[The Interrogator]

Before I start the write up, let me preface it with a huge kudos to Aurien for an amazing interrogation. The situation was handled well and we clearly have more information than previously going in. Great job.

When we last left the half-day heroes, they had just captured the evil Cyric priest Shileck in the Garelstone mines. Stripped almost naked and tied up, the heroes had brought her for safe keeping to the local constable, Gayrold's house, in Milbourne.

The party sets up shop and sets itself up so that Aurien and Rosencrantz can interrogate Shileck - with Nanoc standing in the back in case she gets free and the rest of the party splintered throughout the room. The ultimate plan is to have Rosy ask the questions while Aurien "probes" Shileck's mind. Nanoc starts unraveling the "turban" which has been over Shileck's head since her capture, however, he leaves her eyes blind folded. The interrogation is about to begin......

The heroes, having took so long to actually get the priorities in order, gave Shileck the impression that the group had not the faintest idea on what we were going to do with her. She laughs mockingly at the half day heroes.

"You don't even know what you're going to do with me do you? Ahahahahahahaha."

Erlan immediately stares daggers at his Cyric nemesis.

With Gayrold watching on, Aurien and Rosencrantz begin their interrogation. Aurien casts "Mind Read" and Rosy begins by asking "Where is the girl who was wearing this cloak?" Shileck struggles in her bindings as Aurien probes her mind. Aurien sees an orc carrying a box underground somewhere.

Rosencrantz, with silent signal from Aurien notifying him he may continue the questioning then asks Shileck "Where is the other key? (That looks like this...)" Again, Aurien probes deep into Shileck's mind. Shileck again struggles and at this point he feels like he is falling down deeper and deeper through impenetrable, misty darkness where he abruptly falls into some body of water. Sinking deeper and deeper into the water, suddenly, a shapeless form starts to appear from the murky depths below. Slowing an eye opens, glaring directly at Aurien. Aurien comes to, again giving the signal to Rosencrantz to continue.

Rosencrantz then clears his throat and asks "what is the command word for the hut?" Shileck squirms fruitlessly in her bindings as Aurien attempts to read her mind for the final time. Time is running short and the spell is about to wear off... Aurien probes back into Shileck's mind and immediately sees her saying some two syllable word, however, he can't seem to make out exactly what Shileck is saying. Aurien comes to.

Taking a quick break, the heroes regroup before making another attempt at reading Shileck's mind. Interrogation number 2 begins without warning for their captive. Aurien casts a "protection from evil spell" in hopes this may ward off whatever may be controlling Shileck. Rosencrantz and Aurien begin to grill Shileck. Rosencrantz immediately goes on the offensive asking "What is the command word for the hut?"

Shileck answers very calmly, "I don't know. We used to get magical items from the prisoners. I found it on one of them."

Nodding approvingly, Rosencrantz realizes that he just caught Shileck in a lie. This may come in handy later. Aurien asks more questions of Shileck regarding who shes working for.

She replies "I was hired by some orcs and we get the people and hand them over. I don't know who would be their master."

Erlan, fed up with the lies, begins playing the "bad cop role" telling Shileck "listen, we're not messing around here" as he pokes her in her face with his moons' hand.

Shileck, with a sigh, asks "what are you going to do with me? What can I do for you to let me go?"

Erlan replies very acridly, "that's for us to know and for you to find out. You and I got beef."

Aurien then casts another "Mind Read." Rosencrantz then proceeds to ask questions regarding the kidnappings. However, each time Aurien attempts to read Shileck's mind, he keeps seeing this shapeless form with an eye staring at him. Again he's falling through misty darkness, plunging into water below and descending into the depths. He again reaches the shapeless creature. This happens for all 3 questions asked of Shileck. Coming to, Aurien turns to Nanoc, "please put her turban back on." Nanoc complies.

With Shileck finally unable to hear again, Aurien informs the group of his findings. The group is a bit alarmed with what they hear. From what Aurien can gather, Shileck is under the control of some formless creature that he kept seeing during each attempt.

Happy with the results thus far, the party puts Shileck back into her original position, head wrap and all, and turn their attention to the boots she had been wearing in the mines. Erlan immediately puts them on. Thinking of floating, he goes no where. In a flash of brilliant "back roads intelligence" Erlan decides to attempt thinking of floating in the water. Erlan starts flaoting up into the air as the group and Gayrold watch him hit the roof of the house. Happy with the results, Erlan places the boots back into the heroes pile of booty.

Rosencrantz, wanting to do further testing of the boots, decides to try them on outside with Nanocs help. So the group heads outside. While there Nanoc takes out his magical rope. Saying the magic words "rope slither" the rope ties neatly around Rosy's leg. Thinking of floating in water Rosencrantz immediately floats up the 30 feet length of the rope. Admiring kids look on as the group attempts to pick up Nanoc with the rope. No luck. Rowyn, weighing only 126 pounds then hangs onto the rope and it picked up with ease. Estimating the rope has a max strength of approximately 300 - 350 pounds and now satisfied, Rosencrantz casts cantrip as his arm lights up and then begins his descent back toward the ground, landing softly. The young kids cheer in delight. [The villagers rejoice! yay!]

[Bubble]
While the half day heroes decide to wait out the rest of the day, the two priests and Rosencrantz decide to head over to the armory. Looking for sling bullets and a medium shield, they only find the shield and sling stones. Aurien happily purchases his new shield. Remembering he must notify his new BFF Darius Carmen, Aurien asks Erlan and Rosy to accompany him to his mansion.

The trio arrives at Darius Carmen's mansion. Knocking on the door, a servant promptly answers the door. "May I help you?"

Charismatically, Aurien replies, "is the master in? I need to speak with him."

"I'm sorry sir" the servant replied. "Mr Carmen is currently at Count Palfrey's. He left yesterday and is expected back sometime today."

"Thank you" says Aurien. "May I leave him a note?"

The servant heads off and returns with writing implements for Aurien. He then begins scribbling down his note for Darius Carmen notifying him that the Carmen mines should be clear for his workers.
[/End Bubble]

The heroes reconvene at Gayrold's for the night. They establish watches. But before the first watch takes its turn, there is a banging at the door of Gayrold's house. Nanoc springs up, hand on sword, and answers the door. It's Lintern! ...And he doesn't look good. Lintern is all bloody, with slashes in his armor.

The poor guy is quite distraught. "Guys, I am so glad I found you. So I was doing research on the Gleaming Glade in the library and I think I located it. So I went there by myself." Nanoc unrolls his map and has Lintern show him where it's located.

Lintern continues "so when I was in the gleaming glade, I ran into some orcs. But as I was fighting them, some "ghost-type" of mass came out of nowhere and decimated all the orcs! In the confusion, I was able to run away and get back here. That place is evil."

[I can't remember if Lintern was healed or not... I thought not.]
Thanking Lintern, the group sends him on his way back to Count Palfrey's keep.

The group sets up watches and settle in for the night. The entire night passes uneventfully.

The following morning, Aurien wants to get right back to the interrogation. He casts detect charm on Shileck. He sees her glowing. Shileck is under control but it's not magical. Hell-bent on convincing Shileck she's under control or saving her soul, Aurien casts "protection from evil." Unsuccessfully, Aurien does not convince Shileck she is under control. He then shifts gears and engages with Shilect on a cost-benefit analysis of being an evil priest of Cyric. Again no real headway made.

The party, knowing it will take a days travel time with "double timing the horses," decide to try and catch a barge or boat to Thurmaster. We all head down to the dock in Milbourne, prisoner in tow. Traveling through town and getting strange looks from the townsfolk, the heroes arrive at the docks and ask about securing passage. Speaking with the worker on the dock, the party learns that there is a boat coming today but the arrival time has so far eluded the worker. We decide to make the trek on horseback to Thurmaster to see Toaster to see if he may assist with identifying the magic hut and other magic items the party has in its' possession.

Traveling the day to Thurmaster, the group finally reaches their destination. A few of the horses are weary, but for the most part the horses are in good shape. Arriving at the gates the guards clearly are looking at us sideways seeing as we have a captive in our tow.

Rosencrantz replies to the looks with "Kidnappings? She's responsible."

The guards congratulate the heroes on their score.

The party continues past the gates onto the Hounds and Tales to drop off the horses. After doing so the party heads directly to Tausters. Knocking on his door, he opens it greeting us immediately. His eyes go straight to Shileck. Again Rosencrntz replies with his traditional "Kidnappings? She's behind them."

Tauster ushers the party into his house. We show him the items and he can't really assist with any identification until he can secure some pearls. Rosencrantz then asks his colleague about some type of mind control being exhibited over Shileck by some formless eyed monster. Rosy also explains more about Aurien and his "Mind Read" results. Tauster offers to do a dispel magic to attempt to rid Shileck and possibly Aurien of this hold over them. The party agrees and heads about 50 yards outside of town.

50 yards outside of town the group disperses as Nanoc throws Shileck into the center. Aurien joins her. Tauster casts dispel magic and nothing noteworthy happens. Tauster then offers to cast "detect cyne [???]" to see if anyone is watching us. Again, nothing noteworthy happens. The crew thanks Tauster for his time and heads back to the Hounds and Tales to hole up for the night.

Arriving back at the Hounds and Tales the heroes settle in and set watches. The night passes uneventfully.

The following morning, Aurien decides to cast detect charm and doesn't see anything on either himself or on Shileck. Attempting another "mind rape" Aurien casts "Mind Read" asks Shileck what the command word for the hut is. This time he actually hears her say "Cri-Zeck." He then sees an eye again and immediately Aurien passes out. Erlan rushes to his side and tells the party "Guys it's not magic that made him pass out."

After some time of waiting, Aurien comes to. He tells the party of his findings. The group starts toward the door to try the hut out.

Saying the magic words "Cri-Zeck" the house begins to get larger and larger, finally coming to rest as a full sized shante. The group heads inside while Nanoc keeps watch. [He was spinning records...] Inside the group finds:

* A chest containing a presumed magic wand and 2 scrolls.
-Scrolls have mirror, web, dispel magic & minor globe of invulnerability.

* A pouch containing gems; diamonds, etc.

* 2200 gold

*1200 platinum

* 1400 electrum

Rosencrantz then has everyone get out of the hut and tries the magic words again. The hut shrinks back to it's original state. He again uses the words twice more. The hut grows and shrinks. He tries for a third time, nothing happens.

The party heads back inside of the Hounds and Tales....

[/End of session]

THIS!!! IS!!! GARELSTONE!!!

When we last left our "half-day heroes," the party had just dispatched a horde of brain eating zombies and the evil priest of Cyric, Imerin. All while the second Cyric priest was busy attempting to tear through the web that Rosencrantz had magically evoked.

