# Like Father, Like Son: Kid Charlemagne's Story Hour , PT III



## Kid Charlemagne (Feb 11, 2002)

*Like Father, Like Son*

This Story Hour is a continuation of the Story Hour that I started in August of 2001 at the old EN Boards, and continued through 2 board migrations (so far).  The episodes preceding this can found here; the episodes preceding that are on the old Boards, which are looking increasingly like they will never see the light of day.  I may repost them here at some point.  

[EDIT] The full previous Story Hour is available zipped at The ENWorld Story Hour Page 

These tales pick up after a two year hiatus to play other games (A horror campaign, a Traveller campaign, a 3e D&D campaign) run by other players in my group.  Previous Story Hours to this involved the characters as 2nd Edition characters.  This Story Hour marks their beginnings as 3rd Edition characters, converted and everything.

The game begins less than four months after the events of the previous Story Hours, in late May of 420.  Without any further ado, let’s introduce the protagonists:

*Sir Brennen D’Loxor (Human Fighter 5, Sword of Kelanen 4)*
Sir Brennan is a worshipper of the demigod Kelanen, the Prince of Swords.  Kelanen is one of those rare individuals who transcends mortal status through great deeds.  In his case, he was the catalyst behind the overthrow of Vecna and Kas some 2,000 years ago.  He was the only man to ever defeat Kas in single combat, although Kas used treachery to then capture Kelanen.  Kelanen’s chief followers are known as “Swords” and practice a windmilling, twin-longsword style that is heavy on offense and light on defense.  They also can cast spells in a manner somewhat similar to a Paladin.  Brennan fought for  King Yarzhen’s forces during the Civil War of 412-416, and for his heroic efforts in previous adventures, Brennen was knighted.  Brennan is from Oakendell, and is the son of a local landowner-farmer.
*Biggest Change in 3rd Edition*
Brennen was a paladin variant class in 2e.  Moving to 3e gained him a level, but he lost access to 3rd level spells.  No more Dispel Magics from the tank.

*Reana Stormblade (Half Elven Ranger 9)*
Reana is a local girl, born and raised in Oakendell, a small village in the Doriath Forest.  She comes from a tradition of rangers, beginning with her half-elven grandfather, Erethel Mileki, who was a reknowned ranger in his time, but is now quite old and a little bit senile.  There is enough elven blood from various sources running through Reana’s family that she still retains the half-elven attributes, even after a couple generations.  Reana is related to many of the families in Oakendell and Sickle Creek, as Grandpa Erethel was quite a wanderer in his day, and is currently on his 4th wife.  Reana has something along the lines of 80 cousins.  Her father was a mercenary in the southern part of Ghithor, and Reana spent a large portion of her early days as an adventurer attempting to locate other members of her father’s family.  Reana has recently been working on planning a forest stronghold in the Northern Doriath Forest.
*Biggest Change in 3rd Edition*
Reana now has improved two weapon fighting, so she gets four attacks on a full attack.  She also seems to like the Summon Monster spell quite a bit.

*Jalea (High Elven Rogue 10)*
Jalea is from the Marquisate of Ulfang, in the southwest of Ambardor.  He was active in that city’s Thieves’ Guild, but left town most recently after a run in with Lord Arlen Kentfield, an influential nobleman.  Early in his career, he served in the Army of Ulfang as a scout, and has since used that euphemism to describe his talents.  For the past several years, he has been working his way up the ranks in the Thieves’ Guild of Fencig, a large northern city.  Previous to their recent “vacation” the party had inadvertently aided the Guild by wiping out a group of wererats (known as the “Lumpers”) who were working to take over the Guild.  The Lumpers were being aided by the Priesthood of Tyaa, who were enemies of the party, and who were financing the takeover through money earned through their gambling operations at “The Falcon’s Club,” an upscale casino in a very nice section of Fencig.  The casino fell into disrepair, only to eventually be bought and reopened by the party’s former Priest, a gnomish priest of Bes (God of Luck) named Jovah.  Jalea had been keeping the Guild off Jovah’s back in regards to protection money, with the aid of Morris, a Guild Lieutenant who was their primary contact during the Lumper incident, but Morris is now dead.  Jalea has been looking into returning to Ulfang to take care of Lord Kentfield.
*Biggest Change in 3rd Edition*
Still to be determined.  Jalea’s player wasn’t present in Session 1(and I haven’t seen his character yet), so we haven’t got a handle on his differences yet.

*Aris (High Elven Fighter 3, Wizard 5, Bladesinger 2)*
Aris joined up with the party during an expedition to recover an Elven artifact from a group of pirates, and continued with them in order to gain more knowledge of the humans, as well as learn more about the increasing sightings of Drow in the wilderness of Ghithor and Ambardor.  The Drow had been laying low for over a century, and Aris was the second Elf to lay eyes on a Drow in over 100 years (the first was Jalea, but he went unconscious shortly afterwards).  Aris owes a debt to the Dwarves of the Lake of A Thousand Waterfalls due to his accidental killing of a number of dwarven slaves with a ill-placed fireball spell.  He also had his throat slit by a Drow during that episode, and vowed to not have the scar removed until he had found a way to repaly the dwarves.
*Biggest Change in 3rd Edition*
In two words: Hit Points.  Aris more than doubled his hit points in the conversion.  He lost access to 4th level spells, though.  No more Walls of Fire.

*Shyne Jovah Rockbrite (Gnomish Cleric 6, Luckbringer 3)*
Jovah is a priest of Bes; one of a very few priests, as a matter of fact. Bes belongs to the Murkraal Pantheon, one of the gods of a long-lost civilization that disappeared into the sands east of the Ar-Ainadorian Empire more than a thousand years ago. Jovah’s parents were jewelllers, and Jovah initially left home to investigate a jewel robbery, and later inherited a tower (and its attendant debt) from a roguish favorite uncle. In the course of paying off the debt, he met and joined up with Brennen, Reana, and Jalea. They have travelled together for nearly four years, and have made quite a name for themselves. Jovah now owns the Fox Club, a swank casino and restaurant in Fencig. He helps out those down on their luck, and uses the casino as his base of operations. He is constantly keeping tabs on the Church of Reksus, which is also powerful in Fencig; Reksus is the most powerful remaining God of the Murkraal Pantheon, and has spread the story that Reksus is the Chief Diety of that pantheon in order to boost his credibility. In fact, this is not true, and Jovah has a set of scrolls dating back to Murkraal’s peak that reveal the truth that Reksus was actually a trickster god, God of Magic and of Power. (And Public Relations, as Jovah likes to say). The Church of Reksus does not want these scrolls to reach wide distribution, but Jovah has been hiring scribes to copy them and send them to scholars across the land to spread the truth.
*Biggest Change in 3rd Edition*
Jovah no longer can boast he has as many hit points as Brennen, but his damage dealing has seen an upgrade, as he swings a heavy mace two handed, getting a +3 damage bonus.  Not bad for a gnome.

*Gavin (Human Fighter 9)*
Gavin hails from near the mountain town of Cardell. He served as a cavalryman in the Rebel Army during the Ghithor Civil War, and was involved in the campaign in the North, including the Occupation of Fencig. After the war ended, and the Rebels lost, he made a living as a mercenary working the Copper Pass connecting Carandor and Ghithor, picking up a working knowledge of Caradinian and Orcish. He joined up with the party after his friend Koth was kidnapped and turned into a strange sort of ghoul by Virenzo Staris, the necromancer. Since joining the party, Gavin has earned more money than he ever could have dreamed of as a mercenary, and come closer to death as well. His rallying of the cavalry in Mahanaim to fight off Elros Ekozius is frequently credited as the turning point in that battle, and along with his adventurous exploits with the party, earned him a knighthood. Gavin is an excellent horseman, and likes the trappings of money and nobility. His more mercenary nature has been tempered over time by exposure to the more altruistic and idealistic members of the party.  Gavin has been given control of the town of Shadow Springs, and has cleared the town of nasties and started rebuilding.
*Biggest Change in 3rd Edition*
Gavin’s fighter feats will give him all kinds of new ways to crunch enemies.  Overall, he is probably the least changed.

*Corwin Marchettus (Human Fighter 2, Wizard 7)*
Corwin is a new addition to the party, played by a new player.  Corwin is a former noble of Ghithor who lost his lands in the Civil War.  He also had his (then fighter) butt handed to him by a Wizard in an engagement in which his entire unit was wiped out.  He began studying magic, and found he had an aptitude for it.  He is now trying to get back in the good graces of the lords of Ghithor, and is hopeful that the party can help him achieve that.  He is not, however, overly impressed with their reputations, and is not afraid to voice his concerns about how things should be handled.
*Biggest Change in 3rd Edition*
Corwin is the only true-blue, fully 3e character.  Created for this game, his player decided to play with expectations by having a burly, armored, sword-wielding guy who is primarily a spellcaster.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Feb 11, 2002)

*May, AE 420*

*RECENT ACTIVITIES OF NOTE*

*THE PARTY*
Sir Brennen has been doing some info-gathering on Lord Arlen Kentfield of Ulfang, the rumored demon-worshipping nobleman who nearly had Jalea killed.  Reana has been working on getting a fortress built in the Northern Doriath Forest.  Jovah has recently closed on a deal to build a Temple/Halfway House for down-on-their-luck folk in Fencig.  Jalea has been incommunicado for the past several months, but has expressed his interest in finally dealing with Kentfield.  Gavin has been busy as the new Lord of Shadow Springs, setting up the framework for getting the town rebuilt, and the mining operations restarted.  Aris has been trying to figure out how to repay his debt to the Dwarves of Kazathun now that Vekkoth is dead.

*SHADOW SPRINGS*
The Dwarves have been moving back into Shadow Springs, and so have a fair number of humans.  Around early April it is discovered that the cavern passage just before the Long Cavern (where Aris fireballed the enslaved dwarves) has caved in.  It is unknown if this is intentional or not.  Thus, the one known connection between Shadow Springs and the Lake of A Thousand Waterfalls has been cut, and the Drow have no access to this side of the Vokal Mountains, and vice versa.  There has been talk of trying to locate another way through the mountains, but nothing has been done in this area as of yet.  Things have quieted down to the point that Lord Gavin can consider a little adventuring on the side.

*ELROS EKOZIUS*
In late April, word reached Belluin that the city of Augrim has offered Elros Ekozius sanctuary within its territory in exchange for his aid in protecting the city from the ravages of the Plainsmen of Nali.  Augrim is a fair distance downriver from Mahanaim, and on the opposite side of the Great River.  There is a great deal of speculation as to why this has happened, including concerns that Ekozius has somehow manipulated the Duke of Augrim into this action.  However, no one has been able to learn anything specific by this point.

*GHITHOR GOINGS-ON*
Things seem to finally be back to normal in Ghithor after years of low-grade fighting followed by four years of Civil War, followed by four more years of rebuilding.  There has even been talk of reforming the Senate, which is an advisory council that reports to the King.  It was disbanded in AE 402 by King Yarzhen when several members were charged with treason, and conspiracy to overthrow the King.  This was one of the major things that sparked the political breakdown that led to the Civil War of 412-416.

*ULFANG GOINGS-ON*
Lord Kentfield’s influence in Ulfang is still growing; his support in the past falls mayoral election is credited with ensuring the incumbent’s re-election.  Kentfield remains in charge of the Ulfang Prison system, and any rumors of his side activities seem to have made his enemies leery of confronting him.  The city is bustling with trade activity, and the economy is humming along nicely.  

*FENCIG GOINGS-ON*
Marquis Samsen has not made very many major policy pronouncements so far in his short rule, however the one thing of note that he has done is try to undermine the Ghithor/Fencig treaty that was signed in Belluin around the time of the King’s marriage.  It would be difficult politically for him to merely break the treaty, which calls for a joint Ghithor-Fencig attempt to patrol and control the Northern Territories, but he has withheld men and materials, as well as attempted to prevent Ghithor forces from being able to act in their areas.  Work has also begun building a new road between Fencig and Norridge, one that will cut significant length off the distance travelled by trade caravans between them.  It will also allow such caravans to completely bypass Ghithorian territory.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Feb 11, 2002)

*Gujo, May 28th, AE 420*

After several months of relaxation, taking care of other business, and generally laying about, Brennen, Gavin, Reana, Jovah, and Aris all gather in Gujo, the capitol of Ghithor, to discuss their next plan of action.  They are concerned about the goings-on in Ulfang, specifically the actions of Lord Arlen Kentfield.  Kentfield is believed by Jalea to be a worshipper of Pazuzu, the Demon Prince of the Air, messenger of the Abyss.  The party is gathered to figure out what to do about Kentfield.

“Where’s Jalea, anyway?” asks Jovah.

“He was supposed to be her yesterday,” Brennen replies.  “He said he was going to do some advance scouting.”

“And he isn’t back yet?” Reana asks.

“Hmm,” Jovah says.  “It’s not usually the coming back that’s a problem, it’s the ‘where did he go…’”

“I know,” Brennen says.  “We may have to do some looking for him in Ulfang, and hope he hasn’t gotten into trouble.”

Discussion follows as to how to handle getting into Ulfang, and how discrete to be.  Eventually, they decide to not disguise themselves in any way.  They are in town to do some sightseeing, some glad-handing, and some shopping.  The investigation is to be handled on the side.

Brennen has been given the names of two people in Ulfang to contact.  The first is Corwin Marchettus, a wizard who was formerly a noble of Ghithor, but lost his lands in the war.  Presumably, Corwin would be willing to help the party in order to get back in the current regime’s good graces, and he has good contacts within the social strata of Ulfang.

The second name is of a Ghithor agent in Ulfang, who can get secret messages out of town without difficulty.

Jovah casts _dimensional folding_, and the party takes their horses through the portal to a grassy field just outside of Ulfang, where a small tower stands.  The tower once belonged to Jovah’s uncle, and was inherited by Jovah, but he had to sell it to pay off the back taxes.  Still, it is a familiar spot to the Luckbringer, and is a favorite spot to _fold_ to when heading to Ulfang.  They ride into town, relatively unnoticed, noting along the way that several thuggish types seem to be watching the gates.  Aris believes they are casing incoming merchants.  This is of some concern to the party, as Kentfield supposedly has good ties to the Thieves’ Guild and Assassin’s Guild in town.

They ride to the Gold Dragon Inn, Ulfang’s finest hotel, and ask for Corwin Marchettus, who is supposed to be staying here.  After a short delay Corwin comes down, and introduces himself.  Sir Brennen was expecting a wizardly type, and is somewhat surprised to see that Corwin is a powerfully built man in his late twenties.

They take Corwin to a private room, and reveal all that they know about Kentfield, and ask if he will help them.  Corwin has met Kentfield at various social gatherings, and is shocked to hear the allegations that the party lays out.

“I will help you investigate this,” he says. “But I’m not convinced.”

The rest of the afternoon is spent doing all the things that they are supposedly in town to do.  Reana and Gavin check out the horse market (Gavin wants to breed horses as a sideline hobby); Aris checks out the apothecaries and alchemist shops in town, while Brennen waits at the Inn in case anyone sends word there for any reason.  All of them are keeping their ears open for any discussion of Kentfield, but without Jalea, their information gathering skills are weak.

Jovah checks out the local Church of Reksus. “Just getting the lay of the land,” he thinks to himself.

They reassemble for dinner and discuss plans.  Digging up old man Kentfield (a rumored Pazuzu follower himself, and dead for several years) is brought up and quickly dismissed, as are various other ideas.  Aris suggests going back to talk to the rogues at the city gates.

“Maybe we could bribe them,” Gavin suggests.

“Uh, _yeah_,” Aris replies, as if that should have been self-evident.

Eventually, Corwin offers to _scry_ for Jalea to see if he’s in danger.  It’ll have to wait for the morning, however, as he does not have that spell prepared.

“I’ve never met him, but I can try from a description.  It might not work, but its probably the best we can do.”

The party agrees and in the morning, Corwin takes them up to his room. He pulls out a finely crafted mirror, and casts the spell.  

“I see him,” he says. “He’s in a tree, maybe fifty feet up, hidden and watching a manor house.  I think I know the area, its not far outside of town, maybe fifteen miles.  It’s a nice area, where the local nobles have their country homes.  He’s not doing much at all, he’s just watching the place.”

“What can you see of the manor house?” Aris asks.

“I can see it well enough, but there’s no flag flying.  There are a couple of small pennants, but no main flag.  I guess that means whoever’s place it is isn’t there.”  Corwin puts away the mirror as the spell ends.

Aris gets a good description of the manor house, and writes a note for Jalea, and attaches it to the foot of his hawk familiar.  As an after thought, he ties the pen into the note as well.  He whispers the directions to the hawk, and off it flies. They have little choice but to wait for the hawk to return, and they do.  After about four or five hours, it returns with a new note on its foot:

“Watching K. country home.  Strange visitors.  Will arrive shortly.  Am safe and sound.”

The next morning, Brennen hears a light knock on his door.  A voice on the other side  whispers urgently, “Open up, it’s me.”

Brennen opens the door, grabs Jalea by the collar, and hauls him bodily into the room, kicking the door shut after him.

“What the hell were you doing!?”

“I…I.. was just checking something out!” Jalea stammers.

“Okay, I’m going to go get everyone else.  Wait here.  No, come with me,” Brennen grabs Jalea and drags him along as he wakes up everyone else and notifies them of Jalea’s return.

They gather in a room and Jalea tells them what he’s been up to.  He explains that he’s been watching Kentfield’s house in Ulfang for a week or more and had noticed a couple of visitors.  One is a wizard type, extremely “twitchy” as Jalea puts it.  The other is a man whose oddest feature is his eyes; they have a gold rim around the pupils, just barely noticeable.  He bears a rapier, but is unarmored ordinarily.  The twitchy wizard came into town in one of Kentfield’s carriages, and then back to the manor house, where he is now.  Jalea has never seen the golden-eyed man go very far from the Kentfield house.

Jalea also describes the routines of the Kentfield guards, and explains that it is quite difficult to get in close enough to the house to over hear conversations, as the dining room and office windows face the courtyard, which is well guarded, with guards on the roof at night.

“I can help there,” Aris says.  “I can make three people _invisible_, and also give them _spider climbing_. And if arrange it so that we go there when something is happening, I can cast _clairaudience_, too.”

Aris, Jalea, and Reana are chosen for the scouting mission.  Jalea sneaks up and watches the Kentfield house from a distance, and notifies the others when he sees the golden-eyed man enter the house, a few hours after a carriage enters the courtyard.  The others wait several blocks down the street, at an upscale tavern that has street side seating.

The three attach themselves with rope, Aris casts his spells, and they scale up the wall.  They clamber around _invisibly_, looking in windows, until they see the golden-eyed man leaving a bedroom on the third floor.  A few more minutes don’t seem to lead to any apparent imminent meetings, so Aris suggest that Jalea open the window to the golden-eyed man’s room so they can check it out.

Jalea begins to open the window, and sets off a _blast glyph_, which he does not do a good job of avoiding.  

“Didn’t you check for traps?” Aris whispers urgently.

“You said open the window, not check for traps!” comes the invisible retort.

It matters not, the alarm is raised.  Guards stream into the courtyard, but can’t see any perpetrators.  The three scouts slip over the roof and begin making their way back to the rest of the party.  Reana slips off the rope attaching her to Jalea and Aris.

“I’m going to see what they do with the alarm raised,” she tells them.

She slips back up on the roof, and watches.  After a minute or so, she sees a small door in a corner roof access tower open up, and a guard climbs out, followed by Arlen Kentfield himself.

Lord Kentfield looks out over the roof of the house, and Reana shrinks lower onto the roof, even though she is _invisible._  Kentfield’s eyes stop, and rest on the Ranger.  He grabs a crossbow from his guard, and swings it directly at the invisible half-elf.

“Uh oh,” Reana says.


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## Matchstick (Feb 12, 2002)

Sounds like it went well!

Thanks for the character summaries, even for me that was nice.  There was stuff in there I didn't remember!

One of the things I think you do very well in writing these up, and I know I've mentioned it before, is the places you choose to end the post.  The above is a perfect example.

Of course the one problem with you being so good at the cliff hangers is that it makes it harder to wait!  I'm assuming there was more this week?  

So, any comments from the players?  For Brennen and the others who have read the story hour, did you have that at all in your mind as you played?  How was it getting back to these characters?

KC you said that you may leave these characters and start new ones in the same world.  Why?  Would these characters go out in a blaze of glory or would they just fade away?


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## Jovah (Feb 12, 2002)

The session was a blast!

Not only did we have "new" characters, but we had a new player in the mix.

The "Brennen- no dispel magic" scene comes up a little later- Jovah assumes he has it..oops.

I think Jovah's spell selection is a lot more useful and less esoteric.  He is not King hit point anymore, but he is better in combat.  I can't wait to cast Random Causality.

It was interesting having a "true mage" - able to do things that Aris never could.  Of course the bad guys can do the same sorts of things.

Kentfield should provide some giggles.


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## Jovah (Feb 12, 2002)

Kid C- Just curious - what does "Like father, like son" refer to:

Kentfield?

Samsen?

Jovah is too paranoid?


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## Sir Brennen (Feb 12, 2002)

For the curious, Aris, Brennen and the Sword of Kelanen PrC (Beta version) have been added to the Kid C.'s PCs thread in the Rogues Gallery  here. 

The session was fun.  Before we started, I mused a little over what it would be like playing, knowing it would end up on Story Hour, but once we were into the game, you really just want to be in the here and now, and just play. (Though I think I did notice Kid C. doing a bit more of his already prodigious note-taking)    It's certainly interesting to read things right after they happen, instead of a couple of years later, like Kid C's other story hour threads.

And, yes, there's more to come from that first 3E campaign session.  Kid C. was suffering from a cold the day of the game, so we're all grateful he got something up so soon.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Feb 12, 2002)

Jovah said:
			
		

> *Kid C- Just curious - what does "Like father, like son" refer to:
> 
> Kentfield?
> 
> ...




It seems applicable to both, doesn't it...


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## Gavin (Feb 12, 2002)

I have to agree with Brennen that knowing our sessions were going to be posted didn't really change the atmosphere once we got going.

To answer the question about retiring the characters: although I enjoy playing Gavin, I look forward to having a character I can create from the very beginning.  I would also like to start from low level. When I joined up Gavin was pre-made and already 8th level.

 I love the fact that Kid C has a persistent world and that characters from games 10 years ago turn up as NPCs now. Maybe someday an older Lord Gavin will play a part in a future campaign.

I would also like to add that Power Attack is the best thing since sliced bread. Of course Gavin probably doesn't know what sliced bread is...


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## Kid Charlemagne (Feb 13, 2002)

*Ulfang, May 30th, AE 420*

Reana quickly scampers down the far wall of Kentfield’s house to avoid getting shot.  She still has the _spider climb_ going so she hits the ground safely in no time at all.

A few blocks down, Aris and Jalea are just letting the party know about the _glyph_ going off, when they all hear a loud cry, like an eagle’s cry, but much louder.  They turn towards Kentfield’s house, and see a griffon land on the roof!

Reana looks up, and sees that the griffon appears to be sniffing for her.  It’s pretty clear the creature has a decent idea where she is, and she doesn’t particularly want to fight it all by herself – and certainly not this close to Kentfield’s house.  She runs for it, fleeing down the street as the griffon takes off from the roof, swooping down towards her.  People on the streets are running in all directions, in a total panic over the suddenly appearing creature.

Back at the tavern, the party can only see that the Griffon appears to be swooping down the street towards them.  Aris cancels the _invisibility_ on himself, and moves out into the street.  Gavin fumbles with his peace-bonded sword, and moves out into the street as well.  Jovah casts _fly_ on himself, and zooms up to the roof of the building opposite the tavern, looking down on the griffon fight.

