…as the plucky hobbit sails through the air, the ‘cat’ vanishes and Bud lands back on the ground. The gem is used to determine that the cat is ethereal, and pursuit is debated for a short while before the group resumes moving away from the denser mushroom areas. They climb out of the forest an into a meadow that broadens as they move along.
After a few moments, the ground begins to shake as an elephant-sized ‘puppy’ bounds down the trail. Alarmed by the idea of combat with the creature, they play fetch with it instead. Passing beyond the now sleeping pooch, the group sees a manor house with frog butlers. They bribe one to gain access to the place and spend a pleasant afternoon with the Dutchess – a bearded dwarven gal who is a few rocks shy of a quarry. They dine, they dance…they sing, they prance. Eventually they take their leave of the event and move down a path to the inevitable encounter with the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Doorrmouse. the group decides after about twenty minutes of insane banter that precious little is to be gained here, so they move on to a large tree with a door in the center. They open it and everything vanishes.

They find themselves in a large hall with candles and a small table and a lot of doors. Yegods! They are back to the beginning. This time they open a different door and exit into a large and very well tended garden. The gardeners do their best to ignore them and the soldiers are alert but not intrusive, The group wanders about then decides to exit the garden area. As they do so they encounter the garden’s owner
- The Queen. She comes with her royal procession and attendants and the statue of the white rabbit, the march hare and the mad hatter. The group is wrangled into a game of royal croquet, played with hedgehog balls and flamingo mallets.

The game is brief, for the group quickly tires of being bombarded with a prickly hedgehog and tries to quit the game. This angers he queen and she shouts for a beheading.as the group flees into the wilds. A brief encounter with the Smilodon Cat convinces them to seek refuge by the seashore until the hubbub dies down. Along the way they meet a talking griffon who enlists their aid in helping regain a lost treasure for his friend the ex-turtle. The group readily agrees – apparently being more vegetative makes them more agreeable as well – and they embark on the mission. They eat the glowing purple seaweed and hike out into the unknown waters of the apparent ocean.

They encounter a grotto filled with large and angry crustaceans and there is a pitched underwater battle. Eventually the lobster-y threat level is reduced to tolerable and the treasure is plundered. Some pearls and a chalice and a few verdigris’d coins and a flask for the turtle. They return to the shore, return the flask to the turtle and are approached by an emissary of the Queen, who wants them to return immediately to the game of croquet to which they have been invited.
the group RSVP’s to the request by stabbing the messenger to death on the beach.

They decide to leave the area and venture further along the coast.
Eventually they come across a small cove that has a longboat moored within. As the group debates the wisdom of venturing out into the unknown ocean, the sounds of queenly pursuit soon help them to decide in favor of the less immediately life threatening unknown as opposed to staying and facing the might of the queen’s guard armed with a few knives, a sword and shield. Off they go into the water and out to sea.
the further from shore the they travel, the foggier it becomes until soon they cannot see beyond the oars. The sound changes as though they were sculling through a large cavern. They row on….

Suddenly they spy a shaft of light that pierces the gloom and illuminates a large rock in the water. They beach the boat and climb onto the rock. As they gaze into the light they are ‘vacuumed’ into the sky – to reappear in a lake that spans the entrance room in which they first arrived. The difference this time is that there is a large circular opening in the ceiling of the room that was not there before.
The group moves to investigate and is once again whisked into the sky
- this time to ‘fall’ into the nighttime desert. Upon arrival, they are greeted by the enraged Tomorast.

The battle is brief and deadly, but it turns out that the rules lawyering is not in vain. Immediately the group activates various anti-magic protections and moves to engage the demon-wizard. He melees with the group and drains many life levels, and inflicts terrible damage, but beyond Feebleminding Dalliance he cannot cast many (any?) spells. As the saying goes, the pen is mightier than the sword, but the sword is mightier than a wizard without spells and eventually the daggers do the job as the whole group plays mr stabby with Tomorast.

Although the loss of levels will cost dearly, the group is relieved to be alive and back on their normal plane of existence. They camp in the desert for a few days until Dalliance can teleport them back to Waterdeep (or more likely – Shadowdale so the group can recover their items). It seems as though the arc of their lives involving Tomorast is over…at least for the time being. Wizards are pesky, and dead wizards are often even worse.

