05.4 To the Library!

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Carlton Blacks Mercenaries
Company members:-
Taran – Half Elf Fighter/Priest of Mannanan Mac Lir, cousin to Carinne and Galvish
Carinne Rhianne Talynnart – Half Elf Ranger/Mage, Cousin to Taran and Galvish
Galvish – Half Elf Fighter/Thief, Cousin to Taran and Carinne
Barrigan Stonebeak – Dwarf Fighter/Priest, Company Engineer.
Lanneus Tuard – Paladin of Manannan Mac Lir
Derek Summers – Squire to Taran

Hunting Down Kerrigan Blacksoul

With the final arrangements in place for our journey back to Jans Landing with the corpse of Kalan Ghent, we hear news of Ambers (and ours) enemy – Kerrigan Blacksoul.  The rebels have heard that he is seeking information in an Elven Library on the Western part of this island.  This area is untamed by any nation and heard to be swarming with creatures.  Still having no news from the Gnome, but knowing he is in no danger (otherwise Tarans “spidey sense” would have alerted him) we decide to delay our journey and pursue the lead on the evil wizard who is starting to blight this area.
We take passage on ships that run around the coast. The journey takes many days, it is uneventful and we are dropped within sight of a volcano, although it is a long way from the shore we have landed at, it is the landmark we must follow.  We do not have our mounts with us as the terrain is largely unknown although we have come prepared for colder weather in the mountains.
Several days into the journey we are ambushed by ogres, they hurl mighty spears at us and have a spellcaster amongst their numbers, we whittle them down and the shaman takes off via a dimension door, only to be spotted when he fires a spell at Taran whilst some distance away.  He is allowed to escape while we gather the spoils of the dead ogres.  Later that evening, at the camp we make, Taran feels the hairs stand on the back of his neck as though someone were directing a spell against him, he makes this known to the others and Carinne starts tracking, she soon finds the footprints of the ogre which vanish shortly thereafter, no doubt making his escape via magic again.
We make good progress into the foothills the next day and start into the mountains proper. Carinne, who is on scouting duties, hurries back to the main party warning that flying beasts are ahead.  Sure enough a number of wyverns fly into view and attack, we make it through this battle with no-one succumbing to their poisonous stings.
Reaching deeper into the mountains we ascend a narrow trail winding up the side of a mountain, there is a sheer drop to our right and a fairly sheer face to our left, it is here where a number of rocks are hurled at us by Mountain Giants standing above us.  Carinne returns fire with her bow, but for the rest of us we know we need to get up there and engage in melee, if not we will be battered by their superior fire power down here.  Taran activates a dimensional fold and races through with Lanneus at his side.  The paladins first blow paralyzes the nearest giant, courtesy of one of the special powers on his holy trident.  Carinne has flown up to confront two of the giants and unleash her giant slaying sword and absolute hatred of these creatures.  Derek, the squire has been knocked unconscious by the barrage of rocks.  Barrigan remembers his priestly training and dimensional folds up to the Giants level with Galvish in tow.  The fight soon evens up with Lanneus frequently paralyzing the giants and their witch having to use her spells to unfreeze her comrades.  Soon it is just the Giantess left and although she is cloaked in fire shield, we rain killing blows on her.  Much healing is required through this combat and after.
We are not far from our destination now (the Elvish Library) and decide to press on rather than rest up, as we wish to catch up with the evil wizard who is our mortal enemy.
We look at the vast doors which lead into the library and find them immobile, deciding they are held by magic we try to break them down but have no success. Barrigan uses a passwall spell and we move through the hole that has magically opened before us, noting the wall of stone that has been cast behind the door gives us a clue that our prey is ahead of us.
We move into the main library chamber and look around at some of the splendor of the place, we spread apart to search better when the squire cries out that something is attacking him.  Taran uses his rod and sees an invisible creature mauling his comrade, Lanneus turns to attack the beast when he suddenly disappears, no doubt the work of the evil mage, Barrigan rushes to assist and Taran moves further up when he is caught in another spell and stunned.

To be continued…