Five go to Redclaw Point: Part 5 - Fire and Water

In town, Delilah's search for Reg is interrupted by the smell of smoke. The lighthouse is on fire. She quickly alerts the townsfolk and a large group of them, headed by Vor'tas and Etust, go up the lighthouse to investigate along with Delilah, Terri, Trav and Flayme. Inside they manage to put out the fire, a pyre of furniture having been formed in the top tower room. In the pyre is a body, probably that of Rakon who is nowhere to be found. The strange black shape that was formerly where the shattered crystal had been is nowhere to be seen. The fire safely extinguished, the party head back to town. On the way they encounter Iggins, who is watching the tower looking very confused. He keeps repeating that "the lighthouse shouldn't have caught fire" and "this wasn't meant to happen". He heads to the lighthouse to 'investigate'. Unable to get anything useful out of him, the party follow.

Meanwhile back in town, Reg has been trying to perform the ritual that will reanimate his dog, using the crystal from the balloon to warm up the body. It works, but almost immediately that Fifi is revived he runs away into the night. Reg returns the crystal to the balloon and, after questioning a passerby, heads up to the lighthouse in search of his companions. He finds them there in conference with Iggins. Iggins seems fascinated by Reg and Delilah's assertion that they have met Iggins before (even if Terri doesn't remember). After Reg provides precise details of the time and place that they apperently met him before, he uses a strange looking amulet and... vanishes. Terri, Trav and Flayme vanish too, leaving Delilah and Reg alone in the lighthouse. Confused they return to town to find the rest of the group at the inn. According to them they didn't meet Iggins on the road, and simply came back for a drink after the fire was put out. Unable to do anything else, the group all head off to bed.

The next morning Delilah is woken at first light by a blue tit tapping at her window. When she opens it the bird says "you have an appointment to keep" then flies away. Delilah responds in her usual fashion - she tracks down the bird, turns into a cat, then eats it. After breakfast she takes Reg aside, leaving Terri with Trav and Flayme, and the two of them return to the rift behind the mayor's house. This time it is Delilah who goes in, Reg remaining outside holding the end of the rope Delilah is tied to. Inside she encounters a creature who looks exactly like Fluffyfoot, although clearly isn't when it speaks. After admonishing her for being late it introduces itself as The Broon. It is very angry at the damage to The Broon's reality that the rift is causing. Since the rift originated in Delilah's reality it demands that she seals the rift within the next two days. It warns that if she doesn't it will be forced to do so itself, but its methods would cause a crater 1000 miles across in her world. She returns, but reveals little of what happened to Reg.

Terri, Delilah, Trav, Flayme and Reg head off back to Rileum's farm to meet up with Waywatcher and Vaunea, planning to then go and hunt down the orcs who captured the other two adventurers. They find however that they are not there. Etina claims that they both left early for town, but the group quickly see through her lies. Despite her husband's attempts to protect her, they interrogate Etina and she tells them that Vor'tas made her do it, and that they are being held at his house. She seems more scared of Vor'tas than she is of the party. Back to town they go, and then up to Vor'tas's house on the edge of town. It is larger than most houses in the town, and made of stone. Clearly Vor'tas was made wealthy from his life of adventuring.

Vor'tas is apparently not in, and his butler refuses to allow them entry. Whilst Delilah and Terri distract him, the other three go around the back and climb in through an upstairs window. When the butler finishes talking at the door they slip past him and down into the basement. There they find Waywatcher and Vaunea, trapped in tiny cells. They also find a tunnel roughly cut into the earth and heading down to the west. They are confronted at last by the butler, who they capture, although he claims not to know why the prisoners are here. After letting Terri and Delilah in the group head down the tunnel in the earth. It ends at water, further progress flooded, although clearly the tunnel does continue further. Vaunea swims down and finds herself in a stone tomb room, probably directly below the town green and thus part of the ruined temple. She returns to the group, unable to go any further.

Deciding to worry about the Vor'tas problem later, and keen to rescue the two missing members of the other party, the group head east again out of town. They soon pick up the trail of the remaining orcs and follow them into the mountains. There they find the second temple. It clearly matches the one that is ruined in the middle of town, but in far better repair. Sneaking inside they find a small group of orcs, and a single ogre, evidently the remainder of what was once a far larger force. Adventurer attrition has not been kind to them. Najor and Thalgron are trapped in a cage in the corner of the room. Deciding they can easily take this small force, the party charge into battle. The fight is swift, although Vaunea takes a few nasty wounds in the process, and the orcs are slain.

They release Najor and Thalgron, who reveal that the orcs have sent word east for more forces to help them, but for now this is the last of the orcs. The other party decide to head back to town, leaving the rest of the temple to be explored by our heroes. In a side room they find a glass amphora of blue liquid, which they decide to leave well alone. They take the only possible route further into the temple. A spike filled pit blocks their passage, an orc corpse in it evidence of why the orcs didn't progress further themselves. Carefully the party fill the pit with bedding and clamber across.

Beyond the pit they find themselves in a maze of mist filled passages, continually finding themselves at four-way junctions. After a number of twists and turns they find themselves back at the entrance. And again, and again, and again...

Author: Graham Charlton