Upon arriving in Silverhaven, the group was led in to see the local magistrate. They were told they'd be held as material witnesses for the upcoming case against Princess Leah. In the mean time, they were to be quartered in the government-contracted hotel across the street.

The companions rested up for a couple of days. Given that they had nothing better to do, they visited various guilds and training centers, improving their skills in various areas. They took Goth to a temple of St. Cuthbert, and he had intensive talks with some of the priests while also learning more of what had happened since his own time.

The group had ample time to explore Silverhaven. Near the edge of the town, overlooking a large field was a tall obelisk-like structure. It was a square tower, standing about forty feet on a side, twelve stories tall, with no visible windows. It was interesting in that it stood out from the rest of the surroundings, as if it were of some importance, but yet no one was ever seen entering or leaving.

The various party members asked about the temple, but no one could tell them much about it. It was rumored that occasionally, a door would appear in the side, but no one had ever been brave enough to enter, as the door always disappeared after a few minutes. Alexander asked about the tower at the wizard's guild, and they explained that they were interested in the tower, but had not yet gotten around to exploring it. The tower was once occupied a group that called themselves 'The Ministry of the Winds." The group vanished over two-hundred years ago, and as far as the guild members knew, no one had entered it since. The head of the guild offered the party a substantial reward to report back about the tower's interior.

Most of the group was interested in scouting out the tower. All except for Goth, that is, who decided to remain with the clerics of St. Cuthbert for a while longer, discussing the past, the present, and perhaps the future. The group ensured they were well provisioned, and headed to the obelisk.

The four companions sat down on the side of the obelisk where random door appearances had been reported. After some time of studying the walls, and trying to discern information, a door appeared. Startled, they jumped up and began to check it out.

"Is it trapped?" asked Bob.

'Cyn spent a couple minutes checking the door. "No, it doesn't appear to be trapped," she replied. "It does seem to be locked, though," she added.

"Can you break it down?" asked Alexander.

"Are you kidding?" replied Rick, it's made of stone! Do you have a 'knock' spell?"

"Crap, not readied," replied Alexander.

About that time, the door disappeared again.

"D'oh!" cried Alexander. "Crap, now what? This was probably the only time in a whole century that the door appears, and now we've got another hundred years to wait on the damned thing!"

"Naah," replied Bob, "others've seen the door appear recently, so we're probably not outa luck."

"I suppose you're right," agreed Alexander, "Besides, it's getting on to the end of the day, and I need to recharge my spells - I'll memorize 'knock' this time. Is anyone willing to camp out here and watch for the door tonight?"

"Yeah," volunteered Rick, "I'll hang out. Bob, will you stay, too, so I don't have to pull an all-nighter?"

With that, Alexander headed back to the guild and inn, while Bob and Rick stayed the night, watching for the reappearance of the door. The door reappeared a couple times that night, at five, eleven, and three in the morning.

Rested an ready to go, Alexander and 'Cyn returned to the tower. Rick and Bob explained the appearance of the door through the night. "I noticed that it seemed to appear whenever the wind died down," said Rick, "I'm sure there's a clue, there, somewhere, but I'm not sure what it is."

"Maybe we Alexander could cast a 'Leomunds Hut' to block the wind?" posited Bob.

"I don't think I want to try that," replied Alexander, "It might foul the magic. I think we should just wait a bit longer for it to appear again."

The party waited around for a few hours, examining the tower. The outside was black like onyx, but was climbable. "Do you think you could climb up?" asked Alexander.

"Yes," replied 'Cyn, "but it'd be rough. I don't see anything up there worth climbing to. I'm more inclined to wait for the door."

"Fair enough," said Alexander, "but I think we ought to start thinking about other ways to get in, just in case the door..."

The door reappeared right in front of Alexander. "Never mind," he said. He cast a "knock" spell on the door, an the door fell slightly open.

Bob and Rick pushed into the door to short entryway through the obelisk's eight-foot thick wall. Beyond the entryway, the party came upon a large, open room. The room was square, with twenty foot sides. The walls were carved with pictograms, with some of the carvings being etched nearly two inches deep. Rick immediately noticed a poorly hidden trap door in the floor. Looking up, the four friends saw that the room disappeared into the darkness.

"Damn!" exclaimed Bob, "That's a tall ceiling!"

"I'll say," agreed Rick, "Can you see anything up there?"

