Three months had passed, and Muric and his company had been searching for an entrance to the dwarvenlands. All of the entrances that they had visited had been sealed from the other side, and would have taken weeks of digging to uncover. Someone, or something, wanted to keep people out of the underground. During this time, the elven commander of the Saberian Way, Sarin, quit his job and joined the adventurers. So, on this particular day, Muric and Sarin went to check out the rumors that there was another entrance to the dwarvenlands, near the capital city of Tulnigan, hidden within the Vrolok Forest. Meanwhile, Ovarin, Zaishalla and Mathurin waited for them in the Dancing Troll Inn. Riollaneise, Alyn, and Irana were out of town, scouring the countryside for news of Zinsaber's next move; Renee returned to her church hidden in Yuvegar Forest, and Smitty could be found in the place most comfortable for him: the local thieves' guild.

As Muric and Sarin returned to the Dancing Troll, they found a surprise: Mathurin's hand and part of the room floor was afire, and Ovarin had tried to put out the flames with (get this) axle grease!!! Muric tried to smother the fire on the floor with his silver shield while Mathurin retrieved some Happy Water and poured that on his hand. The shield burst into flames and was discarded into the street. When questioned as to the nature of the fire, Mathurin and Ovarin told Muric that it had been started by a curious pin that had crumbled to dust in the elf mage's hand. Meanwhile, Sarin peered into the hole in the floor made by the flames, then lit a taper and let it drop down to aid his vision. The resulting explosion was completely unexpected, as it destroyed the whole ground floor of the inn, and threatened to collapse the second floor as well! The four companions quickly yet gingerly made their way out of the inn, and exited just before another explosion caused the inn to collapse to the ground. Guards arriving on the scene speculated that a terrorist group had bombed the Dancing Troll, but the adventurers knew what really happened.

Mathurin's hand was a mess. Half of it was burnt cleanly off, the rest badly misshapen. Only a visit to the local temple could heal it. However, on the way, the adventurers met a riotous mob hounding the entrance of the church. When inquired as to their purpose, the crowd shouted out incoherent answers of the end of the world and the "new god, Zinsaber". Had Zinsaber already challenged the great Goddess? Mathurin did not believe so, not yet. So a diversion was concocted and the heroes led the mob elsewhere so they might gain entrance to the temple of Alfadon. Inside, Mathurin met a female cleric capable of handling him (in more ways than one, wink wink), and his hand was healed. Muric then led the group down into the Vrolok Forest, to the entrance to the dwarvenlands he had scouted earlier. As they traveled, Muric's sanity was broken by the arrival of the drake, Filitus, who had caught up with the adventurers and wished to join them. Upon arrival of the cave entrance, the group was beset by three large, apelike creatures, which were eventually dispatched, though Ovarin suffered some minor injuries. After the skirmish, the heroes entered the cave, heading into the dwarvenlands.

The companions knew that gaining entrance to Tulnigan would not be easy. The city of Tulnigan was in past times the seat of dwarven government, and depending on how drastically things had changed, it was likely that the city maintained a large militia and security measures. Mathurin suggested a dimension door spell, while Muric was in favor of entering the city subtlely under the guise of merchants. Zaishalla, on the other hand, was in favor of leaving the dwarvenlands to go find some trees, but she was told by Ovarin that there were trees in the dwarvenlands that she could find. Eventually, it was decided that Mathurin's suggestion was more plausible, for they had neither merchants' garb, nor license, nor items to peddle. Mathurin's suggestion, in fact, had only one major flaw: he did not know where he was going, and to use the dimension door spell, Mathurin needed a memory of the location in question to invoke the spell and go there. Muric had memories of the area, but they were thirteen years old and certainly the dwarf could not put those memories in the elf mage's head... or could he?

The drake voiced an unorthodox idea. If Filitus were to temporarily telepathically link with Muric, he could possibly send a memory or two into Mathurin's mind and thus make the spell a viable solution. Against Muric's better judgment, he agreed, and the drake sent a memory to Mathurin. Mathurin then cast his spell, and a blue-energy doorway opened before them. They went through, and entered a swirling abyss of color and light, but no sound. On the far side was another doorway, in which they could see a bazaar set up within a well-lit cavern. The group went through the door...

