What happenned- Adventure 1

Characters returned from across The March with orders to hit Streckhorn and report there for mustering out. On their way, they were to report to a temple of Baccob that a squad of Ogres were headed in that direction. The characters found the temple silent and showing signs that, not only had the ogres already arrived, but that they had taken over the temple. The characters attacked a Worg pen on the side of the temple (a recent construction) and then headed through a side entrance into the temple itself.

Most of the doors and mechanics of the Boccob temple were steam powered so that many of the traps in the place involved releasing large clouds of vapor. The characters learned later that the steam also acted as a deterrant to some of the temples less corporeal guardians.

Once inside the temple, the characters encountered zombie versions of the ogres they expected. Evidentally, before their arrival, the ogres had been defeated and re-animated, but there was no sign of the Boccobites themselves. The characters were then threatened by an army of Grieg who were attempting to rescue their princess from "the rat king".

The party was led to another room which seemed to be the last hold out of live ogres, whom the party killed and in doing so rescued the last member of the Boccobite temple: a gnome cleric of Boccob named Blenbury Knox. Blenbury claimed to be a graduate of Krimfolet--the gnome engineering university. He also claimed that the Boccobites had abandoned the temple because of some disaster they had foreseen, that it was his job as low man on the totem pole to summon the temple's guardain once everyone had left, and that he was in the process of this summoning when he was captured by the ogres. Thus, the guardian is in a volatile and unbound state. Thus, Blenbury urged the characters assistance and led them into the ground level of the temple (the characters had come in on the second floor).

Once down, the characters discovered that the front door was solidly shut and trapped. Detect Evil revealed strong emenations from beyond the door (outside). The characters then met a steam mephit that offerred to help the characters to open whatever doors to the temple that they so desired, provided they would shut down an interdimensional anchor and kill the other two mephits who shared in the responsibility of controlling the steam system of the temple. The players refused and Blenbury offerred that he thought he could take manual control of the steam system provided he had time.

The players left him to his duty only to find out that Blenbury was actually going to perform the mephit's will without the characters. Deciding to chase down Blenbury, the characters fought their way through a large chamber where, high above, Grieg fought against rat men in an epic battle. Blenbury set up creatures to fight the characters and then made it to the dimensional anchor just as the characters arrived. He shut the anchor down and disapeared allowing the mephit free reign over the doors. The mephit opened the doors allowing a fog of wraithlike spirits into the temple.

The Grieg offered to help the players by leading through steam tunnels to their destination (the guardian whom the characters still assumed was a danger). As it turned out, the steam pipes stopped the fog so that the characters were safe from the wraith beasties that were filling the temple. The characters learned that under the temple was a menagerie of very bad things which the rat men were setting free. The Grieg forces were battling the rats so as to stop everything in the undertemple from being let loose. The Grieg called upon the character to rescue their princess by stopping the summoning of a monster. Putting 2 and 2 together, the players realized that the monster was being summoned to kill the princess and set off with the help of a Grieg guide to save the day.

Along the way, they ran into a giant rat monster, were attacked by a chain monster, killed a mephit, and watched the last remaining mephit attack the rats with the help of four demons it had bound into service.

The characters found the summoning chamber only to find out that the princess had been keeping her attacker at bay through Ottiluke's irresistable dance. Anyone entering the room had to face off against it. Meanwhile, the summoner, Blenbury, waited invisibly inside a zone of silence for the princess to run out of endurance. The room was guarded by three zombie ogres.

The characters managed to kill the ogres and to pull back the lid of the princess's well-like cell only to see the monster below waiting just at the edge of the ethereal plane. Sensing that he lost the day, Blenbury jumped down to be taken to the ethereal by the beast, but the characters killed the monster while Blenbury was half way between the planes. Trapped thusly, he made his escape, not wholly in one world or the other.

The princess was saved, the Grieg celebrated, the characters rested. The Grieg explained that the wraith fog were the spirits of ancient Grieg ancestors angered by the kidnapping of the fey royalty. Her release appeased them and they dissapated. Later that night, the characters discovered another Blenbury who claimed to have been unconscious throughout the whole ordeal. He had a gem on his forehead that registered some kind of telepathic magic. Thus, the characters are led to ask, is this the real Blenbury, the same Blenbury, some clone, some dream version, etc.?

The characters left the temple of Boccob with the wraithstorm having become not but a thunderstorm and off they headed back to Streckhorn...