The Kompanions returned to their rooms in the camp brothel to recover from their most recent exploration of the chatelain’s tower. Rexor decided to drink ale at the bar. The keeper was charging ten times the normal price. When this is the only tavern for a week in any direction, there’s not much you can do about it but pay and grumble. Rexor called out to the room and offered one hundred silver to any man who could best him in a contest of arm wrestling. Many sour looks were given him for interrupting the conversations and dice games in progress. One large man took up the challenge and was defeated by the monstrous four armed warrior. Being a man of great mirth and wealth, Rexor paid for a round of drinks for the entire bar. This loosened up the crowd a little. He began telling tales of his adventures to the man he had defeated in arm wrestling. Soon, others had gathered around and Rexor told stories as someone played a lute near the fire.

He ended his night with the sad story of the battle between the forces of Silverside and Milltown when the Kompanions of Kalador were but mercenaries serving the usurping barbarian woman Vanessa. Rexor, nearly wept as he told of his lady love being betrayed by the druid Heinrik. The backstabbing tree wizard held her and her warband in place with an entangle spell and cast creeping doom so that they were eaten alive by all manner of insects and vermin. A terrible end for a mighty warrior. By the end of the story he had the whole room nearly in tears but had made many new friends.

The next morning, while Rexor slept in, Akbar teleported back to Vanessa’s Lament to acquire Lorox’s chest. Having completely filled the bag of holding with part of the chatelain’s abandoned gold reserves, they needed more room for loot. Stilgar, took a walk about the camp trying to learn more about Hilda and how she came to take over the manor house. He came across the only person who had been here since before the chaos storms and earthquakes destroyed the city. The gardner.

He was living in the old tool shed, having been ejected from the house his former master had set aside for him. He learned that as the Chaos storms subsided, some adventurers, led by Hilda had come to see what they could salvage from the city. She took up the abandoned manor as her base of operations and started exploring the city and its remains. She made a few trips to Silverside to trade some of her valuables and the word got out. Soon adventurers were setting up camp around the manor and she got the idea that it would be much safer and perhaps more lucrative to run a trading post. Stilgar did some more snooping around the camp and returned to their rooms.

Once Akbar returned, the Kompanions returned to the Chatelain’s tower. Being cautious, Akbar discerned that their were symbol spells cast on the two remaining doors in the vault. Using their combined magic devices and spells, the symbols were dispelled, the doors opened and vaults looted. One vault contained a number of minor magic items acquired by the Chatelaine in her younger days. The other held a variety of valuable objects looted from tombs and adversaries over her long career. The Kompanions gathered up the wealth. Consulting the map they had recovered from the tower, the Kompanions determined the location of the guild hall.

The merchants guild had been given a charter to mint coin for the Chatelaine and held considerable reserves of foreign coins, hack silver and gold for the purpose. If they could find it, it would be the largest collection of wealth in the city. Mounting the flying carpet the companions, traveled to the site of the old guild hall. It was near the port in a walled section of the city. The towering waves that had inundated the city had smashed the hall like a child’s sand castle. The old market stalls and the gates were piles of rubble and only a few sections of the walls remained. On their way, they noticed a group of teamsters tending to some mules outside the ruin of a palatial home in the merchant’s district. They would need to be cautious of other adventurers.

Dusting off a wand the party had acquired some time ago but never used, Akbar pulled out his wand of metal detection. After some time carefully going over the ruins of the guild hall, the Kompanions figured out where to dig. Akbar summoned an earth elemental and the giant servitor quickly dug through the smashed walls and fallen debris to the hidden vaults below. Easily ripping the door from its hinges, the great wealth of the merchants of Hablok was revealed. Akbar dismissed the creature, summoned an invisible stalker to help Einar and Rexor load the loot into the chest and found himself some high ground on the remains of the out walls of the guild hall.

The noise and dust they had created had drawn the attention of a pack of zombies. It was hard to tell just how many there were. The lurching obscenities were obscured by the ruins and debris of fallen buildings but their were several hundred at least. As the leading members of the pack came into view, Akbar blasted them with a fireball. The back of the pack were not deterred and came on. Needing only to buy time, Akbar cast wall of fire which was enough to prevent the pack from coming out of the street and they begin looking for a new route. Rexor, the invisible stalker and Einar picked up the pace to finish loading the loot into their chest as Akbar’s magic gave them cover. They were sweating and straining with the weight of the metal but managed to load it all into chest. While the Kompanions were up to the challenge of fighting several hundred zombies, it wasn’t worth the effort and risk so they got back on the carpet and headed home.

They flew past a caravan of adventurers and teamsters urging their draft animals on. The Kompanions and the zombies had made quite a ruckus and the less able adventurers were not going to stick around to find out what sort of monstrosities would be drawn to investigate the noise. Thinking that they might be waylaid back at the camp, and feeling less than secure carrying the two biggest hauls of wealth in the city, the Kompanions decided to head straight back to Vanessa’s Lament with their haul.

Having several errands in Nightside, the Kompanions travelled through the Hall of Infinite Doors to the city on the edge of Chaos. They met up with a well known gnomish wizard and artificer. Rexor had become wary of the intentions of his symbiotic demon armor and sought to replace it with something different. The dwarves of Anvil had fabricated for him a suit of spider silk armor. A wonderful creation that was as light as leather, strong as plate, and cost a fortune to have made. Being made from the thread of monstrous spiders, it was quite capable of being enchanted. Rexor hired the wizard to give the armor several enchantments, further increasing the cost and value of the suit.

The Kompanions decided that they would complete the mission that Akbar had been tasked by Boratha, Chaos god/demon of untimely death. They were to find and destroy the lich Xayerez who had fled the reach of Boratha by fleeing to a pocket realm that was protected by four elemental gods. The Kompanions set about preparing their gear and spells for the journey.