To Destroy the Points of Power Print
At the meeting at All Hallows Eve last year High Priest Mian Gravestealer had requested that a group gather to undertake a mission against the Dymwann. Mian had obtained information from 'spies' suggesting that the Dymwann would be attempting to pull the Darkwind out of the Ikarthian Triangle by conducting a rite at all seven Points of Power. Early in the new year, Free Towers Pact forces from numerous Towers were to assemble at an arranged trading-post in order to strike at the Dymwann on the night they were planning to perform this rite.

The group who undertook this mission were Squire Jeff, Gus, Orcus, Puddle, Myrkal, Sargon, Talon, Boltak, Quicksilver, Roland, Rowena, Fern Redberry, Skeeka and Sister Mary. They travelled for several days through the undead ridden lands of Orin Rakatha until they drew near to the rendezvous point, where they encountered a group of humans with an aversion to non-humans. With so many non-humans in the party it was inevitable that combat would break out, but after a difficult struggle, the party triumphed. Nearing the trading post, the party passed by the camp of the Khalid strike force. On arriving at the trading post, Master Braith, Portal Master of the Wizards Concillium and Zede of the Shadowsfall were already present. The party made themselves at home, resting after many days of travel and discovered that Master Braith would be assisting where necessary with 'transport' and that the Shadowsfall were providing security for the meeting.

During the next hour the leaders of the strike forces arrived to co-ordinate and plan the attacks on the Points of Power the next day, including Ashgar Raze of Morgoth; Sorcha of the Khalid; Orquinn Paingiver, 4th High Priest of House Arduval from Annach Morananil and Mian Gravestealer of Wolfhold. Also present were Gralarin, High Priest of Law from Halmadon's Heights and Golrim Rockmountain of the Bethellim.

Over the course of that evening much information was shared as individual differences were put aside in the need to unite against the Dymwann.

The Halmadonian Gralarin had prepared several scrolls of Control Fleshweaver, but these required that the name of the Fleshweaver be inscribed on the scroll before they could be used. He also had information on different types of Fleshweaver. Most discern as ranked undead in the usual way. Some, however, discern as Walk undead. For example, a Rank 4 Walk Fleshweaver. This apparently, is a Fleshweaver who had done four mistwalks before being turned into an undead. Walk Fleshweavers are not dismissable. Mian's sources had identified the locations of three camps responsible for the garrison and supply of the seven Points of Power.

Paingiver declared that the Drow had broken the siege against Annach Morananil. He also provided information on the Dymwann Death Squad - a strike force comprising a small number of Dymwann necromancer/wizards, a mummy (cosmic), a wraith (ritual) and a front line of skeletal knights (cosmic). Skeletal Knights are much like skeletal warriors, but are able to use magic and can berserk without provocation.

Ashgar Raze provided little information.

Golrim Rockmountain indicated that the Bethellim were unlikely to be able to provide any particular assistance to the Free Towers Pact because of the siege on their Tower by the Dymwann. Further, they could do with any help that anyone could spare. Nevertheless, once all present had agreed not to slay the Fleshweavers, the names of the missing Mistweavers were provided. Golrim conveyed the message from Mistweaver Ushrak that Fleshweavers must be returned to their original form in order to set to right the balance in Orin Rakatha. If the Fleashweavers remain then creatures killed in Orin Rakatha will reincarnate as undead rather than as hordelings. If Fleashweavers are killed and creatures in Orin Rakatha do not reincarnate, the mists will wash across the land with much greater frequency. It is the presence of hordelings that keeps the mists at bay.

Sorcha told those assembled about their investigations into the Points of Power. Each Point of Power is attuned both to a sphere and to an element, and can be melded with. The Point of Power in the Khalid area is attuned to air and evil. They had tried to destroy the Point of Power but this had proved unsuccessful. To operate a Point of Power requires a wizard and a priest (of the relevant element/sphere) and a representation of Orin Rakatha.

