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Well, you got trooped off to Suzail, had to buy your own horses in order to become messengers, got a bit of money back when you reached Arabel and delivered the missives. You couldn't find Levi's folks, but you did find a place to hide the remains of the wand. The Priest and Paladin now have new abilities to play with and you were all just about to get to chat about them when you were unable to stop someone being murdered in front of you. At least you might be able to help the victim's daughter, if you can figure out the meaning of the map and the letter that he carried. . . .
So, you set off into the wilds following the map, encountering only a wild boar in the night. At the pre-determined location you came upon a great disk of stone lying flat and undisturbed. After some close scrutiny a central disk was discerned which did not yield to Dispel Magic or to Knock. However, with much prayer and meditation Levi determined that a Stone Shape spell may be able to remove the obstacle. This was duly achieved, although the volume of stone required numerous spells with a rest in between. Finally the circular iron trapdoor under the stone was revealed. With a mighty heave Levi managed to pull it open. A spiral stone staircase disappeared into the darkness below. With much trap checking the Mother's found themselves at the bottom of the stairs facing a short corridor ending in a door. This door was also checked but Gaspode failed to spot that the metal disk hanging on the hook on the door had explosive runes on the other side. Jito was the curious one who caused the small explosion. After passing through the door into the room beyond, three exits were noticed. One, decorated in stained glass seemed to be connected with Deneir, God of Glyphs and Images. The portal opposite them was closed. As all good Mother's do, they went left to the final door which was hanging ajar. The boring over-stuffed furniture could await further investigation when they returned. However, the wights would not wait. They burst malevolently from the two nearest doors with hate, hunger and evil dripping from their red rimmed eyes. But they could not withstand the power of Tyr and the faith of Levi as his proffered holy symbol forced them cowering back into their filthy dens. Two more closed doors can be seen along this passage, which continues on into the darkness.

You made it about 5 feet further along the passage (which seemed to turn to the right ahead) and stopped to examine the two doors, which were unlike those that you had previously seen. Both were sheathed in metal, the one to the north covered in various glyphs and sigils and bearing a large central lock, the one to the south adorned with a sculpture of a gryphon's head, which made you uneasy just looking at it. Fonesca examined the inscribed door carefully and was able to determine that some of the symbols represented the signature glyphs of various famous mages, Maximillian and Khelben Arunsun among them, others were letters from various alphabets and the rest were unknown to her. Levi determined that the straight route would not necessarily be the best one and so got the party back into the first large room with the dusty furniture so that he could regain some of the spells that he had cast. After a mere six hours the group had re-assembled to the left of the door and Levi had 'shaped' an oval opening in the wall. You could just make out some chests in the room as well as the arc of some sort of pattern on the floor. Jito conjured an unseen servant, but the disembodied force could not open the chests. Jito then stepped bravely through the gap, noticing for the first time the large form shimmering unmovingly within the circle in the centre of the room. He was much more interested in the eight chests and the large urn. Gaspode and Fonesca followed Jito in when they realised that they could squirm around the edges of the chamber and not touch the circle on the floor. It took Fonesca a bit of awkward bending to get herself inside. Gaspode checked all the chests for traps but found none, so he then picked all the locks on them. Fonesca withdrew. Jito's unseen servant opened all of the chests one by one, revealing one containing platinum pieces and one containing a robe while the rest had gold secreted inside. Once the robe was carefully ferried over to the waiting swag bag of Gaspode and dumped in, Jito noticed that there were other goodies in that chest. All of these were removed by the unseen servant and, untouched by any of the group, were divided amongst their various backpacks and sacks. The gold and platinum soon followed, though first it was shrunk by the sheet of smallness. This meticulous operation took some time, and when it was over the pair in the plate-mail were getting quite jumpy about the undead returning, and so the group decided to retire with their winnings. Just as they were leaving they were startled by an arrow ricocheting off the stone disk through which they were ascending. Their escape from the underground lair was blocked by four assailants, who were laughing amongst themselves merrily for having duped the party into doing their dirty work for them. For one of them, now clad in leather armour seemed to be the man that they saw killed not three days ago. Accompanying him was a woman wielding a long-sword and wearing chainmail who seemed to be the leader of the group, a dwarf in chain and hefting a hammer and finally a half-elven female armed with a mace. After ignoring the "offer" of the leader to give up all of their treasure, the mothers suddenly found themselves at the blast point of a fireball as the rest of the Puppet Masters advanced on them. In the melee, Levi's left hand was severed by the sword of the woman who lead the deceiving group, Jito was killed by one too many a hefty blow from the dwarf's hammer, and Fonesca nearly couldn't stand after being battered with magic missiles. But luckily, Gaspode and Guthranka dealt harshly with the half-elven mace wielder. Moving quickly to help the others once Gaspode had used the gem of true seeing to find out where the invisible magic user was, and Fonesca's bag of flour ensured that he could be seen without having the gem glued to an eye. Jito's confusion spell took the old man in the leather armour out of the conflict for the duration and seemingly strengthened by his maiming, Levi dispatched the leading lady. It took quite some time to bring the dwarf down, and only a last-minute magic missile from Fonesca stopped the sneaky magic user from fleeing. The old man was put to his final rest quickly. After taking stock and letting Guthranka lay hands on his stump, Levi prayed most fervently to Tyr and was rewarded after a rest and eight hours further meditation with the means to bring back Jito from the lands of the dead. Jito survived the ordeal but his body was weakened somewhat for ever more. After more minor cures were applied the group determined to head back to Arabel with all the gear they had gathered off the Puppet Masters (they knew their name after they had read their charter) including some fancy hand puppets of a Paladin and a Demon that Jito requisitioned for mementoes and seek a cure for Levi's hand as well as to determine what all of the gear they found could do.