…after plummeting for a bit..and determining that neither levitation nor feather falling seem to have any effect, the plummeting party members suddenly slow to a drift and drift downwards towards a distant glow that gets brighter and closer. Eventually they land atop a large pile of twigs, leaves and dirt. They apparently occupy a room with many exits, as well as a table. One of the exits is very small, perhaps a foot at its tallest.
The room shows a disturbing tendency to shift in size and appearance.
Doors seems to come and go . The table contains a flagon and some biscuits and a tiny key. Humbar is convinced to drink from the flagon and he quickly shrinks down to tiny size. The rest of the group exercises the grey matter holding their ears apart and in a stunning bit of rules-lawyering manages to keep what little they have and shrink down to small size. They pass through the door and find themselves in a garden.
The group wanders about in fine party garb and looks about, spying fine secluded nooks and lovely flowerbeds. One flowerbed in particular convinces the entire group to become neutral and more plantlike in outlook. A tree tries to strangle Reza, and Bud punches the f*ck out of it. The rest of the group attacks with daggers…they stabbed it with their steely knives, but they just can’t kill the tree…so Bud punches the rest of the f*ck out of it.
Trees vanquished, the group passes by a large statue of a white rabbit, then exits the garden.
Humbar exits first and shoots up to giant size. The group reverse rules-lawyers and everyone is then large and outfitted. They find themselves in a large woodland, sprinkled with a vast variety of mushrooms and trees. The group is feeling unhinged enough and so bypasses the fungii. As they move towards less densely mushroomed areas, they become aware of a watcher. This particular watcher is a talking sabertooth tiger. It opines that Fester looks like a wonderful lunchable sized hobbit, so Reza picks up Bud and flings him at the animal.

The villagers are fleeing back towards the party and the cells as they cry out of an attack by flaming skeletons. The group tires to prepare, but is spread out, separated by hundreds of feet in some cases and hindered by the panicky tide of humanity. Bud Feaster is the first man to see the attackers, a dozen or more of the skeletal soldiers are moving rapidly towards him. He shouts for the villagers to get back in the cells to make room for the party. He readies his +4 staff and waits for combat. Humbar is on his way to reinforce Bud’s position when the front four attackers teleport past Bud and into Humbar’s path. Simultaneously, six shoot magic missiles into Bud as 2 attacks him. A pair of savage blows and Feaster is dead, sliced from collarbone to liver, forearm half removed from body.

Humbar engages and is attacked from behind as more skeletons use their power of teleportation to menace Dalliance. Dalliance responds with an Undeath to Death and clears some space. Humbar battles on grimly, but is nearly slain before he uses his Silveryfire to restore health.
Reza moves past Dalliance to try and stem the flow of the attackers and Humbar manages to turn several before being wounded. The part watches as Bud is run through several times by passing attackers.
Then the ‘leader of the pack’ appears. A sumo wrestler sized lizard shaped like Andre the Giant (with a tail) and sheathed in shimmering scales. It exchanges magic missiles with Dalliance, and several skeletons try to shoot her as well. Her Brooch of Shielding turns out to be a handy thing to have. She tries another Undeath to death with mixed results. More attackers teleport between Reza and Dalliance and Lubbitch steps into the breach.

The battle presses on, and a pair of lizard induced fireballs roasts the hapless villagers in their cells and slays the berserk Humbar.
There appear to be reinforcements on the way and Dalliance falls back.
She focuses on the imposing figure and finally manages to land a successful Disintegrate spell as Lubbitch takes a flurry of blows that culminate with having the side of her head bashed in and she dies…again. Dalliance summons a quintet of zombies to intercept the attackers and Barada readies his spear…which he lofts about ten feet down the hallway…oops!

Once the leader is slain, a few more rounds of combat brings the rest of the skeletons to hell. the nobility is released and escorted back tot he surface. The fallen are returned to the living, and Barada removes his hat of disguises at an opportune time so the real Lord Mourngrym can retake the helm – though he is deeply troubled by having to take credit (and blame) for things he did not do. The party remains on hand for about a month, to see that things are operating smoothly and that no real threats remain. They spend time identifying magic items and so forth. Feaster needs to return for training and so forth. The group discusses options.