_Ulfang requires all weapons to be peace-bonded, and all bows must be unstrung.  I decided on the fly that undoing the peace-bonds would be either a full round action, or a partial action requiring a DC 10 dex check.  This was good for several rounds of hilarity as fighters struggled to get their weapons out of their sheaths!_ 

Reana dodges down a side street, just as the griffon lands where she had just been standing.  The creature loses her trail for a moment, and the Ranger takes no chances, grabbing some fruit from a nearby vendor and smearing it on her armor to try and mask her scent.  Jalea has his bow strung by now, and plugs the griffon with two well-placed shots.  Corwin unloads a series of magic missiles into it, and Aris moves to engage it in hand-to-hand.  Gavin finally gets his weapons untied, and charges, landing a heavy blow on the beast.  Sir Brennen is having all kinds of trouble with his peace-bonds, and finally decides to takes his time and do it right.

As Brennen is undoing his bonds, he sees that four guards from Kentfield’s house are approaching on foot, led by a rapier-bearing, somewhat foppish looking fellow.  Aris’ hawk is circling overhead, and notices both the men approaching, and another hawk.  This hawk seems unperturbed by the fighting just below, and is watching the fight intently from a ledge just across the street from Jovah.

Aris lands a final blow on the griffon, and it dies, only to vanish a moment later.

“Summoned creature,” Corwin says.  “Powerful caster to be able to call a griffon.”

Meanwhile Brennen has walked up to meet Kentfield’s guards.

“Nothing to see here,” he says.  “We took care of the the threat.  But thanks for coming down to help…”

The foppish leader of the guards smiles a wry smile, and turns and walks away, along with the three other guards.  Reana looks up at the roof of the Kentfield house, and sees Lord Kentfield looking down in the direction of the fight.  He watches for a moment, and then turns away.  Aris’ hawk notices that the other hawks flies off to the south, then circles back, eventually landing in Kentfield’s courtyard.

The party regroups in the Gold Dragon Inn.

“What now?” Corwin asks.

“I say we nab one of the guards, and get some info out of him,” Jovah says.

“Those guards are probably pretty loyal,” Reana says.

“They don’t have to be disloyal,” Jovah replies.  “They just have to have a mouth that works.”

“What do you plan to do with such a guard after you’ve interrogated him?” Corwin asks, suspiciously.

“Hmmm, you’re right,” Jovah says.  “We can’t just stuff him down a hole somewhere…”

“Not that we haven’t done that before,” Gavin adds, helpfully.

“I say we nab the twitchy wizard out at the manor house,” Brennen says. “There might be some evidence out there that we can use.”

“I have an idea,” Jovah interjects.  “I can do a _divination_.  What should I ask?  If we go to the manor house….”

“Will we all die?” Gavin finishes for him.

Jovah shoots Gavin a glare.  Eventually, the wording is decided on: If we go to the Kentfield manor house, will we find the evidence we need?

The answer comes back to Jovah:  _Anything that you would have found is now in the city_.

Meanwhile Aris is chiding Jalea for not checking the _glyph-ed_ window for traps.

“There was probably something important in there…  of all the windows to pick, we picked the one that was trapped…”

“That just proves we’re dumb,” Gavin is on a roll.

More discussion ensues.  The decision is made to check out the abandoned prisoner of war camp, about five miles outside of town.  It is the place from which most of the missing Ghithorian soldiers vanished during the aftermath of the Siege, and it is the place where Kentfield took Jalea to attempt to kill him, several years back.

Somewhere in the rotting remains of the camp, they hope to find some evidence that can be used to back their claims about Arlen Kentfield’s demonic ties.


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## Jovah (Feb 13, 2002)

I just wanted to point out that Jovah is not a "good-2-shoes" kind of cleric.

The local police can handle bad people.

But true Evil needs to be dealt with by heroes- like the party.  Sometimes drastic measure must be taken to defeat Evil.

Sometimes that requires bending a few laws.

A sort of "The end justifies most of the means."


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## Kid Charlemagne (Feb 14, 2002)

*Ulfang, June 1st, AE 420*

The next day the party rides out to the prison camp.  On the way, Corwin and Aris both notice a slight shimmer in the air that seems to follow them; they both recognize it as the visual sensor from a _scrying_ spell.

“Great,” Jovah groans.  There’s not much they can do about it; they can only keep relatively quiet and hope that those watching can’t figure out where they are going.

The sensor lasts a few minutes and thens winks out of view.  The party continues riding, and arrives an hour or so later at the gates of the camp.

This camp was used at the end of the Siege of Ulfang, when Elros Ekozius (then an “Archduke” under the rebel Kings) besieged the town in hopes of subjugating it along with the rest of Ambardor.  Many prisoners were taken when the Siege was broken in the year 416, and they were kept here until a peace treaty was worked out and they could be exchanged for prisoners that Ghithor had taken in the war.  Jalea learned that portions of the camp that were supposed to be full of prisoners were in fact empty; perhaps hundreds of POW’s are (unofficially) unaccounted for.  Lord Arlen Kentfield was the warden of the camp, and Jalea believes him to be responsible.  Discrepancies were “fudged” in the paperwork; although the number of missing in action soldiers during the Siege seems high, there is no hard evidence of the missing soldiers.

Now, the camp is deserted.  Its twenty or so long barracks are surrounded by a fifteen foot tall stone wall, topped with spear tips.  In the center of the camp there is another wall that surrounds another half-dozen barracks, and the warden’s offices.  Beyond that is a sheer fifty foot cliff, dropping to the savage coastline of the Retic Sea.   A ways off to the west stands a lighthouse, apparently in use.  Aris sends his hawk there to watch things from above.

The gates hang open, swinging back and forth in the high winnds that whip off the Sea.  Brennen rides down the length of the barracks, checking to see if there is any evidence of life or activity.  He remembers being ambushed by wights at the abandoned keep where they recovered the Egg from the Sahuagin, months before, and doesn’t want to get caught again by such things.

There is nothing to be seen, however, and the groups moves further in.  Eventually, they tie up their horses and check out the main structure, the former prison headquarters.  It’s a two story wooden building, and Jalea knows there is a secret passageway in the basement.  They check out the above ground floors, finding nothing, and then head down to the basement.

Before going below ground, Reana casts _alarm_ to ward the area.  If anything larger than a rat enters the building, she’ll be aware of it.

The basement contains more cells, abandoned and empty.  Manacles hang unlocked, chains rust on the floor.  Jalea walks down to the end of one of the corridors, and locates the secret door that he was once taken through, maybe three years before.  It opens up, revealing a long, narrow passage sloping downwards.  They file through, one by one, and decend slowly until they reach a small chamber containing a spiral stair going further down.

Jalea looks around the chamber, and points out a circular hole in the floor.

“There was an altar over that.  Blood-stained and everything.  When I saw that, that’s when I made my break.  I never went any further than this.”

They prepare to go down the spiral stair, but as Gavin steps down, Reana stops him.

“The _alarm_ went off!” she says.

“So there’s some one up there?” Brennen asks.

“Well, it could just be a wild dog or something…” Reana admits.

“Let’s go forward and see what we find,” Brennen says.

They go down the stair, and find a passage way heading directly west.  After thirty feet or so, however, it ends at a cave-in.  Brennen inspects it to see if it can be cleared.

“It’s pretty massive,” he says.  “Also, it looks to me like it was done intentionally.”

“We’ll have to go back,” Jovah says.

They return to the secret door area, and get ready to see what set off the _alarm_.  Reana stops them again just after they open the door.

“I hear something upstairs,” she says.  “Someone walking around…”

She _summons_ a wolf, and sends it up the stairs to the first floor.  Muffled curses, and the sounds of bowfire can be heard, then silence again.

“Ambush,” Corwin says. He casts _improved invisibility_ on himself, and moves up to the stairs.  The others starts casting spells, too, and get ready to bust their way out.  Aris makes himself _invisible_ and follows Corwin up the stairs.  As the get up to the first floor they see that there are pairs of archers at the end of each of the four hallways leading to the stairs.  Corwin moves to a post sheltered from all but one pair, and Aris moves towards the pair that block the exit from the building.

“Tag, you’re it,” he says to one, hitting it with a _vampiric touch_ as he becomes visible.  He draws his _flameblade_ and engages them.

Corwin is startled by arrow coming dangerously close to his head.  He looks up and realizes that another archer is on the stair to the second floor, and must have heard him creaking on the floorboards and estimated his position.  He _magic missiles_ the archer, and moves over about ten feet to throw him further off.  

The others start rushing up the stairs.  Brennen and Jovah rush up to the second floor and take down the archer injured by Corwin’s _magic missile_.  Reana runs up and engages another pair of archers, cutting them to ribbons.  Jalea stops at the first floor landing, and begins exchanging bowfire with yet another pair, and Gavin moves to engage the last pair.

The pair of archers fighting Aris, pull back onto the front porch of the building, and get ready to flank him if he comes further out.  Aris repsonds with a _burning hands_ spell, and notices how deftly they avoid its full effects.

“Theives’ Guild,” he thinks to himself.

It’s about then that Aris sees the golden-eyed man.  Where he came from, he’s not sure, but he steps into view, and casts a spell.  Suddenly, slimy, black tentacles are covering the inside of the building, grasping and trying to crush anything they can grab.  One grabs Aris; another grabs Jalea; and another bounces off Corwin’s _shield_ spell.  Jalea manages to wiggle out of his tentacle, but Aris is trapped, helpless to act as the two rogues and the golden-eyed man rush off to the side.

Corwin steps up, and casts _dispel magic_ and successfully gets rid of the tentacles before they can do any real harm.  Aris steps forward onto the porch and lets the fleeing rogue and his wizardly ally have it with a _fireball_.

The rogue drops in a heap, but the golden-eyed man seems entirely unaffected.  He turns and casts a spell back at Aris, and suddenly everything is moving in slow motion for Aris and Corwin.

Jalea is following fleeing rogues jumping through windows on the first floor, and the pair that Gavin charged decided discretion was the better part of valor as well.  Gavin pokes his head out the window his two rogues lept out of, and sees the golden-eyed man.

“Aha!” he thinks.  “I’ve got him dead to rights!”

He leaps through the window and rushes to engage him.  The golden-eyed man steps back and _summons_ a Dire Ape to keep Gavin occupied.  Jovah is up on the roof of the first floor, and Brennen is running up from the porch to engage the golden-eyed man.

Corwin _dispels_ the ape; Aris shoots the golden-eyed man with magic missiles, and again they have no effect!  Reana makes her way into the fight and lands a heavy blow on the enemy, followed by another even better shot by Gavin.

_Reana and Gavin criticalled the guy on consecutive shots!_

The golden-eyed man decides he’s seen as much as he needs to and begins changing shape!  A flurry of desperate blows from Gavin, Reana, and Brennen injure him, but don’t stop his shifting.  Corwin manages to get a _melf’s acid arrow_ through his spell resistance, but he finishes his transformation into a small golden hawk (that looks quite familiar to Aris’, um, familiar) and flies off towards Ulfang like a bullet.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Feb 14, 2002)

Hmmm.. testing why this latest installment isn't being recognized by the board as new, and therefore placed towards the top of the page...

Aha, that's more like it.


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## Jovah (Feb 14, 2002)

Actually Jovah dispelled the Ape.  Corwin was still _slowly_ coming around the corner.

This is also the scene where I thought Brennen could _Dispel_ the tentacles - so I had Jovah continue up the stairs.
3E Brennen no longer has access to 3rd level spells- doh!

Luckily, Corwin, the new guy can.


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## Matchstick (Feb 14, 2002)

LOL!  The peace-bonding thing is great!  Poor Brennan, I can just see him hopping around yanking on his sword and cursing a blue streak!



Sounds to me like those mages need to find some spells to help them deal with enemy scrying.

Good use of alarm, that could have been a VERY nasty ambush.  Oh, and good use of a summoned monster as well, to test the ambush.

I'm missing something on the golden eyed man, I just know it.  That's a giveaway for something, maybe he's a Tiefling?  But he has magic resistence or something.  He's got to be pretty tough, though I bet those two criticals put a surprising hurt on him.  No wonder he started to get the heck out of dodge after that!  He must have some good hit point totals.

I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that doesn't know what he is, how embarassing!

Brennan are you still playing Aris?  

Thanks for answering my question about the Story Hour changing things.  I was really curious, never having had the opportunity to find out for myself.


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## Sir Brennen (Feb 15, 2002)

Matchstick said:
			
		

> *LOL!  The peace-bonding thing is great!  Poor Brennan, I can just see him hopping around yanking on his sword and cursing a blue streak!*



On top of that, that's _swords_ for Brennen, as he normally carries three longswords.  By the time I was done untieing the first one, the fight was over.


> *Sounds to me like those mages need to find some spells to help them deal with enemy scrying.*



 Yep. 


> *I'm missing something on the golden eyed man, I just know it.  that's a giveaway for something, maybe he's a Tiefling?  But he has magic resistence or something. *



If Kid C. just slapped the Fiendish template on a regular guy, that would give him hit dice x 2 SR.  We figure he's got at least a 24 SR, meaning Aris, with his 5 levels of Wizard, needs to roll a 19 or 20 to get a spell through! 


> *I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that doesn't know what he is, how embarassing!*



So far, you've got as many clues as we do... Although someone suggested he might be a half-fiend.  
"But he's not big enough," said Jovah.
"He started out as a halfling," was Aris' reply. 


> *Brennan are you still playing Aris?*



 Yes.  One detail Kid C. left out, was the one rogue who _still_ survived Aris' fireball.  Dang rougish Evasion.  He started to run away, and got 150 feet before Aris nailed him with Magic Missiles (at his maximum range.)

Picture one PO'd elf saying "Dodge _this!_" 

Brennen has yet to find the opportunity to really cut loose with his swords in the 3E game.  Looks like he, Gavin and Reanna have to be the ones to deal with Mr. Spell Resistance, though.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Feb 15, 2002)

Sir Brennen said:
			
		

> *On top of that, that's swords for Brennen, as he normally carries three longswords. By the time I was done untieing the first one, the fight was over. *




The reason Brennen carries three swords is because he has a depressing tendency to toss at least one away per fight.  That shouldn't happen much with the rules we're using for fumbles in 3e, though.

He has been known to throw his swords at fleeing enemies, with marginal results.  I foresee Brennen taking the "Throw Anything" feat at some point.


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## Sir Brennen (Feb 15, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> *He has been known to throw his swords at fleeing enemies, with marginal results.  I foresee Brennen taking the "Throw Anything" feat at some point. *



Hmm, Kid C. obviously forgot about the time Brennen stopped a fleeing bandit by throwing a greatsword javelin-style through the bandit's horse.    (It was a desperate act on Brennen's part, with massive penalties, but he actually managed to score a critical hit!) Brennen still carries a greatsword strapped to his own horse at all times, just in case. 

Other than that, the only time Brennen has thrown his sword at an enemy is when the sword happened to fly in that direction during a fumble. 

Otherwise, missle weapons are considered un-swordsmanlike by Swords of Kelanen when attacking an opponent (a horse is not an opponent - it's a transportation method), so don't expect to see too much of that kind of thing from Brennen.


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## Gavin (Feb 15, 2002)

I would also like to add that Gavin (and I) used Power Attack for the very first time on that Dire Ape. Nifty trick, that. Still, I'm glad Jovah dispelled it because Gavin wan't looking forward to being torn limb from limb

I hope the gorilla wasn't a thematic touch. Gavin had enough trouble with Drow spiders, I don't think he would like hordes of golden-eyed demon monkeys. Say, that sounds like a good idea for a WB show....


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## Matchstick (Feb 19, 2002)

Brennan that's a nice sketch, is that your character?

So what do you guys think about your 3E characters?  More or less powerful?  

I'm definately voting Outsider or part Outsider on that guy.


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## Gavin (Feb 19, 2002)

I would have to say that Gavin seems more powerful. His feats (especially Power Attack and Cleave) allow him to deal out some serious damage. One of the upcoming fights has him Power attacking, boom, Cleave, boom and then second attack. Nasty. 

Outside of combat he doesn't seem all that different. As a fighter he doesn't have a very wide range of skills He no longer wears plate mail because it doesn't give him as high an AC as just breastplate because of his Dex bonus. Most of his horse-related skills/feats haven't come into play yet.  Gavin is still the Big, Dumb, (well not that big or dumb) Unpleasant, (8 Cha!) Heavy, None-too-quiet,  Straight-Up Fighter. Strangely, he is also the only party member who uses a shield. Everyone else is either a spellcaster, too sneaky, or uses two weapons.


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## Matchstick (Feb 20, 2002)

I've forgotten your schedule, was there no game this past weekend?


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## Kid Charlemagne (Feb 20, 2002)

Matchstick said:
			
		

> *I've forgotten your schedule, was there no game this past weekend? *




There was; we ordinarily play every other Sunday, but we played two in a row to start with.  I will have an update hopefully tomorrow (Thursday) or Friday.


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## Sir Brennen (Feb 21, 2002)

Matchstick said:
			
		

> *Brennan that's a nice sketch, is that your character?*



 It's actually a picture of Borimir from the Lord of the Rings movie, run through a couple of Photoshop filters to give it that "sketch" look.  And yes, when I saw LotR, I said "Hey! That's Brennen!"


> *So what do you guys think about your 3E characters?  More or less powerful?*



 My characters got to show of their new feats this last game, which was a lot of fun.  We had a couple of what were probably average fights, and saw Spring Attacks, Tumbles, Cleaves, Sneak Attacks and Critical hits galore.  The massive damage that can be dealt out from some of these attacks does cause me some concern ... mostly for when I'm going to be on the receiving end of such a clobbering.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Feb 22, 2002)

Update coming tomorrow morning!

See Brennen deal 53 points of damage with two consecutive swings!

See Gavin get schooled on 3rd Edition Sneak Attack damage!

See the party turn a near death scenario into a cake walk in one round!


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## Lazybones (Feb 22, 2002)

Hey guys!

Just got caught up on the "new" 3e story... Great writing job as usual KC!  Looks like the group is adapting well to the new system.  Plus, as usual, a compelling plot line with some memorable villains.  

Keep it up!
Lazybones


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## Kid Charlemagne (Feb 22, 2002)

*Ulfang, June 1st, AE 420*

The party watches the golden-eyed man fly off in hawk form, and debates what to do next.  They decide to check out the lighthouse, thinking that there may be access to the tunnels behind the caved-in area beneath the prison camp.  They also want to _speak with dead_ with one of their assailants but Jovah can’t do that until tomorrow.

They ride up to the lighthouse, and head up to the door.  Jalea is checking the door for traps when an elderly fellow opens a small window in the door.

“Can I help you?”   he asks, skeptically.

Brennen nudges Jalea in the ribs to tell him to stop checking for traps.

“Hi!” says Jovah.  “We’re tourists, and we were hoping to get a tour of the lighthouse!”

That last bit was a _suggestion_ spell.  The elderly man’s expression changes from suspicious to cheerful, and he welcomes the party into the lighthouse.  He begins going into a long, detailed explanation of why the lighthouse was built here, how it works, and so on.  

“This is wonderful,” he says.  “I haven’t given a tour since before the Siege!  I’d forgotten how much I enjoy them.”

As he leads the group up to the beacon, Jalea, Aris, and Reana stay behind to check out the basement, and see if there is access to anything beneath the lighthouse.  They search, but find nothing.

Upstairs, Gavin, Jovah, Corwin, and Brennen are quizzing the old lighthouse keeper.  It turns out he has had some contact with Lord Kentfield, and that they did have some discussion about coves suitable for large ships to drop anchor; Kentfield presumably was concerned about the potential for invasion from the sea.  He also tells the party that there are plenty of caves along the cliff wall, some quite unstable and dangerous.  He hasn’t seen Kentfield since the prison camp closed down about two years ago.

After leaving the keeper, the party rides further on to the closest of the coves he mentioned.  There is no path leading down, so Jalea, Brennen, and Reana climb down the cliff wall.  The find two caves, and Brennen notices that the tide is going out.

“Both of these caves will be covered by the tide when it comes back in,” he says.  “We have a few hours, but we have to keep that in mind.”

_Brennen has some shipboard experience, so he knows a little about tides and such._

They go into the cave that is closest to the prison camp, and follow it back.  It goes quite a ways, and eventually rises up to such an extent that Brennen is confident that it will remain above water even at high tide.

“Let’s go get the others,” Reana says.

The full party assembles in the cave after a careful descent of the cliff wall, and moves further into the cave complex.  Eventually, it leads to a spot where there is another cave-in.  This one also looks to be man-made.  Brennen clears out some of the rubble, and Corwin sends his toad familiar to pick his way through and see how far back it goes.  It appears to only go about 20 feet, and the party decides that they can spend a few hours digging it out. This they do, with only a minor mishap as Brennen and Gavin cause a minor secondary cave-in on their own heads.  After about four hours, they have the cave-in cleared, and they climb through to the clear passage beyond.

“Just remember,” Jovah says.  “Anything living in between two cave-ins is probably not alive.”

They explore into the uncovered passages, and soon find an area with worked stone.  They are beset almost immediately by undead creatures; wights, they believe.  They make quick work of the threat and take a look at what they have found.

There are three chambers in the cave complex:  two appear to be living quarters, abandoned for some time.  The other looks temple like, with carvings and a large statue.  However, the statue has been demolished, its identifying features broken off and pulverised.  The wall carvings are also smashed.  They find a patch of clean stone in front of the statue, bordered by a darkish brown stain all around it.

“This is blood,” Reana says.  “I bet there was an altar here, and they took it with them.”

Aris looks at Corwin.  “Convinced yet?”

“I have to admit this doesn’t look very good for Lord Kentfield,” Corwin replies.

“Okay,” Jovah says.  “What now?  The tide has come in, and we’re stuck here till morning unless we _fold_ up to the top of the cliff.”

“I don’t want to leave my horse up there all night!” Gavin says.

They _fold_ up to the top of the cliff and camp up there.  The next morning they go back to the prison camp and get one of the dead rogues, and cast _speak with dead_ on him.

Jovah asks the questions.

Q:  Who is the golden-eyed man you were here with?
A:  He is the man who hired Tuck to have you all killed.

Q: Who is Tuck?
A: He’s a lieutenant with the Assassin’s Guild.

Q:  What does Tuck look like?
A:  Big half-orc, with a scar, carries a scimitar.

Q:  Where do we find Tuck?
A:  You can probably find him at the Dark Serpent Inn.

Jalea fills in one gap.  “The Dark Serpent Inn is a big Thieves’ Guild hangout,” he says.

“So what do we do?” Corwin asks.

“I say we go nab Tuck,” Jovah says.  “Dead or alive, I can interrogate him either way.”


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## Matchstick (Feb 25, 2002)

Go toad familiar!  

I like Gavin not wanting to leave his horse, nice depth there.

I wonder why I didn't see this until today...

Na matter, I'm looking forward to the next part (I'm assuming the 50+ points damage etc. wasn't the wights fight)!


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## Kid Charlemagne (Feb 25, 2002)

Matchstick said:
			
		

> *Go toad familiar!
> 
> I like Gavin not wanting to leave his horse, nice depth there.
> 
> ...




Nope, that's coming up next!  Probably Tuesday, I'd imagine.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Feb 26, 2002)

*Ulfang, June 2nd, AE 420*

“Here’s a question,” Aris says.  “When would Kentfield’s Pazuzu ceremonies take place?  What do you think, Corwin?”