"I can now," replied Bob, castnig a 'dancing lights,' and sending it upward.

As the lights went up, the party looked for any clues. Finally, near the top, the group could identify a small doorway that led deaper intot he tower.

"Wow," said Bob, "That's a long way up!"

"Yeah," agreed Rick, "sixty or so feet, easy"

"'Cyn," asked Alexander, "You think you could climb up there, and we could set up another rope elevator to get us all up?"

"Yeah, I think so," replied 'Cyn, "some of these carvings are pretty deep. Shouldn't be much of a problem." 'Cyn began scurrying up the wall.

"I don't recognize these pictograms," said Alexander, "Does anyone else?"

"Nope," said Rick, looking back up towards 'Cyn.

"Me either," replied Bob.

About that time, 'Cyn reached the entryway and began securing a piton and rope. Soon, the elevator was working, and all of the group had passed through the opening. Ahead, they saw a short hallway, maybe ten feet long. The hallway made a sudden turn to the right, and a steep stairway could be seen leading upwards towards a well-lit opening.

"Well," said Alexander a bit excitedly, "let's go!"

Alexander lead the way up the stairs with Rick and Bob close behind. The stairs went up about ten feet, and exited through an opening in the floor of a room that was about fifteen feet on each side. Amazingly, the walls were transparent, allowing the party to see out over most of Silverhaven.

After their initial awe at the view, their attention became focused on a tall, wooden chair in the room. Sitting in this elevated chair was a strange creature with ruby-red scales, a mandibled head, and four arms. The creature was wearing a loose yellow cloak and had weapons — two short swords — close at hand. The creature was writing on a piece of parchment - hundreds, if not thousands of sheets of parchment lie scattered about the floor around the creature. The creature kept writing, as if the party was not there.

"OK," said Alexander, "let's see if he'll talk."

"Excuse me..." said Alexander.

The Xill looked up at Alexander, obviously annoyed at being interrupted. The creature grabbed its short swords, and lept at Alexander in a fury. Alexander pelted the Xill with migic missiles while the Xill missed Alexander with one weapon, stabbed him with a glancing blow off his ribs with the other, and bit him on the neck.

Alexander could feel a slight numbness and tingling in his limbs, and realized that the Xill's bite was poisonous. He tried to fake the effects of the poison by going limp, but the creature was not fooled. Alexander realized his peril and tried to cast a burning hands against his adversary, but he lost his concentration as the Xill bit him again, making his extremities go numb a second time.

While the Xill was biting Alexander, the rest of the party converged on the two, and begain attacking the XIll with a combined fury so as to make it realize the error of its ways. The Xill managed to successfully wound Bob and Rick with its short swords while it was applying its second dose of venom to Alexander.

Realizing its peril, the Xill began to fade from this existence, taking Alexander along with it! Alexander had success driving a dagger into the creature's arm, but his friends' attacks many times just passed through. This continued for a minute or so, when Bob finished the creature's existence.

As the creature expired, its body disappeared completely. Looking around, the party found no trace of either the Xill or their friend. In the meantime, Alexander pulled himself from under the Xill's body. Looking around, he found himself in a hazy world, where he found he could see through most things - he could hear his friends, as through through a thick door, but could not talk back to them. Looking down, he realized he could see the ground, some eighty or ninety feet down, as well as the dungeons below.

Alexander followed along with his companions for some time before deciding that there was nothing he could do to help. Since he could pass through walls at will, and realizing that he was on the Ethereal Plane, he made his way back to the magic user's guild. There he set himself up to wait for someone scrying, casting detection spells, or trying to summon or gate. Through one of those methods, he would make himself known by getting in the way of their spell, and entreating the caster to pull him back to the Prime Material Plane.

"Where's Alex?" Cried 'Cyn, "Where'd he go?"

"I think that critter was extra-planar," explained Rick, "It was transporting Alex back to its own plane."

"But is he OK?" pleaded 'Cyn.

"I think so," replied Rick, "He was still fighting when that critter died, so I have to assume he's still alive. As long as there weren't some other kind of critter there to get him, he should be OK.

"Do you know where he is?" asked 'Cyn.

"I imagine he's standing right next to us," Said Rick, "..."

"He's probably groping your butt," interjected Bob with a smile.

"You stop that!" cried 'Cyn, "how can you be so cavalier about it?"

