The expedition was comprised of the dwarf, the human summoner Vaser, the human warrior Alaric, the human barbarian Ragnar Blackmane, the ranger Kannett, and a redshirt thief who hadn’t won his guild name yet.

"Hello Luc," a calm, capable voice said. Luc and the rest of the Blackrazors spun on their heels.

It was Sven Kildare, the guild’s master terramancer. Behind him was the half-elf blade, Greggor.

"W-who’s that?" the new recruit and summoner Vaser asked.

"We haven’t met -- my name is Sven. This," he said, thumbing over his shoulder, "is Greggor. We are Blackrazors."

"H-how did you know--" Vaser sputtered, holding his familiar closely to his chest.

"That you were in trouble? The crystal ball."

"Enough explanations," Luc growled, still frustrated by the expedition’s pathetic results. "Let’s get moving."

* * *

Reinforced by Sven and Greggor, the Blackrazors made their second push into the strange depths of the Tower of Zagig on the 1st of Good-month, CY 588, with only nominally better results.

They moved toward the northwest corner of the dungeon, and found a room with the bones of some kind of giant on the floor. Except Alaric and the redshirt didn’t see skeletons -- they saw a full-size formarian giant, which turned and attacked them. The redshirt fell before the thing’s barrage, but Alaric managed to defeat his foe -- and then realized that the thing was an illusion.

* * *

After dealing with the illusionary giant, they turned their attention to the south. Within minutes they found themselves in hand-to-hand combat with rubbery skinned humanoids the more experienced Blackrazors recognized instantly as trolls. The Blackrazors slaughtered three of the creatures, forcing the last two to retreat. Greggor followed them, and was nearly doused by virulent green slime when the trolls triggered a hidden trap.

He kept up the pursuit, and managed to contain his shout of surprise when the far end of the room suddenly collapsed into a downward sloping ramp, revealling a wall covered with spikes. Standing at a door now 15 feet above the floor were the two trolls, who had armed themselves with polearms.

Luc and Ragnar followed the half-elf into the room, Ragnar running forward to engage them as Luc unleashed his mighty axe. Never one to be outdone, Greggor cast fly and blink in rapid succession, and flew up to attack the trolls, who fell back into the corridor beyond the doorway.

Luc threw his axe at the trolls, and let out a shout of frustration when the troll choose that moment to close the door, trapping his axe on the other side.

Ragnar and Luc ran forward, the barbarian boosting up the dwarf so he could get to the door. In an amazingly fluid motion (for a dwarf in platemail), Luc pulled himself up on the small ledge, threw open the door & grabbed his axe.

That’s when the fireball went off.

The three adventurers saw the glow flash across the wall of the room, and knew that things must be going very wrong in the other room. Luc and Ragnar ran back to that room, but Greggor choose to fight on. The move nearly cost him his life.

* * *

In the other room, things were bad. Very bad. More trolls had arrived from the south, and the Blackrazors had engaged them.

That’s when the fireball went off.

"Fireball throwing trolls?!" Alaric shouted over the subsiding blast. "This is bad!"

The blast killed the redshirt thief and weakened the Blackrazors, but had no affect on the trolls.

"Oh no," Alaric said.

Kannett, who hated trolls with an almost religious fervor, ignored him. He revelled in the combat as he hacked and slashed his way through troll pieces, pausing only when he’d killed all of the ferocious monstrosities. Sven was sealing the troll remains in a stone dome when Luc and Ragnar entered the room from the north.

As the dwarf entered, he saw the door on the southern wall open, and several more trolls enter the room. Even worse, poisonous gas billowed from the doorway, threatening to overcome the Blackrazors caught in it.

Luc ran forward, inhaling a big lungful of poison just becaus he could, and caught the door as it closed. Inside he found another troll, which he slew with four savage strokes. He slammed into a second door, and howled when it refused to give way. Meanwhile, in the room behind him he heard the sound of Alaric’s armored body hitting the ground and a more ominous grinding noise coming from the north.

"Retreat!" Luc shouted. "It’s time to get out of here!"

* * *

Greggor had ignored Ragnar and Luc’s retreat, but he could not ignore the huge grinding sound from behind him as the trolls triggered the second phase of the trap. The floor of the room he’d run through -- which had fallen to below the original floor level -- had just risen to the ceiling.