Before they depart there is a great celebration where they are treated as guests of honor. Many speeches are made and proclamations are read.
The final proclamation of the evening is the most interesting. As the page reads from the scroll his voice changes rapidly to a guttural growl, ending with the words “Tomorast sends you to your doom” – and everything vanishes.

The party comes to their senses falling down a seemingly endless hole…

As the group prepares for the aforementioned dungeon foray of prisoner rescue and goodness, an aide -de-camp seeks an urgent audience with Lord Baradagrym and his hat of disguises. Attackers are apparently attacking from the skies above the twisted tower. The Lord and his new generals are sorely needed in order to repel the assault!

Sorely vexed at this alteration of plans, the Baradagrym and ‘generals’ move out to the newly extinguished and still burnt-smelling command center. There they espy what appears to be a swarthy woman clad in plate mail, riding a Nightmare and swinging a wicked bastard sword at anyone unlucky enough to be in her path. Accompanying her are a quartet of devilishly beautiful ‘angels’ with eye sockets of flame and wicked recurved bows that shoots bolts of fire into hapless villagers and castle guards alike. While the generals plot for a moment, the ‘angels’ start wrapping up folks with ropes, haul them 40 to 60 feet into the air then drop them on their comrades. Meanwhile, the nightmare lady seems to have landed on the top floor of the tower.

Sensing that unfurling the ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner over the smoldering remnants of the castle may have been a wee bit premature, the group springs into action. Lord Baradagrym turns invisible and starts climbing up the outside of the tower while the rest of the group charges up the interior stairs, Barada earns the bowshots of the angels – but his vest of missile repulsion taken from Mr.Slippers comes in handy and turns the arrows back upon the attackers. Enraged, they come closer and begin to hack at him with swords. Barada hauls himself over the lip of the platform and finds himself face to muzzle with the Nightmare.He hauls himself over the edge and in a move born of desperation, dives into the open trapdoor.

Meanwhile, the group has climbed to the final ladder, just in time to meet Barada as he tumbles through the opening. When Reza tries to climb the ladder, he takes a wicked blow from the invisible woman on the landing. Seeing that the ladder is a short trip to a beheading, the group backtracks, unfurls the carpet and starts the arial battle.
Reza drinks a preemptory potion of flying (just in case the carpet goes down), Dalliance fires up the globe of invulnerability and they’re off. It is a few minutes of frantic maneuvering on the part of the party to try and get Dalliance within range, while the attackers teleport about at will, wreaking havoc and summoning hordes of Lemures to slay and devour as many hapless dalesfolk as possible. As they manuever, the group shoots arrows and slings and hurls darts at any attacker they can find that is within range.

Eventually, Dalliance manages to uncork a good lightning bolt and Barada manages to feather the wounded angel to death with +3 arrows.
The lady on the bad horse attacks unexpectedly and almost finishes off Lubbitch with a single blow with her constitution draining sword. Reza drops the Justicar into the courtyard and nearly spits a villager.
Dalliance tries to feeblemind, disintegrate and magic missile her – all to no avail. The battle continues on for a few more moments and the outcome is looking dicey when Dalliance’s last limited wish apparently succeeds and the lady falls victim to a feeblemind spell.
Within moments she is bore away on the back of her dimension-hopping steed. Sensing that the battle tides have turned, the angels make haste to leave the premises. Huzzah! Lord Baradagrym has done much to restore faith in his rule through his fearless acts of leadership in the skies above the castle as hundreds can attest to having witnessed.

A day later, the group prepares for the aforementioned dungeon foray of prisoner rescue and goodness. This time they manage to descend and proceed towards the cells. there Barada starts unlocking cells and releasing prisoners. Reza, Lubbitch and Humbar move past him along the line of cells. There they encounter the flaming-eyed, armor-clad skeletons – who teleport past them and start charging Barada and Dalliance…who vaporizes the attackers with her undeath to death spell. Another trio pops up and it takes several rounds of concentrated effort on the part of the trio of fighters to dismantle the attackers. Beyond them lie even ore cells – containing the lord’s parents, the ranger in question as well as nobility loyal to the lord of shadowdale. Just as things look rosy, the cry rings out from the hall…”Ambush!”

