he was painfully
reminded of this, he switched to mainly defensive maneuvers with his spear;
for while enormously powerful, ogres are not particularly skillful with
whatever weapon they wield.  So Bob parried and evaded as if his life
depended on it, which it did.
            Merlaine retried, and this time cast her spell of webbing again.
Since this spell is designed to entangle groups, the control about who gets
caught and who doesn't is not very fine.  Merlaine managed to catch Bob and
his attackers in the web, along with one other of the ogres.  The remaining
ogre, having no web nor warriors between him and Merlaine, charged at a
frightening speed straight for Merlaine, whom he rightly perceived to be
the one responsible for the webs.
            To-Gurrick had his chance at last, and took it.  With a running dive
he threw himself at the onrushing ogre's knees, and with a terrific
crashing of metal armor the two went down and a heap.  The pounding the two
gave each other was terrific, but it was obvious from the start that
To-Gurrick was outmatched.  No matter how hard he hit, he could do little
damage against armor that could stop even a two handed sword as often as
not.  Rupert put down his bow and waded into the fray with his broadsword,
striking at the ogre.  Such is his skill with that weapon that not once did
he miss his mark and strike To-Gurrick.
            As if some silent signal had been sent to us, we all knew the time of
magic was over.  Even Merlaine drew forth her scimitar, and not a moment
too soon.  For at that very instant the ogres ripped their way free of her
webs for the last time and turned once again toward Bob.  But we were
there, I with my great-axe, Merlaine with scimitar, Shali with her daggers
and Vasquez with her hand and a half.  Beset by all of us from their rear
and their sides, the now wounded and enraged ogres had to turn their
attention from Bob.
            The fight was still a close one, for rarely did they hit one of us, so
poor were their skills with the flail, but when they did hit, that was
nearly the end of us.  For our part, we struck them again and again, but
rarely did we actually penetrate that damnable armor of theirs.  In the
end, we prevailed, but most of us were badly wounded.  To-Gurrick was
unconscious, and Bob nearly so.  Merlaine was exhausted with spell casting
and some wounds, as was Brianna, for just before and even into the fight,
she had been casting spells of Witchsight, to allow us to see any invisible
foes creeping up on us, as well as a fear spell now and again between
launching shafts from that impressive bow of hers.

            After the last of the ogres was slain, we sat down to begin the
business of patching our selves up.  This would most likely take a while.
Shali went over to where the altar had been to guard the now open entrance.
When she got there, she found half a dozen dead bodies.  They appeared to
be the bodies of slaves.  All of them bore the scars of many months of
abuse and were thin with starvation.  As Shali examined them to see what,
if any clues she could pick up from them, she discovered that one of them
was not dead!  This person was unconscious and had obviously been beaten
and abused for a very long time, but he was not dead.  With my help Shali
hauled him over to where Merlaine had set up her herbs and was ministering
to our wounds as best she could with her reserves of strength.
            While we were seeing to this man, Shali detected the aura of
Necromancy about him, and not just a spell.  So, this half dead slave was a
necromancer!  It was only  a few minutes after this discovery that the man
regained consciousness.
            It were I think, almost better if he never did.  This poor wretch
cowers from everything.  He seemed deathly afraid of us, and I must admit
we most likely look pretty gruesome about now, what with the dried blood
all in our cloths and our generally unkept and grim appearance that comes
from repeated battles.  This poor man was afraid to answer questions, and
yet he was terrified that if he did not answer questions, we would hurt
him.  Soon after he revived, he was keening a high wailing note over and
over and huddled in a corner, afraid to move.
            During this time, Melody appeared, looking a bit pale.  Merlaine
looked her over casually and agreed the she appeared to have had the
wasting sickness, but seemed to be recovering.  She then went back to
preparing her teas and the mending of wounds.
            Shali fed this poor starvling necromancer, and he wolfed the trail
rations like they were the gods own ambrosia.  Being beast masters, Shali
and I recognize what has been done to this fellow.  He has been tortured
and starved and abused until he has no will to resist, no sense of self or
purpose, he only exists and desires to avoid punishment, his spirit and
will have been broken.  It is a practice some less than righteous trainers
of animals use when they want to work with particularly dangerous species.