His escape was cut off. And the trolls were looking hungrier.

He began a running fight, defending himself as best he could from the tearing troll claws as he prepared a dimension door spell. The magical passageway flared to life and he lept through it, emerging right next to the Blackrazors just as they were leaving the troll-infested portion of the dungeon.

Carrying Alaric’s unconscious body, they fled to the doorway, where they were able to use Sven’s elemental magic to side step the barred doorway.

Luc was fuming by the time he got to the surface. Their first drive into the tower had been a chaos-driven disaster. The second one had been almost as bad. There was no order to this group, and even with Sven’s orderly nature and calm aid he had been unable to reign in their impulsive philosophy. He was in a foul mood when he went to talk with Stullgar, who’s band of dwarven warriors and clerics guarded the Tower of War.

"You seem like a solid, competent warrior. Why are do you involve yourself with such strange companions? You threaten your reputation and honor by associating yourself with such brigands. You should keep to the company of dwarves like yourself!" the old warrior said in a rumbling, enthusiastic voice.

"Tell you what, the boys and I are planning a trip of our own into the Tower of War. We could use a strong axe arm like yours. I’ll pay you 1,000 gp and give you a set of fine dwarven stone carving tools if you’ll sign up with us for three months. When the time is up, you can decide whether or not you want to continue adventuring with real warriors, or return to your strange friends.

Luc glanced over his shoulder at the Blackrazors, who were arguing loudly over their next course of action. "My thane, you have a deal."

* * *

The Blackrazors were shocked when they heard the news

"You’re not leaving us!" Alaric shouted in surprised.

"I must take a break from the craziness and tom-foolery of the Blackrazor Guild. I am not leaving you, I'm just taking a break."

The only one who wasn’t surprised was Sven Kildare, who asked if he could join up as well. The lawful terramancer was just as tired and frustrated with the guild’s chaos as his dwarven friend. Spending some time among earth folk, fighting with good, dependable warriors and clerics sounded like a calming, relaxing break -- one that was much needed.

The dwarves whole-heartedly accepted Sven’s addition to their band, giving him 2,000 gold pieces for his assistance. The two friends left to join the dwarves, leaving the Blackrazors bewildered and slightly confused. Of course, that didn’t stop them from going back into the Tower of Zagig.

* * *

After Luc and Sven’s defection, Greggor decided to head into the city proper. Once there he bought components for a stoneskin spell, and then met up with some of his fellow Rehnee folk. They were initially suspicious of his half-elven physique, but Greggor quickly allayed their fears.

He learned from them that a number of different parties -- all unnamed -- were continuing to looking for information about the Blackrazor Guild (which had been unceremoniously kicked out of the city months earlier). He also met with a representative of the city Thieves Guild at the River Rat in hopes of trading his magical leather armor for some sort of enchanted bracers and a ring, but the guild demanded too much in return for the items.

* * *

Back at the castle, Greggor found that a new individual had joined their group -- a vengenceseeker of Trithereon known as Benjen (the vengenceseeker kit is a holy warrior of Trithereon, with some abilities similar to a paladin but customized to Trithereon's faith & alignment.  More on this later.). "Let me guess, another one of Kalib’s lackeys," Greggor muttered.

"Yes, I intent to follow Kalib -- he is a growing force in my church. But since he is otherwise indisposed -- on the Abyss I believe your companions said -- I have asked to accompany your guild on its exploration of the tower."

The blade shrugged. "Can’t hurt."

* * *

The third push into the dungeon almost made up for the first two disastrous adventures. Choosing to avoid the trolls -- and the wizard they assumed controlled them -- the Blackrazors headed to the southeastern portion of the dungeon.

They encountered:

A basilisk, which they defeated using their experiences from their earlier encounter with a greater basilisk in their basement.

A group of cyclopes, which they easily defeated. During their battle they found a giant cyclopean statue with a large emerald eye -- when Benjen tried to remove the gem, the creature animated into a stone golem. The Blackrazors defeated it, and then packed up the monsters’ treasure.

Several rust monsters, which hungrily attacked Kannett. The ranger -- who was wearing enchanted elven chain -- ran from the monsters, but it was to no avail. The creatures easily dissolved the metallic barriers between themselves and their pray, and feasted happily on his armor.