While the fires burn upstairs and the alarm bells ring all around them, the group readies itself for the final push. When Reza exits into the corridor to see what level of hostility they may encounter, a pair of fireballs detonate near his head. At the end of the passageway is a shield wall, manned by crossbowmen, pikemen and a pair of pesky mages. Burning and choking, he dives back into the room for some quick healing. While Humbar tends to Reza, Dalliance thinks she may be able to dislodge the obstacle by blasting away with her wand of fire (fire!). While she does lob a shot into the shield wall, she earns a crossbow bolt in the head for her troubles. She also retreats into the room for some hasty healing.
Powering up, she enters the hallway and lets rip with a duo of fireballs to help convince the bravest to seek an alternate location.
Boom…BOOOM! The screams of the frying are short lived and the group powers along the corridor, hangs a hasty right and then enters a four-way intersection. While Lubbitch and Humbar and Reza plow onward, Bud relays the information that an ambush party is lurking at the rear, hiding in the officer’s quarters. Barada seals off the danger zone with a wall of fire and the group rolls onward.

They smash through the next door they encounter and move forward…into another ambush. Humbar takes a bolt through his neck and almost dies. Dalliance fires up her spell of arrow reversal and saunters into the hallway in preparation for lightning bolting the offending attackers. She follows up the bolt with another large ball of fire. Man, the interior decorators are going to be busy trying to put the interior of the castle back together. First they’ll need to extinguish everything.
Wheeling left, they power through the last visible doorway and into the private chambers of Lord Mourngrym…who looks grim indeed. Humbar goes berserk and attacks the noble. While Lubbitch and Humbar pummel the life out of him, the rest of the group prepares for what comes next. In a moment of inspiration, Barada dons his hat of disguises and some of the lord clothing and goes off in search of junior officers with Reza and Dalliance in tow, Finding a group of officers trapped behind the wall of fire, he uses his charm ability supplemented with Dalliance’s spell of mass suggestion to convince the officers that the threat has been eliminated and they need to get busy manning the walls in anticipation of the large army heading towards them. Lord Baradagrym sets up a robust defense and rallies the troops to man the walls. Bud is sent off in bird form to alert the dalesfolk that the castle has been taken and they are called to action in its defense. Humbar, Reza and Lubbitch fly off to issue instructions to the wolves to begin harrying the army’s flanks.
Within the space of a few hours, the fires are mostly extinguished and the walls are manned. When the ‘relief’ force arrives, they are fired upon by ballistae, archers and Dalliance and her wand of fire. Fire!
Understandably confused, the army falls back and demands to know what manner of mischief is afoot. Boom. Boom. BOOOM go the fireballs.
AAAAAGH! go the roasting soldiers. Retreat! go the commanders, and by the time the morning comes the invading army is no more, having broken into smaller groups for ease of foraging and deciding to retreat. The emboldened dalesfolk and wolves go after them and the rivers are awash in blood for days.

With the siege ended, there is an uncomfortable moment when the Lady Mourngrym seeks out her husband. Bud smashes her in the face and knocks her unconscious. While she ‘snoozes’ they search her and the ex-lord and turn up a pair of harper pins. Hm? Harpers? What?
This revelation leads to Dalliance teleporting with the Lord’s corpse back to Waterdeep to seek the advice of the Lathanderites. it is revealed that the lord is a trusted member of the Waterdhavian nobility and deeply enmeshed with the Harpers and their ilk. The most likely answer – once many questions have been asked – is that the Lord was possessed by some entity and used to enslave the dalesfolk in order for the Baneites and the Zhentarim to do their dirty work. The lord is restored to life by the Lathanderites and will return to the ‘dale once it is determined that he is not a threat. Apparently, all that remains is a final jaunt into the dungeons to slay the flaming skeletons and the slithery slitherer, and to free the ranger. With that goal in mind, the group rests for a day or three, then starts planning for what is presumably the final assault on the forces of evil…