_Corwin found a book amongst his collection with some discussion of various demon cults and their practices.  It has proved quite valuable to the party over the past few days.  That’s what happens when you roll a natural 20 on your Knowledge: Arcana skill check…_

“Typically on nights of the full and new moons, and also on the winter and summer solstices,” Corwin replies.

“There’s a full moon tonight,” Reana says.

The party decides that Corwin will _scry_ on Lord Kentfield at the moment of the moon’s apex, figuring that to be the likeliest time for a ceremony.  Then Jovah will _dimensionally fold_ the party to the location described by Corwin.  It’s risky, but they hope to jump into the middle of things and cause a ruckus.

First, though, they need to go back to town and pick up Corwin’s mirror at the Gold Dragon Inn, since he needs it in order to cast the _scry_ spell.  They go to town and pick up the mirror.  No one appears to be following them, and they safely make it back outside of city walls.

About an hour before the moon reaches its highest point that evening, Corwin begins his casting.  After an hour, he begins describing what he sees.

Kentfield is in an open, horse-drawn carriage.  He is accompanied by a bodyguard in full plate armor, another in banded mail, carrying a loaded crossbow, and a female guard wearing breastplate armor.  Sitting next to the rider is the rapier-wielding, foppish bodyguard who the party met just after the Griffon fight.  They ride through the streets of Ulfang until they are outside a stone building in a run-down section of town.  They get out of the carriage, with the guards at their most alert, and the carriage leaves. They enter the courtyard of the building, and go into a small tavern called the “Gregarious Gargoyle.”  The bar appears empty, with just a barmaid cleaning glasses in the darkened room.  

Something catches Kentfield’s eye just after he enters, and he turns towards the direction of the _scrying_ sensor.  He begins casting a spell, and Corwin hurriedly drops his _scry_.

“He saw it,” he says.

“I was hoping he’d be in the middle of a ceremony, dammit,” Sir Brennen says.  “What now?”

After some deliberation, they decide to jump into the courtyard of the building and enter the bar normally.  Gavin preps for a fight, putting on the samurai-mask he received from the Emperor of Ralt Gaither, and tying a headband with _continual flame_ cast on it around his forehead.

“How do I look?” he asks Jovah.

“Like your head is on fire,” Jovah replies.

“Cool,” Gavin responds.  “That’s the look I’m going for.”

They _fold_ to just outside the Gregarious Gargoyle.  The tavern is below street level, and they clamber down a flight of stairs to the door.  Aris enters first, followed by Jovah.  The place is dark, lit only by one lantern behind the bar.  The barmaid looks up from cleaning glasses.

“We’re closed,” she says. “Come back tomorrow.”

“Uh, just one quick drink?” Aris says.

“Sorry,” she responds.  “I’ve closed everything up.”

“We have gold,” Jovah says. “We’ll pay well for just one drink…”  A _suggestion_ from the gnome seems to change her mind.

“Oh, well, alright then,” she says, pulling out a couple of bottles of wine and a handful of glasses.  The party starts entering the room, one by one.  Brennen pulls up a seat by the bar, and starts making small talk.

Then Gavin walks in.

He’s still got the _continual flame_ headband on, so the room gets _very_ bright all of a sudden.  Brennen and Jovah turn around, and now that the tavern is well-lit, they see that the place is not so empty as it seemed.

Just a few feet from Brennen, lost in shadow, sits the foppish bodyguard, hand resting on his rapier’s hilt.

In one corner sits a man in leather armor, with a longbow strung and set on the table in front of him.  He twirls an arrow in his fingers like a drummer in a band.

In the other far corner sits another man in leather armor, with a lute in his hands and a shortsword unsheathed on the bench nearby.  He looks quizzically at Gavin, and begins strumming a tune on his instrument.

Between those two sits a half-orc matching the description of Tuck, the assassin’s guild lieutenant.  He holds a bow in his hands.

Near the stair leading down from the entrance sits the female bodyguard Corwin saw in his _scry_.

Jovah looks at the barmaid.

“You better get out of here!”

Brennen grins a big grin.

“So, where’s Kentfield?”

Aris look at the half-orc.  “Hey, is that Tuck?”

And the battle is joined.  To Jovah’s immense surprise, the barmaid leaps over the bar, transforming in mid-leap into the golden-eyed man, and drawing a rapier.  The foppish man strikes at Brennen, injuring him mildly.  Tuck flips over the table in front of him, using it for cover, and fires an arrow at Aris.

Jovah barrel-rolls over the bar, and looks in the room behind the bar.  It’s a kitchen, empty, with a door leading out the back.

The archer at the corner table draws his bow back and unleashes two shots into Gavin, who is reacting slowly today.  The two arrows bite deep into his flesh, dealing out massive wounds

_The archer had +5d6 sneak attack, and the arrows were frost arrows.  Gavin took 48 points from 2 shots._

Gavin makes his way towards Tuck, but can’t get a swing in yet.  Reana, Aris and Brennen are dealing the golden-eyed man, who whirls into action, striking at each of the people near him!  However, the display of fencing prowess is for naught, as he misses everyone.

_Whirlwind attack works better if you can roll over a 5….  Grrr…_ 

Jovah has a flash of inspiration, and peeks out over the bar at the chaos and bloodshed happening.

“Tuck!  The golden-eyed man is trying to kill me!   I need you and your men to kill him!”

Suddenly the tables are turned, as the assailants all turn from the party to the golden-eyed man.

“Uh oh,” the rapier-wielding shapechanger mutters.

_Jovah had been hiding how he had been suggesting things to people up to this point.  You might remember the Ring of Humanoid Control from the last campaign.  Gavin never got the thing to work, because it was actually a ring of HUMAN control.  Aris misidentified it.  Jovah figured out its powers in the meantime.  One of its abilities is basically a mass charm, and ALL of the assassins failed their saves._

Now things are much different, and the golden-eyed man starts taking some serious hits, including a critical hit from Brennen.  Gavin decides not to deal with Tuck, and turns to the bard still strumming on his lute.  He raises his sword and swings down hard on his head, drawing much blood.  The bard slips under the table, and changes tunes.  A mist springs up around the tavern, obscuring almost everyone’s vision.  Tuck slips out of the bar in the confusion.  Gavin brings his sword down on the bard again, and the music stops.

The golden-eyed man tries to use this opportunity to make his getaway but Brennen criticals him again, and he drops into the mist.  Reana is taking no chances, and drops the female bodyguard.  The foppish bodyguard cries out, and moves to grab her and escape, but both Brennen and Reana block his path.

“Tuck!  Take your friends to the constabulary and turn yourselves in!” Jovah yells.  They seem less inclined to follow this advice then the previous, however.

The foppish bodyguard looks from Brennen to Reana.

“Just let us go, and we’ll forget this ever happened,” he says.  “We don’t want none o’ you.”

“Why were you trying to kill us?” Brennen asks accusingly.

“I’m just doing my job!” he replies.

“And what’ll stop you from coming back and attacking us again?” the Sword of Kelanen asks.

“I’ll get a _new_ job,” is the reply.

Reana puts the point of her blade at the female bodyguards neck.

“Where is Kentfield?” she asks.

“There’s a trapdoor in the room behind the bar,” he answers, moving Reana’s sword with the tip of his own rapier.  

“He’s down there somewhere.”

“Alright.  You can go.” Reana lowers her sword and the foppish man leaves, female bodyguard over his shoulder.

The mist is subsiding as Corwin pulls the golden-eyed man out of the mist.

“Wait a minute, what the hell is this?!” he says in alarm.

Where the golden eyed man was is now a tentacled creature with golden eyes.  It looks like a tri-tentacled reptilian beach ball with a cruel beak like a bird.  The clothes and rapier of the golden-eyed man are still there, and they stuff them into the party’s _bag of holding_.  As they do this, the silence is disturbed by the sounds of Gavin smashing the bard’s lute into little pieces against a stone pillar.  He stops when he sees the party staring at him.

“Uh, sorry,” he says sheepishly, holding the mangled neck of the instrument.


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## Lazybones (Feb 27, 2002)

Hey, you guys are dropping near the bottom of the page... (bump)

Great post!  Now that they have scrying and folding, looks like few places will be beyond the reach of the party.  Like the new twist with the villain (going to have to go home and re-read my "M" section in MoF after work).

LB


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## Jovah (Feb 27, 2002)

*The Ring*

Yes the Ring saved the day.

The wonderful ring.

My _ precious _ ring.

Keep away Gavin - Its MINE !!

snarl


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## Grifter86 (Feb 28, 2002)

*Neat*

Heya,
Real interesting developments, and, it seems, a pretty intense bit of combat there.

I'm curious about something: how do you set up an adventure? Do you use a lengthy, general timeline, deciding what villains will come up or is this campaign more deus ex machina than you let on? Or is it something entirely different?

Keep the story hour moving!


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## Jovah (Feb 28, 2002)

Lazybones said:
			
		

> Now that they have scrying and folding, looks like few places will be beyond the reach of the party.




Is that good or bad for us?

Right now we are _ running_ to interrupt a Demonic Cult meeting of unknown size and unknown agenda.

MMM shiny ring


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## Kid Charlemagne (Feb 28, 2002)

*Re: Neat*



			
				Grifter86 said:
			
		

> *Heya,
> Real interesting developments, and, it seems, a pretty intense bit of combat there.
> 
> I'm curious about something: how do you set up an adventure? Do you use a lengthy, general timeline, deciding what villains will come up or is this campaign more deus ex machina than you let on? Or is it something entirely different?*




It depends on the adventure, but I do try to keep the deus ex machina element out of it as much as possible...  For example, I have a calendar, which includes moon phases already designated.  I decided that this adventure was beginning around the time of a full moon (and therefore close to a ceremony) but I would have been happy to let the PC's putz around and miss the action.

If they miss some thing, that just means I have a plot thread that I can tie into things later on.  Since this is a long term game, I can always come back to those things, and coming back to them adds to the sense of the world being alive and having an existance outside the party's actions.

At this point in this campaign, the PC's have great leeway to decide what they want to do, and be active participants rather than merely reactive participants in the world.  Jovah in particular is making himself ever more important in the political life of his home town, Fencig, to the point of trying to figure out who he needs to get on his side in order to get gnomes the vote!


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## Gavin (Feb 28, 2002)

Oh the plans we made... We were going to fold in like an assault team. Gavin was even going to ride his plate mail barded horse in like a tank. Actually that would have been a bad idea since the bar was in a basement and those steps were a little narrow...

Gavin thought the Samurai helmet with the flaming headband would be a nice shock tactic. It didn't work exactly as planned. It ruined the ambush but didn't stop that stupid archer from blasting him. Ooh, the sneaky git got away, too.

Kid C didn't mention that Gavin left off Tuck when he realized he was ensorcelled, then went up to the bard. "Stop playing that idiotic tune," Gavin said.  The bard gave Gavin a rather rude hand gesture. Now Lord Gavin won't accept that kind of disrespect, and he was still in pain from those horrible arrows, so he vented on the bard. When he was put down, Gavin smashed the instrument out of pure spite muttering something like "_inspire_ that, bardy!". It was only later that he realized that A. that lute was probably magical and probably worth a lot of money, and B. the bard was probably under Jovah's influence, but because of the way Jovah stated his command, the bard wouldn't listen to any of the other party members. Oops.


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## Jovah (Feb 28, 2002)

*Re: Re: Neat*



			
				Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> Jovah in particular is making himself ever more important in the political life of his home town, Fencig, to the point of trying to figure out who he needs to get on his side in order to get gnomes the vote!




I was goin got make some comment about The Ring being my running mate for city council ...but thought I better stop that whole line of joking before I give Kid C any ideas.

The gnomish community is not large in the Fencig area, but we could use a little representation.  Mainly I want to take the Reksus political machine down a few pegs.

Although "King Jovah" does roll off the tongue.


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## Sir Brennen (Mar 1, 2002)

Lazybones said:
			
		

> *Now that they have scrying and folding, looks like few places will be beyond the reach of the party.*



 But since Jovah only has one _Fold_ a day, one of these little jaunts of ours is going to turn into kind of an arcane Roach Motel...

"Heroes go in, but they don't come out..."


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 1, 2002)

*Re: Re: Re: Neat*



			
				Jovah said:
			
		

> *The gnomish community is not large in the Fencig area, but we could use a little representation.*




Fencig is ruled by a Marquis, with an advisory council of "wardens."  There are 32 Wardens, 2 elected in each of 16 Wards.  Human and dwarven citizens of Fencig who own property are eligible to vote.  Not actually racism per se; it's just that those are 99% of the population.  Gnomes just weren't considered when the laws were drawn up.  

Jovah's looking to change that, or at least get a Warden or two in his pocket - especially since he's sure that Reksus probably has a half-dozen at least.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 1, 2002)

By the way, I just have to say this: The absolute funniest thing about the _Ring of Human Influence_ getting misidentified by Aris is that it happened the very first time that Aris cast _identify_ after having been trying to learn the spell for something like 4 levels (back in the 2e days).  Just one more thing in a really long streak of bad things happening to Aris.  

The Ring was the key element to the disappearing Rangers.  Bronec (the guy they got the Ring from) would _charm_ the Rangers, and then either capture or kill them.

It also gives Jovah a +4 to his charisma.  Jovah really likes the Ring.


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## Matchstick (Mar 1, 2002)

This was one of your best updates to date.



> After some deliberation, they decide to jump into the courtyard of the building and enter the bar normally. Gavin preps for a fight, putting on the samurai-mask he received from the Emperor of Ralt Gaither, and tying a headband with continual flame cast on it around his forehead.




Dang!  I always wanted to try that, though I was thinking some kind of collar.  That way the flames would completely obscure my features.  Kind of a Dread Dormammu thing versus Gavin's Firelord thing.

How's that for geeky references?  



> The archer at the corner table draws his bow back and unleashes two shots into Gavin, who is reacting slowly today. The two arrows bite deep into his flesh, dealing out massive wounds
> 
> The archer had +5d6 sneak attack, and the arrows were frost arrows. Gavin took 48 points from 2 shots.




OK, OUCH!  That must have given some players pause, to see that kind of damage dealt in two arrows!



> Now things are much different, and the golden-eyed man starts taking some serious hits, including a critical hit from Brennen. Gavin decides not to deal with Tuck, and turns to the bard still strumming on his lute. He raises his sword and swings down hard on his head, drawing much blood. The bard slips under the table, and changes tunes. A mist springs up around the tavern, obscuring almost everyone’s vision. Tuck slips out of the bar in the confusion. Gavin brings his sword down on the bard again, and the music stops.
> 
> The golden-eyed man tries to use this opportunity to make his getaway but Brennen criticals him again, and he drops into the mist. Reana is taking no chances, and drops the female bodyguard. The foppish bodyguard cries out, and moves to grab her and escape, but both Brennen and Reana block his path.




Oooooo, Brennan must have had a hot hand.  This must be where that 50+ damage round popped out.  I can't believe the guy survived two criticals!



> As they do this, the silence is disturbed by the sounds of Gavin smashing the bard’s lute into little pieces against a stone pillar. He stops when he sees the party staring at him.
> 
> “Uh, sorry,” he says sheepishly, holding the mangled neck of the instrument.




Once again, no one ends an installment better than you do!


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 1, 2002)

Our next session is this Sunday, so I'll try and get a update up as soon as possible.  Things will be starting off with a bang, I suspect...


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## jalea (Mar 3, 2002)

*This Sunday*

Hey Guys, I will actually be able to be there with Reanna too!


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 3, 2002)

*Re: This Sunday*



			
				jalea said:
			
		

> *Hey Guys, I will actually be able to be there with Reanna too! *




Woo hoo!  We've roped another player into the Story Hour!


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 4, 2002)

Just got back from running the game, and I had to give a REAL brief plug for the upcoming installments:


Jalea triggers the Rube Goldberg Demon Trap.
Jovah finds ways to not do anything much at all.
Brennen and Aris argue over which one will be played by Keanu Reeves in The Matrix: Swords and Spells.
Gavin finds ways to do more damage with normal blows than Brennen does with critical hits.
Corwin gets Mazed.

It was a non-stop action-filled battlefest.  No pesky role-playing this session; just wall-to-wall fighting.  And I'm becoming more and more amazed at the ability of the party to take situations that I think are desperate, and turn them into, if not actual clear wins, at least strategic victories.


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## Salthorae (Mar 4, 2002)

*joinin up*

I've always heard good things about the KC story hours but never read one...but now I see the truth everyone speaks. Great writing and I love the lute bashing  Gotta love the M section of that book right KC and lazybones?  keep it up and I look forward to the next update


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 5, 2002)

*Ulfang, Midnight, June 3rd, AE 420*

Jovah dispenses some healing magic, and the party heads down the ladder that they find once they open the trapdoor in the room behind the bar.  They climb down in to a large basement, forty-five feet wide, and longer than they can see with the light provided by Aris’ _flameblade_ and Gavin’s flaming bandana.

Jovah pulls out one of his rocks with _continual flame_ cast on it and tosses it the length of the room.  It bounces several times, illuminating the rest of the room, and coming to rest against a normal sized oaken door, painted a brilliant turquoise color.  The basement appears to have been used for storage, there are various crates and boxes scattered throughout the room.  As they approach the turquoise door, they notice two other doors leading off to the left and right.  Each is unpainted, but otherwise similar to the first door.

“There’s somthing magical beyond that door,” Jovah says.  “I can’t tell what kind of magic, but it’s pretty strong.”

Jalea checks the door for traps and finds none.  He unlocks the door, and then opens it slowly, just a few inches.  

He feels a little abnormal resistance, which goes away after a moment.  He hears two sounds on the other side of the door; a low, deep, grumbling, snorting sound, and a sound like a thin thread running through a metal eyelet.  

He holds the door slightly ajar for a few more moments, grimacing at each succeeding noise.  Right after the sound of the thread running through the eyelet comes a loud *clang* from something metal bashing into something else metal.  

 Corwin winces.

Then there is a sound like a chair falling over followed by another metal clang and a sound like dozens of marbles rolling over a stone floor.  Then the low grumbling turns into a quiet, deep chuckle.

“Open the door all the way, Jalea,” Corwin says.  “I’m fireballing whatever’s in there!”

Jalea throws the door open, and Corwin begins casting his *fireball*.  Unfortunately, his armor gets in his way, and the spell fizzles out.  He can see clearly into the room now, and his expression is not a happy one.

The room is octagonal, with a lowered area in the center surrounded by six pillars.  The floor is covered in marbles rolling all over the floor, including down into the lowered area, where a fifteen foot diameter pentagram is inscribed.

Inside the pentagram is a two-story tall minotaur-like creature.  It leans over and picks up one of the marbles that has crossed the pentagrams edge, and smiles wickedly at Corwin.

And then it charges at the door.

It’s a huge creature, and it seesm unlikely that it can fit through the door.  There is a ten foot hall on the other side of the door leading into the summoning room, further isolating the creature from the party.  

Gavin and Reana run to the right hand door, and throw it open, hoping that there might be some way around the creature’s chamber.  They find only that the hallway beyond leads to the sewers.

Jalea fires off two arrows that hit the thing dead on, and bounce off it’s skin.  He steps to the side of the door, but the thing’s arms are long, and it is able to reach the elf even down the ten foot hall.  Aris steps into view, and fires off a _lightning bolt_, but the magic breaks on the creature’s hide like water, to no avail.  Corwin manages to let fly a _lightning bolt_ of his own, and this one pierces it’s defenses and hurts the thing.  

Aris then tumbles down the hall, and to the creature’s side.  Jalea tries to match his fellow elf’s moves, but takes another swipe from the minotaur-thing.  However, he’s now in position to do a sneak attack, and his _shortsword of quickness_ bites deep into its hide.  Brennen takes the opening made by the thing attacking Jalea and rushes in to engage, and gets in a blow as well.

The thing steps back, and makes a few arcane gestures.  Brennen, Jalea, Aris, and Jovah are all overwhelmed with a sense of fear and doom, and flee the area, leaving Corwin alone, with only the ten foot hall seperating him from the thing.

Then, the creature teleports into the room with Corwin, and suddenly the wizard is face to face with the eighteen foot tall Minotaur-demon!

“Uh guys?” the frightened wizard yells, “I could use a little help here!”  He draws his seldom used bastard sword, and prepares to get his hands dirty for the first time in ages.

The creature begins another incantation, and Corwin swings his blade, to little effect.

Gavin and Reana rush back to the room, as Jalea rushes past them and takes refuge in the sewers.  They arrive just in time to see the creature point at Corwin, and to see Corwin vanish from the room!

Corwin finds himself in a stone passage, with twisting corridors leading in all directions.  

“This is a _maze_ spell,” he thinks to himself.  “Just remember, the important thing is to _try_ to escape; that way the spell will end sooner…”

Gavin looks around, and sees Jovah huddled in a corner, frightened out of his wits, and sees that Brennen and Aris have taken refuge upstairs.  The demon (for that’s what it _must_ be, he thinks) is terribly injured, but seeming more angry than anything.  He moves into position to charge, and Reana fires off a couple of magical arrows that stick in the creature’s hide, and they prepare to bear the brunt of its attack.

Reana draws both her shortswords and goes in swinging.  Gavin reconsiders his charge, as he is badly injured himself, and advances carefully.  The minotaur-demon unleashes his full arsenal of attacks, swinging claws and horns with equal power, drawing blood from both combatants.  Reana lands several deep cuts on the thing, and then Gavin lands two, with the second biting particularly deep.

Finally, the thing drops.  Moments later, Corwin pops back into the room, right where he left it.

“Where were you?” Reana asks incredulously.

“You know those noble outdoors parties where they have those gardens with the hedge mazes?” Corwin asks. “I’m never going to one of those again.”


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## Tuerny (Mar 5, 2002)

Sounds cool Kid C 
What was that minotaur demon thing, btw?
I vaguely remember something like it in Planescape but do not remember what it was out of hand.


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## Jovah (Mar 5, 2002)

MAN was Jovah useless for this game session.

In this scene- screaming like a little girl.  Wait... first he dropped his newly aquired magic Mace and _ then _ he ran away screaming.

But at least screaming is doing something.

In the next scene.... Doh !




PS:  You would think that _ Endurance_ would be a good thing- but the "extra" 18 hit points hung over Gavin for this whole session.  They are *NOT* temp hit points that go away first...eep


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## Sir Brennen (Mar 6, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> *
> Gavin looks around, and sees Jovah huddled in a corner, frightened out of his wits, and sees that Brennen and Aris have taken refuge upstairs.*



 Nothing like having both the PCs you play run from the battle in shrieking terror. 

But Brennen and Aris get there fair share of action in the next installment.  Actually, I think they get Jovah's share, too.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 6, 2002)

*Ulfang, Midnight, June 3rd, AE 420*

Brennen and Aris return sheepishly from the bar upstairs where they had been hiding.  Jovah looks out from behind a box, and seeing the minotaur-demon is dead, joins them.  Jalea sticks his head back in the room from the hallway to the sewers.

Gavin and Reana congratulate each other on taking the beast down by themselves, and they start checking the summoning room out.  There is another turquoise-painted door on the other side of the room.  They discover that the trap set off by entering the room was a very simple one; a steel weight was tied to the door, and when the door was opened the thread holding it back was untied.  This allowed the weight to swing into a busket full of marbles sitting on top of a wooden stool.

“We’re right under the docks on the Noren River,” Jalea says.  “We go more than twenty, thirty feet straight out that way, and we’d be swimming.”

“You gonna check this door for traps, too, Jalea?” Gavin asks skeptically.

“Hey, there was no way I could have found that trap,” Jalea replies.  “The only way to set it or deactivate it is from this side.”