Nanoc, in a merciless rage and drunk from blood [or lack there of] lust, headed directly toward one of the remaining zombies entrapped in the web. With one fell swoop of his blade, the zombie is crushed. Rosencrantz, aware that Shlieck is attempting to flee immediately casts stinking cloud. Suddenly a noxious cloud encompasses the evil priestess. Choking from the fumes, Emerin immediately starts heading through the web toward the party.

The group then notices that 4 more zombies are coming through the web to engage the party. [brains! brains!] As the remaining zombies rip apart the web that stands between them and the group, the last zombie who was trapped in the web breaks free with the help from his counterparts. Nanoc engages the first zombie coming through the opening created in the web. 2-handed sword swinging, the zombie is obliterated.

Meanwhile, behind Nanoc, Vance and Kuiper head toward the priestess and her evil minions. While the fighters battle it out with their undead foes, Erlan begins casting "light." A large, bright light lights up around the priestess of Cyric. Suddenly, having been blinded, Shileck appears to be lost with no real direction. Aurien decides to cast a spell, but it appears he failed as he attempted to "hold person." Seeing his spell did not effect Shileck, Aurien turns his attention to Rowyn who is currently on the verge of "death." He heals Rowyn and immediately she appears in better health; wounds healed, color comes back into her face, and she gets up with a spring to her step.

Having been healed, Rowyn immediately heads down the mine in the opposite direction toward the slain priest, Imerin and begins searching his corpse. On his remains she finds the following items:

1 Holy Symbol
1 Chain Mail (+1)
1 Shield (+1)
1 Footmans' Mace (+1)
1 Odd Robe w/Patches (magic)
1 Gold serpent bracelet
1 Sapphire Ring
1 Scroll (8th level - Remove Paralysis)
1 Set of Boots

Back in the melee, Kuiper winds up and kills a zombie! [Gasp! Shock!] With the priestess still blinded, Nanoc winds up and smashes her for some good damage. Seeing that he may kill the potential informant that way, he decides better and sheaths his sword and engages in some "dirty boxing." The other zombies come through the web, which by this time has been pretty much torn apart, Kuiper and Vance engage the remaining undead. Upon smashing their undead faces in, Vance and Nanoc double team Shileck. [Get your minds out of the gutter!] Nanoc lands a right hook and Vance lands an uppercut on Shileck. She crumbles to the ground like a ton of bricks. [THIS! IS! GARELSTONE!] Vance and Nanoc high-five. Without time to waste, the group starts looting the body of the priestess. On her body the group finds:

1 scroll
700GP Worth of Gold Jewelry
1Gold and Ivory Key
1 Chain Mail (+2)
1 Sickle (+2)
1 Holy Symbol
1 Black Robe
1 Blue Cloak
1 Scroll (10th level - Aid, Paralysis, Prayer)
1 Set of Boots (magic)

After removing all of her clothes [and forgetting the boots], the priestess finally wakes up. As soon as her eyes open she immediately starts flying up in the air, smashing herself on the top of the roof of the mines. Hastily, Nanoc throws his magic rope into the air and mutters its magic phrase. Shileck finds herself completely tied up as Nanoc pulls her down from the air with all the strength he can muster. Finally down on the floor, the prisoner is hog-tied. The party removes her boots as a little added insurance. The group gathers itself and begins its trek down the remaining corridor.

Coming down the corridor the party comes into a large room that is wide open; The Grand Cavern. There are plenty of tracks in this room, suggesting plenty of foot traffic comes through here. Kuiper immediately starts following tracks directly into a wall. Curious, both Erlan and Rowyn do some searching where the tracks left off. With a smile, Erlan hears a "click" as he opens a secret hidden door leading down a hallway with no light. The party continues on...

Coming down to the end of the hallway, the group comes to a 20ft X 15ft room with 2 doors - one on the left, one on the right. Rosencrantz attempts to open the door on the right. Nothing. Unsure if it's his strength or lock hindering the door from opening, he has Nanoc try. No luck. So Rosencrantz takes out the key looted from Shileck and places it into the lock of the door and turns it. "Click." Nanoc again attempts to open the door with no luck. They then try the door on the left using the same key. Nothing. Satisfied that they can't go on any longer without opening either of the doors, the party disembarks from the mines, burning the zombie corpses on the way out and head toward Milbourne.

As night falls, the party arrives in Milbourne. Immediately, the group heads over to Gayrold's house. He invites them in and the party explains all that has been happening. The group decides to stay at Gayrold's tonight and not bring any more unwanted attention to themselves.

While the group gets settled, Aurien heads over to Andrins. He shows Andrin the black cloak. Andrin's face drops... Aurien consoles him telling him we didn't find her body yet, but the cloak is Jaleneths. [+100xp!] Aurien heads back to Gayrolds house and gets settled in.

Once everyone is settled in, the party begins discussions as to the best way to interrogate their new found potential informant.......

Some Questions to ponder: [See Bulletin Board]

• Find out if she is kidnapping people, and why.
• Discover the nature of whatever is controlling her, if indeed she is being controlled as we suspect. This will require some cleverness.
• Locate the whereabouts of J-Love and Samheis, and possibly the Sune pilgrims.
• Ascertain where they are operating out of. I am assuming that the Garlstone mines are not the only base, and I'm particularly interested in the keep south of the river and with Wingy McEyepatch.
• Find out what's on the other side of that doorway in the mines.
• Discover the command word for the flying boots, if it exists (we'll have to test this out).

Third Time is the Charm! [Oh, and screw Kuiper]

“Third Time’s the Charm, wherein the Halfday Heroes, having nearly met with destruction at the hands of foul and uncouth priests, do return, and visit upon the same a wellspring of chastisement.” - chapter heading from The Halfday Heroes, a history, by Dresden the Bard.

Picking up from where we left off: the heroes stood, heaving the remnants of panic breaths, just beyond the maw of the Garlstone Mines. While Erlan stared speculatively at the moon, Rowyn reminded the party that she needed to collect Grr from the Carmen Mines, where he had been entrusted to some workers. She and Aurian were both blind. Grasping the arms of their allies, they made their benighted way across the treacherous pre-dawn landscape.

Aurian had never faced priests of this caliber or nature before, and it frightened him. Although he was sure that the blindness which afflicted him would either fade or could be removed by his betters at the church, he found it shocking to see his own powers, darkly mirrored by the apostles of an evil god, used to stir such havoc. At the same time, he felt emboldened at the realization that his own magic, when rightly applied, might produce a similar affect on the villains themselves, as it had on the Ginger. As Erlan led him along, however, he couldn’t help but feel that the elf, now strangely taciturn, had suffered a dent to his own faith. But there was no time to speak of it.

Having put that small paragraph of psychodrama behind them, the party arrived at the Carmen Mines, where they were hailed (warily) by two guards. Upon seeing the party in such a state, and upon hearing that the party was perhaps being dogged by a group of zombies and other malefactors, the guards began to freak out. Rowyn asked whether they knew of a connection between the Carmen and the Garlstone Mines, which they denied; they did suggest, however, that someone in town, someone like the oldest person in town, might know. Who that oldest person could be, however, they were unsure. His name eluded them. Was it Derkaster? No. Go figure.

Rowyn collected Grr from the guards just as her sight, and Aurian’s, returned. The spell that blinded them each had been a light spell, in that case. After agreeing to deliver a message to Darius Carmen RE: What The Fuck Is Going On, the party hit the dusty trail and arrived in Milbourne shortly thereafter.

The party power-healed, armed themselves to the teeth, and returned to the mines, where they–just kidding. That’s only what the party thought they were going to do.

Actually, the party bubbled up and quickly lost focus regarding all the carefully laid plans about avoiding NPCs and such that had been made previously. It was all basically for the best, though.

Upon reaching town, Aurian and Dresden called at Carmen’s home, where Aurian insisted that the master be woken. Having been welcomed in, they laid down some facts for DC which were met with alarm. The wary Carmen offered ten platinum coins and a missive to Dresden, with the intention of withdrawing his workers and guards from his own mines at once, as he felt they were in danger. Aurian spoke with the landowner a bit longer before accepting his gracious offer of a warm bath and a soft bed.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party found Garyld ready for action on his own lawn, with his bowstring drawn and vague premonitions running through his brain. He agreed to send word of the night’s foul deeds to Count Palfrey. Rowyn asked him who the oldest person in town was, and was told that it was probably Old Grizzler, that dwarf we ignored so many sessions ago as he sat on the half-bridge lucratively, fishing with a gold exclamation point above his head.

Most of the party, I believe, went to the Baron of Mutton to hit the hay, and deservedly so. Dresden, along with Vance and Nanoc, made their way back to the mines and aided in the mass exodus of Carmen’s men. They split ten platinum between them for this minor service (fuckers). By the time they returned to Milbourne word had spread, inducing (no doubt) the outlying farmers to seek the safety of numbers also, and Milbourne looked like a damn carnival. At some point here Vance saw Andren, Jileneth’s beau, being -eh-i’m-not-so-sure about the crossbow he was wielding, and decided to give the young man an impromptu training session. I think it ended with them making out. Or no, it actually ended with there being no targets or room for the training, so Vance might have shown him some sword techniques instead, or something. Yeah.

Erlan had spent the night administering healing care to the party at the Baron of Mutton, but the morning arrived with a crash. The town was swarming with inhabitants. Aurian memorized enough curative spells to put everyone back to max, or damn near, and then cast them as appropriate. Then he cast Idea, for the first time, and received a strange omen which implored him to remember Andren’s initial description of his lost love. As Aurian relayed this vision, a bell went off in someone’s head–I think it was Jason’s, but forgive me if I’m wrong. He recalled the ring we had found with a J carved on it. Half of us had no fucking idea what ring he was talking about. Was it the one from the fat chi–I mean halfling’s–hand that we found? No, Jason said (definitely him this time). It was the ring we found on one of the dead bodies in the mines, it was the body of a guard wearing chain mail armor or whatever. We rushed down stairs and showed it to Andren.

Poor Andren. The ecstatic look on his face said it all. “Where did you find this?” he asked. “On a dead body in the mines,” we said, and then–at the graying of his visage–”but not Jileneth’s!”

Outside the game, going back in time five seconds, we all sat on the edges of our fucking seats. At Bill’s assertion, as Andren, that the ring was indeed Jileneth’s, at least three people went “Yes!”, at least one person leaped out of their chair (me lol), and there was much clapping, rejoicing, and throwing of high-fives. Good work team!!!

Back in the game, Aurian assured Andren that the party would rescue Jileneth or die trying, etc, etc. After this it was decided that the party had two important tasks before them: the first was to follow up on Bill’s dangling hint that Grizzler the Plot-Hooked Dwarf might have *gasp* some important knowledge for the party. The second was to meet Tauster in Thurmaster for a debriefing. Alright, so only Rosencrantz thought that second one was important but, believing in his friend’s superior intellect, Aurian offered to accompany him on the jaunt.

