# Tantras - Forgotten Realms Campaign



## Corran (Jan 15, 2002)

The following is an 'in character' journal of a new Forgotten Realms Campaign we have just begun.

The journal can also be read (and downloaded) at the Forgotten Realms Campaigns website. The website also has the character sheets for all the characters and some other extra's.

Houserules:


Magic Item creation limited in the following fashion: cost of magic items with more than one function will be increased. Two functions: all costs quadrupled. Three functions: cost multiplied by 9, etc. Some items seem to be far too cheap. Before getting into magic item creation, discuss what you want to do with DM first.

All characters gain the Cosmopolitan feat once for a skill of their choice.

Some spells have been removed: Improved Invisibility, Raise Dead, Resurrection, True Resurrection, Harm, Teleport, Teleport without Error.

Raising the dead is only possible with these 2 spells: Wish (cost 5000 XP) and Miracle (no XP cost).

For spells having a material component which costs money, the amount must be deducted from your treasury.

Duration of the Spikes spell (from Defenders of the Faith) has been reduced to 1 minute per level.

XP bonuses for heroism and bright ideas.

When you die you lose 300 XP per level (for your new or raised character).

I'll try to get the other players to post some stuff too, but don't hold your breath. ;-)

The Characters:

Borric Warhammer - 56 year old 1st level Shield Dwarf Fighter from Citadel Felbarr.

Cadrach Ivar Tallendar - 26 year old 1st level Human Cleric of Waukeen from Selgaunt, Sembia.

Calim Russale - 21 year old 1st level Human Ranger (Monte Cook version) from Shadowdale, born in Calimshan and formerly from Zhentil Keep.

Celedor Ganascient - 120 year old 1st level Sun Elf Wizard from Silverymoon.

Finn Margaster - 24 year old 1st level Human Rogue from Waterdeep.

Varsk Mandrake - 17 year old 1st level Human Uthgardt Barbarian (Great Worm Tribe).


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## Corran (Jan 15, 2002)

Posted on previous message board by Broccli_Head 



> Don't know if I agree with you restrictions. I think raising has its own inherrent penalty of losing a level by the already establised rules. Players don't like falling behind; so even with raises, I have seen players retire and start with a new character introduced at level (but barely).
> 
> Magic item creation also has its drawbacks. Plus, I am finding out that there are some errors. For example, the cost of boots of striding and springing is too low. I guess my view is that if its in the game its legit. However, I do have a nasty house rule that makes it easier for 'stuff' to get destroyed. You can also give the bad guys goodies AND not let the players get their hands on them by keying the items to alignment (which is in the rules!)
> 
> ...


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## Corran (Jan 15, 2002)

Posted on previous message board by Dante



> Since I'm the DM of this particular game, I'll try to answer your questions. First, for the cost of being raised by a wish, perhaps you misunderstood. The 5000 XP cost is for the person casting the wish, as per the usual XP cost of the spell. There is no additional cost for the person being raised.
> 
> As for magic items, this is just a guideline so my players know roughly what to expect. I agree with you the costs of boots of striding and springing are too low, I deal with this aspect of magic item creation as it happens. The houserule is just a reminder to players to talk to me before getting magic item creation feats and building their own stuff.
> 
> ...


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## Corran (Jan 15, 2002)

*Character History*

Margaster Family Tree deleted, doesn't look too good outside of Word. It's in the Word file on the website.

Finn was born on 5 Tarsakh in The Year of the Spur (1348), in the Margaster family villa. He has lived his entire live in Waterdeep, either in the family villa or his father’s townhouse in the Southern Ward. Most of his formative years were spent in the family villa, surrounded by his brother, sister and nieces and nephews. Life was good in the villa in the North Ward. The villa is circled by Shattercrock Alley and Stabbed Sailor Alley, which in turn are located at the crossing of Vhezoar Street and Tarnath Street. Many were the days that Finn spent lazing under the trees in the courtyard or playing with the other Margaster children in the alleys surrounding the villa. The alleys are, in spite of their names, safe enough, the North Ward is patrolled intensively.

Finn was a source of frustration for the family teachers as he could imitate them quite well, to the amusement of the other children. He was not a bad student, but he had a short attention span and the annoying tendency to jump to any topic he liked at any time. Because he had a lot of interest the lesson would follow some strange courses, handling with Margaster family history one minute and Mulhorandi culture the next. He did not mind reading books, as long as they were short, but he much preferred a more interactive way of learning. When he was 10 years old he broke his leg while playing godswar, he played Cyric of course, overacting with a funny accent. Since that time he favours his right leg, even though the wound has healed completely.

His younger sister Tannyth is very special to Finn. He has always been very protective of her, she would probably say over protective. Much of this might have to do with an incident when Tannyth was four years old. She was playing in the garden and the servant who was supposed to look after her had gone inside to get something to drink. At that moment a wild dog jumps on the wall and into the garden. Tannyth screamed and Finn, who was playing somewhere in the alley, heard the scream. He instinctively new where exactly in the garden his sister was, he rushed to the wall, climbed it, and jumped into the garden. The dog meanwhile was circling his terrified sister. The adrenaline won from Finn’s fear and he ran to the dog and clobbered it on the nose. The dog shrank back and at that moment house guards and servants ran into the garden. Their presence must have scared the dog; he jumped up and over the wall. Since then Finn has been trying to protect her from everything. He usually knows where to find her, and on numerous occasions he has checked on her in the late hours. Tannyth finds Finn’s protectiveness a bit stifling but she is also very protective of him.

Finn was, and is, interested in the family business, but only in the broad sense. He has no patience for the details and the administrative side; he just likes the way trade works and meeting foreign merchants. With no chance of ever having to lead the family business, he decided early on he would do whatever interested him. This is not uncommon for Waterdhavian nobles, and unlike the most, he did more than just loaf around. When he was 14 he accompanied his uncle Thentias on a trip to Silverymoon. This took all of Finn’s persuasion power, but it gave his confidence a great boost when his uncle at last agreed to take him along. Silverymoon was quite an eye-opener for Finn who had never been to another city. The city was so different from Waterdeep and Finn was quite disappointed that he could not visit everywhere in the tenday they were staying. He did visit the palace with his uncle and sat in on some trade negotiations (unavoidable, as ‘business experience’ was one of the ‘arguments’ that had helped him to get along in the first place). He did surprise his uncle with his ability to detect when a merchant was being economical with the truth.

Back in Waterdeep Finn decided he wanted to be a wizard; three months later he decided he wouldn’t be a wizard after all. His hormones set in not long after and he spent the next years visiting any revel and party in the city. He wooed noble girls and barmaids in equal measure and with remarkable efficiency. He likes the good looking, quiet and shy girls, although he carries a torch for his aunt Circe and the lady mage of Waterdeep, Laeral Silverhand. It was in the many taverns of Waterdeep where Finn got his love of gambling. Fortunately he became good enough at it, to not lose any money, usually. His favourite games are elemental empires, poker and talison. His favourite inns and taverns are: The Raging Lion, Gondalim’s, The Singing Sword, The Jade Jug and The Spouting Fish. His favourite drinks: guldathen nectar and raspberry beer (the latter is sold almost nowhere to Finn’s infinite regret).

During these years he started acting in some of the stage plays being organised in the city, to the abhorrence of the more conservative members of his family. He is not a bad actor, but the infrequency of his appearances drove most theatre companies wild. His best work to date was in the play Lord Alurmal’s Double-Edged Revenge. This got him a remarkably positive mention in a review by One-Eyed Jack in the Waterdeep Watch broadsheet. He was also invited by Regnet Amcathra to join the Deep Delvers. However during his first foray into Undermountain he quickly found out he didn’t particularly enjoy narrow, dark spaces. In the second room the noise of some rats was enough to make him flee back to the lift to the Yawning Portal. He got ribbed about this by the Deep Delvers, but he managed to get a spin on it, so the truth never got out to the general public.

Finn also needed his skills when sore losers tried to get physical after a game of chance. He was often able to either talk, bluff or intimidate his way out of trouble, but not always. After being beaten mercilessly one time, he decided that running away might not be such a bad option, fortunately no scars remain. Afterwards he decided to always carry two daggers, as a deterrent only, one should never draw steel in a fight unless one intends to use it, Finn doesn’t, can’t. Although he did get weapon training just like everyone in the family, he is no swordmaster. Cudann taught him the typical Waterdeep sword and dagger style, with longsword, shortsword, epee, rapier and dagger as primary weapons. Dagger throwing comes easy to Finn, and he also above average with the long- and shortbow. There are however enough better marksmen out there. His biggest achievement to date is bringing down a deer with one arrow. That he and his friends twice had to flee from an annoyed black bear is something they’d rather not talk about. Finn is not a big hunter but he likes being away from Waterdeep from time to time. The hunting lodges and inns have much to offer. There are also some nice secluded glades in most forests, perfect for any liaison.

Religion has Finn’s interest, the many gods of the pantheon are so diverse and many of them have something that draws Finn’s attention. He has no patron deity, but he visits the temples of the gods he likes. Since he makes sizeable donations and has a sincere interest in the gods, he is well liked by the priests. Although some religions think his attitude is to carefree, one should firmly praise one god above all others in their beliefs. Finn is interested in / intrigued by the following gods (listed alphabetically): Deneir, Eilistraee, Eldath, Gond, Illmater (amazement mostly), Isis, Lliira, Mielikki, Milil, Mystra, Oghma, Shaundakul, Shiallia, Siamorphe, Sune, Thoth, Tymora, and Waukeen.

As mentioned previously, Finn has an interested in other races and cultures. He has learned to speak Elven and Dwarven, if he had the time he would learn all the other languages there are too. He has quite a collection of bric a brac from places far away. He is most fond of his bronze Mulhorandi kopesh and the book of poetry written in an obscure elven dialect. His interest in foreign cultures means that he always knows some obscure piece of trivia about one thing or another. For example: the mating habits of foxes in Damara or the fertility rites of ancient Mulhorandi.

In 1366, New Olam Bard’s College was opened in Waterdeep. Finn enrolled immediately, only to find out that he is no gifted musician. He spent over seven months in the college and when he finally left, he was just about proficient on the songhorn and the yarting. A couple of years later Finn had the unique opportunity to visit to Candlekeep. Knowing that this was a once in a lifetime chance he took it with both hands. In the month he was allowed to stay he read a lot of dusty old books and found out that some of those monks are a lot better at gambling than you would think. After reading and talking about all those other lands out there, Finn decide it was time to go and take a look.

Back in Waterdeep he decided to go east, as he could go with one of the family’s caravans to Suzail in Cormyr and from there by ship further east. In Candlekeep he met a wizard from Halruaa, named Aresi, whom he promised to visit if he could. So after travelling east for a spell, his plan is to go south. After getting some useful and not so useful tips from his friends and family and after lengthy send off party, Finn left for Suzail.

His friends:

Erin Amcathra (she’s a childhood friend; they’ve never been romantically involved).

Dalene Estelmer (old girlfriend, her brother is also called Finn, quite confusing some times).

Jynnia (old girlfriend, works at The Singing Sword).

Citta Emmarask (yet another old girlfriend).

Brenton Eirontalar (hunting buddy, sometime protector and all around good guy).

Koris Helmfast (drinking buddy, fellow reveller).

Nimor Thorp (childhood friend, scoundrel, he gets them in trouble all the time).

Morus ‘Silvertongue’ (bard and sometime gambler).


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## Corran (Jan 15, 2002)

*Before the first session.*

_3 Nightal, Year of the Unstrung Harp (1371)_

Well, I’ve decided to keep a journal; life on a ship can be quite boring. Perhaps it’s best to recap first. On the first day of Eleint I left Waterdeep with our Suzail caravan. The night before we had a nice party and I managed to say goodbye to just about everyone I wanted to. My uncle and my father gave me some pocket money and some papers for the captain of the Cresting Wave, whom I’m to meet in Suzail. Apparently, the captain is a nephew of aunt Naryel, I wonder if he’s anything like her. I said goodbye to Tannyth and told her to be careful, now that I’m no longer around to look after her. She told me to be careful too, now that she’s no longer there to protect me, she always makes me laugh. I asked Aidan to look after her. Erin gave me a beautiful rapier, according to her it’s one of only few ever made by her family. She’s always so thoughtful; I have to make sure I get something really interesting and beautiful to give to her when I get back.

The journey to Cormyr was quite uneventful, and very dusty. We were not once attacked; this is because we guard our caravans quite well, as opposed to say the Seven Suns Trading Coster. I can’t understand why people still use them, their cargo has as big a chance to arrive or not. Uktar 19th we arrived in Suzail. We were just in time as the Cresting Wave was leaving port the next day. If I had arrived a day later I might have had to wait up to two months for it to return. I gave captain Wavesilver the papers and I got a cabin on the ship. The Cresting Wave is a 120 foot long schooner, one of the largest ships to sail the Sea of Fallen Stars according to the first mate.

The next day we left for Selgaunt. I got seasick real quick and according to the captain the waves were as calm as they can be. Seasickness is something I wouldn’t want to wish on my worst enemy. The first days you feel like you are going to die, after that you just wish you were dead, to end the agony. After about seven days I finally overcame the seasickness. The next two days I just sat on the deck, too weak to do anything else. After that I tried to help around the ship, but I soon learned how it is to be sailor, you’ve got to be as strong as a bear just to keep on your feet. The next day was the Feast of the Moon and we arrived in Selgaunt.

I went to some of the inns and taverns to see some of the city life and I wasn’t impressed. While the buildings in the good parts of the city are on par with those in the North Ward of Waterdeep, most of the people here are incredibly arrogant. They sneer at anyone, and make derisive comments about everything. I guess the money must have gone to their heads. Suffice to say, I was back at the inn quite early. Captain Wavesilver must have had some good contacts, because the loading and unloading was done on the Feast of the Moon and we sailed just after dusk the following day.

The next port of call on the journey is the city of Tantras; the ship will then sail back to Selgaunt and Suzail. I think I will stay in Tantras and see where to go from there.

Yesterday I got in on a game of knucklebones and I lost a couple of gold pieces, I guess I’m better at card games. These sailors are quite nice guys, not at all the grumpy ogres one would expect. Those guys have quite the stories to tell, although I think the veracity of the tales is often somewhat suspect. It’s certainly quite amusing, if nothing else.

_6 Nightal_

I saw an enormous whale! Around highsun a whale suddenly appeared of the starboard bow. It was the biggest creature I’ve ever seen. The leviathan must have been over ninety feet at least. I think whales must be the most majestic creatures of Faerûn; even dragons don’t look that regal. According to the sailors, a lot more whales are seen in the Sea of Fallen Stars since the Sahuagin attacks two years ago.

_11 Nightal_

We arrived in Tantras today; it’s quite a bizarre experience sailing into this harbour. All along the harbour there are these large, skeletal, wooden constructions. After some closer scrutiny, they appeared to be cranes. One of the sailors told me the cranes were installed by the temple of Gond. I’m certainly going to visit that temple in the next couple of days.

On the advice of captain Wavesilver, I’ve rented a room in The Lazy Moon Inn. It’s a nice, bustling kind of establishment on Shendle Street, not far from the harbour. Today I’ll just stay in and try to get my ‘land legs’ back.

_21 Nightal_

What a week, I’ve been all over the city and I met this girl. I went and played tourist of course. I visited The Temple of Torm’s Coming after morningfeast on the first day. The temple is a big sprawling complex filled with priests and acolytes. This is the largest temple of Torm in all of the realms. Not really a surprise as Torm himself lived here during the Godswar. Not only that, but he died here too, fighting with Bane. Both gods were destroyed and as a result a large area of the city and its surrounding is now magically dead. The temple is an island in this magic dead zone. I’ve heard that many people on the run from the Red Wizards, the Zentharim and other organisations flee to this dead magic area. That seems a bit short sighted, I’m sure those organisations can pay some mercenaries to go and collect those they seek.

Afterwards I went to The House of Skilled Hands, the temple of Gond. It’s a fascinating building; there are cogs and gears all over the place. I talked with one of the priests about the cranes in the harbour. He told me they have also installed those cranes in Scardale and in Baldur’s Gate! I couldn’t believe my ears, so close to Waterdeep. I asked him why they hadn’t approached Waterdeep with their services. According to him they had, but the port authorities were not interested. I’m going to ask some questions about this when I get back.

The next day I met Jela. We had a wild time and we did a lot of things I can’t even remember. I do remember some nights spent at the House of Twilight and the Silly Satyr. Unfortunately she had to go back to Raven’s Bluff today. So I said my goodbyes at the gate and I promised to visit her if I am ever in the city. Now I’m going to get some sleep.

_1 Hammer, Year of Wild Magic (1372)_

So, today is the first day of a new year. I wonder why Augathra named it the year of Wild Magic, if I was living next to a wizard, I might start thinking about moving. I really hope this does not predict another chaos like the one during the Godswar. Although you never know what Augathra meant anyway, last year I suspected something to happen to the bards, nothing happened.

Last night, End Year’s Eve, was wild, I think I’ll just sit a bit at the fireplace today.


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## Corran (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session 1 – Wednesday, September 26, 2001.*

_2 Hammer_

Today I met some new people. A priest of Waukeen from Selgaunt named Cadrach Ivar Tallendar. He seems to be a nice guy, better than those I met in Selgaunt anyway. He was accompanied by two others, a scarred warrior named Calim Russale and a redheaded giant of a man named Varsk Mandrake. I heard Cadrach asking for men to work as guards on a merchant mission to Scardale Town. My curiosity got the better of me and I approached him. The story is that a merchant friend of Cadrach’s family is sailing for Scardale Town soon and he is short a number of guards. Why these guards are so necessary he couldn’t tell me.

I invited him and his friends to have dinner with me and we talked about some other things. I learned that Cadrach is scion of the Tallendar family. I knew of the family of course, they deal in jewellery, antiques and furniture. They are not very big and they do most of their business in Amn, Tethyr and Calimshan. Cadrach is looking to start out on his own, but he needs the capital to start his business. Therefore he has plans to attract some adventurers and sponsor them and to go on adventures with them. I’m not so sure if there is much money in that, but he has already found two men willing to go with him. I suggested that we might work together and start a company as partners. He was not very receptive to the idea, which I guess is not very strange.

I changed subjects after that and asked him why he had become a priest of Waukeen. With the goddess having returned for only a year or so, I wouldn’t think people are flocking to her faith. What he told me was this: it is common in his family for one member in each generation to join the clergy of Waukeen. Also, with the return of the goddess there was quite a demand for priests and he was made an offer he couldn’t refuse.

I also learned some things about his companions. Calim hails from Shadowdale and he is proficient with a bow, he was, I think, being modest here. I’m curious to see how good he really is. I didn’t ask him about the scars in his face, but they are many, and they appear to be old. Varsk is from The North, as far as I can tell he is an Uthgardt barbarian. He told me he was a member of the Great Worm tribe, I think they live somewhere to the north of Silverymoon. In parting I told Cadrach that I would think about this guard work and get back to him.

_3 Hammer_

I did some checking and I found out some things about the guard job. I went to the merchant who is looking for the guards. This man, who is also the captain of the ship, called Anrod Naskurl told me that he is indeed looking for guards. He says he needs the guards because of the pirates that sometimes sail the Dragon Reach and because of the tense situation in divided Scardale Town. He does not think the chances of getting into a fight are great, but going without guards is asking for trouble. I asked him about the Shaking Plague that has decimated the town. According to him the plague has run it’s course and no one has contracted it the last three months. I’m not so sure about that, but Anrod thinks so anyway. I gathered some additional information about the plague and it seems it has gone away. I am getting pretty bored here, and it does give me a chance to visit Scardale and get paid for it as well. We should be back in about a tenday at most. I’ll go and tell Cadrach I’m in.

_4 Hammer_

Today we sailed for Scardale Town, the ship is a schooner called the Blue Dolphin. Cadrach managed to find two more people to accompany us on the journey. One is an Elf wizard from Silverymoon called Celedor Ganascient. I asked him about this year being the Year of Wild Magic and his thoughts on the matter. He said: 'I know something of wild magic, but my interests are purely of a scientific nature. I travel the world to learn about the manifestations of magic and am interested in studying them all. At the University we emphasised control over our powers, and to this I subscribe.' I didn't quite know what to make of that so I left it there. The other adventure is a dwarf who introduced himself as Forgelord Borric Warhammer. He tells me he is the last of the clan Warhammer, although I can’t say I’ve ever come across that name before.

Anrod has set up three guard shifts in a rotating schedule. Cadrach, Calim, Varsk, Celedor, Borric and I got the first watch. This guard duty only means we should be on deck, there are no further rules. I took the opportunity to get to know the rest of the guards and crew. There are twenty guards, besides us six, there is one elf and one halfling, the rest are humans. Only three of the guards have bows, I would think having missile weapons on a ship is mandatory for most everyone. Under the other guards there is one priest of Tyr, the others are warriors, mostly from The Vast and the Dalelands. Three of the guards, one woman and two men are Rashemi. The woman is in charge of their little group and she is called Shevarra, I wonder if the name has the same meaning as that of the elven god Shevarash. I asked her if she and her two companions were perhaps on a dejemma but they aren’t. I spent the rest of the day sitting on the deck talking to some of the guards and crew. Most of my companions got a short bout of seasickness, which passed quickly fortunately.

