What happens when a group with dubious morals at the best of times is set loose in a town ruled by evil magic-users, where money will buy you anything and death is a common occurrence? Tragedy, that's what happens. Everything changed in Scuttle Cove.

So far I have managed to avoid resorting to prologues for any of my stories, but our exploits in Scuttle Cove call for one. I have interjected many times in my stories with snippets of hindsight, and in doing so ruined most of my narratives. However, the events that took place in Scuttle Cove were so pivotal for our group, and were to have such lasting repercussions, that my usual interjections would leave absolutely no room for a coherent narrative.

Scuttle Cove was a turning point because we were let lose in a den of iniquity. In a town where prostitution, drug taking, and murder were an everyday occurrence on the streets, our worst traits were exacerbated. My young pupil is quick to point out that our mercenary attitude to life could only have one possible outcome, being the complete breakdown of co-operation and trust within our band. I cannot deny this, and neither do I want to, but the unfortunate events that I am about to relate had a quickening effect on this most obvious of conclusions. Our end may have been unavoidable but without Scuttle Cove it would have been a lot more gradual.

By the time we completed our task in Scuttle Cove our group was changed forever. The damage was done and the consequences were inevitable. I tell you this because it is a little difficult for me to recapture some of the emotions, or even some of the memories, of what happened because everything is tainted by the knowledge of what was to come. I hope my audience can forgive me.

As the beautiful towers and rooftops of Parma came into view from the deck of our homeward bound ship, my heart sung. My home, so often yearned for on the Isle of Dread and Angler Isle, slowly unfolded before me as our ship made its way toward the busy docks. It was a sight I had long imagined in my head, and as sweet as I expected it to be nothing could compare the sheer elation I felt as sailed towards the harbour.

Soon I would be back in a smoke filled tavern with an enraptured audience hanging on my every note as I sung the songs of our great adventures. It was not the salty sea I could smell as I stood on the prow, urging our ship ever faster, but the smoke and sweat of a crowded tavern. It was not the breaking waves I could hear but the clink of glasses and the murmur of hushed conversation. It was not the wind I felt in my hair but the resonance of mighty applause and cheers.

Soon I would walking down the narrow alleys, through the innumerable squares and piazzas, over the countless bridges, pointing out a great tattooist to Festus, getting drunk with the crew to The Hungry Virgin Inn - easily the best tavern in Parma - taking Raven to the wondrous Botanical Gardens. I would be sleeping in a luxurious bed, my belly full of the seafood stew Parma has become famous for, my head full of applause and alcohol, and my soul weaving through its maze of streets and stories. I could sleep a peaceful sleep with no fear of waking up to the roar of a T-Rex or the drums of a cannibal hunting party.

Here was Parma - beautiful Parma - and here was my home. I was returning with the greatest stories I had ever been able to tell. It would the greatest moment of my life.

Alas, none of this was to be. No sooner had we left the offices of the Seventh Star Shipping Company, having paid what we owed on the ship so far, with the joys and wonders of this mysterious and beautiful city on the lagoon awaiting us, when tragedy struck. Nothing was to ever be the same again.

A ship, quite clearly out of control, and with full sails still raised, came racing towards the dock. Fortunately numerous warning shouts gave everybody on the crowded and bustling docks time to run to safety before the ship came crashing into the quayside with a sickening groan and deafening crash of split timbers. The water by the quayside was too shallow for it to sink and its prow simply became embedded in the sturdy sea wall where it came to a halt.

It was quite obvious that all was not well on the ship. We were not the type of people to pass up on the opportunity of adventure, and with only a brief agreeing glance exchanged between each of us we were scrambling up the side of the ship, weapons at the ready, to find out what was wrong.

We were greeted by a hideous sight on the deck. What remained of the crew was nothing more than mauled and chewed pieces of flesh. Dried blood coated the deck and most of the corpses were blackened and bloated. Quite clearly something large, monstrous and hungry had slaughtered and eaten every man in the crew. Flies swarmed around the remains and the stench was almost unbearable.

When we peered into the hold the stench did actually become unbearable. A grotesque fetor of excrement, decay and disease assailed our senses as we looked down into the hold. It was if we were trying to look into the most fetid regions of the Abyss. Nausea overwhelmed me and I collapsed to deck vomiting and retching. I felt as if I was in my final death throes and I retched, and retched again.

After what seemed like an eternity I had nothing left to give and was entirely spent. I slowly staggered to my feet. The stench was still present but I had nothing left in me to make me feel sick. I briefly noticed that Cruath, Festus and Raven were also woozily getting to their feet and looking as pallid as I felt. To my surprise I saw that Gwydion was covered in blood and gore. He was badly injured and has been hacked and raked by something with vicious claws. He seemed to be shouting at us, and as I slowly recovered myself I realised that he was screaming at us to fire into the hold.