Bubble A: Rowyn, Nanoc, Vance, Erlan, and Dresden made their way to the half constructed bridge where Grizzler had been previously spotted fishing, but the landmark was deserted. At Garyld’s suggestion they hit up the Baron next. It was hopping like crazy due to the influx of people looking for safety, and the only clue the perceptive heroes had that Grizzler sat at the bar was a suspicious space between taller patrons. Accosting him with merriment, Rowyn offered to buy the son of a bitch a beer, and he eagerly consented. They had a grand old time for a few minutes until Rowyn talked the dwarf into stepping outside, where she probed him with questions regarding the mines. Each inquiry was like a needle to his skin. As if, right?

It became clear that the good dwarf was a former miner at the Garlstone mines, in the halcyon days of yore when the ore flowed like water and the dwarves bedded every wench from Milbourne to Selgaunt, etc. Not only that, he had a FUCKING MAP of the place and he was willing to sell it to us (fists pumped at this unexpected twist)! After a brief discussion about alternative forms of payment, someone sucked up the damage and threw down 20 gp for a map of the Garlstone mines. It was then that Rowyn and the others finally laid eyes on the names of the rooms in this twisted labyrinth. The Crab Petals? The Chamber of the All Hearing Gods? The Pallisaides of the Bill Give Us More Gold U Jerk? Who thought of this stuff, we wondered. Caverns that we had already explored seemed retroactively sinister, and we trembled at the thought of them.

And so on.

Bubble B: Hooves thundered as Rosencrantz and Aurian crashed through the Redwood on a Mission from God. But ho! With infinite cunning, they reined in at Kiuper’s where they FLASHFORWARD cursed his fucking name for being the worst combatant in the history of the fucking Realms and FLASHBACK stepped up to his door to seek the ranger’s aid. Aurian plied the noble woodsman with words of friendship and inspiration, convincing him to join them in their desperate plight, although he mentioned that the venture could be their last. Leaving Kiuper to prepare himself, they continued on to Thurmaster where Jason got up to take a break and Aurian masterfully filled in Tauster on every relevant detail the wizard/priest duo and friends had discovered. After realizing that Tauster had not a jot or iota of wisdom to dispense, the heroes left his tower, urging him only to protect the town should the worst occur to them. Back at Kiuper’s, they told the now readied ranger that oops, change of plans, meet us at the village tomorrow. Eyes narrowed, he accepted this modification to the arrangement.

Kiuper then did pulled out his short, stubby dagger and drove it into his own face repeatedly until Rosencrantz woke up with a gritty smile on his face, forgetting the wondrous dream almost instantly. Dawn had broken, and it was time to put it back together.

“I’ll put you back together,” Palfrey whispered as his hands made another arcane pass over the boiling green liquid in the cauldron. This time Aurian woke up, well rested from the luxuries of Carmen’s place, and set off to meet the party.

Grr was left with Naftan, I think, and the party set out to fuck some shit up at Garlstone yo. The air was practically singing with anticipation. Mid-way through the caves (we’re at the caves now) a stalagtite fell from the ceiling nearby, and was OBVIOUSLY a monster. Vance stepped carefully around to the wide base of the conical rock formation, and was greeted by some fleshy abomination of a toothy maw. He did not stay his sword hand. A rain of cherry blossoms fell as another foul creature passed from this earth; Pelor commands it.

At the top of the mine shaft two orcs awaited the party. Don’t even fucking ask me how they died, I can’t remember :( Sorry to whoever killed them! Your deeds were mad noble. I’m guessing that Nanoc and Vance had something to do with it. Of course, probably no one else remembers who killed them, either. In that case, it was Aurian. And it was fucking awesome.

At any rate, they’re dead. A tense week passed in real time.

Rowyn descended the ladder and, after a brief look around, gave the go ahead. The party made their way down the shaft. At some point heading forward (or maybe it was on the level above?) they passed a shimmering shape in the air which Rosencrantz noticed hanging there. The party, suspecting this apparition was a trap, gave the space a wide berth and avoided activating the dreaded Wyvern Watch altogether. The party continued on, taking a moment to inspect the left-hand cave where the moon eel had previously dwelt while Dr. Bow kept a guard in the main passage. Rowyn did her Sonic the Hedgehog impression and reported that nothing had changed. Lanterns were topped off at the first cabin. At the cabin in the main hall, Nanoc boosted Erlan up to examine the small, disheveled interior through a small window. Aurian passed him his lantern (PS Aurian and Rosencrantz have the lanterns) and Erlan noted that nothing appeared amiss in the cabin. The party continued onwards towards…

THE DOME
Cut to Rosencrantz crit failing on his rock-throw attack (Trainer: “Rosencrantz, use your rock-throw attack!” Rosencrantz: “Rosencrantz! Rosencraaantz!” System: “Rosencrantz failed it’s rock throw attack badly! Rosencrantz is embarrassed!”). Nanoc shoves the young wizard aside–unnecessarily really, as there’s plenty of rocky shoreline to stand on–and hefts a stone up and down a few times to appreciate its balance. Then he hurls the thing like a medieval Randy Johnson at maximum speed into the point of interest, a floating object of indeterminate type.

Re-cap: After reaching the chamber denoted as “The Dome” on their map, the party found a large pool of water with a pillar of rock rising from it, behind which they could barely glimpse SOMETHING. It was this something which Nanoc now threw perfect strikes at.

The object seemed to move in the water, but a second strike revealed that the force of the rock was causing it to stir, and not its own impetus. The general consensus rang out: it was a dead body. Aurian declared that he would remove his armor and swim out to capture the corpse, which (in-game explanation: could be Semheis) and (out of game explanation: is full of fucking treasure). There was much arguing but the noble priest finally convinced the party to let him attempt it.

Yes, Virgina, there really are deadly black fish things. Having swam halfway to the corpse, Aurian saw the razor-fins of his aquarian oppressors shear the surface of the still water like the teeth of a devil. He made an impossible roll on his swimming check and bolted back to the shore like a cartoon character before they could mar his beautiful person. Everyone chuckled at his folly but he marveled at his own initiative. Suiting up in armor again, he followed the others back to the main passage. Of course, soon enough they ventured into…

THE CRAB PETALS
Aurian noticed the silvery wire of an appendage stuck to his breastplate with a tense look of dismay. Was it something gross he’d walked through? As he turned back to his companions who followed behind, he was suddenly yanked at high speeds backwards into the room. Although he remained on his feet, waterskiing in reverse, the party watched as his lantern zoomed away from them and was jerked around a corner of rock outcropping. The left over illumination quickly dimmed. The priest of Sune had vanished.

Vance was already moving, but not before Rowyn. As the elven rogue darted ahead at lightning speed, she too felt some strange constriction and was pulled down to the cold and rough stone of the cavern floor. Vance, feeling her sudden passage more than seeing it, would have collided with the dragged elf in a tangle had he not leaped over the course of her passing in an incredibly badass way. As he broke right and charged after Aurian, Nanoc broke left and followed the elf. Rosie and Kiuper and Erlan followed the burly fighter, while Dresden chased after Vance. I’m going to totally cut to the chase here: this thing is a giant mantis with crab claws. Correction, these things. Plural.

Pulled up nigh into the crunching maw of the beast, Aurian rolled and tumbled to avoid the crashing claws and piercing fangs of his would be killer. He met with mixed success, finally succumbing to at least one horrid stab from the thing’s violent coercion. As hit hit points dropped into the red, John turned to see the look on my face as my beloved character died. But that would not be Aurian’s fate, I decided. Despite being held down by the creature’s claws, Aurian manged to push up enough to throw a spell into its insectoid eyes. In a flash of brilliant white, the mantis reared up and uttered an ear splitting hiss, affording Auri the opportunity to roll away. As its forelegs jetted out, they found no purchase on the canny priest. It was then that Vance and Dresden appeared. The fighter would suffer no contest from this fiendish foe, and hacked into it with the fury that only an indignant Cormyrian can muster. Black and brackish ichor flew everywhere under the prestige of his blows. Then we discussed how to pronounce ichor. Then Dresden, running up the very claw of the beast with a quick-stepping nonchalance that all the girls find exciting, drove his enchanted rapier into the face of this malcontent dreadling with mucho fucking gusto. He landed on the ground in a flourishing pose as the monster collapsed behind him and a gout of blood arched o’erhead. It was awesome AND HAPPENED EXACTLY LIKE THAT, REGARDLESS OF WHAT U REMEMBER, OK.

Meanwhile, Kiuper crit failed fifty three fucking times until we wrested his character sheet away from Bill and put it to the sword. But we didn’t really, though.

But honestly, he dropped his sword. Nanoc screamed for the ranger to clear out of the way so he could smash the shit out of the offending bug-crab, but as Kiuper backed up, Rosencrantz forced an enchanted dagger into his hands and shoved him back into the fray, where Nanoc again shoved him away. Then Nanoc missed a bunch of attacks. It was a sad time for the Republic. Erlan kept to the shadows and waited to see who would die while Rowyn tried to maintain her cool while being stabbed and crunched by pincers. It was not a pretty sight. Lets just skip ahead, can we? Nanoc kills it with a massive sword blow and it explodes everywhere in a display of ultimate GROSSNESS. Rowyn and Aurian are half-dead. PS there’s no fucking treasure in the room either, thanks for playing assholes.

FAIRYLAND
Aurian cast a cure spell on himself and, with Dresden’s help, got most of the sticky ichor and web thingy off. Rosencrantz alerted the rest of the universe to the party’s presence by screaming at Kiuper with a series of invectives that I withhold due to the relative modesty of this f-bomb laden account.

With wisdom befitting only the most exalted of priests, the party decided to move swiftly through the next area, a movement inhibiting, geode reminiscent mo’fucka and they did NOT explore the small chamber that it seemed to enclose, thank God. Bringing us to…

THE CHAMBER OF THE ALL HEARING GODS
Disclaimer: I know I’m going to fuck up more than a little of this description. For one thing I’m not sure if there were two or four orcs, nor do I necessarily remember the exact order of events. Please feel free to correct all the mistakes. Anyway:

As Rowyn darted forth speedily into the cavern, the description of which escapes me entirely, two horrid, pig-faced orcs dashed from the shadows of an alcove and cut her down. From the party’s vantage point, it looked for all the world like they had run her through. Nanoc uttered a cry of rage and charged forth, even as the party noticed a contingent of five zombies which had waddled out from some dusty corner and were desceding toward Rowyn’s fallen body, probably to feed. Icky.

Aurian had had enough, however. Raising his hand, he froze the zombies in their place with a judgment from Sune. Fear filled their empty sockets as the turned and attempted to shamble away from the agent of justice who’s passionate fury they had so foolishly roused. But they got nowhere, and neither did the orcs–Rosencrantz stepped forward like Peter Fucking Parker and, cracking wise no doubt, shot from his fingers a web that filled part of the cavern and ensnared both orcs and several zombies.