"It's OK," said Rick, trying to calm her down. Rick gave Bob a dirty look and continued; "I imagine he's OK, but I don't have any way to reach him, let alone pull him back. We'll have to find a way to contact him. Maybe we can find some way to get him back if we look around in this obelisk some more, or maybe we could head back to the Magic-user's guild and see if they have any ideas."

"Maybe he can even figure a way out, himself," interjected Bob.

"Maybe," replied Rick, "But I don't know how. I guess we have three options; Wait here, move on, or head back to the guild. Whaddaya think?"

"Why don't we go ahead and move on through," asked Bob, "and continue exploring - that's pretty close to doing two of those three."

"Yes," 'Cyn replied, "I supopse so."

The companions puttered around, picking up the papers and looknig for any other things of interest. 'Cyn began rifling the papers.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, "These are a recent history of the surrounding area!" She rifled some more and said "They go back about six months - they seem to describe every major happening within a few miles in some pretty good detail. Look! They even describe us bringing the Mistress back into town for trial!"

"Heh," piped up Bob, obviously in a pithy mood, "How does it feel to go down in history?"

"You joke," replied 'Cyn, "but I'll bet we could sell these to a local historian - I'm going to hang on to them."

The group collected their things, decended back to the main floor, and prepared to enter the trap door in the floor of the entry-room.

Opening the trap door, the party discovered a tight, spiral staircase leading down. They carefully followed the stairs down to a circular room, about thirty-five feet across. The spiral stairs opened into the southern side of a mostly round room almost 30 feet across. The walls, floor, and domed ceiling were painted sky-blue and white, like a cloud-filled sky. However, now—surely many decades after this handiwork was completed—the paint looked faded and chipped.

"Well," said Rick, "No welcoming committee. 'Cyn, is the door locked or trapped?"

'Cyn went to work checking the door while the rest of the group checked the room, finiding nothing of interest.

"The door's clean," said 'Cyn.

Rick and Bob moved to the front and carefully pushed the door open. Inside was an oddly-shaped hall filled with large, fluidly-carved alcoves. The walls were all covered in a strange mixture of abstract carvings and a myriad of tiny images.

"These look awefully similar to the carvings in the tower," said Bob.

"Yep," agreed 'Cyn. She moved further into the room, checking out the carvings and searchign for traps and treasures. As she moved towards the far end of the room, she called out; "These carvings are recent!"

Bob and Rick moved up to look with her and agreed that these carvings were indeed fresh. As they again looked for some clue to their meaning, 'Cyn checked the door at the end of the room. "Clear!" she called.

Bob and Rick took the lead, and pushed opened the door. It swung open easily at first, but then slammed back against the Northern wall, as a strong wind shoved Bob back out of the doorway! The hallway was filled with powerful winds, blowing from west to east. This room looked similar to the one they were trying to leave, only with smaller alcoves.

To the South was a door, and from the West, ten shambling shambling, humanoid forms, towering at least eight feet high began to lurch out of the recesses and into the windy hall, brittle flesh barely hanging onto ancient bone. The Ogre Zombies pushed their way into the hallway, each shoving the other as they came for the intruders.

Rick began to advance into the room, but the strong winds buffeted him, impairing his vision and balance. He backed back to the doorway, realizing it gave the best advantage, as the large zombies could only engage him two at a time from there. As he hewed into the first of his adversaries, a small spark flew past his shoulder and into the midst of the crowd of undead. A fireball erupted, sending a wall of flame just to the bac of the one he was fighting!

"Damn!" Rick cried, "That was close!"

"Woohoo!" cried 'Cyn, "Right where I wanted it! I think I got them all!"

"Maybe so!" replied Rick, as he dodged the zombie's bite, "But they're still fighting!"

The zombies continued to press forward as another spark flew past and detonated. The concussion nearly deafened Rick, and several of the zombies fell. Rick hewed into his imediate adversary, and it dropped to the ground with a large rent in its skull.

Bob regained his feet and pushed forward to Rick's aid. He shattered the leg of one of the zombies, slowing it further. Another fireball erupted, felling all but three of the zombies, and these were badly torn and smouldering. As Bob moved forward to dispatch one of the undead creatures, a minotaur burst through the door, nearly impaling Rick on one of its horns!

Rick pushed the minotaur off of him, scowling at the beast for puncturing his armor. A quick slice with his sword cut across the beast's face. 'Cyn came up from behind to assist, while Bob struggled with the wind.