Our reflexes kicked in and before we knew what was happening we were firing arrows as fast we possibly could into the hold. There was a huge dark shape in the hold but none of the details registered with me. All that mattered was firing arrows into it until it stopped moving because Gwydion was screaming at us. We kept firing until our fingers were bleeding. Gwydion was shouting and screaming the whole time. It was only after the creature had crashed into the deck of the hold and we had stopped firing that he finally stopped screaming at us.

I saw that the creature was the most fearsome and hideous beast I had ever seen. It had six massive heads, each glistening with rows of razor-sharp teeth. It was huge and covered with sores and excrement, which explained the smell. But that was all I was able to discern of the creature before my eyes fell on a body which had almost been ripped in half by the beast. It was Pernicus.

Pernicus was dead.

Losing Dweazel had been hard, but we did not really have the chance to get to know him very well. Losing Pernicus was to lose someone who had saved my life, and the life of everyone in our group, on countless occasions. He had become more than a friend to me: he was a necessary part of my life, as important as the air that I breathed. He was foundation upon which the invincibility of our group was based. I cannot begin to describe the depth of loss that we all felt.

Nor indeed, do I wish to recall the depth of that loss. It still makes me cry to this day and I am physically incapable of trying to describe the grief I felt. It was the most unthinkable of tragedies. Pernicus was quite clearly indestructable and I simply could not understand how he could actually be dead.

I was staggered and devastated for those few days we spent in Parma. Being in my beloved home brought no joy to me because everything was tainted by our tragedy. I know that others felt the same, in varying degrees, and we all agreed that we needed to leave the city as quickly as possible to put some distance between ourselves and the tragedy in order to come to terms with it.

Indeed Cruath chose to leave Parma at that very moment. He was uncomfortable being in such a densely packed city and he decided to leave town to explore some of the countryside around the lagoon. I personally think he was looking to increase his supply of hallucinogenic mushrooms which had gotten extremely low and seemed to be making him very tetchy. Looking back I think that he had an inkling of the disastrous path we were setting out on and he did not want to be a part of it. Perhaps I am being too fanciful? All I can say with any certainty is that at the time I was so upset at losing my friend Pernicus that I barely registered his departure.

I vaguely remember getting completely drunk on the night of Pernicus' death and sleeping with a bear of a black man who had approached me in the tavern. I'm not particularly proud of this, but I was overwrought, incredibly drunk, and I simply did not want to be alone that night. This was how Haladi came to join our band, but I will save his introduction for the next chapter. This particular chapter is about Pernicus and why we had to leave the city.

We quickly found a reason to leave. We were approached by a man who had seen us that morning on the docks who explained that his employer would pay us a handsome sum to investigate a brothel in Scuttle Cove called The Porphyry House. In particular his employer wanted us to discover if they were producing a new type of drug and he wanted us to get hold of a sample. The lackey who approached us was quite clearly a drug addict and it was perfectly obvious that his employer, a man called Kedrick Bone, was a drug dealer in Scuttle Cove who was trying to keep tabs on the opposition.

This was clearly not the most salubrious of assignments and we were obviously dealing with scum. However, they were scum with money and this job also gave us the reason we needed to get away from Parma and deal with our tragedy. None of us were really thinking straight. We shouldn't have taken the job. Scuttle Cove was not a place to go to heal wounds like ours. It was a place to go to rage at tragedy. It was a place of revenge and anger, and in our present state of mind it was the last place we should be travelling to. Alas, none of us were thinking clearly and, unknown to us, but obvious to you, we were inexorably drawn from one tragedy to another.

Some scene setting for Scuttle Cove is apparently required for my more youthful readers. When we visited Scuttle Cove it was not the place that many of you know today. My pupil expressed considerable surprised when I first spoke of Scuttle Cove, and I think that he still struggles to resolve the conflict between how the city is today and how I talk about it.

When we made our trip to Scuttle Cove it was not the great centre of learning that many of you will know it as. The Great Library had not been constructed; the Guild of Loremasters was nothing more than a few hardy soles still searching ancient ruins in the wilderness; the architect who designed the famous Bejewelled Fountain, now the pride of a great city, hadn't even been born! The city of culture, civilisation and learning that my pupil recently visited in a state of wonder was still to be born when we stepped ashore.

