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Desperate measures were called for, and so, after much deliberation, Fonesca took the cube, pronounced the word "Guid" and summoned a portal. Everyone stepped through and they found themselves on icy tundra. Behind them, to the south, they could see huge mountains in the distance, to the north the ice stretched away as far as they could see. Slightly east of them, they could see the lights of a small settlement, it's low dwellings clustered around the edge of a large frozen lake. Thinking that this was not a great time to be wandering the wilderness on their own, the group decided to head for the settlement to seek shelter and ask for directions. A local there is kind enough to offer them hot broth and to sell them some cold weather clothing. They discovered from this old fellow that they were in a small settlement on the shores of Lac Dinnishere in the region of Faerun known as Icewind Dale, governed by the alliance of the Ten Towns. The nearest large town was Easthaven, which was actually west of where they were now, almost a four day walk. The journey to Easthaven was not without incident. The Mothers were first set upon by a roving band of yeti, who managed to kill Guthranka in her weakened state. The rest of the Mothers finished them off and promptly shrank Guthranka's corpse in the sheet of smallness for easier carriage. Not long after this a pack of white wolves with icy breath attacked them, but luckily Fonesca's fireballs were used to great effect and no further casualties were incurred. When they stopped to rest in a Leomund's Secure Shelter, the Mothers thought they were secure, but when boulders came crashing through the roof, they realised that some sort of keep would have been a preferable resting place. The frost giant outside continued to lob boulders, but Fonesca and the others finished the creature off with more fireballs and swordplay. Gaspode was relieved to find that all of this activity had not been in vain when in the creature's sack he discovered a haul of treasure: six potions and an wand secured in an iron bound chest. These they took with them as they headed on.

Hurried rest stops and shivering limbs marked the rest of their journey, but luckily no more creatures stood in their way, so they reached Easthaven with no more incidents. They found an inn and rested there a night before enquiring about a local temple. The temple of Helm was not far away. On arriving the Mothers were disappointed to note how young the attendant there was. Their hopes that a senior official of this church would be in residence were dashed after Brother Cardule's first utterances. He made it plain that no temple in the vicinity would be able to offer the services that the Mothers sought, suggesting that they would need to travel to Waterdeep or possibly to Silverymoon, but he wasn't sure whether even the temples there would be large enough. The nearest large temple to Tyr was in Tethyr even further south beyond Baldur's Gate and the land of Amn. Finally, when asked about how to get to the south, he mentioned travelling on the Bryn Shander and talking to the Ice Mage there. Bryn Shander was the largest of the Ten Towns and the Ice Mage was the heroic defender of the town in times of crisis. As great magic was at her disposal, she may have been able to help the Mothers travel to where they needed to go. Jito and Fonesca hit the spellbooks to see if there was an easier way to get to Bryn Shander than trudging there over the ice for many days. They realised that if Jito memorised as many Phantom Steed spells as he could, then the whole group could travel for about seven hours in this way and then Fonesca could ensure that they rested as comfortably as possible in a secure shelter for most of the hours of darkness, then Jito could re-learn his spells and they would be off again. The Mothers carried out this plan, and three days later at the expiry of the third set of phantom steeds they stood within a couple of hours walk of Bryn Shander. The evening was closing in, but they decided to risk the trek in the twilight, hoping for a warm bed and some hot grog to put them to sleep.

Luckily the walk to Bryn Shander was uneventful and the Mother's soon found themselves in the Northern Light, a tavern and perhaps an inn that was the first that they came across on the Easthaven road into town. In the Northern Light they met Janaar, a man from Calimshan in the far south and he was most polite and courteous to the Mothers as he answered their questions regarding the local temples, the Ice Mage (whom he believed to be a man), the head of the town and the like. Janaar was enjoying his time in Bryn Shander having been there for about four months at this point. It seemed that travel south by any conventional means was not possible at this time of the season. The Mothers adjourned to their room and reconsidered their options regarding Guthranka. It was decided that Levi should rest and pray for the large amount of time that it would take to allow him to raise the paladin. Of course, the success of this was not assured, but the Mothers felt that the risk was worth it, as was the risk of hastening the on-set of the deadline against which they were working to restore her lost energy levels. After these travails the Mother's decided to wait until morning to talk to the head of the town, a man called Cassius. So the next day a group of five Mothers descended the stairs into the common room, where four had ascended two days before. They did not find Cassius when they arrived at what was called the town hall, instead they found his assistant who was buried under a pile of scrolls, but who was polite enough to offer them all coffee from far Mastica. The Mothers did not seem to be impressed by this delicacy but they drank it nevertheless. Cassius arrived not long after with a gust of wind, a flurry of snow and another flood of scrolls for his assistant. As soon as he noticed the Mothers he decided to whisk them off on a walrus hunt. They talked while they headed off over the east bridge towards the edge of the lake. It took some time and persuasion to get Cassius on to the topic of the Ice Mage and he revealed that she could not be called or summoned, but tended to come to the town's aid when there was an orcish or other incursion. He suggested that the Mothers arrange an attack if they wanted to reach her. The Mothers demurred. After some more thought Cassius mentioned that the Mage had spoken of scrying on the town with what she referred to as a Moonshae Pool, the only one that she knew about beyond those self same isles. She had mentioned that this pool, where she would often be found was about two days journey to the north into the mountains beyond an orc camp. Cassius drew a very rough sketch of the area as well as he could remember it for the Mothers, claiming not to be "very good at maps". The Mothers decided to set off in the direction of the pool to see if they could find the Ice Mage.