            While Merlaine and Bob continued to heal the party, Shali plied this
man with questions on who he was and how he came to be here.  Very little
could we get out of him.  Any questions concerning Enkil or the slave
operation here sent him into another spasm of fear and wailing.  We did
learn that his name was Moughrim, and that he had been here for a long
time, longer than any of the other slaves.  Realizing that we had a potent
source of information here, but that we were desperately short of time, we
decided to take a somewhat desperate measure.  We explained to Moughrim
that we were going to cast a spell on him, that the spell would not hurt
him any any way.  This sent him into hysteria.  He screamed and fought and
tried to run away.  But Shali and Brianna and Vasquez held him down, and
despite his protestations I drew the rune of Truth upon his forehead, and
then charged the rune with power, thus activating it.
            This time when we questioned,  the rune would force him to tell us the
truth of what he knew.  With gentle questioning, we learned that he was
Enkil's servant, and had been for some time.  We also learned that Enkil
had forced him to cast the spell that created the wall of black smoke, and
the spell which shattered the altar so that Enkil could send his ogres up
here to attack us.  Moughrim did not remember much of the battle after
that.  The next thing he remembered was waking up and seeing that he had
been captured by us.  He feels sure Enkil will kill him, and us now.
            When asked weather or not he knew what the House of Vermilion Shadows
is, he did not.  He did however, know what the brides of ice were.  They
are the two score or so of missing slaves, all young unwed women.  Moughrim
also knows where they are kept.  Moughrim told us that Enkil can force him
to do things, and that he can also see through Mougrim's eyes, in effect
possessing his body.  We of course asked Moughrim if Enkil was in his body
now, and thankfully he said no.  Bob cast his spell of Enchantment over
Moughrim, which would increase his chances of resisting any magical assault
by Enkil.
            After about an hour or so, we were as healed as magic and herbs could
make us.  Moughrim also did we heal, but much of his damage will take time
and good food and rest to heal, so he will be weak and slow for some time
yet.  We decided that it had cost Enkil a good bit of his resources to
mount this attack on us, and that he was probably recouping.  So, we
decided it was a good time to make a strike of our own.
            Moughrim would not go with us, he was terrified of the thought of
going back down into the bowels of the temple, which had been his torturous
home for many months. He did however tell us that the brides of ice are
behind a secret door that is in the wall of the corridor just outside the
ornate door.  And so, we quickly assembled ourselves and ventured back into
the depth of this awful place.  We ported to the small room which so
recently had held hundreds of slaves, and from there we quickly and quietly
entered the corridor.
            Search as we might however, we could not find the door.  Brianna
searched every inch of the walls on both sides.  This took her some time,
as she was leaving no spot unchecked.  Shali also joined her, detecting
various spots along the corridor for any odd auras or suchlike.  The rest
of us stood around nervously, weapons at the ready.  Nor were we wrong in
our alertness, for when the attack came, it was as usual, well timed and
nasty.
            The first thing we heard was the popping of displaced air that
announced someone using a runestick, since we were all of us already here,
it could only mean trouble.  At that same moment, Shali screamed and fell
to the ground unconscious.  More poppings of the runestick were heard, and
To-Gurrick was already on his way back to the room to deal with who or
whatever was attacking us from the rear.
            As if things could not get worse, the ornate door at the end of the
corridor swung open to reveal a pair of giants in partial plate, and
standing behind them, Enkil himself!  Shali was laying in the corridor,
closer to the giants than to us.  Brianna began to incant a spell of fear,
but never got the chance to cast it, for no sooner had she started her
preparation, her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell to the ground
unconscious.  Realizing attack was no longer an option, since I was the
only one in the corridor, I shouted at the party to withdraw.   Bob darted
out of the room where he had been waiting with spear in hand.  He grabbed
Brianna and started dragging her back from the corridor.  I dropped my axe
and dug in my runestick pouch.  It did not take long to find the stick I
sought, for I have less than a half dozen left total.  I flung the stick
down the corridor as far as I could, and then began incanting the spell.
