We had originally decided to go through the northernmost entrance to the sewers, for no particular reason other than my intuition. Without a copy of the map, this will be difficult to explain, but here's the gist. We headed off around the main central loop for a while, ignoring the side passages, and we'd been moving for quite some time when all of a sudden, we heard something. Fortunately, my sharp senses hadn't deserted me (although I really really wish that my sense of smell had!), and I was quickly able to attribute the noise to a bunch of severed hands and claws, which were moving along the top of the tunnel! I was just able to blurt out a warning when we were attacked!

Fortunately, while the things were fast and numerous, they weren't very strong, and we were able to defeat them with only marginal cost (the biggest injury was to Prihelm; he'd for some reason decided to fight them off with his torch, and in bashing a hand that was on his own face, he burned himself. Paladins.). And it's a good thing they were so weak, too, since we met more of them later on! But I'll tell my story in order, just so you don't get confused.

After checking a few of the side passages which we knew led to exits, and going completely around the main loop, we backtracked a little; there was a side passage which had an unknown destination but which led into the center of the sewers, and I had high hopes that by following it, we'd at least avoid getting lost. It led eventually to a large stone door; we forced it open, found it to open into a large natural cavern, and quickly explored the place. The only remotely interesting thing was the ladder which led up to the surface, via a manhole near the scribe's house. No Alisanda, no bodies, nothing.

Well, then we went off along the main side branch, quickly checking the known locations before trying a few more of the areas we didn't know about. The first led to a metal door, badly rusted, which opened into a disused part of the sewer; there was a ladder here, as well. When we went up, we found that it opened into the barracks room that Michelle Aucoin's body was being kept in! The reason we hadn't noticed it at first was that the table was right over the entrance and effectively hid it, but still, I'm kicking myself for not finding it earlier. Sometimes I can be such a blonde! (Which is, admittedly, a hard trick for someone with hair as dark as mine, but still..)

The other passage led to a long path (about half a mile or so) which opened into a large natural cavern, behind a farm and very close to the swamp (as I had suspected when we first figured out how long the path actually was). Unfortunately, it was being used to store body parts! I wanted to go warn the farmers of their peril, but was dissuaded by the wall of rats (ick!) in the way and the likely supposition that they were already dead. Besides, Haley was freaking out, and Leighla and I, at least, weren't much better off, so we quickly left that chamber of horrors, never (I hope!) to return.

This left us with only two more areas in the sewer to explore, and I'd so far had no real trace of Alisanda, aside from the various hacked arms and legs in the one cavern. I could only hope we would find her soon, as the fumes were really starting to get to me, but a promise is a promise, after all, and even though some of the others wanted to stop to regroup, I was determined to see this through to the end. I'm proud to say that Haley and Leighla backed me up, and we soon continued on our merry way. Well, okay, it wasn't precisely merry down there, but still.

The next place we checked led to a door into a cavern (funny how many doors there are down in those sewers!). We didn't stay to explore the place, since we could see that it was full of two things; a brackish pool and a whole hell of a lot of dolls, all of which seemed intent on killing us. My recent experiences with such creatures quickly convinced me to make a tactical retreat, and we were able to escape with minimal carnage (total casualties: Prihelm got a little stuffing stuck to his armor).

I sincerely hoped that we wouldn't have to go through that cavern, but since we still had one place left to check, we tried there first. This door led to a blank wall. Now, being nobody's fool, I immediately deduced the presence of a secret door, but Merf found it first. We moved on through and immediately ran into what looked like a skeletal snake with a human skull (a very weird looking beast). The next thing I remember is it lying dead on the ground, shattered by Leighla's well placed arrows. She tells me that most of us froze and dropped our weapons, leaving her and Haley and Liss to save the day. Unfortunately, they weren't quite fast enough to prevent Prihelm from being quite badly hurt. Merf wanted to take him back to the surface and wait for a few days before coming down here again; I quickly voted him down. I mean, we had our prey cornered, and if we waited for him to recover, not only would Alisanda get away, but more children could die! No, we had to continue, and fortunately, Haley and Leighla once again backed me up. Merf was rather a sore loser, but I'm not responsible for making him happy, so.

There was still the matter of Prihelm's injury. Eventually, we prevailed upon Merf to use his last healing spells to get the big guy back on his feet, and while we were waiting, I looked around the cavern, quickly discovering a pair of scrolls, which I gave to Haley. Since Merf had the necessary magics to read them, we loaned them to him, and he confiscated them! I'll have to remember to get them back soon; after all, I found them, so they're mine! And if I want to give them to Haley, who is he to argue?