Instead we found ourselves in a town ruled by a group of evil magic-users. They had destroyed the local clergy and banned all gods. There was no police force, only a force of corrupt and evil bards (I am ashamed to admit this) who punished any divine healers with instant death. The town was the lair of most of the pirates that made travelling so dangerous, and was filled with brothels, drugs and death. If you had enough money you could buy anything, even lives. There was never a fouler and more evil place on earth. It was humanity at its worst excesses.

We fitted in perfectly.

We quickly established our authority to be in the place when we were attacked, with absolutely no provocation, almost as soon as we stepped off the ship. We were all carrying the new and various goods that we had recently purchased in Parma's great markets and this seemed enough to solicit attention. We easily dispatched the group that attacked us because we assailed them with all the rage we felt about losing Pernicus. We were vicious and we were brutal, and in doing made it perfectly clear that we had no qualms about dealing with anyone who was foolish enough to interfere with us. This seemed to deter the average street thug and after this "welcome" to Scuttle Cove we were able to walk the streets in relative safety.

Haladi turned out to be just as a powerful fighter as Pernicus, but with an added ferocity. Pernicus had always referred to himself as "the bold" but Haladi preferred the moniker "the dark". This was well suited. Pernicus' boldness sometimes verged on suicidal and Haladi's darkness sometimes verged on evil. Haladi had come to Parma as a sword for hire but, although he never admitted this he often made allusions, found it difficult to find gainful employment in that glittering city of culture and refinement because of his more base urges. To put it bluntly he enjoyed fighting and killing. We were the first group of individuals he encountered that had the same "moral flexibility" as he did, and he latched on to us with glee. But his road was a darker one than ours and none of us could have even guessed at the depths he was prepared to go to increase his wealth or combat skills.

Kedrick Bone was as unpleasant as we had imagined, probably even more so. We had expected him to be a lowlife drug dealer. It transpired that he was actually a powerful mage who also happened to be lowlife drug dealer. His attachment to his familiar journeyed into areas of turpitude that I do not even want to imagine. His magical experiments had left bones protruding from his head. In short, he was odious and ugly - always a bad combination. He really didn't seem to be motivated by profit but rather by turning people into addicts - this appeared to satisfy is foul desires. He was grotesque. But he was also rich, and that was enough for us. He explained that he was wanted to find out if The Porphyry House was manufacturing a drug called Demon's Breath and to get hold of a sample.

It seemed straightforward enough. But in a town were depravity and corruption were the norm nothing was ever straightforward.

Our first trip to The Porphyry House, ostensibly for reconnaissance purposes, was the sordid affair you would expect it to be. There was something infectious about the place and even I ended up performing a particularly enthusiastic striptease in order to win over an audience and gain some information from them. We were given drinks that were quite clearly drugged with some libido enhancing substance. Not that Haladi or Festus needed them. They were positively salivating before we'd even stepped inside the brothel. They very quickly disappeared off with various girls while their money also disappeared. Raven and Gwydion had more sense and remained on their guard throughout. They were able to use my impromptu strip as the perfect way to gather some useful information from the crowd.

This transpired to not be much. No one knew anything about Demon's Breath, but we did discover that The Porphyry House was planning a huge invitation only orgy in a couple of days. This took place in a special "orgy room" at the back of the brothel and we decided that we need to take a look at this room.

Festus and Haladi emerged shortly after this with inane grins on their faces. They had obviously had had a good time. I suspect they returned not because of a lack of stamina but because of a lack of funds. Festus had noticed that the girls were just a little too perfect. They had been exactly how he had imagined they would be and he found this a little strange. Not strange enough, I feel I should point out, to stop him enjoying an hour of their company. Haladi was just an animal who hadn't noticed anything and quite clearly wanted more. This was the first of many times that I had to make plainly clear to him my reasons for sleeping with him the first time we met.

Haladi and Raven decided to create a distraction in order to let Festus do some snooping. Or rather Haladi decided this and communicated his plan to Raven by delivering a huge right hook. Raven went sprawling and quite a fearsome fist fight ensued. They were as strong as each other and as base as each other. Neither was pulling their punches and it was brutal to behold. When we were finally ejected, with Haladi and Raven bruised and bloody, I would swear that they had actually enjoyed themselves!

Festus had used the time profitably and sneaked around most of the ground floor of The Porphyry House. He had found the "orgy room" and even procured a list of people to be invited to the orgy.

We retired to a tavern to look at the list. We were discussing our next move (that is trying to work out if we could blackmail some of the people on the list) when we were accosted by the most attractive woman I have ever seen. She was naked, except for a strategically placed thong, indescribably beautiful, bold, confident and deliciously sensuous. She also had wings, a pair of small horns pointing through her hair, and a devilish glint in her eye.

