
Marash Monjak and Myra Vingo stand in Baharna’s market district, surrounded by moans and screams of pain. The bodies they’ve encountered in the square have been covered in festering boils. Looking around, the adventurers look for signs of life. To the east, Marash spots smoke coming from the chimneys of a large palace. Myra suggests they visit the palace once they’ve had a better look around.
Walking throughout the market, the two come to Captain Holt’s Might & Magic, the shop that they bought their armor and weapons during their first visit to the Dreamlands. Myra knocks on the door, and is greeted by the gruff voice of Captain Holt. He opens the door briefly when the adventurers identify themselves, but only long enough to curse them for the problems the city has encountered at the hands of The Harlot (“Arghh, I should have never helped the likes of you!”). Nonplussed and without any other options, Marash and Myra start the long trek to the palace in the east.
Along the way, the adventurers notice that they don’t encounter any more plague victims. However, most of the doors they pass are barred, and occasionally, a drape or curtain opens to spy their progress. After nearly three hours, they find themselves standing before the palace and two palace guards.
After a brief encounter with the guards, Captain Hanna appears and ushers Marash and Myra into his chambers. Hanna is surprised to see the adventurers alive; he had assumed that they failed in their mission when the Harlot appeared in the market and brought a plague upon the people. However, now that he knows that they have survived, he asks Marash and Myra to travel back to the Harlot’s dark fortress and complete their mission. With their numbers halved, the adventurers insist that they have access to better weapons, armor, and magic items. Hanna agrees and tells Marash and Myra to go back to Captain Holt’s Might & Magic – if Captain Holt gives them any problems, they are to tell him that Hanna orders him to help the adventurers.
The adventurers travel back down the hill and into the market. Standing in front of Captain Holt’s Might & Magic, Myra bangs on the door and calls out to the Captain. He answers gruffly from behind the door and tells the adventurers to leave. Marash tells Holt that Captain Hanna has ordered him to assist the adventurers, and Holt begrudgingly opens the door.
Myra stocks up on scrolls and potions, while Marash picks up a new set of armor, a fabulous flame brand, and an enchanted shield that looks like a roaring lion. Holt eyes the adventurers incredulously and threatens to entrap their souls in his collection of exotic bottles if they don’t rid the city of the Harlot. Realizing that Holt appears both serious and capable, Marash and Myra leave the shop and start their journey.
Following the canal south, the adventurers stop at an inn for a bite to eat, something to drink, and a room for the night. In the morning, they begin their journey to Mount Ngranek. The trip is uneventful and they encounter nothing between Baharna and the Mountain. On the third day of the trip, they reach the foot of the mountain and begin their climb. Supplemented with a rope of climbing and a ring of climbing, Marash and Myra make their way up to the first plateau without incident.
Climbing to the first plateau, Marash can hear harsh voices around the bend. Myra, casting a spell to comprehend languages, hears two hobgoblins talking.
“What is he?” says one.
“Don’t know – where d’ya think he comes from?” says another.
“Who cares? Let’s get ‘em!”
Jumping into action, Myra casts a spell to distract the hobgoblins, while Marash charges around the bend to engage them. The hobgoblins seem to be raising their swords against a man in a white tunic, carrying a shepherd’s crook. Neither Marash nor Myra can see the man’s face, but quickly dispatch the hobgoblins and eliminate the threat.
The shepherd does not turn to face the adventures, and when Myra attempts to question him, the shepherd mumbles incoherently. Gently, Marash takes the man by the shoulders and turns him to face the adventurers. To their shock and horror, they can see that the shepherd’s mouth has been sewn shut with thick, rough, string. He continues to mumble incoherently until Marash pulls out a dagger and cuts the stitches. To the adventurer’s further dismay, a black gush of vomit issues from the shepherd’s mouth, along with screams, moans, vulgarities, confessed sins, and other blasphemies. The shepherd runs past Marash and Myra, and jumps off the cliff to his death below.
The adventurers take a few moments to catch their breath, and then continue their ascent up the mountain. They reach the second plateau without incident, and stand before the make-shift elevator that leads up to the dark fortress. Myra casts a spell on Marash; he climbs the remaining fifty feet and sends the elevator down to pick her up. Within minutes, the two are standing in front of the Harlot’s stronghold.
Entering the dark fortress, the adventurers are not confronted with the moans and screams of pain and ecstasy that they encountered on their first visit. Rather, they hear the sounds of footsteps, and see a tall, old man approaching them from around the corner. He is dressed in black robes and a white cleric’s collar; blood drips from holes in his hands and feet, although the blood does not stain his cloths or drip to the floor.