The minotaur swung its huge greataxe, and bashed it into 'Cyn, hard. Momentarily stunned, 'Cyn stumbled back. As she did so, she saw mage suddenly became visible just outside the doorway, behind the minotaur. A lightning bolt leapt from the mage's hands, scorching Her and Rick, and curling their hair!

"Enough of this crap!" exclaimed 'Cyn as she tumbled past the minotaur! Her cartwheel came to a stop just behind the mage, and she sunk both her magic daggers deep into his back! The mage gurgled as blood came from his mouth and he sunk to the ground.

Rick felt like he was going to be crushed as his armor kept him from being cut in half. As he bounced off the wall behind him, he rebounded into the fight - sinking his sword deep into the minotaurs guts. Bob finally made it far enough forward to cut the beast's achille's tendon, and it fell prone at their feet.

Panting, The group looked around. With their numbers down to three, they were nervous - especially since they were missing their spellcaster. Rick quickly cast some healing magic on himself and 'Cyn. Looking down, he realized that their two opponents were still alive. "Should we take some prisoners for questiong?" he asked?

"Nope," replied Bob, as he reached down and sliced the minotaur's throat. "No need for prisoners!"

Rick looked at Bob and posited; "We were supposed to bring back information on this little place. Don't you think a prisoner might help?" Rick looked to the South, as he was sure he heard something growling.

"Nope," replied 'Cyn, as she cut the mage's throat. "Hear that growling?" she asked, "there's more on the way."

"Yeah," replied Rick, "I was kinda hoping we could avoid all that."

The party moved back into the windy hallway. 'Cyn held the door while Rick tried to help Bob stand.

Another growl came from an open doorway to the South and East. Suddenly, an female elf in scale-mail came flying through the doorway, just over and behind a dog and not-dog. The dog was a Dire Wolf, as tall as Rick, the not-dog was something that looked almost, but not quite like a large dog. The thing's fur was tinged blue, it's eyes glowed red, and its feet were clawed. This didn't look good.

Rick dropped his sword and fired his bow, missing the not-dog. The flying elf arrived to the doorway first, whacking Rick soundly with her heavy mace.

The companions fell back through the doorway, and 'Cyn let the door go, the wind slamming it in the faces of their adversaries while Rick and Bob tried to brace the door against intrusion. 'Cyn grabbed a piton, and prepared to wedge it under the door.

"The wind will help us," cried Rick, "Push!"

Suddenly, the wind died, and the wolf and not-dog pushed the door back open and pressed their attack! The wolf bit down on Bob's arm while the barghest showed its fury, clawing and biting Rick soundly. Rick and 'Cyn fell back about five feet to the West with the wolf and barghest in hot pursuit. Bob fell back towards the East.

"Come on in, Bitch," muttered Bob, hefting his sword to meet her entrance. Instead, the elf settled to the floor and waited as the barghest turned on Bob, giving her an opportunity to cast spells from outside the doorway. Once again, the wolf laid into Rick while the barghest laid into Bob. The fighters jockeyed a bit for position, and managed to get the wolf flanked. 'Cyn unleashed a couple of powerful attacks against the wolf, hurting it badly.

The elf cast a spell, and Bob felt himself momentarily lose control of his body. The feeling quickly faded, however, as he laid into the wolf, sinking his sword deep into its flank. The barghest laid into Bob once again, swiping him across the jaw and biting down hard on his shoulder. The wolf lunged at 'Cyn as she twisted away, narrowly avoiding its gnashing teeth. The Elf cast a "gust of wind" spell, knocking Bob backwards into the wall, but he maintained his balance nontheless.

Rick countered, bashing the wolf with his shield and wishing he adn't dropped his sword. 'Cyn once again stabbed the wolf, her magical daggers peeling away layers of its flesh. Bob laid into the barghest, cutting tendons in its shoulder.

The battle was ferocious, and the wolf finally dropped, angering the Elf. Rick slipped to the doorway and shield-bashed her so hard that it made his arm tingle. 'Cyn sank her daggers deep into the Barghast, causing it to turn its attention away from a badly hurt Bob. The Barghest laid into 'Cyn, hurting her badly. Bob swung his sword at the elf but missed.