Vance was already in the think of things, though. Having been following Rowyn at a close range, he held an advanced place in the cavern and was there to meet the next wave of attackers, including zombies that came streaming out of a farther passage and possibly some orcs (it was damn hard to see with that web everywhere).

Vance proved, as he often does, to be unhittable. Swinging his shield about like a Greek warrior, he took turns rebuffing the useless clanging of claws and weapons against his invulnerable person and piercing his adversaries with well aimed thrusts. No movements were wasted; his was an economical program of murder. The rest of the party was impressed.

Nanoc, meanwhile, was surrounded on several occasions by zombies and forced to resort to his trusty dagger, which he used to punch holes through people. Having slaughtered a number of the foul denizens of Cyric’s ill love, he stepped forward to greet the hearty orcs as they emerged from the web, and felled them with swift and clean blows to the neck region. Much blood was spilled by his insatiable appetite for destruction.

Erlan made his way down the cavern’s length, marveling at the tenacity of the dirty humans, and letting the moon’s hand fly where it would. He was probably the one, along with Vance and Rosencrantz, who spotted Shilek emerge from the distant passage and then retreat back into it. He rushed forward while Rosencrantz begin preparing his most important spell of the venture and Vance fought through waves of undead. Like a wrecking ball, Nanoc crashed through his opponents to get close to the now retreated priestess.

With all eyes focused forward, Dr. Bow began to shine. He had rushed forward to Rowyn when she fell, reaching her in time to bandage her wounds and administer treatment. Then he threw back his head with a laugh of bardic chivalry and began slaying the enemy army en masse. Where a zombie stood, a rapier would flash, and Dresden had soon assembled a crew of corpses about him. Dashing here, sliding there, his dextrous blade performed its fearsome work. By the time the battle had ended, the humble level 2 Bard had slain at least six zombies, and wounded more. Good work, Dr. Bow!

In contrast: fuck you, Kiuper. Fuck you.

In the instant that Shilek and Imrin emerged from their passage and began to cast, they were toast. Rosie beat them both on initiative and threw a second web their way, submerging the priestess in the fibrous strands while the male priest rolled away. Coming up, Imrin attempted to regain control of his zombies from Aurian, who cut a dashing figure a million miles away from everyone else as he slowly advanced, locked in mystic concentration. A battle of wills began; the zombies, confused, stood still as Aurian’s eyes grew more intense and Imrin’s sinister brown knit in concentration. Then it was over–like a thunderclap had gone off, Imrin’s head shot back in rage as a smile broke on Aurian’s face. The zombies continued to flee. The power of the young priest had overcome the darkness.

As Imrin reeled back, however, Vance (I think?) was there to meet him with a sword blow, and Nanoc wasn’t far behind. Erlan commanded the priest to fall and he did, allowing the party’s muscle to fuck his shit right up. Aurian, having released the zombies he just fought hard to keep, sprinted down the cavern for the finale. Imrin leaped back to his feet. Everyone rolled what would be an intensely important initiative. Scott got a 1; I got a 3.

Nanoc struck first with darts, but his initial shot went wide and Imrin continued to cast some hideous portent. The priests baleful face glowed with malevolence as he neared the completion of his spell, quickening his pace. But Aurian was faster. Taking a play from his comrade Erlan’s book, he commanded Imrin to fall, and as the priest hit the ground, Rosencrantz’s magic missles sliced his prone body. They were right on the money. Imrin was dead.

He was dead, and Shilek was bound up in the web, and the players howled with delight and began to set about with finishing off the four or five remaining zombies, which they quickly accomplished–some at the hands of Dr. Bow, some by Vance’s, and some by Nanoc’s own sword.

After helping Rowyn to her feet, they surveryed the carnage, and considered the prospects of taking a priest of the fell god Cyric as their prisoner.

TO BE CONTINUED

Down Into the Depths (Round 2)

We picked up where we had left off, with Rowyn, Rosencrantz, Nanoc, Aurian, Erlan, and Dresden standing at the mouth of the Garlstone Mines. Terth had mysteriously jaunted through a rock wall (not to be seen again), just as Vance arrived on the scene, mouthing threats against nymphs and assorted fey creatures that no one else ever seems to see. Turns out that he’d been tracking and fighting Black Hand assassins in Cormyr. Apparently Bargel, who Aurian never had the pleasure of meeting, is somehow behind these assassins and has them killing followers of Gond Wonderbringer, or SOMETHING. I’m not old school enough to get this. At any rate, it was all hands on deck. While in Cormyr, V-bomb also hit level 3 and decided to cash in with the automatic hit-point bump in lieu of rolling. An academic distinction! Since Vance can’t be hit. Exclamation point!

After making their way through the mines that they had previously cleared, the heroes arrived at the sketchy looking shaft which had halted their progress last session. After some discussion, Rosencrantz lowered the lantern (where are you, Terth?) to get a full diagnostic on the drop. It was 40 feet and there were metal rungs going all the way down.

Rosencrantz got ready to cast Feather Fall as Rowyn pluckily plumbed the depths of the pit, and whistled back to report that no foes were in sight. The descent continued, shockinly without incident. There was a 10 minute discussion about whether Rosie would hold the lantern while climbing down the ladder, or tie it to his back pack. The lantern went out in mid-step. We cogitated. The lantern was re-lit. Party members engulfed in flames: zero.

Our heroes ventured forth into the caves, zagging and zigging to illuminate as much ground as possible. Before long they hit a T intersection and some wall sconces, uproariously blazing. Roll for initiative.

Picture this: a dead orc. Nanoc happened to it. The orc’s partner, all by his lonesome now, had his axe shocked out of his grasp by Vance’s stalwart shield block. It sailed through the air and landed behind him dully. He’ll recover it a round from now when shit has hit the fan, but shit hasn’t hit the fan yet. Aurian prepares to fist pump if/as Nanoc mows down the remaining orc, since cheerleading is a less cliche way of gaining XP than “watching the rear.” Dresden is “watching the rear,” though, and it’s a damned good thing. He sees: a Ginger Haired Man. O fuck, we think. O Sune. You’re the one we’re looking for, Ginger–but how are you running so fast?

Suddenly, ancestral voices are prophesying war. A cadre of infidels, of Orcish bent, of Orcish persuasion and Orcish manners, are charging down the hall towards us. The bastards have evolved a pincer: one ragged claw is a Ginger Haired Gent who appears to be fucking hasted, the other a ravenous mob of assholes and (though our heroes don’t know this) a sinister priest to boot. The Round begins.

Subsection: What Happened in the Round?

In the round….Aurian cast Hold Person on the Ginger and it landed. The red rogue pulled his bow string half-way back for (SPOILERS) the last time and prepared to watch his prolonged, horrific and cosmically unfair slaughter at the hands of gooder peeps.

In the round….Rosencrantz threw a Web between our heroes and the mob, effectively cutting off somewhere between five and eight enemy combatants from the fight. Fuck yeah.

In the round….Nanoc charged towards the frozen Ginger, while Scott’s feet tapped and his eyes were lit with madness.

In the round….Dresden made a tough as nails save against a Hold Person spell and then loosed arrows at Dude, squire and servant of the Ginger. Aurian and Erlan made their saves too. Rosie didn’t, just as Jason and Rae expected

In the round….We spent five minutes debating whether a hypothetical priest had line of effect through ten hypothetical feet of web. Turns out: yes, for now.

In the round….Vance hit the bricks and arrived on Ginger’s doorstep, in Nanoc’s footsteps, grinning at the impossibility of a whiff.

In the round….Rowyn hit a freebie sneak critical on our stiffened antagonist, for 3 luxurious damage. Hardy fucking har. Don’t feel bad, she kills the halfling later.

In the round….Erlan smote the left-over Orc with his moon’s hand, crushing his skull. Beginning: his hard-on for bloodshed.

In the round….Rosencrantz and the Ginger stood immobilized but cognizant, unable to pivot but able to petition their gods for succor as the rest of us smugly realized that we were about to fuck some shit up.

That was the ballgame, that one round. Dresden made it downfield in time to stick the pointy end of his rapier in Dude’s exposed throat with a savage thrust. Nanoc and Vance took turns hacking the helpless Ginger with their blood-soaked weapons. Fucker had about a million hit points, until Erlan finally, thankfully, reduced him to zero, with an undignified high angle face bash. The moon’s hand had fucked another were-bear, as they say.

At some point after Dude had been laid to rest but before the Ginger had, because it took rounds, a feisty halfling missed his backstab on Rowyn and was well abused as a reward, ending with his death at the hands of the elven rogue. All this time Aurian had been dragging Rosencrantz’s static form down the cave passage and away from the Web, defending his helpless friend as necessary. The mob burned down the web and Nanoc prepared to meet them head on. But when the smoke had cleared, they were gone.

The group formed up. With Nanoc watching the wide, main passage and Erlan watching the side, and with Rosencrantz safely in the middle, Aurian cast Detect Magic and started looking for goodies while Dresden cut off the Ginger’s head to prevent him from returning as a ZOOOOOOOOMBIIIIIIIIIEEEEE. Aurian appraised the party’s spoils as Jason set the Final Fantasy Victory Fanfare to playing on his iPod.

THE SPOILS:
1. A magic bastard sword, of the same strength as Vance’s (+2), which Nanoc was given.
2. A magic set of splint mail, which glowed fairly brightly, which Nanoc was given after a friendly discussion among those who lusted after it, and some dice rolling. Nanoc’s straight up splint mail was given to Erlan.
3. A potion of Extra healing which Nanoc was given. Good to note that at this time, Nanoc dished his standard potion of healing to Auri while Rosencrantz, unfrozen at last, gave up some of his to Dresden, Erlan and Rowyn.
4. A pair of magic boots with a 24 speed, which Rowyn was given.
5. A more powerful magic dagger (+2?) which Rowyn was given. Her other magic dagger went to Vance.
6. A magic long bow which went to Dresden, aka Dr. Bow.

Keep in mind of this shit came from the Ginger. I know, right? They got the blood on the whaaaaat?

After Vance had removed the Ginger’s armor and Nanoc had suited up, and everyone else had arranged their posessions, we decided to close shop a little early and leave things hanging, as more combat was indisputably ahead. XP was the floor but I think a pretty good time was had by all.

NOTES:
1. There is a second level priest spell in the Tome of Magic called Idea that I might use to help us find clues about Jileneth that we may have overlooked.
2. There is a first level priest spell in the Tome of Magic called Weighty Chest that I could combine with Love Bite to seriously fuck up any singular opponent we face. The spell could cause some item the opponent is wearing, for instance the pauldron on his sword arm, to suddenly weigh 2 to 5 times his own body weight. Yikes!
3. The last thing we noted was that the Ginger had the same fishy smell about him that we’ve been encountering among adversaries in the mines. A fishy smell, huh? Hmmm….smells fishy.

