And here our troubles began...

Goings-on
The five adventurers (Veris Vesper, Orlando Furioso, Padrig O'Skullcrusher, Malachi, and Grumpsh Hearteater) all arrive in Constantium roughly concurrently, hoping to go the Sicilian Saturnal, and seek lodgings for the night in the local inn, Domus Lucis. The proprieter, Lucius Stronginthearm, offers the party free accommodations on the condition that they dig him a set of dwarf holes for his inn, and that Veris entertain him for the night. The party agrees, and while Orlando chats with an old man and a cowboy, Padrig and Grumpsh begin to dig dwarf holes to pay their way. Meanwhile, Veris, captializing on her beauty and evil nature, teases Lucius for long enough to allow Malachi to sneak in and steal a few small valuables from his room, before excusing herself on grounds of needing to use the outhouse.

In the middle of the night, the party is summoned by Orlando to meet with the old man in the inn's tavern. The old man seems very hard of hearing, but is sufficiently irritable that Grumpsh attacks him out of frustration. As it turns out, the old man was Pluto in one of his many guises, and he transports the party to Tartarus, where he kills them all within seconds.

The party rises from the dead to find themselves undead and under Pluto's thrall. He tells them that they must do his bidding or remain forever in his thrall, and he takes their loved ones as collateral: Decius, Esmerelda, Buckler, and Faustus--Padrig having no one sufficiently dear to him to be worth holding in bondage. He then gives each of them a secret task, and sends them on their way, telling them they must go to the city of Rome.

The party arrives in a small meadow in the middle of the night with a curious sense of temporal displacement, and is able to surprise a group of kobold bandits, killing them and taking their belongings. They travel for a day overland, and wind up in a small town called Desperare, which had been recently savaged by Roman legionaires. Padrig manages to cut a deal with the local leader, Darrak Silvertarn, but is forced to face him in single combat to sign the contract, as per dwarf law. Darrak handily defeats Padrig, and then heals him, offering his aid from afar, but refusing to accompany the party to Rome. He also lets them know that the Saturnal is in two weeks, thus verifying for the party that they traveled a week back in time. The cowboy appears (rather mysteriously), offering to teleport the party along their way, and they find themselves sent back to Constantium, only to be met by a horde of angry villagers, who aren't keen to see the arrival of undead warriors.

Continued...