Behind me I heard Vasquez fall to the ground unconscious.
            The first giant squeezed his armored bulk through the door, then
waited for his companion to follow.  Halfway through my casting, I was
struck by a terrific headache, but fortune smiled on me and I was not
rendered unconscious, nor did the assault distract me from my incant.  I
finished my incantation, and where the runestick had been now there was a
shimmering wall of force, impenetrable to all physical attacks.  I ran
forward as fast as I could, which I'll admit is not very fast, and grabbed
Shali.  In the distance I heard Moughrim's high pitched wail, saying that
he was sorry, it was not his fault, Enkil had made him do it.  He then
started screaming at something to stop, not to attack us and carry anyone
who could not walk back to the shattered altar.   It was at that point that
another headache struck me, and I did indeed loose all thought and
consciousness.

            When I came too, I was in the courtyard of the temple, the gentle rain
still falling. I got the details from Bob and To-Gurrick.  It seems as if
while we were away, Enkil had possessed Moughrim, despite his new
resistances.  Once he had possessed Moughrim, he knew all that had
transpired, and knew we were on our way to assault him and take the brides.
So, he caused Moughrim to animate the dead ogres, and order them to attack
us.  Enkil then left Moughrim, and gathered his giants, and assaulted us
with them and his headache spells, while the ogre zombies attacked us from
the rear.
            It would have worked too, if it had not been for Moughrim.  Who, once
he was in control of himself again, realized what he had done.  The terror
of of being alone in this temple with Enkil, who he is convinced will
torture him to death for his aiding of us, was greater than his terror of
going back into the temple.  So, Moughrim had hobbled over to the runestick
( he can only hobble, as one of his legs was broken long ago, and never set
correctly) and ported into the room of cages.  He stayed long enough to
blurt out that he was sorry, Enkil had made him do it; then he ordered his
zombies to stop attacking us and carry those of us that could not walk back
to the altar.
            I looked at the zombies, their bodies still almost warm so recently
had they been killed, blood still seeps from the arrow wounds and axe and
sword cuts we had inflicted.  The realization that I had been cradled in
the arms of one of those grotesque animate corpses made me shudder and
nearly loose what little I still had in my stomach.  But they are still
now, standing against the wall where Moughrim ordered them to.  Moughrim
himself is curled up in a ball in the corner, keening piteously, convinced
that we mean to kill him for setting the ogres on us.  What a miserable
existence.  I hope that if we survive this, we can do something for him.

      Since none of really took any damage, just lost consciousness for a
time, we decided to attack yet again.  We figured Enkil would be busy
circumventing the runewall that I threw up in the corridor.  Those walls
are almost impossible to breach, unless one has the counterspell.
            We knew that time was precious beyond gold or jewels right now, and we
had none to waste in searching for secret doors.  Therefore, Shali agreed
to have me paint the Rune of Truth on her forehead.  Now this is no small
risk mind you.  For the Rune of Truth blots out all falsehood.  While it is
active, the person who wears it can see through all illusions and
disguises, both those within and those without.  While a person wears an
active rune they cannot tell a falsehood, and may not usually even keep
quiet when asked a question.  In addition, they see through all falsehood
in themselves, and others.  Now who amongst you, dear readers, would care
to know all about yourself all at once?  It is not unheard of for a person
who has the Rune of Truth activated on them, to prefer illusion to the
truth so strongly, that they loose their grip on sanity, to exist forever
more in a world solely of their devising, so that their illusion does
indeed become their truth.  With Moughrim we figured the risk worth it, as
he was already pretty far gone into his own world.  But the gods were kind
to us, and Shali survived the activation of the rune with her sanity
intact.
            Then it was once again into the caverns.  We figured backup might be
handy, and so asked Moughrim if he could tell the undead ogres to obey our
commands for a time, as Shali's collage allows her the talent of
communicating, if it can indeed be called that, with those of the lower
order of undead.  Moughrim nodded, and then simply told the zombie ogres to
obey Shali's command until they heard a command from him.
