They throw caution to the wind and try to charge the gate using Quicksilver cantrips and Giselle’s natural abilities. As they get closer to the gate, they notice that there appears to be some sort of magical barrier erected. They attempt to stop. Erendil, Giselle and Edward succeed but Toby fails, slamming into the barrier at full speed. This hurts him but he is still functional. Erendil tries to turn the ogre guards against the redcap guards by using a cantrip* and succeeds. The redcaps and ogres start fighting each other, leaving out heroes to try to break through the gate. They are unsuccessful and instead turn their attention to the nearby armory. Edward reaches into his backpack and pulls out a really big boulder, which he uses to seal the armory closed and trap the armory guards inside.
Erendil tries to see what he can do about the basilisk. He and Giselle
stealthily creep towards the basilisk’s nearby lair, and Edward and Toby
notice what he is doing and follow him. Erendil uses both his mirrored
sunglasses and Count Tormentil’s mirror to avoid looking at the basilisk
(who can turn any being that looks directly at their eyes to stone). He
sees that the basilisk’s eyes are uncovered and it appears to be awake.
It also appears to be sitting on a large egg. The Basilisk notices them
(can’t remember how) and they run away as fast as they can. The basilisk
follows. They run past the still-fighting guards towards the main cavern.
The guards notice them and break off their fight to follow. The basilisk
charges into the main corridor, chasing both the guards and our heroes.
Meanwhile, at the downtown warehouse that serves as a staging are for the invasion, Jenny has gathered a small band of commoners to help her assault the soul-stealer. The band includes Franklin, the seelie sidhe knight Sir Verlayne, and the boggan knight Lady Olive. Jenny tells her band what she found out about the soul-stealer. Phineas wants to come along on the assault, but Jenny tries to dissuade him. . He points out that as a sluagh, he can disappear into cracks in the walls very quickly and is unlikely to get hurt Jenny agrees and turn to Sir Pensius for any last minute advice she needs.
Suddenly, a hush falls over the crowd as Lady Tourmaline walks in, followed by Chamone and the troll boy Joshua. Some of the people assembled are aware that Tourmaline is not supposed to know about the assault, and others catch the anxiety of those who are aware of the coming confrontation between the Duke and his not-entirely -trustworthy lover. Duke Valerian and Lady Tourmaline have a long, drawn out silent battle as they gaze at each other across the room. They seem to reach some sort of conclusion and go off to talk to each other. People try not to stare and just go about their business. The Duke, having come to some sort of terms with his Lady, announce that she and Chamone will try to detect the previously unfindable entrances and exits to Moria. Joshua joins the troll contingent and prepares for battle.
Jenny approaches Lady Tourmaline and informs her of her quest to kill the soul-stealer. Tourmaline’s face turns white as she realizes that she does know some things about this creature. Apparently the sluagh sorcerer found out something that he wasn’t supposed to know; namely, that there is an order to the incarnation of the souls of the fae. Fae souls begin at the top of the ladder, as a sidhe. Then with each incarnation, they descend through the ranks of the kith before ending up a sluagh. After that, the soul apparently descends into oblivion (editor’s note: this is White Wolf canon). The soul-stealer, whose name in his native Welsh is Ankou (meaning "Death") can only escape his fate by completing the previously mentioned ritual. If he can complete it, he will be reincarnated in Arcadia as a very powerful but quite corrupt sidhe, with enough raw power to trash the place. Such is the intention of the fomori, who set this up so that they win either way; many sidhe are sacrificed each time Ankou tries the ritual, and if he succeeds their ancient enemies are screwed. Tourmaline also tells Jenny that Ankou can mesmerize fae, especially sidhe, through the music that plays when he opens his box. Jenny tells her force to plug their ears before engaging him. Chamone decides to wear her Walkman and headphones as protection.