I warned you that nothing was straightforward in Scuttle Cove.

Tiralandow, as this "lady" was called, introduced herself as a worshipper of a demon lord called Grizit. She explained that The Porphyry House was a front for worshippers of another demon lord called Demagorgon. It came as no surprise to us to discover that these two demon lords were constantly warring, on their plane and on our plane.

We sat open mouthed as Tiralandow talked to us. We were overwhelmed by her sensuousness (even me) and the boys were even more overwhelmed by her brazen nudity. They did not know where to look and once it became obvious the Tiralandow didn't care where they looked plenty of eyes started bulging. I was uncomfortable with her overpowering sexuality, her nudity, and I was also a little surprised that no one else in the tavern seemed the least bit surprised by her presence. It appeared the beautiful naked demons were a regular occurrence in Scuttle Cove.

Tiralandow explained that the orgy was essentially a form of ritualistic worship of Demagorgon and that many of the attendees would be drugged and sacrificed. I have to be honest and admit that we weren't particularly bothered about this. If the forces of evil wanted to battle each other by sacrificing some depraved mortals then this was quite clearly more desirable than them fighting the forces of good, or sacrificing decent people. Tiralandow wanted to raid the brothel in order to destroy the temple that lay underneath it which would prevent the sacrifices from taking place and thus prevent Demagorgon increasing his power. We wanted to get hold of some Demon's Breath and blasting through the brothel with a demon was clearly a better option that blasting through the brothel without one.

Tiralandow also offered us some magical bracers to help us in this quest. She made it very clear that they had been manufactured by Grizit himself and that they were very powerful but had side-effects. She refused to provide any more details and it was quite clear that she was enjoying the dilemma we faced. Or rather the dilemma that Haladi faced. As soon as the rest of us heard that they had side-effects we were adamant that we wanted nothing to do the bracers. Haladi was not so sure. Here was an opportunity for him to increase his combat prowess and accepting a device crafted by a demon lord was a fair price to pay. Whatever metaphysical arguments he had were resolved very quickly, and after only a moment's hesitation he took the bracers from Grizit's servant and put them on.

He was immediately racked with pain. Something within the bracers was very clearly digging into his arms and blood began to flow freely down his arms. His face contorted in pain but he refused to cry out. I believe this actually impressed Tiralandow and after the bracers stopped digging into Haladi's arms she explained that they were called Bracers Of The Masochist and would channel pain that was inflicted on Haladi into magical energy that would enable him to cast several spells from the bracers. She pointed out that anything that removed pain, that is healed Haladi, would not be welcomed by the bracers. Despite this dire proclamation Haladi was obviously impressed with his new toy. The rest of us were a little uncomfortable with this development. I believe we were all wondering if these horrid bracers would have some other side-effects on Haladi, other than the thirty seconds of pain he endured by putting them on. Demon lords were not exactly renowned for their integrity.

Whatever we thought of Tiralandow, there was no denying that she was a powerful spellcaster. The Porphyry House was guarded by the most formidable set of doors that I have ever seen, but her magic made short work of them. As we burst into the entrance hall we surprised and easily dispatched the solitary guard there. Tiralandow was sure that there would be an altar to Demagorgon under the brothel and Festus, on his reconnaissance the previous day, had established that the place was well guarded and protected. We decided to try and find a way down as quickly as possible before the slain guard alerted others to our presence.

After a few wrong turns we found a set of stairs leading downwards. The opulent and fabulous decor of The Porphyry House quickly gave way to roughly hewn walls, thick moss and a dank smell. The air was damp and clammy, and it was much cooler than the brothel. The first room we found was a torture chamber, which really didn't come as much of a surprised to any of us, although the fact that it hadn't appeared to have been used in a long time was surprising. The damp air had rusted most of the iron implements.

Nearby we found what we thought were cells, but as we threw open the door to the last one we quickly realised that these were pens for some of Demagorgon's abominations. Before us "stood" a giant snake creature. Its massive tail was curled and its body was raised. It had a fierce look of evil intelligence in its eyes and it actually had two arms, in which is held a mighty sword. A dark, foul smelling venom dripped from its jaws. It was hideous. The creature hissed viciously at us and we set upon it with much urgency. It put up a hard fight and was certainly a formidable adversary. Much to our surprise as it was close to death it suddenly changed form into a beautiful young maiden who begged for her life. We were so surprised that we were momentarily distracted. Or rather we were all distracted except Haladi, who didn't bat an eyelid and continued hacking at the creature until it lay dead at his feet.

