Most Trusted Journal:

When we last left the party, we were discussing what to do. Terra asked every one present to do a creativity test, which we all did. (I drew a lovely picture of the Great Door of Throal). Terra then asked us to explain "Thistoneous". The inside party is a bit skeptical, to say the least about the Passions and their mind-control powers, but they ask Thwak to not use his passion-provided powers around them or in the Caer.

We went to the gate, where Terra reported in. They made us wait for 90 minutes, but Terra came back and we all went up to the gate. The doors open, and Dwarves on goats are waiting for us. They explain that the Council wants to see us, and escort us off. I considered asking for the Throallic ambassador, but I don't think you can do that in a newly-opened Caer.

We entered the council chambers (rugged stone walls, pretty pathetic for a caer that I *know* has elementalists.) One of the dwarves begins to speak, and we are surrounded as if we were dangerous or criminals.
"Well, scout leader, we hear you have something interesting to report?"
Siersha answered "Yes" ... Instead of the 1-5 zombies that we normally encounter, we were outmaneuvered and surrounded when the unfamiliar faces you see before you came to our rescue." Then the Council asked the rest of us what *we* had to report. Steven began: "I am Steven Bigby Mandrake, Wizard, from the city of Thera, the kingdom of Thera" but was interrupted and dismissed. (By this point, I was pretty convinced that these people were *not* civilized.)

It was worse than I thought. The councellors chose not to believe us--to believe that there was no "Outside." They claimed to believe that we were all the people who had left the Caer--that they had gotten partway out and then come back. We, of course, being honest folk, hotly denied it, and they asked for proof. I handed them a silver coin.
"Where did you get this, child?"
"I earned it".
He looked at me, interested but dismissively. "The earth tunnels have more interesting things than I thought."
"What? I earned this in Throal, not in your tunnels!"

Our protests aside, he decided that we should be put in a holding cell and then into suspended animation. We were escorted by the dwarven goat-riders into a cell. We talked for a bit, and then I used Impossible Lock on the door to make sure they couldn't come in without my permission.

The Party Argued.

Once we got bored of arguing with one another, I worked on gathering intelligence. The dwarves outside are taking bets on who will get deep-frozen first, but the odds weigh heavily for the Trolls. Thwak and Donk are getting anxious.
"I'm not in the mood to meditate right now"-Thwak
"You should try it. It's quite... relaxing."-Tristain
Thwak is really really anxious, but after discussing and arguing about various bad plans, including calling various passions, and decide to wait until they come to us.

Suddenly, a glimmery force dome appears cutting through the room. Perhaps this is our rescue? I disengaged the door lock, and Thwak and Tristain pushed it open. When it was partway open, I slid through invisibly, but not without getting stepped on in the process. I cast mind fog , but as I tried to detatch it, the matrix collapsed. I found Terra trying to knock a guard out, so I jumped to hit him and missed, but managed to land on my feet. At the same time, I reattuned a matrix to Dampen Karma. (I've never fought Adepts for real before, but it was always useful on my training partners.) The one who had gotten out of the force dome looked pretty close to passing out, so I wished hard and he, obediently, fell to the floor. Serendipitously, nearby a smith apprentice was carrying a lot of metal. He dropped it, covering the noise.

Dawn: "Next turn, I make the goat unconsious"

The other adept, having charged Thwak, got several arrows in his head for the trouble. Since they are both out, we checked everyone over and bound their wounds and moved into the cell to talk. K'tan (another new face) wanted to know what we were doing here...
"I think it is currently in her best interests that you folks "escaped", I was never here, and you start aquiring a proof that you were outside...
You said you need to speak with Speaks with Stone, he will be studying near a mold pool this evening...
 I asked "Is a letter from someone outside in a language not known in the Caer proof?"
"Yeah, probably"
 I handed him the Myrkidia letter from Dwn Kwrleone
"Oh yeah, that's proof"

We made arrangements to leave a message with K'Tan:
"On the road that leads to the water tunnels, there is a house. Leave a message there."
"Language?"
"This would be fine... I'll tell them to pick up the sticks."

We start walking, a guard sees us, but I cast MindFog on him and he forgot. All that was left was to get the amulets that would keep Siersha, Kenisha and Terra's heart-bombs from going off. Seirsha, in typical leaderly fashion, waltzed past the dazed guard and into the guard room like she owned the world. This would have been fine, had she not been followed by Thwak the Moron. Thesis Tenet #3: Uncultured oafs do not know that Diplomacy does not involve weapons. Somehow, they managed to get out of there, but it involved a lot more people getting hurt than was necessary, and required me to tie a thread to Terra's amulet, putting her under my watch. I'm not sure I've *ever* been so nervous in my life. I've never had someone's life in my hand like that before...

We went from there to a "safe" house, though we knew our chances were not great as long as the "Insiders" carried magical enforcement of their loyalty. After some discussion, I assisted Steven in magic open-heard surgery on the three insiders. Siersha and Kenisha's were set outside and detonated by Terra. They blew up in a huge, 200 die fireball. Steven removed Terra's, and went to go to sleep, leaving me holding it with oricalcum-covered tweezers. I looked at Terra, then the "marble", then Terra, then the fireball...