It was exactly as Muric had remembered it thirteen years ago. The market, with all its wonderful sights and sounds. The entertaining human bellydancer dancing for the human visitors to the dwarvenlands, mostly merchants and other businessmen. Mathurin, though, wondered how it was possible for humans to still be in the dwarvenlands, under Noble Trumm's rule. The adventurers questioned some of the locals, dwarven and human alike, about the government situation, and it was learned that the Dwarf War Council was still convening. Was the rumor of Trumm's coup a lie?

Needless to say, the entire group was dumbfounded, especially Muric. Everything was exactly the same as the day he and his master... currently running toward him... left... the... dwarvenlands... ... ...

At this point one must ask him/herself: "What the hell is going on here???"

Muric's old liege, Dolen, dead for over 12 years, was now running towards Muric, shouting his name. Muric instantly realized something: he was dreaming. This was all a dream. Dolen, though, grabbed Muric by the arm and asked the adventurers to come with him, calling them by name. Ovarin asked what was going on, and Dolen replied that a mage visiting the dwarvenlands was waiting for them. Visiting mage? Muric didn't remember a mage of any kind in the dwarvenlands. Sarin and the drake stood back, certain something was wrong, but they followed the others at a distance, in case they might run into trouble.

As Dolen took them to the mage, Muric tried to explain to his mentor the horrifying events that were about to take place, like he had so many dreams before. Dolen replied with revelations of his own: the adventurers had truly traveled back in time, forseen by the mage, and thus needed to return to their own time as soon as possible. Mathurin was shocked. How did that happen? But further questioning was impossible, for Dolen and the companions had reached their destination.

The heroes entered one of the several dwellings in the Merchant's Quarter, and found that Zinsaber was the inhabitant! Uh-oh. Zinsaber dismissed Dolen with a wave of his hand, magical energy shooting through the air, and Dolen left, his eyes glassy. Then, Zinsaber forced each of the heroes into a chair around his table, the arms of which wrapped around each of the heroes' arms, holding them in place. The mage then unveiled his knowledge of the events that had occurred: the Zinsaber of the "future" had sent a message through time to this one, stating that the "future Zinsaber" had messed with Mathurin's dimension door spell, sending the mage and his companions 13 years into the past to be dealt with. Zinsaber revealed his intent to kill each of the four heroes in the room one by one, but then Muric and Ovarin sprang into action, Muric using his immense strength to destroy the arms holding him fast, while Ovarin smashed his chair against a wall behind him, breaking it into several maneuverable pieces. Muric, Ovarin, and Zinsaber began fighting, while Mathurin struggled to get free. Then Muric, still believing he was in a dream, attempted to cut Mathurin free and swing his axe into Zinsaber at the same time... but in the process cut off Mathurin's left hand! Ouch!

Mathurin and Zaishalla attended to the mage's wounded arm, which they magically replaced with a purple potion they possessed, then Mathurin attempted to free himself of his chair, while Zaishalla got a wand out of Mathurin's backpack, shouted "Da-khim!" (which, consequently, was a word found on the side of the wand) and shot a large bolt of lightning at Zinsaber! Completely surprised, the mage fled, and the heroes were aided by Sarin, who entered after the mage ran off and vanished, with Filitus following close behind.

Poor Muric... It seemed that as Filitus caught up with the powerful mage Zinsaber, he still had a temporary mind link with the unsuspecting dwarf, and as Filitus breathed his last... Muric felt the aftershocks, and with his condition already weakened from past resurrections, fell dead. Mathurin, with a sigh, revived him with a charge from the Rods of Resurrection. Then Muric was able to leave the group and contact a cleric of Mith'ril, the deity of dwarvenkind, who promised to pray to their god to send the heroes back through time in exchange for... well... annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnyway... Muric directed the cleric to the house of Noble Trumm for the dirty deed (so the goblin got it in the end, heh heh) and the group was taken to the church of Mith'ril, where they were transported to their time.