If You Want to Play 'Catch Up'

- We got attacked by a bunch of bandits just as we arrived in the area. During the fight, one of the bandits pointed directly at Rosencrantz and yelled out “GET HIM!”. Why? Is it because Rosencrantz was obviously a wizard? Was it random chance? Was it because he was the weakest-looking person?
- Jelenneth kidnapped from the inn in Milbourne. We have NFC where she went, no leads on why she left, just her bag of spell components and a locked door.
- The boy were-bear goes missing. We hook up with Kuiper to investigate a place where Jelenneth might have gone searching for spell components, as well as look for the boy. We run into Olan, with her two wolf companions. We get ambushed by orcs during the night. We find the were-bear. He is injured. Kuiper is absolutely horrified, because only magical weapons should have been able to wound the boy, and we found no such things on the orcs. We head back to Kuiper’s, Olan gets pissed off that we’re not Druids and leaves us to track the orcs on her own. She fails.
- Thurmaster runs into a giant problem. Does this have anything to do with anything? We have no idea. This was ultimately resolved, but we don’t know if it was isolated.
- Goblins and the New Mire of magical origin around Milbourne. Again, we ultimately resolved this problem and think that we’ve come up with a decent resolution, and it’s probably an isolated incident.
- The pilgrims in the moors north of Parlfrey’s keep getting kidnapped. We did not find the pilgrims, but we find find some dead guards, and also some three-headed wolves. The pilgrims were headed to some Sune temple.
- We got attacked by a bunch of bandits between Kuiper’s and Thurmaster. There was a priest with an eyepatch wearing chainmail and a hooded cloak that appears to be leading them. We eventually overcame the ambush, turned the tables and started killing the bandits, and finally moved in on the priest, but he SPROUTED WINGS AND FLEW AWAY AT FULL SPEED. WHAT THE HELL. We later find out something about a legend of an evil priest in an area nearby called the “Gleaming Glade”, which apparently has a lot of artifacts there or something. Is he a priest of Cyric? We have no idea.
- Enzeldrin.
- Reports of Orcs up by the mines, which we’ve never been to.
- The ancient home of the Parlfrey’s in the woods south of the Thornwood which, again, we’ve never been to but definitely sounds sketchy and worth checking out (Orc home base? More Cyric priests?)
- The crypt. Way, way bigger than expected, lots of strange magical creatures and other things down here.
- Tomb robbers. Acting alone, or involved with Cyric/kidnappings? We have no idea, we murdered the only lead we had.

"Are You Not Entertained!?!?!?!?!?!"

Another day dawned at the keep of Count Palfrey. Another mundane morning accompanied by mediocre food. The party isn’t very lively today as it is the day when the group needs to pay a visit to Enzeldrin, Queen of the Mire. The one and only bright spot is the fact that the group had slain a displacer beast and had gotten its eyes for trade with the imposing green dragon. After finishing up a lackluster breakfast, the party readies their things for the journey through the mire to Enzeldrin’s cave. After some time, the party meets at the front of Count Palfrey’s and starts its trek to pay “the queen” her bi weekly visit.

On the way to Enzeldrins, the group makes a quick stop in Milbourne. (or was it somewhere else?) The party decides to leave the horses behind so they do not get caught in the sluggish mire. Asking an inn keeper for assistance, he tells the party that he’ll stable the horses free of charge. (About time we get some kind of hookup!) The group drops off the horses and begins its long journey through the unforgiving mire…

It took quite some time for the party to make any headway through the mire, as travel was by no means easy going. After quite some time of sloshing through the muck, the group stumbles upon 4 “humanoid” beings sitting around a campfire. With the element of surprise on their side, the party attempts to decide what to do next. Before any decision is made, both Dresdin and Erlan start walking directly toward the things sitting by the fire. Dresdin, being the music genious he is, decides that a witty tune would be just the right thing to break the ice with these unknown “humanoid” creatures. He draws out his harp (or is it a stringed type guitar?) and begins playing a jaunting diddy. Upon hearing the music, the 4 creatures get up, turn around, grab their spears and begin coming at the party! The group sees that they are blue lizardmen! Seeing that there is a fair amount of distance to cover, the party decides to use its range attacks. Rowyn, uses her short bow, Nanoc his darts, and Rosencrantz uses his stinking cloud spell. After some long distance fighting, and with one of the lizard men “ralphing his brains out,” the party slays the enemies with little to no damage taken.

After searching the corpses, (rotten meat anyone?) the party continues to head to Enzeldrins. After some more travel, the weary party finally arrives at the mouth of the cave. The group gets in marching order and heads down into the eternal darkness. Upon reaching Enzeldrins lair, the party hails her to see if she is there. Indeed, she is in her cave. The group makes small talk with her telling her tales of our experience in Ordulin/Yohn. She is also told about the Siric priest we ran into in the tomb. Enzeldrin states that she has seen some Siric activity in this area lately. The party also discloses that there have been kidnappings, Samheiss being the latest casualty. After querying regarding the orcs and seeing if the orc stronghold may lead to the perpetrators of the kidnappings, the group turns its attention to trading the displacer beasts eyes. Rosencrantz gives the eyes to Enzeldrin and in return, the party receives 2 scrolls. Writing on one of the scrolls will transfer the writing to the other scroll. (Good for communicating long distances!) Wrapping up the business with Enzeldrin, the group bids her farewell and heads out to the mouth of the cave.

Reaching the entrance to the cave, the group realizes that a storm is coming in. Gale force winds, terrential downpours, et-cetera. The group decides to camp the night and wait out the storms fury. The following morning, 2 more lizard men attempt to ambush the group while camping at the cave entrance. One came from each side of the cave mouth. After a bit of a battle, but not much, the enemies are dispatched and the group continues to wait for the storm to die down. In the meantime, Dresdin (I think…?) moves the bodies away from the mouth of the cave.

Later on that day, while the group is camping, 3 more lizardmen stumble upon the corpses of their 2 slain brethren. Taken aback, they never knew what hit them. In an instant, the super powerful combination of Rosencrantz and Erlan both cast spells immediately. Rosencrantz casts stinking cloud and Erlan casts Entangle. Or better known as “Entangling Cloud.” Instantly, the lizard men are entangled in branches from the surrounding trees. The stinking cloud descends upon the trio. Following that wonderful combination spell, Erlan casts Fairie Fire which basks the lizardmen in a “blue” glow. With all 3 “ralphing” their brains out and entangled to boot, the party takes up target practice, seeing who can hit them the most. Seeing the party wasn’t in danger, Nanoc takes out his pom poms and starts cheer leading… After some cruel, vicious target practice [Are you not entertained?!?!?!?], the remaining 3 lizardmen are destroyed. (Nanoc cheers!) After waiting for some more time for the storm to subside, the party finally decides it is safe enough to start heading back to town.

Upon reaching Milbourne, the group decides it prudent to stay the night since it’s been a long day of trudging through the sluggish mire. The group stays the night to rest up before heading back to the tombs to finish clearing it out. [I don’t remember if we went straight back to Count Palfreys keep or if we stayed in Milbourne or not… Something keeps telling me we stopped after the long day of travel. *scene missing*]

Upon waking the following morning, the party heads back to Count Palfrey’s to restock on items, rations, and waters before heading back into the tomb. After some travel, the group finally arrives back at Count Palfrey’s. He has no darts, but he gives Rowyn plenty of arrows for her endless quiver. He also provides Rosencrantz and Erlan some more stones for their slings/staff slings. After filling up on rations and water, the group begins its journey back to the tombs….

Arriving at the tombs, the party sees that everything is in the exact order which it was left from the previous raiding session. Heading into the front door, the party grabs a torch from a sconce on the wall and continue to head deeper inside the crypt. After finally reaching the room where the large dragon statue is pouring water into a pool, the group gets ready to climb down a knotted rope. Before heading down, Rowyn, forever curious, cups her hands and drinks some of the “magic” water… Nothing happens. [Sad face…] Erlan then decides he wants some as well and takes a swig. Feeling refreshed, the party turns its attention to the knotted rope. Nanoc climbs down first, barely making it down safely as the rope was quite slimy/slippery. Reaching the next landing, Nanoc suddenly hears a high decible scream pierce through the air. (save versus spells I think it was, and I needed a 20 and I got it!)

Dresdin, having the ability to nulify any “sound attacks,” decides to climb down the rope to assist Nanoc. [What a pal….] However, he slips and falls from the rope, tumbling down approx 60 feet. Nanoc, seeing what happened, attempts to catch Dresdin, or at least break his fall. Dresdin lands on Nanoc with a loud resounding thud. (Both split the fall damage)

After getting Dresdin up, both he and Nanoc see some kind of “shroud” apparition falling from the sky ontop of them. Nanoc immediately pulls out his 2 handed sword. The creature then splits into 4 seperate beings! The remainder of the group, still on the upper landing, begin to pull out their range weapons to assist in the attack. Rowyn hits one of the “vampire shroud” looking creatures and it immediately disappears! Now there are 3 left.

The “shroud” then attacks Dresdin. Wrapping itself around his entire body, Dresdin is completely engulfed by the creature. Nanoc sees Dresdin struggling, but there is nothing he can do. Immediately, Dresdin is unconscious. Nanoc turns and takes a swing at the creature and connects. Another one of it’s mirror images has been destroyed. Now 2 remain. Erlan then casts Fairie Fire, and the main creature begins to glow a blue hue. Nanoc and the rest of the party then start to concentrate its attack on the “blue” creature.

Before Nanoc can get another attack off, the creature screams again! [Yes, I needed another 20 and rolled a 19… Cruel, cruel fate…] Nanoc is now incapacitated. The rest of the group then continues to pelt the creature with arrows and stones until it finally rears back and begins flying away at a great rate of speed. With the battle over, after some time, Nanoc comes to. Immediately, Nanoc pours a healing potion down Dresdin’s throat. Immediately, he begins to feel the effects of the potion. Slowly nursing Dresdin back to health, the party decides to call it a day [Half Day Heroes Unite!] and finish exploring the tomb later…..

Training, Displacer Beasts, and Super Evil Hobgoblins!

Training, Displacer Beasts, and Super Evil Hobgoblins!

The sun rose slowly out of the east to shine the light upon another day at the keep of Count Palfrey. Is this merry band of adventurers over staying their welcome in the graces of Count Palfrey? Will it soon be time to move onto other adventures in other distant, far off lands? Only time can possibly answer this riddle. [hint, hint]

The group convened for breakfast in Count Palfrey’s dining hall for yet another mediocre breakfast consisting of only god knows what. With the way the cash flow has stymied the party as of late, none could really complain about the poor food when it costs nothing. After some discussions regarding what to tackle next, Terth, Rosencrantz and Erlan speak up stating that each is ready to begin training in order to bolster their already burgeoning repertoire of magic, mind power, and healing, respectively. The party decides that it would be in the best interests of everyone involved if Erlan, Terth, and Rosencrantz could expand their knowledge in eachs specific discipline. With the decision being made, the group wraps up breakfast and starts preparing their things for the long ride to Yohne by way of Ordulin.