“So whoever set that trap has to still be here?” Brennen asks.

“Right,” the elf responds.

There is some discussion of what to do now; the party is relatively healed up, but Jovah has only one spell left.  Corwin has a few spells available, but none of his big ones.  They decide to continue on, since this may be there only chance for a while to disrupt a ceremony dedicated to Pazuzu, and get a clean shot at Arlen Kentfield.

Jalea checks the door, and unlocks it.  Beyond is a stairway that leads down at a steep angle.  At the bottom, Jovah estimates they are about a hundred feet below where they were previously.  Jalea has no idea how deep the river is at this point, but he knows that its about 1,000 feet across.

Gavin leads the group down the stairs, and when they end, he starts down the narrow hall.  The walls are wet with condensation, and there is a fair amount of mold and mildew here.  Then Gavin stops, and whips off his _continual flame_ bandana and stuffs it in a pouch.

“I see a light up there, and I think there’s a door,” he says.

Jalea sneaks up to the door, which is about thirty feet down the hall.  The door is made entirely of rusting iron, and there is a small, open viewing window about five feet up.  Jalea stops and listens.  He hears voices on the other side of the door.

“I’ll see your three silver, and raise you five.”

“No way!  I call.”

Jalea cracks a smile, and sneaks back to the group.  They decide to have Jalea try to open the door, and then the party will rush the room.  The elven “scout” sneaks back, and tries the door handle, quietly.  It turns, but the door won’t open.  It must be barred, Jalea thinks.  Then he notices that the voices have stopped.

“Did you hear something?”

“Nuh uh.”

Gavin and Jovah are back about thirty feet, with crossbows loaded and ready to fire.  They see the light streaming through the open view port, and then see something or someone block the light.  Jalea can see that one of the guards is looking down the hall, towards where the party lies in wait, all lights extinguished or hidden.

Jalea pulls out a dagger, and steps up to the view port.  He stick the dagger _through_ the view port, and catches it in the nostril of the guard looking down the hall.

_“Open the door!”_ he whispers threateningly.  The guard complies fearfully, but his fellow guard is less inclined to give in.

“Hey!  What are you _doing_?”

Jalea kicks the door in quickly, and slips into the room.  He draws his _shortsword of quickness_ and deals a nasty blow to the first guard.  He’s somewhat surprised that he doesn’t go down.

“These are pretty tough guards,” Jalea thinks to himself.

The rest of the group rushes the door and gangs up on the other guard.  The first guard runs for it through another open door in the room, running down a very wide open hall that seems to go on a very long ways.  Jovah tries to peg him with a crossbow bolt, but misses.  The gnome can see that very far off, maybe a hundred yards, there is a large number of torches.

Corwin tries to zap the fleeing guard with a _magic missile_, but his armor gets in the way _again_, and Aris is forced to use a _magic missile_ of his own to bring him down.

A quick survey of the room reveals a couple of light crossbows and bandoliers of bolts, and about ten red cloaks.

“Aha!” Brennen says.  “We can disguise ourselves with these!”

They suit up in the red cloaks, and make their way down the wide chamber.  It is about forty-five feet wide, with the last ten feet on each side being about a ten foot drop off to a ten foot wide channel of brackish water.  As they approach the torches down the chamber, they can see that a ceremony appears to be taking place.

Four chambers just like the one the party is walking in meet at one point.  In the center of the point is a pool of water, ten feet below the level of the chamber floor.  In the center of the pool is a walkway five feet wide, around a raised platform five feet above the chamber floor.  The walkway can ony be reached by four narrow bridges.  

On the raised platform is an altar, flanked by two winged seven-foot tall demons.  Behind the altar stands a man in a red cloak and an elaborate bird mask, holding down a young man on the altar.  To his right stands a shorter man, also in a red cloak, with a less elaborate bird mask.  To his left stands a female sauhuagin, dressed scaly armor, and carrying a trident.  On the walkway around the raised platform stands Kentfield’s heavily armored bodyguard, and a four armed sahuagin wielding two tridents in two of his hands, and a heavy crossbow in the other two.

Arrayed all around these major figures are about two score (presumed) cultists, including four more sahuagin.

“We’re in big trouble,” Jovah says.  “That’s a lot of people to be fighting.  What are those demons anyway?”

“Nabassu,” Corwin says.  “Servants of Pazuzu.”

They form plan, and prepare to set it into action.  First, Aris cast _snilloc’s snowball swarm_ at the group of cultists right by the nearest bridge.  A furious volley of icy snowballs cascades into the area, knocking all but one of the eight cultists there out.

Jalea, Reana, and Jovah all let arrows and bolts fly at the lead priest, some hitting, some missing.  The lead priest sheaths the dagger he was preparing to use on his sacrifice.

The smaller cultist leader looks at the first one incredulously.

“They got past the Ghour Demon!”

“You said there was _no way_ they could get past the Ghour Demon!”


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## Lazybones (Mar 6, 2002)

Looks like an epic battle coming up!  I'm eager to see what happens...

By the way, the ghour must have fallen asleep at the Demon Tactics Academy, splitting its attacks on its two adversaries like that ...  Still, it was pretty damn heroic for two characters to take it out!


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## MasterOfHeaven (Mar 6, 2002)

Just dropping by to say I'm looking forward to the next update.


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## Sir Brennen (Mar 7, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> *First, Aris cast snilloc’s snowball swarm at the group of cultists right by the nearest bridge.  A furious volley of icy snowballs cascades into the area, knocking all but one of the eight cultists there out.*




_Snilloc’s Snowball Swarm_ (tm)... Knocks Cultists Out Cold!


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 11, 2002)

*Ulfang, Midnight, June 3rd, AE 420*

Sir Brennen casts _protection from evil_ on himself, and Corwin gives him a _haste_.  Jalea and Reana continue firing into the figures on the podium, and Gavin rushes up to start cutting his way to the altar.  Cultists begin running in all directions; the rank and file of the cult wants nothing to do with serious warriors!  

Brennen runs up through the path created by Aris’ _snowball swarm_ and cuts down a cultist, then another with his _hasted_ action. Aris casts _stargaze_ on the leaders on the podium and the sahuagin priestess succumbs and is dazed.  Corwin casts _summon swarm_ on the cultist leaders, or rather tries; his spell is ruined by his armor yet again!

The leader in the fancy bird-mask, and the bird-masked man to his right each begin casting spells, followed soon by the Nabassu demons.

“Five spellcasters!” Jovah says.  “I don’t like this at all!”

The four-armed sauhuagin starts forcing his way past cultists to get to Brennen, who is on the bridge leading up to the podium.  Kentfield’s bodyguard does the same from the other direction.  The Sword of Kelanen is _hasted_ however, and cuts down a cultist in his way, and then moves up to the altar and swings at the leader, whom the party is presuming to be Kentfield.  The blow clangs off his armor.  

Corwin casts _improved invisibility_ on himself, and follows Brennen.  Aris does the same, clearing out enemies with his _flametongue_.  The cult leaders finish their spells, and a _summoned_ tiger and a _summoned_ Girillon appear.  The tiger is right behind Brennen, and in front of Aris, and the Girallon is behind the platform, ready to get anyone coming around from behind the cultists.  Aris is clawed by the tiger, but holds his ground.

Jovah has cast _expeditious retreat_ on himself, and sees an open spot on the walkway around the raised platform.  He backs up a few feet to get the necessary run-up, and then charges forward in order to get enough speed to make the fifteen foot jump (quite a prodigious leap for a gnome).  Just as he he is almost ready to make the jump, the Nabassu finish their spells, and _summon_ a total of eleven ghasts to join the fray!  One appears right by Jovah, and swipes him with a claw, and the gnomish priest of luck fails to resist it and is frozen one step before leaping over the water!

_Jovah failed his save, and then failed on his second attempt, which he gets courtesy of the Luck domain’s special ability!_

Reana makes a desperate grab to keep the paralyzed Jovah from toppling over into the water, and pulls him back just in time.  Brennen’s path to the cult leader is blocked by two Nabassu and three snarling ghasts, but he steps calmly into their midst and attacks the leader again!   The creatures grin at their good fortune, and then snarl angrily as all of them find themselves unable to touch the Sword of Kelanen, as they are all _summoned_ and he has _protection from evil_!  Brennen snickers to himself, and keeps on swinging at the four armed sahuagin with the two tridents, and at the cultist leader.

Gavin has made it around to the left side of the platform only to find his way blocked by ghasts.  He resists their paralyzing claws, and begins swinging back, but they are holding him off.  He switches strategy, and sacrifices accuracy for power against the undead beasts, and the tactic starts paying dividends immediately, as he drops two ghasts with one swing each.  He moves up and gets a swing in on Kentfield’s bodyguard, who then retreats past the Girallon.

_With 8 points of power attack and a Bull's Strength, Gavin was doing a minimum of 20 points per swing!  Factor in Cleave, and the ghasts (HP: 26) were not long for this world._

The sahuagin decide they’ve seen enough, and begin retreating.  The four armed sahuagin stays and tries to cut down Brennen but doesn’t accomplish much even with his multiple attacks.  The cultist leaders retreat away from Brennen, past the Girallon, and down the far passageway.  The Girallon blocks the bridge; Brennen can’t be hit by it, but he can’t force his way past the eight foot tall, 800 pound four armed wall of muscle.  The two Nabassu fly away form the raised platform and land by the cult leaders, but Brennen still has a ghast and a sahuagin warrior on his back, although only the one can actually harm him.

Brennen takes a deep breath, and steps towards the Girallon, and then jumps off the raised platform (which is five feet tall).  He tucks his legs up underneath him, and clears the eight foot tall gorilla-thing in one standing broad jump!  He lands just past the creature, and since he’s hasted, he takes his full complement of attacks on the one enemy available (that isn’t _summoned_), the bodyguard.  

“Good god!” exclaims the bodyguard, as Brennen leaps the Girallon, and then wails into him, hard.

_First Brennen jumps the gorilla, aided by the five foot platform, then he lands three shots on the bodyguard, including a critical!_

The four armed sahuagin screams in anger at Brennen escaping his clutches, and drives his trident down into the sacrificee’s chest.  He then curses again at Brennen, and rushes off to rejoin his felllows, who are retreating down the right-hand passageway.  

Aris sees this, but can’t do anything since his path is blocked by the tiger, one remaining sahuagin, and a ghast.  He takes a  chance, and tries to tumble past all three!  He leapfrogs the tiger, landing on the steps, and somersaults over the altar, coming to a stop just feet away from the sahuagin and the ghast.  He lets them both have a burst of _burning hands_, taking them both down!

_Aris has an ungodly Tumble score - +16, I believe – and rolled a 19.  He’d have been toast if he hadn’t gotten at least a 25, since he would have taken three attacks of opportunity._

He checks the figure on the altar, a boy of no more than fifteen, and tries to stop the bleeding, but has little luck.  Gavin cleaves his way through the last of the ghasts, but can’t help much either.  Corwin has been taking down a few ghasts _invisibly_, as he has no spells of note left.

Brennen takes down the bodyguard, and begins advancing on the cultist leaders again. 

“Quinn!  Do something!” the leader says to his subordinate.  The second man beings casting a spell, and moments later, the ground is filled with black tentacles, covering the whole area.  

The two spellcasters pull back their remaining summoned creatures, and array them behind them as they retreat slowly up the passageway; the two Nabassu, Girallon, tiger, and one lonely ghast form a rear guard.  If Brennen wants to get to the leaders, he will have to break his _protection from evil_ spell against that one creature at least.  The Sword of Kelanen mutters innumerable curses under his breath, but doesn’t follow them; the party is too wiped out of magic and strength to continue on, especially past the _evard’s black tentacles_.

Jalea and Reana begin sweeping up anything interesting from the fallen foes, and finally someone manages to stop the young sacrificee’s bleeding.

“What now?” Reana asks.

Just then comes a crumbling, cracking noise from the far passage, where the cultists retreated to.  Aris looks around, and notices the water level beginning to rise, slowly but steadily.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” the bladesinger says, “and quickly!”

They gather up the would-be-sacrifice, the scavenged items from their fallen enemies, and the still stiff-as-a-board Jovah, and rush back down to the basement under the Gregarious Gargoyle, where the Ghour Demon is quickly decomposing into demonic goo.   There, as they try to decide how to proceed,  Aris checks the trapdoor to the bar, and hears voices.  Jalea checks it out by sneaking up into the bar, and getting close enough to listen.  He sneaks behind the bar, and peaks over the top

He tenses as he sees the the tentacled gold-eyed creature slowly rising above the level of the bar…

…and then relaxes as he sees it’s on the tip of a spear!

“Hey, lieutenant, what the hell is this?” the voice from the other room says.

“Hell if I know.  Uh, put it in the evidence folder, I guess,” says another voice.

“It’s too _big_ for the evidence folder, sir.”

“Well, then find a crate or something!  I want to get this done fast…”

“Should we check that trapdoor, sir?”

“No, I don’t like the smell from that basement…  maybe in the morning, when it’s light out.”

Jalea smiles to himself.  The Ulfang constabulary is efficient, but not terribly brave.  Quite likely bought and paid for, too, Jalea considers.

He returns to the basement, and informs the rest of the group of the constable’s presence.  They decide to find a hiding place in the sewers, and then after they’ve healed up, they will decide on a further course of action…


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## Gavin (Mar 11, 2002)

Gavin would normally only do 1d8+16 on a full power attack. 18 strength, Wpn Focus, Wpn Spec,and +9 base attack. This time he had a Bull's Strength on him so he had a 22 Str and he was using the longsword two-handed instead of using his shield. Big hittin, but a little more vulnerable than usual.

Gavin would only risk power attacking low AC creatures, because that -9 is going to guarantee a bad roll to hit. The best part is that you get to apply that bonus damage to all your attacks, and when you're a 9th level fighter and you have Cleave you can get 3 of 'em. 

Smokin' ghasts and cultists is nice, but I think Brennen and Aris were the MVPs of this little scuffle. I kept waiting for someone to cast that mysterious Bullet-Time spell and have the White Zpmbie music kick in. Sigh. Gavin doesn't really do acrobatics. In this fight he was way to worried about falling in the water and dying a very stupid and unheroic death drowning under all that armor weight. I think he needs to get a shield that doubles as a life preserver.

Also, I really wish we had found a way for Gavin to get his horse in their. Now that would've been fun.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 11, 2002)

Gavin said:
			
		

> *Gavin would normally only do 1d8+16 on a full power attack. 18 strength, Wpn Focus, Wpn Spec,and +9 base attack. *




That's +9 for each base attack you're not using, not sure if that was clear, I misread it the first time... and BTW, you don't add your focus into the damage so it would be +15 from what you have written above (boostable to +17 if you use the sword two handed for the 1.5 damage multiplier).

[edit] scratch that last bit, I wasn't including the sword, +16 would be right.  Boostable to +18 two handed.  Bleah.  My brain isn't working very well today...


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## Jovah (Mar 11, 2002)

Just for the record - in 2 games sessions that is 5 high-level assasins, Goldeneye, Ghour demon, 2 Nisbussus demons, Kentfield, several more high-level bodygaurds, Sahaguin, cultists and a bunch of Ghasts that Jovah could have turned easily..

Jovah took 2 points of damage total- then failed *twice* to make a DC 16 paralize save (with a +10 Will) then almost drownded.

ErgggHH!!


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 12, 2002)

Jovah said:
			
		

> *Just for the record - in 2 games sessions that is 5 high-level assasins, Goldeneye, Ghour demon, 2 Nisbussus demons, Kentfield, several more high-level bodygaurds, Sahaguin, cultists and a bunch of Ghasts that Jovah could have turned easily..*




The ghasts were the worst part.  I _knew_ they had practically no chance of being useful, since Jovah could turn them so easily, but I figured, hey, the Nabassu don't know that, so they summoned them anyway.  The one that got Jovah ended up being displaced by the _improved invisible_ Corwin, so he ended up right next to Jovah, who had just had his turn - making the run up to the following rounds subsequent jump.  And then he blows the two will saves, needing only a 6 or better on both.

Not sure it would have mattered, though; the empty spot on the bridge he was jumping for got occupied by a ghast as well!  If Jovah landed there, he'd have had to make a bullrush attack just to knock him off the bridge so he'd have someplace to land!


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## Sir Brennen (Mar 12, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> *The creatures grin at their good fortune, and then snarl angrily as all of them find themselves unable to touch the Sword of Kelanen, as they are all summoned and he has protection from evil!  Brennen snickers to himself, and keeps on swinging at the four armed sahuagin with the two tridents, and at the cultist leader.*



*Snickers? Sir Brennen would never snicker in combat.

Smirk, maybe. 




			“Good god!” exclaims the bodyguard, as Brennen leaps the Girallon, and then wails into him, hard.
		
Click to expand...


Hey, so I have a good Jump skill.  What else is a fighter suppose to put his points into?  

Actually, I have to give the Game Master credit with setting up an cool area for the fight to take place in.  Interesting combat layouts/obstacles/architecture, etc. give players (and NPCs!) more opportunities to do creative stuff during a battle. Brennen wouldn't have even thought about trying to clear that 8-foot monstrous gorilla-thing if he wasn't on a platform five-feet higher than it to start with!



			[Aris] takes a  chance, and tries to tumble past [the tiger, one remaining sahuagin, and a ghast]!  He leapfrogs the tiger, landing on the steps, and somersaults over the altar, coming to a stop just feet away from the sahuagin and the ghast.
Aris has an ungodly Tumble score - +16, I believe – and rolled a 19.  He’d have been toast if he hadn’t gotten at least a 25, since he would have taken three attacks of opportunity.

Click to expand...


 +17, actually. Next level he'll have the points to boost it to +20! And even with the AoO, Aris has an AC in the upper twenties (thanks to a high dex and Mobility feat.) When Aris is out of spells, expect to see a lot more of that kinda stuff (Kid C, I think I just decided Aris' middle name is Shekule  )



			The two spellcasters pull back their remaining summoned creatures, and array them behind them as they retreat slowly up the passageway; the two Nabassu, Girallon, tiger, and one lonely ghast form a rear guard.  If Brennen wants to get to the leaders, he will have to break his protection from evil spell against that one creature at least.  The Sword of Kelanen mutters innumerable curses under his breath, but doesn’t follow them; the party is too wiped out of magic and strength to continue on, especially past the evard’s black tentacles.
		
Click to expand...


Brennen hacked away one tentacle in frustration.  The bad guys got away again!  And even though the party put on an impressive show, we didn't take out anyone who seemed overly important. At least this time it wasn't *poof*, they're gone.*


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 12, 2002)

Sir Brennen said:
			
		

> *Actually, I have to give the Game Master credit with setting up an cool area for the fight to take place in. Interesting combat layouts/obstacles/architecture, etc. give players (and NPCs!) more opportunities to do creative stuff during a battle. Brennen wouldn't have even thought about trying to clear that 8-foot monstrous gorilla-thing if he wasn't on a platform five-feet higher than it to start with!
> *




I spend a lot of my "development" time visualizing the areas the party will travel and fight in.  I think that having an interesting environment really adds to the game...  It's something that I really work on, so it's nice to see the players agree!  

Except Gavin, of course, 'cause he still wants to ride his horse everywhere he goes.  Maybe Gavin should just knee-cap Jovah, and then they'd have to ride horses...


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## Jovah (Mar 12, 2002)

Actually-my favorite was Kid C's impression of the cultists after the Snowball Swarm wiped out a big patch of them.

"AHHHHHH!!!"

That and "You said there was no way they could get by the Ghour Demon"

snicker


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## Jovah (Mar 12, 2002)

Gavin gure is a whiner  

"I never get to ride my horse."
"I want my cut of the magic goodies- I have gotten the shaft so far."
"I want the ring."
"Brennen gets to kill everything."

"I have a low charisma."


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## Gavin (Mar 13, 2002)

You wound me, sir.

What's the point of risking your life if you don't get to piss and moan about it?

Gavin did get a really cool magic item from the shadow dragon's hoard, but guess what: It's on his horse's feet!. Sigh.

And remember, no matter how Gavin complains, he still gets the job done.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 14, 2002)

We play this Sunday, so there will be an update soon after!  The party is hiding in the sewers, and hoping to identify some of the magic they got off the golden-eyed man and Kentfield's bodyguard...


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 19, 2002)

*Ulfang, June 3rd, AE 420*

Jalea takes the party to a section of sewer to hide out until morning.  They have the dead body of Kentfield’s bodyguard, and the drugged, unconscious body of the 15 year old boy who was the intended sacrifice, so they’re a little leery of trying to make it past the night watch with them in tow.  

They camp in an older section of the sewers not directly connected to the modern system.  It is reached by crawling through a corken down section of wall, then descending a slope covered with broken rocks and bricks that make it difficult for someone to sneak up on them.   It also has an access tunnel to the river, opening just under the docks.  They set up watches and try to get some rest.

During the second watch, Aris hears a noise coming from the direction of the main sewers.  He sneaks up to take a look, and sees a group of a half-dozen cloaked people traversing the sewers near the entrance to the party’s hidey-hole.  Some of them are bearing torches, and they appear to be looking for something or someone.

“Great,” the bladesinger thinks to himself.

He informs the next watch, which is manned by Reana and Jalea.  Shortly into their shift, Reana hears a noise, and Jalea goes to check it out.  Another group of people is checking out this section of sewer, this time they number almost a dozen.  The elven scout slips back down the accessway without a sound, and starts waking people up.  Jovah wakes up, and sees a large number of leather-clad, cloaked figures coming down the slope.  

One of them slips on a rock, and a clattering noise is heard.

“Shhh!” another cloaked figure whispers urgently.

One of the first rogues tosses a torch into the room, right by Brennen.  Reana is waiting around the corner from the entrance, and she steps up to the front rank of rogues, and starts swinging.  She drops two of them easily, and Jalea drops another with a bow shot.  The rest, not expecting this level of resistance, and not terribly confident, run like the dickens.

“That was a pretty sorry bunch of thieves,” Jalea says.

“Sorry or not,” Jovah says, “They’ll be back with more.  They might have just been sent to find us, since we know Kentfield has Guild ties.”

“So what do we do now?”  Brennen asks.

Jovah thinks for a moment.

“I say we go out the river access tunnel, find a seedy hotel so we can get our spells back, and then go back to the Gold Dragon Inn to do some identifying.  We stick the bodyguard’s body in the grate, and come back later to do a _speak with dead_ on him.”

“Wait a minute,” Gavin says.  “I’m not swimming anywhere!”

“We’ll get a rowboat if we have to,” Jovah says.  “Sheesh.”

The plan works out pretty well.  They draw some stares from the early morning fishermen as they climb up out of the river by the docks, but Jalea finds a suitable inn to bunk in, and they are undisturbed for the next several hours.  By an hour or so before noon, they are back in the Gold Dragon Inn, with Jovah using _suggestions_ to convince the hotel staff to do the party’s laundry.

“Mission for the Marquis,” he says, handing over a pile of muddy, sewage and blood stained clothes to the incredulous maid.

Jalea goes out on the town to try and see if he can learn more about the man named “Quinn” that cast the _evard’s black tentacles_ at (presumably) Kentfield’s command.  Meanwhile, Corwin and Aris prepare identify spells, and spend the next eight hours prepping the items to be identified.  When they are ready, they go through them all, Aris starting, then Corwin going second.