_5 Hammer_

Today two ships were spotted on the horizon. Immediately captain Anrod had ballistae placed and the ship made ready for combat, before the two ships could even be identified. The man is taking no chances what so ever. The ships turned out to be Sembian wargalleys. One came along side and requested to search the ship for weapons once they found out we were headed for Scardale Town. Anrod acceded and a small contingent of Sembians disappeared below deck. The Sembians are of course one of the parties presently holding Scardale Town (along with the Zhents and others) and they wouldn’t want them to be equipped with arms. This is at least what I was told by various people. It seems a bit strange to me, I don’t think you can stop this anyway. What would they do if a Cormyrian ship tried to sail into the harbour, attack it? I don’t think Sembia wants a war with Cormyr, even if Cormyr has enough troubles as it is at the moment. As for the Zhents, if I was them, I would ship the weapons to Harrowdale and bring them to Scardale Town via the Reach Road. In any event, the Sembians didn’t find any weapons on our ship; we are carrying grain and boxes with other trade goods. The Sembian search party disembarked and the two ships sailed south.

_6 Hammer_

We arrived at Scardale Town today. Unloading started almost immediately, there were more than enough people who wanted a job unloading grain. We will keep the watch schedule going while we are in the harbour. That’s a smart idea, because the town looks like a god picked it up and smashed it down again. There is a lot of hunger, poverty and crime here. Anrod got us lodgings in a dilapidated inn called The Warrior’s Rest. When we are not on guard duty we can eat and sleep in the inn, but the amenities are hardly better than the ship. Oh, Varsk and I both lost a gold piece in a game of cards to Bren, another guard. Tymora certainly was with him this night.

_7 Hammer_

When we were relieved from guard duty today, we noticed that four of the replacements looked quite the worse for wear. They said it was because of the fact that they have to sleep during the daytime, but I’m not convinced. What if the Shaking Plague has reared its ugly head again? Some of my companions think something else entirely is the reason. I’ve volunteered, together with Calim, to observe the four and see if we can find out what’s wrong with them. The guards were relieved by the third guard shift at midnight, nothing happened. But, among the new guards there are another four who look like they’ve been in the Nine Hells for a night. There was nothing more we could do, so I went back to the inn. I locked my door and I’m going to sleep.

_8 Hammer_

According to Borric, one of the guards, a half-elf girl named Iase has been walking around the docks last night. There also was a scuffle with some ruffians before sunrise, it sounds as if they were trying to rob the ship. When they found out the ship was guarded they left. It’s good to know we aren’t standing guard for nothing. Anrod has told us he can’t find any good merchandise for the return trip here in Scardale Town. He wants to take a barge up the River Ashaba to Feather Falls to see if he can find any merchandise there. How he is going to get that merchandise back to Scardale Town I do not know. We, the first guard shift, are going with him.

In the afternoon Cadrach and I decide to see if would could learn anything about Iase’s little nocturnal journey. He has a spell to read her mind or something, so I asked her some questions to make her think of last night. It didn’t really work; the only thing Cadrach found out was that she is a smart girl. This night we had more luck. Calim managed to follow a group of four, consisting of the halfling Kunle, Iase, Tima and the Rashemi woman Shevarra, to the ruins of a building. According to him they climbed on the roof and proceeded to observe the Thayan compound to the north. This is bad news; a fight with the Red Wizards is not something I want.

_9 Hammer_

We told Anrod about last night’s observations. He went to talk to Shevarra, and he says he has talked things over and the problem has been solved. I can only hope he is right. We left early in the morning on our trip to Feather Falls. We hired a barge and we travelled at amazing speed up the river. At night we moored the barge and made camp.

_10 Hammer_

This morning we continued our journey. Somewhere after highsun, we suddenly heard a snap and a tree right in front of us fell over the river. At the same time a number of halflings appeared on the north bank and they started to shoot at us!  Arrows and javelins were flying all over the place, one javelin landed right at my feet! Two crossbow bolts with ropes attached were shot into the side of the barge, and we were being reeled in. Cadrach reacted quickly and he conjured up a fog that reduced vision to about five feet. I dived for cover and found out that the boat was making water. I communicated the fact and Calim severed one of the ropes attached to the barge.

We quickly moved the boat to the south bank and got off. Being outside the fog cloud we see a number of halflings move along the tree to the south bank. Calim grabbed his bow and promptly shot two of them. While I am very impressed with his marksmanship, I cannot understand how he could just shoot them in cold blood. I too had my weapons drawn, but I was going to try and see if we could not come to some kind of understanding. Celedor used a spell to knock out another few halflings and after that the will for battle had left our opponents. At that moment I had a lot of second thoughts about this whole business. I hadn’t counted on getting into a real fight and I don’t like the experience one bit. I certainly hope there won’t be any more fights; this can’t be good for the heart.

From the other bank came the request for negotiations, which we accepted. Another halfling started to climb over the tree to our bank. When he arrived he told us his story. This halfling, Murr, and his associates, had been working for a Sembian merchant named Darvak, gathering herbs. When the Sembian came to collect the herbs, he took the wagon containing the herbs, without paying the halflings. When this happened Murr declared war on all humans and decided to go into banditry. We were the first ones he was going to rob. Seeing that none of us got hurt and feeling sorry for the halflings we killed, I suggested that they might find employ with us. He asked what they had to do and he almost at once mentioned smuggling. That was not quite what I had in mind. Together with Cadrach and Calim, we appraised the value of the stolen herbs at around a thousand gold pieces. And the Sembian had agreed to pay twenty five gold pieces! I can’t begin to imagine why he would even begrudge the halflings this paltry sum, seeing what kind of profit he was going to make! We learned from Murr that the halflings might be able to harvest another wagonload of herbs from the forest. We agreed that we would meet again in Scardale Town once we got back.

Murr had one other disturbing thing to tell. He said that they had seen drow, four day marches to the North West! According to him they were on the surface, under the heavy foliage of Cormanthor. I can hardly believe it, drow, so close by, and even on the surface. I do not know what it means but it can’t be good. I’ll inform the authorities in Feather Falls, Chandler’s Cross and Scardale Town as soon as I can.


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## Corran (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session 2 – Wednesday, October 10, 2001.*

We repaired the barge and an hour before midnight we arrived in Feather Falls. To my great surprise there was an inn in this thorp. We took three rooms in the White Salmon Inn and went straight to bed. Cadrach was unpleasantly surprised to learn that there was only a single one-person room, which Anrod, as our employer, was of course entitled to. I’d say that part of the charm of travelling the realms is roughing it, and three-person rooms are still quite luxurious compared to some of the cheaper inns in most cities.

_11 Hammer_

At breakfast Calim pointed out three men in black leathers sitting a few tables away. Calim thinks they are quite suspicious, I don’t really see why this should be so. Granted, they are the only ones, apart from us, who are well armed and armoured. One of them has decidedly orcish looks and when I mentioned this Borric immediately turned to scrutinise this fellow. It’s a good thing the three were involved in their own conversation or we would have gotten some strange looks.

Anrod decided that he would look around town for some merchandise and he sent Cadrach, Calim and me to the local farms to procure any possible produce. Celedor, Varsk and Borric accompanied Anrod, Borric only after we managed to pry him away from the table where he still sat observing the half-orc. At two of the four farms we visited we found some reasonably priced foodstuffs, Anrod had less success in the village I gathered.

During dinner the three in black were back. Calim started speculating what or who they were and what they were doing. After dinner he even followed them outside. What he found out is hardly shocking; they went to a carpenter and a leatherworker. That they stayed over half an hour at both establishments is somewhat intriguing. Borric overheard them when they came back talking about ‘going to the stonemason and another blacksmith.’ I still don’t see what all the fuss is about. So when Calim asked me if I wanted to check out what they had been up to, I told him I could find no good reason to go and ask prying questions at two local craftsmen.

_12 Hammer_

Some of us were woken before night’s end by a scream. When I finally was woken I learned that some small humanoids had stolen Anrod’s money chest! I rushed down the stairs and out of the door. At the same moment, Anrod and Calim were shooting from the windows. When I arrived outside something came crashing down not to far from me. I later learned this was Borric who had done something quite stupendous. He had taken the feather mattress from a Anrod’s bed and had tried to jump out of the window with it. He nearly succeeded but then got stuck, gravity helped and in the end he and the ground renewed their acquaintance.

On the grounds in front of the inn I found a sparsely dressed Varsk guarding two peacefully snoring goblins. Celedor had done it again; his spell had taken out half of the burglars. When everybody had arrived, and Varsk was given some items of clothing, we spread out and started looking for either the thieves or the chest. We found some tracks of the chest being dragged along, but these disappeared quickly. I took the time to ask Anrod what exactly was inside the chest, and he told me it was five hundred gold pieces worth of trade bars.

I later learned that during our search Borric and Varsk had taken the two sleeping goblins to the stable. Borric then apparently beat one of them merciless to get information about the stolen gold. I certainly don’t agree with his course of action and I have told him so in no uncertain terms. He just mumbled something in his beard about ‘it being a goblin’ and walked away. I don’t see how he can defend what he did, torturing the poor creature just to find back some money, it’s horrible.
Fortunately, the constable found Borric and the others before long and he stopped Borric from further hurting the creature. He then took them to his office where he talked to goblin, who promptly spilled the beans. According to Varsk he then took both goblins outside and executed them. That seems to be a harsh penalty, but in rural regions theft can be as bad as murder, particularly in winter when food is scarce. I can understand the town folks point of view, but I keep wondering what they would have done if the thieves had been humans.

Calim uncovered a tunnel and he came back to report on the fact. When we all got back together the constable told us he knew of the goblins as they live in a warren near the city, but that they usually stick to stealing some food or grain from the outlying farms. He has tried to flush them from their warren but he lost two of the local militia in the process. He warned us that the goblins have some kind of ‘pet’ that has attacked his forces. Anrod wanted his money back of course so he ordered us to go into the tunnels and get it back. The constable and his militia did not want to go in with us, but we did get them to guard all the know entrances to the warren. The constable was only aware of two entrances, one in an old warehouse and one in the town’s garbage pit. He did not know of the tunnel Calim discovered. We have decided that the six of us will go into the new tunnel and try to follow any tracks that might be there.

I am really not happy about the proposed plan, I do not particularly like dark tunnels and these are very small, two, three feet wide and high at most. Unfortunately I also can’t see how I can avoid entering the tunnels. I could of course quit the guard job, here and now, but I don’t like doing that. I also think that I owe the guys; we have already been in a fight together. It’s with a heavy mind that I enter the tunnels, I just hope I won’t get spooked by some noise and flee straight for the exit. Cadrach has cast some kind of spell on his mace so that it lights up, we will have something to see by. I just hope the spell won’t fail; my hands are sweating just thinking about being in those dark tunnels. I will give this journal to Anrod and ask him to try and get it back to family should I not return. I will enter the tunnels on my own volition, there is no one to blame for anything that might happen but me.

We made it! What we have been through is incredible, but we all survived and that’s what’s important. My hands are still shaking, just thinking about everything that has happened; I hope these lines will stay legible. I’m not quite sure how much I’ll correctly remember, but I’ll start at the beginning. A lot of the following is also from what the others remembered, I couldn’t see much of what happened, especially in the beginning of our foray.

We enter the tunnel just as dawn approaches. The tunnel is exceedingly small but it grows somewhat bigger after the first forty feet, even so we still have to hunch over to be able to walk. We come to an intersection but we continue onwards. Then Borric, who is walking in front, halts and he whispers that he can hear goblins talking. Thinking they might be able to use a spell, Borric and Celedor sneak forward. However, the goblins detect them and attack. Two goblins thrust their spears at Borric but both fail to hit the stocky dwarf. A third goblin runs away and Borric swings at one of the goblins. He hits them several times and in the end the goblins lie dead on the floor and Borric is still unscathed. We enter the tunnel the fleeing goblin went in to. Suddenly the dirt floor gives way under Borric’s feet and he falls into a more than twenty feet deep pit. [This is where Calim’s player says to Borric’s player: ‘Don’t you wish you had burrowing +5 now?’]

We use a rope to get Borric out of the pit, but the way in front of us is blocked now. Jumping the pit is impossible; the ceiling is still only about 5 feet high. Cadrach invokes the power of Waukeen to somewhat heal the dwarf’s wounds he sustained in the fall. We reverse direction and go into another tunnel. Here Varsk, who’s walking up front now, spots a very thin rope stretched across the tunnel close to the floor. There is some discussion whether we should disarm this trap or just step over it. In the end we leave it be and mark its position with a torch. The tunnel ends in the warehouse and one the militia stationed there almost skewers Varsk’s head when he comes out of the tunnel. We go back in the tunnel and we try another junction, here Varsk fails to see another rope crossing the tunnel and he trips over it. My heart misses a couple of beats when I see him fall down, but luckily the only result is that we hear some bells tolling in the distance. The ropes are a warning device, not some kind of lethal trap.

The tunnel ends in a room where Varsk spots two goblins. He charges one of the creatures, but when he enters the room he finds there are more of them and one hits him with his javelin. They can’t stop his charge and he brings one down with his handaxe. Calim then fires an arrow at a goblin and hits, another goblin goes down. Borric charges in and with a mighty swing of his warhammer he crushes the skull of a third goblin. The way in front of me is empty then and there are still two comrades behind me. I have no choice but to enter the room, I move next to Varsk who is fighting another goblin. I try to hit the creature, but at that moment I forget everything I was ever taught about swordsmanship. Fighting someone who wants to kill you is not the same as practice against a swordmaster. Fear is a powerful force, and I am fully in its power at that moment. Not surprisingly, my thrust goes wide of the goblin. A javelin then hits the wall next to me and the goblin I am trying to hit; it seems his colleague behind us is also not aiming very well. Celedor and Cadrach then enter the room. They both fail to hit a goblin, Calim and Borric are more successful and manage to kill on goblin each. There is only one goblin left then, the one Varsk and I are fighting. We both try to hit it, but once again I fail miserably, Varsk to this time. Cadrach then joins the fray and now we have the critter completely surrounded. However, Cadrach’s light emitting mace is no more successful than my rapier or Varsk’s handaxe. Then Varsk and I are roughly jostled away, as Borric pushes through our line and crushes the poor goblin’s skull.

Varsk and I start shouting at Borric; it’s very irresponsive and dangerous what he just did! He could have pushed either one of us in the path of the goblin’s thrusts thereby killing or severely wounding us. Borric does exactly what I’ve come to expect of him lately; he mumbles something about him killing goblins and he walks away into one of the tunnels. He might call himself Borric the Unstoppable, but I think Borric the Irresponsive is closer to the mark. We quickly decide that Calim and Celedor should follow Borric; and Cadrach, Varsk and I will search the dead goblins and the room. The three report back a short time later, they have heard some kind of growling in the tunnel. Suspecting this might be the ‘pet’ the constable spoke of, we decide to enter another tunnel and leave this ‘pet’ well alone.

We walk down another tunnel and all of a sudden Celedor tells us to halt. He feels along the wall and he opens a hidden door! No one had seen anything to suggest a door might be there, but Celedor found it straight away. I wonder what kind of spell he used, not one I have ever heard of. We go through the door and up the corridor behind it. Borric triggers another rope trap and again we hear a bell ringing in the distance. Even though it is the second time for this to happen, my heart misses another couple of beats. We then get to a curtain hanging in the corridor. Celedor then cast’s a Mage Hand spell and pushes the curtains aside from a safe distance. There is nothing dangerous behind the curtains as far as we can tell so we move on. Before we move I tell Borric to pay attention to the floor just behind the curtain. The obstinate dwarf does not heed my advice, and what I feared happens.

Another tripwire is sprung and almost at once, three crossbow bolts come flying out of the darkness. Two harmlessly strike the wall, but one lodges itself in Borric’s shoulder with an audible ‘thump.’ [Cadrach’s player then says to Borric’s player: ‘Let me help you, does it hurt when I do this?’ And he mimics wrenching the bolt around.] Calim goes to front and leads us towards where the bolts came from. We then hear excited talking in Goblin. Varsk charges at the source of the sounds and in the dark he gets hit by a goblin spear. Another nearby goblin also attacks but misses. Walking closer to Varsk, I see the two goblins he’s fighting. I snap my left hand wrist and the dagger I was holding squarely hits one of the goblins in the chest! It’s an amazing throw, made purely by luck and not by skill, I am afraid to say. The others move closer but they have no chance to hit any of the goblins. Celedor then casts some Dancing Lights into the corridor so we can finally see what’s happening. There is one goblin standing close by, the one I hit with my dagger. I move up to him and this time calm comes over me. I drive my rapier through the goblin’s throat and I stand there watching the life drain from his beady little eyes.

At that moment I had no time to think about it, but now that I’m writing it down, it comes back with such clarity. That haunting look of, what? Regret, sorrow, a final peace perhaps? I can’t say, but I know I killed an intelligent creature today and I feel terrible about it. I know that it was kill or be killed, but taking a life is not something done lightly. I know that when I’m the same position I will do it again, but I won’t like it any better. I think it might not be such a bad idea to go back to Waterdeep and go and work for my uncle. I will think (and dream I’m sure) more about this.

Returning to the story. We move closer and we see a wooden construction holding what appear to be heavy crossbows. One goblin jumps of the construction and Varsk charges him. He just manages to reach the goblin, his swing is on target and he opens up the goblin from crown to crotch. It’s another image I’m afraid will haunt my dreams for some time to come. We then hear one of the goblins say something and Varsk shouts: ‘Down!’ Varsk drops to the floor, but before I have a chance to react crossbow bolts are whizzing past me. Tymora must have been with me, none of the bolts strike home. Celedor moves closer and he casts another of his now famous Sleep spells. Three of the four remaining goblins fall in a deep stupor and the fourth runs away. Varsk runs after him, but in the dark the goblin is a lot faster then the brave barbarian.

I start to inspect the wooden construction and when I turn around I see that Calim has killed the three sleeping goblins. I start to speak but he gives me a look that makes me swallow my words. I guess this is a goblin’s faith. Calim later told me I might not quite appreciate the damage these creatures do to villages all over Faerûn. Having lived in Waterdeep all my live gives me quite another look on life than the Dale folk might have, I think. It’s too bad I have never learnt much about goblins, orcs I know quite a bit about, but goblins were just never mentioned for some reason.

Back at the intersection Calim mentions that four of the heavy crossbows in the wooden frame look quite new and that they might be worth a tidy sum of money. Most of those present are interested in earning some extra money, so we decide that Borric and Celedor will take the crossbows from the frame and bring them back to the surface. The rest of us are going to explore some more of the tunnel system. I nearly volunteer to help the elf and the dwarf, just to get out of the caves. But I can’t leave the others behind to face possible danger. I won’t leave them like I once left another group.

We find another exit and then we enter a tunnel that slopes down into a cave containing a shallow pool. On the other end of the cave is another tunnel, sloping up again. The tunnel quickly opens up to a big cave and we can hear goblins talking. Inside, about a dozen goblins, mostly women and children are crawling through a partly collapsed tunnel, they can just about squeeze through the rocks blocking the tunnel. Two goblins with shortbows are standing behind towershields and they try to protect the retreat of the others. There are some pillars in the room and using them as cover we run closer. Calim shoots two arrows at the fleeing goblins and hits both, killing them instantly. Cadrach, Varsk and I rush towards the two goblin guards and close in melee. The battle is swift and furious, in the end the goblins are dead and we are not. I killed one of the two goblin guards, and it frightens me to say this, but the second time is easier than the first. I had hoped this would not be the case, but unfortunately it is. How could one get used to something as terrible as killing, I wish I knew.

With the goblins dead we have time to look around the room and it’s quite different from what we have seen so far. This cave is much older and it’s certainly not made by goblins. There are two statues along the wall. After studying them closely I think I can positively identify them as depictions of Chauntea and Uthgar! I’m gob smacked, what is a statue of Uthgar doing over a thousand miles from The North? The writing on the pillars is in a Thorass script, most likely some old form of Illuskan or something related to it. The statue must be very old, because as far as I know the Utgardt worship the animal totem aspects of Uthgar since Oghma knows when. Varsk confirms my theories so far, but the only way I can imagine a (part of a) tribe, coming to the dales in centuries past, is by magic. I know that the Uthgar despise magic making it very unlikely, Varsk dismisses my theory out of hand when I tell him about it.

We decide to leave the theorising for later and move on, there are two very big stone doors at one end of the cave. The doors are barred but the four of us manage to break open the doors after a couple of minutes. Sadly, the room behind the doors is not empty, five goblins, four of them wearing armour are waiting for us. Battle commences and everything seems to move much slower, the battle was very short but it seemed to last an eternity. I can see in my mind’s eye everything so clearly as if it were happening again.