The Mothers headed off on the trail to the northwest, leaving about midday. They walked for the first half day and set up camp where they could still see Bryn Shander below and behind them. Fonesca conjured a Leomund's Secure Shelter and the party rested there for the evening. In the morning Phantom Steeds were summoned for the journey beyond the orc fortress. It took a number of hours but soon they saw the warrens of the orcs dug into the mountainside above them, crude palisades had been assembled around the cliff-face, and watchtowers studded this crude wall's length. Soon the Mothers realised that a separate track lead up to the humanoid fortress and that they would be able to use the main mountain pass to skirt around the orcs. But as they passed by on the main trail the horns of the orcs began to blow echoing throughout the mountains, for orc and giant alike to hear. Perhaps even the Ice Mage heard the orcish call to war. The Mothers pressed on into the gathering night, not even pausing to look behind for pursuit, soon the horns faded and the Mothers relaxed somewhat. Two hours riding north of the orcs, further into the mountains, the Mothers eventually decided to make camp. Fonesca again provided shelter, and Gaspode arranged a most complicated but effective schedule of watches. It was on the penultimate watch that the arrows appeared out of the dark.

At least ten flew in the first volley, fairly evenly distributed between the two on watch at the time, but the others were soon raised from their beds to face the threat from beyond the range of their vision. The arrows had come from the north, but whatever was out there seemed to be approaching, as there was no disguising the crashing sound of four ogres and a troll descending into the camp. A melee ensued and soon the ogres and the troll were joined by five orcs who calmly divided up their attentions and partnered one of their larger comrades in the battle. Jito made frequent use of his wand of fire, using its Burning Hands ability frequently on the ogre in front of him. Fonesca was last to rise and felt very frustrated by the presence of her colleagues in the melee; she felt that she could have handled everything very adequately if the others were not around. So she held off and used more minor magics to deal with the immediate threat. Levi was keeping the troll at bay while, Jito and Gaspode helped clear up the rest, giving Guthranka the ability to back off from combat in her weakened state. More arrows flew in from the dark, striking at Fonesca, so she loosed a fireball from her wand into the distance hoping to catch her assailants and to light up the area. She heard some screams from this and she saw a number of orcs running off to the north, away from the fortress that they had passed before. The troll and the ogres were the last to fall, the troll having injured Levi sorely, but the priest healed both himself and Guthranka soon after, with Guthranka's own healing ability also being employed. The Mothers are now contemplating whether to try and get more rest or to press on into the mountains.

The Mothers travelled on for another four hours down the trail before encountering an obstruction. A huge ice wall blocked their path, which was at least thirty feet high and wider than the pass on which they travelled. Jito did some quick investigating, levitating up on his boots, he could see that the ice wall was really a block that extended a further one hundred feet along the trail, just as he was gauging this distance a blast of icy air came at him over the ice and he decided to withdraw quickly to help him remove the ice from his nose. The Mothers started to search in the wall of the pass to see if there was some secret way around, next thing that they knew a small, thin, albino woman, of what looked like elvish heritage was standing still in front of the ice. She looked at the Mothers impassionately for a moment, seemly waiting to see how they would react. As they did not start peppering her with arrows or launching mighty magics at her frail form, she deemed it possible to communicate. She beckoned Gaspode forward and indicated that she would like to put her hand against the side of his face. Seeing that he did not demur, she gently laid her fingers against his temple and the heel of her hand against his jaw. Gaspode promptly collapsed. The look of horror on her face made it clear to the Mothers that she had no ill-intent towards Gaspode and soon he was groggily getting to his feet and then promptly stood forward mumbled a few choice words and allowed her to repeat the process. Unfortunately it had the same effect, though, upon rising Gaspode seemed to know a little bit more about what they needed to do. Apparently, this woman was the Ice Mage and she would be able to help the Mothers get to where they needed to go, if only they could help her. A band of ogres and orcs had taken possession of the tomb of an ancient human king and were using it as a base for raiding the local area. The group were very organised and even covered their tracks back to the lair so that they could not be followed. If the Mothers cleared out this infestation, then the Ice Mage would help. Guthranka chafed at this delay, but there was nothing else for it but to fulfill her wishes. The Mothers returned to the point at which they had been attacked on the night before. Jito cast Tulrun's Tracer and a line of glowing blue shot out from near his feet and started snaking up the slope towards the trees, the Mothers hurried after, knowing that it would only continue for about half an hour and they needed to discover the direction of travel at least before it expired. A combination of this and the images that Gaspode could remember being shown got them and Jito's spell got the Mothers to the area of the tomb. On two sides rocky mountain walls rose almost perpendiculary, on another lay the entrance to the tomb, with a carved pediment supported by two columns. The Mothers approached from the fourth side. A number of large boulders lay in the clearing with faint tracks through the undergrowth. The Mothers chose one of these and as they were passing a boulder the area around them was soaked with oil from a broken flask that had been hurled from above. Reacting quickly, the Mothers surged forward, hoping to reach the safety of the tomb only to see an ettin of considerable size in the doorway with a large shackle on his ankle. They quickly stopped and retreated behind another boulder, just as fire arrows set the whole area in which they had stood ablaze. It seemed as though the defenders may have thought of that tactic when Gaspode and Fonesca fell into a pit trap behind the boulder. They also had to contend with the spikes in the pit and the heavy rubble that settled on top of them after the fall. Another group of attackers from a different boulder now had the perfect angle to soak the two unfortunates in more oil and this time the arrows came flying within seconds. Fonesca was badly burned, and somewhat miffed, Gaspode was already on his way out of the pit. Meanwhile, Jito had decided that they were much to easy targets and made himself, Guthranka and Levi invisible. Levi took the opportunity to storm the first boulder and kill all of the orcs there. Guthranka did much the same with the second boulder. Fonesca created a ladder from her very useful robe and, as gracefully as she could manage at this stage, climbed out of the pit. She made it out in time to loose her magic missiles at two orcs who had appeared from the far side of the clearing who were heading for the tomb entrance. They died. The Mothers then approached the ettin to see if it could be persuaded to let them by if they released it, but the negotiations did not come to a resolution. The Mothers still ponder their options.