            Thus fortified, our party set off again.  It is interesting to note
that every time the ogre zombies get anywhere near Brianna, the Necklace of
Saints that the priest of Ishtar gave her glows, and the ogre zombies will
not approach closer.  The undead ogres also seem to avoid the vicinity of
Melody.
            Once again we entered the corridor just outside the ornate doors, this
time however the sight of the doors was blocked by the shimmering of my
Runewall, which we were all happy to see still in place.  Shali instantly
spotted the door, and told us that it was covered by an illusion, so that
it would look, feel and sound like a section of wall to any who could not
perceive its illusionary nature.  Shali also said that she could tell it
was trapped, heavily.
            So, after a bit of time, Shali determined the aura of the illusion was
of Rune magic, and I cast a counterspell to my own collage over the
offending area.  Then, we could all perceive the solid iron door embedded
several feet into the granite wall of the corridor.  I removed the
runestick that had been powering the illusion.  I hope that Enkil had but
hired a runemage to create this, and did not now still have a high ranking
runemage with him.  I fought against a member of my own collage once, and
would be loathe to do so again.
            Shali could determine that the door was lethal in nature, but could
not determine the exact nature of the traps.  Brianna went up to the door
to examine it, and this she did without touching it.  Brianna determined
that there were traps of both a physical and magical nature upon the
doorway.
             After a bit of discussion, we decided to put the zombies to use.  We
ordered one of the creatures to pick up one of the many pieces of
debris..old helmets, boots and whatnot that were lying around, and hurl it
at the door.  The effect was immediate, a wickedly barbed, silver tipped
spike erupted from its secret resting place and embedded itself in the
zombie.  We could all see the remains of a oily greenish venom on the tip
of the spike that protruded from the zombies back.  I guess being dead
already does have its advantages, one being that you are immune to venoms.
For its second toss, the zombie picked up one of the bodies of the slain
slavers and hurled it at the door.  This time there was a loud bang, and a
stinging, stinking cloud of acid exploded forth from the door.  The zombie
was destroyed completely dissolved within a matter of seconds.  So strong
was this acid that it ate a huge gouge in the solid rock floor and the
entire corridor was filled with fumes of such an awful nature that we were
forced to withdraw for many minutes, until the burning sensations in our
eyes and lungs was lessened.  We ordered the second zombie to hurl stuff at
the door, but this had no effect.  So, after repeated tosses, and Brianna
again examining the door, we decided to have Merlaine attempt her spell of
opening.
            She stood as far away from the door as she could, and readied her
spell for several minutes before casting it.  The spell had some effect for
sure, for Merlaine instantly screamed and fell to the floor, a horrible
wound on her side.  And where there had been a door, now there was a
shimmering Runewall.  This wall had a yellowish tinge to it, and so I knew
that yew had been used in the stick that powered it, and so this wall would
badly injure anyone who touched it.  This wall, for us at least, was easy
to circumvent.  I once again cast the counterspell to my own collage, and
the wall vanished, leaving behind only the runestick, embedded no doubt
somewhere within the door itself.
            Merlaine's spell had worked!  Once the runewall vanished, we all could
see the room behind the now-open door.  It was a small room, perhaps
originally a wine cellar or somesuch.  But now, it stored something very
different.  Wooden shelves had been constructed on either side of the small
room, and stacked neatly on these shelves were young human females, all
very pretty and all appearing to be dead.
        Much to our relief, upon closer examination, they were all but very deeply
asleep, not dead.  An examination of their aura by Shali indicated that
magic from the collage of Air had been used on them.  Not knowing what to
do for them, and knowing that Enkil would do all within his power to keep
us from freeing these women, we transported as many of them to the surface
as we could.  We had the remaining zombies carry them to the runestick
portal, and then to the surface.