Two of the goblins fire their bows but both miss their targets. One of the goblins is wielding a stone warhammer that is much too big for him, he charges Varsk none the less, but his swing misses accuracy. The one goblin not wearing armour is standing at the back, I throw a dagger at him and at the same time he starts casting a spell. My dagger comes nowhere close to hitting him, his Magic Missile spell however, strikes me squarely in the chest. Ever so slowly the blue dart comes at me and when it strikes pain burns through my body and I nearly lose my balance. Cadrach swings his mace at the hammer wielding goblin but his strike goes just wide. Varsk charges one of the goblin archers and he too fails to hit, the confidence that I had is now quickly leaving my body. Calim has a clear shot and he fires at the wizard; an arrow slams into the goblin, but the wizard does not go down. One of the goblin archers then hits Calim. I hit ‘Warhammer’ in his side with my rapier, but he doesn’t even seem to notice. He swings the warhammer at Calim but once again he can not connect. Cadrach tries to hit ‘Warhammer’ again, and again his mace bounces harmlessly of the goblin’s armour. Varsk now charges the goblin spellcaster, but at the same time the wizard casts another Magic Missile, this one at Varsk! The barbarian chops the mage down, but the Magic Missile is already in the air and it strikes home! The unthinkable happens, Varsk slumps to the floor! But the battle rages on, there is no time to rescue him. One goblin panics and runs away through the doors we came in through. Calim shoots another two arrows at ‘Warhammer,’ one arrow hits the feisty goblin in the chest and he is now severely wounded. My training is coming back to me and I see an opening in the goblin’s defence; I pierce him straight through the eye, ‘Warhammer’ falls. What I didn’t see was that the two remaining archers had been covering their leader, the moment I killed him they both snarled with rage and fired at me. One arrow lodges itself in my side, and I am pushed backwards by the force. I am now severely wounded; I am what one would call at death’s door. Cadrach now charges one of the archers but Besheba must have put a curse on him, he misses again. Calim no fires two arrows, one at each goblin and both arrows fly wide. Things are looking grim. Its decision time and I have two choices. I can charge the archers and hope I take one down, one more enemy arrow and I myself am dead. Or, I can go to Varsk’s body and see if he’s still alive and try to rescue him, although I have no healing skills whatsoever. I don’t know why I do what I do, but I run towards Varsk and somehow I stabilise his condition! Tymora be favoured, I owe the Lady Luck more than a debt of gratitude today. Our Smiling Lady is now firmly on our side; Cadrach hits one of the goblins and an arrow from Calim finishes him off.

The last goblin does the smart thing and he surrenders. In broken common he talks to Cadrach: ‘I live?’ ‘You no breed?’ asks Cadrach and the goblin looks unhappily at him. After he tells where the stolen money is, Cadrach releases him. The goblin kisses Cadrach’s hands profusely, much to the dismay of the Sembian cleric, before running off. I ask Cadrach to take a look at our felled barbarian and he tells me he has no healing spells left!

The treasure should be under the chief’s bed according to the just released goblin. The bed however is an old sarcophagus with a straw mattress on top. We manage to move the lid and inside lie two ancient skeletons. Next to them is the money chest we came all this way for. Also in the sarcophagus are some crude silver jewellery, a pouch containing about 30 gold pieces worth of money and an ancient necklace. Calim puts forward the theory that the chest we found might not be THE chest, and since we are allowed to keep spoils of war… The others quickly assure him that, no, in fact this is the correct chest. Calim is somewhat disappointed and he asks Cadrach for an appraisal of the jewellery and the necklace. The cleric merchant thinks the jewellery might be sold for around eighty gold pieces. The necklace might be worth about seven hundred and fifty gold pieces if correctly treated! However, I point out, to a collector it might be worth a lot more, Cadrach agrees. We move everything, including one unconscious barbarian, back to the surface and I kiss the ground, happy to be back outside. Tomorrow we might go back inside to explore the tunnels we haven’t been in yet. Most of us need to get healed first and I’m not jumping to go back in to the darkness, but we’ll see, I am curious about that ‘pet.’


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## Corran (Jan 15, 2002)

Sundry questions asked by Broccli_Head and cezmail and answered by your faithful scribe.



> How did Varsk get to Tantras?




The player gave me some basic info and asked me to invent the rest, so here goes:

Varsk had a dream about himself fighting in surroundings quite unlike The North. The next day he left his tribe and walked to Silverymoon. Here he met a glib little man named Vil Damath. Vil bought Varsk a lot of beers and they got very merry. When Vil subsequently asked if Varsk wouldn't help him with some problems with his wagon, the inebriated barbarian agreed.

He woke up half a day later on board of a wagon in a Merchant's League caravan. His money was gone of course, but Varsk just shrugged and got himself a job as a caravan guard.

Varsk managed to get guard jobs at some of the best trading costers in Faerûn and he slowly made his way east. The caravans he travelled with didn't get attacked much, but Varsk didn't care one way or the other. He'd spend all his money in the next tavern whatever happened.

Finally Varsk arrived in Harrowdale, here he took a ship to Tantras and there he met Cadrach Ivar Tallendar, and the rest is history...



> Isn't ship travel on the Sea of Fallen Stars dangerous during the winter? You know, storms and all that....




I've looked it up, the only thing I can find is something about spring storms in the eastern part of the Sea of Fallen Stars. And  hugging the coast is usually quite save.



> Does Finn know the answer to his own question, _Although you never know what Augathra meant anyway, last year I suspected something to happen to the bards, nothing happened._? Maybe he'll find out!




Finn doesn't know the answer. I'm guessing the Realms designers used Year of the Unstrung Harp to signify the trouble in the Harper organisation. However, I would say that few people in the realms know of the problems the Harpers have been having lately.



> Whose Finn's Karmic Twin?




His sister Tannyth.



> The Education feat fits. Glad that you have taken it instead of a feat that will help you in battle, like most heroes!




That feat is a freebie. ;-) In my campaign all players get the Cosmopolitan feat for free. The DM in this campaign has also adopted this approach. I asked him if I could take educated instead of Cosmopolitan, he said yes.

It's evident from the skill selection Finn is no combat hero. However after the 2nd session he has learned that fighting is sometimes unavoidable and he has asked Calim to give him some pointers.

I took a level of Ranger. ;-)
A cop out, I know. I'll go back to the rogue with people skills after this one level ranger.
But I need some fighting power, just for this character to survive.



> Corran, Really enjoying Finn's journal.
> _Borric the Irresponsive_ ... LOL!
> 
> If you are using the Monte Cook ranger var. how are you getting ambidex and 2-wpn for free? I thought that they only get tracking. IIRC you can choose those feats with your bonus feats that you get, but they are not free.




I knew people were going to ask that. ;-) The DM allowed this when the Ranger player asked for it. The DM doesn't find it unbalancing.



> Now that Finn has been in combat, will he allow himself to wear some armor, even just leather? Will he continue to just fight with rapier and dagger or will he allow himself to geta bow of some kind? why dagger finesse and not rapier? I know , I am a bit of a metagamer. ;-)




Armour would be smart, it won't really interfere with his skills. However, roleplaying wise he might not be convinced yet. After the next combat he might well be. There's also not much to be gotten in Feather Falls I would guess (the DM's Feather Falls at least).

Same goes for a bow, he's going to ask Calim to train him, this is not yet in the journal because it is yet to happen, I did already tell Calim's player. One problem; Calim has a Mighty Bow +2, so I can't practice with it.
*Update:* I just read this in another thread: Note that due to a recent sage advice ruling, you can use a mighty bow even if your strength doesn't currently match the mighty bonus on the bow.

Why Weapon Finesse: dagger? Because he is going to fight with two daggers in the future. This is the only concession I will make towards making him better for combat. After this level I'm going back to rogue and put everything in Bluff, Diplomacy, etc.

Metagame: fighting with two daggers and getting sneak attacks makes him the most effective. If I can stay out melee and use a bow I will certainly do that.


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## Corran (Jan 15, 2002)

*Calim's Journal.*

The player sent me the journal he made and it's post it verbatim below.


Journal of Calim Russale of Shadowdale, warrior, episode 1


In the last days of 1371 we found ourselves in Tantras, where we stayed with Tallindar’s relatives. That is to say, Tallindar stayed with the family upstairs, and I stayed with the servants, downstairs. I believe I had the better deal though, because everything that went upstairs was first “sampled” by the “downtrodden”. Our opinionated friend Varsk chose to stay in an inn I believe, for I did not see him throughout the new year-celebrations.

Our party, through Tallindar, was offered positions as guards in a mercantile expedition to Scardale Town. We recruited up our numbers, to a full half dozen souls. We recruited a dwarf, a bit of a loudmouth but he looks the part of a capable mercenary, an elven (sunelven, can you believe it) wizard, who did not say or do much of anything, so he is a bit of a enigma to me, and a very “talky” gambler from Waterdeep. Beggars can’t be choosers, I guess, but I’ll watch the last two carefully: their usefulness is not too clear to me yet. But Tallindar selected them, so maybe he has a plan of sorts.

A full twenty guards were on the ship, a large sailing vessel called the Blue Dolphin. We stood guard for all hours, in three shifts. The journey was uneventful, except for a brief inspection by a pair of Sembian war-galleys. We arrived in Scardale Town after a journey of two days I believe, on the sixth day of the New Year.

Scardale Town has been through a lot, and it shows. Hardly any building is without damage, and our load of grain was easily sold. It was not so easy to pick up a new cargo though, and we were forced to wait in the city for several days. We stood watch on the ships, and while doing so some of our number seemed to sleeping less than they should. They didn’t make much of it when asked, but it was clear that something was going on.

Boric, our dwarven companion, noticed some sneaking about late at night, and so it was decided that the next night I would try to follow the sneaky, to see what they were up to, for we could not allow the mission to be jeopardized by any stupid or unauthorized actions.

I waited outside the inn we were all staying in, and sure enough I noticed two people leave the inn through a window. I followed them through the deserted streets, and Tallindar followed the follower. It soon became apparent that not two but four people had left the inn, and they moved to a lookout position near the Thayan compound, were they took notes.

We informed our captain of this the next day, as Tallindar thought we had to. I wasn’t so sure, but he insisted. Our captain spoke with the curious, and informed us that all was well. He furthermore told us he could not get suitable cargo in Scardale Town, and that he was taking a small boat upriver, with our party as guards. We left that morning, with two local boatmen.

During the afternoon we were ambushed. A large tree was dropped across the river, blocking our progress upstream, two bolt with ropes attached were shot into the gunwale of our boat, and we were pulled towards the riverbank the tree was dropped from. Tallindar conjured up a dense fog, and under cover of the fog Varsk (I think) and I cut the ropes, and Boric and Tallindar pushed us towards the other bank, where we ran aground.

The ambushers, a group of halflings as it turned out, started to cross the river towards our ship using the tree as a bridge. Varsk and Boric blocked their access to the bank while we subjected our foes to a barrage of spells and projectiles. We killed one, severely injured a second, and incapacitated two more (the wizard was useful) in a few seconds, prompting the rest to retreat. They requested a parlay, and during that parlay they explained a sembian merchant robbed them, and that they had decided to rob the first sembian merchant they saw to get even. Tallindar gave them the 25 goldpieces they were robbed of, and he and Finn (the gambler) entered in negotiations to employ them. Nothing much came of it I think.

So there you have it, the start of the first journey of 1372. So far it hasn’t been too bad or dangerous, and the money is good.


Journal of Calim Russale of Shadowdale, warrior, episode 2


We found ourselves in Featherfalls that evening, and we took rooms in an inn. Tallendar still tries to live like a grand lord, and so he was very dismayed when he found out he had to share a room with his fellow adventurers. For a priest he is not so wise I think, he would be better of lowering his expectations, so they might be met more often.

Our captain took the one single room, and we took two other rooms, so we were three to a room. There were about twenty travellers in the inn, three of whom were heavily armed and armoured. They kept to themselves, and especially the half-orc in their midst attracted the attention from Borric. Borric, I guess, hates orcs and their ilk. It may be wise to keep that in mind for the future, it may be dangerous or useful.

The three armed travellers visited a carpenter and a leatherworker the evening of the next day, and stayed quite a while in their respective shops, I learned from following them. When I paid particular attention to their conversation in the inn following their outing I learned they planned to visit “another” blacksmith and a stonemason the next day. They are up to something big, that much is obvious. I mentioned them and their plans to my fellow adventurers, but they weren’t too interested. Fine by me, I’ll check them out myself.

Later that night, long after we all had gone to sleep (no guards were posted, a mistake as it turned out) a group of goblins stole the money-chest from our employer. We were awakened by his shouts, and arrived just in time in his quarters to see the last of the goblins running away into the night. Celedor the wizard took two of them out with a well-placed sleep-spell, but two more escaped. I followed their tracks (thank Mielikki for snow) to a hole underneath some bushes, while our intrepid friend Forge Lord Borric the Unstoppable tried to cushion his fall (he might call it a jump) from a first-floor window with a matrass, but succeeded mostly in making it really difficult to fall out in the first place, because the matrass was rather large. It becomes more and more obvious there is indeed room for personal growth in Borric.

Early in the morning we entered the goblin warren that was located near the town. The locals guarded known exits, while we went in to retrieve the money-chest that was stolen. Borric took the lead at first. A few goblins tried to ambush us, but they were dealt with soon enough. Borric fell into a trap, a deep pit, and after we hauled him out he refused to walk I front anymore. He lent his shield to Varsk, and Varsk took the lead instead. I found out I hate tunnels, it’s almost impossible to use my bow and it’s almost impossible to see more than a few feet ahead. I let the difficult environment get to me: I got frustrated and angry. That is not good. I must work on that, if I do not, it will get me killed.

After Celedor knocked out a few goblins with another sleep-spell I quickly killed them. Finn looked like he wanted to say something, probably about it being unsporting to kill a sleeping enemy. He kept quiet though. He is smart enough, that much is obvious. I hope he learns soon that the most important part of “sleeping enemy” is enemy, and sleeping is just a bonus. Life is not at all fair and especially a gambler should understand that.

When we found the lair of the goblin-chief, after we attacked their main living-quarters, it turned out to be in an old burial chamber. We broke the stone doors and engaged the last few goblins that offered active resistance. One of them was a sorcerer or a wizard, and even after I firmly put an arrow in him he did not drop. So Varsk took him down, but in doing so our barbarian friend, who had impressed me during our underground journey with his daring and fearlessness, got taken down in turn. Luckily Finn managed to stop his bleeding, and after the fight he was carried to the surface. His prospects for survival are excellent.

In the end, I was pleased with all members of our party. None showed too much fear, and all were quite effective. Celedor, in quickly disabling multiple foes, was invaluable, and Borric wreaked havoc amongst all who dared engage him in close combat. Varsk more than held his own intrepid self, and Tallendar and Finn closed with the enemy, even though that is something they should avoid if at all possible. I think I made a good choice joining up with Tallendar’s party.


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## Corran (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session 3 – Thursday, November 8, 2001.*

When we get out of the tunnels and tell the people what has happened, the villagers are very pleased with our results. They set out to collapse all the tunnel entrances. Calim and Varsk want to go back into the tunnels tomorrow, so we block one entrance in such a way that we can get back in again. We give Anrod his money chest and he confirms that everything is still in there. I ask Calim if he can help me with my archery skills. He can and he will, we go to the store to buy some arrows. It got dark soon after but we managed to shoot some arrows, I did better than I expected. Tonight we are not taking any chances, one of us will be on guard in our employer’s room at all times.

_13 Hammer_

We went back into the tunnel system again. This time I was still hesitant to go back in. I knew they didn’t really need me, but it didn’t feel right, just abandoning them. Then Anrod told us he needed at least one of us to finish up his business around town. I nearly volunteered but in the end we drew straws and Borric got the shortest. Eventually five of us went back in, here’s what happened.

We first went back to the corridor where we heard the growling coming from. Quietly we approached the tunnel. Because of his superior sight in the dark, Celedor peaks around the corner. He sees two cages both containing enormous weasels, more importantly, there is also a goblin feeding the beasts. Celedor tries another of his now famous sleep spells but only one weasel succumbs to the arcane incantation. Our wizard is then seen by the goblin and without a second thought Celedor rushes the dreadfully surprised goblin. He slams the goblin into the cage with the, now very agitated, weasel. The weasel manages to get his snout through the bars and he bites the poor goblin! The goblin cries out in pain and losses the will to fight; he surrenders. The two dire weasels are then quickly killed and then I step into the cave. I felt no need at all to busy myself with killing those terrifying weasels, they gave me the creeps.

Now we interrogate our new prisoner. Fortunately Varsk speaks the little guy’s language as the goblin’s command of Common is very limited. Apparently the goblin was the weasel’s caretaker and he had come back to feed the animals. We manage to convey that we want to scour the entire complex and that he should lead the way. There is some discussion amongst ourselves about what to do with the little runt afterwards. Calim and some of the others want to give him to the constable but that’s a death sentence and they know it. In the end the question is not resolved and we decide to continue the debate after we’ve been through the tunnels.

Calim ties a rope in noose around the poor goblin’s neck and ties his hands. Calim takes hold of the other side of the rope and in this fashion the goblin is to walk in front of us. We first check out the two tunnels we hadn’t been in yet. Then we get to hidden trapdoor in the floor of one of the tunnels. Below the trapdoor is another tunnel running in both directions as far as we can see. We go in one direction first and we come to an exit in the forest. According to Calim there are some old goblin tracks here, but nothing recent. We go back the way we came and eventually we hear the roar of water. We end up in a large cave with a quick flowing stream dividing the grotto. A rackety bridge spans the stream. The water is really wild with small white waves tumbling over each other, Calim calls it ‘white water.’ It’s clear that swimming the stream is just about impossible, only the best swimmer wouldn’t be carried away by the tow.

The bridge is a pretty ramshackle affair but according the goblin it’s the way to the ‘big chief.’ The goblin indicates that we should follow exactly in his steps, some of the boards seem to be trapped. The little guy asks Calim for some slack in the rope and he jumps over the second and third board. He moves further and after indicating that he needs some more slack he jumps again. This time he lands on a board and he crashes right through it! The little runt fooled us all and tries to make good his escape. The moment he goes through the bridge I react instinctively and I snap the dagger I had in my left hand at the rope to pin it to the bridge. I guess instinct isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. What was I thinking? The throw I tried was impossible even when thrown right handed. It’s no big surprise then that the dagger disappears into the water. Calim pulls the rope but it doesn’t move. On the second try something happens that was totally unexpected; Calim pulls one of the bridge legs out from under the bridge! The bridge sways once to the left and once to the right and then it collapses. Varsk, who was on the bridge, falls in the water, fortunately he manages to get hold of the rope and we pull him out.

We haven’t seen the goblin since, I’m not sure if he survived. He was very smart in getting the rope around the bridge leg, but he might have been caught in the subsequent collapse. I hope the little runt made it to safety, the plucky fellow deserves to live after the brave stunt he pulled. You should have seen the perplexed look on Calim’s face when he stood there with the bridge leg dangling from his rope, if Varsk hadn’t fallen into the stream I wouldn’t have been able to stop laughing. Afterwards we manage to get over the stream and we follow the tunnel to it’s end, the Uthgar temple. Having been through the entire complex we go back to village, after stopping at the weasel cages; according to Calim the pelts might be worth something. He was right, we managed to sell the two animals for thirty gold pieces.

After telling the constable that the warrens are now goblin free, we return to the inn. On the way we notice that the blacksmith that was visited by the three black clad figures a day earlier is now empty. Calim is shocked and he runs to the other businesses the three visited; the carpenter and the stoneworker are also gone. The leatherworker, Nerus, is the only one who hasn’t left. We ask him to expound on the visit of the three. He is non-committal in his answers and we leave without learning anything new.

On the way back to the inn Calim tells us that his dad was sold as a slave because of debts he could not pay. Calim expects that the same thing might be going on here to. I asked him where his family was sold to, I’m not sure if the answer was a surprise to me; Zhentil Keep. The look of Calim’s face told me that just talking about it brought up a host of painful memories so I did not inquire any further.

Back in the inn we find that the three have returned. Cadrach and Varsk go and talk to them on a request from Calim. The three have little to say except that we are to stay out of their business. Calim however, makes use of the fact that he knows the three won’t leave the table soon and he goes up to their room. He manages to get into the room and he searches it quickly. He finds nothing out of the ordinary, but then he notices that the backpacks are made by a leatherworker in Zhentil Keep. When he comes back down to the common room he walks up to my table and tells me what he’s found. I am not too happy that he has just broken into the room, but it’s too late to worry about that. I tell Calim that the fact that their backpacks are from Zhentil Keep doesn’t mean that the three are Zhents, and more importantly, it does not mean that they have done anything untoward. Calim isn’t easily swayed however and he goes of to the stables. There he finds that the saddles of the three are also made by the same leatherworker in Zhentil Keep. The conversation between Cadrach, Varsk and the three comes to an end and the six of us sit down to talk about what we have learned. Calim tells about his discoveries and Cadrach and Varsk tell that all they’ve learned is that one of the two humans is called Palmin and that the half-orc is called Reshh. Now that we suspect that they might be Zhents we decide to go back to the leatherworker and ask him some more questions.