It did not take long for the group to return to Arabel with all of their plunder. Considerable time was spent with a war wizard who also dabbled in the lucrative sideline of identification of magical properties of items. In fact it took three days for the capabilities all of the robes, cloaks, rings, swords, daggers and whatnot to be discovered and then some more considerable time to divide it all out amongst the Mothers. Strangely, Levi did not seek out any way of re-attaching his left hand and was oft found by the others during those days sitting pondering his stump. Once the spellcasters had fathomed the intricacies of the book of Bruk, the Puppet Master's spell slinger and had decided on what magics to memorise the Mothers returned to the lair of Adzerak. Levi again shaped the stone to allow the group access and they descended the spiral stair as before. Once more the wights burst malevolently out at them, but, almost nonchalantly, Guthranka turned them with her symbol of Tyr. The Mothers, and Gaspode foremost, turned their attention to the metal door with the fantastical creatures head. He discovered that there was a magical ward on the door and so decided to use one of his recently acquired items, the short sword Imp to help him dispel the magics on the door. He did not expect it's disregard for all things Tyrran, nor it's general unhelpful demeanour. But after persuasion it said that it had done what was asked although the Mothers did not notice any effects. Sheathing the troublesome sword, Gaspode stepped back allowing Guthranka to open the door. Unfortunately it was locked, so Gaspode had a little more work to do, but after twiddling with his picks for but a short moment an audible click announced his success. Guthranka then opened the door to a room full of bare shelves. The disappointment was universal. Setting about the tedious task of tapping on all the walls and standing back and looking for odd joins and lines in the wall, the Mothers tromped into the room. Fonesca, though last in, had most success as she spotted a strange line in the shelves on the back wall which turned out to be a door into a bedroom. A large elaborate "A" was carved into the headboard of the bed, a wardrobe, dresser and nightstand stood against various walls and a statue of a well muscled man, to which Jito took an immediate liking, surveyed the room from the south-eastern corner. There was another, normal, door in the room, on the western wall. Gaspode immediately set about looking in the wardrobe and discovered a nice silver necklace which he took out to show the others. This enlivened Jito's favourite artwork no end. After punching Gaspode twice with his stone fists the construct collapsed under numerous blows and magic missiles. Further investigation of the room revealed a key in a drawer in the nightstand and several books, one of which, on the teachings and doctrine of Tyr, so interested Guthranka that she took it. "Calimshan On Three Gold Pieces A Day"did not seem to interest. Moving on, the Mother's went through the western door this time into what was obviously an alchemical laboratory. Alembics, dispensers, jars, tomes, phials, bottles and powders were scattered across a number of stained stone benches. The room was lit by a glowing rod held in the hand of a tall female statue in whose other hand was held a book. The Mothers were now wary of stone depictions of humanity (even Jito) and so they took pause.

A quick examination of the room revealed a book open on a less cluttered bench with a number of jars beakers and other containers surrounding it. Jito thought that the jars looked as if they had had some of their contents removed, and some time ago, if the dust was anything to go by. The book was open at a chapter on Lichdom and was called "The Lifecycle Arcane". Rather than touch anything the Mothers decided to leave the room by the western wall. Gaspode couldn't see any traps on it so Jito heaved it open grudgingly (the door that is). Beyond was a large sitting room with books covering most of the walls on the subject of plants and animals. A large fireplace dominated the opposite wall and the only other exit was in the northern wall. Jito reckoned that this lead back into the entrance room. After some prodding around the fireplace, the group returned to the hall with the wights and turned down the corridor that they had not yet seen the end of. It took some time stepping over the rubble and detritus of the ages and eventually they found that the whole south easterly portion of the corridor was blocked off by fallen masonry, soil and other rubbish. The double doors off the entrance room now piqued their interest so they headed back past the wights and allowed Gaspode room to see if the doors were going to animate and crush them. Nothing seemed to be amiss, although they were locked. Gaspode picked the lock easily and another large room of the size of the entrance chamber and the sitting room. Against the far wall was a large stone altar upon which rested an open book and above which hovered a flickering flame. The altar was carved with the symbol of Deneir. A cautious group approached the altar after Gaspode had declared that at least the apron of the room was free of traps. The book on the altar proved to be a treatise on the customs and practices of the church of Deneir, Lord of all Glyphs and Images, so the Mothers left it just where it was. There was nothing for it but to disturb the alchemical room! Guthranka and Fonesca had this wondrous thought and brought the rest of the gang back there with swords drawn and spells prepared. Guthranka flicked over a page of "The Lifecycle Arcane" and predictably enough the statue of the woman moved. It dropped the stone book from its left hand, whereupon it smashed on the floor, and took