While mounting their steeds for the ride to Ordulin, Rosencrantz then suggests to the party that we inform Kiper that we have learned about the orcs whereabouts so that he may then pass on the message to Olan. He also would like to stop by Tausters house (since it’s so close) to see if Tauster needed anything from the capital. The party agrees and head toward Kipers farm. After arriving at Kipers and being let inside of the farm house, Rosencrantz notifies Kiper of the orcs staying in some mine to the north. [I forget the mines name]. Kiper agrees that Olan should be notified of this development and agrees to pass the information onto her.

The group arrived in Thurmaster and headed directly to Tausters. Toaster ushers everyone into the house. Rosencrantz asks him if he has any need fo any items from the capital city. Indeed Tauster does need some items. Phosphorous, Sulfer, Bat Guano, and a pearl with a value of at least 100GP. [I may have screwed up the third item… Wait, I know I did…] With that out of the way, Rosencrantz proceeds to ask Tauster if he has any information about “displacer beasts.” However, Tauster is little to no help in that regard. One would probably get better information asking an inanimate object….One last question, are there any invokers located in Yohne? After some digging, Tauster comes up with the name of one, “A-Money.” Rosencrantz thanks Tauster for his time, gets the platinum to cover the price of Tausters needs and with that, the party begins its journey to the capital city of Ordulin.

After stopping through “A-Town,” the party finally arrives in Ordulin, tired and weary from the long days ride. Having spent most of the day riding, nightfall will soon envelope the country side. Electing to not travel further under the drape of darkness, the party stays in Ordulin for the night and finds a place to hole up for the coming night.

Bright and early the following morning, the party heads directly for Yohne, Erlans “semi-home” city where he initially trained in his discipline. Needless to say, he seems uber-excited to be back in the city. With the mid-summer festival only a day or so away, the city seems completely mobbed with people. Searching for an inn to serve as “home base” while Erlan, Terth, and Rosencrantz train, the party stumbles upon the “Burned Flagoon.” Going inside, they find that the cost is some what high and decide to find more meager accomodations for the week. After heading down toward the seedy dock, the group finds an inn called “The Forlorn Lovers Quarrell.” [Again, this name has been changed to protect the innocent] Finding this inn more suitable to their financial situation, the party decides to setup shop.

While everyone gets situated, Rosencrantz suggests that while he, Terth, and Erlan are training, that Nanoc and Rowyn try to sell the bracelets Rosencrantz had in his possession. They readily agree. Drastic financial times call for drastic financial measures! (Dam you tight-assed citizens of Herenshire and your non existant coin purses!) The group meets up before parting ways to tend to each’s business. Terth stays behind and meditates. Rosencrantz heads out to see out “A-Money,” Erlan heads to the temple of Selune, and Nanoc and Rowyn head down to the docks to try and locate someone to purchase their shiny metal objects.

Since Rowyn has decided to speak in thieves cant to attempt to locate somone associated, Nanoc decides it would be prudent to hang behind so that any potential purchasers would not be scared off. Not letting Rowyn out of his sight, Nanoc follows behind her, rather noticeably, down to the docks. After some wandering, Rowyn runs into a gentleman named “D-Rock.” Explaining to him the situation, he agrees to help Rowyn move the bracelets and to meet him the following morning at the “Nekkid Mermaid.” [Rae will like that one…] Satisfied that they have done all they can for the day Rowyn and Nanoc wander around the city for the remainder of the day, exploring.

The next morning, Rowyn and Nanoc head down to the “Nekkid Mermaid” to meet “D-Rock.” Not to be seen directly with Rowyn, Nanoc heads in first and gets a seat at a table, ordering some quite murkey and rather disgusting ale. Rowyn comes in next and secures a table in the back of this fine establishment. After approximately 15 minutes of waiting, in walks “D-Rock.” He saunters over to the table where she is seated against the back wall. After some discussion and some more negotiating, “D-Rock” agrees to buy the bracelets, netting approximately 800GP.

With the rest of the party off training, Rowyn mentioned to Nanoc that the temple of Joquim, in some sort of trouble, was hiring mages for protection. Supposedly, “D-Rock” suggested going to the temple to sell the bracelets first, but mentioned the trouble and she thought against doing business, at the present, at such a tumultuous place. Hearing this, with his incredible nine intelligence, a light bulb goes off in Nanoc’s head. Maybe he can secure some work and earn some cash monies by guarding the temple for the week. Notifying Rowyn of his plans, she relays that she is going to juggle fire during the festival to drum up some cash herself.

Nanoc walks up to the Temple of Joaquim and immedialtely, a man comes out to greet him at the entrance. Inquiring as to what Nanoc’s business is, Nanoc replies that he had heard that the temple was hiring guards and thought he could be of service. The man, eyeing Nanoc’s immense six foot eight inch frame, ponders for a moment. After some silence he replies that Nanocs intimidating presence could be a benefit to the church. With the price of 5 gold a day as payment ironed out, Nanoc heads inside and begins his guarding duties.

Exactly one week later, the entire group is back at the “Forlorn Lovers Quarrell.” With Terth, Rosencrantz, and Erlan having trained, the one piece of business remaining was to seek out Tausters components he requested. Rosy, having passed an Alchemy shop that was suggested to him by “A-Money” decides to visit the establishement to procure the items on his “grocery list.” Entering the store, Rosy notices a musty odor wafting about the room. Looking around curiously, he sees numerous containers holding different types of fungus. A woman comes out from a back room and hails him. Presenting her with his necessary components, she happily heads to her back room and retrieves the necessary items. The only item Rosy can’t procure at this shop is the pearl(s). He decides to give it another shot at the docks where he thinks the pearls would be harvested. No such luck. Deciding to try again when we pass through Ordulin on the way back to Milbourne, the group packs up their things and begin the trek back to Count Palfrey’s. Needless to say, the week away from Count Palfrey’s was somewhat refreshing.

Traveling for part of the day, the party arrives in Ordulin. With mid-summer over, the city is not nearly as jam packed as it had been when the party passed through initially on its way to Yohne. Asking around the city to try and locate some type of jeweler, the group is directed to a so called “famous” merchant who resides in the norhern end of the city. Arriving at the merchants place of business, the party comes upon a palacial mansion. Knocking on the door, they are ushered inside by a gentleman, and brought into some sort of waiting lobby. The lobby is elaborately furnished and the group, in all its days of adventuing, had never encountered a merchant who sells items directly out of his house. Telling the gentleman of what was required, the man heads off to see if he can locate the pearls. After some waiting, the man returns. He tells the party that he does have pearls in stock, however, each one will cost 500GP. Not wanting to be extremely reckless with Tauster’s money, Rosy decides to hold off and not purchase the item. The group leaves the merchants and continue to travel back toward Milbourne.

After a trip through “A-Town,” the group rides hard the entire way back to Milbourne. Arriving at night, its decided that the party will stay in Milbourne and rest for the night. (The horses were also quite travel weary…) After getting a meal in, the group discusses its next options now that the training is complete. After some discussion, the group decides to try and locate this “displacement beast.” Ezeldrin, the evil green dragon, had mentioned previously that she was in need of the eyes of a “displacer beast.” With this in mind, the group heads to sleep, dreaming of what prize is in store if they successfully retrieve the “displace beasts” eyes for the dragon. (Possibly end this shotgun marriage, perhaps?)

The next morning, before heading to look for the “displacer beast” the group decides to head to Tausters to drop off the items aquired for him in Yohne. Arriving in Thurmaster, the group heads directly to Tausters home. He ushers the party in. Rosy explains that we could locate all the items except for the pearls which would cost 500GP each. Since the price was so high he decided against purchasing one. Tauster seems disappointed and said that he would take one next time we were out in that area. We make 40 platinum for our trouble. The party bids Tauster farewell and heads out.

Since the group was heading to fight this unknown creature, they decide to see if Lintern would like to accompany them for the trip. After heading to Palfrey’s keep, Lintern advises that he is unable to attend the days festivities. [Pussy]. The party rides off without him.

Arriving at the mausoleum, the party finds everything the exact way it had been before they left the tomb. They immediately and eagerly head into the tomb. Traveling through the tomb, the group reaches the 200 foot ladder leading up to the clearing. Getting near the top, Rosy casts shield and Terth gets “inertial barrier” ready in his mind. Nanoc cautiously pokes his head out of the opening at the top and looks around. Nothing. Hearing the rope creak under the weight of the group Nanoc tells everyone to come to the top and into the clearing.

On guard and looking for this beast, the group does not see it lurking anywhere. A minute later, something comes crashing out of the woods toward the clearing, snapping sticks as it runs through the brush. The creature, jumping out from a wooded area, gets surprise on the party and proceeds to set its sights on Erlan. [How can one be surprised when you are blatantly looking for that exact thing is still beyond me….] The creature swipes at Erlan with both of it’s tentacles, connecting with only one hit. But, it was enough damage to drain half of his hit points. Pulling out his two-handed sword, Nanoc prepares to splatter this beast all over the clearing. At that point, Rosy proceeds to fire 2 magic missiles at the “displacer beast” which both, obviously, connect. Nanoc attempts to hit the beast with his sword. Having blind fighting and having seen where the magic missiles hit the animal, he connects with his two handed sword. The creature howls in pain and turns immediately toward Nanoc. Erland moves out of the way, and casts fairie fire. Having successfully cast the spell, a blue aura’d outline appears where the creature is really standing. [It’s clobbering time!] Meanwhile, Rowyn is somewhat unsuccessfully trying to climb a tree to get out of the way in order to fire arrows from a higher vantage point. Terth unsuccessfully attempts to control fire from the lantern in order to hit the beast. Nanoc again winds up and with all his might, swings the sword unmercilessly at the beast. He connects again. [3D6+7 bitch!] After a bit more combat, Nanoc, again swinging his immense two-handed sword, hits the beast, crushing it and ending its life.

After the battle, Rowyn climbs up a 50 foot tree to see if she can ascertain exactly where we are. Reaching the top, she sees the main entrance to the mausoleum. Confident the group can head back to Palfrey’s keep from here without having to put any more undue stress on the 200 foot rope, [We fall, we’re dead…] she climbs down successfully without incident.