The others ask me to do the talking with leatherworker but I can’t get him to talk either. He still is silent about the three, even after I tell him that they are most likely Zhents. The conversation breaks down after I tell him I’m going to see the constable about our discoveries. After the leatherworker closes the door on us there is some discussion and we decide to go to the constable. We wake the constable and tell him what we know. He tells us to go back to the inn, he’ll talk to Nerus. Cadrach accompanies the constable to the leatherworker and soon they are back at the inn. They tell us that the three had approached Nerus to come and work in Zhentil Keep, the leatherworker refused but he was paid some gold to keep silent when asked about this. Cadrach proved a true disciple of Waukeen as he paid Nerus some more to tell the story anyhow. With nothing more to do we go to bed after determining the watch schedule.

_14 Hammer_

After a breakfast at dawn we go back on our rafts and we depart for Scardale Town. The three Zenths are also going in that direction, they are on a raft about half a mile in front of us.

_15 Hammer_

Today is a Waukeen holy day according to Cadrach, it’s called Cold Counting Comfort. In the evening we arrive at Scardale Town. Calim at once follows the Zhents and finds out they go to the Zhent encampment in town. The harbour has some more of berths filled; a Sembian and a Westgate trading vessel have docked. Just outside the harbour two warships lie at anchor, one is from Sembia the other is a Zhent ship. Before dark Calim and I practice some more archery and then we join the others for dinner.

A few hours after midnight we are all rudely awakened by some loud explosions in the city. The red glow outside is visible even through the closed shutters. We all rush outside and find that the source of the explosions are fireballs being thrown in the vicinity of the Thayan compound. Dark figures come running out of the red glow towards us. We are very surprised to find that they are our shipboard guard colleagues being chased by Thayan soldiers. The persecuted stopped right behind us and are obviously hoping we would stop the Thayans. They are to winded to say anything at that moment. The Thayans stop not far from us and a woman, obviously the highest ranking among them, steps forward. She demands that we deliver the ‘spies’ to them. After what we had discovered a few days earlier I fear that she is using the term correctly. We are saved from making an impossible decision by the arrival of a number of Cormyrian soldiers. A Purple Dragon officer, who has evidently dealt more often with the Thayans, starts to negotiate. The result is that we learn that the Thayans have already killed one spy and captured another. The Purple Dragon won’t give our colleagues to the Thayans and in the end he even manages to have the Thayans return the body of the dead spy. The Thayans won’t agree to releasing the prisoner, the Cormyreans decide to let matters rest until the next morning.

We learn from the others that it is Iase, the half-elf girl, who was killed by the Thayans and that Kunle the halfling is the one who has been captured by them. I approached the Purple Dragon commander to get some more information on the whole affair. The commander of the Cormyreans is Resnar Whiteshield and the wizardess who is in charge of the Thayan compound is Umara Thrul. She is, according to the Purple Dragon, a niece of Aznar Thrul who is a Tharchion of Thay. We help the two Rashemi, Orlak and Shauvik, bury Iase’s body.

_16 Hammer_

In the morning the Cormyreans send a small detachment to the Thayan compound to negotiate about the halfling prisoner. They learn that Kunle has died, according to the Thayans he drowned in the river Ashaba during an escape attempt. Calim is outraged and he demands that a priest be brought in to determine the veracity of all parties. I try to dissuade him as I fear that Iase, Kunle and the others might very well have been doing exactly what the Thayans say they have been doing. The Thayans want no part of any investigation anyway and that’s the end of the matter. Before noon we board the Blue Dolphin and we start our journey back to Tantras.

_17 Hammer_

Just before dark we arrive in Tantras. Anrod invites all the guards to dinner at his mansion tonight, we accept the invitation. At the mansion we meet the rest of the Naskurl family, Anrod’s wife and his two year old twin sons, Sedras and Hedras. The dinner is perhaps a bit awkward but nice nonetheless. Around midnight Anrod asks for silence and he starts to speak about the journey. He reveals that it was he that was behind the spying missions on the Thayan compound! He says he regrets the deaths of Iase and Kunle, but according to him the Thayans are so dangerous that they need watching at all cost. When I ask him why they bear watching he says it’s because the Thayans look out for themselves first. I don’t buy that at all, that description fits just about every merchant that I know and a lot of other people as well. I didn’t ask anything else as I didn’t think the time to be appropriate, but I will talk with him about this some more. I really don’t appreciate being lied to by my employer and put in any unnecessary risk. After all this, Anrod told the six of us he’d pay us a hundred and fifty gold pieces per person for all that we had done. This did much to alleviate any grudges any of the others might have had. It seems I’m the only one who feels the matter is unresolved.


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## Corran (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session 4 – Monday, November 19, 2001.*

_18 Hammer_

A lot happened today. Varsk is staying in The Roaring Lion Inn, the most expensive inn in town. He’s really the type that can’t have money without immediately spending it. He told us that when he woke up he found a small silk bag on the pillow next to him. In it was a nice smelling piece of crystal with a picture of rose carved into it. The staff in the inn can’t explain where it comes from. Varsk isn’t too bothered about it; he put it in his backpack and went to the nearest tavern. Later in the day he found out that the crystal was a gift from Tima, one of the other guards on the ship. I guess she’s sweet on him.

The others did some shopping, Borric traded in his scale mail tunic for a banded mail armour. He’d better oil it well; it makes quite some noise when he walks. Cadrach surprised us all; he bought two buildings! This is his first step towards his goal of a creating a merchant empire. The building near the harbour is to be a shop and he will live in the other building. The buildings are in quite good repair, but they do require some work, especially the interiors.

Since everyone was pleased with our last job, it was decided to see if we couldn’t get another job for the six of us again. While I didn’t like the fights and the goblin warrens one bit, I guess it’s safe to assume that things won’t go wrong every time. As long as the job doesn’t entail us entering dark caves or warrens I am happy to go along. Cadrach and I both went to look for jobs but we both returned empty handed.

That didn’t matter as it turned out. During his shopping Calim saw the three Zhents again. It’s no surprise that he followed them and he observed them buying horses. He hurried back to us and prevailed upon us to follow the three. I didn’t like it one bit, but the others reasoned that since there were no jobs anyway they might as well follow the Zhents. As far as Calim could tell our quarry would leave the next morning, so we went to bed early.

_19 Hammer_

We got up before dawn and bought horses and supplies. I managed to rent a horse for a month. The merchant looked a bit surprised, but I got the horse for twenty-four gold pieces a month. That’s more than I would have paid in Waterdeep, but not too bad. We then waited near the inn the Zhents were staying and then followed them out of the city. They went north on a road called the Cross Road. During the night Calim sneaked up on their campsite and he overheard them saying that they had to see a man called Wersin Erkades in Calaunt.

_20 Hammer_

At the end of the afternoon we arrived in Calaunt, it’s the foulest smelling city I’ve ever been to. The tanneries in the North West quarter excrete an acrid smell that covers the entire city. Because we didn’t want to get to close to the Zhents we didn’t know where they were in the city. We took our lodgings in an inn called the Mocking Maiden Inn. I then went to gather some information about the name Calim heard mention. It turned out the Erkades is a fur merchant who lives in the north of the city next to his warehouse. I also learned that he has a ship he uses to transport his wares.

We took a look at the merchant’s domicile but we didn’t learn much. There was no way of telling if the Zhents were there or not. Calim has decided that he’ll stay and observe the building during the night.

_21 Hammer_

We are now once again on the road following the three, here’s what happened. Last night Calim noticed that he wasn’t the only once scrutinizing the warehouse. Another figure nearby was also looking directly at the warehouse. When Calim tried to get this person’s attention, the individual left. Calim stayed at his post the entire night (he should really try and get some more sleep, this can’t be healthy). Just before dawn Calim’s perseverance pays off, the Zhents are leaving the fur merchant’s house. Calim then runs back to the inn and rudely wakes us from our dreams. He is quite peeved that we don’t want to follow the Zhents any more. We feel that we have done enough and we are bored with following them. Calim is not happy and he rushes to the gate, hoping he can still find out where the Zhents are going. At the gate he is approached by a woman in a grey cloak, who tells him she has also been following the three. She was also the figure he saw last night. When she learns that we have no further interest in following the Zhents, she tells Calim that she is willing to pay everyone five gold pieces per day if we join up with her.

Calim rushes back to the inn again and he tells of the woman’s offer. My companions’ attitude towards following the Zhents goes through a dramatic reversal and they can’t wait to start. We quickly get our things and we go to the gate. The woman is still there and after she confirms her offer we set out after the Zhents. During the journey I’ve had some time to talk to the woman but she is closemouthed. She doesn’t tell us much except for her name, which is Arcelle Winter. Looking at the small armoury she’s carrying on her horse, she looks like she can take care of herself.

_22 Hammer_

In the morning after breakfast Arcelle pulls out something that looked suspiciously like a spellbook and proceeds to study it. When I ask her if she’s a wizard she just smiles. If she is than she’s no ordinary wizard. She’s wearing chainmail, something that ordinarily would interfere with spellcasting.

During the journey today we got into a heated argument. When asked why we were following the three, Arcelle told us she wanted to see where they were going and then kill them! I nearly fell of my horse when I heard this. I started to protest but my complaints fell on deaf ears. I can’t understand how she could kill anyone in cold blood. She didn’t give us any reasons why she wanted to kill the Zhents. Apparently life is cheap to my other companions; they have no qualms killing the Zhents. We still have no proof that the three have done anything reprehensible but that doesn’t seem to be necessary for the others. The facts that they are Zhents is enough for them. This ‘guilt by association’ thing seems so weak to me, I can’t understand that anyone would find it enough.

I thought long and hard about just leaving the others and returning to Tantras. I’ve decided against it, I hope I can convince the others before it’s too late. And maybe I can stop them from going through with this heinous plan. I’ll try and sneak up to the Zhent campfire and see if I can learn anything that might help. With all the snow on the ground it is impossible to not leave a trail, so I’ll have to wait and see if I get a good chance.

_24 Hammer_

We’ve been riding along the river Vesper so far. But now our quarry turned north again. They are going over the Trollcrag Mountains through Three Trees Pass.

_25 Hammer_

Today we were followed by three wolves. They came out of the mountains and took up our trail. During the night more wolves joined them, fortunately we were able to keep them away from us by placing torches all around the camp. I’m glad we kept them away, dogs with delusions of grandeur, that’s what I think they are.

_30 Hammer_

Today we left the hills behind us; the going is now much easier. It seems the Zhents are on their way to Mulmaster, just as Arcelle had predicted. We saw two figures walking on the mountain slopes to the north east, but when Calim approached them they disappeared.

_Midwinter_

Today we passed a campsite filled with Mulmaster soldiers; they were busy setting fire to a pyre filled with orc bodies. We set up camp early as the weather took a turn for the worse. During the night a storm developed and it wasn’t long before lightning was flashing on the horizon. The storm must have had some supernatural origin; eldritch flashes of green energy shot through the sky. It made the hairs in my neck stand up straight. It looked as if Talos had lost himself in range. We didn’t sleep much but we were happy to see the storm rage itself out just after dawn.

_1 Alturiak_

We have nearly reached our destination; we can see the towers of Mulmaster’s southern roadkeep.

_2 Alturiak_

A few hours before dusk we arrived in Mulmaster. It’s a dark, forlorn, city. Arcelle warned us to keep to ourselves as the city is far from safe. She also warned Celedor to refrain from spellcasting as it is forbidden in the city. Arcelle then led us to an inn she had been to before, called The Flying Bed inn. We procured a room and Arcelle left us to find out more about the Zhents. I got into a warm bath and had some nice warm, spiced wine and lit up one of my few Maztican cigars. It’s good to be off the road for a while. The big, bad city outside might be as cold as the deepest pits of hell, lying in a warm bath makes it all seem to go away.


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## Corran (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session 5 – Wednesday, December 5, 2001.*

The brutal reality of living in this city was shown to us not an hour later. We were sitting in the taproom when a bunch of soldiers accompanied by two men in dark robes entered the inn. The soldiers moved through the room, looking for someone to make a wrong move. Four soldiers went upstairs and not much later cries of pain came from above. The soldiers returned carrying two men whose knees had very clearly just been crushed. Without a word the entire company then left the inn. From the innkeeper I learned that the two men were probably wanted Cormyreans. The innkeeper felt only relief that he wasn’t charged with hiding criminals.

Then Arcelle returned and she had some shocking news for us; Bane has returned! The eldritch storm we endured a couple of days ago apparently was caused by The Black Lord’s return. I fear for what this means for the realms. The most despicable acts in history have been portrayed in Bane’s name and Bane is the kind of god to really show that he is back. Tantras might be in the most immediate danger; it was here after all, where Bane was slain by Torm during the godswar. Tantras also has the largest temple to Torm in all of Faerûn. The only small fortune is that Xvim, Bane’s godson, and a god in his own right, has disappeared during the return of The Black Hand.

Winter also had also found some information about our quarry; they are looking for the architect who is rebuilding the temple to Xvim here in Mulmaster. I guess that temple will have to be re-desecrated or something. The architect however, isn’t in the city. According to Arcelle’s information he has gone into the Giantspike Mountains. Our three Zhentarim are planning to track him down tomorrow, meaning we will have to leave this inn with its nice and warm fireplaces as well.

_3 Alturiak_

We left early in the morning and we had an easy time following our men in black. At dusk we could see the fire of their campsite. Unfortunately we can’t make a fire as to not give ourselves away.

_4 Alturiak_

Today we found the Zhents' destination; it must be quite large, we can count seven campfires from quite a distance away. One has to wonder what so many people are doing here in the mountains. I’ve heard in Mulmaster that there is gold in these mountains, but I can’t see an architect go prospecting.

_5 Alturiak_

In the morning we got close to the camp and we got a good look. There are twelve small tents and about ten humans are excavating a hole in the side of a mountain. We can also hear the sound of hammering and sawing coming from within the hole. There are only six horses in the camp and there are three orc sentries dressed in what looks like bearskins. We can’t see the back of the camp but we estimate that there are about thirty to forty people in total in the camp. Around noon the sentries moved away, presumably to get some lunch. Their position was taken over by a human woman dressed in black. At the beginning of the evening most of the camp took part in some sort of religious ceremony, probably dedicate to Bane or Xvim.

Calim volunteers to sneak around the camp and have look at the excavation. He gets back safely and tells us what he has learned. The excavation is the beginning of a natural cave that slopes down deeper into the mountain. Calim had no source of light and he heard growling further inside the cave, so he returned. The sounds are according to Calim made by some kind of dog and not some scary monster. The rest of the group now wants to entire the cave en masse. I really don’t think that this is a smart idea, if the camp wakes up we will be trapped inside the cave. We don’t know what we will find inside or even if there is an exit. The others won’t be swayed and the only choice I have is to either return to the horses or go with them. Though it is really against my better judgement I have decide to accompany the others, I guess I would feel guilty if something happened to them and I wasn’t there.

We’re trapped and it’s all Winter’s fault!! I can’t believe how stupid she has been and yet the others are almost happy because they now get more money, yet they seem to forget that they need to be alive to spend it. Here’s what happened.

We manage to get into the cave without alerting any of the sentries in the camp, even though some of us weren’t all that quiet. Inside, Calim slips on the first steep slope we encounter and he glides further down into the cave. Now we clearly here barking and once we have some light we see two large wolf-dogs running at Calim. We hoist Calim back up and since the dogs can’t reach us they are easily killed by missile fire. We are very fortunate that we haven’t been heard, no one comes to investigate.

We move on and we end up in a large cave with three tunnels radiating out of it. One dog has been wounded and he has fled into a tunnel that is to low for us to walk in. The tunnel in the middle is only about ten meters deep then it ends in tumble of collapsed rock. This unmistakably is where they are working, trying to open up the blocked passageway. Borric grudgingly admits that the work is done quite professionally. The other tunnel winds upwards for about forty meters and then ends suddenly as it drops into a deep crevasse.

Then, suddenly Calim hears voices coming from the entrance. The only sentence I could hear was: ‘If there’s nothing down here, you’ll be sorry.’ Fiddlesticks! We weren’t as quiet as we thought we were. Everybody quickly hides near the tunnel to ambush whoever is coming our way. Arcelle all of a sudden jumps out and fires a wand into the tunnel. A fireball detonates in the corridor and hot air rushes out of the tunnel. I can hear people screaming in pain and dying, Borric then charges into the tunnel, yelling in Dwarven something irrational about killing orcs. Winter shouts at Borric: ‘You fool, get back!’ I agree with Arcelle, with the wand of fireballs we could keep the enemy away, now we can’t fire into the corridor for fear of hitting the dwarf. Arcelle quickly takes command of the situation and she tells Calim to find us an exit and she tells Varsk to go get the overenthusiastic Borric the Unstoppable.

There is one tunnel we haven’t explored yet; the small tunnel the wounded dog went in. I am already feeling like the walls are closing in on me and I feel no need at all to help them. I’m not entering and I’m telling the others that I will defend the tunnel entrance. I wish I knew why I am so scared of small, dark spaces. It’s totally irrational, yet I can’t help it. Why can’t I just have fear of heights? We never go to high places; we always end up in some cave for some reason.

The other quickly return, the small cave was the entrance to a goblin warren that is now empty. The Zhents must have turned the wolf-dogs upon the goblins, the others tell of more than two dozen goblin corpses and blood splattered all over the walls. The dog we wounded is also inside, having succumbed to its injuries. The crevasse we discovered earlier is to steep and deep to escape by; the collapsed corridor is our only hope. Arcelle fires another fireball into the entrance tunnel and we set to work digging through the collapse. More fireballs explode and we finally reach the other side of the collapsed tunnel. Winter comes running into the tunnel and she fires another fireball into the cave, but then the wand crumbles in her hands. We quickly move through and once we reach the other side of the pile of rubble Arcelle tells Borric to collapse it! With everything going on I hadn’t noticed Borric attaching a rope to one of the supports. Before he gets a chance I step up to him and I shout at him not to do it. Winter then runs up and pulls the rope from the dwarf’s hands and yanks the line! Behind us the tunnel collapses and our only exit is now forever gone!

I have never cursed so vigorously at anyone in my life as at Winter at that moment. It didn’t help our situation one bit, but it made me feel somewhat better. When I get my breath back I ask her how she could have done something so stupid. She is quite unperturbed and she says that she knows what she’s doing. I ask her to prove it and for once the others agree. Arcelle then proceeds to tell us that we are now in the upper reaches of the Underdark and that the Zhents will clean up the collapse behind us. I’m now very upset at learning that we are in the bleeding Underdark and trying to remain calm, I ask her why the Zhents would even try to clear the collapsed tunnel; they can just let us starve here. Now we are in for yet another surprise. ‘Because I know what the Zhents are doing here,’ answers the prissy little miss. Everyone erupts in indignation as so far she had said she didn’t know what the Zhents were doing in the mountains.

What is it with employers lying to you? Are we just having bad luck getting two in a row or is this normal practice? Weapons were not quite drawn, but we vehemently insisted she tell us the truth, all of it. Arcelle stayed remarkably cool under the circumstances and she tells us matter-of-factly that she is an agent from Cormyr. This is what she had to say. Some time ago a fist sized ruby called Aramus was stolen from the royal palace in Suzail. The stone is traditionally the property of the heir of the Obarskyr family and has no magical properties. Scrying revealed that the ruby had been stolen by four men who turned out to be Zhents and further scrying revealed that the four had died in the Underdark not far from here. Why the Zhents would want the stone, apart from its obvious monetary value, Arcelle couldn’t or wouldn’t tell. So, Winter had been stringing us along all the time, she knew the destination of the three Zhents she made us follow before the journey even began.

Everyone is livid to learn that Winter had been lying to us from day one. We also know that standing around isn’t going to help us either. Trying to find the stone seems to be the smartest thing to do strangely enough. I keep hoping we might find an exit on the way. We only have food for a couple more days and it might take much longer for the Zhents to excavate the collapsed tunnel. Cadrach proves to be a sharp operator at that moment; he starts to negotiate for more money. In the end we agree upon a salary of ten gold pieces per person per day and we get to keep everything we find with the exception of the ruby. The others also want a Cormyrian adventurers' charter, which Arcelle agrees to. I can’t for the life of me understand why they would want such a thing. Adventuring in Cormyr is not that big as I understand and you do not need a licence. In my, admittedly limited, experience people tend to look down at you if you start waving around some kind of charter. ‘Them rich kids bought a charter, think they’re adventurers or something,’ that’s the reaction I expect. The fact that half of Cormyr was laid to waste in a war not a year ago doesn’t help matters either.

We set out down the tunnel and after half a kilometre we get to a large cavern. The big cave has some stalactites and stalagmites and more importantly, there’s a lake in the middle of it. Regrettably there are no fish in the lake, which is a shame; I could really have gone for a smoked mackerel and a kipper for breakfast. At the end of the cavern are three more tunnels leading deeper into the Underdark. Winter has no idea which one to go in and there are no marks or tracks that we can find. We take the left tunnel and find that it ends high up the wall of another cavern.