Tourmaline tells Jenny that she will create a few magical items for her to use against Ankou. Duke Valerian says the same and gives Jenny a few things that might help her against Ankou. He gives her eight matchsticks each containing a Chronos cantrip which speeds up time, allowing the user to act very quickly. He also casts an Oakenshield cantrip on their armor, improving its ability to absorb blows. Tourmaline gives Jenny a small shiny hubcap that she found and enchanted so that Tourmaline could be in constant communication with the group and see what they see. She also enchants an old rag with a "Black Cat Motor Oil" design on it with an "unluck" cantrip that will take effect if Jenny can put the rag in contact with Ankou.
The Duke announces the battle plan. The main force of sidhe knights and troll fighters will go in front door, as they know where the trod that leads there is and they know that the important targets of the basilisk and the armory are nearby. Jenny and her band will go in through the back entrance, as Tourmaline has now found the trod in downtown San Diego that leads there. Tourmaline assigns Chamone to go with them and find the exact location of the trod, which Tourmaline believe is at a gas station at G & 9th. Valerian orders that the changelings in Moria should be fought chimerically and taken captive so that the Escheat is not violated, but thallain should be killed on sight as they are not protected by the Escheat and are basically monsters with no honor.
Jenny’s band goes to the gas station and find Ankou’s car, a white 1965 Mustang convertible (editor: Death rides a white horse). It appears to be charmed in some way, so Franklin finds some nearby cars and place them around the Mustang, boxing it in. Chamone finds the trod, opens it, and the band travels through it to Moria. Chamone mentions that she can tell the trod has been used quite recently. When they reach the other end Franklin steps through first in case it is warded or there are a bunch of bad guys waiting for them. They step through into Moria with no problem. Lady Olive and Sir Verlayne take the rear guard, while Jenny and Franklin take the point.
Meanwhile, after using the Weaver Ward cantrip to seal as many of the possible exits from Moria as possible, Pensius decides to investigate the possibly closed passageway at the Museum of Death just in case it is no longer sealed. He grabs a few guards and heads that way. When he gets there, he cannot find a way into the boarded up building. He sets a Weaver Ward over the exits from the building and rushes back to join the last part of the assault team.
Jenny and company make their way to the main cavern. Since they are not exactly inconspicuous, they have Sir Verlayne, a redcap, ooze intimidation from his pores. This works quite well, as the denizens of Moria are pretty stirred up already and are not very interested in messing with a redcap, who should be on their side anyway. Jenny and her band here mutterings that something is going on at the main entrance, and notice that most people are heading that way. They follow the flow to the main cavern.
Up at the front door, the sidhe force breaks down the door and its magical barriers and engage the basilisk in combat. As Edward reaches the main cavern he shouts "run for your lives, the basilisk is free!" and as usual succeeds in sowing much confusion. The ogres, trolls, and other assorted Thallain are gearing up for a fight.
Unnoticed amid the chaos in the main cavern, Erendil, Giselle, Edward, and Toby find some orges preparing to engage some sort of mechanical defense at the area where the main corridor meets the main cavern. They do not think it is a portcullis, but the ogres are turning the gears of the device and will apparently let something in or keep something out. Erendil, Edward, Giselle and Toby attack them from the rear and kicks their butts. Edward jams an old sword in mechanism to try to stop it from doing whatever it does. (Erendil or Edward?) discovers that the device will open a floodgate and pour tons of water into Moria, flooding the place. Erendil and Toby stay to stand guard over the device, while Edwards goes off to join Jenny’s band. Toby settles down and begins to eat the dead guards’ brains, feeling that would make him look intimidating.
The sidhe have chopped the basilisk into little pieces with only a few stone statutes left as casualties, and pour into the main cavern to fight the hordes of Moria. Every weird creature is coming out of the woodwork to enter the fight, including some horrific monsters that Erendil recognizes as "beastie", a cute name for some truly terrifying thallain. Erendil has the feeling that he has seen creatures like this before, but the memories are buried deep and he cannot tell when or where.
