Good folk, lock up your son and daughter

All the pieces are falling into place, and yesterday's incomprehension has given way to today's certainty and determined planning. "Seek the eye" turned out to be more literal than expected (though "seek the big floaty eye/mouth thingy" would have been even more accurate). The bandit attacks have been coordinated by a monster with the ability to dominate or charm people into its service.

Borrow's well-conceived deception brought the "bandits" to us, and from thence we located their controller's lair not a moment too soon! Fortunately, we encountered a pair of unbearably haughty Deverenians trapped at the foul-smelling cave, and the wardens should be able to stay Ygraine's fell hand with their testimony. However, the monster and its army now threaten the Aerie directly, and we must soon join battle with them.

(Asdie: I am beginning to wonder if this crossbow is aligned properly. Since our journey from Ghostwood, I have yet to find my mark with it. I admit I felt some relief when Malakar shouted for a fireball from the midst of the cavern melee. Though I feared for Ili I went ahead with the spell, and she weaved out of the way just as the edge of the blast reached her.)

Now, after a tense and monotonous journey down through the bowels of the mountain range, Borrow has spotted the monster's and its enthralled century encamped ahead in a huge cavern. The humanoid forces are divided into three groups, with four guarding the monstrous eye. Additionally, a huge earth elemental waits; the Dwarves speculate that the monster used the elemental to dig these tunnels, and further that we might be almost atop the Aerie now. If these forces are permitted to enter the Aerie uncontested from above, the Denskans will be totally unprepared and vulnerable to rout.

We have hurriedly formulated a battle plan: after enhancing the fighters for mobility and protection (and Borrow for invisibility), we will proceed simultaneously with the element of surprise. Barren and Barricade will attempt to free the elemental and enjoin it to distract the dominated masses, while the Warden and I simultaneously teleport the rest of the fighters into position on either side of the eye. Our job as spellcasters will be to disable the eye's movement, so that the fighters can kill it swiftly before its dominated army reaches us. Even moreso than many of our plans, this one appears to be do-or-die; we'll have a very limited window of opportunity to disable the monster before its thralls overwhelm us or it converts us to its service.

I wonder what the monster hopes to gain from this attack. It seems uncharacteristic for an abberant beast to meddle in the wider affairs of the nations; surely some remnant of the Deverenian or Denskan forces would remain after their battle, sufficient to prevent the monster from gaining permanent control of the Aerie. And what would a monster want with the pass anyway? Perhaps there are deeper forces at work here. As before, it may not be for us to know, merely for us to meddle and hope -- the monster is far too dangerous for us to keep it alive for questioning.