Here’s what they have:


The Bodyguard’s shield is +3, his longsword is +2, his battle axe is +2, and he also had a _Ring of Sustenance_ and a _Ring of Shocking Grasp_.
The golden-eyed man’s bracers are _Bracers of Armor +4_ and his rapier is +2 (they already know it to be _shocking_).
The Bard/Assassin’s items are a _+1 Ring of Protection_ and _Bracers of Armor +2_

Much discussion ensues about how to divy the things up.  Brennen takes the _Bracers of Armor +4_ longsword +2[/i], Corwin takes the _Bracers of Armor +4_ and the _Ring of Sustenance_, Aris takes the _Ring of Shocking Grasp_, Gavin gets the _shield +3_, and Reana takes the _Ring of Protection +1_.

“Maybe Jalea could use the rapier?” Brennen asks

“By the way, where _is_ Jalea?”


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## Lazybones (Mar 21, 2002)

Don't mind me, routine page 2 patrol...

**BUMP**


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 21, 2002)

*Ulfang, June 3rd, AE 420*

_Rewind several hours…_

Jalea heads out from the Gold Dragon Inn on a mission to find out as much as he can about the wizard named Quinn.  Jalea is fairly certain that this is the same “twitchy” wizard he has seen accompanying Kentfield, and who was staying at the Kentfield country manor.

He decides to start by checking some of his old thief-ly haunts, hoping that no one will recognize him.  He goes to the first place on his list, a dockside dive on the west side of town.  He asks around for Quinn, indicating that the wizard had intended to hire him for a job, but gets no reaction.  No one here has heard of the man.  Jalea notices that the place is fairly deserted for early afternoon.  Ordinarily the place should be filling up with guild members looking to make connections, find jobs, or just hang out.

The second place he picks, another dive a little further up the west side, doesn’t seem any busier.  The bartender just looks at Jalea blankly when the name “Quinn” is mentioned, and shrugs wordlessly.

Then Jalea hears a noise behind him.  The bartender’s eyes go up, looking at something.  They widen in fear, and then the bartender faints dead away, behind the bar.  Jalea looks to a mirror behind the bar to see what is in the room behind him that could cause such a reaction.

Standing about fifteen feet behind the elf is an immense spider-creature.  It has four eyes, and eight legs.  It’s front four legs have knife-like appendages for claws, looking like huge butcher’s cleavers.  The thing appears more golem than spider, and there is no physical way for it to have entered the room via the door.

Atop the spider-thing is a rider in a saddle.  The rider is a woman, with long, red hair.  She carries a lance, held out to her side because the roof is too low for her to hold it straight up.  She also carries a greatsword slung across her back.  She swings the point of the lance towards Jalea…

…And that’s all Jalea needs to see, from his point of view.  He dives over the bar, as the lance comes sweeping down, smashing glasses and bottles into little pieces.  The elf tumbles into the backroom of the bar, and starts looking for the backdoor.  Just as he sees it, the door splinters inward, and a trio of thugs rushes into the room, led by Tuck, the half-orc assassin from the Gregarious Gargoyle.

Jalea leaves by the window, instead.

He somersaults into the alley behind the bar, and checks behind him.  He notices a crow fly out of the window he exited by, and land on a barrel nearby.  He unleashes two arrows into it, but they bounce off harmlessly.

“Aw, hell,” he thinks to himself.  He runs for it, heading for the nearest big marketplace, hoping to lose his pursuers in the hustle and bustle.

He makes it to a dockside market, and by hiding here and there, he manages to size up his pursuers, and, he think, lose them.  There are seven of them in addition to the spider and its rider.  He sneaks into a building, and makes his way to the rooftops, where he begins making his way towards Kentfield’s neighborhood.  Jalea is adept at this sort of thing, and the building s in Ulfang tend to be close together, so he is able to avoid the crowds below.  There is no sign of his pursuers…

…Until he leaps onto a building, and feels the sweep of a claw, just missing his neck.  Suddenly, the spider and rider are there on the roof with him, just becoming visible!  Jalea stumbles to the side, and falls off the rooftop, three stories up, but with his _Ring of Feather Falling_, he lands safely.

Five or six blocks down, he hears a noise, and he looks to that direction.  He sees a carriage being driven hard through the streets, with pedestrians either diving out of the way or being run over.  It appears that the other seven pursuers are on board, trying to keep up with the Spider-thing.  Jalea looks back up to see where it is, and sees it FLY off the roof, and hover there.

“Oh, man, that is _so_ not a good thing…” the elf mutters to himself.

A grey beam shoots out of one of the spider-thing’s four eyes, and everything goes black.


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## Gavin (Mar 21, 2002)

Great. Spiders. Gavin @#%^# hate spiders. Especially really big, mechanical ones with meat cleavers for arms and frickin laser beams on their heads.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 21, 2002)

*Ulfang, June 3rd, AE 420*

No one has seen Jalea since he left to do some information gathering earlier this afternoon.  It’s now about nine o’clock, and the team is concerned.  They decide to split up in order to try and track down Jalea as well as recover Kentfield’s bodyguard and use _speak with dead_ on him.  Corwin and Gavin stay in the Inn in case Jalea comes back while the rest of the group is out.  Aris and Reana will look for Jalea.

Sir Brennen and Jovah head down towards the east side docks (along the Norden River) to look for a rowboat they can rent.  The plan is to rent the rowboat, paddle up to the grate where the bodyguard’s body is stashed, grab the body, paddle somewhere incongruous, and use _speak with dead_.  Then they will dump the body.

The Sword of Kelanen and the Luckbringer of Bes arrive at the docks and find them quite deserted.  It’s very late, and there are only a few people out and about, mostly several blocks down near a waterfront tavern.  Jovah hears a noise behind him, and turns to see a cloaked figure about thirty feet behind him and Brennen, and a half-orc fighter-type looking straight at him.  The half-orc realizes he’s been spotted, and immediately starts whistling a tune, and looking off in the distance as if nothing is happening.  Not very convincingly, I might add.

Jovah taps Brennen on the arm, and he turns as well.  The cloaked figure curses under his breath, and begins casting a spell, at which point the half-orc pulls his great axe from his belt.  Brennen draws his swords, and Jovah casts _chaos ward_.

The cloaked wizard fires off two bolts of flame at the pair, one at Brennen, and the other at Jovah.  Both are seriously singed, and are seriously surprised when he follows this up by doing it _again_, and then retreating!

_Brennen, Jovah, meet 3rd Edition Haste.  3rd Edition Haste, meet Brennen and Jovah._

Brennen charges the half orc, but can’t quite reach him before the wizard zaps him with a _ray of enfeeblement_.  Jovah casts _fly_, and moves around to where he can get a swing in on the wizard.  The wizard is surprised, but laughs at the gnome when his mace glances off his _stoneskinned_ ribs.

“This isn’t going well, Brennen!”  Jovah yells out.

And it’s getting worse.  From the shadows comes Tuck, the half orc assassin.  He manouevers behind Brennen, and sneak attacks him.  The Sword is taking hits right and left, but is able to get in a couple big hits on the first half orc, who staggers back from the fight.  Brennen slips out of the way, and gets his back up against the wall in order to prevent any more sneak attacks, and faces down Tuck.

The wizard calls out for the first half orc, and the burly fighter starts heading towards him to help him out.   He sees Jovah dueling with his master, and standing right on the edge of the docks, and makes a huge tactical blunder.  He decides to try and bull rush the gnome off the dock.

_The half-orc had only 4 HP left, but the gnome was too inviting a target, and his intelligence was too low.  Attack of Opportunity be damned!_

Jovah sidesteps the half orc, and whacks him with his heavy mace.  The half orc falls into the river, unconscious.  The wizard, having seen enough, decides to beat feet towards the alleyway.

Tuck’s expression goes from confident to concerned, as he stumbles over his own feet, and loses his grip on his cutlass.  Brennen faces the half orc down, but can’t finish him off; the Swords of Kelanen’s code of conduct precludes attacking an unarmed opponent!

“Surrender!” he tells the assassin.

Tuck is relatively unhurt, and dares the attack of opportunity from the weakened Brennen.  He grabs his cutlass and makes a run for it, running down the same alley as the wizard.  Brennen draws blood, from the attack of opportunity, and from his readied action.

Jovah flies up to the roof over the alley, and sees Tuck running away.

“Tuck!”  he yells.  “Hit the ground!”  The Ring is proving damned useful.

Tuck hits the ground as if a bomb were about to go off.  The wizard, running further down the alley, turns and _dispels_ the _charm_, but Brennen gets another chance to cut the half orc down to size.  Then Tuck takes a step back, and casts a spell, _obscuring mist_.

“_He’s_ casting a spell?” Brennen yells out to Jovah.

The mist allows Tuck to charge off unseen.  The wizard decides to run for it, figuring on his _haste_ to help him make his getaway.  Unfortunately, Jovah can _fly_, and the gnome tracks him down quickly, finally dispelling the _haste_.  He’s been rendered useless in his last two fights, and isn’t about to let this guy get away.

The wizard looks at the three foot tall gnome, and then remembers he has _stoneskin_.

“Alright, little buddy, come and get it,” he says and whips a dagger at the gnome.

The priest of Bes smiles, casts _divine power_, and pulls his heavy mace back out.  He then closes on the wizard, and proceeds to beat the snot out of him until his _stoneskins_ are all gone!  

“Alright!” the wizard yells out, dropping his daggers.  “I surrender!”

At about this point, Brennen catches up with them.

The wizard smiles at them.

“Here’s the deal,” he says.  “You can sit here and try to interrogate me, or turn me in, or you can _maybe_ save some of your friends.  The Inn is being hit right now; the girl and the elf will be hit pretty soon.  Your choice:  Me or them.”

Brennen is fuming, and grabs the wizard by the collar.  He punches him hard, and the wizard crumples, unconscious.  The Sword and the priest turns to head back to the Inn, and then Brennen turns back and looks at the wizard again.  He goes over to him, and pulls him back up to his feet.

“You’re not a very good faker,” he says, and slugs him again.  The possum-playing wizard goes out like a light, this time for real.


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## Jovah (Mar 21, 2002)

Yeah Darth Jovah.

Nobody expects the gnome to have an 18 ST- thanks _Divine Power_ 

Jovah had to hit him about a dozen times - with the 10 damage reduction only a few points were going though each time.  But, luckily Wizards don't have a lot of HP.

Don't forget _Fly_ lasts quite a while


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## Sir Brennen (Mar 22, 2002)

Ack! Shown up by the gnome this battle!  Brennen rendered useless because his _opponent_ fumbled!

As we ran the session, someone asked if Brennen considers a weaponless spellcaster unarmed, and therefore a forbidden target for his swords.  
After thinking briefly, he decided you can never tell if someone that uses magic is defenseless.  In such a case, Brennen would probably err on the side of caution rather than mercy, unless the magic-user explicitly surrendered... which this one did!  

Ah, the price Brennen pays for being a human quissenart the rest of the time. _Two_ bad-guys lived because of the Sword of Kelenan code.  Why do I have the feeling that'll come back to haunt us?

And Aris... well, let's just say that in upcoming Story Hours posts,  Aris finds a way to one-up Jovah in the How to Be Useless In A Battle category.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 22, 2002)

*Ulfang, June 3rd, AE 420*

Back at the Gold Dragon Inn, Gavin hears a knock on the door.  

“Who is it?”  He asks.

“Room service,” comes the reply, from a female voice.

He takes a look through the small watch window, and sees a short woman, wearing the outfit of one of the Inn’s maids.  _Wait a minute,_ Gavin suddently thinks, _that looks like leather armor under her outfit!_

“Uh, sorry, we didn’t order anything,” he says, stepping back from the door, and drawing his sword.  Corwin gets up from the bed he had been sitting on, and steps over by the balcony door.

Gavin sees the door handle turn, and the scratching of a lockpick in the lock.  He quickly steps up and latches the door’s bolt, and the door rattles as whoever is outside tries to open the door.

“I said, we didn’t order anything!”

The door shudders as someone puts their shoulder into it, trying to break it down.

Corwin looks out onto the balcony, and sees two figures.  One has just descended from the roof via a rope, and is standing just outside the door onto the balcony.  The other is _standing_ on the wall, apparently _spider climbing_, and Corwin recognizes him as the assassin from the Gregarious Gargoyle who nearly killed Gavin.  Corwin steps back from the door and _magic missiles_ the first figure.

Gavin decides it’s best to deal with all the threats at once, and throws the bolt back on the front door, swinging blindly at the person on the other side.  He draws blood from the female rogue there, and sees a fighter in the hallway as well.

The first rogue jumps into the room and tumbles across the bed in order to try and flank Gavin.  The _spider climbing_ assassin nocks an arrow and lets it fly at Corwin, hitting him hard with a _frost_ arrow.  Gavin moves to avoid being put in a flanking position, and hits the fake maid again.  The fighter moves into the room and begins swinging at Gavin.  The other rogue repositions himself to try and flank Gavin again, but this puts him in the dangerous position of being flanked by Gavin and Corwin.  Gavin takes the maid down with his next blow, and Corwin steps back from the other rogue and eviscerates him with another _magic missile_, dropping him.  The archer-assassin decides that things are going badly, and clambers back up the outside wall, and the fighter retreats into the Inn’s hallway.

As he goes, he tosses a small black object into the room.  It explodes into a huge bubble of force, trapping both Gavin and Corwin inside it and injuring them badly.  It expands to fill almost the whole room, and even smashes the side walls outward so as to put a hole in each wall, breaking through to the adjoining rooms.  Gavin sees the fighter run off down the hall, but can’t do anything about it.  Corwin watches in frustration as the archer-assassin does the same.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 22, 2002)

*Ulfang, June 3rd, AE 420*

Meanwhile, Aris and Reana are trying to figure out where to look for Jalea.

“I say we should try the taverns and inns near Kentfield’s house,” Aris says.

“Do you think Jalea would be foolish enough to go somewhere that close to Kentfield?” Reana asks.

“Think about who we’re dealing with here,” Aris replies.

Reana has no argument for that, and the two take off for the neighborhood that most of the local nobles call home.  They decide to start closer to Kentfield’s house and work their way further out, so they start with the small tavern where they hid out while Reana got attacked  by the _summoned_ Griffon a few days back.  

“Seen any elves around here recently?” Reana asks of one of the waiters, offering a couple gold coins to prompt a memory.

“Not recently,” he replies, palming the shiny coins.  “Sorry.”

The Ranger and Bladesinger leave the tavern dejectedly, prepared for a long night of asking mostly pointless question of people that don’t have the anwers they’re looking for.

That is, up until the hear the screams suddenly filling the street.

They both turn to see the late night strollers running in all direction, looking for cover.  Standing in the center of the street is an immense spider-creature, more construct than alive, with cleaver-like claws and four eyes.  It has a saddle, but no rider.

“What the…”  Aris begins.

He is interrupted as red and gray beams shoot out from the thing’s eyes.  The red beam hits Reana, the gray beam hits Aris.  Reana is engulfed in flame, and seared badly.

“Aris, you alright?” she asks of the elf, who is standing there, stock-still.

Aris has been turned to stone.

Reana next several utterances would make a sailor proud.  She dives behind the low stone wall that surrounds the tavern’s outside seating area, and fires the _fireball_ arrow from Batista’s bow into the spider-thing.  Out of the corner of her eye she sees a horse change form into that of a red-haired woman.  The woman gestures in her direction, and _magic missiles_ fly from her finger tips, hitting the Ranger.  The spider thing also approaches, and brings a cleaver-claw down on her shoulder, drawing heavy blood.

Reana retreats into the tavern, where patrons are scattering to all corners.

“At least the thing can’t reach me in here,” she thinks.

She continues out the back door of the tavern, leaving the Aris statue standing in the center of the street, and begins sneaking back along the side alley to see if she can get behind either of her foes.

Back at the Inn, Jovah has arrived, at full _flying_ speed.  Seeing there is nothing he can do to help Gavin and Corwin get out of the bubble of force that has them entrapped, he begins flying around the city in ever widening circles, trying to see if he can locate Aris and Reana.  Finally, his eye is drawn to the smoke from Reana’s _fireball_ arrow, and he zooms over there.

_Jovah has fly AND expeditious retreat going at this point!  Speedy gnome!_

He flies down, and sees Aris transformed to stone, and Reana nowhere to be seen.  He watches as the red-haired woman enters the tavern, and then notices the saddle on the spider-thing.

“How convenient,” he thinks to himself, and lands in the saddle.

The spider-thing can’t reach its own back very well, and it barely seems to notice the gnome at this point.  Reana comes around the edge of the building, not noticing Jovah in the thing’s saddle (or not believing hereyes if she did), and sneaks into the tavern behind the unsuspecting red-haired woman.  But not before the spider-thing shoots off another eye-beam, this one electrical in nature.

“Can’t have that,” Jovah says, and he whips a spare cloak out of his back pack and wraps it around the thing’s head, covering it’s eyes.

Reana lets her opponent have it, swinging hard multiple times.  She staggers back a few feet, and unleashes another _magic missile_ at the half-elven Ranger.  Outside, the spider-thing fires off its fire eye-beam, burning Jovah’s cloak to ash.

“That wasn’t very effective,” he says, pulls out his heavy mace, and smashes it down on the thing’s skull.

The red-haired woman steps back again from Reana’s whirling blades, and slowly fades out of view, shouting a command to the spider-thing at the same time.  Reana swings her sword’s half-heartedly in her enemies direction, but they don’t touch anything.

Outside, the spider turns around, and begins making its way south-east, through alleys and back streets, with Jovah still sitting in its saddle.  The gnome comes to his senses and decides to vacate the area just in case it plans on taking him somewhere he’d really rather not be (like, say, the Abyss).

Inside the tavern, Reana tosses a handful of gold coins to the head waiter.

“Sorry about the damages,” she says, and walks out the door.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 22, 2002)

Woo hoo!  1,000 views!  Only 47,000 more till I catch Piratecat!<grumble, grumble>


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## Jovah (Mar 22, 2002)

> As he goes, he tosses a small black object into the room.  It explodes into a huge bubble of force, trapping both Gavin and Corwin inside it and injuring them badly.  It expands to fill almost the whole room, and even smashes the side walls outward so as to put a hole in each wall, breaking through to the adjoining rooms.  Gavin sees the fighter run off down the hall, but can’t do anything about it.  Corwin watches in frustration as the archer-assassin does the same. [/B]




Soon after that the Hotel Manager came upstairs to see what the racket was.  He managed to mouth "Your going to pay for the damage" to Corwin and Gavin still stuck in the force bubble.  That just struck me as a classic.

_It just figures of the 4 scenes- this is the one where the party members really kick butt-only to have the bad guys still escape._  GRRRRRR.


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## Jovah (Mar 22, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> _Jovah has fly AND expeditious retreat going at this point!  Speedy gnome!_
> 
> He flies down, and sees Aris transformed to stone, and Reana nowhere to be seen.  He watches as the red-haired woman enters the tavern, and then notices the saddle on the spider-thing.
> 
> “How convenient,” he thinks to himself, and lands in the saddle.




I think Kid C and the rest of the players got a little worried when I asked "wait- this thing has a saddle? cool 

But Jovah (read as Jovah's player) was really put out by doing squat in the last few battles.
"Fortune favors the Bold!"



> “Can’t have that,” Jovah says, and he whips a spare cloak out of his back pack and wraps it around the thing’s head, covering it’s eyes.




It was either that or his nice green dress pants.


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## Jovah (Mar 25, 2002)

2nd page !

Can't ahve that- bumpeeerinoh


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 26, 2002)

*Ulfang, June 3rd, AE 420*

Jovah flags down a carriage, and he and Reana load Aris into the back and tie him down with ropes and horse blankets.  They ride back to the Gold Dragon Inn, and find that Sir Brennen has joined Corwin and Gavin there.  They leave the Aris-statue in the courtyard, looking like another perch for the pigeons.

They decide to leave town tonight, in hopes that their pursuers won’t be able to find them.  They ride out of town (with Aris) and set up camp outside of town.

“What was that thing?” Reana asks Corwin.

“I think it’s a kind of demonic construct called a Retriever,” the wizard replies.  “They’re known for their ability to track anything anywhere.  It’s said that only the direct intervention of a god can stop such a thing from finding its quarry.”

“And who’s the rider?” Jovah asks.

“Could be another demon,” Corwin says.  “I don’t have any ideas about her.”

“What now?” Brennen asks the group.

“We need to get Aris turned back from stone,” Jovah says.  “The only person we know who might be able to do that is Tolaro.  I say we _dimension fold_ to Cape Varna and see if he has any suggestions.  Maybe that’ll get all these demons off our backs, too.”

They agree on this plan of action.  The night passes uneventfully; in the morning Corwin tries to _scry_ on Jalea, and gets no result.  This could mean that the elf is dead, however, it could also mean that he’s been turned to stone.  In either case, it means they have no idea where he is.

Jovah casts _dimensional folding_ and puts the party right into Tolaro Telegar’s front yard in Cape Varna.  Tolaro’s servants are remarkably non-plussed; the former Dean of the Cape Varna Mage’s College has had inumerable odd visitors over the centuries, and they’ve grown somewhat blasé about this sort of thing.  Tolaro’s butler fetches the elderly grey elf, who comes downstairs to see what’s going on.

“Dear me,” he says, looking over Aris’ stoned figure.  “This is not good at all.  Tell me all about what happened.”

The party fills him in on the events of the past few days.  They ask him if he knows anyone who can cast _stone to flesh_.

“Well, yes…” he says, and then trails off.  “Jovah, can you cast _break enchantment_?”

“Uh, why yes, yes I can,” the gnome responds.

_Several party members levelled up between the fights and this conversation, inculding Jovah, who can now cast 5th level spells._

“That might be a better way to go,” Tolaro says.  “It may take longer, since it wouldn’t be automatic, but it holds less risk for Aris.”

Jovah agrees, and the group plans out what they will do over the next several days.  They are down one party member (two if Aris isn’t fixed soon), and with all the fighting that has been going on, they feel they could use some reinforcements.  They identify three people that they can possibly call on:


Anthius, the bard (now duellist) who they previously travelled with around the time that they met Gavin.
Soldago, an an archer/horseman from the plains of Nali who is looking after Gavin’s interests in Shadow Springs (Gavin has the leadership feat).
Lastly, Sonya, a cleric of Nuada who travelled with Brennen and Jalea several years ago.  She currently resides in Sylvan, running a temple she set up there.

This would give them a little more firepower if they need it.  

Jovah does a _divination_, asking, “Where is Jalea?”

The answer comes back, *“En route to the old Kentfield Country Estate.”*

Over the next couple of days, Jovah manages to break the enchantment on Aris, returning him safely to flesh and bone; the party gathers Anthius and Soldago to Cape Varna; and Jovah casts another divination, with the question that has been bugging the party for the past week.

“Why are the Sahuagin helping Kentfield?”


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## Lazybones (Mar 26, 2002)

D'oh!  The down side of frequently checking the board for updates to my favorite stories is that I have to wait the longest for the next update!  I love how you have new twists in each installment (even when you're dribbling the action out to us in small pieces ).  

Keep it up, guys!
LB


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 27, 2002)

Some great quotes that didn't make it into the last few Story Hour installments:

"Just because I've seen a lot of dead bodies doesn't mean I want to roll around in them!"  
-Gavin

"What's the worst that can happen?  We just kill someone else to talk to." 
-Jovah, getting awfully cavalier about _speak with dead_.

"Do you feel better?" 
-Brennen to Reana, after giving her a potion taken from the wizard, assuming it _had_ to have been a _potion of healing_.

"Things didn't go well, did they?"
-someone (I think Tolaro Telegar), in the understatement of the day, upon seeing Aris turned to stone.