Gaspode decided to trust the ettin where Guthranka had not, so he crept forward and picked the lock holding the manacle against it's hairy ankle. True to it's word, the ettin departed as soon as it was free. The Mothers could then approach the entrance and read what was written on the pediment. Fonesca, somewhat haltingly translated the inscription as "Siryl Rex, Commander and Statesman". Gaspode then began to explore the corridor leading into the hill. He shortly found that there was another ettin asleep in a room off to the left with a second room off to the right behind a closed door. After informing his colleagues they all returned to the ettin thinking to free him also. As even the clanking of Levi's and Guthranka's plate did not wake the two-headed beast, Gaspode lobbed a small rock at his feet. The ettin awoke with a shout that shook dust from the ceiling of the room. Luckily, fluent ettin as spoken by Gaspode with the helm of tongues managed to placate the creature and he agreed to leave if the party would free him of his chain. Unfortunately Gaspode's lock pick attempt failed and so the Mothers debated how to free the creature. Gaspode hit upon the idea of using Imp, his unruly short-sword, which was usually rather cantankerous and annoying, but along with it's intelligence and skill with languages also had a number of other abilities. After protracted discussion Gaspode agreed to wield Imp during their stay in the tomb and also to deliver him to the nearest temple of Mask as soon as the group were near one, Guthranka witnessed Gaspode's oath to this effect. During this negotiation, Gaspode noticed an irregularity on the northern wall of the chamber. He investigated this and found a secret door, promptly picking the lock on it. It opened onto a narrow stairway descending into the blackness below. Imp presently used it's powers to make Gaspode stronger and he attempted to break the chains on the ettin using force. He failed. The other Mothers all lined up to try too, but they also failed. The ettin finally lost it's patience with the party and attacked Gaspode with it's two clubs while shouting for assistance from other denizens of the complex. Although Gaspode was sorely hurt from the initial onslaught the Mothers took little time in dispatching the ettin. While they were doing so an ogre appeared from the room opposite and disappeared down the corridor, unfortunately Fonesca didn't have time to loose a spell at the retreating form. Imp was called upon to heal Gaspode's wounds and they all but went away. The Mothers decided to try and go around the opposition and descend the stairway. Gaspode went first, checking for traps. He did not find any, but he did find a knife-throwing troll in the room at the bottom of the stairs. The Mothers quickly felled him, then finished him off with a flask of lamp oil. This grisly task complete the Mothers looked around. The only exit to this room was an open doorway opposite the stairs, so this was investigated. It opened into what seemed like a bedroom, as there was certainly a bed in the far corner. It also had a sinkhole immediately to the left as the Mothers entered, which was about 5 feet in diameter at the level of the floor, narrowing as it went down. On the right wall were two wooden levers sticking out horizontally of two vertical slits in the wall. The Mothers searched the walls for secret doors and discovered nothing, so they returned to the troll immolation room to try the same trick there. It was not long before they spotted a door in the eastern wall near the northern corner. They opened it and were promptly assailed by three very speedy trolls. Luckily the hasted beasts did not connect on every attack, but it was clear that the Mothers could not stand this for long. Just as they were considering what to do, they noticed another secret door opening in the same eastern wall of the room and they heard another group of creatures descending the stairs. Discretion being the better part, the Mothers decided to retreat into the bedroom to try and limit their exposure to these well organised defenders. Levi called out in Cormyrean that he was about to call down fire into the room. As they retreated Gaspode had Imp try to dispel the haste effect on the trolls, but they still had a chance to attack the Mothers as they retreated. In this attack, Fonesca died. Guthranka grabbed her and they successfully made it into the bedroom. Levi's spell was the last thing that they saw as they slammed the door shut, filling the room beyond with fiery brilliance. Breathing heavily and somewhat stunned at the loss of Fonesca, the Mothers quickly decided that they needed to retreat further. Sounds beyond the door made it clear that creatures had survived the blaze. Jito was given the cubic gate and he pronounced the word "guid". Unfortunately, nothing happened. Quickly and randomly, Gaspode suggested another side of the cube. Jito said "eler" and the Mothers found themselves under a deep red sky with jagged enormous black mountains in the background and ash and dust choking the air. They had arrived in Baator. Panicking somewhat Jito tried another side of the cube thinking that anywhere would be better that this, but it seemed inert and no other side would work.