The next room had a curtain on the far end, but was split by a pool, which had two slimy paths around it. The rest of us moved around the pool in safety, but Leighla somehow managed to fall in, and so did Merf. Leighla was fortunately able to get out with her first try, but Merf slipped and fell back in. Eventually, though, he was able to get out, and through the curtain we went, into yet another room straight out of nightmares!

There were preserved body parts here as well, along with a disected corpse of a young girl and another young girl as well (in fact, the one who'd accused us of murder on our first night in town). Haley and I, at least, were instantly suspicious, but she begged for our help against the "mean girl", and we couldn't find any indications of thread on her. I should have listened to my intuition! Soon enough, we were attacked by more of the dolls and claws, and as we were distracted by our fight, she began to hurt Prihelm! And then, she somehow managed to charm Leighla onto her side just as Haley saw the threads glint in the light and realized that it was Alisanda after all!

Leighla turned and shot Prihelm, felling the warrior, and I was awaiting my doom in horror when Liss saved the day by possessing Leighla! Since we were now free to turn our attentions to Alisanda, Dogboy and I went after her, and she quickly decided to retreat, but not before I was able to get a lunging attack off that came within a hair's breath of killing her; sadly, I missed my target (it's hard to get excited about killing what looks for all the world like an adorable little girl!) and succeeded only in horribly wounding her before she dove through the curtain.

Not willing to let her get away, I leaped over the dolls and claws in the way and through the curtain, displaying my native grace and skill, and rolled back up, face to face with Alisanda. I guess she realized that she wouldn't get away that easily, since she turned to fight. My agility saved me again, as I avoided her lunges (she had a wicked looking little knife), but before I could finish her off, Leighla came through the curtain and shot at Dogboy and me! Liss' possession apparently doesn't last very long.

Dogboy was hit and sorely wounded, but fortunately, Leighla missed me (personally, I think it's because she'd never mean to hurt me, and struggled especially hard against the evil commands), and I was able to make one last skillful attack and defeat the golem, who slid into the pool before I could stop her. At that moment, though, all her creations stopped moving, and Leighla came to her senses, enormously shaken by what had happened. Haley and I tried to comfort her, but she tore herself from our arms and flew to Prihelm's side (I wonder if those two will ever hook up? I think it'd be neat if they did!).

He didn't look good; Leighla's arrow had flown only too true, and it was only at the use of a spell from my scroll (still in Merf's possession; the other scroll had been used during the battle, and without my permission, no less!) that we were able to save him. Merf seemed singularly reluctant to use the spell, but before I had to threaten him (if it comes down to either Prihelm or him, my decision is easy), he cast the spell and saved Prihelm's life. Leighla threw herself on him and after an appropriately touching scene, we returned to the world above.

This time, at least, the villagers were grateful; they gave us each a healing potion to compensate for our pains, they gave us a big bonus (25 gold each!), and they even healed all our wounds! Of course, they also told us that we had to catch the next ship out of town (tomorrow morning at 9:00), but who'd want to stay here anyway? So here I am, ready to spend my hard earned bonus on a new outfit (I'm never going to wear these clothes again, they're so nasty!) and heading off to a party with Haley and Leighla.

It's funny. I haven't known these people for that long, but already, they feel like family! Prihelm is the innocent and not very capable younger brother; he makes me feel a little protective of him, in a funny way. Leighla is the serious older sister, the one who protects us all but who can, occasionally, unbend a little and be a lot of fun. Liss is kind of like a cousin or something; fun to be around and a good guy, but still not as close as the others, though I hope that will change as I get to know him better. And Haley... Well, let's just say that I've never had a friend like her before, except for the twins. I hope we five can stay together for a long time! In a weird way, although I really really want to go home, I almost want to stay here, too, if it means that I can keep my friends, my new family. But we'll just have to see how it goes, eh? In the meantime, Haley is getting impatient to start our night on the town, so I'd better get going. Goodnight!

On a sadder not, Merf has decided to stay here in Souragne, helping to heal the swamp from all the evils inflicted upon it; at least this time, though, we lost a companion through something other than death. Perhaps we'll see him again in the future? But I'm not going to dwell on it too much; there are too many other happy things to think about it!