Once back in their own time, the heroes met with the chief priest of the Church of Mith'ril, who was also secretly a part of the resistance against Noble Trumm. Everything was as it had been before the accident: history had not been changed. Noble Trumm had indeed dissolved the War Council and now was suspected by many dwarves to indeed be a goblin as some had said earlier. Furthermore, the Church of Mith'ril was now suspected, and rightly, of treason against Trumm. The soldiers loyal to Trumm were already on their way to arrest the clergy. With not a second to lose, the chief priest led Muric through a secret tunnel out into the caverns, where the heroes and priest escaped capture by fleeing deeper into the caverns. But the dwarven guards were still following... so as the chief priest and the companions went their separate ways, the heroes led the dwarven guards on a merry chase through the underground. Eventually, the group hit a dead end, and as they searched for a secret door or passageway, Mathurin found a switch that pulled the floor out, literally, from under the oncoming dwarves, who plummeted to their deaths. Muric was of course appalled, but recognized its necessity... Then, more rumbling, as a purple worm ate its way through and down the hole.

The newly dug tunnel led the adventurers further into the underground, to a junction Muric was very familiar with: a side passage that would lead them straight to Muric's stronghold of Strogitston. Making a mental note for later, the adventurers continued on to a dead end, but before they turned around, Ovarin found that the passage was actually blocked! They dug for an hour through the sealed passage until they broke through on the other side, to find a shimmering pool of pure water and a young woman, her back to the heroes, bathing in it. Muric found this incredible find to be remarkable... but when the woman turned, he instantly went blind. The woman was a nymph!

The nymph was good enough to heal Muric's blindness by kissing him, thus killing him and allowing Mathurin to resurrect him with another touch of the rod of resurrection, but the act weakened Muric immensely, and the once-healthy dwarf was now a frail reflection of himself. Then the nymph told the adventurers that the nereid was here, in this sacred place where the water was not yet poisoned. She explained that Noble Trumm had paid someone to poison the waters of Fastague, and that they were slowly becoming undrinkable and uninhabitable. The nereid was recuperating, and would only come to the adventurers if the captain of the dwarven guard, the man who had poisoned the waters, was brought to the nymph and killed in her sight. This was not a difficult task for the adventurers, who returned to the Tulnigan gates and abducted the captain of the guard rather easily by luring him out and taking him captive. They then brought him back to the nymph, and Zaishalla, since Mathurin was being "squeamish" and Muric refused to hurt a fellow dwarf, sliced off the captain's head. The nereid, now satisfied, appeared to the party, told them about Zinsaber's plans (nothing they did not already know, unfortunately), and claimed that all the world would tear itself apart should Zinsaber take Anala's place, and then cast a spell over them... the adventurers knew not what the spell did to them, but they left for Strogitston feeling healthier and heartier.

Four days passed, plagued with unconfirmed reports of Zinsaber's whereabouts in the Vrolok Forest, and Sarin had gone to confirm the rumors. Furthermore, Muric and Ovarin were greatly concerned about the water shortages happening in Strogitston and Gritton. When Sarin returned, the group agreed that both could be investigated in the Vrolok Forest. Sarin told them of an old tower patrolled by ogres, and suggested that there would be the first place to look. So the group traveled south to the forest.

On the way, two hesitant visitors heading for a tower named Kerkaulk joined the group: a blade entertainer named Keith, who was extremely confident in his skills as a sword-twirler, and a ranger the group had met some time before... Eichre! It seemed Eichre was alive and well, no longer burdened by the shackles of vampirism. At first, he could not say how this transformation occurred, having forgotten every year he had spent as a vampire, but then he began to remember bits and pieces as time wore on, and by the time the heroes reached Kerkaulk Tower, the group and Eichre were able to deduce that he had not been bit --cut off!--

Now, before I go on I want to make one thing clear. I do not hate Geocities. Yet. However, when two of your AD&D pages are cut off at crucial parts months after you've forgotten specifics, it is exasperating. Therefore, I shall give you a quick plot synopsis of the rest of the page:

Summary: The heroes reach Kerkaulk, there is a monstrous battle between them and the goblins and orcs guarding the area, they enter, Smitty nearly gets killed by a grell, and they reach the second floor of Kerkaulk. They spend the night, then find Ovarin has been turned to stone. Intending to come back for him, they head onward, upstairs, through a library, to a glowing rift. They decide to go back to get Ovarin.

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