Levi looked around at the rugged landscape, seeing fireballs exploding at random times and distances around him. He soon realised that he had been brought further from the glorious grace of Tyr and would not be able to channel all of his holy might here in this god forsaken plane. Gaspode and Guthranka tried to get a lie of the land and discovered that there were hordes of baatezu swarming the plane who could approach them at any stage. They looked around for a place to hide, any sort of rise in the land that they could hide behind. Then Levi and Jito had a suggestion. Levi could use his stone shape to "dig" a depression for them to hide in while Jito could cover them in an invisibility shroud. They quickly put this plan into action and they remained in the depression with Levi casting the occasional round of cure spells that he was still able to get. While they lay there several small, winged baatezu flew over their hidden cranny. With some stroke of luck these patrols did not hear or see the Mothers. After a full day had passed, Jito got out the cubic gate and said the word "guid" while pressing that side of the cube. Out of nowhere a nine foot tall winged creature appeared before them wielding a barbed trident and covered in flames. The creature's malevolent gaze swept over the depression and paused on each individual beneath the invisibility shroud making it clear that such illusions were no impediment to it. The Mothers were not impressed. But were more concerned as other creatures began to appear from thin air around the first, even as he began to ask them their purpose on the plane and why they were leaving through an un-authorised portal. Eventually a bargain was struck as a veritable army of fiends had gathered at this stage and the Mothers had to negotiate. The sword of sharpness that had maimed Levi was handed over and the full tale of how they had ended up on Baator in the first place explained before the group was allowed to leave. The Mothers stepped through the portal to a somewhat familiar icy wasteland.

The Mothers pressed on through the snow and found the same frozen village that they had sheltered in before. The same crusty fisherman took them in, warmed them and fed them. The Mothers thought that they were suitably generous in their payment, but that did not shield the poor fisherman from the effects of seeing Levi raise Fonesca from the dead. He wasn't particularly keen when he opened the door in the cold morning to allow the first rays of the sun to fall on Fonesca's feet. Some mention was made of it being fitting, though Gaspode thought it oddly redolent of Lavin Drowsbane. His mutterings, however, were heard by few. After Fonesca had got her strength back they set off again in the direction of Brynn Shander. After a day's travel on their phantom steeds the Mothers noticed a growing shape on the horizon. As it approached their position directly, it became clear that this was a huge dragon, silvery white in colour, which was more than two hundred feet long. Gaspode became fatalistic at this point and the others followed his lead, so they did not attempt to flee or hide. The great beast settled onto the ground close to them and promptly metamorphosed into the Ice Mage. Gaspode winced, as he knew what was coming. After picking himself up again following another conversation that lead to his unconsciousness, Gaspode squarely faced the Mage as she stretched out her hand and a white, spider-like form leapt towards Gaspode's breast. It clung there for a second like an albino starfish before burrowing through his apparel to settle around his heart. Gaspode explained to the others that a geas had been laid upon him to complete their original quest for the Mage, that of clearing the tomb, and that in return the Mage would immediately transport the group to a place near where a temple of Tyr could be found. Moments later they found themselves in a grassy land with the scent of the sea on the air. It took a few moments for Guthranka to realise that they were in Tethyr, just east of the sea and the city of Myratma. In fact they could see the river Ith, which lead up to the new capital of Darromar, where the main temple of Tyr in Faerun was founded along with a monastery and the main order of Tyrran paladins. Now knowing the way, the Mothers stowed their cold weather gear, conjured more phantom steeds and within a couple of days had secured themselves lodging in the Warhorse Inn which looked onto the same city square as the temple. The holy pair of Levi and Guthranka soon headed off to the temple to see if they could be persuaded to cure the affliction that the vampire bites had given Guthranka. Meanwhile Gaspode, Jito and Fonesca all had a bite to eat and enjoyed the convivial, if somewhat staid, atmosphere of the common room. The duty priest told the holy dudes to return the next day for prayers and to see the high priest who would adjudicate on their case. They stayed quite late in the temple before returning to the inn. Gaspode, at this time was prowling around the market square of the town having headed out to see if he could find some merchants for the trading of various items of loot. At least that was his stated reason. After finding a jeweller and a number of other establishments he returned to the inn looking downcast. "This place is too law-abiding" was all that he'd say.