"Trying to breed a race of flying piranhas?"
-Gavin, attempting to answer the 64,000 gp question of why the Sahuagin are working with Kentfield (who worships Pazuzu, a bird-demon).


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## Kid Charlemagne (Mar 29, 2002)

Due to the Easter Holiday, we have *two* off weeks (drat!) between sessions.

Next session will see the answer to Jovah's divination; an attempt to rescue Jalea (I'm presuming!); and more fun with demon-worshipping noblemen and twitchy mages who summon monsters that don't look celestial, and don't look fiendish.  

Hmmm...


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## Grifter86 (Apr 2, 2002)

*Fwaap!*

What is this?

Two week delay or no, this story hour belongs on the front page!


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## Jovah (Apr 3, 2002)

Saved from the Horrors of page 2 by the _Divine_ Bump.

Next time - 2 new characters and a henchman.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 3, 2002)

Next time we have a long layoff, we'll have to regale the masses with the story of how Lucky the Pony got his name...


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 5, 2002)

Just to tide you over, here's a brief sidetrip to pick up Soldago, Gavin's Plains Horseman Cohort.  This is written and submitted (with a minor edit for factual accuracy) by Gavin's player.  Nice work...

***
The _Dimensional Fold_ appears in the center of Shadow Springs and Jovah and Gavin step through. The pair's sudden appearance draws startled looks from some of the townsfolk, but they relax when they recognize LordGavin. 

"Do I look any older?" Gavin asks the Priest of Bes, but Jovah only scowls. 

The fighter and the priestmake their way to Gavin's office.  The pair enters Gavin's office and finds a bored Soldago behind a desk,struggling to read a stack of papers. He stands and notices the determined look in Gavin's eyes.

"Trouble, Sir?"

"You could say that"

"What's the situation"

"Demons, giant mechanical spiders, sahauagin,evil
wizards, assassins, and people getting turned to stone."

"I see. I'll get my things."

"Send in Brindle and Grivnak on your way out"

Grivnak, a burn-scarred dwarf with a missing hand, enters the office accompanied by Gavin's chamberlain.  

"Brindle, Soldago and I are leaving on some important
business. I'm leaving you in charge of operations."

"Yes, my Lord," Brindle replies a bit hesitantly. "What
if something..."

"Nothing is going to happen, Brindle", Gavin interrupts. "We've taken care of the hobgoblins, and we've cleared out all the orcs and ogres for miles around. There's nothing left to fight."

"There's always Ekozius. Or the Drow might come back," Jovah says from the corner.

Gavin glares at Jovah, but returns his attention to Brindle. "I have every confidence in your abilities, Brindle. Now go out and get to work."

As soon as he leaves, Gavin turns to Grivnak. "Keep an eye him. Don't let him screw anything up." Grivnak nods and heads out.

Later as Jovah prepares the _Dimensional Fold_ back to Cape Varna, Soldago rides up. He seems eager, and his swift warhorse Wildfire matches his excitement.

"It's good to get out of the office, sir," he says as he rides through the _Fold_.

"I wonder if he'll feel the same after he gets turned into a statue," Jovah asks as he and Gavin follow.

***
Funny, for a rustic horseman, Soldago sounds a lot like Jeeves.

"So we're off, sir?  Excellent, shall I bring the wooden stakes and hammers?"

"No, vampires were last campaign, Soldago.  Do try to keep up."


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## Gavin (Apr 5, 2002)

Well. I was going to have him call Gavin "kemosabe", but I thought that would be a bit much. I think that it's more of a military "sir" than an aristocratic "sir". Or maybe he's a highly trained horse-archer butler from the Plains of Nali.

Soldago is a good soldier who was campaigning with Gavin as a mercenary for many years. This will certainly be more challenging than a typical mercenary bash-up, but Soldago handled himself OK against the demon-spaceship-hobgoblins. He's a little weak at in-your-face kind of fighting, but he's real nasty with a bow. Should balance out that slippery frost-arrow assassin who fustigated Gavin in the bar ambush. 

Be nice to finally have someone who can make a Spot check, too.


Sigh. With the Jeeves image firmly planted in my head, now I'm going to have to play him that way. Jolly good, suh.


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## Jovah (Apr 5, 2002)

I don't remember Jovah being such a smart-a$$ with Gavin.

Oh Wait that was with Sir Brennen.

The more I think aobut it,  I believe Jovh needs a title.  Perhaps I'll have Jalea "scout" one out.  Assuming that is, we can change him back.

I have been itching to try out that _Stone Shape_ spell.  
 

I would like to rehear that "How Lucky got his name" story-- that was almost 5 real-time years ago.
Jovah was so conservative back then.


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## Grifter86 (Apr 6, 2002)

> Soldago is a good soldier who was campaigning with Gavin as a mercenary for many years. This will certainly be more challenging than a typical mercenary bash-up, but Soldago handled himself OK against the demon-spaceship-hobgoblins. He's a little weak at in-your-face kind of fighting, but he's real nasty with a bow. Should balance out that slippery frost-arrow assassin who fustigated Gavin in the bar ambush.




Did I miss something? When did they fight the demon-spaceship-hobgoblins?


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## Gavin (Apr 6, 2002)

*Atomic-space-hobgoblins*

Ah that would be our little side adventure to break into 3E before beginning the Pazuzu-palooza in Ulfang.


It had giants, hobgoblins that weren't quite right, Gavin getting to use his Spirited Charge feat in the dark, and Dimensional Fold assault tactics. 

You'll have to ask KidC if he wants to write about it or not.


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## Jovah (Apr 6, 2002)

I believe we concluded they were Barghest.

No clue on the spaceship/cloud thing.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 6, 2002)

Grifter86 said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Did I miss something? When did they fight the demon-spaceship-hobgoblins? *




As Gavin and Jovah have mentioned, this was from a "get-to-know-3e" short adventure that I ran for them this past GenCon.  We had adapted the PC's and wanted to see how they ran, so I ran them through scouting and retaking Shadow Springs (which Gavin had just been given to rule, conditioned on his actually taking it back).

The hobgoblins turned out to be the remnants of those that had threatened Sylvan Fields way back when - the ones that they defeated on the bridge.  The leaders were in fact Barghests, and pretty tough.  They had a Hill Giant with them.

There was a thick layer of cloud over the city all the time that this was going on, and eventually, Aris flew into a metal ladder that stretched up into the clouds (he didn't see it because of the limited visibility from the cloud cover - he _literally_ ran into it).

Some conjectures were made, but they didn't brave the stair to see what lay at the end of it, and the following day, the clouds blew away - in the opposite direction of the wind.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 9, 2002)

*Cape Varna, Princedom of Krone, June 7th, AE 420*

Safely ensconced in Tolaro’s estate in the elvish city of Cape Varna, the party regroups after several days of preparations.  Jovah, Brennen, Gavin, Reana, and Aris are joined by Anthius and Soldago.

Jovah has cast several divinations, the first of which prompts a number of questions:

“Why are the Sahuagin helping Kentfield?”

The answer that Jovah receives is:

* Powers too weak to undo Mordax’ fate
Must combine to reclaim power great.*

The name Mordax is unknown to most of the party, but Jovah has come across it in his readings of religious history. Mordax was the name of an ancient evil diety (“Of course,” says Anthius) dating back to over three millenia ago.  He was closely allied with Xante at one point, and opposed by Leonus and Meilikki.  Jovah knows nothing of his fate, just that he’s not a household name any more.

_Xante is the goddess of portals, gates, and secret knowledge.  Less charitably, she is also the goddess of spies and blackmailers.  The party has run afoul of them before – the interdimensional castle was captured from a group of Xante priestesses who were using dopplegangers to infiltrate the Ghithorian nobility.  Leonus is the lion-god, a diety dedicated to the fey creatures and other magical aspects of nature. Meilikki is one of two gods strongly allied with the Rangers.  Both Leonus and Meilikki are strongly allied with the Druids as well._

Armed with this and the results of a couple more general divinations, the party prepares to _dimensional fold_ to Kentfield’s old country estate.  They’ve been there before; the Loraxites tried to take the Egg from the Sahuagin here earlier this very year.  The place was deserted except for undead, but they _fold_ to a spot on the cliffs out of view of the estate just to be safe, just before dawn.  The estate consists of a small valley with a river running through it, and a lake by the edge of the sea.  A waterfall spills over the edge into the Retic Sea, and a small manor house overlooks the lake and waterfall.

They immediately see that there is a ship docked at the bottom of the cliff wall.  Apparently Kentfield arrived here by sea.  Aris casts _locate object_ to find any statues of elves.  He receives a directional tug – downward and northwest.  Aris looks around and gets his bearings.

“He must be down in the temple area where we fought the Sahuagin before,” the Bladesinger says.

“Should we climb down the cliff and go in through the cavern entrance?” Jovah asks.

“Uh, excuse me?” Gavin interjects, pointing at his armor and shield.  “Water, heavy armor….  don’t mix well.”

“I think it would be safer going in through the manor house,” Aris replies.

“Everybody remember, we’re here to get Jalea,” Jovah says.  “Anything else is a bonus.”

They begin to make their way around the edge of the hill, trying to sneak up on the manor house.  They are jumped almost immediately by three wights, but Brennen lays waste to one of them with three blows, Soldago drops another with a flurry of arrows, and Gavin winds up for a big swing and clobbers the third with a single blow.

“Whew!” Brennen says.  “They barely saw what hit them.  Heck of a lot better than the last time we were here…”

The party is hopped up on boosting spells; _cat’s graces, bull’s strengths_, and _endurances_, so they’re feeling pretty good.  Soldago hushes them from his position ahead of the party, acting as lookout.

“Shhh! I hear movement in the manor house!  There are torches lighting the building…  Why would undead need torches?”

“There must be someone else in the manor house,” Brennen proposes.

Just then, two blasts on a horn sound from the manor house, and Soldago sees archers arraying themselves on the roof.  

“They must of heard us disposing the wights,” he says.

The alarm has been raised.


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## Jovah (Apr 9, 2002)

Jovah was just getting ready to cast _Invisible to Undead_ on the party when we got jumped.

I was disapointed in not casting a spell that I hardly ever cast, but it probably turned out for the better.  We needed that spell slot for   _Healing_ later on.
Ugh.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 10, 2002)

*Old Kentfield Country Estate, June 7th, AE  420*

The party is about 70 yards from the manor house when the alarm is raised.  The house consists of two four story wings connected by a three story structure.  Between the two wings are a ten foot stone wall with a oaken gate.  Soldago sees movement on the roof of the third story; he can’t make out precise details, as the sun has not yet come up, but he can tell that there are about a dozen individuals up there, most armed with bows.

Aris and Jovah cast _expeditious retreat_ on themselves.  Jovah also casts _invisibility to undead_ on everyone and curses under his breath that he didn’t do it earlier.  Brennen casts _protection from evil_.  Suitably charged up, they dash for the cover of the stone wall, across two hundred feet of open ground.  

“Head to the right!” Brennen yells.  “There’s a door on the side of the house; we’ll go in that way instead of the main gate!”

Arrows begin raining down on them quickly, but they are heavily armored, and only a few draw blood.  Then from somewhere, a _stinking cloud_ spell gets dropped in their midst.  Reana is just ahead of the noxious vapors, but Soldago, Brennen, Aris, and Gavin all succumb to the debilitating mists.  They are slowed substantially, no longer able to run or fight.  They stumble out of the mist as more arrows find purchase on them.  

_All the guys with good fortitude saves blew their saves; all the guys with bad fortitude saves made theirs.  Some kind of luck._

Corwin stumbles out from the _cloud_, unaffected.  He targets the rooftop of the house and lets fly a fireball.  He hears screams from the archers, and the volume of arrows lessens considerably.  Corwin is charged to the gills; he has cast _rary’s mnemonic enhancer_ and has a total of 11 magic missiles memorized.  He starts moving to the wall, as soon as he realizes that the archers have made him their new target of choice.

Reana reaches the safety of the wall first, and looks back to see Aris stumbling towards her (although he is affected by the _cloud_ he still has _expeditious retreat_ going), only to be blocked by the appearance of a _summoned_ tiger.  The beast lays into the Bladesinger, who can do nothing but defend.  She moves back out into the field of fire to help the elf.  Anthius changes his direction to go help out the Bladesinger as well.

Jovah reaches the wall next, his little gnomish legs churning from the effects of his _expeditious retreat_.  He looks around, and casts _fly_, intending to pick someone up and take them to the roof.  However, it’s taking a long time for anyone to get to him.  He looks towards Aris, and casts _dispel magic_ on the tiger, who promptly winks out of existence.   Aris finishes stumbling to the wall, and leans up against it, still coughing from the _stinking cloud_.  

“This won’t do,” Jovah thinks to himself, and _flies_ up to the roof, charging one of the four remaining archers, seeing that he is a hobgoblin.  He lays a heavy blow on one, and staggers him.

Soldago shakes off the _stinking cloud’s_ effects next, and raises his bow.  He is a master bowman, and lets fly two arrows, one to the hobgoblin on Jovah’s left, one to the one on his right.  Both drop, followed moments later by the third.  The plainsman runs to the wall and is the first to reach the side of the manor house.  He finds that there is in fact a door there, but it is situated on a porch about ten feet above the ground.  Soldago may be amster archer, but he is not a strong man, and there isn’t much to climb in the plains.  He tries to pull himself up, but fails.

Reana reaches the porch next.  She gets ready to help Soldago up.  Aris arrives first however, having finally shaken off the _stinking cloud_.  As he turns the corner, he sees a group of hobgoblins just turning the rear corner of the house, on the porch.  The Bladesinger launches a _fireball_ their way, taking out all but one.

Aris is in a mood to show off further, and does so, running up to the porch, lightly playing leap frog over Reana, using Soldago for a boost, and tumbling over the porch’s stone rail to land on the roof, right in front of the lone standing hobgoblin, who apparently has heard the maxim “discretion is the better part of valor” and turns and runs.

Aris follows him, but as he rounds the corner, he is pounced upon by a weird-looking leopard.  The beast is purple, and has no eyes whatsoever.  This doesn’t seem to present it with a problem, though, as it rakes the Bladesinger, though not as severely as the tiger did.

“What is with the big cat theme?” Aris ponders, not happily.

Brennen and Gavin have by now reached the porch, and have helped everyone up onto the raised area.  Reana sizes up the door, and gets ready to knock it down.  The manor house isn’t really built to be a serious castle, it’s more of a somewhat fortified home, and the doors are not as sturdy as they could be.

Anthius moves up to help out Aris, and the Bladesinger decides that this will provide a good opportunity to chase down the fleeing hobgoblin, who he can see has just run inside a set of patio doors leading into the house from the back porch.  He tumbles past the leopard, leaving Anthius there alone with the big cat.

“Hey!”  Anthius yells.  “I said I’d _help_, not get eviscerated!”

In any case it takes Anthius only a few well-placed strokes of his cutlass to dispose of the weird cat.

Aris runs to the patio doors, which are still ajar.  Just as he reaches them, he hits a patch of very slippery ground.

“_Grease_!” he yells back to the others, as he falls and lands on his back.  

Right after that, The patio doors are blown off their hinges by a powerful blast.  Aris feels the brunt of the energy just missing his body, and knows that he would have been blown back dozens of feet if he couldn’t still dodge somewhat, even prone in the _grease_.

Meanwhile, Reana puts her shoulder to the side door, and smashes it open. 

_It helps that each of the fighters has a bull’s strength; Brennen, Reana, and Gavin each had a strength of 22 or 23 for the duration of this fight._

She steps past the ruined door, and is greeted with a hail of arrows; the twenty foot hall is blocked at the other end by a half-dozen hobgoblins with longbows.

Aris flops over in the _greased_ area, and looks into the room beyond where the patio doors used to be.  He is greeted by a hail of bowfire from another half-dozen or so hobgoblins, backed up by the wizard Quinn, and Arlen Kentfield.


----------



## Lazybones (Apr 10, 2002)

A fast-paced and dramatic battle, as always... (boy, your players sure do like splitting up, don't they? )  Looking forward to the ultimate confrontation and bad-guy smackdown (right before he makes a last-minute escape, of course!)


LB


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## Reana (Apr 11, 2002)

KC -

I finally got here but now I'm hooked.

Keep up the GREAT story telling.

Reana


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 11, 2002)

Reana said:
			
		

> *KC -
> 
> I finally got here but now I'm hooked.
> 
> ...




Alright!  Now we just need to get Corwin posting here, and we'll have heard from everyone in the group!

BTW, hint for the next update or two:  Gavin seems to have developed an affinity for the number 48.  'Nuff said.


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## Gavin (Apr 11, 2002)

> BTW, hint for the next update or two: Gavin seems to have developed an affinity for the number 48. 'Nuff said.




Hmmm. I don't know if 'affinity' is the word Gavin would use. A few other things come to mind tho':

'taste o' medicine'
'that's funny, didn't I use to be 6'1"?'
'physical therapy'
'How much?!!!??'
'they just don't build 'em the way they used to'

oh yeah, I almost forgot:
'Aaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigggghhhhh!!!!!!'


----------



## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 12, 2002)

*Old Kentfield Country Estate, June 7th, AE  420*

Reana steps up to the first hobgoblin in the hallway, and drops him with one swing.  Gavin’s _goblinbane_ sword is glowing a fierce blue, and he manouevers into position to back her up.  A Hobgoblin tumbles into flanking position behind Reana, and draws blood before Gavin dispatches him.  The Ranger and the ex-mercenary start hacking their way down the corridor, taking a few blows but giving far more than they receive.

Sir Brennen moves up almost to the patio doors, heeding Aris’ warning of the _grease_ spell that covers the area right in front of the doors.  Aris reaches for dry, ungreased ground, and pulls himself out of the area, still prone.  Just in time; he pulls his feet up just as a hobgoblin tries to grab his legs and pull him into the room full of foes.  Brennen looks around, and sees Corwin just behind him.

“Corwin!” he yells.  “Got a _haste_ available?”

Corwin casts _haste_ on Brennen, and the Sword of Kelanen’s eyes glint with anticipation of the carnage he’s about to create.

Meanwhile, Jovah is flying at high speeds through the upper floors of the manor house, finding that everyone is pretty much on the ground floor.  He zooms to a position overlooking the entry hallway, and sees a group of a half-dozen hobgoblins, but can’t quite see Quinn, Kentfield, or the _other_ half-dozen hobgoblins just a few feet into the next room.  Two of the hobgoblins look up and see the _flying_ gnome, and let loose arrows.  Jovah dodges arrows for a few moments, then swoops down right next to one of the hobgoblin leaders.  

Now, he can see the massed hobgoblins and their leaders, ready to send dozens of arrowss into the next person to step around the patio doors.

He casts _darkness_, and starts swinging blindly at the hobgoblin leader.

On the back porch, Anthius sees the _greased_ area, but wants to get to the other side to flank the patio doors.  He nimbly runs forward, jumps up onto the stone rail that keeps people from falling off the porch, and expertly runs along the narrow stones, which are perfectly dry.  Soldago thinks that’s a great idea, and tries to jump across the _grease_.  He misjudges his leap, and lands in the affected area!  However, he keeps his balance, and does a slip-n-slide across the area.

Brennen steps around the _greased_ area into the room, and realizes that Jovah’s _darkness_ covers most of the room.  He skewers a hobgoblin, one of the few he can see, and then draws a sharp breath as he sees Arlen Kentfield, dressed in full plate armor, bearing a shield and wielding a morning star, step forward and land a heavy blow that misses him by a good distance.  The blow knocks a piece of stone off the wall from its force.

Anthius slips into the room on the other side, and engages the hobgoblin that Aris had been chasing.  This particular specimen has seen his share of battle; he wears a patch over one eye and has a hook attached to his left forearm, replacing a hand he must have lost in some long-gone scrap.  He wields a mean cutlass, as does Anthius, and the two begin duelling.

_Not that anyone can really call Anthius’ cutlass “mean.”  After all, it sings songs from Pirates of Penzance…_

Aris and Corwin are standing outside, flinging spells into the room on targets as they can see them.  Soldago starts flinging arrows at targets in the room.

Brennen manouevers to get a blow in on Kentfield, but the nobleman strikes first, landing a shot with his morning star that send the swordsman reeling.  He then steps back into the darkness.  Brennen gets a parting swing in on him, but his quarry continues retreating.

_Brennen took 35 points of damage from that blow from Kentfield.  It was not a critical.  He was not using power attack._

Gavin and Reana finally finish cutting down the roguish hobgoblins in the side hallway, and advance on their leader, who bolts through the door at the end of the hall. They pursue, and come out right next to Brennen in the next room.

“Where is everybody?” Reana says.  “I can’t see a thing!”

“Someone cast _darkness_,” Brennen yells.  “Has anyone seen Jovah?”

Jovah is too busy to answer; he’s been trading blows with a hobgoblin leader all by himself.  Now, however, he realizes that the noise has abated, and he suspects his foe has retreated.  He tries to remember the position of one of the doorways out of the room he’s in, and runs in that direction.

“Oww!” he yells, as he runs headfirst (or is that nose-first for a gnome?) into the door jam.  He stumbles further into the room, and finds that it, also, is filled with hobgoblins.  Four, to be exact.  They were just about to sneak out the windows onto the back porch and try to pounce on Soldago and Aris, but they find a gnome to be much more inviting target.  They move quickly to flank the Luckbringer, and start chopping away.

Aris and Corwin have now moved into the _darkened_ room off of the patio, and join Anthius, Brennen, Reana, and Gavin.  They cautiously move into the _darkened_ area, and can feel hobgoblins rushing past them in an attempt to escape.  Reana hears one running past her, and skewers him.  She continues on, looking for the kitchen, where she knows the secret door to the temple below is hidden.

Soldago has heard the commotion in the room where Jovah is being assaulted, and he steps up to the window.  Jovah has dropped one of the hobgoblins, but the other two are giving him trouble.  Soldago sets himself, and then lets three arrows fly.  Each finds and kills its target.

“Saving you is becoming a habit, little one,” the plainsman says, as he climbs into the room through the window.

“Luck favors the bold,” Jovah replies unconvincingly, casting multiple _cure_ spells upon himself.

Reana finally slips around the corner of the room, and into the kitchen, where the _darkeness_ can’t reach.  She hears footsteps coming up behind her, and turns just in time to see the cutlass wielding hobgoblin, who has just broken away from his duel with Anthius.

“Hello,” she says charmingly, and then skewers him, too.

“I found the kitchen!” she yells out.

“Now’s not the time for that!” Corwin yells.  “You should have had something to eat before we started!”

The party reassembles in the kitchen. Anthius chops the hook off of the dead hobgoblin’s arm, and takes his cutlass for good measure.

The party has been here before, so they know where the secret door is; it is in the basement, reached only through the pantry under the kitchen, past a couple of storerooms.  They head down the stairs, and Anthius tries the handle of the door to the next room. As soon as he jiggles the handle, the door flies open, and Anthius is attacked by a Gorrilon, the same monstrosity that Brennen avoided in the fight under the Norden River in Ulfang.

The thing grabs at the bard with his four apish arms, landing two blows, and pulls him in for a rending attack.  It then throws the hapless minstrel backwards over his head, where he lands like a crumpled rag-doll.

_Anthius went to 5 hit points with that series of blows.  Ouch._

Anthius is down, but not out.  He sees four hobgoblins in the room with him, and decides to play dead.  The hobgoblins are not impressed though.

The closest one snickers softly, and drawing his longsword, advances on the badly injured bard…


----------



## Gavin (Apr 12, 2002)

> Brennen took 35 points of damage from that blow from Kentfield. It was not a critical. He was not using power attack.




Oh that's fabulous. Very encouraging. 