The cavern is illuminated by a dirty green glow coming from the lichen on the walls, making everything white show in a horrid purple light. Some dilapidated huts are standing not to far away. Varsk is already climbing down and I decide to go with him. If there are people living in those huts, I might as well try to talk to them first before everyone charges at them like some raving lunatics. When Varsk and I get close to the huts, the barbarian sees a dark shape moving between the huts. I say in all the languages I know that we mean no harm and that we are simply looking for an exit. Varsk, who speaks many more languages than you would expect of an Utgardt barbarian tries his luck, but still there is no reaction from within the village.

When we get closer dark shapes suddenly rush at us, they’re enormous spiders! The first thing I do is to drop my rapier, grace under fire? Not me. Calim, who had been covering us with his bow all the time, opens fire and draws first blood. I charge at a spider and draw a second dagger and with two daggers I manage to do just fine in combat. I am learning quickly that in combat it’s the result that matters, how it looks is of no concern. The thrust and riposte of rapier and dagger might be good for duels, fighting with two daggers seems easier because both weapons are the same size, even compensating the loss of reach, well against spiders anyway. General melee ensues and when the dust clears up we are victorious. I got nicked by a spider once, but I am ok. Varsk has been seriously wounded though and Cadrach is even worse of. The spider’s venom has a profound effect on our cleric, his strength has been all but sapped away.

After a quick exploration we decide to set up camp here for the night, even though we are not even sure if it is night. The cave ends in another two tunnels and in the huts we find two dwarf like skeletons, probably Duergar according to Borric. The little village has been deserted for at least forty years.


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## Corran (Jan 15, 2002)

*Session 6 – Wednesday, December 19, 2001.*

_6 Alturiak_

Today we continue our search for the gem (and for an exit!) by entering one of the tunnels at the end of the cave. After a while we come to yet another cavern. This one’s quite big; the floor is covered in moss and the lichen on the wall bathe the place in a sickly green glow. Patches of enormous mushrooms are dispersed throughout the cave. Some of the mushrooms are as big as small trees. When we move further into the cave there suddenly is a rumbling noise and then the floor starts to shake. From further ahead we hear a strange sound and then all of a sudden warm drops of liquid rain down on us.

We carefully move on and then a small voice calls out to us: ‘Hey you!’ We find a small pool of boiling water and three little figures sitting on a rock near the pool. They are white skinned, about four feet high and have little wings. They look a little like the pictures I’ve seen of imps, only less rotund. They seem friendly enough so we ask them if they know a way out of the cave. They point further down the cave and tell us we can find an exit there. Here my experience in dealing with less than honest merchants comes to good use. I feel the little guys are not quite truthful about the exit and when pressed on the matter they confess that the exit is not safe. When we ask if there might be an exit that is safe, they say there is a hidden one, but they are not telling us where until we do something for them.

Just out of curiosity I ask them what the task they would have us do is. They want us to damn the river. Well, it’s hardly a river, but there is a fast flowing stream here and we also learn that there are numerous geysers in the cave. They seem to like the hot water pools and they want to get some more of them. When I ask if our work won’t flood the entire cave they say it won’t and this time I think they are speaking the truth. We then excuse us from their company and we quickly decide what we are going to do. We can damn the stream in a couple of hours with the large mushrooms that grow here and that’s probably faster than searching for the exit or anything else we can come up with. We do what they ask of us and make the damn. They keep there word and show us an entrance hidden in a patch of mushrooms.

We enter the tunnel and we soon hear the sound of rushing water. The tunnel ends and we find a river flowing from right to left. This is certainly a river; it’s over thirty meters wide and no babbling brook by any means. Calim points out on the marks on the wall that show that the river sometimes is four meters higher, coming nearly up to the ceiling. On our side of the river is a small path going downstream. It’s very small and quite slippery, the wall offers some handholds but it doesn’t seem easy to travel this way. There is no other path than the one here so we set out on it. Things go wrong almost immediately. Varsk gets on the path first and after a couple of steps he slips and falls into the river. As quick as he can Calim throws a rope to him, but by then the fast flowing current has swept him away. My last image of Varsk is of him desperately trying to stay above the surface, I don’t even know if the strapping barbarian can swim.

There is nothing we can do to save our friend but hope that he manages to get to the shore of the river and that we will find him down the path. Borric comes up with a plan; we will use the mountaineering equipment we have to traverse the path. He will go first and hammer pitons into the wall; we then thread a rope through them to give us something to hold on to. Calim will go last and he will remove the last piton from the wall with his crowbar. The piton will then be transferred back to the front and Borric will then hammer it in again. We do not have that many pitons so this is going to be quite a long journey.

_7 Alturiak_

Many hours later, it seems like over half a day, we come to a waterfall. The river flows out of the tunnel here and plunges into a lake way down below. It takes quite some time to climb down and when we get down there’s a joyful surprise; Varsk is waiting for us. He had been unable to get out of the river and he fell down the waterfall. Once in the lake he found a small beach where stayed for a while before returning to the waterfall. He did all this in complete darkness; he had no way of making any light. I’m glad this didn’t happen to me, I’m sure I would have gone completely mad, all alone in total darkness. This also makes me regret quitting my magical studies; it would be so simple if I could just conjure up some light whenever I need it. But, as my mentor so bluntly put it, I have no patience for the rigid requirements of the arcane arts. We go Varsk’s beach and we find another exit beyond it. We then make camp on the beach and sleep for hours after our gruelling journey along the river. I hope my back will stop aching someday, but it doesn’t feel like it.

The next tunnel quickly leads to another cave, this one thankfully without any green lights. Further down the cave we spot a small light source. Calim goes to investigate and he returns with scary tidings. Further up the cave is a small desolate villages and between the houses a small group is sitting around a camp fire. The group consists of two huge spiders used as beasts of burden, six dwarf-like figures, most likely duergar and two drow! I had never thought I would be so close to real life drow, and I can’t say I’m too stoked about it. The others immediately start plotting an attack upon the little band. I once again think this is stupid and foolhardy but knowing there’s no use I withhold from commenting upon it. Still, why should we attack them, they’ve done nothing untoward and even though the stories about drow are no doubt exaggerated they are still powerful individuals.

The decision is made however and everybody sneaks towards the campsite. I borrow Arcelle’s bow and I’ll try to help the others as best I can, even though I do not agree with them. Before we are all in position some of the duergar here something and there is a mad rush to keep the element of surprise. Celedor does what he’s famous for (well amongst our group anyway); he takes out two of the duergar with his sleep spell. The drow woman is revealed to be a wizard when she casts a spell and three missiles of force hit Varsk in the side. Varsk hardly even flinches and with an enormous chop he almost takes the head off the drow man’s shoulders. Then the duergar start swarming in on Varsk and the big man is brought down by savage jabs of the duergar shortswords. The others are now fortunately closing in melee and Borric drops the drow woman with a backhand swing of his warhammer. After that the battle is quickly over. I think I hit two duergar with the bow, but that’s all I was able to do, not very impressive I’m afraid. Calim must have hit just about every enemy on the field with his eagle eyed shots. Winter was out of sight from me but she killed the two spiders and a duergar or two.

Varsk is saved by Cadrach’s timely intervention and the two sleeping duergar are bound. The drow wizardess is still alive and she is bound and gagged as well. Arcelle and Borric take the two duergar that were taken out by the sleep spell into a hut to interrogate them. The fact that Winter asks Borric to take the hammer and pitons into the hut makes me fear the worst, but no sounds come from the hut. Then the duergar are brought out again and they take the drow captive and the body of the dead drow into the hut. In the end we learn that the group was guarding the entrance to a drow settlement some three miles away. It seems somewhat strange, guarding a town from three miles away and they hardly did a bang up job now did they? The ruby Aramus is in the town according to the drow. The town is home to between two and three thousand drow and four or five thousand slaves. I was pretty relieved to hear Arcelle remark that we would be unable to recover the gem.

The cave has no other exits and we decide to head back to the Zhent campsite and try and sneak back out if they have cleared the corridor by now. There is no further use for the prisoners and although it makes me feel ill I have to agree that killing them is the best we can do. Borric sets to the task and at least he’s mercifully quick. Calim and Varsk loot the bodies and they find some ninety gold pieces in all. The drow have quite some jewellery, which Cadrach appraises to be worth around five hundred gold pieces. The wizardess has an envenomed dagger and the drow fighter has a sword made from something called darksteel according to Borric, we take both with us. The drow fighter is wearing a finely crafted chainmail which is still in one piece. Calim tells me I should put it on, it’s both easier to carry that way and it gives me some much needed protection. After being bit by a spider and shot by goblins I can only agree. After thoroughly cleaning the armour I put it on, fortunately it fits quite well. On the spiders we find some sundry items and two things called tanglefoot bags. These are used to glue people to the floor according to Calim. We set the dead bodies alight and we go back to the lake.

_10 Alturiak_

It has taken quite some time but we have negotiated the waterfall and the river and we return to the cave with the geysers and the little creatures. When we get near the cave we hear the sound of an explosion. We run towards the tunnel exit and stumble upon a dead orc, probably one of the Zhents. Three not so dead orcs are nearby, but we quickly remedy that situation. The battle ends and we learn that the Zhents have attacked the little guys. Three of the little guys have died but five more are alive, there were more of them than we had seen when we first met them apparently. There are in total, ten dead Zhents both humans and orcs. Varsk and Calim loot the bodies but the little guy we met the first time around demands half of the gold. It seems only fair and we give him half of the hundred and ten gold pieces. We promise our little friends that they have probably seen the last of the Zhents and we move on.

We go back all the way to the first large cave, the one with the big lake. Here we find that the Zhents have put up a camp near the lake. There are ten tents and about thirty people walking around the camp. After waiting two hours the Zhents all go and eat, whether it is breakfast, lunch or dinner we don’t know, after being underground for such a long period we have lost all sense of time. We snow sneak past the camp and manage that without being heard this time. When we arrive at the tunnel Calim steps in and an alarm sounds. The alarm is heard in the camp and we all run into the tunnel as fast as possible. It’s half a kilometre to the collapsed part and the Zhents are going on the slowest members of our group; Borric and Cadrach. Varsk is the fastest among us and he rushes ahead.

When we get to the collapsed part we see that it has been shored up again and that Varsk has killed the two Zhents guarding it. I try to rig a rope around one of the beams to collapse the tunnel once again just as Borric had done before. We wait for Cadrach and Borric to reach us and when they come into view the Zhents are hot on their tails. Calim and Arcelle stand ready to intercept the Zhents when the priest and the dwarf come through. A Zhent mage casts a web spell and the passageway fills with webs, making our escape even more difficult. Varsk starts hacking his way through the webs to create a passage, I still try to rig the place to collapse it again, but the web isn’t helping any. Cadrach and Borric finally rush through just when I finish attaching the rope. Calim turns to run and is then struck down by a Zhent sword from behind. Winter grabs his body and pulls him through the narrow passage. When they are safely through I pull the rope and the tunnel collapses yet again. Calim fortunately survives, after some healing spells from Cadrach he is ready to travel onwards.

Without further problems we get outside. Boy, but it’s good to be outside in the cool air and watery sun again! There were times I thought I was never going to see the sky again. Now we also see what we look like. Living in caves is not something I recommend, we are all grimy and covered with dust, I don’t think all that dust will ever get out of my hair. We have no time for personal grooming however, Arcelle is adamant we keep moving; she’s afraid the Zhents will keep after us. We quickly check the four tents that remain of the Zhent camp but they contain nothing but food. Twelve horses are tethered next to the camp, including our own horses. We take all the horses so that the Zhents can’t use them and we can change horses during the journey. The small camp we used to spy on the Zhents is empty and the belongings some of our party left there are gone. That can’t be helped and we set out for Tantras post haste.

_20 Alturiak_

We arrived in Tantras today, somewhere in the afternoon. We sold the surplus horses and I returned my rented horse. Winter tells us she can take us to Cormyr if we want to go, she says the journey is instantly and not by ship. No one has any objections and no one has any reason to stay in Tantras, I guess Cadrach will return later to look after his two houses. We follow Arcelle to the temple of Torm and when she shows a guard something we are taken to an entrance. A large ramp leads into the dungeon below the temple and Arcelle leads us to one of the rooms. A big portal stands in the middle of the room and a bowl of water stands on a table. She throws the water on the portal and with a flash a blue glow appears inside the portal. Winter tells us we have one minute to go through the portal and she steps through. We quickly follow and with one step we are suddenly in a forest, the portal here is formed by two trees arching into each other.

This was the first time I ever travelled through a magic portal; it’s a very strange experience. One moment you’re somewhere and the next you’re somewhere else entirely. It’s a bit disorienting but you do not feel anything when stepping through the portal. Just as Arcelle had said the portal disappeared after a minute. She then paid us the money we earned; two hundred thirty gold per person (not that I care about the money but it should have been much more considering what we went through). She then pointed in a direction and with the words ‘Suzail is five miles thataway,’ she stalked off. We went to Suzail and got rooms in an inn called The Six Candles Inn, and that’s where we are now.


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## Corran (Jan 16, 2002)

Ok, everything has been moved here from the old board, the next session will hopefully be up before the weekend.

Then I might finally be ready to make a new website.


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## Corran (Jan 22, 2002)

Yet more delays, the update will have to wait I'm afraid.


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## Corran (Feb 27, 2002)

*Session 7 – Thursday, January 10, 2002.*

_21 Alturiak_

Arcelle came to the inn this morning with our money. At least she came through for us on that one. She said she had also made an appointment for us tomorrow to see the King’s herald Sthavar about an adventurers charter. Sthavar, what a name, I’m glad it’s not mine. We invited Arcelle for diner and then we all went out to do some shopping. Celedor went to the Suzail College of Wizardry. I don’t know what the others did, only that Borric used his hard earned money to order a warhammer with an inscription in silver on the head. After consulting with Calim I bought myself a very good quality chain shirt, I managed to get the armorer to take twenty percent of the price. The armor fits perfectly and look quite nice as well, let’s hope I won’t get hit anymore.

At diner Arcelle has a gift for Varsk, just like he asked for as payment. The gift is a two foot long horn from some beast. She told us during the dinner that it is a Tuigan war horn. She got it during the battles against the Tuigan horde after her first battle. Varsk is very happy with it; it seems a very precious gift, as it is a personal memento. When Arcelle leaves she mentions that we should think of a name to give to our adventuring group, because it is required to be on the charter. She shouldn’t have said that; we were up into the small hours trying to find a suitable name we could all agree on. Somebody, I can’t even remember who, mentioned The Talon or The Talons. I could hit my head for not thinking of it myself; the name fits perfectly with my family’s crest. After some persuasion I managed to get the name accepted; we are now officially called The Talons. [Evil DM tip: if you had no time to prepare for a session just ask your players to think up a name for their adventuring band; presto, you just filled an entire night ;-)]

_22 Alturiak_

Before noon Winter picks us up, she is wearing a Purple Dragon Knight outfit. She takes us to the Court; an enormous complex of buildings where all of Cormyr’s administrative affairs are dealt with. The Court is located along the Promenade, a broad street with on one side the Court and expensive shops on the other. There are benches all along the Promenade, making for leisurely shopping; it’s certainly more bucolic than any streets in any of Waterdeep’s wards. We get to see the herald; he has us swear an oath to take no actions against Cormyr and the Obarskyr royal family. Nobody has any reason not to do such, or if he does he does not make it known. We do as he asks and then we are presented with our charter. We leave the office being a bona fide adventuring band in Cormyr, I can’t say I feel any different, but who knows the others might feel all warm inside, you never know. Arcelle asks if she can bring a friend of hers to dinner tonight, he might have a job for us. We agree; there’s no harm in listening to what he has to say.

At dinner we meet Winter’s friend, a man in his thirties called Darvear Huntinghorn. By both his name and his attire it is clear he is Cormyrean nobility. During dinner he gives us his sales pitch. He tells us that about five to six times a year he goes into the Stonelands with a group of friends and retainers to kill the ever prevalent orcs and Zhents. According to him only three people in his group died the last five years. Until that is, the last time he went into the Stonelands. He lost nine people that time, most of whom were friends. He says they were ambushed and had no chance, he was lucky to escape alive. As to the opposition, he thinks it was a Zhent ambush.

To me this does not seem like the best kind of employment, but – you guessed it – I’m a minority once again. Borric is chomping at the bits at the slightest mention of orcs and Calim starts to get that look in his eyes the moment the Zhents are mentioned. Varsk doesn’t care, he’s always happy it seems. Cadrach I’m sure is already figuring out how much we are going to make. Only Celedor remains a mystery to me, we would the aloof wizard want to go into the barren Stonelands. I would almost start to suspect him of having a secret agenda, were it not that he never tries to get us to go somewhere or do something.

Calim then asks how much the pay is. After some negotiations we finally agree upon a salary of five gold pieces per day per person. The spoils will be divided equally. The only exception is heirlooms of Cormyr; these are returned to the palace. As we can’t quite imagine them lying under just about every rock of the Stonelands we have no problems with this arrangement. We also get Darvear to pay us ten days upfront to buy equipment. Darvear needs to take care of some business first, before our little foray, so we agree to leave in five days.

_23 Alturiak_

Celedor tells us he’s going to create some magic scrolls, so he’s not to be disturbed. The rest of us don’t have much to do as we already did our shopping. Varsk has been invited by Arcelle to eat at her place tonight. I’m going to see if there are any interesting antiques for sale and during the night I’ll see if there a friendly game of Swords and Shields I can get into.

_24 Alturiak_

According to some of the others, Varsk did not get back to the inn until this morning. I’m not going to spend any ink on this.

_27 Alturiak_

Darvear arrived this morning and we left for our first stop: Arabel. It’s a good thing too; I already lost thirty gold pieces. These people know how to play Swords and Shields, that’s for sure.

_1 Ches_

Today we arrived in Arabel. When we got in sight of the city, Varsk decide to try out his new horn, Calim was unfortunate enough to be riding next to Varsk; he lost his hearing for about half an hour. Arabel is quite a mess; the city was conquered and subsequently abandoned by a goblinoid horde not a year ago. The people there are now busy building their city up again. There was no room in any of the inns that survived, so we have to sleep outside.

_3 Ches_

Today we got to Gnoll Pass; the Stonelands are just to the north of here. Although I’m sure Cormyreans would tell you that the lands we’ve ridden through since we left Arabel are a part of Cormyr, I have to agree with those who would sooner call it disputed territory. While we did not meet any opposition we did also not see any farms and there are clear signs of humanoid traffic on the roads.

_4 Ches_

We had hardly entered the Stonelands when Darvear suddenly told us that he saw between seven and nine orcs seven hundred meters away. My first thought was, how can he see them so far away? I asked this but he would not answer, indicating that we should sneak up on the orcs. We left the horses and slowly started moving towards the bluff Darvear pointed out to us. When we got to about a hundred feet from the bluff a head appears and then disappears again. With stealth losing its use everybody charged the bluff.


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## Corran (Mar 1, 2002)

I know the alst update has been long in coming but a lot of other stuff required my time.

The good news is that I now have a completely new (and very nice looking) website for 3 campaigns.

I'll give the URL after the weekend, so the players can have a first look and find all the bugs. ;-)

I also hope to have penned up a new session by then.


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## Corran (Mar 1, 2002)

*Session 8 – Wednesday, January 23, 2002.*

The battle is swift, furious and pretty one-sided; I think we got more nicked when shaving that morning. Celedor proves his enormous value again when he, at the beginning of the battle, drops three orcs with his signature sleep spell. Varsk must have scarred the orcs pretty good, all screaming and kicking he leapt into battle and killed four orcs. I think I injured one and I saw our employer killing another. Borric gets slowed down a lot by his shorter stature and heavy armor, when he arrived the battle was all but over. After the battle two of the sleeping orcs were killed, I almost stop protesting the inevitable. They then interrogated the third one and learned that their fortress is fifteen miles to the North West. There are supposed to be about ten orcs in the camp right now but it normally holds eighty. When we returned to the horses I once again asked Darvear how he could see the orcs from so far away, but he refuses to answer the question. Most peculiar.

_5 Ches_

Late in the afternoon we arrive at a crest overlooking the fortress. It consists of a stone keep of several floors surrounded by a high wooden palisade. Some smaller wooden structures are built against the palisade on the inside. Five wooden towers are positioned at the corners of the palisade. In them is one goblin guard each, at least one of them is sleeping. The plan is to sneak a close as we can to the fortress and to try and open the gate and get in and exterminate the inhabitants. I’m not happy about this plan at all, it seems very risky, also because we have no idea how many enemies might be in the keep.

I’m so glad to still be alive and free!! I still can’t believe what happened to us. I think it’s best I’ll tell everything in the order it happened. I’ll also put it under the date it happened. Now if I can just put my pages back in my journal all will be all right again. Please remember that some of what I’ll write I have learned from the others I have not observed everything myself.

The beginning of our plan works fine; we all get to the palisade without being spotted. Calim then climbs over the palisade and opens the gate for us. Then Besheba gives us our full attention and everything goes wrong. Calim is heard and an orc rushes to the gate, the few goblins in the courtyard on the other hand run to the keep. Borric kills the orc at the gate and we all rush into the courtyard. The courtyard however is empty only the goblins in the towers remain. Varsk rushes to the door to the keep and tries to break it down. It is a reinforced door and even the strong barbarian has problems getting through. The goblins in the towers start have also wakened up and start shooting arrows at us. I run around the corner to the back of the keep and I find a trapdoor on the ground. The trapdoor uses some kind of spring mechanism to close automatically and probably leads to an underground level. I do not think it wise to enter it and I return to Varsk and Darvear to tell them of my discovery. When I round the corner I discover that quite a bit has happened in the short time I was away.