The Mothers spent the next day shopping, getting rid of unwanted weapons and turning gems and jewellery into hard gold pieces. They also got some potions, a ring and a wand identified. The ring proved to be a real prize, a ring of free action. They decided that Guthranka would wear it. The wand was somewhat more intriguing, a wand of defoliation, the Mothers weren't sure what they would do with this, but they felt that it might have its uses. Gaspode then read a Manual of Stealthy Pilfering as Jito decided that he needed some study, and they both went into training for a week. Guthranka came back with the news that they had to trade in the Manual of Golems to the temple in order to pay for her "treatment". Once all this was accomplished the Mothers set off again for the point where they had materialised just over a week previously. Almost as soon as they arrived they saw a dragon approaching, but this time it did not change its form. It landed near enough to them to shake the ground and to cause Fonesca to seek Guthranka's steadying shoulder. But in another instant they stood on a high, ice-clad pass in the mountains and looking around they recognised the campsite where they had been ambushed previously.

This time the Mother's decided that a little extra planning was called for as they did not want to end up covered in burning oil at the bottom of some random pit. Fonesca may not have had another ladder to call upon either. So it was that Fonesca transformed herself into a bird and was made invisible by Jito so that she could fly unseen over the clearing to see which boulders hid the orc sentries. She found that three of the rock out-posts were occupied, each with four orcs. After a quick discussion Fonesca, now back in human form, cast a fly spell on herself and Jito cloaked her with improved invisibility. Jito cast another invisibility on himself and mounted his broom. In quick succession Fonesca and then Jito launched fireballs from their wands at two of the rocks and Fonesca fired again on the third as she had not become visible. The orcs were incinerated. The Mothers then cautiously approached the clearing making sure that they did not fall foul of any pit traps. This time the Mothers decided to investigate the midden that was to the east of the clearing against the wall. There they discovered an alternative route into the rock that would perhaps join up with the carved passageways they had already entered. In the first of the natural caverns the Mothers overcame two carrion crawlers without succumbing to any of their paralysing effects. Moving swiftly through these natural caverns the Mothers came upon a crudely carved stair winding into the rock above them. The stair and much of the floor surrounding it was covered in the slime and detritus of the denizens above. The Mothers braved it anyway. Guthranka, however, did not manage to hold her footing and came crashing down after about twenty steps causing Levi and Fonesca who were behind her to be carried down the stairs as well. After landing in a noisy crumpled heap they dusted themselves down and tried again. At the top of the stairs Gaspode examined the barred wooden door that blocked their way. He got out some sturdy tools and managed to lift the bar. As soon as he opened the door the Mothers were attacked by eight orcs, but these were quickly dispatched. Moving on the Mothers found more natural caverns at this higher level, including a sleeping area for about ten humanoids. Proceeding through the passageways they came across a regular flagged passage leading to a chamber. As soon as they saw it they were set upon by another, larger group of orcs. Fonesca's spells and the battling of the rest soon disposed of this threat as well and the Mothers were cautious not to let any of them escape lest an alarm be raised. The chamber contained a sarcophagus which seemed intact and it had detailed scenes and glyphs carved into each of it's sides. The Mothers realised that they would have to spend some time deciphering these images so they decided to leave it to another time. Gaspode, meanwhile, had discovered a secret door in this chamber to the east of where they had entered. Opposite this another regular passageway extended westwards. Gaspode managed to find the mechanism for opening the door and the Mothers went through it, closing it behind them. It lead to a passageway which decended two flights of stairs to another locked door. This one Gaspode could not open either by technique or brute strength and neither could the others. Jito eventually resorted to a knock spell. It opened into a cubic room, with two other doors on the south and west, and a very angry and prepared troll. Thankfully this one was acting at normal speed, so the Mothers quickly dealt with it. Now the choice lay before them, south or west ? They had heard no alarms as yet either.

