In the middle of the night, the party were awoken by Tenn of the Door, who told of a distressed wolf outside. The wolf was Fenn, and he was severely injured as well as carrying a "world seed". His mistress Lissa the Druidess was lying, cloven in two outside, and the perpertrators were still around - a pair of half-celestial/half-demonic like assassins of immense strength and possessing powerful magic. After a brief but bloody combat, during which Corbin was nearly killed, they were defeated. Their belongings were collected and Lissa's body was brought inside the Tower of Balance.

Early the next morning, Lissa was brought back to life by Matthias. She had no idea why she had been attacked, but eventually agreed to take up residence within the Tower of Balance under the party's protection. Whilst talking to her, there was another visitor - Acacia, the famous halfling bard. She had come because someone had stolen her singing talent, and she suspected a rival bard named Percival Penfold, with a wizard named Kalitosis as his accomplice. Agnimia Legacy also turned up, and was rather angry that Acacia was trying to hire the party as she was expecting them to rescue her brother instead. However, Acacia put pressure on Agnimia, and Agnimia left to try to arrange a meeting between the four heroes and her mother - head of the Legacy family. The party showed some reservations in taking Acacia's quest, partially because of the limited information and evidence she could provide, as well as the danger of the quest, since she had told the party that this Kalitosis wizard apparently made his home in the Bastion of Last Hope, a fortress in the mountains on Orthrys - the first layer of Carceri

Deciding that some planar keys would be needed, the group went with Lissa to collect her menagerie of awakened animals, before heading to the market place. Literally as they arrived, an abomination appeared, killing many of the stall holders and market goers. The group managed to kill it, giving Sondirra a near death encounter with Lady Fate in the process and gaining the good will of the shopkeepers, many of whom subsequently asked the party to stop by their shops and collect a reward. Lissa and Corbin returned to the Tower of Balance - the former distraught by the loss of one of her awaken animals. The party are asked by Captain Jakes (local law inforcement) to attend the Council of the Mercane at noon the following day.

Malick, Matthias and Sondirra then went around several shops - Mis'Mis Scribing Services, Ickitavi's Odd Components, Og's Bang 'n' Boom as well as passing by a Temple dedicated to many good gods where they met Joseph Valorheart. They were gifted several presents, including a book for Sondirra from Mis'Mis, a stone tablet with Epic Mage Armour engraved on it for Malick, a set of dragon-skin cloaks (giving fire resistance) from Og, as well as a Dragon Fang Amulet, that means that any weapon wielded will by-pass Dragon's natural damage reduction.

At Joseph Valorheart's temple, the group also picked up a possible quest - he had just performed a divination which indicated it would be bad news for him to try to fetch a pair of artifacts (the Rod of Fortification and the Rod of Paradise) which would help fortify the temple and provide a secondary sanctuary from any future abominations that might appear to wreak distruction in Union. He asked the group if they would consider such a quest instead of him (or his old adventuring buddies - Tansey, Tavi, and Og).

Returning to the Tower of Balance, the group encountered two siblings (Lacey and Riva Green - aka the "Jade Pair") who were causing a bit of a disturbance and had definitely ruffled Lissa's feathers. Apparently the pair had been previously hired by Agnimia to help her locate her brother, and were rather put out that she had dropped them in favour of the Lady's Champions... Especially as they had already invested in a divination to help them.

After some discussions, the group retired to sleep.

DAY THREE

Early in the morning, Matthias communed with his goddess, and asked a number of questions. The group then made their way back to the market place, so that Sondirra could sell the various trinkets he had obtained from the half-demonic, half-celestial assassins that had attacked them. A runner came up with the needed Planar Keys, curtursy of Ickitavi and the group met with the Maluke of the Council of the Mercane, who "let the group off" from the fine that they could have been charged for the distruction of property at the Market Place the day before. Their idea of a reward for dispatching the abomination! The council leader also asked if the group would be interested in being paid to "keep an eye out" for Gith or Gilthanki - as these war-like races are bad for business. Maluke also mentioned the fabled Book of Abominations written by a long deceased ranger, Cardinal Watcher. Last seen in either the hands of Thomas Dross (a Union Sentinel) or Catiara (a Gleaner and elven mage in the Guild).

Following this meeting, the group headed off to the Tradition, looking for Acacia. Corbin and Sondirra entered, and met, albeit very briefly and without introducing themselves, Madam Legacy. Heading around the side, the group spotted the "employees entrance" where they passed a couple of people leaving - specifically Leather Jack, pixie illusionist extraordinaire and also the enchantress Isabeau, a stage hand at the Tradition. Once inside the Tradition, the group met with Acacia, who provided them with a little more information about her quest, as well as an old locket that once belonged to Percival Penfold.

Having gained as much information as they could from Acacia, Sondirra suggested that they return to visit Joseph Valorheart to see if he could do a divination for them - which he did.

Armed with this extra information, the group planned to return to the Tower of Balance and make their final preparations for going to Orthys - the first layer of Carceri. Sondirra did a little side-shopping, using the proceeds from the sale of the trinkets they'd gained from the demonic/celestial assassins to purchase a shadow veil. As the group got back to the Tower of Balance, they met with Tansey, who was delivering a couple of sketches of Kalitosis and Percival. Deciding it was better to go refreshed, the group decided to go the following morning.

