A14

Following the counting of the dragons� vast hoard, the party (Dominic, Ignatius, Jack and Drusila) divided the wealth between themselves and the two survivors of the rival expeditions (the treasure hunter Kendrick Freeman and the bandit Azara Oas). The problem lay in a powerful animated shield, whose worth is was beyond anyone�s means to claim for themselves. After deciding to sell it in Zandran, they loaded up the riding lizards and buried the dead. A problem arose in the form of the desert witch�s huge dire bat, which could not understand she was gone. After it flew off with her body, they left for Hassan and the Iron Carriage. The train was mysteriously lightly filled and once back in town the party discovered the city suffering from a deforming disease.
     Trade was at a standstill as the mutated victims rampaged through the street. At the church, the sick filled the building and party could only find room for their carriage filled with gold. The patriarch was out of town on a diplomatic mission in Iron Hold. The provisional head of the church was Cardinal Dorin, the gnome who raised Ignatius. Taking advantage of Dominic�s helpfulness and outstanding dept to him, Dorin gave him the mission of finding the true cause to this disease. They quickly learned that it was enchanted, spread by touch and couldn�t be cured normally.
     But first the party tried to sell off shield. After defeating some crazed thugs at the Fearsome Helmet they retrieved Kendrick and went looking. Their first stop was the moneychanger, Loxias Pontus, a fat greedy gnome aristocrat who deals in magical goods. But as they arrived, a mob of crazed plague victims were besieging his home. After webbing them, they negotiated their way into his house and got a potential price. Then they decided to investigate some dragon slaying adventurers who were buying lots of equipment. After showing off the animated quality of the shield, the half-orc asked for a demonstration of its power (�10 gold if you shoot your friend�). After dealing with Jack�s wound, Herak was willing to pay twenty thousand gold in the form of rubies.
     At the church, Dominic ran into a gnomish warrior, Master Smith Yarol Beren, who was to assist him in his investigation. As the party tried to find some of the items they wanted, such as bags of holding, Yarol went and investigated the sewers where Dominic believed some cultists were hiding out. Most of the enchanters along Mystic Road had closed up. Not wanting to deal with the Arcane Order, they went to a somber stone building run by a man called Mandran. Unconcerned about the disease, his dimly lit shop offered fair prices.   Investigating the disease at last party learned that the first victims had no connection to each other except that they had all pass along the same road several days ago. They also learned a gnome druid had developed a cure for the insanity part of the disease. Disturbingly they also learned that Mandran was a powerful undead creature that had lived here for centuries. In the meantime, Dominic had contracted the plague by working with the sick but at the same time found a difficult cure, using a ritual form of break enchantment. Finally they received a message from Yarol about cockroaches and cultists in the sewer.
     Getting together they discussed their information and realized Mandran had no motivation to harm the city and that the cultists were a better lead. So they went into the sewers to find someone called the diseased one. Dealing with the giant cockroaches and passing the devoured bodies of cultists, they soon found a massive door. As it was opened a wall of giant maggots spilled forth just as more giant cockroaches attacked them from behind. In the midst of this a halfling rogue attacked stabbing repeatedly with reckless abandoned. But through sheer numbers he was overwhelmed and Julian, a diseased halfling devoted to the �Diseased One� surrendered. From him they learned the location of the villain�s hideout, Ashtown, site of great alchemist fire flood 5 years ago (anecdote: few gnomes survived the 3 foot wall of burning liquid that doused 20 city blocks in the worst disaster of Zandran�s history).
     In Ashtown, the part soon found the horrid Diseased One and Ignatius smote his goons with fire. In retaliation, the disgusting beggar conjured an insect plague as huge otyughs ripped into party. After a terrible battle the party pushed past the wall of bugs and engaged the Diseased One and his illusionist minion. The battle soon became a hunt as invisible foe fought invisible party members while Yarol, mind-controlled through the villain�s disease, fought the mechanical man in an endless fight. Finally the diseased one was torn apart by dire bats and surviving allies shook off his control. His life ended, the plague stopped and the city was cured.

Plague of Chaos