They wanted to go left. So they approached the southerly door which was somewhat unusual in that it had a large arch which had a wide depression in it, beyond which were more stairs descending. Gaspode examined this closely and determined that a sliding pair of doors were hidden in this niche which would acsend from the floor and drop from the ceiling to join in the middle. Not liking the look of this Mothers decided to try and spike the opening shut with their iron spikes. With this accomplished and with Gaspode leading the way and checking for traps they went down the stairs. They opened into the north-east corner of a large room with an exit on the far wall in the south-west corner. Worryingly, this room had many holes in its ceiling evenly shaped and distributed. Despite their apprehension the Mothers continued through this room and through the door to a short corridor leading west. This opened out in centre of the easterly wall of a large chamber with another carved sarcophagus. The ornate stone and tilework of this room was obviously disrupted in the north-west corner where a large patch of flags and tiles had been removed to leave bare earth. Where these tiles had gone to, they were not sure as there was no evidence of them and not a speck of the soil and clay seemed to have reached the floor of the room. The Mothers were intrigued by this and they headed straight for it. Unfortunately this path must have lead them over a pressure plate on the floor which caused two disconcerting effects. The doorway to the room slammed shut with a metallic clang and water started pouring from the hundreds of holes in the ceiling. With the room rapidly filling, Gaspode called upon his short sword, Imp, to give him strength and he used this to lever open the first set of metallic shutters. Jito already had to resort to his broom to stay above the flood and he led the way into the corridor to discover that the route into the next room was also shuttered by metal. The water continued to pour in here too. Gaspode's strength was not sufficient to prise these doors apart and Fonesca's knock spell was also ineffectual. Levi and Guthranka resorted to weapons to batter these doors down. The water had now reached four feet in depth and the next room also had water coming through the ceiling. The Mothers had to make it to the stairs. Fonesca and Levi were finding the weight of the water difficult and were making slow progress across the room. Guthranka hardly noticed it thanks to her ring and Gaspode was powering through. Jito flew above the torrent and had an idea. He took Guthranka's ring once she had made it to the stairs and ferried it back to Levi. Levi fumbled it in the downpour and it was lost in the currents. Fonesca started swimming and Levi trudged on having to hold his breath for some time until he reached the stairs. Breathing heavily they looked up to see that their spikes had not held. A final door lay sealed above them and the water had now reached the ceiling of the room below them and was advancing ominously up the stairs. Levi stepped forward with his staff of striking and used up as many charges as he could to batter the door down in as few blows as possible in conjunction with all of the other weapons that they could bring to bear. Beyond the door eight hasted trolls lay in wait. Gaspode was about to leap in to take the fight to them when Levi called him and the others back as he called down a column of roaring flame into the room. Four of the trolls died immediately. Gaspode called upon Imp to dispel the magical speed that the trolls enjoyed and battle was fully joined. After a few minutes of combat the Mothers had managed to best the trolls and to set the remaining corpses alight with lamp oil. Knowing that they had been discovered they decided to go back up the stairs to the secret door by the sarcophagus. When they opened it they found another twenty orcs arranged with military precision on and around the tomb. They were all armed with bows or spears. Gaspode was saved from skewering by Levi's Defensive Harmony spell and his own quick reflexes as he ducked back down the corridor and slammed the door. As they were discussing strategy they heard the lumbering sound of some large creatures coming up the stairwells. Fonesca then cast a wall of ice to block the ascent. More hasty planned ensued but the Mothers started to hear the sound of chunks of ice being chipped away, so Fonesca decided to double the defence and cast another wall of ice to lengthen the first one. With no other choice left to them the Mothers decided to face the hail of orc weapons. Guthranka, Jito and Gaspode charged the orcs while Levi held two of them. Within a few moments eleven of the orcs lay dead and the rest that could move started to flee. This rout was abruptly halted when the orcs encountered three trolls and four ogres advancing down the corridor backed by a mysterious figure. As the orcs started to turn, Fonesca thought it best to block their re-advance with a wall of fire. She killed another two of them with this instantly. Their momentary respite was shattered when they found themselves engulfed in a Stinking Cloud. Fonesca, Jito and Guthranka were overcome with nausea so Gaspode and Levi had to drag them out into the orc tunnels above the slimy waste stair. When the cloud dissipated and the Mothers had recovered, Fonesca cast a Cone of Cold through her wall of fire to see what enemies remained. When the steam blew away they saw only the two charred orcs.

Stepping casually over the fallen orcs the Mothers investigated the further reaches of the corridor hoping to find where their attackers had fled to. Not far ahead they found that the main corridor turned sharply left and widened, but more of interest to them were the two flights of stairs leading down to their right as well as the strange levers they could see in the wall next to the nearest stairway. Directly ahead of them lay another crudely cut passageway into the rock, perhaps another orc den. The three levers were at their highest position in each of three slots in the wall. It looked as though they could be slid down horizontally in these slots to two other positions at the centre and at the bottom. Gaspode didn't like the look of these at all and so the Mothers left well alone and moved on to the turn in the corridor. Looking to the left they determined to their own satisfaction that they were looking at the corridor through which they had first entered the complex, so they ignored everything in that direction and pressed on into the natural rough caverns ahead through the crude opening. Strangely, the orcs, if it was they who cut this path, had left no debris from the operation at all. This rough cavern seemed to have been another guard room of sorts for the orcs with space for about twenty of them to camp around several fire pits which were currently unlit. To the south of the irregular cave the Mothers discovered a hole in the floor. Further investigation revealed a ladder leading down into another chamber beneath. Swiftly, the Mothers descended and found themselves in another rough cavern similar to the one above. This room had one exit to the east and peering out of this the Mothers could see one more sarcophagus directly in front of them. It lay in a small chamber with a corridor leading away to the north. Bright light spilled into the room with the casket from two glowing glass forms crafted into the walls of the corridor. Just beyond the glowing stained glass creations the Mothers could make out ogres and trolls in a larger room. Fonesca took out her small bag of Dust of Disappearance and covered herself in it. Jito cast Improved Invisibility on Gaspode and then an Invisibility ten foot radius spell on himself with Guthranka and Levi in tow. Guthranka snuck up the western side of the corridor to approach the trolls from that side. Jito went towards the other side with Levi and Guthranka close behind. Fonesca hung back to cast her spells from relative safety near one of the crystal forms. When Fonesca, Levi and Jito loosed magic battle was joined and Gaspode attacked.