Edward links up with Jenny at the anthropophagi pit. The nasty little carnivores appear to be riled up. Edward puts his last dose of pixie dust in his backpack to try to give extra strength to his efforts, and pulls out Acme Super Strength Alum. The pixie dust seems to make it sparkle. Edward sprinkles it on a bunch of bones lying around the cavern and tosses them down to the anthorpophagi. They launch themselves on the apparent food, and soon discover that their mouths will no longer open. They get very distressed by this and run around gumming each other. Jenny’s group jumps down into the pit, trying to avoid the temporarily neutered little monsters. The see a light in one direction and follow it down a corridor leading deeper and lower into Moria.
Erendil leaves Toby to guard the device and finds Lorien. He tells him about the floodgate and Lorien detaches a few fighters to guard it. Erendil, Giselle and Toby go to join Jenny’s troop and meet up with them as they are entering the pit. The following people go down the pit: Jenny, Chamone, Erendil, Giselle, Edward, Phineas, Sir Verlayne, Lady Olive, Franklin, and four additional fights that Jenny had recruited earlier. The go through a cavern populated by the rat-like Fir Bolgs, who do not bother them much. However, something lurking below the huge pile of the large rodents grabs ahold of Erendil and pulls him under. The others play tug-of-war until they manage to pull the shaken Erendil out. They leave as fast as possible, following the corridor deeper yet into Moria. They reach another large area, which appears to be the comfortable living quarters of a very wealthy person. Jenny notices that Ankou at sitting at desk in the room. The others do not catch sight of him, so she gives to alarm. Ankou opens his box and the mesmerizing music begins to play. Jenny, who did not plug up her ears, nonetheless seems immune to the music, as does Franklin. Erendil and Giselle fall under the spell of the music, slowly waling towards Ankou with all defenses down. The other fights in the band believe they are engaging Ankou in battle. However, Jenny and Franklin notice that they are engaged with what appears to be an illusion, several yards away from the Ankou Jenny and Franklin are fighting.
Edward tries to restrain Erendil by throwing him back out of the corridor. Franklin tries to help. They fail, but Edward decides to sit on him to keep him from getting to Ankou.. Jenny plants the unluck towel on Ankou while Franklin’s sword swipe takes off Ankou’s box, which flies across the room, and most of Ankou’s hand as well. Ankou uses his other hand to grasp Jenny’s shoulder and send a wash of overwhelming fear at her. She seems able to resist, with great effort. Jenny plants her mailed fist in his face, and tries to cut his neck with her sword, Doorkeeper. She fails at this, but does succeed with her next sword blow to his body. He tries to drain the Glamour out of her, but again she is able to resist. She realizes that she must be protected by the advantages of being a Knight of the Cold Watch.
When Franklin smacked the box away, Ankou’s music stops. Everyone snaps out of his or her reverie or illusion in time to see Franklin land an incredible blow on Ankou, cutting him in half. Ankou doesn’t let go of Jenny until Franklin cuts off his head and stabs him through his swirling white eyes. Edward retries box and secures the lid. Jenny tells him to take the box to Lady Tourmaline. Clean up begins as everyone breathes a sigh of relief that they actually managed to kill this guy.
Edward publicly asks Valerian if he will lift their exile, as he and Erendil have found that the really don’t like it down here with the seriously unseelie types. Valerian, who planted them in Moria in the first place, plays along with him by granting the request. Erendil not so humble to Valerian, copping the attitude that "Ariel wanted what she got. Blame her as much as me for it". Tormentil grabs Erendil by the collar and says quietly: "Don’t come near her again, no matter what mission you are on for the Duke. Got it?" To Edward he says "watch your boots"(Edward whizzed in Tormentil’s boots a while back).
Black Annis herself was defeated by the strike force, who are tying up the battered and unconscious ogre hag. They have taken many prisoners, thanks in part to Pensius, who used his Dictim cantrip to order many of the fighters of Moria to surrender.
The End.
*Erendil’s bunk:
The way is blocked
We cannot pass
Let’s flee from them
And do it fast
Help us pass
And aid our plight
Then step aside
While we take flight
And then forget
our passage through
Resume to fight
Those next to you.