Once we had overcome our surprise we reached the obvious conclusion that Festus and Haladi hadn't actually slept with some stunningly beautiful women but instead with these foul creatures, who could obviously shape change. I was hoping that there would be some mileage in a little satire, but much to my disappointment neither of them really seemed bothered. Festus was more than happy that he had discovered the cause of his concerns when he had slept with the "woman", and Haladi would have probably slept with them even if they were in their true form. It is hard to poke fun at deviants.

Soon after slaying the creature we found the altar. It was on a small island at the centre of large cavern that was filled to a depth of about two feet with green water. The water gave off a nauseous green luminescence which bathed the whole cavern in a sickly light. The water seemed still, but Festus and I weren't taking any chances. We opted to "cover" the group with missile fire from the entrance. Haladi and Gwydion waded into the water, closely followed by Raven, while Tiralandow wisely chose to use her wings to traverse the cavern.

No sooner had the boys covered half the distance to the small island than the water by the edge of the cavern came alive with a sound of hundreds of creatures splashing. We had all heard our crew talk of flesh eating fish and we feared the worst. Gwydion and Haladi started to run towards the island, as did Raven, but the floor was treacherously slimy and he slipped and disappeared under the water. Festus and I had our bows trained on the water where he had slipped, ready to come to his aid. In our concentration on locating Raven we missed seeing Gwydion and Haladi step onto the island. As soon as the first foot touched solid stone a fearsome creature appeared and their cry of surprise alerted us to their plight. The creature was easily ten feet tall and had four huge arms that ended in razor sharp talons. Its teeth glinted with equal viciousness and its eyes were alive with demonic fever. The demon was a blur of limbs and teeth, and before we had even time to register our surprise Haladi went crashing to the ground in a bloody heap.

Tiralandow started casting some fearsome spells at the demon at which point Raven emerged from the water screaming something about hundreds of tiny snakes. He had clearly been bitten several times and was affected by their venom as his movements were sluggish. He frantically started running to the safety of the entrance where Festus and I were rapidly firing arrows at anything that we didn't recognise as a friend.

Gwydion could have fled. Tiralandow was distracting the demon with her magic and Gwydion was quick enough and graceful enough to get through the snakes. He could have reached the entrance in a swift run and be safe. Gwydion could have fled. We hardly knew Haladi; we'd only met him a few days ago and already it was clear that his quest for combat prowess was even more ruthless and amoral than our quest for wealth; fighters like him were easy to find in the crowded taverns of Parma and he'd never have risked his life for us. Gwydion should have fled.

Alas, he did not flee. He struggled to drag Haladi's still breathing body through the water. He was moving so slowly that it was unbearable to watch. With a mighty leap the demon jumped from the island and landed on top of poor Gwydion, its talons and teeth glowing with fiendish light in the green glow. We were firing arrow after arrow into the demon, as was Raven who had reached the safety of the entrance. Just before we felled the monstrosity we saw Gwydion's mauled and pulped head ripped from his torso as his body collapsed lifeless into the water.

Gwydion had saved Haladi but at the cost of his own life. The poor, silly boy. What a stupid waste of good man for a bad man. Would there be no end to our tragedies?

We had one more blow to endure before we left Scuttle Cove. The Bracers Of The Masochist that Haladi wore actually saved his life. We were stunned when it happened. No sooner had we slain the creature that took Gwydion from us than the bracers radiated a malevolent black glow and Haladi regained consciousness. It appeared that they somehow stored some of his life force lost when he received pain and channelled that energy back into his body when he was about to die. Gwydion's silly sacrifice was now even more pointless.

It was in a dreadful depression that I left Scuttle Cove. Tiralandow succeeded in destroying the altar to Demagorgon, in which we found some samples of Demon's Breathe that Kedrick Bone so desperately wanted. He kept his end of the bargain and paid us handsomely for the drug. We took his money and left Scuttle Cove as quickly as we could. We had no need and no desire to remain in that evil place.

As our ship slipped from the dock and headed back to Parma I couldn't but help cry. I cried for brave Pernicus. I cried for poor Gwydion. And I cried for myself. The three friends I had made in Parma many months ago, with whom I'd agreed to pool my money to buy our ship that deliciously happy drunken night, were all dead. All the time we had spent learning to trust each other and know each other was undone. Where I had been travelling with a group of individuals in which I could place my trust I was now travelling with a vicious fighter who had accepted a gift from a demon lord, a rogue who had made it perfectly clear that he would take any opportunity to betray the rest of us if it made him wealthier, and an uncouth Elf who saw me only as a sex object. I would never come to call these people friends. My friends were dead.

I hate to admit it, but my pupil is absolutely correct: we had set ourselves upon this road to tragedy and we walked it willingly and with our eyes wide open.