the glowing stone staff in both hands. Then, unpredictably, it stopped still. The Mothers were quite confused by this as they were about to lay in to the creature with all spells and weapons at their disposal. They waited to see if it would move again and then they noticed that Jito, Levi and Gaspode were all moving very slowly. As soon as they noticed this, the statue sprang back into action catching Levi a good blow with the staff. Gasp, Levi and Jito could not respond immediately, their actions a strange slow-motion caricature. Guthranka and Fonesca were able to act. Guthranka's sword bit into the arm of the creature to visible effect, but Fonesca's missiles of force seemed to just be absorbed into the torso of the statue without injuring it. The statue turned it's attention to Guthranka as she seemed the only credible threat, landing a heavy blow which put Guthranka onto the back foot and caused her to miss one of her attacks. Fonesca conjured a stony hand from the floor of the room to grasp the ankle of the statue, but it seemed to be able to ignore the hand's effects. Jito, Gasp and Levi were all able to land blows just as Guthranka also managed to hit the statue on her back-swing. It was Levi's FINAL blow that shattered the statue, leaving only part of the stone staff, which was still glowing, intact. Further examination of the room turned up nothing of great interest so the group reluctantly decided to clear the passageway of the rubble. The hour or so it took to clear a passage through the rubble was only interrupted when Jito unearthed a small group of rot grubs, two of which burrowed in to his left arm. Guthranka was on hand with her ability to cure his infestation and so he was only left with a couple of scars and a distinctly queasy feeling. They lit a torch to scorch the rest of the grubs. When the way was clear, they saw a short passage with frescoes painted on the walls, two on either side. There were small plaques under each of the scenes. Just beyond the art in the northern wall was an iron-bound door. The pictures showed robed and hooded figures battling undead, demons, dragons and the like with lightning bolts or other magical effects. Fonesca, who must have been curious as to the title of the first work, or perhaps she wanted the name of the artist so that she could commission her very own fresco on one of the walls of the farm near Silverymoon, leaned down and read the first plaque. Unfortunately the runes inscribed thereon exploded causing the whole group some damage. She resolved not to do that again, and perhaps to use a detect magic on any suspicious writings. Proceeding to the door and avoiding even looking at any other of the plaques the group stood back to allow Gaspode to do his stuff. No traps were found but Gaspode thought that it been magically locked. Fonesca stepped forward and released the lock with a spell. The door was opened by Guthranka and they stepped through to a brightly lit, but shadowy, room. The light came from four magical lamps that hovered in the air, the shadows from the piles and piles of books that were heaped everywhere, blocking the clear passage of the illumination. At the back of the room, past many stacks of books was a desk, itself somewhat of a shelf, and behind, clutching a book to his bony chest sat Adzerak. He was staring off into the distance with the one eye that he seemed to still possess and he was muttering about books. The Mother's gathered that he was a bit obsessed on the protection of his books, from thieves mainly. He'd gone slightly deranged and thought that his best solution would be to turn himself into a lich to protect them for the rest of time. He'd lost touch with reality, something the Mothers could identify with. So they suggested to him that he should give his books into the protection of Denier's great library. Adzerak perked up at this suggestion and roped the Mothers into helping him ferry all of his collection into the shrine of Deneir (remember that portfolio ?). Unfortunately whenever they got to close to him his innate lichy coldness froze them to the proverbial marrow, so they had to do a bit of agile dodging with piles of books in their arms. Then the two hour job was finally completed; Adzerak lay the final few books on the floor of the shrine and the presence of Deneir was shown as a great vortex of light sucking up all of the glyphs, runes, sigils and words from all of the books and drawing it all to Deneir. The wind also ate away at the form of Adzerak until he was subsumed in the maelstrom. Just before it disappeared the image of a grand old man appeared and spoke to them in Adzerak's voice thanking them for redeeming him and warning them of one who would look for all who had been in his home. All that was left in the room were five books. Fonesca immediately forgot her resolution and started to read the first one that came to hand, she dropped it and lay stunned for an hour while the others looked on helplessly, Guthranka prudently shutting the book and Gaspode stowing them in his sheet of smallness. When Fonesca recovered all she could say was "That definitely was not me". They rested up to allow Levi to recover his stone shape spells and left the lair of Adzerak sealed again before returning to Arabel. The war wizard again was employed to carefully discover the nature of the books, one effect of which he was clearly warned about. For the payment of a mere 1,000 gold pieces he was able to tell them that the books were most useful in the right hands. They were: A Manual of Puissant Skill at Arms (which Fonesca had not taken to); A Manual of Stealthy Pilfering; A Libram of Gainful Conjuration; A Book of Exalted Deeds and lastly a Manual Of Stone Golem creation. The Mothers pondered how they would use or dispose of these powerful items.