As the battle raged and spells were hurled the Mothers were disconcerted to see a strange creature seemingly directing the trolls and ogres. Almost every round it would cough something up into its mouth to then launch at the various party members. It also seemed to be able to breathe fire and to heal its own wounds which was rather disconcerting. Meanwhile as trolls lay dismembered on the floor Guthranka fell under a flurry of blows from ogres. Fonesca was running short of spells and so had to become inventive. She used the power of a telekenesis spell to hurl some polearms and smaller weapons from a rack towards the snake beast hurting it sorely. It was her magic missiles though, that gave away her position for the ogres and trolls to try and sniff her out. Jito had to resort to a mirror image spell to avoid being pummelled by his assailants, but this gave him enough time to finish them off. Gaspode determined that he should be the one to bring the snake down. After slaying the ogre and troll in front of him he moved on to attack the snake-like creature directly. Just as the last of the enemy fell, Levi was caught by a series of troll attacks and collapsed, bleeding to the floor. Jito risked an attack to stabalise him. Finally only Fonesca, Jito and Gaspode stood in the mess of troll and ogre ichor. Jito felt that this was too clean and so he split the body of the snake to see where it was getting it's weapons from. More slime eddied around their feet but Jito felt justified as he brought out a black thin wand, three silvery beads and two potion bottles while Gaspode systematically torched the trolls. They tried pouring the contents of each potion bottle down Guthranka's throat but neither seemed to heal her. The stench and the smoke were almost unbearable, but how could the three standing Mothers fight other enemies on their way out carrying two heavily injured comrades ?

Feeling somewhat bored, Fonesca started investigating the glowing glass panels as Gaspode checked out the sarcophagus. Gaspode saw that the tomb might have been pried open a number of times previously and that it bore the same inscription that they had come across when entering the tomb "Siryl Rex, Commander and Statesman". Gaspode restrained himself from looting the tomb with the thought of the strange creature in his midriff and what it's opinion on his actions might be. Fonesca hit one of the panels with her staff, hoping to find a treasure cache behind it, but the glass animated and became a glass golem resembling the armoured knight that it had pictured, as did the glass panel on the opposite side. Fonesca was sorely hit by the glittering blade of the construct. Jito and Gaspode jumped in to help defend the armourless mage. As they did a spray of different coloured rays of light shot out from the golems towards the party. Gaspode and Fonesca were hit by a green ray but seemed to be unaffected by it. The violet ray that hit Jito caused him to disappear. Another blow from the golem killed Fonesca and Gaspode was left alone to battle both. Luckily he landed four consecutive blows on one of the creatures, shattering it. One more spray of light beams emerged from the creature before it fell under Gaspode's attacks. The blue ray that struck Gaspode had no noticeable effect either. Gaspode looked around, hoping that Jito would appear at any moment, but after a few minutes without any such thing happening Gaspode decided to act. He shrunk Fonesca's corpse and stowed it in his pack after first removing her Dust of Disappearance. He propped Guthranka and Levi up against the wall near where there had been a fire and he moved a few ogre corpses over to mask them. Then he covered himself in the Dust and started exploring the area. He quickly found the four troll dens that lay at the corners of the room with the weapons rack where they had fought the snake beast. In the last one that he found he got the strange impression that this was not the first time that he had seen this room. Working off this hunch he found a secret door in the western wall of the room. This led into a large square room that had scorch marks on all of the walls. He realised that this was where he had first encountered the hasted trolls. He noticed again the stairway leading up to where the ettin once sat and the door leading into the room with the bed and the sinkhole. He headed for that room and searched around for some treasure that might be useful in their predicament. It was then that he noticed the three levers on the wall which looked similar to the ones at the top of the twin stairways. He pulled the left one down causing a pit trap to open beneath him and landing him in a pit that was twenty feet deep and had polished iron spikes coated with a suspicious glistening substance covering the floor. He was skewered by three of them and his body twisted in agony again as the poison took effect. But he did not die. He picked himself off the spikes and searched his backpack for a potion. It allowed him to levitate up to the ceiling of the pit where the stone blocks had snapped shut closing him in. He realised that he would not be able to open the spring loaded doors of the trap without a strong lever. He then used his high position to pull up the grid of spikes and lean it against the wall so that he would at least have somewhere to lie down. He waited in the hope that the others would wake up. Two days later, they did. Or at least Levi did. In another game there would have been a sanity check, heaving the dead ogre carcass off his leg was mild compared to the sight of the eviscerated snake and the charred trolls. Levi got down to business quickly when he noticed that Guthranka was still alive amongst the bodies. He cast a couple of minor cure spells, enough to get her conscious. When she had laid hands on herself they discussed their next options. They had no idea what had happened to Jito, Fonesca and Guthranka as they were knocked unconscious before the first battle had ended. They assumed that some of the group must have survived or else they probably would have been dead themselves. Levi sat down to pray for spells that would help him to find his companions and heal them if required. The gods answered that Jito was alive 'presently' but that he was not on the same plane as the Mothers, nor in Sigil. They also said that Guthranka's Singing Sword and Fonesca's Wand of Fire lay within one hundred and fifty feet of his present position. He then cast a locate object on the sword and found the pit where Gaspode still lay. After some attempts, Guthranka brought a sapling from outside to wedge open the pit which Levi triggered with his staff of smiting laced together with an ogre bone for length. Gaspode climbed out of the pit fully healed, by Imp, but hungry and thirsty. He explained what he knew of the others while Levi prepared to raise Fonesca from the dead.