Three orc shamans have appeared on the roof and they have caught Calim and Celedor in a web spell while they were killing a goblin in one of the towers. Right in front of me Varsk is lying on the ground and now Darvear is trying to bash open the door. I rush towards the barbarian to see if I can heal his wounds. When I examine him I hear him softly snoring! The orcs must have used a sleep spell! The cads! I shout this fact out to Darvear; in response he kicks Varsk, pretty hard. Painful it may be it has effect. Varsk wakes up and starts to bash the door again. Cadrach casts some spell at the roof but there’s no noticeable effect. Calim, even hampered by the web he is caught in, manages to fire an arrow and kills one of the shamans.

The orcs respond in kind, and how. They cast more sleep spells and Borric, Calim and Celedor succumb to the arcane enchantment. [Talk about off day: seven (count ‘em) roleplaying veterans and all of us forget that elves are immune to sleep spells. ;-) ] The door to the keep suddenly crashes open and hits Varsk full in the face. Just our luck; to find one of those rare front doors that open outwards. One human and two orc fighters are inside trying to rush out. Varsk and I land solid blows on the human but he does not go down. Cadrach also charges in, but his swing just misses the man. The man adjusts his position to give the orcs room to come out of the building and thankfully misses Varsk with his sword thrust. The first orc moves out of the building and he lands a solid blow on Varsk, the barbarian is in real pain now. The second orc, still standing inside, swings his wicked axe in an overhead blow and lays me open from collarbone to crotch! At least that’s where I think he hit me, blissfully the shock made me lose consciousness instantly. [Bloody criticals! I had 21 hitpoints and he did 24 damage, our wizard would have instantly died from that.]

The next thing I remember is Cadrach standing over me, telling me he has just healed my wounds and to get up and kill the bad guys. While I was out of the fight both Varsk and Darvear have been brought down, I don’t think our employer has hit an enemy in the entire battle. The priest then casts a spell creating a very dense fog all around us. I can hear some one running away but there are still plenty enemies left. I manage to kill two orcs while Cadrach heals Varsk. The barbarian runs after the adversary that just left. He finds the human bandit in one of the guard towers with Borric’s unmoving body. The man warns Varsk not to get any closer or he’ll kill the sleeping dwarf. Varsk tries to negotiate but we are in no position to make demands. When he tries to move closer the man shoots Varsk with a crossbow, a shaman on the roof follows up with a second bolt and the barbarian sags to the ground again.

Once again my chain shirt proved mostly useless as another orc hit me and I dropped unconscious to the blood soaked ground again. Note to self: I must pray and tithe more to Tymora it seems. Cadrach has by now moved out of the fog and he has managed to throw a stone at Calim, thereby waking the ranger. Calim shoots an arrow at one of the shamans on the roof but his shot goes wide. The orc shaman then shoots a crossbow at our priest and now Cadrach is also out of the fight. Calim fires another arrow and has the pleasure of seeing it connect solidly with one of the shamans. His pleasure is short-lived however; one of the orcs climbs the ladder to the guard tower and hits him with a savage blow. Now the ranger is also out of the fight.

The fight is over and we lost. We all awake inside some dungeon, tied to the wall. Our captors have taken no risk, we are all tied securely and even our fingers have been set individually as to prevent spellcasting. We are also gagged of course. After an indeterminate amount of time the human bandit comes into the dungeon. He tells us: ‘Him (pointing at our employer) I will ransom, you I will sell as slaves.’ With that he leaves again. Later we get fed some soup, through a straw!

After a few days we overhear a conversation between our captor and an orc. The orc wants to kill ‘the dwarf,’ there’s no doubt he’s talking about Borric. The human tells the orc that if he can buy him he’s his. They start haggling over the price and the human does not want to go lower than hundred and twenty gold pieces. The orc loses his interest and then asks how much the man wants for ‘the elf.’ Celedor is for some unknown reason a lot more expensive his price is four hundred and fifty gold pieces.

_9 Ches_

Still very weak, we are taken outside. Four wagons are in the courtyard and around forty people, humans, orcs and half-orcs. A half-elvish woman seems to be in charge, she is wearing a banner later identified by Calim as being of Zhentil Keep. The woman casts a spell and the gags are taken away from everyone but Cadrach and Celedor. It is then that I notice that Darvear is not with us, it seems the bandit has indeed other plans for him. The Zhent woman then pays the bandit with two filled pouches; it seems we have just been sold. She now addresses us and tells us that we can either make it a pleasant or an unpleasant journey until she sells us again. Varsk then boldly asks the woman if he can have his crystal back as it is a memento to him. She gets it out from our belongings and decides that is has resale value so does not give it back. I then all of a sudden remember my journal and I ask her if I then can have it back. She looks at it and rips out the pages! She stuffs the pages in my shirt and tells me the book is still useful to her.

Cadrach has all the time literally been chomping at the bit. I couldn’t make out what he was trying to say, but apparently the woman could. She has the bit removed and Cadrach tells her he wants his money back! She laughs in his face of course. He then offers to have his family pay her for his release. ‘How much do you think you are worth,’ she asks him. ‘You tell me,’ Cadrach replies. The woman tells him she’ll take him along to Zhentil Keep all the same and once there she will find out if he is worth more there or to his family. A new glimmer of hope has just been revealed to me and I tell the woman that my family will pay for my release as well. She tells me the same deal applies to me as to Cadrach. While I am of course sorry that the others do not have a family that can pay for their release I think that’s no reason to try and obtain one myself. I can then always prevail upon my family to buy the others or if they refuse try and set up a rescue myself. I’m sure; I took the correct course in this.

_14 Ches_

For days now we have been travelling in our wagon. The caravan is moving north, edging the eastern side of Anauroch desert. We are tied up all the time and only at night we are taken out of the wagon for a short time. I think my entire body is cramping, if they didn’t give us that one hour each day I think we would all lose the ability to walk; permanently. We are all in excruciating pain and we don’t talk much during the long days either. Everyone is facing some personal demons I think.

Tonight something very strange happened. Calim suddenly saw a dark shape of a man all of a sudden appear behind our guard. Our ranger pretended not to notice and the guard had no inkling of what had happened behind him. The man looked both us and the guard over and then he vanished again.

_15 Ches_

At midnight the same figure appeared again. We were now all ready for it to happen and saw him the instant he materialised. The man put a hand over the guard’s throat and swiftly cut the jugular. It was a particularly unpleasant sight to see the blood spurting out of the guard’s throat, Zhent slaver or not. The man moves very silently and takes the keys from the dead guard. With the keys he frees us from our manacles and we move out of the wagon. Varsk takes the swortsword the guard had been carrying. The man in black points towards ten shadowy figures moving toward the camp. Ten meters from us we see another dead guard lying in a pool of blood.

The dark figures rush the camp; there is the flash of magic and the clattering of swords. The battle is over quickly, we were not involved in it and all the Zhents lie dead in record time. We get our belongings back from the wagons, Varsk is very happy to get his crystal back again. Not everyone is so lucky; it seems the orcs kept some of our belongings. We loot the rest of the caravan and find out it is carrying quite an assortment of wares. I find a rapier, some daggers and an armor. There are also plenty of blankets, bedrolls, torches and other equipment one can’t be without in the wilds. We also find two small chests containing over eight hundred gold pieces. Most importantly I found a good composite longbow. I still can’t believe I forgot to buy one when we were in Suzail, Tannyth would call me adle-brained and I’m afraid I would have to agree with her. Our rescuers still haven’t spoken a word to us and we join them in a nightlong trek to the Desert Mouth Mountains.

_16 Ches_

We stop at the foothill of the mountains in a very defensible position Borric points out. The men start to make a camp and we finally thank our rescuer. He does indeed talk and tells us we will rest here until midnight. We ask him what the plan is and introduce ourselves. He tells us his name is Iskaren Themthyl and he asks how we got captured. We tell him the whole story and he seems interested by Darvear Huntinghorn. Varsk asks him what language the man had been speaking with his men. He answers that it is the language of his people. When we ask why he freed us the truth seems less romantic than we might have hoped. He tells us we were inside a target of his and as we are not his enemy, he figured the enemy of his enemy must be his friends.

When asked why he is at war with the Zhents, he tells us he’s not but he will attack them whenever he sees them. After this somewhat cryptic remark Varsk asks again what people he might be of. He let us know that, ‘we will hear of his people soon enough.’ ‘I am from a city and it is now in Anauroch.’ What a strange statement; it is now in Anauroch? When pressed, Iskaren tells us that the city flies! I guess anything is possible but this seems pretty far-fetched. Cadrach asks what exactly he is doing out here and he says he can’t talk about his mission. All that he can say is that he is travelling to a place called the Dales. He makes it sound as if it is some exotic place for him. The man tells us to get some sleep and walks away.

Not much later we see another shadowy figure appear next to our rescuer and after they have talked and gestured south and at the mountains our dark friend returns to us. The other figure has disappeared again and Iskaren tells us he has some bad news. The group has to leave, they have gotten new orders it seems. He tells us that forty miles to the south we can find a place called Shadow’s Gap and that we from there can get to Shadowdale. It seems he just got a crash course geography. The dark band leaves at once, they go north.

It doesn’t take any persuading from me, we all agree to not go to Shadowdale but to go back to the Fortress. My reasoning is that maybe now they still have Darvear and our money (I lost fifteen hundred gold pieces to the bastards) and they might not have their security back up to strength. I know I am not a violent or vengeful man, but these bandits just pissed me off big time. The others agree with my sentiments and after some sleep we leave for the fortress.


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## Corran (Mar 2, 2002)

Journal for session 8 arrived sooner than expected.  ;-)

I'll post the URL for the new website on Tuesday.


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## Broccli_Head (Mar 2, 2002)

Friendly bump!


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## Corran (Mar 4, 2002)

The new website is up!

Check it out and leave your comments here on the messageboard (can't use the bravenet poll at the moment).

I think it looks quite ok, let me know if the Finn Journal pages load too slowly.

Below this post I'll post Session 9 (also available - with pictures - on the website of course. ;-)


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## Corran (Mar 4, 2002)

*Session 9 – Wednesday, February 6, 2002.*

_17 Ches_

The day started with a silly discussion about whether Darvear was part of the slaver ring and this was all just an elaborate plot to capture us. This suspicion was fed by the fact that Darvear never hit an opponent during our fight in the fortress and the fact that he was able to see the first group of orcs from five hundred yards away. It seems to me that if he was in on it, this was a very wasteful way of going about our capture. We killed quite a number of them; I can’t see how that would fit in their plans. If he was in on it they could have easily captured us while we were sleeping. 
Early in the day Celedor sprained his ankle and was not able to keep the tempo. We decide that he and Borric should follow us at their own pace and that the rest of us would go on ahead. In retrospect that might not have been such a good idea.

A few hours in the afternoon we were walking without a care in the world. Suddenly two arrows sped through the sky and plunged into Cadrach’s chest. The cleric loses consciousness and sags to the ground. Calim, Varsk and I look about desperately and try to find some cover in the flat terrain. We finally spot someone, most likely an orc sitting in a tree hundreds of yards away. The tree is part of a small forest and the unknown assailant has hidden himself well in the tree. We try simultaneous to get Cadrach safe and to get to the orc. With the priest as safe as we can get him we open fire on the orc. Calim and I manage to land some arrows on the orc, but he gives even better than he gets. His arrows are dead on target and his arrows hit with a lot of power behind them.

Varsk tries to charge to the tree and Calim and I try to give the barbarian as much covering fire as we can. At the moment the orc jumps out of the tree and runs into the wood. We look at each other if we should follow the archer. I think that particular foe might just follow us and snipe us at every possible opportunity. And not to forget, Borric and Celedor will also pass this way. ‘Get him,’ I shout and we run into the forest after him. The orc is bleeding so his tracks are easy to follow. After only fifty or so yards I suddenly see Varsk plunge straight into the ground. A pit trap; the orc has prepared his getaway it seems. After checking that Varsk is ok, we continue the pursuit. Not much later I barely manage to evade a lasso trap that would have launched me high into the air. Calim that calls for a stop and we all agree that it seems to be suicide to follow our assailant any further. We decide to get back to Cadrach before the orc can circle around us and do the same. Once back we carefully move Cadrach further back and we set up camp in a defensible gully somewhat farther from the forest. Here wait for the dwarf and the elf and spend the night.

_20 Ches_

We had to wait two days before Cadrach regained consciousness and was fit to travel again. We have seen no sign of the archer. When we are ready to move on we decide to travel in a big arc around the forest.

_22 Ches_

At the end of the afternoon Cadrach sees something moving behind a bluff. When we get closer we see a caravan quickly leaving the area. We assume they are most likely smugglers.

_25 Ches_

We are now getting close to the fortress. We are lucky that Calim has such an acute vision; he spotted three goblins sitting on top of a rock looking in three different directions. We move around them and do the same when we spot four more guards later that afternoon. Just before dark we arrive at the bluff overlooking the fortress. During the evening we count about ten to fifteen orcs and twenty five to forty goblins milling about the campfires in the courtyard.

_26 Ches_

At sunset we observe most of the fortress inhabitants leaving. They are always in groups of one or two orcs with six to eight goblins. We decide to spend the entire day to monitor the goings on in the fortress and learn their schedules. We hope to find a time when the fortress will be empty enough for us to attack.

_27 Ches_

We think we have a good chance and sneak up on the palisade. We seem to be Besheba’s favourites however, again we are spotted. This time it's by a goblin guard in one of the towers before we are even close to the palisade. Straight away we fire at the goblin, but his guard tower affords him too much cover, we all miss. Varsk quickly scales the wall and drops down the other side. We follow quickly and are just in time to see the barbarian kick open the door he tried to bash in the last time we were here. This time Tymora smiles on us; the door is unlocked. An orc comes to the door to see what happened but Varsk takes him out in one blow. We all rush inside, leaving the goblin guards in the towers to deal with later; the really dangerous enemies must all be inside we think.

We come to an intersection where Varsk and I go right and Cadrach and Calim go left. We come to a room with stairs leading up and occupied by a number of orcs and goblins. Without too much problems we dispatch them, with Varsk taking the brunt of the work. The barbarian then rushes up the stairs where he gets hit by a number of crossbow bolts. Four goblins had been lying in ambush at the top of the stairs. We charge up and after he kills two and I kill one of the opponents the impulsive Uthgardt rushes up the next set of stairs leaving me to handle the last goblin. The little runt swings at me but he fails to connect. I manage to stab him with my dagger but the goblin remains standing. He has had enough of the fight though and surrenders and starts to grovel in what I assume is goblin. I gesture for him to leave his weapons here and move downstairs, he seems to understand and goes down the stairs. I call up to Varsk if he needs help but he says there are no more enemies upstairs.

When I come back down I am just in time to see Cadrach try and kill the gobo I just send downstairs. The priest’s swing goes wild and the goblin survives. I give the goblin a shove towards the door and Cadrach and I go to where Calim is keeping guard. They have had quite a fight on their hands as well; a number of enemies lie dead at the top of the stairs leading to the underground level. Downstairs we find sleeping places for both the orcs and the goblins and the dungeon we had been locked up in. We find no more enemies and of Darvear Huntinghorn there is no trace. We search the entire fortress but our money is gone.

A fight breaks out between Cadrach and Varsk. The barbarian claims that Cadrach has broken Varsk’s horn while the priest claims he found it in that state. I can’t understand why Varsk would accuse Cadrach such a thing but they almost come to blows over it. Calim and I just about manage to cool them down. Cadrach then promises Varsk that he will have the horn fixed again and while Varsk keeps moping, that’s the end of that. After we have completed our search we have found a hundred and eighty gold pieces and Borric’s warhammer.

After interrogating a goblin we learn that their leader and the shaman went to ‘big dark castle in the west.’ The castle is called Darkhold; a Zhent fortress according to Calim. The leader left twelve days ago with a caravan filled with prisoners. There’s nothing more to learn and I free the goblin, we make him promise not to go west, he quickly agrees.

Outside we see in the distance a lone goblin fleeing with what looks to be a dead pig on his back. The other goblin tower guards have also fled and from the four pigs in the pen only one is left. Varsk slaughters the animal and in the meanwhile we set fire to the place and throw some dead goblins down the well. After a short while we have some more food and a fortress that is burning like a torch. Not to soon either, the first goblin groups should be returning shortly. With the fire visible from a long way away we assume they won’t approach. They’ll probably think that either a Cormyrean patrol or a competing slaving band has torched the place and is still in the area. We start our journey back to Suzail.

_28 Ches_

Tonight we arrived at Castle Crag. We told the watch commander everything what happened and he told us he was delivered a ransom note not too long ago. The ransom they ask for Darvear is a stupendous twenty five thousand gold pieces! I can see why this kidnapping is so popular around here. The money is to be paid in gems somewhere in Westgate. This I can understand, Westgate is the most lawless city imaginable. I asked about Darvear’s family, the watch commander told me the ransom note was relayed to them and that they live near Suzail. I want to visit them as soon as we get back to Suzail. Cadrach gave Varsk his horn back; it was in one piece again. The priest said he had paid a wizard at the castle to fix it.

_4 Tarsakh_

We arrived in Suzail today and we visited the Huntinghorn family. They were keeping up very well under the kidnapping of their son. They even paid us what Darvear owed us and gave us fifteen hundred gold pieces as a part restitution for the money that was taken from us by the slavers. They told us that that was all they could spare now that they had to get the money for Darvear’s ransom. Of course we offered our help in handling the kidnapping. They said they had everything under control and did not need us, but they thanked us for the offer. I can certainly understand why they wouldn’t want us to help, with all that has happened. We gave them the name of our inn where we can be reached should anything turn up and took our leave.

_10 Tarsakh_

I bought a new chain shirt and some more supplies. I also found some very interesting Mulhorandi items for sale; unfortunately I do no longer have the money to pay for them. I did win some money playing old men’s bones; the Cormyreans are fortunately not very good at it. Cadrach spent the days creating some scrolls, so we didn’t see much of him. Varsk was inebriated most of the time. Yesterday they heard that Dagger Falls is calling out to adventurers to fight Zhentarim sponsored raids by orc warbands. I could have known that most of the others want to go there. It seems more than dangerous; particularly seeing how much trouble one orc in a tree caused us. I also suspect that the pay will be less than stellar (perhaps we only get what we can loot of the orcs). And the long journey to Daggerdale will also not be paid. But I can talk all I want, we leave tomorrow.


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## Corran (Mar 6, 2002)

Gee, it's impossible these days to stay on page 1 of the board.

I'll try to get the other players and the DM to post some stuff here (not bloody likely ;-)

Some reader feedback might help too.

Come on you lurkers, I know you are out there, tell me what bugs you most about Finn (you've got plenty to choose from ;-)


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## Broccli_Head (Mar 8, 2002)

Finn and co. are pretty callous! They're not going after Daevar in Westgate. Come to think of it, maybe that's smart. In a recent jaunt to Westgate, the party I'm DMing lost 5 out of the eight PCs that initially arrived in the city.


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## Corran (Mar 9, 2002)

Thanks for pointing out that oversight to me.

I was stupid enough to forget to mention that we offered the family to help them and go to Westgate for them.

They refused and said they had things under control.

(Although I wouldn't want the bumblers who were captured along with my offspring to try and free said offspring  ;-)


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## Corran (Mar 11, 2002)

I've updated the session 9 post to rectify the oversight.

Below I've posted the journal for session 10.

See how quickly the fecal matter can hit the rotary cooling device.

For those who voted in the who will be killed first poll. You were all wrong, but not by much.

Read below for the explanation.

The journal is also up on the website of course.


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## Corran (Mar 11, 2002)

*Session 10 – Wednesday, February 20, 2002.*

_11 Tarsakh_

We left for Dagger Falls today.

_24 Tarsakh_

Late in the afternoon we arrived at a junction of the Northride. Straight North runs the Tethyamar Trail, a much less well kept trail but it wel lead us directly to Daggerdale. At the junction is also a shrine to Torm. It is a well maintained granite building and we took use of the opportunity to sleep with a roof over our heads. We were the only travellers there but it looks like travellers sleep there almost every night. I’ll leave a small offering before we move on tomorrow morning.

_27 Tarsakh_

Disaster! The most terrible thing has happened. I can still hardly believe what befell us last night. My heart starts pounding every time I think of it and I start shaking uncontrollably. Why did this have to happen? Why did they have to die?

I’ll start at the beginning. Yesterday night, we are sitting around our campfire and Varsk hears something. He says in Illuskan: ‘Something is in the bushes, I’ll charge it.’ He does what he says and because I’m the only one who understood what he says I’m right behind him. I hear Borric behind me following us. Varsk moves at that enormously quick pace of his and he disappears into the bushes. When I see him again he is in combat with two creatures that are later identified as bugbears. After the first swing from Varsk the bugbears seem to have lost their interest in prolonging the fight and they run away. Varsk runs after them and after a short while he returns to the camp and tells us he has heard at least fifteen more creatures and someone in a sibilant voice commanding them.