            It is a good thing that the zombies were the ones that had their hands
full when Enkil finally appeared.  We only had but a seconds warning as the
rock around my corridor-blocking runewall turned from dark gray to a
slightly lighter gray, and then began to fold and melt.  Not five seconds
after that the entire wall turned to mud and slid onto the floor, washing
over all of our feet and nearly carrying Vasquez, Melody and myself away.
            As if this was not enough, a giants head peered around the still
standing runewall, uttered something in a foreign language and then
promptly vanished behind the wall.
            We knew that Enkil was close, and that meant headaches and
unconsciousness.  So, the first thing Shali did, her being the military
scientist after all, ordered the zombies to attack the human on the other
side of the runewall.  Enkil was, hopefully, one of the few humans back
there, and with the zombies already being dead, unconsciousness would not
be a concern to them.
            While we gathered for our rush;  Enkil, had gathered his forces to
rush us, and did so.  Around the now exposed side of the runewall came the
giant we had so recently seen, armored in partial plate and wielding and
amazingly large sword.  Since the rock wall had only turned to mud in the
area of the runewall, it was a tight fit for the giant, and we attacked him
the second he emerged.  We could tell there was at least one other giant
behind.
            While Rupert and I engaged this giant, Melody retrieved several
grenados of Greek fire from her pack, and lobbed them over the runewall
where she thought the other giant might be crouched.  Nor was she wrong in
her guessing, for a terrible howl which soon turned to screaming, of a
volume that only a giant could produce erupted in unison with the grenado's
flames.  While this giant burned to death, Rupert and I took a beating from
the other one, but with the aid of a few of Brianna's arrows we slew the
juggernaut within a few minutes.
            Those few minutes however, were enough for Enkil, who had been just
behind the giants, to make good his escape.  After we slew the giant
obstructing our way, we charged forward as fast as we could, only to see
the back of Enkil's flowing robes as he slammed the far door shut.
Onerous as the choice was, we let Enkil go, and went back to the ice
brides.  For getting them out and safe was our first priority.
            We eventually got every one of the human maiden's out of that dismal
place, and having no better thought as to what to do with them we laid them
out in the yard of the temple, hoping against hope that fresh air and what
scant sunlight shown through the overcast would revive them.  It did not.
            As we rested and healed ourselves, we pondered what to do with these
two score and one sleeping humans.  Melody said she thought she could wake
one, and we let her make the attempt.  Melody's way of waking them is most
odd, and involves putting uprooted plants on the women's stomachs.  When we
observed too closely Melody told us she did not want observers, as we
disrupted her concentration.  We are sure that is not the case, but for
whatever reason, she did not want to be observed, and so we went back to
our healings.
            Whatever Melody did, worked, at least partially.  Six of the human
women have awakened.  They are very weak and can hardly stand.  They do not
remember much after their capture by orcs and journey here.  They do
remember being singled out by a man fitting Enkil's description, and then
being taken to meet a man, whose description matches the appearance of the
magician that the Dire wolves forced the mercenary's commander to slay,
what seems like ages ago, but in reality was only a day or so past.
            And now, time again for the march.  We are healed as best we may in
the short time we have given our selves.  Melody has said she can do no
more for the women who are awake, and has not the energy to attempt more
awakenings this day.  So, we shall march upon Enkil once again.  With luck,
he has few if any giant warriors left, and our appearance when he
circumvented the runewall threw off whatever plans he had.  So, with speed
and luck, we hope we will catch him unprepared.  Moughrim still will not go
below.  So, we will take with us the three zombies, slaver corpses that we
asked Moughrim to animate, as they at least are immune to Enkil's mental
attacks.  Moughrim, Bob and Brianna we will leave as a guard over the
women.  the would seem to be the focus of Enkil's efforts, and we would not
want Moughrim to be possessed and slaughter them, or worse, while we are
away dealing with Enkil.  So, even though it weakens our party, it is what
we must do in order to safeguard the victories we have won already.     And so
now, and end to my ramblings, and a start to my marching.

                           By my oh-so tired hand:
                           This evening of the 18th day of Juno,
                           The Year of our Lady 540

                                                         Drashak Khea Milari