The battle was going badly for the party - the Elf seemed able to avoid most of their blows, and the barghast seemed to have endless endurance. Finally, 'Cyn managed to deal another devastating blow, and the barghast seemed to disappear. The elf realized she was in trouble, and dissppeared in a whisp of smoke.

Rick slammed the door shut and drove a piton into the sill to wedge it shut. "Crap, he moaned, those buggers were tough!" He applied all of his healing spells to Bob, but Bob was still weak.

"I think we ought to get out of here," exclimed 'Cyn.

"Yeah, what were we thinking," posited Rick, "coming down here without our mage?"

The company dragged themselves back upstairs and exited the obelisk's door. They stumbled back towards the inn, and began discussing things amongst themselves.

"What should we do?" asked Bob.

"Why don't we go back to the magic-user's guild and see if they can find or recover Alexander?" said 'Cyn

"Good idea," nswered Rick, "But I think there's a temple on the way - why don't we stop by and get healed up first?"

"That sounds like a good idea," agreed Bob.

The companions stepped into the chapel and began to look around. This church was not dedicated to any of their dieties, so they were sure to have to pay premium for services.

A cloistered cleric emerged from the sanctuary. "Hello," he said, startling the companions, "how may I help you?"

"We came to ask for healing," replied Rick, "we are badly hurt."

"I can see that, and what has happened in this peaceful neighborhood that has put you into this condition?"

"We were in the obelisk - we were attacked and barely escaped."

"Ahhh... My name is Deddin Knoc. You have met the "Ministry of the Winds," or so they call themsleves."

"You know about them?" interjected 'Cyn.

"Indeed, I do," replied the cleric, "they stole from us a sacred relic. We are offering a reward for its return."

"Well, we intend to go back," said Rick, "as soon as we recover our friend."

"You're friend?" asked Deddin, "What happened to him?"

The group described their adventure in the obelisk, and what had happened to Alexander. Deddin Knoc listened intently, nodding and asking the occasional question. "I had no knowledge of the creature in the tower," Deddin began, "but it would seem that you have dealt with two of the members of their group, and met a third. I believe there may also be a goblin in that group. They live under the obelisk, I believe. They also seem to be interested in ancient things and elements - especially those related to air."

"Thank you for the information," replied Rick, "We will be glad to try and recover your relic. We intend to go back tomorrow, if we can find our mage and get fully healed."

"I will heal you now, then," replied the cleric, "And I will deduct the normal fee from the reward - is this acceptable?

The party nodded in unison, and the cleric healed them. ""The Scepter of the Clouds" is blue with small, white pearls. Please take care if you find it, and deliver it back undamaged."

"We will do our best," replied Rick.

The group said their grateful goodbyes and exited the small church. They walked over to the magic-user's guild and asked to talk with the master of the guild. Soon, an older gentleman came to the waiting room and asked of their need.

The group again explained what had happened to date, and what had hapened to Alexander. "We were hoiping maybe you could figure out what happened to him, and how to get him back," said Rick.

"we will do this for you," replied the mage, "He is most likely on the ethereal plane if he is till alive. The creature you describe ounds like a Xill, but I cannot be sure. Finding him, if he is alive, will be relatively easy, but bringing him back will be quite costly. I believe that the reward we were offering will just about cover those costs. However, I believe we will have extra costs to settle - about five-thousand gold, all said. Do you agree to this?"

Bob rummaged around in Alexader's pack. "I think he's got about that much gold in here," Bob exclaimed, "He's been holding back on us or something!"

Rick shrugged, "I suppose we have an agreement," he replied.

The mage began to scry Alexander's location, and did a double-take. "He is right there," said the mage, pointing towards the East.

"Where?" asked Bob, "I don't see anything."

Rick rolled his eyes. "He's right there, only on a different plane of existence. Is he OK, How does he look?"

"Well," replied the mage, "He is alive and in mostly good shape. He looks unhappy, though. You realize that he can see and hear you, however vaguely?"

"Oops!" exclaimed Bob. "Sorry!" He then handed over the gold to the mage. "Please bring him back."

The mage began casting a spell, and soon a portal opened up. Alexander was standing in a grey realm, arms crossed, looking somewhat put out. "Nice of you to spend my gold," he said as he stepped through the portal.

The group welcomed ALexander back, and walked with him to the inn, telling their story for yet a third time. "It's what you get for going on wihout me," he said.