Searching the area, the group comes across what they think was the grave robbers camp. There is nothing there except for a firepit, a cracked chest and some spoiled meat. Searching the chest, Nanoc finds it contains a set of full plate mail! As giddy as a school girl getting her first boyfriend, Nanoc pulls out the magnificent armor. However, much to his dismay and chargrin, the suit is a bit too small for him and would need to be tailored to fit his hulking frame. [Sad face.] Near the campsite there is a large statue of a warrior with his sword pointing toward the east. Rosy makes note that maybe the sword is pointing toward “something.” But noone takes notice of neither his suggestion nor his 18 intelligence and Rosy makes a mental note for later. Picking up the chest in his burly arms of steel, Nanoc proceeds to start heading in the direction mentioned by Rowyn as to where the entrance to the tomb resides. The rest of the party follows back to Count Palfrey’s keep.

Arriving back at Count Palfrey’s keep, Nanoc asks a servant to store the full plater armor there until the group decides what to do with it. Having not yet fully explored the rest of the tomb, the group decides to head back in to finish clearing it out. While on their way out, the party encounters an eager Lintern who asks if he can accompany the group this trip. Rowyn frowns as if she is completely against this turn of events, but knowing she’d be out voted, she deicides to sulk internally. [Never enough fighters baby! Although Nanoc counts as two to three…] The party gathers its steeds to proceeds to head back to the tomb for further exploration and plundering. [Dollar, Dollar Bill Ya’ll]

Arriving back at the tomb, it is now midday. The party, along with Lintern, head back into the depths. Looking at the map the party has drawn of the tomb thus far, the group locates on the map the one door that has yet to have been explored. Quickly, the group heads directly to the door. Upon arriving at the door, the party sees the 2 familiar onxy statues, carrying halberds, which interlock over the top of the door frame. Rowyn, examing the statues closer, said it appears to be just one piece of onyx that was carved into the 2 statues. With the fear of being decapitated by the statues dwindling, the group feels a bit safer to enter the room. Rowyn tries the door. Locked! Deciding to attempt to pick the lock, Rowyn breaks out her lock pick. After fiddling with the door for a few minutes, she is about to concede defeat, when there is a soft click heard from the lock. Nanoc, stepping in front of Rowyn, proceeds to open the door and cautiously peer inside. Not being able to see Terth comes next to Nanoc to help illuminate the room. The room goes off to both the left and right with corners at the end. Coming into the room, Nanoc heads right. Terth right behind, the group behind him. Coming down the corrider slowly and turning left at the end Nanoc proceeds down the hall. Coming to a ladder, he climbs down, the party following. Coming around the next bend is room with a large pool in the middle. Next to the pool is the statue of a large and quite intimdating dragon which is pouring water into the pool. Looking around, the group sees 4 human skeletons and another skeleton, however, this other skeleton is quite a bit larger. Peering closer, Nanoc sees something putting some sparkly object into the eyes of the broken skeletons. Looking up, the figure speaks words unknown to Nanoc and points at the party. At that instant, the skeletons being to animate and come to life. Lintern comes to stand next to Nanoc with Terth stepping back. With Nanoc and Lintern blocking the entrance to the room, it would also cut down the enemies attacking in larger numbers. For now he and Lintern will have to deal with whatever evil this creature reanimated. Erlan looks at this creature and notices he is a hobgoblin, a dark priest hobgoblin at that! The large skeleton heads right to Nanoc and Lintern, while 2 other skeletons close on Nanocs other side as both fighters are just inside the room. Behind the large skeleton with the large horns, they party can hear the hobgoblin priest starting to speak some incantations of magic. Hearing this, Rosy knew he must disrupt the spell. Summoning his magic missiles, he shoots them directly at the hobgoblin hitting him square in the chest, interrupting his spell casting. Nanoc and Lintern have their weapons drawn and ready to fight. After some fighting between the large horned skeleton, the other 2 human skeletons and Lintern and Nanoc, Rowyn, seeing Nanoc and Lintern consistently miss, decides to take action. Tumbling through the crowd as nimble as a cat, she tumbles and rolls into the room past Rosy, Nanoc, Lintern, and the skeletons. In the meantime, Erlan decides to turn the skeletons. Pulling out his holy symbol and commanding the skeletons, in the name of selune, the jewel encrusted moon tabbard he was wearing begins to glow, obviously assisting with his “turning.” He successfully turns the 4 human skeletons as they proceed to run to the far wall of the room.

Knowing that the rest of his minions are turned and quite pissed off about it, the hobgoblin hopes to get a spell off to even the odds. Seeing Rowyn tumble through the crowd, the hobgoblin priest sees her and begins casting another spell. With even more amazing speed, Rosencrantz again shoots the hobgoblin with another set of magic missles. 2 arrows hit the hobgoblin right in the chest. Hurt, but not downed, the hobgoblin turns toward Rosy while Nanoc and Lintern continue to fight the large horned skeleton. Nanoc and Lintern both score hits against the giant skeleton. Although leaning uneasy toward one side, it continues to press forward, attacking with its fists.

On his last leg [Bravo Jason] and as a last ditch effort, the evil hobgoblin priest attempts to cast another spell. Knowing immediately that he must be interrupted, Rosy just beats the hobgoblins spell by casting web. Pointing a finger at the hobgoblin, a huge mass of web shoots directly out of his finger, entraping the turned skeletons and the hobgoblins within its sticky goo. Meanwhile, Lintern and Nanoc quietly finish off the horned skeleton, crashing it to the floor. Nanoc looks over to see Rowyn notching an arrow into her bow. She releases the arrow as it goes wizzing toward the restrained hobgoblin. With perfect accuracy that Robin Hood would be proud of, the arrow hits the hobgoblin directly in the chest. [Bravo Rae] Notching arrow after arrow, Rowyn continues to shoot at the hobgoblin until it has been disposed of.

Terth then moves forward and proceeds to burn the web down so the party can dismantle the remaining skeletons. One skeleton is killed in the ensuing fire. [ha, ha!] The remaining 3 skeletons are slain by the party without incident. Having had their fill of adventuring for the day, the party wearily heads back to Count Palfrey’s keep in order to keep a date with a green dragon the following morning…………….

[/FIN]

A Day in the Life of Rosencrantz

Rosencrantz sat at the long table in Parlfrey’s dining room, idly stirring the food on his plate. The eggs were bland, the sausage was overcooked, and he wasn’t sure what to make of the earthy-smelling, chunky brown mush. Probably there was some sort of magical spell that could identify what godless dimension that it came from, but Rosencrantz never really had the knack for Divination. He missed having Aurian around… the man was insufferable at times, but certainly knew how to scare up a decent meal.

Glancing down the length of the table, Rosencrantz surveyed his companions for the day’s adventure.

Nanoc was busy shoveling down enough food to feed a small army: he was cleaning plates almost as fast as the serving men and women could bring them out. The keep’s guardsmen – all laughing uproariously at the scene – were sitting nearby him, having become fast friends with the huge warrior. Nanoc’s martial skills were becoming a thing of legend, and the men-at-arms would jump at the chance to train alongside him.

Rowyn had finished eating, and was leaning back in her chair, juggling four apples with one hand. She had a familiar glint in her eyes that made Rosencrantz sigh inwardly: he’d have to make sure later that her pockets weren’t loaded with silverware. One of the apples abruptly made a strange arc in the air, and landed squarely in the palm of a man sitting across from her. Rowyn looked surprised, and barely managed to keep from dropping the rest of the fruit.

Terth took a bite of his prize. Rosencrantz shook his head: that man was an enigma. Terth did not use incantations, material components, or sometimes even gestures, and didn’t own a spellbook. Rosencrantz had tried asking him about the nature of his powers, but Terth had trouble describing how he was able to do what he did, saying something to the effect that it was like explaining to someone how to breathe.

Further down the table was Erlan, ignoring his breakfast, who looked to be in a decidedly one-sided conversation with an elven minstrel. Rosencrantz couldn’t hear what was being discussed, but pinned a 93.7% probability that it had something to do with Selune, or grandmothers.

[snip]

Squire Marlin was pretty nervous about the business of paying tribute to a 70-foot dragon. Rosencrantz tried being helpful by pointing out his situation was still a better fate than Thurmaster being ground into splinters, and having everyone’s heads bashed in by giants. At that, the Squire turned as white as a sheet.

Rosencrantz nodded, satisfied, as he took the note and left the way that he came. Sometimes people just needed a proper sense of perspective.

[snip]

… Rosencrantz wondered what that old buzzard would have to say if he could see his student now, dragging a foul-smelling cow through a mire, to go visit a green dragon with whom he’d made a rather lopsided bargain. Probably something about how it was his own fault.

[snip]

… they continued down the passageway, tribute in tow, as the sound of the torrential downpour receded behind them. The animal was getting spooked, but someone managed to calm it down. They eventually reached the end of the tunnel after a few minutes, and it opened up into an expansive cave, that extended beyond the reach of the lantern light. A deep, heavy breathing sound could be heard. Rosencrantz wondered aloud if Enzeldrin was asleep.

“OH, I’M AWAKE.”

He choked back a scream.

[snip]

… as the party walked out of the tunnel, trying hard to ignore the sound of crunching cow bones, Rosencrantz decided that he had changed his mind about Enzeldrin. Her motives were still pretty suspect, but she had useful information, particularly about the Displacer Beast. He was forced to admit to himself that maybe this arrangement wouldn’t be so bad after all.

[snip]

… Rosencrantz had a stick in his hand, and was slashing lines and circles in the soft soil of the mire to indicate various strategic approaches to the cave, while keeping his voice low to avoid attracting attention. It was important, in his opinion, to have a plan of attack, and never go into a battle unprepared. He glanced up at Rowyn, about to direct her to move into position to fire from long range, when his train of thought was interrupted by a C major chord. Rosencrantz whirled around, with a look of horror on his face.

Dresden was strumming his strange instrument, and loudly singing a song. Rosencrantz frantically waved his arms at Dresden, trying to catch his attention. The minstrel, however, was too absorbed in singing his ballad, the basic theme of which seemed to be that giants were dumb, ugly, and smelled like mutton pie that was left in the sun for a week. A few moments later, a huge boulder came sailing out from the direction of the cave opening. It crashed mere inches from where Dresden was standing, and cut off the minstrel’s song in mid-verse, just as he had been describing how giants were bedwetting nancies that still lived with their mothers.

Rosencrantz growled, and began casting a protective spell as the other members of the party rushed past him towards the mouth of the cave, weapons drawn. Just as he finished the intricate motions of the spell, he heard a cry of pain coming from the direction of the cave entrance. A moment later, he saw a monstrous, nine-foot-tall creature running into the mire, at full speed, with Nanoc in hot pursuit, wielding his massive two-handed sword, now covered with the creature’s blood.

Rowyn darted out of the cave with short bow in hand, stopping to nock a sheaf arrow flight arrow and take aim. She paused, clearly hesitant to fire at a fleeing opponent. Rosencrantz, however, had no such inhibition: he uttered a quick incantation, and two glowing missiles flew from his outstretched hand, whizzing past Rowyn and Nanoc, striking the giant in the back. The creature stumbled, and toppled over into a heap, dead.