There is some discussion whether we should stay or fight and in the end it is decided that we will move a hundred feet away from our campfire and snipe the bugbears when a group of them are visible. We spread out somewhat so as to have a larger kill zone and to defend against being flanked. After a short while we see two bugbears walking to the fire. Fortunately everyone holds his shot until more targets present themselves. When a larger group appears Celedor casts his sleep spell but only one bugbear falls to the ground. The rest of us open fire and one or two bugbears fall to the ground. Then suddenly in the light appears a tall creature with tendrils where his mouth should have been. We all recognise the creature, it’s a mindflayer! No one needs to say anything; we all start firing at the horrible creature. Several arrows hit their mark but the mindflayer swiftly moves out of the light.

The other bugbears meanwhile have close quickly with us and we can hear more approaching from the sides. Melee ensues and the large number of bugbears starts to overwhelm us. Three bugbears attack me and two of them hit squarely in the ribs with their morningstars. I stumble away and Borric takes my place. Not much later he too is hit by the bugbears, they hit him with three sickening crunches and Borric falls to the ground. I can see the light leaving his eyes before his body hits the hard packed earth. There is nothing to be done, the plucky dwarf is dead. We may not have been the best of friends but his death still makes me feel terrible.

Cadrach sees how things are going wrong, he casts a spell and a large cloud of fog covers the battlefield. I’m heavily wounded and I’m afraid to stumble upon a group of bugbears so I quickly move south and leave the cloud. Once outside I see the mindflayer has returned, accompanied by six or so bugbears. I don’t know how quick I can run around the fog to stay out of his sight. No one follows so I keep watch on the cloud, readying my bow to shoot the first bugbear that comes into view.

I then hear Varsk’s battle cry and not much later a sickening slurping sound. Marshalling all my courage I move back around the fog, only to see Varsk’s lifeless body being held by the mindflayer, the creature’s tendrils holding the barbarians head and moving inside. The brave Varsk has apparently tried to charge the mindflayer and now his brains are being sucked out by the abomination! I nearly am violently ill at the sight of it. Then Calim and Cadrach come out of the fog and they too charge the mindflayer! I don’t know how, but I think the creature has control of their minds, why would they do this otherwise? Celedor and I start firing arrows at the creature, what else can we do? It is all in vain however. Not much later both the ranger and the priest are dead. One is mauled to the ground by the bugbears and the other is killed by the mindflayer in the same fashion as Varsk was.

I look at Celedor and he looks at me, ‘I meet you at the shrine I yell to him,’ and start running. Over my shoulder I see Celedor cast a spell of invisibility and disappear. That was a day ago and he has still not arrived, I fervently hope the elf wizard is all right.

We should have run away at the first sign of trouble. I have counselled against rash action often enough but being right about it gives me no joy, far from it. I have never know that life could be so fleeting, four friends, for that they were, dead in less than a minute. I hope Celedor arrives soon; nothing could have happened to the invisible wizard, could there? There are a lot of things we need to discuss. I want to get word to the families of the terrible news, they have a right to know what happened to their sons, and they should know they died bravely. They did not run away as I did and they faced death openly and honestly. They are heroes, all of them.


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## Corran (Mar 13, 2002)

This particular mindflayer must have had enormous psionic powers, he seems to have influenced the players!

I still can't divine what brought three of my fellow players to commit suicide this way.

Borric's death was unavoidable I guess, but why the other three charged the mindflayer mystifies me greatly, they all would have lived if they had run away.

Well, we'll have 4 new characters now, and guess what; no priest. Our healing will have to come from a 4th level paladin. ;-)

We'll play in 17 hours from now, I'll post the character sheets of the new characters after that (if I get all the information from the players).


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## Broccli_Head (Mar 13, 2002)

*Holy no-brainer!*



			
				Corran said:
			
		

> *[We should have run away at the first sign of trouble. I have counselled against rash action often enough but being right about it gives me no joy, far from it. I have never know that life could be so fleeting, four friends, for that they were, dead in less than a minute. I hope Celedor arrives soon; nothing could have happened to the invisible wizard, could there? There are a lot of things we need to discuss. I want to get word to the families of the terrible news, they have a right to know what happened to their sons, and they should know they died bravely. They did not run away as I did and they faced death openly and honestly. They are heroes, all of them. *




So is Caeldor alright?
Wow! I think the party was overmatched! Did you ever find out OOC why the other party members did what they did? 
Seems that Corran was the only smart one--or the lucky one. 
What god/goddess does he worship again?


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## Corran (Mar 13, 2002)

*Re: Holy no-brainer!*



			
				Broccli_Head said:
			
		

> *So is Caeldor alright?*




Celedor escaped. We have had a short character to character discusion via e-mail about what we are to do. I'll post it after tonight.



			
				Broccli_Head said:
			
		

> *Wow! I think the party was overmatched!*




We were, according to the DM he guessed beforehand we had a 15% chance to win that encounter.



			
				Broccli_Head said:
			
		

> *Did you ever find out OOC why the other party members did what they did?*




Me and the DM were wracking our brains about this afterwards but we couldn't find a satisfactory answer. Basically I think at least 2 player's thought: 'what the hey, it was fun while it lasted.'



			
				Broccli_Head said:
			
		

> *Seems that Corran was the only smart one--or the lucky one.
> What god/goddess does he worship again? *




Smart and lucky. ;-)
Those 3 bugbears could have easily killed me if 1 more had hit me.
Finn likes a lot of gods, he can't choose a patron. But these adventures make Tymora the prefered choice.  ;-)

I'm leaving now to go play with four new characters.  ;-)


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## dante (Mar 16, 2002)

A few remarks; (I'm the DM of this particular campaign)

First of all, a slight correction of the events that happened. The characters did not open fire until after they had seen the mindflayer. So they knew what they were up against and decided to attack anyway. 

I had not expected the party to attack once they realised they were facing a mindflayer and over a dozen bugbears. Had they run away, they most likely would have succeeded, perhaps losing only some equipment.

The party was certainly outmatched, but encounters like this are intrinsic to the kind of campaign I tend to run. I try to make the players feel that there is an entire world out there, which goes on regardless of whether the characters are there or not. It also means that occasionally they will encounter persons, groups or monsters far outmatching them. If this happens, I make sure the party has other options than fighting. If they choose to fight anyway, characters will get hurt.


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## Corran (Mar 19, 2002)

*Between sessions 10 and 11.*

Finn says: I'll write a letter to my family to see if they can inform the families of Borric and Varsk about the sad events. Calim's parents live nearby however and the Tallendars live in Sembia.

I think we should reconsider the course we have been heading on. The two of us certainly can't fight orc warbands and I do not have the stomach for it anyway. I would suggest the following. All that fighting has brought us is grief, and there are easier methods of making money. I think we could make a living recovering ancient objects. I'm talking about antiques, but also other object, like lost church paraphernalia and anything else people would have recovered. I wouldn’t be surprised if we also would dig up a lost spellbook or two. Our experience in the goblin warrens, finding the Uthgardt burial mound, seems to indicate that there are still a lot of unexplored places containing items of value.

Personally I would prefer to work for libraries such as Candlekeep and the churches of Oghma and Deneir. I realise that that might not be enough to sustain us though and I think we should either just work as free agents and sell what we find to the highest bidder or we might find a wealthy patron who keep us on retainer or just pay us as long as we bring him everything we find. One thing though, with your spells and my knowledge of history, antiques and some diplomacy we can get a long way, but perhaps we need some one skilled in finding and disarming traps. I’ve heard that a lot of places are riddles with traps, why I don’t understand who would want to live in a trapped building. Locked doors might also give some problems; hence I think we should look for someone capable of dealing with these things. The only problem is that most of the people with these skills also have quite a larcenous proclivity, so we must be careful whom we recruit.

I think the best place to go would be Sembia. It would not be my first choice however I think it’s the best we can do. The people their have no taste or sense but a lot of money. We should see if someone there would want to employ us and if not we’ll just go and sell what we find on the free market there. There are lots of places to go delving nearby so that’s not a problem. The Dales and Cormanthor are a possibility, but if there really are drow there I think we should give it a pass. That leaves The Vast, meaning we could return to Tantras or The Vilhon Reach which is riddled with the remnants of older cultures I hear.

What I want to suggest is that we go to Shadowdale first to bring Calim’s family the sad news. This will extend our journey by probably less than a tenday, but it is the right thing to do. Afterwards we would travel south to Sembia and Selgaunt in particular. Cadrach’s family lives there and I have been to the city before. We should be able to get work there. On the way we keep a look out for anyone who might want to join us and we see if we can’t be paid for our journey by guarding a caravan going into the right direction or by transporting something ourselves.

What say ye?

Celedor’s reply: As I am travelling the world to learn more about magic as it is practiced beyond the halls of the university I have to agree that delving into ancient ruins offers the prospect of interesting magical discoveries. Although I can't  help thinking that part of the reason that these treasures have not been discovered is related to the dangers involved in finding them. Part of this may be traps etc., but roaming monsters will always pose a threat. The ability to deal with them will remain important, and if we can't find those companions who can help us fight them by force, we will have to use tact. In any case, the possibility of uncovering ancient magical objects and teachings attracts me enormously, so I agree to your proposal. We can start off as free agents and see where the road takes us . . .


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## dante (May 20, 2002)

*game 12*

I'm the DM of this campaign and I'll continue the story with the events of the last evenings, starting with session 11. This all happened quite a while ago, so there'll be a little less detail for the first several episodes, since I'm doing this from memory

After the catastrophic encounter with the Mindflayer and the bugbears, Finn and Celedor each made their way back towards Shadow Gap, which they reached by the end of the next day, Tarsakh 27. There they discovered that Purple Dragons were setting up a small camp here, to guard the gap against enemies who might use it to go towards Cormyr. Finn and Celedor ask permission to stay within the Purple Dragon encampment and spend the night there. 

As it turns out, several more adventuring groups are present within the encampment, all of them going north, and most going towards Dagger Falls to help fight off the Zhentarim. Celedor and Finn, looking for new companions to continue their adventures with, join up with a group of 4 men, travelling north towards Dagger Falls. This group (the new PC's) are willing to join up with Celedor and Finn. This group consists of Janusz Smaczny, Paladin of Torm, very intent on going to Dagger Falls to help them against the Zhents. Second member is 'Nat', a half-orc mercenary, who's willing to go anywhere he can make some money. The other two members are Lauda, a rogue and Ilimitar, a Gold Elf wizard. 

Together they travel north the next day, accompanied by two more groups of adventurers. During the day of travel, Celedor and Finn convince Nat, Ilimitar and Lauda to give up on going to Dagger Falls and go towards Mulhorand instead, to find easier loot than in a fight with the Zhentarim. But first they go to the place where the group met the mindflayer and the bugbears. Arriving at the campsite, they find a number of bones around the fireplace, and a small shallow grave where the dead bugbears are buried. 
The group takes a few hours to properly arrange the burial of their fallen comrades, then travel on towards Shadowdale, from where they take a small raft downstream to Ashabenford. Only Janusz, the paladin decided he wanted to go on to Dagger Falls and leaves the group behind.

After a few days, the group arrives at Ashabenford, and think about how they want to go towards Mulhorand. After hearing there were several orcish and goblinoid warbands, mostly from Zhentil Keep in the area east of Ashabenford, the group decides to go back towards Tilverton and a port in Cormyr. From there they could sail towards Mulhorand. 

Trying to make a few goldpieces while getting to where they want to go, they apply for a job as guards for merchants. A fur merchant from Tilverton is willing to hire them for a few silvers a day. He already has one guard, a strange monk who claims to have no name. They travel along the road from Ashabenford to Tilverton for several days, underway they encounter a small group of orc warriors with wardogs. There is a small scuffle and the orcs retreat. Hover, they return during the night and a battle ensues. While the group manages to kill most of the orcs and drive off the last survivor, some of the members are so severely wounded they cannot travel any further. The group sets up a small camp for another day to give time for the worst wounds to heal a bit. The next day, on the 9th of Mirtul they continue their travel. 
In the afternoon of the 10th, when they are about halfway between Ashabenford to Tilverton, they suddenly see the area around them darken until it seems to be midnight. From the darkness in front of them step forth three figures, dressed in fine black clothes. One seems to be a warrior, the other two a young and an old wizard. They order the group to stand down and from the sides, more shadowy figures appear, taking away their horses and weapons. Celedor and Finn recognise the figures instantly as Shadovar. As the shadovar wizards step forward, they muster every person in the group and also the fur merchant. The old wizard asks the terrified merchant whether he is a member of the group or not. The man vehemently denies any involvement with the group, claiming (truthfully) he only met them a few days ago and hired them as guards for his caravan. The wizard makes a small gesture with his head and one of the shadovar warriors standing behind the hapless merchant slits his throat. The shadovar order the stunned group to walk into the woods, and after a few miles walking into the dense forest, they arrive at a shadovar encampment. 

All party-members are tied securely to a very large tree, gagged and blindfolded. One by one the shadovar untie one of their prisoners and have him taken before the wizards who ask a number of questions. The gold elves Celedor and Ilimitar are treated much better than the other prisoners. From the questioning it becomes clear that the shadovar are looking for information on Evereska, and in particular on its Mythal. The elves tell the shadovar they are from Silverymoon. Celedor really is from Silverymoon, while Ilimitar only spent some time there. Interrogation for the others is not as friendly, the monk in particular suffers terrible agonies when the shadovar question him. Because he will not give them his name, they torture him with white-hot pokers, branding him several times on his arms, chest and face. They tie him back to the tree and he is in very bad shape. 

The monk, having decided he's had enough tries to escape, but no sooner has he loosened his bonds, two shadovar guards standing closeby cut him down. As a punishment, he is nailed to the tree instead. That night, an hour or so after midnight, the group suddenly hears the sound of battle erupting from the shadovar camp. They hear the sound of lightning bolts and steel hitting steel. After less than a minute, the sounds die down again. Then, some men with dark cloaks and heavy armour take away their blindfolds. The group stares into the faces of a large number of Zhentarim warriors.


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## dante (May 20, 2002)

*game 13*

The Zhentarim warriors cut the group loose from the tree, even carefully removing the spikes from the monks hands. Looking across the shadovar camp, well over a hundred Zhentarim are here, and the bodies over some two to three dozen shadovar are seen. However, the shadovar wizards escaped with a few warriors. Shortly after being released, the Zhentarim force the group to accompany them on a long journey north, towards Zhentil Keep. The group, unsure what to do, decide to go along without resistance. 

The journey back to Zhentil Keep takes just over one and a half weeks, arriving at the gates of Zhentil Keep on Mirtul 29. The group is brought over the river to the northern side, where reconstruction of the city walls is in full progress, and the Black Temple of Bane has been rebuilt for the most part. There the group is brought into the dungeons and chained to the walls. All this time they have been treated quite fairly. More than 24 hours later, without food or drink, a Priest of Bane arrives, accompanied by two servants carrying a brazier fire and some iron pokers. The priest of Bane interrogates the group about the shadovar, what they wanted to know and what the group has told them. The group tells him everything they know, the priest is pleasantly surprised by the ease of interrogation and doesn't even need to resort to torture. So he leaves them again for another day or so. 

Then, a group of about 15 orcs bursts into the dungeons and strip them until they only have a loincloth left. Then they are unchained from the wall and dragged out of the dungeons. Accompanied by a group of orcs, they are marched north out of the city. They are marched north for several nights, the orcs rest by day until they arrive at the entrance of a small mine at the southern edge of the Dragonspine mountains. There they are dragged inside to a large underground cave. There they see some 3 dozen prisoners, guarded by about a dozen orc warriors who're led by two wizards, a human warrior and Varon, a priest of Bane. Each member of the group is chained by the neck to another member, order to sit down and given a small bowl with thick porridge. Apparently, the work-shift has just ended and the slaves can go to sleep. 

The group quickly decides they want to free themselves as soon as possible. After most of the guards and the human overseers have gone to bed, they make their move. Quickly, they overpower the three orcish guards, suffering only minor injuries. They take the weapons and armour of the dead guards and sneak towards the quarters of the humans, intent on killing them too and taking their equipment (the gold elf wizards are particularly keen on the spellbooks of the Zhentarim wizards). The group finds the four overseers, they were praying in the temple of Bane and were not surprised. The battle was short but furious and the party was thoroughly thrashed by their Zhentarim opponents, who quite surprisingly did not kill them. They are tied down however and hauled by the alerted orcish guards into a large tunnel, where they are chained to a wall. The priest of Bane, Varon, explains to them he has specific orders to keep them alive for now. However, they must be punished, so he has a few prisoners dragged from the sleeping area and has them tortured to death in an agonisingly slow way. As a final punishment, he has an orc whip them until they are unconscious. 

A few days later, they slowly awaken in terrible pains from the open wounds on their backs. As their health slowly returns, the other slaves warn them never to try anything again or suffer the consequences. The group decides to wait a while and see if there are any other options. For about two weeks they work in the mines every day. Its an iron ore mine and they hew large chunks of stone with iron ore and haul them out of the mine. Then, just after they went to sleep, the party-members hear somebody sneaking towards the group. Suddenly they hear the sound of arrows flying through the air, followed by a soft gurgling as the orcish guards are cut down before they even knew enemies were nearby. A group of about 20 persons, humans and half-elves start to remove the chains of all the prisoners, signalling them to be silent. A few of the prisoners start praying, terrified by what they know will happen to them if their escape attempt would fail. 

The liberators methodically exterminate all Zhents within the mine they can find, only the priest, Varon, isn't found. Quickly, everybody is moved out of the mine and the liberators start to move the freed slaves into the mountains. The leader of them is a woman, Fianne Ulkheri and she explains that she and her friends are former slaves as well, they have a small encampment a few days travel from here and everybody is invited to join them. 

After a few days, the group arrives at the campsite, where another 50-60 former slaves live. Altogether, there are well over a hundred persons in the camp. The group is very careful and meticulously plans every mission. For nearly three months, the group stays here and trains. The wizards use this time to learn the spells from the spellbooks they've captured from the Zhent wizards in the mine.

Then, after three months have passed, Fianne announces they are ready for the next mission. A large abandoned dwarf mine, some four days travel from here, contains a large number of slaves. The plan is to wipe out all Zhent fighting power, free the slaves and get the hell out of there. A day is used to plan for the mission, and about 50-60 men will participate in the attack. Fianne has extensive information on the place, she explains that they planted a person inside as a slave, and he is feeding them all the information needed for a successful attack.


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## dante (May 20, 2002)

*game 14*

After four days, the war party with the PC's arrives at the Zhent mine. The next evening, they assault the fortified entrance to the mine. A wizard bursts open the main gate with a knock spell and the entire group charges in, easily butchering the hapless guards at the gate. Rushing forward, they charge into a large anteroom, where another small group of guards is overrun. The group breaks down another heavy fortified door with a knock spell, unfortunately, this sets off a large trap, and from small holes in the walls, large gouts of acid pour over them Most succeed to avoid serious injury and jump on tables to escape the acid on the floor. The acid streams down the stars the group has to take to get to the mine. 

The group follows the acid stream down the stairs and find a large pool of acid at the bottom, which is prevented from flowing away because of a large door. The acid is already weakening the door and the wizard who has been casting the knock spells is reluctant to use her last knock spell on this door. One of the warriors volunteers and charges into the door with his full weight, then plunges into the acid pool. The door bursts open and the entire group charges forward again, the PC's in the lead. 

Behind the door they find a plateau adjoining a large vertical shaft, some 80 feet wide and a few hundred feet deep. There are a few guards there, who have positioned themselves in front of the stairwell that descends into the large shaft, clinging to the walls. The monk, being the fastest charges into the Zhent guards and mauls one of them pretty badly. Before the rest of the warparty can rush to his aid however, one of the Zhent guards shoves him into the shaft and the monk takes a hard fall. He plunges headlong into a waterfilled basin at the bottom, comes floating up to the surface, unconscious. After a few seconds, large tentacles pull him down, never to be seen again. 

Without time to mourn for their fallen comrade the group presses on. A group of about 20 run towards the sleeping quarters of the human guards and their leaders, other move further down to attack the overseers and free the slaves. The PC's join the attack on the sleeping quarters. These quarters are connected to the main shaft by a single tunnel, which is closed off by a large door. Using the last knock spell, the door is opened and everybody charges in. Nat, Finn and Lauda corner a small group of guards in a room, while Celedor and Ilimitar charge forward with the others to find the leaders, While Nat wipes out his opposition, Celedor and Ilimitar scour the other areas of the living quarters for opposition. 