The meeting decided that the three controlling camps should be attacked on the following day in order to obtain information about which Fleshweavers would be at which Point of Power, without which, the Control Fleshweaver scrolls would be useless. The meeting would reconvene the following evening to pool information with the intention of striking the Points of Power on the following night to disrupt the ritual. The Drow agreed to attack the camps overnight in order to weaken the defenders. The three strikes would be by the Morgothians, the Khalid and the Alliance group - the most military and warlike groups. In the morning the Party were portalled to the area of the northern camp by Master Braith. After some time searching the outlying patrols of the camp were encountered - skeletal warriors, wraiths, and shades. These were dealt with effectively but the camp must have been alerted as the next defenders were a Death Squad. For over an hour the battle raged until eventually the Party were driven off. Even weakened from the battle against the Drow that night - the co-ordination and strength of the Death Squad were too great. Fern scouted out the exact location of the camp whilst the combat raged, but as it was occupied he was unable to gain access.

The surviving members of the Death Squad returned to the camp to report, but were soon followed by the Party who attacked once more. Again the group was driven off, this time with losses. Talon was captured and, embodied by a ghoul, was sent out to slay his comrades (along with a skeleton guard). They located the party as they meditated and mnemoniced, but were defeated and Talon healed. Prepared once more, the party returned to attack the Dymwann camp again and again, being driven off repeatedly by newly created undead - yet they were undaunted. The Dymwann High Priest had called upon his reserves in the area who arrived in threes and fours from all directions. Finally, from amongst those reserves stepped Stealth Nighthawk, who had infiltrated the Dymwann. Using two Harms, one in each hand, Stealth broke the Dymwann front line allowing the Party to reach the High Priest. In the ensuing melee, the skull staff he wielded was broken and he and the remaining defenders were killed. The camp was thoroughly ransacked and all the booty was gathered, including scrolls, potions, books and other information. Gus even found an empowered bottle, wrapped in two scrolls, with the word 'Ugrantoth' written on it, buried a little way from the camp. After a brief chat, Stealth left to avoid compromising his position.

Having ransacked the camp the group returned back to the trading post through the Portal. There they translated the scrolls and letters and prepared for the meeting. From the information recovered, the identity of the Fleshweavers present at two of the Points of Power was clear - and two other were identified with less certainty. In addition, it seemed that the Fleashweavers were bound to the points in some way, and that not every Fleshweaver could be bound to each point.

Once the meeting had reconvened all information was shared. The Morgothian attack had proved fruitless as the camp they went to assail was in fact a small keep and they had not brought siege engines with them, although some information was recovered from Dymwann patrols intercepted. The Khalid attack had gathered some information, but not as much as they had hoped.

The information recovered allowed the spheres and elements of five of the Points of Power to be known with some certainty, together with the names of four of the Fleshweavers attached to those Points of Power. The discussions moved on until the bottle and the word Ugrantoth was mentioned. At that point Ashgar Raze recognised that the word Ugrantoth was a name, the name of the Morgothian High Priest who had been originally involved in the construction of the Points of Power and who had been captured by the Dymwann months earlier.

After some brief preparations the spirit of Ugrantoth was summoned by Lord Mian. In return for Ashgar Raze's word that the spirit would be returned to Tharanduil, Ugrantoth agreed to answer a few questions. Most notable of the information provided was the means to destroy the Points of Power and he described the necessary ritual in some detail. It involved the casting of spells and invocations of various ranks in the relevant element and sphere for each Point of Power, together with reciting of certain mantras (the scrolls attached to the bottle) and the placement of material components etc. The ritual was somewhat complicated - no wonder that neither the Khalid nor the Halmadonians had been able to discover it by trial and error.

With this information, the strike groups each selected a Point of Power attuned to a sphere and element that they could cast to an appropriate rank and level, in order that an attempt could be made to destroy each of the points, although this was clearly a secondary objective to disrupting the rituals to retrieve the Darkwind.

The Alliance party chose the Point of Power attuned to the good sphere and green magic; the Morgothians selected the one attuned to hate and white; Mian selected neutral and darkness; while the Khalid chose evil and air. The leaders of the strike teams then left to co-ordinate with their teams and with the intention to arrive at their Point of Power 30 minutes before midnight.