The next morning, everyone was healed up and ready to go. They ate a light breakfast and went straight back to the obelisk. After about two hours, the door reapeared again, Alexander cast a "knock" spell to open it, and the group entered the obelisk. They descended the stairway and returned to the hall where they had fought their battle. The piton was no longer holding the door shut.

"Crap," said Rik, "I guess they've been busy, too."

"Yeah," frowned Bob.

'Cyn checked the door for traps, and then slowly cracked it open. "I don't see anything on the other side," she reported.

"OK," replied Rick, "let's move in."

Rick and Bob led the way in. A long halway led to their right, and another hallway led forward to the South. The South wall was collapsed, almost closing off another Westward hallway.

"Watch this," said Alexander, as he used his staff of fire. Suddenly a wall of fire, five feet wide and ten feet tall appeared. It extended the full length of the hallway. "That should keep anyone from coming from behind for a bit," he said.

"Yeah," frowned Rick, "but now they know for sure that we're here."

To the right, in the souther hallway were two doors. Alexander opened one of the doors and looked in. "Looks like a bedroom," he said, and unleashed a fireball into the room.

"Why'd you do that?" asked Rick, somewhat shocked.

"It was easier than clearing it the normal way. Besides, you ever try resting in a place where there's no way to lay down on something? If I can't rest, the neither can they!"

Bob shrugged and looked through the open doorway to their left. "Look," he said, "there's a big, iron door in there. Looks like a vaut of some sort!"

The party entered the room. In the center was a wooden table with some papers on it. To the South, the wall was partially caved in. On the undameged section of the wall was a wooden door. On the East wall was a large, Iron door. Rick, Alexander, and 'Cyn moved to the North to investigate the papers on the table. Bob headed to the Souther door and opened it up. The rest of the group winced, expecting a trap, but the short hallway on the other side led to another cave-in.

"Nothing in here!" Called Bob, Rick and 'Cyn winced at his loud voice.

Suddenly, the elf-woman reappeared in the doorway, and cast a "wall of wind" between Bob and the rest of the party. The wall ran nearly the length of the room, effectively shielding her from the rest of the party. She pulled out her mace and readied herself for combat.

Bob tried to run through the invisible wall, but it blew him down - he rolled and smacked into the table's legs. "Stay down" cried Rick, as he fired an arrow at the elf. The wall of wind blew the arrow far off course, bouncing harmlessly, far from the elf. He dropped his bow and pulled out his sword. Alexander fired off a series of magic missiles, mainly irritating the woman, it seemed.

The elf tried unsuccessfully to command Rick to attack Alexander. Alexander cast another wall of fire, this time wrapping it around the elf's position. The elf became gaseous, floated over the flames and reappeared near the Southern Wall. The barghast barged intot he room and attacked Bob, knocking the table out of the way, and gave Bob a hefty thwack about the shoulders.

Alexander saw the elf reappear, and cast a fireball at her, singeing her eyebrows and the barghast's flanks. Rick barged through the wall of wind, sliding through on the floor and coming to Bob's aid.

The elf rushed up close to the Barghest and wailed on Bob with her heavy mace. Bob sliced at the barghast, cutting its shoulder while Rick pressed his attack against the elf, hitting her armor but doing no real harm.

Alexander cast another fireball, again singeing the woman and the not-dog. 'Cyn worked her way through the wall of wind and flanked the barghest, sinking her daggers into its rear end. The barghast growled, and turning, bit her hard. Bob scraped the beast's ribs as it turned, drawing a small amount of blood. Rick dodged the elf's attack and managed to push his sword through a chink in her armor.

The elf clobbered Rick with a ringing hit to the ribs, denting his armor. Bob nearly dropped his sword as he whiffed his attack on the barghast. 'Cyn again sunk her daggers into the not-dog, while Alexander moved in close and hit both enemies with a flaming hands.

The barghast momentarily disappeared, and then reappeared near the doorway. 'Cyn moved in to help with the elf, who was retreating back towards the caved-in corner of the room. Alexander fired off one more fireball, hurting the elf badly. She turned again gaseous, and filtered into the collapsed rubble against the wall. Alexander cast another "flaming wall" along the side of the room and down the outside hallway, not knowing that the elf was protected down inside the rocks.

The group migrated to the iron door, and 'Cyn checked it for traps. She found the door was trapped, and when she tried to disarm, a glyph of warding sent a large lightning bolt through several of the party members. While Rick cast most of his healing magic on his friends and himself, the elf had resolidified outside the room and had used healing magic on herself and the barghast.

