SPQT -- Raiders of the Lost Book

April 27 - Scarcely was I awake this morning before Uncle contacted me. The very first thing Robyn said when he woke was; "They're going to scry my arrows" - and he was quite right! They may have thought we were an official raiding party, and scrying for Robyn as he lay awaiting his resurrection would have given them a most inconvenient view of a portion of Uncle's villa. Uncle retrieved me to join the raid even then being put together. Alfredus and the Sunshine Boys were most disappointed, but someone had to look after Manius and Drusilia.

Decimus, Robyn, and I put our heads together over a Commune spell. Neither the doppelganger nor the book remained at the facility, but key personnel were still being evacuated. Evidently we spooked them! We placed ourselves under the command of a Sub Rosa force, who gave us our instructions and a number of magic items to assist us. Corvus is occupied elsewhere, so we had no rogue; but Robyn donned a ring that would allow him to see through doors. At my suggestion, Robyn was appointed leader for purposes of being in magical contact with the central coordinator - he's the only one of us who really understands large scale tactics, regardless of the rest of it, and there would be no difficulty with an incoming message disrupting a spell. I gave us all Spell Resistance and Spell Immunity, letting Decimus and Robyn pick spells to which they would be immune. Robyn, understandably wary, also got Decimus to provide him the Cat's Grace and Improved Invisibility, and the Black Roses provided him with "created" arrows that would fade before anything could be scryed off of them.

So, into tabards with black roses on them we went, through the Teleport Circle, and straight on to our assigned sector. Our brief was to clear the three floors of our sector, searching for books and papers of importance, taking officers and spellcasters prisoner where possible, and confiscating or destroying magic. The top floor had already been evacuated and we passed through it systematically but quickly, Robyn using his ring to scan the rooms without even opening the doors unless he saw bookshelves or an interior door, Decimus scanning for magic. Finding nothing of interest, we proceeded downstairs, where we encountered a detachment of soldiers at the first turning. Decimus Lightning Bolted them and Robyn (to judge by events) downed his Flying potion and flew past them to get close to their wizard and officer while staying out of range of Decimus's spells. I similarly drank a Flying potion and flew down, Decimus being well able to take care of the "grunts" - poor thing! My Spell Resistance stood me in good stead before Robyn's mercy arrows felled the mage and the officer, and Robyn called for a pickup of two prisoners.

I opened the door to the second floor mezzanine, revealing another detachment of guards. I cast Silence but their mage resisted, and I didn't think to slam the door as soon as I had done so, so I got peppered with arrows before I cast Cloak of Righteousness, which had the desirable side effect of blinding their officer. He gamely called for an advance anyway and I took some more damage, but by this time all the resistance on the staircase was crushed and he drew Decimus and Robyn's fire, under cover of which I drank a potion. I hope some of the blinded grunts were playing possum and survived. Poor deluded things; they were only doing their jobs, and probably had no idea what horrors their masters were cooking up! Robyn called for a pickup of two more prisoners, another mage and officer rendered unconscious.

The second floor rooms were rather more interesting than the third floor rooms, and I pulled a couple of books in haste, but Robyn was convinced we'd be best served neutralizing all enemies in our sector before conducting a real search of offices and libraries. We hadn't met the best part of the resistance yet, so down we went. We encountered no resistance on the stairs, but the courtyard, which the Black Rose wizards above had turned into a killing zone, was not a pretty sight. Robyn X-rayed 4 doors, revealing a guard room, a laboratory, an office, and a library. Behind a second door in the library, Robyn's ring revealed to him that 20 people waited inside in a defensive posture. He barely had to indicate the case to Decimus. It was a clear case for a Fireball. I had no stomach for it, but started sweeping demonology books into my sack, reminding myself that this is a war.

The mage inside tried to block the door with a Wall of Stone while the survivors escaped through a trapdoor, but Decimus dispelled the wall and threw in another Fireball. As soon as the fire cleared, Robyn pursued the officer dropping through the trap door, still flying, still invisible, and Decimus and I followed suit, stopping at the trap door to assess the situation.

The officer set up a killing zone at the foot of the ladder, but Robyn evaded it. The basement was an elaborate demonological lab, in the middle of being packed up, defended by a wizard in a Minor Globe of Invulnerability, who fired a spell at Robyn (fortunately foiled by the Spell Resistance) and another wizard. For once, the largest spellcaster was not a practical target for me - Decimus cast a Polymorph Other spell which did seem to penetrate the Globe, but nevertheless failed to affect the wizard within - so in order to simplify our lives I cast Silence on the other one, which worked beautifully. Robyn fired more arrows than I thought he could fire, focusing on the mage, and thank goodness took him down before we found out what hideous spells he had in his repertoire. My attempt to Hold the officer failed, so Decimus used magic missiles instead.

I incautiously got too close to the officer's sword, in an attempt to descend; so instead I retreated and drank another cure potion. Thanks to Decimus's Stoneskin spell and Robyn's Improved Invisibility, I was the only one who was noticeably hurt, which makes a change.

Decimus and Robyn having subdued both mages and killed the officer, Robyn called in our situation and asked for a pick up and a time estimate. We had roughly ten minutes to explore the lab and the skipped second floor and get back to the teleport circle. I have never worked so quickly in my life. Fortunately many of the most important things were already sorted for packing, and the mages had thoughtfully provided a Bag of Holding. I also destroyed a few things. To Robyn's great relief, we found his arrows, neatly bundled and all accounted for - so if they haven't scryed them yet, they aren't going to.

Our trio had faced two sorcerers, two wizards (one of them an archmage!), and nearly sixty seasoned warriors, and had taken six prisoners. The overall assault group took 23 prisoners. Between 180-200 League casualties, mostly soldiers. 0 permanent Tarantine deaths, though the Black Roses will be resurrecting a few of their number. The magic and information gathered have yet to be evaluated and the prisoners interrogated. We have no idea how much had already been cleared out, or how damaging the loss of the wizards we took will be to the demonology program, but that's what interrogation is for. We still don't have the book we originally came for, and the demonologist presumably still thinks we have it.

NB. Robyn brought me 600 gp. "For scrolls," he said.` "Where'd it come from?" I asked. "Loot," he said. We're discussing the sorts of magic he'd like to have, since I can make rings now. Something to store his bow in, he says; or a ring with Tongues, Comprehend Languages, and Speak with Animal. Nice peaceful choices.