Eressil, Rhone, and Zendrynn teleport into the enemy base next to Ashe, and are immediately caught up in the ongoing battle.

After finally defeating Boice and Haerdo, they start to catch up a little bit about what had happened. They search through the base trying to find the prisoners but they do not find any initially. After searching again with detect magic, they find a hidden passage that leads down a long corridor.

After finally defeating Boice and Haerdo, they start to catch up a little bit about what had happened. They search through the base trying to find the prisoners but they do not find any initially. After searching again with detect magic, they find a hidden passage that leads down a long corridor.

Exploring the Prisoner's Path

The group went looking for ZeeZee after finding the hidden corridor. They came to a single larger room with 3 passages. To the right was a magically blocked pathway, in front of them was the a set of double doors, to the left was a passageway with the scent of blood and humans.

Starfox scouted the double doors and found a library along with a workshop containing notes about experimentation done to modify humans. The party tried several reasonable attempts to go through the right passageway but could not pass it. They tried walking, teleportation, dispelling, sending zombies, sending a familiar through it, and even throwing an axe at it. All failed in the end.

Finally they decide to take the path with the humans and scent of blood. First they send Starfox down the path to scout and through her eyes, Ilea sees humans in cages. One human starts to call out for helping having never seen this creature in here before.

They met a scared little girl, and a feeble old man (subsequently called Little Girl), and then finally the man who was calling for help. His name is Vanalf. Though he had been here for quite some time, he had yet to actually be tortured. He informed them of the information he had gleamed through overhearing any talking.

• There are 6 bases: Dane, ek-Af'daeh, Jayel, Loekii, Selkhet, and Sumu. and they are currently located within Base Loekii.
• They are currently located within Base Loekii.
• Base Jayel is also located inside the Brogduro Mountain Range, at a site associated with the First Starfall.

Torturing the Torturer

They continue down the corridors, finally arriving before the Torture Chamber. Inside the first room, they see a trail of blood coming from a door on the far side, leading out of the room and over to a pit. As they look down, they see a pit littered with bones and dead bodies.

They try to open the door but it is locked. Ilea looks through the door and was able to vague shapes. One looking as if it was struggling to move, while the other moved out of her site. Ash decides kicks the door open. As she does this, it causes part of the metal locking mechanism to fly off the door, and hit the bound person in the neck, instantly killing them, though noon is aware that is what happened. When they open the door, it is immediately transparent that most of them cannot see into the room, only Ilea can. Erring on the side of caution, Eressil dispels the magical darkness, and for a brief moment they get a glimpse of the room. They see a series of torture devices and tools. Including a cage and an Iron Maiden. Almost immediately after they get that small glimpse, the magical darkness comes back.

Ilea jumps and rolls into the room, and is immediately attacked from the side by a flying dagger. She was not deceived by this trickery though, as she saw the assailant fall down between her and the doorway. She attacks and with a mighty swing, is able to send the assailant flying backwards out of the room into the rest of the group, who are taken by surprise.

During the sub-dual of the man who was indeed torturing the other person in the room, Eressil transforms into a large elemental wreathed in flame. The torturer, not being use to being in the light, things he has the ability to slip into the shadows, only to realize the light from the flame elemental has eliminated all of the shadows nearby him. They quickly subdue the man. Ajax starts to torture him to get information, while Ilea continues to search. It becomes apparent that this person has lost his mind long ago, as he is giving Ajax advice on how to torture him. Tips and tricks of the trade.

After the near immediate sub-dual of the man, Eressil walks into the dark room, while Ilea is searching it only to find out she still can't see anything, so she walks back out. Ilea finds an ornate dagger on one of the tables and a small locket in the cage, after which she walks back out.

After they get the information they want, Rhone drops the torturer to his death and says:

I've lost a lot of patience with the wicked.

As they make their way back, they start to free the remaining prisoners using Ashe's magical axe. One freed man tells them:

If you ever make a trip to Port Cina, stop by the Silver Wolf Armory. Ask for ??????.

The Library and the Workshop

As they make their way back to the middle room, Vanalf offers to spend time investigating the barrier while they continue on and investigate the room with the library and the workshop. Barney agrees to escort the others out of the base and use the opportunity to find out what happened to his wife and children. The party continues along to the library and the workshop, they discover that the experiments on humans involve barriers against summoning and several different vials of blood. Most of which look as if they are marked as failures, with the last vial looking as if it was marked as a success. They as they go through the library, they recover several books on topics which interest them.

Ajax: Books on summoning, barriers, and planar binding
Ashe: History of the Realms, Demi-Planes
Eressil: Books about Animals, Beasts, Etc
Ilea: Creating magic items and enchanting
Rhone: Demi-Mortals and Divinities
Zenn: Demi-Mortals and Divinities

Breaking the Sound Barrier and Rescuing Zee Zee

They rest up, and after working with Vanalf, it is deduced that this is some sort of sound barrier that is stopping them. The way in which it works is still not clear, but it is believed that with enough sound, they may be able to break down the barrier. After creating a cacophony of sounds using various spells together, the barrier breaks and they can advance. They enter into the room to find it is merely a small bed chamber, with a writing desk, and several empty picture frames on the wall, along with a Curtain hanging against the back wall.

Atop the desk, they see Zee Zee trapped in an electrical cage of sorts. They manage to dispel the electrical cage, and it is discovered that experiments were done on Zee Zee. Zee Zee's soul has been unbound and should she die, she will be lost forever. Vanalf, mentions there is a ritual that would allow Ajax to give up some of his life force permanently, to bind Zee Zee with his own soul. He quickly makes the decision and the ritual is started. After an hour, with the help of Eressil and Rhone, the ritual is completed and Zee Zee is now sustained by Ajax's own life.

Meanwhile, the others investigate the room more and after drawing a curtain, they see an illusion of a meadow. The empty picture frames, that were hanging on the wall, now have images filling them. A couple of images of a Pornquall, a woman, and a young girl. He looks happy and it seems they may be his family. Another image shows a woman with short vibrant red hair with freckles, wearing half-plate, and carrying a giant stone mallet. On her armor, you see a symbol of 4 red sparks shooting out from a central black circle. Ilea uses this opportunity to open the locket, and discover it contains an image of Barney and his family and is sad that she lost the opportunity to give it to him. They also give the Ornate Dagger found, to Ajax which grants him the ability to Dual Wield daggers effectively.

Base Loekii No More

As they leave, Rhone sets the Library on fire to stop the dangerous information from falling into the wrong hands. They also recess the Teleportation Circle into the floor and cover it so that it can't be used, and then make it look like it was destroyed.

Upon exiting the base, they see Barney waiting behind a boulder for them. Ilea gives him the locket, and informs him where she found it. They are most likely dead. Barney thanks her, and tells them that he will be heading the Maora Hegnur Swamp, specifically to Dead Man's Keep, and will start working on uncovering the exact location of Base Sumu, which he knows was located somewhere within the swamp. They can meet up with him there at some point if they wish.

As they make their way back to Crystalvayne, Rhone tries several times to commune with a greater source, all of which fail.

The Way Back

Rhone informs Ashe of some of the events that took place when they went their separate ways. It is brought up that they witnessed the death of Mishakal (Zenndryn's Deity) at Haerdo's hands. They had found an Apple that seems to be an artifact of Mishakal.

One night while everyone is asleep, they dream of the children of Verdale.