End of Part I

A bass gruff voice shouted from outside, 'step outside strangers, hands away from your weapons, this is Captain Slats o' the town guard.' Even as the call was heard, the Gnome and the Wizard, appeared out of a visible but short lived rift in space, and the Half-Orc brothers disappeared. The returning Wizard had, on his person, three bottles of unknown origin.

Captain Slats turned out to be an unexpected ally. Solomon had tried to manipulate him into dealing with you for him. As it turned out, the Captain had his own problems that were in line with your own. The group allowed itself to be peacefully escorted to the town guard barracks and there a sharing of information gave them the location of Illiana, the girl they sought. They also learned that she had been in the hands of the cultists for some time. Trollish managed to break out of one of the bottles leading to questions and assumptions as to what the other bottles may contain.

The group split up; most returned to the temple to collect weapons. Trollish went to the 'brothel' to scout out the cult's lair. Shikan returned to The Three Barrels Inn to talk to the barman about the cultish markings on the Inn's door. He learned that the cultists were troublemakers in town and that the town was riddled with underground tunnels.

Meanwhile, Trollish made enquiries about the girl at the brothel using the subtle approach of pedophilia. Luckily, before he got himself into too much trouble, the Gnolls struck the cult's lair from underground. The rest of our heroes regrouped and after some discussion decided to try to approach the lair from the underground tunnels. As they fought their way through a ritual chamber where some kind of bloody ceremony had taken place, Trollish used his subtle wiles to get trapped in a room with a girl and a priest. Illiana was found.

Not long after that the rest of the group join Trollish, the room surrounded by the conquering Gnolls. However, Illiana shows them a way out, her gift and reason for being there. She has created four paintings, gateways into other times or places. She lets them choose. The paintings represent: a world where the demon was victorious; a world where the demon was stopped; a world where a weapon exists to destroy the demon; and a world where the demon has not yet been summoned. Collecting up some magical treasures and two scrolls offered by Illiana, the heroes choose to enter the painting where a weapon exists to destroy the demon.

End of Part I.