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Of Sound Mind, Part 1

Players/Characters Present:
John Sikking - Basil Amantes (Ftr1)
Bruce Barnett - Bonzimir Amantes (Rog1)
Barbara Muth - Nereida Amantes (Clr1)
Brian Houghton - Demetrios Amantes (Ftr1)
Chris Wood - Felix Amantes (Psi1)

Returning from an errand in the south on their father's behalf, the Amantes family stopped just short of their home in Vendarius to aid a local farmer named Authic. Two of Authic's horses had escaped and he was having great difficulty recapturing them. Noting that Authic's other horses were acting spooked, the Amantes became curious and investigated. After recapturing the horses, they determined that the two escapees had slight welts on their faces, just between the eyes. Something hard was situated just under the skin. Unable to determine the origin of the foreign bodies, the Amantes agreed to return the next day after consulting with their father, Quintus.

Once they returned to Vendarius, it became clear that the townsfolk were behaving oddly. Everyone seemed edgy and impolite. Even Quintus Amantes, their father and the Secundus of Borlamnos was in a foul mood. He explained that everyone in the town seemed to have a distracting headache, and that some heard voices. Reverend Mother Julia Enkylades had augured that the town's terrible headaches would end in just a few days, but this was not a comforting thought to Quintus. In addition, it appeared that four local babies had been abducted from the Saxetum. The townspeople were frightened.

Traveling into the forum market, they witnessed one of the locals, Judak, raving wildly about how he was being watched by someone who lived in the mine, and how this person hated all of Vendarius, but would take care of them all. His ravings increased markedly when the Amantes came into view. All of the Redshore miners swore that they would not return to the copper mines.

Later, Quintus told his children about the dragon who once ruled over the town from the copper mines under Mount Kupris. This dragon, popularly known as "Copperdeath", was a master of the magics of the mind, and quickly controlled anyone around him. Copperdeath was killed more than fifty years earlier by the arrival of the Crusaders out of the west. Quintus could not guess how, but he felt that somehow, Copperdeath had returned.

Visiting the Temple of Earth Resplendent, the Amantes spoke with Holy Mother Kaleina, daughter of Reverend Mother Julia, who told them that the Calandrite church had dispatched a trio of adventurers along with the Reaper (holy warrior of Calandra) Fulvia to enter into the mines. They had been gone for four days.

The Amantes then attended a town meeting in the during which the Reverend Mother ordered the miners back to work. The people were worried about the kidnappings, strange headaches, animals acting oddly, and the rumors about things in the mines. They refused the Reverend Mother's orders.

The Amantes determined between them to investigate the mines at Kupris Mountain, and returned to tell their father of their decision. In the meantime, he had discovered that one of the heroes who slew Copperdeath, a dwarf named Redstone, had kept a diary and had bequeathed it to the town. Some quick deduction showed that Redstone had owned the Dancing Griffon Tavern, and Felix remembered seeing an old axe and bow as decoration in the tavern that met the description of Redstone's weapons.

Investigating the Dancing Griffon, the Amantes found Redstone's journal secreted in the tavern's rafters. Neredia and Basil translated the Dhunaz runes. Redstone described the assault on Copperdeath's lair and the deaths of his companions. The journal ended with a description of Redstone's own death while slaying Copperdeath, entered in by the sole survivor of his band of companions, a bard. Redstone's journal demonstrated that Copperdeath had used his prodigious mental talents to enslave the town and cause the miners to worship him as a god. Redstone's description of the dragon's lair told of a route in from the old mines, far safer (in the dwarf's opinion) than a frontal assault against the well-prepared entrance to the lair hundreds of feet further up the slopes.

As they spent the night in their own rooms, each of the Amantes siblings had a separate but similar dream wherein their father was variously waiting for them or chasing them. The encounter with their father was fatal for most of their dream-selves.

The next day, the Amantes returned to Authic's farm, only to discover that hed been slain by some beast with huge jaws and rows of slashing teeth. They also found hoofprints in the blood, indicating that Authic had been trampled by horses. Investigating, Nereida discovered a bridle bit shoved down Authic's throat. It was at this point that the family was attacked...by Authic's two horses.

Something, it seems, had drastically increased the horse's intelligence and given them a malevolent will. The beasts could speak directly into the minds of humans and had strange mental powers. They "spoke" of their hatred for humans and their belief that "the beasts of the mountains" would soon uplift all the horses and wipe out all human life. One horse, Broadsword, used its mind to seize control of Basil's body and cause him to strip off his armor, and then his pants. The other beast, Buttercup, had a strange control over its own body, and was able to distend its equine jaw into something like that of an enormous wolf. This slavering creature attacked and nearly killed Felix. Once alerted to the danger, the Amantes made short work of the two unique but evil horses. Afterwards, Nereida found that each had had a pointed piece of blue crystal driven down through their skulls and directly into their brains!

The Amantes passed quickly through town and pressed on to Kupris mountain, entering the old mines, where they found that the copper plates set over the mine shaft had been pried apart enough to allow a small creature to pass through, and that a knotted rope had been left hanging there. Surmising that somehow the missing children had gone this way, the siblings widened the gap with a crowbar and descended into the gloom.

Far below, they found a slatted wooden platform that spanned the shaft. Below, the shaft continued, and a waterfall fell into unknown depths. Basil determined that the platform might support their full weight, so one person at a time descended the rope and crossed the platform.

Once in the stone tunnels beyond, they negotiated their way past the quarries and came to a chamber that stank of death and corruption. Hundreds of pounds of rotting meat (a few days old and of unknown type) was food for thousands of blue-green cave beetles. Oddly, there were no bones amidst the meat. Moving on, the Amantes were pursued through the dank caves by strange, animated slimes, which they destroyed with torches and lamp oil. In what once was the mine's office, Bonzimir found a copper mirror, some copper polish, a copper toy soldier and a box with five clear crystals, set in velvet.

Later, the party came across three heads, set one atop another at a hallway junction, as if in warning. Two of the heads belonged to diminutive humanoid creatures with great shaggy ears, while the third belonged to the once-lovely Reaper Fulvia. When touched, all three heads set up a piercing scream which surely alerted whomever had set the alarm. Pressing on, the party was beset by a quartet of shambling, ungainly but very strong undead. These animated troglodyte corpses seemed mindless in their pursuit of the flesh of the living, and they were soon joined by four more. The eight undead began to press heavily upon the party until Nereida banished the unclean spirits which animated the undead.

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