After much preparation the Alliance party passed through the portal constructed by Master Braith. Moving swiftly towards the Point of Power, both Sargon and Quicksilver having visited before, unranked undead flesh creations were encountered. Next, a group of Dymwann defenders, warriors supported by a priest and wizard, approached to prevent high level casting and invoking. The battle raged on for a while before the Fleshweaver appeared. It seemed to take little interest in the battle unless instructed by one of the Dymwann. However, as soon as it was identified as Ratharill it was controlled and turned against the Dymwann, again to little obvious effect. Once the Dymwann were destroyed and the Fleshweaver was told to vanish itself.

The party then began the ritual to destroy the Point of Power, and had almost completed it when the Fleshweaver returned from the vanish. The combatants in the party held it off for a few minutes while the rest completed the ritual. The instant that the Point of Power was destroyed, Ratharill disappeared and two different Fleshweavers turned up and attacked the party. The portal device was triggered and a fighting retreat began under the onslaught of both of the Fleshweavers.

Master Braith on reception of the signal activated the portal, but nobody came through. After a few minutes when still nobody came through, Gralarin and a couple of Shadowsfall went through to investigate, and lend a hand if required. The party were being sorely pressed by both Fleshweavers, and several had fallen. The bodies of the fallen Squire Jeff and Fern Redberry were carried through the portal as the remainder of the group sought to delay the advancing undead. As the Fleshweavers bore down on the portal Master Braith asked "is this everyone? Are you sure?" After being reassured several times he collapsed the portal just as the Fleshweavers came into spell range. Then it was discovered that Boltak had been left behind! The dead were resurrected and plans made to recover the body of Boltak in the morning. In the morning as preparations were underway to return to the Point of Power, the Fleshweaver Ratharill arrived, casually striding in through the unguarded door. For a few moments, terror and chaos raged around the room until Ratharill said "Good Morning". It transpired that the destruction last night of the Point of Power to which he had been bound had freed him from Dymwann control, and he was now able to act of his own volition. So he had come with an offer. He spoke of a master Point of Power on a demiplane that lay between Orin Rakatha and the Plane of Shadows, the original source of the Darkwind. He wanted this master Point of Power destroyed otherwise the Dymwann would be able to use it to control him again. In addition, the destruction of the master Point of Power would destroy all the subsidiary ones, and close the link to the Plane of Shadows, destroying the Darkwind forever. In return for this he would return the body of Boltak.

The group agreed, and were given one hour to prepare. At this time Ratharill returned with Boltak, still alive, and sent the group through to the demi-plane. The master Point of Power comprised a small building floating in a sea of darkness. Inside the party were confronted by three beings, one of law, one of chaos and one of steel. These were the two spheres and one element missing from the seven Points of Power in Orin Rakatha. The creature of law asked their purpose, speaking only to Myrkal, a Drow mage. He told the creature that they sought to destroy this Point of Power, whereupon, he was given a riddle to solve. He was told that if he answered correctly the destruction would be complete, otherwise they would be driven from this place by the defenders - gesturing at the other beings that accompanied him.

Unfortunately the Party were unable to solve the riddle and a battle ensued. Not only did the party have to defeat the embodiments of chaos and steel, but also similar creatures of all other elements and spheres, who attacked in waves. These were powerful creatures who attacked without respite. As one of the creatures fell, its element or sphere could no longer be cast or contacted - and at the same time - the building became slightly less stable. When finally, all the creatures had been defeated, the building and the master Point of Power dissolved completely, returning the battered but victorious party to Orin Rakatha, satisfied that they had forever destroyed the menace of the Darkwind.

The short names of missing Mistweavers, as provided by Ushrak:

Denthor
Carash-Angal
Goblekdrul
Ratharill
Ashfiboy
Shorilith
Lanthrithian
Morthalla
Zentul
Grothill
Ashalantra
Durlfurbol

On behalf of the Alliance, I wish to thank all those who participated in this historic and important event. Further, I would like to make clear that the Alliance has made an undertaking to avoid killing Fleshweavers.

The report of this mission was deliberately delayed to avoid compromising various field operatives, from all Towers, at work gathering information both for the Alliance and for the Free Towers Pact. Sadly, however, as these underground activities were recently made most public, it had been necessary to withdraw many such agents from enemy territory. Eight individuals are still unaccounted for - none of them from Wolfhold!


Lord Mian Gravestealer