DAY FOUR

Readying themselves, Malick plane-shifted the group to Orthyrs, the first layer of Carceri - a swampy marsh. Deciding that teleporting to the Bastion would be a good idea - Malick cast another spell - but instead of it taking the group into the mountains, it took them to the SECOND layer of Carceri instead - an acidic jungle like environment just outside a large stone structure... Confused by where they were, the heroes suddenly realised that during the day, they'd all suddenly started talking about the Bastion of Lost Souls, rather than the Bastion of Last Hope! To cap it all, just as this realisation came to the fore, the group were attacked! A brief battle occured in which took out a huge dragon-snake thing. Corbin got frozen and weakened by the things venom just before Sondirra finished it off - and later the ranger confessed that he suddenly wanted to abandon the quest and run off with Lissa (ED: His player wanted to change characters! )... Having found and looted the lair of the Greater Ssvaklor, the group used Malick's mansion to return to Union, where they discovered that Lady Fate had already anticipated Corbin's break-down, and had left a message telling of some new heroes to join the party. Corbin disappeared off with Lissa through the portal she had established to a druid's grove in Faerun, and the remaining three then spent the rest of the day buying and selling stuff - as they'd suddenly come into more money than they'd ever seen before!

DAY FIVE

Some more time was spent selling and buying stuff...

That evening, as the three were walking in the market, they saw three strangers, together with a flash of Lady Fate next to them - these were the new heroes that Lady Fate had picked out to join the quest - Takezo Kensai and the two brothers, Thrum and Rocky Myvillionsuaco. The larger group made their way to Red Fox inn, where they spent a pleasant evening getting to know each other and getting the three newcomers up to speed. At the end of the evening, Malick, Matthias and Sondirra returned to the Tower of Balance - leaving Kensai, Thrum and Rocky to find their own accomodation.

DAY SIX

The next morning, the group in the tower awoke to find that the three newcomers had been uncermoniously transported whilst they were sleeping onto the doorstep of the Tower of Balance by Lady Fate. As the group had breakfast, they discovered that Matthias had been transformed in the night by his goddess - and was now a celestial.

After some brief discussion, Matthias again transported the group to Carceri, this time arriving in the mountains, where they spotted three travellers moving on a trail some 100 feet below them. Overhearing that these other travellers had just come from the Bastion of Last Hope, they moved to intercept them. After a shaky start, where the other travellers were rather defensive, a conversation was held, and they recommended that precautions were taken, as the entrance to the Bastion had protection from those of good intention. Leaving the other travellers and protecting themselves with appropriate magics, the group entered the Bastion. Thrum and Rocky, as they didn't want to give up their holy weapons, decided to stay outside.

Almost immediately upon entering the busy market-like place, they spotted a fey woman held captive in some cages. It turns out that she was tricked or drugged into captivity, the iron of the cage preventing her from escaping. The jailer, upon seeing the truth of her situation, relented and released her. The fey woman introduced herself as Aura - and explained that it was someone named Percival who had tricked her into the cage. In the meantime, Sondirra had overheard a conversation that implied that the bard Percival had a plot to control Fate herself by sacrificing a particular fey, and that, in the next half hour, he was going to petition the Lord of this place to assist him in this process.

Given the significance of events about to unfold, the group decided to forget the mission to get Acacia's voice back (at least for now) and to leave the Bastion with Aura whilst they still could. As they left however, they met an old friend of Takezo's, a woman by the name of Tara who was on a mission commissioned by the Lords of Waterdeep to investigate and bring proof of the involvement of the Ruby Scepter with a prominent Lord (to prevent a war). Her trail had led her here - and more specifically, to Percival Penfold. This new twist of fate / cooincidence proved to be the undoing of the group. Thrum and Rocky were nowhere to be seen, Tara was determined to enter the Bastion, despite the imminent arrival of the powerful "Lord" of the place, and Takezo (and Aura of all people) were determined to go back into danger to try to get to Percival. Reluctantly, the others agreed to return, hoping that they would be able to keep a low profile and perhaps find an opportunity to get Percival alone.

Upon re-entering the Bastion, the opening of "the Pit" - where the audiances with the Lord were to take place, had almost finished, and the doors to the Bastion were in the process of being closed. Thrum and Rocky were spotted - minus their packs and weapons, held captive and probably awaiting the Lord's "justice". Aura took it upon herself to try to engineer an escape, and nearly suceeded. Takezo and Tara launched into what seemed like a suicidal battle, along with the unarmed brothers who didn't want to leave without their sacred weapons. Matthias, Malick and Sondirra looked on in horror, trying to see a way out. Finally, Aura escapes alone through the doors of the Bastion and the other combattants were teleported to some unknown location by an unknown powerful spellcaster.

Praying that they were OK - Sondirra managed to steal back the brother's weapons and secrete them in his pack, and the three remaining heroes watched as the pit was finally opened, and Asmodeus, in all his demon lord glory, arrived to give audience. He wasn't that pleased with Percival. After the audience, Sondirra followed Percival, and overheard him speaking with a Ha-Naga - one of his allies no doubt. Then Sondirra, Malick and Matthias followed Percival into some private areas, hoping to ambush him. Finally, they managed to do exactly that, Sondirra clubbing the bard to the ground before stripping him of all magical items and tying him up.