And me without the Dodge feat.

It's always fun when the DM lets some little factoids loose.
"Oh yeah, he did 97 points of damage with one hand and a head cold"
"Ekozius has 975 hit points in 3E"
"Now its a _keen_ ,_flaming_ ,_vorpal bastard sword +36_ "


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 12, 2002)

Gavin said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Oh that's fabulous. Very encouraging.
> 
> ...




Just doing every little things I can to maintain that aura of unadulterated fear that so enhances every game session...

But the players don't complain when Brennen drops 52 points of damage on a wight in one round, do they?  Oh, no....


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## Jovah (Apr 12, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Just doing every little things I can to maintain that aura of unadulterated fear that so enhances every game session...
> *



*

It is funny you say that.  Until the 35 pint no-crit-no-PA I was more afraid of Kentfield's friends .  But now that I think about it- we have not seen him cast any spells and this is his first stint in hand-to-hand.  

Eep.*


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 15, 2002)

*Old Kentfield Country Estate, June 7th, AE 420*

Anthius immediately abandons his "play dead" approach, and moves into a defensive posture.  Gavin moves up and between he and Reana, the Girrilon does not last long.  The hobgoblins put up a little bit of a fight, but in moments the only one left is the last of the leaders.

Gavin takes a swing at him as he retreats into the corner of the room.

"Cut it out!" Brennen yells.  "He's giving up!"

"Oh, _is_ he?" Gavin replies.  He tries to physically intimidate the lone hobgoblin, and trips over one of the his compatriot's corpses.

_Gavin rolled a "1" on his intimidate roll, I think._

The hobgoblin drops his longsword and puts his hands up.

"Hey, hey, hey," he stammers.  "I have no interest in dying for these guys!"

"Good choice," Reana says.  "Where's Kentfield?"

"He went down that way," the hobgoblin says, gesturing towards the next room, where the party knows the secret door to the temple is located.

"Who's with him?" Brennen asks.

"He's down there with Quinn, and with a troll.  That's about it, as far as I know, but we don't go down there much."

"So what's the deal here?  Why are you helping Kentfield?"

"Hey, he let us use these swanky digs," the hobgoblin says.  "And he swung some kind of deal to get us a decommissioned ship from the Ulfang Navy.  We're _pirates_!"

"_Were_ pirates, more like," Corwin says.  "Kinda tough to sail a ship by yourself."

Jovah steps in.  "Did they bring an elf statue this way?"

"Uh, yeah," the hobgoblin replies.  "We helped them move it in through the sea cave entrance.  They dunked it by the dock."

"Underwater? Great," Gavin moans.

"Is it guarded?" Jovah asks.

"Not really.  Well, I mean, except for the sharks..."

"_Sharks?!_"

"Yeah.  'Bout five of them."

"This is getting better all the time," Gavin says.

"Do they have any demons down there?" Reana asks.

"I don't know anything 'bout that kinda stuff."

Brennen thanks the hobgoblin for his answers, and then punches his lights out.

"Okay, so it's down the hatch, I guess," the Sword of Kelanen says. 

"So who's opening the door?"  Anthius asks.

Brennen stops and thinks, and then looks at Gavin.

"Ready?"

"Huh? Yeah..."

"One, two, _three_!" 

The two fighters shake their fist three times, and then open them.

"Scissors beats paper!"  Brennen howls.

Gavin shrugs in resignation.

"Damn."


----------



## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 15, 2002)

Lazybones said:
			
		

> *A fast-paced and dramatic battle, as always... (boy, your players sure do like splitting up, don't they? )  Looking forward to the ultimate confrontation and bad-guy smackdown (right before he makes a last-minute escape, of course!)*




They weren't nearly as split up as it might appear; the hallway that Reana and Gavin were in was immediately adjacent to the rear wall of the manor house, so if Aris looked in the nearest window, he would have seen Reana.

Bad guy smackdown coming up (well... kind of), probably tomorrow evening (if I'm not distracted by my upcoming purchase of D&DG...  now I'm going to have to finally get to work on converting ALL my gods to 3e, not just the few that have major roles in the game.  I'm actually looking very much forward to that.)


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## Jovah (Apr 17, 2002)

*Rumble in the Desert* 

Bes vs. Reksus

15 round exhibition match.


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## Sir Brennen (Apr 18, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> *The two fighters shake their fist three times, and then open them.
> 
> "Scissors beats paper!"  Brennen howls.
> 
> ...



Funny sometimes what Kid C seizes on as good story hour material.  

Since both Gavin and Brennen frequently take the lead into combat situations (Brennen by extension of his class' code of conduct; Gavin most likely due to some mental disorder), the whole "rock-paper-scissors" thing just seemed like a quick, mostly out-of-character way to decide the standard dungeon dilemma of Who Gets To Opens The Door.

I guess the image of the two noble, knighted, master swordsmen using an old playground game to decide the issue was too good to pass up 

We've also learned a sure way to get a moment included in the Story Hour is to say to the DM "You're not going to write that in Story Hour, are you?" 

[...as Brennen gingerly pokes Jovah's bruised nose... ]


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 20, 2002)

*Old Kentfield Country Estate, June 7th, AE 420*

Despite Gavin’s misgivings about winning (?) the contest to open the secret door, there prove to be no traps, and the party descends the long spiral stair down to the temple.  The temple is a good seventy feet below the castle, and the stair winds around many times until it opens into a short corridor.  At the end of the corridor is the door into the temple proper.

They open the door, and find the area fairly dark.  Lights are brought out, and they can see that the hundred foot long chamber is empty. 

Aris’ _locate object_ runs out at this point, with the last impression of direction indicating that the door way to the cave under the waterfall is the path to take.  The party makes their way to the door, and Anthius begins picking the lock.

“Hurry up there,” Brennen says.  “We haven’t got all day.”

“Be quiet,” Anthius replies.  “I’m not a master lockpicker, all these distractions make me take longer…”

Soldago is watching to the rear.  He hears a deep rumble, almost without a definite origin.  Towards the far end of the chamber, he sees something stirring.

Something big.

“Look out!  There’s a … thing coming our way!”

He draws and fires three _greater magic weaponed_ arrows at the immense form coming towards him, and two find their target.  As it comes further forward, the party can see it better.  It is immense, nearly eighteen feet tall, even stooped over.  It has a body like a gorilla, with its knuckles draggin along the ground, and the head of a bison.  It is larger than the Ghour Demon that they fought in Ulfang, but clearly more animalistic in nature, although almost certainly demonic in origin.

“Great googley-moogley,” Jovah stammers.

Soldago continues to send rapid fire arrows towards the thing as most of the rest of the party advances.  Corwin, Aris and Reana move up along the narrow stairs that lead up to the sacrificial platform at the far end, roughly above the beast’s head.  Brennen and Gavin advance straight towards it.  Anthius breaks off his lock picking and starts playing an inspirational tune.

The beast reaches down next to it, and picks several boulders out of a pile.  He then hurls them at high speed at Soldago.  The archer breathes a sigh of relief as none hit the mark.

Corwin launches a set of _magic missiles_, but they break uselessly off his skin as his spell resistance holds.  Aris tries a lightning bolt, with the same effect.  

As the party closes in, the beast roars, and stomps down hard, driving its cloven feet into the ground, setting off a major tremor.  Everyone nearby is knocked off-balance, some falling over, and stones from the ceiling fall, as the temple begins to collapse.  A cloud of dust rises from the fallen debris, and Soldago can no longer see his target.  He closes in to get a new vantage point.

Gavin finally regains his footing and reaches the thing, braving its fists to slip inside its reach and swing.  He  cuts deep into its side.  The thing brings its fist down, just missing, but breaking the stone underfoot and nearly throwing Gavin off-balance again.  Reana and Brennen use the opportunity to move in closer.

The beast bellows in anger at Gavin’s blow, and swings hard at the swordsman.  He connects powerfully, and everyone winces at the sounds of bones cracking and Gavin screaming in pain.  Gavin goes down.

_The demon landed a critical hit on Gavin, and did 48 points of damage, knocking him unconscious.  Brennen’s player helpfully pointed out that had he taken two more points he would have had to make a fortitude save versus massive damage_.

Jovah sees Gavin go down, and begins flying in to help.  Reana and Brennen redouble their attacks, and Aris tumbles into position to help as well.  Brennen lands several massive blows, and Reana also lands multiple blows, and finally the thing drops.  Jovah casts a _cure_ on Gavin, and the party makes their way out towards the waterfall cave, as the ceiling of the temple begins to fall in on itself.

When they reach the cave, they find it empty.  The hobgoblin’s pirate vessel is there, a medium sized single masted ship with places for oars as well.  A quick look around reveals Jalea, about thirty foot under water just of the ship’s bow.  Circling around the area are five sharks.

“Well, at least they’re not very _big_ sharks,” Aris says.

“Who’s talking?” Jovah replies.  “They could swallow me in one bite!”

Big or not, they are twelve to fifteen footers.  Big enough to be a problem.  

“I wonder if there’s any chum around here,” Corwin wonders, only to find a bucket so close by if he had taken another step he’d be standing in it.  He gives the bucket to Jovah, who flies to the edge of the waterfall.  Just for grins, he stick his head out of the waterfall to see if he can see where Kentfield got off to.  He sees a rowboat about a hundred yards off, being rowed by a troll.  Kentfield is in the front, trying to signal his vessel docked alongside the cliffs.  Quinn is in the back, looking towards the waterfall, but doesn’t appear to notice the gnome.

Brennen checks the ship out and finds sufficient block and tackle to lift a statue the size of an elf out of the water, and Jovah begins tossing chum in by the waterfall, leading the sharks away from Jalea.  Reana dives in and attaches the rope to the statue-elf, and Brennen, Gavin, and Corwin lift him up out of the water.

“That went well,” Jovah says, and tries a _break enchantment_ on the hapless rogue.  It fails.

“Dang it.”

He uses his _luck_ ability to bend probability back and try one more time.  It still fails.

“_Dang it!_”

“Okay, we’ll have to carry him,” Jovah says.

“No problem,” Aris says.  “We prepared for this.  I’ve got the _reduce_ scroll we bought in Cape Varna.  That will get him to a weight we can carry through the _dimensional folding_.”

Aris _reduces_ Jalea to about 60 pounds, and Jovah prepares to cast his _extended dimensional folding_ spell.  This one will stay open twelve seconds, allowing the party more time to go through.

He casts the spell, and the familiar portal opens up, but this time something is wrong:  An emerald field covers the portal, and Jovah can barely see the courtyard of his house in Fencig.  Aris tosses a stone at the _fold_.  Instead of going through as it should, it bounces off the shimmering emerald force field.

“Uh, Jovah?” Reana says, inquiringly.

“I…  I’ve never seen that happen before!” Jovah stutters.  

“What do we do now?”


----------



## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 22, 2002)

We played last night, and Jovah's rapid strike team approach was in full effect, despite being blocked for a day by whatever caused the dimensional fold to fail in the subterranean temple...

Update to follow, later today or at the latest Tuesday!


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 22, 2002)

*Old Kentfield Country Estate, June 7th, AE 420*

The party quickly moves the Jalea-statue onto the hobgoblin’s pirate ship (which is named “The Bloody Bucket,” or so the red painted letters on the back proclaim) before the _reduce_ spell wears off.  Aris’ hawk familiar is circling outside, above the manor house, and through his empathic link, Aris can tell that Kentfield’s ship has dropped anchor and moved to pick up Lord Kentfield, Quinn, and the troll, and are now loading up the rowboat on deck.

“Jovah, what happened with your _dimensional fold_?” Reana asks.

“I don’t know,” the gnomish priest answers.  “It’s possible to use a _dimensional anchor_ to stop things like that, but someone would have to target me, maybe someone invisible in this cavern…  I don’t like to think that someone could have warded the entire cavern with it!”

Gavin is trying to figure out how many men it will take to man the Bloody Bucket.  There are eight oars, and a single mast on the forty-five foot vessel.  Sir Brennen suggests that the party could sail it pretty well, although a larger crew would be able to get more speed out of her.

“How about Kentfield’s ship, out there?”  Gavin asks Brennen.

“Hmmm…” Brennen does some thinking.  Kentfield’s ship is a fast, almost yacht-like two-master.

“At least twelve,” he says.  “Maybe more.  Maybe _lots_ more.”

“Well, what do we do now?” Jovah asks.  “Stay in here with the roof falling down, or sail on out and maybe fight off Kentfield and his ship?”

They decide to wait a little while.  They get the ship ready, and row her out to the inside edge of the waterfall. Aris watches the ship through his link to his hawk.  Kentfield’s men sail out to about a half-mile off shore, and drop anchor again.  After two hours, they are apparently satisfied that no pursuit is forthcoming, and raise anchor and sail off east, in the general direction of Ulfang.

“I say we sail around to the dock, load Jalea up on the dock, and go up and check out the manor house more closely,” Brennen says.

“Spoiling for fight there, Brennen?” Jovah asks wryly.

“Trying to avoid one, actually,” the Sword of Kelanen replies.  “Don’t forget there are Sahuagin involved in this mess, and if they show up while we’re on ship we could be in trouble.”

“Good point,” Jovah concedes.  “Let’s check the house.”

Brennen and Anthius stay behind to watch the boat and Jalea while the rest of the group heads back up to the manor house.  Small tremors occasionally rock the cliff and the plateau beyond, and when they get close to the house they notice two things. First, the water level on the lake beyond the house has dropped nearly five feet in the past few hours, and secondly, there are cracks in the foundation of the manor house itself.

“I bet this place will eventually just fall into the sea,” Aris says.

Soldago looks to see if there is anything in the water, and stops short.

“What is it?” Reana asks.

“Look out there, past the lake,” Soldago responds.

They look out into the valley beyond the lake.   The valley stretches several miles to the north before beginning to climb into the far southern edge of the Endicott Mountains.  Dotted throughout the valley are about two dozen low mounds, perhaps fifty feet on a side, marked mostly by variations in the grass cover compared to the rest of the valley.

“Good lord,” Jovah says, disbelievingly.

“Mass graves,” Aris states dryly.

“Enough evidence now?” Gavin asks Corwin.

“I think I’ve seen more than enough evidence to this point,” Corwin replies.  “This may help us convince other people, though…”


----------



## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 24, 2002)

*Old Kentfield Country Estate, June 7th, AE 420*

They search the manor house thoroughly, finding a locked chest that yields a few hundred gold coins, and a brass telescope set up in a locked room on the very top floor.  They take the telescope, and after searching the house some more, leave.

They camp down on the dock by Jalea’s statue, and then the next day Jovah _folds_ them without incident to Tolaro Telegar’s house in Cape Varna.  They present the telescope to Tolaro as a gift for all his help, and plot their next move.

Jovah tries to break the enchantment on Jalea again, and fails, twice.  Meanwhile, the others are dividing up treasure, mixing and matching magic items, and determining which things should (or could) be sold or traded in order to get other magic items.  Anthius has acted as a go-between and broker for Jovah before, and they decide to try and see if they can get anything for some of the items that are less helpful to them right now.

Corwin has two _+1 shortswords_ and a _+1 suit of studded leather armor_ that he hands over to the bard.  Gavin hands over the _goblinbane sword_ in hopes of getting something a little less rangerly, and for the party as a whole, they give Anthius the golden-eyed man’s _+2 shocking rapier_.  Corwin and Gavin let him know generally what they might be looking for (wondrous item and another sword, respectively).  Items are to be sent to The Fox Club in Fencig via the _teleporting safes_.

“Do you want me to send you a message first with any possible options, or just surprise you?” Anthius asks Jovah, who is handling the details.

“What, you’re asking me?” the luck-priest replies.  “I love surprises!”

The next day starts off with another _break enchantment_ cast by Jovah.  Finally, this one works, and Jalea is restored to full health.  Late that evening, Anthius boards a ship for Belluin, the largest and richest city in Ghithor, where he hopes to find possible trade fodder for the magic items.

“You’re letting him run off with all that stuff?” Jalea asks incredulously.  “I can’t leave you guys alone for five minutes!”

“That’s right,” Brennen replies testily.  “You can’t.  That’s what got us into this mess!”

Before Anthius leaves, he casts a few boosting spells on party members, and Jovah _folds_ everyone to the courtyard of the Kentfield mansion in Ulfang.  The plan is to quickly take the house and search it from roof to cellar; they suspect that Kentfield has not yet had enough time to sail back to town.  

Things move quickly once inside the mansion’s courtyard; Soldago drops a guard on the third story roof with help from a _magic missile_ from Corwin; another guard is shot dead by Jalea just as he is about to open the front gate and escape into the main street outside, but Brennen is close enough to grab him and pull him in before anyone notices.

Gavin and Reana bust down the door to the mansion, and a running fight develops between a half-dozen guards and Gavin, Reana, and Aris.  The guards are tough and highly skilled, but not nearly a match for the party.  There is a tense moment when Aris tumbles into a hallway with three of them and then is locked in with them, but an incredible series of moves on the part of the Bladesinger buys him out of trouble.

_Aris rolled 5 critical threats in a row at this point, with at least three being actual criticals.  That’s not counting the 19 he rolled to avoid a grapple by one of the guards._

Aris unlocks the door just as Gavin is about to try and smash it down.

“Hi!” he says cheerily, as the corridor smokes and burns from the after effects of multiple grievous wounds given by his _flameblade_.

With the guards deal with, the party members start casing the mansion thoroughly.  Jovah quickly realizes that nearly all the windows and doors are protected with _glyphs of warding_.  Jalea goes through them all, trying to find them, then trying to disarm them, and then relying on his roguish skill to avoid damage when they inevitably go off anyway.  Jovah casts _resist elements: fire_ on the elf to take care of any damage that does occur.  

"We're right behind you," Jovah says.  "About ten feet behind you..."

People in the street no doubt look on in concern as explosion after explosion rocks the Kentfield Mansion, but Jalea manages to avoid all damage (thank you improved evasion and Jovah’s Fickle Finger of Fate ability).

As it turns out, the one _glyph_ he does disarm is the only _glyph_ that _isn’t_ fire damage.

Jalea finds and opens a safe in Lord Kentfield’s chambers.  Inside are a small handful of small diamonds and information on the banking houses he does business with.

“Just in case he had to run, I’m guessing,” Jalea says.

Jalea also checks Kentfield’s office.  This is where, several years back, he and a compatriot were captured after finding a small shrine to Pazuzu.  Now, the door to the secret area has been removed, and it has been set up like an alcove with a nice bouquet of flowers.  Similarly, the desk seems to have had a secret compartment at one point in time, but it has been removed.  The books in his collection are almost laughably bland and harmless in nature.

“He’s trying to make this place look legit,” Corwin says.  “Probably keeps anything incriminating with him.”

They search the golden-eyed man’s chambers, and find nothing of interest, but in Quinn’s room, Jalea finds a piece of wadded up parchment in the pocket of a robe.

_Meet Johann at 112 Silversmith Lane_

“Should we check it out?” Jovah asks.

“Is it a trap?” Gavin asks.

“Do we have any other choice but to check it out?” Reana wonders

The party assembles in the courtyard with all the things they are planning on taking from the house; Gavin has saddled up the horses in the stables, while Corwin and Aris are arguing over the wine they found in the cellar.

Aris finds a secret door in the basement before they leave.

“Here behind all the human wine, where no one would think to look,” he jabs at Corwin.

The secret area proves to have been cleared out and left empty for years.  It has a secret door that most likely leads to the sewers for unobtrusive entrances and departures.

Upstairs, the constables have finally arrived.

“Time to go!” Jovah says, and casts _dimensional folding_.

"Where are we folding to?" Gavin asks the gnome.

"I'll let you know!"

As they tromp through, they feel a weird disorientation, one that they’ve felt before:  The _dimensional folding_ spell was slightly off, and they are all aged by a year.  Several of the human party members glare a little at Jovah, who shrugs it off.  He had affected fate as much as he could this day, and there was nothing he could do about this mishap.

Corwin looks on the bright side.

“Does this mean my wine is aged a year, too?”


----------



## Grifter86 (Apr 25, 2002)

*Treasure Division*

Hey all.

I love this story hour. It is among my top three, which includes Sagiro's and Piratecat's story hours. 

I'm just curious about one thing: how do the players go about dividing treasure? Do they do that auction thing suggested in the DMG, do they give it to those who it would be most useful for?


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 25, 2002)

*Re: Treasure Division*



			
				Grifter86 said:
			
		

> *Hey all.
> 
> I love this story hour. It is among my top three, which includes Sagiro's and Piratecat's story hours. *




Thanks!  Those guys were two of the first three that got me started on this, along with (cntxt)'s ToEE2 Story Hour.  Good company indeed!

*



			I'm just curious about one thing: how do the players go about dividing treasure? Do they do that auction thing suggested in the DMG, do they give it to those who it would be most useful for?
		
Click to expand...


*
As far as gold and such, they typically put it in a party fund, and at various times the party fund is divided equally amongst the PC's.  For magic, they typically put in a claim, and things generally go to the person it's best suited for.  

They're very good about swapping stuff around to equal things out - last session was kind of comical due to the amount of magic getting passed around; Gavin sent off his sword, so he took back his +1 sword from Soldago, and Reana gave Soldago one of her +1 shortswords, and the Bracers of Armor that Jalea wears have been in the possesion of several people.  Batista's bow has been used by Jalea, Reana, and Soldago so far since his death, for example (and its a relatively powerful magic item).  I'm betting that's found a semi-permanent home with Soldago, though.


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## Jovah (Apr 25, 2002)

Kid C's world is on the lower side of the magic scale.
Rare raise dead, most towns do not have magic shops, the best weapon our 10th level Pcs have is +2.
It is a nice gritty story-based way of playing.

Anthius is an ex-pc-now NPC, that recently was a PC again for the last few sessions.  Mainly, to replace the "stoned" Jalea.
Anthius has many contacts - legal and illegal-  and the skills to be a pretty good fence.  Jovah has used these skills in the past.

The party decide to give Anthius some of their less useful magic items with the intention of trading up for more useful magic items.

The party also decided to give Anthius the Pipes of the Sewers as payment for services.  Also because Jalea, the current owner, had a 50/50 chance of having the rats attack us instead of the enemy.

Lets hope Anthius can trade up for something useful....or at least interesting.  

Anthuis was chortling a little when he boarded the ship for Belluin with a bag full of magic.

Hopefully we will see him again.


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## Gavin (Apr 25, 2002)

We'd _better_ be seeing him again. How's that for a side adventure? Track down and smack down a PC you used to play because he stole stuff from a PC you're playing now. That would be...interesting.

Gavin is looking forward to getting something in return for the ranger sword. Now Gav enjoys pounding goblins as much as the next guy, but it seemed a little...unnatural. Kind of like Gavin riding an elephant. It looks impressive, it gets the job done, but its not really his style. I just can't see a big armored knight teleporting through trees. Gavin wants something a little more straightforward. Something that explodes...or shoots lightning...or can smash down doors <sigh>. I hope some lucky ranger (with an intense dislike for goblins) can put it to good use.


Hmmm..._Gauntlets of Halfling Power_ ?


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 25, 2002)

I've been informed that I missed one of the best quotes of the session.

While Jovah is casting Resist Elements: Fire on Jalea, Aris remarks, "Let's just hope all of the Glyphs are Fire,"

To which Jalea replies, "You mean there's other kinds?"

Aris: "Yes, um.....  No!"