As 'Cyn beagn to try unlocking the door, the elf and not-dog attacked again. The barghest ran across the room and attacked 'Cyn before she could turn around, planting a single claw into the middle of her back. Bob ran to her aid as Rick turned to face the oncoming elf.

"This dog is really beginning to piss me off!" screamed 'Cyn as she planted a dagger firmly in the barghste's shoulder. Alexander turned around and cast a fireball, singeing the elf and the not-dog again. Bob hurried to the front of the battle and nearly dropped his weapon as he closed with the barghest.

The elf's heavy mace made firm contact with an off-balance Bob, nearly stunning him. The barghest's claws cut deeply into 'Cyn's flesh while his snapping teeth missed her face by inches. "Gods your breath is bad!" screamed 'Cyn, as she twisted her knives in the not-dog's side. Bob managed to deal the barghest a killing blow, spilling the not-dog's viscera on the floor. Rick planted his sword firmly in the elf's ribs - she began to blink as she ran from the room.

"Crap," frowned Rick, "more blinking! That bitch is beginning to piss me off!"

'Cyn turned to continue her work on the door, while the elf ran to a bedroom and drank a healing potion. She picked up a couple of scrolls and hurried back towards the gathering chamber.

'Cyn finished her work on the door's lock under the heavy guard of the rest of the party. The door swung open, and the party beheld a rough room filled with coins and treasure. "Oh..." began 'Cyn, "Oh my. It's so pretty!" She worked her way slowly inside, checking for traps and finding none. Alexander was close behind when a lightning bolt blasted through, searing himself, Bob, and Rick. 'Cyn ducked around the corner, as Bob and Rick turned to meet their attacker.

Bob and Rick began running towards the elf, but not in time to stop her from reading a second scroll, detonating a fireball right between the two fighters, hurting them badly. The two kept the elf busy, hammering home blows. The elf hit Bob, finally knocking him unconcious, and Rick stepped up his attacks, pushing her backwards. lexander used his staff of fire to to send a ray of fire into the elf's chest, staggering her as she blocked a heavy blow from Rick. The elf turned to flee as Rick skewered her neatly through the underarm. The elf fell to the floor with a sigh.

Out of healing, and stuck in hostile territory, the companions locked themselves into the treasure room and began to sort through the items. The religious relic was sitting prominently on top of the pile and they found several other things of interest. They were not disturbed while they rested, and Rick was able to apply healing to all after several hours.

During their stay in the treasure room, the group looked through the various pieces of paper they had found. Within, the found the history of the "Ministry of the Wind." It seemed that some two-hundred years ago, the group had lived in this tower, and had guessed at an upcoming apocalypse. hey had locked themselved inside the obelisk, and had died. The four they had slain were not The Minstry, but were instead adventurers themselves who had been posessed by the ghosts of The Ministry. The Ministry believed that the time of the apocalypse had passed, and that they would rise to power to rule in the aftermath.

The various tracts and histories began to become no more than rantings and crazy-talk, and it was quite apparent that the souls of The Ministry had gone mad in their time haunting their obelisk. They had stolen the Scepter of the CLouds, as they were positive that it was a magical artifact, despite the fact that their own magic had told them otherwise.

"I feel kind of bad," said Rick.

"Why?" asked Alexander.

"Well, the people we killed were innocent."

"I don't think they would've felt the same way"

"No, I agree with you - the spirits needed to go. But the people we killed were just tools. I feel a bit bad about that. I think I'll need to pray extra hard when we get out of here."

"Suit yourself."

The group carefully openend the door. After some careful skulking, they decided that their were no longer any adversaries in the ruins. After searching some more, they discovered that the ruins also connected to the sewers of Silverhaven.

"Well," stated Rick, "That explains how they got in and out."

"Yeah," replied Alexander, "I wish we woulda known about it before - would made this all a lot easier, element of surprise, and all."

Rick shrugged. "It is what it is," he replied, "let's get out of here."

The companioins made three trips, and brought everything worthwhile back out to be sold. The Scepter was brought back to the Cleric, who thanked them profusely, and gave them each a hefty sum of gold. The party racked out in the inn for a few days, reprovisioning and basically relaxing while they decided what to do next. In the end, they decided to head back to Terynio.