Panic! At The Swamp Temple!

So, yeah. Judge Hiede was the big bad guy the whole time. Somehow, he had gotten most of their team to switch sides - and worse, he had taken the Spear of Power they were after!

Luckily, Raaquise had managed to get his internet under control, so he was able to jump in to help out. He showed up at the top of the temple, and stomped his way down inside to where Lucius and Dapper Dan were hiding. Together, they explored the temple, finding lots of lit torches, but no enemies. They found Kenny, and let him out, healing some of his wounds, before the continued their exploration. They uncovered some useless junk, like a pickaxe, as well as some more useful stuff, like money, and a bundle of dynamite. Finally, they found a secret door, and stumbled out into a hidden passage. Following it, they came across a wide room, split in half by a crevasse, with a huge stalactite fallen across it, and carved into a bridge. And, there on the other side, were the natives, Judge Hiede, Sasha, and Feliks!

Creeping up, they took the chance to surprise them with a big boom - Duromine chucked the lit dynamite at them! Surprised, but fast on his feet, one of the natives grabbed the explosives, and then... flubbed the toss. It slipped out of his hand, and landed right in the middle of the bridge. BOOM!

Artist's rendition (I Googled an image)

The dynamite really turned the tables. Like, really turned them. It took out the two natives, as well as the two in snake and wolf outfits. It dropped Feliks, too, leaving only Sasha (who was outside the blast radius) and Judge Hiede (who had some sort of shielding, thanks to the spear he was holding). Well, the others quickly jumped out, and started pelting shot after shot at Sasha and the Judge. The Judge, meanwhile, struck back with lightning blasts, and Sasha took a few pot-shots and people as well. Lucius tied a rope to a pillar, and jumped across; with the bridge blown to dust, that's the only way that remained. Duromine jumped across the gap on the far left, to chase down Sasha, and quickly wore her down. She bolted for it, but in jumping over a small stream, slipped and fell; Duromine finished her off.

Kenny tried the same jump across maneuver as Lucius, but was hit with some sort of Hold Person from the spear, and was momentarily taken out of the fight. Dapper Dan continued to light up the shield around the Judge, but just didn't have the firepower to break through. Lucius slowed down the judge, but after an earthquake knocked him off his feet (courtesy of the Judge), he was taken down, and left to bleed out. Which he very nearly did! Finally, he broke out of the Hold, and together with Kenny, chased the Judge, and finally took him out. The judge whined about how it "wasn't fair!" and how he "bought off those guys with SO MUCH REAL MONEY that it's TOTALLY unfair" that he lost. From the way they told it, he sounded like a kid using daddy's money to "win". Heh. What a loser.

The three were able to get Lucius healed up enough to survive his wounds, then carried him out of the temple, and to the second base camp. The sick soldier had recovered, and the injured one was well enough to travel. Together, they made it back to shore, where they loaded the Spear of Power onto the Man O' War, the Azazel. They took a while to decide, but in the end chose the safety of the New World - the spear was going into the Spanish vaults, never to see the light of day - and far from the grasp of Judge Hiede. But, they made a hefty sum of cash - 5000 doubloons, and Captain Scar's jacket! On top of the various loot they already recovered, of course.

Finally, having beaten one of the hardest quests in the game, they logged off. At like 4AM. Sigh... these guys. I went to bed early, so I'm up typing this at... 7:14 AM. Whee. Thank goodness for cheap coffee!