The wizard nodded, satisfied. There would be no repeat of the Splinter Incident, so long as he was around. He felt what he thought was a twinge of guilt, but then decided that it was probably just indigestion.

[snip]

… the giant dragonfly tried to escape the choking cloud of gas, but the grass and brush underneath it reached up and pulled the creature out of the air, holding it fast on the ground. Rosencrantz gave a thumbs-up to Erlan: that combination attack might be handy again in the future.

The party advanced on the incapacitated creature, and began firing at it from a distance with ranged weaponry. Rowyn and Dresden used their bows, Nanoc threw darts, and Rosencrantz readied his trusty staff sling. However, just as he was about to load a bullet into the sling, the bullet flew out of his hand, sailed through the air, and crashed into the monster at high speed, killing it. Terth waved at Rosencrantz with a sheepish grin on his face.

And thus ended the most uneven, one-sided slaughter that Rosencrantz had ever seen.

[snip]

The party ended the two-day-trek where it began: Parlfrey’s keep. The party restocked on supplies, and rested, while Dresden, Rosencrantz, and Lyntern spent the evening digging through the keep’s modest library, looking for information on where the Parlfreys originally came from.

As he was flipping through the various tomes, Rosencrantz’s thoughts began to wander. There was a lot still left to do around here. The girl from Milbourne was still missing, the crypt was not fully explored, the grave robbers were still unaccounted for, the Gleaming Glade and the eyepatch priest needed to be investigated, Enzeldrin wanted a pair of Displacer Beast eyes, the party needed to talk to Kuiper about getting in touch with Olan, and there was still the question of the missing pilgrims. Plus, Rosencrantz felt as though he was on the verge of a breakthrough in his studies… he wanted to speak with Tauster and see if there was anything that the old man could teach him.

Rosencrantz shook his head, and refocussed on the task at hand. Tomorrow would be another day.

Leads Are Running Thin...

The morning dawns with the group hustling away from the last 3 remaining orcs. At any minute, the entangle spell “woods woman” cast will wear off and they will be free again. After stomping around through the woods for a few minutes, the party is safely away from the remaining orcs. As dawn brightens behind the clouds, soon a heavy rain begins to pour down from the sky all around the group. After waiting a few minutes, Kiper tries to pick up the orcs trail so that we may track them to their base camp or stronghold. However, Kiper has no luck following the trail as the torrential downpours start to wash away the tracks left behind by the orcs. The woods woman stoops down and starts making squeaking noises. The group realizes that she is talking to a small woodland creature. After a moment she returns. It seems as though she has used this small creature to ascertain the direction in which the orcs headed. She advises that she will be moving quickly and we’d have trouble keeping up. Woods woman heads off alone in search of the orcs.

The group and Kiper decide to continue tracking Maxim, the shape shifting young boy. Having taken the form of a bear, the group must subdue him without using force or any weapons. We all have nets, provided by Kiper. After approximately 3 hours of tracking the bear, Kiper notices some prints and suddenly, a bear comes storming toward us from the thick of the woods! Nanoc throws his net perfectly and in one single graceful motion, the bear has the net all around it. However, the net doesn’t entirely stop the bear from its charge. At that second, Rosencrantz begins casting “web.” Suddenly, a burst of web flies into the trees, completely tying the bear up in it’s sticky tangle of webs. The bear continues to struggle against the webbing. Kiper then approaches the boy and starts talking to him in an attempt to calm him down. It works. Kiper then asks Aurien if he can heal the boy as he was wounded. Aurien complies. Turns out that the orcs that had ambushed us that morning had attacked the boy while he was in bear form. Kiper remarks that the strange part is that normally, no one can do any damage to the boy while in bear form unless they have either magic weapons or silver weapons. A strange incident indeed. The group then decides to head back to Kipers farm to stay the night. Once back at Kipers, the boy morphs back into human form. Aurien then prepares one of the best meals we’ve ever had. The group holes up for the night in preparation of heading back to Milbourne the following morning.

The next morning, the group gets our mounts and heads back over to Milbourne to speak with Gayrold. The party heads directly to Gayrolds house as they enter town. We knock, he invites us into his house. We alert him to the new developments we’ve heard since the last time we spoke. Gayrold has no new information for us. Gayrold then proceeds to write some notes down on a piece of paper and then makes a call out to a crow who flys in and sits directly on his shoulder. He places the note into it’s beak and the bird flies away. Ultimately, he was sending a note to a woman named “Shiraz” who may have some information to help us out. He asks that we check back with him after more correspondence is received. The party then decides to check out the smith to check on Rosencrantz’s gauntlet. However, it won’t be ready until the end of the week. Once that is complete, the party follows Aurien to the local temple to see if they have any new developments. Sadly enough, they have no new developments to report. While gallivanting around town, we catch word that Andlin wants to speak to us. The party decides to head over to the Baron of Mutton to speak with him.

When we arrive at the Baron of Mutton, we see Andlin and Bartholomew, speaking. He sees us and we head over to speak to him. Very excitedly, he asks if we have any more information or if we’ve found Jaleneth. Again, we tell him no new developments on our end. While at the Baron of Mutton, a gentleman comes up to us. Having heard of us around town Thompson thought we may be able to help him. With all the kidnappings and stories of orcs running in the woods outside of town, he wants to hire protection for his barge he is having head to Thurmaster. Seeing as how we need to head to Thurmaster anyway, we decide to take the job. However, we need to ask Gayrold a bit more about Count Palfrey first. We tell Thompson to sit tight and we’ll be back shortly. The party proceeds back to Gayrolds house. While at Gayrolds for the second time, we question him about Count Palfrey. He provides little useful information. So the group heads back to the Baron of Mutton and get Thompson so we can start moving this barge down the river.

The group boards the barge which is parked on the river, near the half built bridge. The party boards the vessel with our mounts and Rowyn’s wardog, Grrrrrrr. The ride is uneventful and we get to Thurmaster without incident. Since Thompson didn’t really trust us, he left our payment with Gayrold back in Milbourne. [jackass] Now in Thurmaster, the group decides to head over to Tausters tower to collect payment for delivering a message to Kiper. The party heads over to Tausters and knocks on the door and Tauster answers. The group provides Tauster with the proof that the message was delivered and Tauster proceeds to go through his drawers to secure payment for the party. Now 15 gold richer, the group proceeds to question Tauster as to what he knows with regards to Count Palfrey. All he knows is that he is the ruler of the lands surrounding us and he is pretty tight with his “wallet” in terms of municipal construction and such. By now it’s approximately 7:30PM and the group decides to head over to Count Palfrey’s castle to see if he has any other information regarding the kidnappings that have been taking place as of late.

After a 20 minute ride north from Thurmaster, the group arrives at Count Palfrey’s castle. We knock on the door. A young, 18 year old boy answers the door. The group explains why we are here and the boy invites us inside to speak with the Count. After coming down a long hallway, we are led into Count Palfrey’s study. The Count is sitting there reading a book. He looks up, places a bookmark in the page where he left off and closes the book. We speak with the Count regarding the local kidnappings. Turns out that Count Palfrey has been getting his information from both Gayrold and Kiper. He was just notified today of the issue(s) at hand. Count Palfrey also advises us of some “cursed keep” near the “half cut hills” that some hired soldiers had found. They did not enter it though. Then it happens…. While asking Count Palfrey is he knows of this “orc crest,” Aurien then spins a web of fabricated fabrications as to where we came across the “crest.” Catching Aurien in a lie, the Count gets quite angry and says he cannot trust us. He then calls for the guards and after offering us quarters for the night, decides to kick us out. The group, completely disenfranchised, heads back to Thurmaster for the night. Remembering the bug ridden beds, the party decides to camp in the woods right outside of town. The following morning, the party thinks it would be best to go and visit Kiper once again. The party mounts our horses and heads west to Kipers farm.

After some travel, we arrive at Kipers farm. He has no new information with regards to the kidnappings and no word back yet from the “woods woman.” He suggests heading back to Milbourne to speak with Gayrold again. [To see if Shiraz has responded back to him yet.] Before leaving, the group tells Kiper of what happened at Count Palfrey’s. We ask if he can possible smooth things over. He will do his best. The party then mounts our steeds and head over to Milbourne once again.

Some travel later and during early afternoon, the group enters Milbourne. Upon entering Milbourne, there is a large commotion in the center of town. The party heads over to see what is brewing. Turns out there is an auction that is ending. A family, who lives west of here near the patch work hills, is auctioning off their farm and belongings. Turns out that their usually fertile farm land has been having swamp land take over the normally fertile farming land and they don’t know why. The party heads over to Gayrolds house.

Arriving at Gayrolds house, the party finds Gayrold sitting on his front porch. While asking Gayrold about Shiraz […and not hearing back yet….] another gentleman named Silas comes running up to us. He introduces himself and advises us that his boss Darius, the town’s richest man, wants to hire us for some work. The party bids farewell to Gayrold and follow Silas to the mansion in town.

Silas leads us into Darius’s house. We sit down and Darius comes into the room. He advises us that some of his farm lands are having a swamp over run them. The land is normally fertile and has been for quite some time. However, lately, the swamp has been over running everything. He hired a diviner to see what was going on and found out, at a steep price, that some kind of magic [not bad magic] is causing the area to flood and the swamp to grow more and more. He wants us to investigate more. If we can solve the case in less than 2 weeks he’ll give us 1000 gold ontop of the 50 gold that he is already paying us. The group decides to head west to the “swampy farm.” On the way west, we come across some road leading south. We’ll investigate more into that later on.

After some travel, the party arrives at the “Deadfast farm.” The font door is locked as are the windows. Going around back, Rowyn finds the back door locked. She then picks the lock and hears a click. She opens the back door. The party heads inside to check things out. Everything in the house appears normal on both floors of the house. The group locks the back door and heads over to the barn. Locked. Cant get into it. We then investigate around the swampy area. No real tell tale signs. We decide to head back to Darius’s house to ask a few more questions. Arriving at Darius’s we ask about the patch work hills. Sprawling large hilly area. He also advises us of some small town south where that south road we passed heads to. The town is called Harleton. A long time ago there was a huge war with Orcs and Goblins in the hills. That’s about all the information he passes on. The group heads west and then takes the road south to Harleton.

Approximately 20 minutes later, the group arrives in Harleton. This is another small shantee town that is smaller than Milbourne and Thurmaster. Arriving in town, we see that to the south are the patchwork hills. The hills look patchy with growth at different stages. There are also steps that look man made carved into some of the hill sides. The party heads over to the tavern, the pitcher and pitch fork. We head inside.

Sitting down at the bar we notice that no patrons make eye contact. So we speak with the bartender who asks why we’re there. We give him little information and he suggests that we should speak to the farm hands who work the patch work hills and follow the edge of the mire. Erol’s idea sounds like a good one and the next morning the party will head out into the patch work hills.

This is where we left off.