A few more opponents are killed before a coordinated defense can even be mustered. The attack starts to falter, when they reach a heavy wooden door, fortified with heavy steel plates. Even continued pounding with a battering ram does not succeed in breaking down the door. For a short while, Ilimitar and Celedor entertain the idea to bypass the wall with a few persons with a Dimension door spell, but Fianne decides against it, it would be too dangerous. Elsewhere in the mining complex, the slaves are freed and escorted outside. Fianne decides to break off the attack, but as a last attempt to kill the Zhents behind the closed door, she orders all flammable materials that are available to be stacked up to the door and set on fire. Heavy smoke from the fire makes it impossible to stay and see what the results are, so they go outside, join up with the others and the freed slaves and start their journey back to the main camp, together with nearly 200 newly freed slaves. 

Among the new slaves is a young dwarf, quite remarkably for a dwarf is he a paladin of Lathander. He was born and raised as a slave and learnt from Lathander from other slaves. His knowledge of the faith of Lathander is very limited. One of the warparty of Fianne, Erisa, who is a priestess of Lathander takes upon herself to teach this young dwarf (Tharzaim, new PC) more about Lathander. After two days of travelling, Fianne has a rather unpleasant announcement, she has noticed that they were being scried while resting. Apparently, the Zhentarim have sufficient information to scry the group. She can't tell exactly who is being scried, but it must be her, one of her closest aides and confidantes or the PC's, who were also close by. Tharzaim is also one of them, as he was near Erisa and therefore near to Fianne when the scrying happened. Fianne decides it is too dangerous to stay with the large group or return to their camp, she would only endanger them all. Instead she wants to try to flee towards Phlan and further, escaping from Zhent territory and their sphere of influence.


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## dante (May 20, 2002)

*game 15*

So, Fianne and her closest companions, together with Celedor, Finn, Nat, Lauda, Ilimitar and the dwarf Thazraim leave the rest behind and travel southeast, towards Phlan. They travel by night, in order to prevent detection and to make it more difficult for the persons scrying them to recognize where they are travelling. The group also avoids speaking about where they are heading. By day, the group seeks shelter and rests. After a few days, they leave the mountains behind and start crossing the plains towards Phlan. After about 5 days, as they are resting during the day, they watch a patrol of several horsemen, Zhentarim most likely, pass them less than 500 feet away. The group decides not to interfere. After traveling another night, they see a single wagon, drawn by two oxen and guarded by a dozen horsemen riding almost directly towards the group. At first, the party decides to hide and see if they are noticed or not, but then they realize that the cargo of the cart consists of 7 prisoners, bound very securely and with leather masks over their heads so they cannot see. 

Fianne immediately decides they will free these poor souls and so the battle begins. As the group reveals itself, 6 horsemen charge, while one of the others hurls a fireball which seriously hurts several. Fianne responds with her longbow, killing the spellcaster with three arrows through the head. A short battle ensues, in which the horsemen are killed, except for one, a priest of Bane who gallops away. A volley of arrows from Fianne and others finally succeeds in cutting him down. 

Quickly, the prisoners are freed, and they turn out to be a group of Purple Dragons, accompanied by a Warwizard and two Harpers (easily identified by the small black harp that the Zhentarim burnt into their foreheads). The group, now 20 in number continues to travel towards Phlan, where they arrive on .the 16th of Marpenoth. There, the group boards a ship towards Calaunt and Tantras, where the group wants to go. After a voyage of less than a week, the group arrives in Tantras.

As the ship, called the Northern Ride, arrived in Tantras and the entire group was disembarking, suddenly, two arrows were fired into the group. One bounced off Nat's heavy armor, the other struck the Warwizard from Cormyr in the chest. Immediately she collapsed and nearly died from the virulent poison on the arrow that struck her. Reaction by Ilimitar was swift, and seeing two men with bows on top of a nearby warehouse, he tossed a fireball right between them One of the two managed to duck away in time, the other was fried on the spot and dropped onto the warehouse roof, slowly rolled over the edge and hit the ground with a resounding thud. Then, several more members of the group tried to pursue the other assailant, but he managed to escape in the crowds. Ilimitar himself was stopped by a few cityguards who were not amused by his fireball tossing.

In the meantime, Erisa and Thazraim managed to stabilize the female warwizard while Nat stood guard. The cityguardsmen order Ilimitar and the others to follow him to the Temple of Torm, where a paladin of Torm, Tyana Silversword questioned them on the events. She was upset about the fireball, but when the recovered warwizard spoke a few words with her in private, her attitude changed. She did emphasize that fireball tossing inside the city perimeter was definitely out from now on, but she forgave this first transgression. She proceeded to offer them employment, as agents in the service of Tantras and the Church of Torm. Their work would mainly consist of resisting Mulmasterite (and through them Zhentish and Thayan) influence in the Vast. As payment, they would receive 7 goldpieces per day as well as room and board and all necessary equipment and healing to perform their tasks.


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## dante (May 20, 2002)

*game 16*

After accepting the offer of the Church of Torm to work for them in exchange for a 7gp fee per person per day as well as provision of all equipment and healing that the party needs, the party settles into their quarters inside the temple. That evening, the group enjoys an opulent meal, together with Fianne and her group as well as the Harpers, purple dragons and warwizard. After the 9-course meal, the warwizard and the purple dragons bid farewell to everybody and go to a portal in the dungeons of the Temple, which will bring them back to Cormyr. The Harpers have decided they will stay around for a while, while Fianne and her friends have also accepted employment with the Church of Torm. Fianne indicates that they will use the time between missions to prepare plans for bringing their companions in the Dragonspine Mountains out of Zhent lands and to freedom. 

Ilimitar and the others spend the next few days in the safe comfort of Tantras and the Temple of Torm. Nat spends a lot of time practicing his
weapon skills against the soldiers in service to the temple, while Ilimitar explores the library on the templegrounds. Thazraim seeks contact with the temple of Lathander within the city. He befriends one of the priests, Augeas, who is at first a bit startled by his lack of knowledge of the temple etiquette and some of the finer points of Lathanders teachings. After talking to Thazraim for several days, Augeas brings the dwarf into contact with another paladin of Lathander who lives in the city, Vaudrey. She explains to Thazraim the requirements that Lathander places on his paladins. But after about a week, on the 6th of Uktar, Tyana sends for the group.

A priest of Torm in the village of Melladant, some 100 miles east of Tantras, on the road from Dragon Falls to King's Reach had sent a letter to the Church, informing them he had found evidence of the existence of a Temple of Cyric in or near the village. The letter didn't provide any
specifics, and Tyana wanted the group to go to the village, find the Temple and if possible destroy it. So, the next day, the party left for Melladant, well equipped with armor and weapons from the armory of the Temple. At the end of the 9th of Uktar, the party saw the village lying in the distance. Deciding it was not a good idea to just go into the village and risk alerting the Cyricists, only Finn went into the village to make contact with the priest of Torm and get the rest of the story from him. 

So, while the rest of the group set up camp, Finn sneaked into the village under the cover of darkness and went to the tiny temple of Torm. Knocking on the doors of the temple, he found out there was nobody there. However, directly adjacent to the temple there was a small house, which seemed to belong to the resident priest. The priest was home and invited Finn in. They discussed the letter that he sent, and the priest told him everything he knew. 

The priest, a young man named Ryin had only been in the village for about 7 months. He paid regular visits to the local inn, the Tusked Boar, in order to talk to the passing travelers. As he did that, he saw that every two-four weeks, small groups of rather unsavory looking figures came through the village and spent a night at the inn. About two weeks earlier, while he was present in the inn, a group of adventurers ended up in a barfight with a small group of them. One of the unsavory figures was knocked unconscious, just beside the table the priest was sitting at. When he looked down at the man to see if he was all right, he noticed a holy symbol of Cyric hanging by a chain from his neck. While the priest was unwilling to confront the guy, he did sneak up the stairs to the room of these guys and went inside to search it. In the room, he found a holy book of Cyrics church and a letter of invitation to the Church of Cyric in Melladant. The letter was signed by 'Crimson Dagger'. The priest then left the room again, trying to leave everything behind as if he had never been there. Unsure whether the local law would be able to handle these guys, he wrote a letter to his superiors in the Temple of Torm and sent a messenger to Tantras with the letter. 

After the conversation, Finn left again and sneaked out of the village to return to his friends. The group decided to o into town in separate groups and stay in the Tusked Boar, waiting for more unsavory figures to arrive. Just a few days later, on the ... of Uktar, a group of five persons entered the inn, two half-elven women and three human men. One of the women and all three men wore armor and booked two rooms in the inn. At that time, late in the afternoon, most of the party was present in the inn, only the paladin and Celedor were out. Ilimitar and Nat were at a table quite close to the entrance of the inn; Finn and Lauda were at the table in one of the corners. As the group of men and women settled down at a table in another corner, Lauda went to the innkeeper and asked where the outhouse was, then proceeded out the door in that direction. Once outside, he quickly climbed up one of the walls of the inn, into the corridor on the first floor and sneaked towards the rooms of the newly arrived. After checking for traps or other inconsistencies, he picked the lock and went inside. Once inside, he carefully started to search the room for information.

Just as Lauda went into the room upstairs, the non-armored female nudged the other woman, who motioned the three men to follow them and they walked towards the stairs. Finn, who had been sitting with Lauda, realized something was wrong and tried to distract the group by posing as a drunk and trying to fall in their path, making a lot of noise in the process, hoping it would alert Lauda. One of the men gave him a good shove and pushed him out of the way as the women started running up the stairs. Lauda, realizing something was wrong, bolted for the window and tried to get out before he was caught. Unfortunately, he failed to hold on and made a hard drop from the first floor. The women who were coming up, hearing the noise, ran into the room and looked out the window and looked straight at Lauda lying on the ground beneath them. Quickly Lauda ran back towards the common room of the inn and sat down. Finn had moved to the bar by then and was ordering another beer, trying to keep up a masquerade. 

Very soon afterwards, the women came down from the stairs again with the three men, and walked straight towards Lauda in the corner. Lauda cordially invited them to sit down and discuss the matter. The women and one of the men sat down with him and started a very tense conversation. The two other men, having realized than Finn was sitting with Lauda before, came up to him at the bar and 'invited' him to join them, which Finn did. In the meantime, Ilimitar and Nat were some 20-30 feet away, trying to hear what was being said between Lauda and the woman in armor, who seemed to be in charge. Both Nat and Ilimitar were ready to pounce the moment they thought that trouble would start. The woman talking to Lauda insisted on knowing who he was and what he wanted. She invited him to step outside to resolve this matter, but Lauda steadfastly refused. While Lauda admitted readily to sneak into their room and looking for clues which would indicate their identity, he refused to say why, though he hinted at having masters who wanted to know and at some connection to the temple of Cyric in the village. The woman threatened him in veiled terms with torture and other forms of violence, but this didn't persuade Lauda. Then, Lauda asked who they were and tried to insist on them revealing their identity and/or allegiance. 

Suddenly, the unarmored woman tried to cast a spell, Ilimitar saw it was some kind of charm spell and decided it was enough to warrant a response, though not a lethal one, and cast a color spray. The color spray had a limited effect on two of the men, while the charm spell failed to affect Lauda. The woman in armor tried to calm things down for a moment, and while she prevented a general melee from breaking out, tension rose to a peak. In the meantime, the regular patrons of the inn were trying to get away from the fight as soon as they saw the bright lights of the color spray. 

Then, Nat jumped up and shouted: Freeze in the name of Torm. Then, all hell broke loose, one woman tried to cast a spell, only to have it fail as a fireball from Ilimitar, who also had cast a haste spell just before, and a beer-mug from Finn broke her concentration. The fireball, badly hurt the warriors, and injured the woman in armor. While the other woman and Finn were unharmed, Lauda had taken the full force from the blast and was also seriously injured. The goons next to Finn tried to stab him with short-swords and while one missed the other really struck home, seriously injuring the rogue. The woman in armor suddenly cast a spell and reached out to strike Lauda. Lauda, boxed up in a corner could not evade the blow and as the negative energy hit home, Lauda slumped into the corner and died. Ilimitar kept pounding the corner with another fireball, which fried one of the warriors, followed by a magic missile targeted at the unarmored female. 

Finn fought a desperate battle against the warriors, but was quite seriously hurt by now and was also hit by a magic missile from the unarmored woman. In the melee that ensued, the male companions of the women all died and Finn was fatally struck by another spell from the armored woman. The unarmored female bolted for a nearby window and jumped outside, while the other woman ran for the door. Unfortunately for her, a blow by Nat's greataxe caught her as she tried to get by him and she went down. Ilimitar pursued the remaining female and downed her with another magic missile in the back as she was fleeing. Returning inside, Ilimitar and Nat managed to keep the armored woman and one of the warriors alive, but all help was too late for Finn and Lauda. 

Both opponents were securely bound and gagged to prevent spellcasting. As the fighting died down, the innkeeper had already started to put out the fires started by the fireballs. As Thazraim returned from his trip around the village and the surrounding countryside, he found the inn in disarray and two of his friends dead. The group called for the presence of a member of the local law, and even though the innkeeper was busy restoring some semblance of order and cleanliness, he did find the time to politely but firmly insist that Ilimitar and Nat find residence elsewhere. So they paid him for the damage they had done and asked if they could borrow a tent, which the innkeeper provided with great haste.


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## dante (May 30, 2002)

*the story continues...*

As Nat and Ilimitar are setting up the tent, two men approach them. One man introduces himself as Iperus, the leader of the local militia. He inquires as to what they intend to do with the prisoners and suggests they could hold them in the local jail, a tiny building with only one cell and a guardroom. Nat graciously accepts the offer and escorts the prisoners to the jail, staying there with a young militiaman to guard them. After several hours, Ilimitar takes over for him. The next morning, Nat is awakened by a group of people standing around his tent. As he steps out of the tent to investigate, a man steps forward and addresses him:'Sir Paladin, we are most grateful for what you and your companions did for our village. We heard of your heroic fight in the inn with the Banite priest. We would like to offer you a breakfast we have prepared for you and your companion." Nat accepts the invitation, grumbling a bit about rather being addressed as Sir, rather than Sir Paladin and follows the group to a large farm where a table is set for two. As Nat enjoys a big breakfast, Ilimitar is also approached while standing guard in the jail. He declines the offer, even when the villagers say they could bring the breakfast to the jail for him. At the end of the morning, as Thazraim joins them, they start the interrogation of the female priest of Bane. Thazraim tries to tempt the woman, named Aselie to revealing all she knows about the Temple of Cyric. He tells her that she probably hates the Cyricists as much as he does. Since she will be executed, he suggests she might be able to please Bane one last time before that, by providing the information the party would need to destroy the Cyricists. Aselie tries to barter for her life, but soon realises that this is not an option. All she asks for then is a quick death, which she is promised. She tells Thazraim that she was also hunting for the Cyricists, but she doesn't have very solid information on who is involved. The Church of Bane was informed of the existence of this cell of Cyricists by a travelling priest of Bane, who saw a rune that is regularly used by Cyricists carved on a stone some 5 miles north of town. This travelling priest wnet on to Mulmaster and alerted the Imperceptor there. He ordered her and her companions to find and destroy the Cyricists in the town, and that's why she's here. She was told to squeeze the innkeeper and the blacksmith for information, but she never got to that. 

Having heard enough, the group quietly rounds up the innkeeper and the blacksmith, asking them to join them in a room in the inn for some important meeting. Once there, Ilimitar starts to pressure them into telling the truth, while Thazraim tries to see whether they tell the truth or not. (not having access to the Zone of Truth or Discern Lie spell, they have to do this with Sense Motive). First they are questioned together, both denying vehemently any involvement with Cyric or any other cult. The innkeeper, Sethus claims he worships Shaundakul, the blacksmith claims he follows Tyr. Thazraim the paladin believes the innkeeper but has his doubts about the blacksmith. Then they separate the two and Ilimitar continues the interrogation of the Blacksmith together with Thazraim, while Nat guards the innkeeper in another room. Ilimitar casts a prestidigitation spell and uses it to create a small red ball over the head of the blacksmith, who looks up anxiously. Ilimitar explains that this is a lie-detector spell. If he tells the truth, the ball turns green, if he lies it will be red. The blacksmith starts to get really afraid and nervous by now, as Ilimitar asks more questions. Ilimitar asks if the blacksmith has ever worshipped Cyric, the blacksmith denies the accusation and looks up at the ball, which Ilimitar turns bright red. The blacksmith starts to cry and yells:' no really, I've never even seen a Cyricist in my entire life'. The interrogation continues for quite a while, but the blacksmith continues to deny any involvement. He is also asked if he had any 'peculiar' clients. He tells about three of them, Obrinia Selamm, a gem merchant living in a large mansion north-east from town, Gerinne a retired adventurer and Widanc Daryk, also some-one who retired and started a farm nearby. But Thazraim, who has been watching him intently, thinks he's not telling them everything. Finally, the blacksmith admits to making an offering to Myrkul some 15 years ago, when a plague swept through the village, but nothing else. Thazraim still doesn't believe him though. They repeat the interrogation with the innkeeper, who also protests his innocence. Thazraim does believe his story overall is true enough.

Without substantial evidence and without a confession, both men are set free again. Looking for more clues, the group interrogates the Banite warrior, who identifies himself as Wejin, they captured as well. He pleads for his life, promising to change his ways. He doesn't provide much information, claiming Aselie never informed him about what exactly was going on. He does profess to attacking a farm some 7-8 miles north from town, since Aselie believed the temple of Cyric might be in there. During the attack, the farmer couple who lived there was killed, though he claims he didn't hurt them. Also during the day, the head of the militia comes around, and asks if he should make the arrangements for the burial of Finn Margaster and Lauda, to which Nat and Ilimitar agree. 

That evening, at dinner, a woman enters the inn with a small child on her arm. She shuffles closer to the party and addresses Nat: 'Good Sir Paladin, I'm very sorry to impose on you like this, but could you perhaps look at my child, she is very ill.' Nat grumbles about not wanting to be addressed as a Paladin, but on the suggestion of Thazraim, they take the child into another room to look at her. Thazraim quickly determines the child is quite sick, with a high fever and casts a remove disease on her. Then they return to the woman in the common room and Thazraim hands over the child, saying that the grace of Torm has cured her. The woman thanks Nat profusely and making small bows she moves away and out the inn.

The next morning, on the 14 of Uktar all three, Thazraim, Nat and Ilimitar go scout out the stone where the rune of Cyric was said to be and the surrounding area. They inquire about the persons that the blacksmith mentioned during his interrogation and even visit them. Obrinia tells them she doesn't know about anything really suspicious going on, just two small groups of orcs passing north of town about a week ago. Widanc is home on his farm, working in the field with his wife who says she is a druid. Two more men live at the farm, both professional hunters. Gerinne is not home; he is out hunting according to his servants.

The group returns to the village, not being much wiser. They stop at the shrine of Torm and ask the priest Ryin about Gerinne, Obrinia and Widanc, but he can't tell them any more. They also ask him to pray for some Zone of Truth spells the next morning, they might need them. 

The next morning, directly after breakfast, the group decides to haul in the blacksmith for further interrogation and go to his smithy. They find the door locked and nobody answering their call. The apprentice of the blacksmith is also standing outside, not sure what to do now his master is not opening the shop. Nat bashes in the door and searches the house. The groundfloor is empty, but in the sleeping room in the attic, they find the blacksmith, lying dead in his bed. A steel pin has been driven into his head from below and the blacksmith's hand is resting on the end of the pin. Nat immediately rushes out again and to the inn, where he tells the innkeeper he must come along. Nat's not sure yet whether this is to make sure the innkeeper doesn't run away or to make sure he doesn't get killed. 

The party then proceeds to search the blacksmith's home from top to bottom. Under a floorboard in the attic, they find a small book and a leather pouch. The pouch contains a holy symbol of Cyric, the book is a holy script of Cyric, but it also contains a loose note with four names on them: Sala, Peristans, Kalmen and Sumeon. Then Iperus arrives, head of the militia. He has heard of the death of the blacksmith and has already ordered thirty men to don their militia outfit. The four names are quickly determined to be the first names of four persons in the village. Sala and Peristans are a farmer couple, living just outside of town, Kalmen lives in town but is a stonecutter with a small quarry some 5 miles to the east. Sumeon also lives in the village and does mostly odd jobs for farmers. All are immediately taken into custody and prepared for interrogation. 

With so many prisoners, the time had also come for the execution of Aselie, the priest of Bane. Thazraim beheads her with one stroke of his longsword. When it comes to Wejin, he's still pleading for his life, begging the party to spare him. Thazraim is willing to believe him, but Nat is not and wants to kill him. As the discussion becomes more heated, Nat tries to cut it short by simply killing Wejin. He swings his axe and hits him square in the chest. Wejin falls to the ground, screaming in pain, but he isn't dead yet. Thazraim steps between Nat and the downed prisoner and tells Nat to stop this. He then turns around and stabilises the dying man. Turning back around, Thazraim and Nat discuss what to do with him. Nat is adamant about killing him, but Thazraim is willing to let him go. Unable to come to a conclusion, they ask Ilimitar who has remained silent all this time to cast the deciding vote. Ilimitar votes for killing him, and Nat quickly dispatches Wejin.


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## Corran (Jul 14, 2002)

After a very long hiatus the website has been updated again.


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## Corran (Aug 30, 2002)

Nevermind, my bad.


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