Levi cast a raise dead on Fonesca, once Gaspode had taken out her body and restored it to its normal size. She survived the experience. Feeling more confident the Mothers rested and then began to explore the complex, deciphering the runes on the sarcophagus and recovering Guthranka's ring of free action and a ring of sustenance from the tomb. While trying to discover the mechanism of the various levers Fonesca got dumped into another pit and was skewered and poisoned to death at the same time. Levi was called upon again and he neutralised her poison and raised her from the dead after he had prayed for his spells with incense of meditation. He was not surprised when Fonesca survived this experience as well. With this accomplished the Mothers left the tomb of Siryl Rex somewhat relieved. Outside they found the Ice Mage waiting for them. As Gaspode approached her with some trepidation, she started some form of incantation and she drew the strange white spidery creature out of his chest, causing him to collapse again. When he regained his feet, he felt immeasurably better. So much so in fact that he thought he might try to obtain her help with finding Jito. So he approached and made it clear that he wanted to communicate. Gaspode realised from the images flooding into his mind that the Ice Mage wanted to give them gifts for helping clear out the tomb. He saw an image of the pass that they had walked before and part of the glacial ice-wall that surrounded it. Then his vision passed through the ice to a frozen sack suspended within. Then he tried to make the Ice Mage understand their own desire to find Jito. He pictured Levi, slaving over a brazier, hammering a bowl into shape and carrying out numerous blessing ceremonies to fill it with holy water, before being able to scry for their friend. The Ice Mage must have understood for Gaspode pictured himself flying down the mountain over the pass and past the tree-line. Below him spread a great still pool, fed from some mountain stream, with a long stone causeway leading out to a circular platform in the centre. Gaspode tried to explain these things to the others as the Ice Mage led them down towards the pass. She led them on to the point that she had shown Gaspode and the Mothers hacked out the sack from the ice. It contained a pair of gauntlets, a robe and a small box containing six potions. The Ice Mage indicated that the gauntlets would increase the strength of those who wore them and the robe would enable a spellcaster to recall some of their cast spells. When they had distributed these the Mage transformed herself into a dragon shape and urged the Mothers to mount. With nervous clinging, the Mothers flew down to the side of the pool, just as Gaspode had seen it.

Levi walked slowly out to the end of the causeway. He was not sure how effective this place would be for his scrying spell as he had not consecrated it himself, but he felt that he had to try. He prioritised his targets. The immediate concern was the fate of Jito, so he brought to mind an image of the squat gnome with the bald pate as he commanded the waters around him to show him where Jito had been sent. Very quickly images began to form on the small lake. As the others craned to look, Levi could make out sooty rafters, flickering firelight, large wooden barrels; tapped as if for ale, and many, many gnomes. It seemed as if Jito was in some kind of festhall, eating and drinking with those of his own kind. Nothing in the hall could give Levi a clue as to where in the multiverse this was, so he passed on. Bert was next. He was not found in a hall but in a cavern, this one lit by a huge flickering furnace. He was hammering something on an anvil but Levi could not make out what it was. Happy that their dwarven friend was safe, Levi tried to locate the elf, Aldaron, who had slipped off in the night. But try as he might to get the waters to obey him, they roiled lightly and would not settle. Eventually Levi thought of his own parents who had been displaced from their lodgings in Arabel by the armies of Iuz. He had feared them lost, but here they appeared, both hale and hearty if somewhat less finely attired than before. Their lodgings were also somewhat less well appointed than had been their lot in Arabel, but it looked as if they were safe and comfortable at least. These lodgings did not indicate where they were living but Levi seemed satisfied. He returned his thoughts to the gnome. He had to wait for some time, but eventually Jito went outside to relieve himself. The image revealed a wooded grassy land that looked untamed. When Jito looked up the Mothers saw some mountains in the distance. It was a massive range untamed by the millennia of its existence. One peak stretched so far into the sky that it met another mountaintop in the sky. Then they noticed what they had taken to be stars overhead were in fact campfires or lights of settlements in another plane overhead. Jito soon went back inside and the dizzying image faded. Levi walked back down the causeway to discuss the situation with his companions. The Mothers decided to Waterdeep where they might discover what the strange plane they had witnessed was and also where they might step through into Sigil if required. The Ice Mage took out a length of rope and looped it around the Mothers. They awoke some time later in the eaves of a small copse, each of them with a small snowdrop flower on their breast. When they stood up, they saw the walls of Waterdeep a few miles off across the valley. The Mothers entered the city and set themselves up in an inn in the Trades ward. Jito weighing heavily on their minds, they did not intend to stay long. Levi and Guthranka went off to the local Tyrran shrine to pay their tithes. Gaspode went off on his own purposes and Fonesca shopped for herbs. Her herb shopping done, Fonesca got directions to a certain Grathewind of Cobble Street who would identify the potions the Mothers had obtained. This Grathewind duly did, notably discovering that two were a potion of longevity and an elixir of youth. The Mothers reassembled in the tavern to discuss their plans. Gaspode did not appear to have his singing sword with him.