“Marash Monjak and Myra Vingo,” he says with a cheerful grin, “I was wondering when we’d see you again.”
Surprised by the warm welcome, Marash and Myra ask the old man a series of questions. He answers some of their questions cryptically, and coyly avoids others (“Funny, no one has ever asked me that before”). When he has answered all of their questions, the old man disappears.
Myra cautiously investigates the huge dark room at the back of the fortress; sending in some magical light, she is able to discern a large temple. Strange words are written in blood from floor to ceiling. She and Marash move to the doorway and look in; at the far end of the room is a huge statue of a goat-like creature with numerous teats and a large phallus ejaculating darkness. In front of the statue is a foul alter and a dark pit. The adventurers decide against entering the temple and make their way back to the front foyer.
The adventurers descend the stairs to investigate the basement. They enter what appears to be a dungeon. There are twenty cells along the walls; within the cells is an alarming sight. Each is occupied by the body of a young man in a varying state of mutilation. Some are missing their arms, some their legs, and some their arms, legs, and genitals. Most are completely mad, while others roll around on the floor whimpering in agony, trying in vain to escape. Marash walks from cell to cell, putting each of the mutilated victims of the Harlot out of their misery.
Heading to the second floor, Marash and Myra look in to the Harlot’s bedroom and see nothing. Investigating the other rooms on the floor yields further horrors. One room contains body parts (arms legs, lips, genitals, etc.) preserved in jars. Another contains a hideous, bloated corpse that is presumably made up of the body parts of the young men in the dungeon. While humanoid in nature, the hideous creature has several sexual organs, numerous mouths, and an awful stench that nearly sickens the adventurers.
Leaving the room to head down stairs, Marash and Myra see The Hag. She stands at the other end of the hall and opens her mouth widely to yawn. Without taking notice of the adventurers, she begins to descend the stairs. Marash charges the enemy, while Myra attempts a spell. Neither is effective, and the Hag continues down the stairs. Only when they finally hit the Hag, does she turns around to attack. She lands several telling blows on the adventurers and disappears. However, Marash and Myra both hear her footfalls ahead, and follow the sound to the dungeons.
In the dungeons, the two see a secret door open and follow the sounds of footfalls in to a tunnel. The adventurers follow the sounds of footsteps for what seems like hours, until they see a shaft of incandescent light up ahead. Moving forward cautiously, they come to a staircase leading up. Ascending the staircase, they are alarmed to find themselves in a kitchen, surrounded by nuns. They try to announce themselves, but none of the sisters take notice. Myra attempts to tap one of the nuns on the shoulder, but her arm passes through the apparition. Myra hears footfalls leading down a hallway, and she and Marash follow. At the end of the hall, they see the Hag walk in to a bedroom. Moving quickly, the two enter the room just as the Hag climbs into a bed occupied by an overweight elderly woman and disappears.
The elderly woman awakens, wipes her eyes, and sits up. Going to a drawer, she pulls out a collection of letters and photos tied together with a ribbon. Removing the ribbon, the woman looks at an aged picture of a beautiful young woman and a dashingly handsome young man on the deck of a ship. Written on the picture is Tutto il mio amore – Vittorio, 1878. She then removes a letter from an envelope and reads it silently as tears begin to well in her eyes. Thinking quickly, Myra takes out a piece of parchment and writes the contents of the letter down.
The adventurers leave the room and exit the building. Once outside, it is clear they are no longer in Baharna; they can see cars driving down the street and people dressed in 1920s fashions. Looking around, they behold a building that is eerily similar to the dark fortress. Above the door, they can read St. Francis Catholic Church – Kingsport, Massachusetts. Turning around to face the building they just exited, Myra and Marash read a sign above the door that reads convent. Behind the convent stands the church rectory. They wisely write down the addresses of all the buildings.
The adventurers decide to investigate the church. Entering, they notice that the floor plan is quite different from the dark fortress. Myra notices a young priest preparing for the morning mass near the tabernacle. She and Marash start to approach him, but stop suddenly when they realize that the priest looks exactly like the shepherd they encountered on Mount Ngranek.
Leaving the church, the adventurers decide that they need to awaken from their dream. Bending their wills to the idea of waking up in the real world, Marash and Myra are able to rouse Jonas Markham and Ivy Morgan from their slumber in Morningside Heights. It is just after midnight on June 15, 1926.

Comments
Funny how much more task-oriented and sensible we seem when you write it out without all the dialog and asides. It’s almost like we know what we’re doing.
You obviously haven’t read about your exploits in Kingsport yet. Still task-oriented, but not very sensible…