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 29, 2002)

*Cape Varna, Princedom of Krone, June 11th, AE 420*

The next day, Corwin attempts to _scry_ on Kentfield, but gets no result.  He then spends the rest of the day in the University of Cape Varna’s extensive libraries, courtesy of Tolaro Telegar.  The libraries there are among the most expansive in the known world, thanks to the elves’ long-lived nature and love of learning.  Corwin is looking for more information on Mordax, and he is joined by Jalea and Brennen.  They find it rough going, though, slogging through piles of books.  They find little new information, although there are piles more books to look through, and they plan to continue.

In the meantime, though, the party plans to look into the note in Quinn’s robe.  They are fully expecting that this could be an ambush.  Corwin _scrys_ Kentfield again the next day around sunset, and this time he finds him.  He is on board his ship, eating dinner with Quinn and the ship’s officers.  Very dull stuff, until just before the spell ends.

“You doing another _divination_ on them in the morning?”  Quinn asks.

Arlen Kentfield nods affirmatively.

“Damn,” Jovah says.  “They’re doing the same things we’re doing.  How are we going to fix that?”

“Well,” Gavin offers, “we could decide on a course of action, and then the next morning randomly change our plans…”

“You mean we let Jalea lead?” Aris quips.

That same evening, they _fold_ to Ulfang again in order to check out the “112 Silversmith Lane” address that they found on a piece of paper in one of Quinn’s old robes.

“So where precisley are we going?” Corwin asks Jovah.

“I’m not sure precise is the right word,” Jovah replies.

They decide to _fold_ to the courtyard of the Gregarious Gargoyle, since Jalea estimates it is about ten blocks from Silversmith Lane.  Moments later, they are there, none the worse for wear this time.  They notice that the tavern is closed, _Orders of the Office of the Constabulary, Ulfang._

As they file out of the courtyard and onto the street, Jalea notices a horse-and-buggy pull out from an alleyway several blocks down.  It isn’t so late that they are the only people on the street, but Jalea quickly decides that the buggy is following them.  He informs the others, and then slips into the shadows to try and get the drop on the pursuer.

Shortly afterward, the buggy veers off in another direction, no longer following the party.  The bulk of the group continues on to 112 Silversmith Lane.

“Check me on this,” Aris says to Reana, “But didn’t we just determine that Jalea shouldn’t be doing _exactly_ this kind of thing?”

“Yup,” Reana replies.

They arrive at the address on the note.  This section of Silversmith Lane is inhabited by the apprentices and menial workers of the silversmithing trade, and it is a poor section of town.  112 Silversmith Lane appears to be a rickety wooden tower, three stories tall.  It has apparently been subdivided into 112B and 112C, but it would appear that 112 is the top floor.  A questionably secure stair winds around the outside of the tower until it comes to an end in front of the door.  Jovah casts _detect magic_ to see if he can get a sense of any surprises from outside the building.  He can tell that there is something magical inside the apartment, but not its exact location.

Jalea returns unscathed.  “That was the constables.  They’ll probably be looking for us, but they don’t know where we went.”

Jovah casts _fly_, and grabs the elven rogue.  They fly to the doorway, and Jalea begins chcking for traps and picking the lock.  It’s a better lock than he would have expected in this neighborhood.  The others clamber up the rickety staircase.  Soldago stays downstairs to watch, bow ready.

Jalea gets the door unlocked, and Jovah opens it.  As he does so, he finds the source of the magic he saw earlier; a ghostly black panther leaps from the rafters of the tower’s peaked roof onto the gnomish priest!

“Yikes!” Jovah yells.  He swings with his heavy mace, and lands a blow – which is lucky, considering the thing’s insubstantial nature.

The others start rushing up the stair at the sound of Jovah’s battle, but are bottle-necked towards the top.  Brennen gives in to his desperation, and chops a hole in the rickety wall with his longswords, and crawls into the room.  Jovah and Jalea have, however, made short work of the beast, and it’s ghostly form blows away in the wind.

“There’s something under the bed that’s magical, too,” Jovah says.

Jalea searches the room, and finds a battered trunk under the bed, and a pouch hidden under the loose cap to a bed post.  They take the items, and _fold_ out, before the constables can arrive.

“Where are we folding to?” Gavin asks.

“I’ll let you know,” Jovah responds.

The Priest of Bes takes them to Tolaro’s house again.  They check out the trunk – it’s _fire-trapped_, of course, and Jalea once agains learns this the hard way.  Inside is a red leather bound book with a gold clasp.  It proves to be a spellbook (although it radiates magic itself, as well).  Several loose sheets of paper are stuck in the book as well.

Victoria VanDeVeer – possible contact with Graz’zt?
No one in area has suitable diamonds, Falco will have to find them elsewhere
Quinn and I are of one mind, re-empowering Mordax is the first step.  Quinn has a plan on how to do it, we just have to wait for the right moment to act.
Dahloss, 42 Shaded Lane, Tor
They also score 300 platinum pieces, and a few gems, most notably a 1,000 gp black opal.  Corwin does some alchemical testing on the potion bottles found in Kentfield’s safe.  They prove to be a _potion of clairaudience/clairvoyance_ and a _potion of fiery breath_.

“I’ll take the fiery breath one,” Jalea suggests.

“I think that falls under the category of, ‘If you _want_ it, you _don’t_ get it’,” Brennen replies.


----------



## Lazybones (Apr 30, 2002)

I've been away for a while, and recently have had trouble getting my posts up what with the board slowdowns, but I wanted to let you know that I'm still lurking and enjoying your storyhour immensely.  The current plotline, with the two adversarial groups circling around each other (and one occasionally unleashing holy hell on the other), makes for a suspenseful buildup.  Your group has a really cool dynamic and the way that the players frequently pop in to comment adds a lot to the overall flavor of the story.  

Thanks, (and game on!)

Lazybones


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 30, 2002)

Lazybones said:
			
		

> *I've been away for a while, and recently have had trouble getting my posts up what with the board slowdowns, but I wanted to let you know that I'm still lurking and enjoying your storyhour immensely.  The current plotline, with the two adversarial groups circling around each other (and one occasionally unleashing holy hell on the other), makes for a suspenseful buildup
> 
> Lazybones *




Good to hear from you!  I know it's been tough for me a couple times getting posts up (I save them in Word and then post them),  and I was wondering if it was cuting back on some of the regulars who I hadn't heard from in a while...

I have a question for the readers:  Do you see a change in the Story Hour since the move to the current game?  Do you like it better/worse/the same?  Do you like the small updates, designed to keep people happy till right before the next session (which will be this weekend)?

Let me know!


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## Gavin (May 1, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> *
> 
> I have a question for the readers:  Do you see a change in the Story Hour since the move to the current game?  Do you like it better/worse/the same?
> *





I think that there've been entirely  too many demons in the new story hour. I think you should cut back on demons and use more hobgoblins, goblins, and...uh..norkers.

I would also like to see less water and more horses. Yeah, that's the stuff of a great story hour!


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## Jovah (May 2, 2002)

Gavin said:
			
		

> I think that there've been entirely  too many demons in the new story hour. I think you should cut back on demons and use more hobgoblins, goblins, and...uh..norkers.




LOL !

At least Kid C's unnatural affinity to Vecna seems to have faded.


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 7, 2002)

*Cape Varna, Princedom of Krone, June 13th, AE 420*

The following day, the party tries to do some more research.  Jovah pores through more obscure religious texts.  He is aided in his tasks by Brennen, who struggles carrying vast stacks of books for the gnome-priest to peruse.

“Hey, Brennen, you see that little red book all the way up on that top shelf?  Can you grab that one?”

Brennen groans.  _Research_, he whines to himself.  _Ugh._

Jovah is finding the reading tough going, especially since he hasn’t made a breakthrough of any import since his first initial studies over a week ago.  

“These texts are _really_ tough to read,” he says, holding a parchment up to a candle in order to read it more clearly, nearly setting it aflame.

_Jovah rolled a 1 on his Knowledge: Relgion check, and immediately called for his Luck Domain reroll.  We joked that he almost set the university library on fire._

“Watch it there, Jovah,” Brennen says, “I can just see it now, ‘gnome burns down elvish university library.’”

“Great,” Gavin groans from a far table where he is reading a book on horses.  “Just what we need, start a war between elves and gnomes over a library burning down.”

Jovah scoffs.  “The elves and gnomes would never go to war.”

“Yeah,” Jalea quips.  “It would be a very _short_ battle…”

Jovah glares at the elvish rogue.  

“Any more short jokes and I start poking eyes!”

“More like kneecaps,” Gavin mutters under his breath, but Jovah doesn’t hear him.  Luckily.

Corwin is having more success.  He is taking advantage of his _ring of sustenance_ to help him study longer into the night, and finds some information on the strange summoned creatures that Quinn has been calling on them.  They are _pseudonatural_ creatures, drawn from strange, unknown planes, and although they look mostly like ordinary creatures, they are in fact completely unnnatural.

Aris _identifies_ the dweomer on the red spellbook from Johann’s room, and discovers that it allows one to summon a _spectral panther_ like the one they faced there.  Presumably, someone must have set it up to be summoned automatically if anyone entered the room.  He and Corwin begin looking through the spellbook, hoping to pick out a few spells that they can add to their repertoire.

The next day, Corwin _scries_ on Kentfield again.  This time, the demon-worshipper notices the scrying attempt, and slams shut the door he was about to walk through, but not before Corwin gets a glimpse of a permanently inlaid summoning circle in the hold of his ship.  The party then _dimension folds_ to outside of Ulfang, and begins the ride to Tor, where they plan on checking out the address found amongst Johann’s papers.

Jovah moans about having to ride in order to get somewhere, but Gavin is loving it.  Finally, he is getting a chance to let his warhorse, Dreadnaught, some exercise.  The journey will take a few days, and the horseman is practically begging for a fight, so he can do battle on horseback.

However, the road to Tor is well-travelled and patrolled, and no such opportunity presents itself.  The next evening is the night of the new moon.  Corwin decides to _scry_ Lord Kentfield at midnight, the most common hour for a ceremony dedicated to Pazuzu.  He sees him, and jumps back in shock almost immediately.

“I saw him right as he was sacrificing someone!”  the wizard manages to whisper hoarsely.

Kentfield is on his ship.  They are anchored in a cove somewhere; since it is the new moon, little can be seen off the ship.  The deck is lit by torches, and Kentfield is wearing his elaborate bird-mask again.  Quinn is standing just to his side, wearing a less elaborate mask, just as in the ceremony they disrupted in Ulfang.  The Sahuagin priestess is present, and so is the four armed Suahuagin warrior.  The captain and crew of the ship appear to be in attendance.  A summoned Nabassu demon watches over the proceedings.

“We should just _fold_ in there and wipe them out!” Brennen says.

“It would be a dangerous _fold_,” Jovah says.  “I’d be going off a relatively poor memory of what the boat looks like.”

“Wait a minute,” Aris says.  “Remember Mahanaim?  When we took out those catapults?”

“Uh, yeah?” Jovah replies.

“Open a _fold_ on the ship, and we’ll blast them through the open portal.  Corwin can haste me, and himself.  We’ll toss in a few fireballs, maybe a lightning bolt or two, and then let the portal close!”

“If we wipe out his crew, he’ll be stuck out there in the middle of nowhere!” Brennen says, liking the idea.

“I could cast a _flamestrike_…” Jovah adds, warming to the thought himself

Jalea looks at Reana, and shakes his head.

“I think this is where I put my fingers in my ears, and pretend not to be hearing any of this,” he says.

Brennen is getting stoked.  “Tell me the cons!”

No on says anything.

“Okay, then!  Let’s do it!”

The party preps their spells, and Jovah casts his _extended dimensional folding_ spell, located at the prow of the vessel, looking back towards the aft section.

The portal is blocked a greenish force field, just as it was in the temple beneath Kentfield’s old manor house.

“Dammit,” Brennen says.  “I guess that means we keep going to Tor.”

“More _research_,” he groans, disgustedly slamming his swords back in their sheaths.


----------



## Gavin (May 10, 2002)

*Never underestimate....*

I need to make an apology to KidCharlemagne. Here I was thinking that this whole Kentfield thing was just some "side adventure" to get the party into 3E and wrap up some of Jalea's loose ends (there's a joke there somewhere). I was just going around killing demons, doing my job, pretty much in character for Gavin. I figured we would kill Kentfield and move on to more complicated plots.

It would seem that I am wrong. First, the other players tell me that some of the events/people link back to things 5 years ago Real Time! "Just a coincidence?"  I ask KidC, and he gets an evil glint in his eye. Then realizations that Kentfield & Co. are a lot more powerful than we thought. And last session...

Let's just say that I have no idea what is going on (once again, pretty much in character for Gavin.) I admit now that it no longer seems like a side adventure. Something freeky-deeky and important is going down.

I humbly apologize.

Also, I'd like to congratulate you on how skillfully you've turned all of our high level strengths against us. Blocking the Dimensional Fold, using Scrying to really screw with us, and letting Gavin experience the recieving end of Power Attack. I'm also pretty sure you did something to Jovah's dice to show him how much "fun" all his special luck powers can be.

Bastard


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 10, 2002)

*Re: Never underestimate....*



			
				Gavin said:
			
		

> *I'm also pretty sure you did something to Jovah's dice to show him how much "fun" all his special luck powers can be.
> *




Hey, it's not my fault Jovah seems to roll worse on all his rerolls than on his initial rolls...

DM's Note: Jovah can reroll two rolls per day of his own, _and_ allow another person to reroll once per day.  Very handy, that gnome.



			
				Gavin said:
			
		

> *Bastard *




Hey, that's _Mister_ Bastard to you!  Official member of the Rat Bastard's Club, BTW.  Hmm, I hope I'm not supposed to keep that a secret...


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 10, 2002)

*Tor, June 18th, AE 420*

The city of Tor sits on the very edge of the southern reaches of the Endicott Mountains, the immense range that divides the known world in half.  Founded 700 years ago on the ruins of a fortress built by the Empire of Ar-Ainador a millenia before that, Tor is an independent city-state of about 35,000 citizens, of which nearly 45% are dwarves.  The city itself is divided into two sections, the High City, where the government and wealthy live and operate, and the Low City, where the rest of the population dwells.  The city is well-run and pleasantly kept-up, and the party enters late in the afternoon, hoping to find an Inn to rest at, having just had to do their first actual physical journeying since their delving into the caverns beneath Shadow Springs.

They take a few hours to get the lay of the land and locate the address found in Johann’s room: 42 Shaded Lane.  Jovah and Gavin spend some time in the dwarven neighborhoods, speaking with metalworkers and weaponsmiths.  Jovah is enjoying being around people more his size for the first time in ages, and Gavin is trying to promote emigration to Shadow Springs.

“You know, the rumors of Drow in the area are _highly_ exaggerated,” he says to one group of dwarven smiths.

This leaves Jalea, Reana, Brennen, Soldago, and Corwin to locate the address.  Jalea offers to find it on his own, but Reana won’t let him out of her sight.  The elf pouts, and tries to sneak off, unsuccessfully.  Twice.

They find the street they’re looking for pretty easily.  It turns out Shaded Lane is the street in the Low City nearest to the cliff wall.  It is therefore literally in the shadow of the High City for a good part of the day, hence it’s name.  It also is a narrow, middle-class area, with most buildings having shops on the first floor and residences above.  42 Shaded Lane is a small two-story home, very neat and proper.  They return to the Inn and rejoin Jovah and Gavin, and begin to make plans.

“I say we send Jovah up there to get him to open the door and let us in,” Gavin suggests.  “Jovah can use his ring if he needs to.”

“I could take Brennen or Gavin up there to be my ‘bodyguard’,” Jovah adds.  “Everyone else can be laying low in the area.”

“Sounds good to me,” Brennen says.

“What do I ask him?” the gnome asks.

“Hi, I’m looking for Dahloss?” Brennen offers.

“And then brain him?” the gnome queries.

“Uh, sure.”

They decide to wing it, and approach the house just as it is beginning to get dark and a light rain begins to fall.  Jovah and Brennen go up to the door, and Jovah knocks.  A viewing window in the door opens, and a pair of eyes peer out and down at the gnomish Luck-Priest.

“Can I help you?”

Jovah draws himself up as high as he can.

“Hello there!  My name is Jovah, and I have some important business to discuss with you!  I’m from the Uptown, uh…  the high town, I mean the High City, and I need to speak with you…”  He activates the _charm_ ability of his _ring of human control_.

“Uh, yeah, hang on there just a sec,” the man behind the door says, and closes the window.

“Hmm, that didn’t go very well,” Jovah whispers to Brennen.

Brennen hears footsteps heading away from the door, and then the sounds of spellcasting.  He grabs Jovah and takes cover to the side of the door, fearing a _lightning bolt_ or other magic coming through the door.

Nothing happens.

“Damn!” Brennen curses under his breath.  He steps back up the door and tries the door handle.  Locked.  He puts his shoulder into the door and tries to bust it open, with no luck.

Soldago rushes down the alleyway to the right side of the house, and Reana rushes down the the left.  The back yard of the house is surrounded by an eight foot stone wall, with a wooden gate on each side.  Soldago tries to climb the wall, but finds it tough to get a good grip.

_Soldago comes from the great prairies of Nali, and has only a 10 strength to boot.  He has no points in climb, and thus is helpless when presented with walls, and trees, and such things.  After all, there isn’t much on the prairie to practice your climbing skills on, is there?_

Gavin rushes down to back up Soldago, and Corwin runs to help Reana.  Aris stays back at the front watching, with Jalea.  Jalea shakes his head ruefully.

“Amateurs,” he says, condescendingly.

“You gonna help out with that door?” Aris asks.

“Oh no,” Jalea replies.  “They seem to have the situation well in hand.”

Brennen tries to knock down the door again, with Jovah’s help.  They fail again.

Corwin tries to look into the windows along the side of the house as he runs to the back.  He sees a door open all by itself, and then close again.  He looks to Reana, who is partway over the stone wall.

“He’s invisible!” he whispers.

On the other side of the house, Gavin tries to boost Soldago over the wall.  Out in front, Jalea and Aris hear a crashing clatter of armor and weapons as Soldago falls on Gavin.  Jalea winces.

_Soldago rolled a natural one to try and climb the wall, and Gavin rolled a natural one on his strength check to boost him.  Not their finest hours, by a long shot._

Aris looks at Jalea and raises an eyebrow.

“Alright, alright,” Jalea says.  “Anything but the eyebrow.”

He saunters up to Jovah and Brennen at the front door.  “Need a hand?”

He picks the lock with ludicrous ease, and opens the door for them.  

“After you,” he says

In back, Reana sees the back door to the house; it is open.  She looks for signs of Dahloss, and sees footprints on the wet flagstones, running towards the rear gate of the yard.  She flops over the wall and rushes up to where they are headed, swinging wildly with her shortsword.  She connects on something.  At about this time Gavin has opened the side gate on the right side, and enters the yard just in time to see Dahloss become visible, casting a spell directed at Reana.  There is no immediate apparent effect, however.

Brennen bursts through the rear door with Jovah hot on his heels.  Aris climbs over the left wall easily, and approaches Dahloss, who after failing in another spell attempt on Gavin, doesn’t much like his chances.

“Okay!  I give up!  What the hell is this all about, anyway?”

The party accepts his surrender, and begins to bind his hands.  Reana, meanwhile, is staring blankly off into space.  

“Uh, you might want to disarm her,” Dahloss adds a little sheepishly, pointing at Reana.


----------



## Jovah (May 10, 2002)

*Re: Never underestimate....*



			
				Gavin said:
			
		

> *I need to make an apology to KidCharlemagne. Here I was thinking that this whole Kentfield thing was just some "side adventure" to get the party into 3E and wrap up some of Jalea's loose ends (there's a joke there somewhere). I was just going around killing demons, doing my job, pretty much in character for Gavin. I figured we would kill Kentfield and move on to more complicated plots.*



*

Don't you get the feeling that some buidling size demon is coming up soon?




			It would seem that I am wrong. First, the other players tell me that some of the events/people link back to things 5 years ago Real Time! "Just a coincidence?"  I ask KidC, and he gets an evil glint in his eye.
		
Click to expand...



It is all linked to Reksus' plan to take over the world 

I think Kid C put some sort of Vecna bad mojo on Jovah's dice.  
Or maybe Bes' is feeling peckish.*


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## Gavin (May 13, 2002)

42 Shaded Lane.

Double boo on that one. That's even worse than the horror campaign's clock shop bit.

Of course, now that I think about it, a clock shop might be in order this time.


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## Lazybones (May 14, 2002)

Hmmm... I don't know why it is, exactly, but somehow the posts where the group can't do anything right are more entertaining than the ones where they kick ass and take names.  Old One's story has a lot of episodes like that as well--somehow his players just barely manage to cheat death in every session.  

Sorry, guys.  Hope your luck changes 

LB


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## jalea (May 14, 2002)

If you think the post are funny, you should see the sessions. sometime I can't stop laughing.

Jalea


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## Gavin (May 14, 2002)

It's about to get worse. Well, for Gavin anyway. That was really not a good day for Gavin.

If I did the math correctly, Gavin took 175 hp of Wounded Pride damage. Must have been a Power Attack.


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 15, 2002)

*Tor, June 18th, AE 420*

Gavin looks skeptically at the bookish man, and then realizes what he means.  Reana is under the effects of a _confusion_ spell.  Not caring to be diced into pieces by the Ranger, he knocks her shortswords from her hands.  Just in time, as it turns out.  Reana’s face suddenly contorts into a mask of rage, and she picks up Gavin bodily, and slams him to the ground, driving him into the flagstones.

Gavin grunts, and tries to fight back, but Reana has him pinned.  Then, just as suddenly as she contorted into rage, she relaxes and releases him.  The others swiftly tie her up to make sure she’s secure until the spell wears off.  They drag Dahloss into the house, and close it up.  Jalea sneaks off upstairs to search out the second floor.

The party sets Dahloss in a chair, and look him over.  He’s a young man in his late twenties, early thirties.  He is rather bookish looking, and his house reflects that. Books and loose scroll pages are neatly stacked and categorized in shelves, and ink wells and blotters are neatly stored in cabinets.

“Alright, talk!” Brennen orders Dahloss.

“Talk?” he replies.  “I have no idea why you’re here, who you are, or what you want!”

Brennen pulls Jovah aside.  “Is it possible that he’s not in this with Kentfield and Quinn?  That he’s just helping them out in some way, innocently?”

“I suppose it’s possible,” Jovah says.  “We can try telling him what’s going on, and see what he says.”

Brennen sits down in front of the frightened man again.

“Okay, let’s start over.  First, tell us who you are and what it is you do.”

“My name is Dahloss, and I am a sage.  A respectable scholar!  And who are _you_…”

Aris holds up his hand to stop the sage.  “What’s your field of expertise?”

“Well, matters arcane, specifically those relating to Shadow, particularly the Plane of Shadow.”

Brennen looks at Jovah.  Jovah nods in return.

“Do you know a man by the name of Arlen Kentfield?  He’s a nobleman from Ulfang.”

“I’ve never heard of him.”

_Hmm_, Brennen thinks.  “How about a wizard named Quinn?”

“Quinn?  The Alienist?  Yes, I know him, I’ve had dealings with him on a couple of occasions.  Why?”

“He may be involved in something very bad.  Demon cults, and such.”  

Brennen takes a deep breath, and then explains most of what the party knows about Kentfield and Quinn.  Dahloss is mortified that his acquaintance has been up to such horrible dealings.

“I had no idea he was involved with such horrible people!  I mean, he’s a little odd, being an alienist, but…”

“Excuse me,” Corwin interrupts him.  “But what _is_ an alienist?”

“An alienist is a wizard who specializes in very esoteric and exotic planes of existence.  Places commonly held to be beyond the known realms that ordinary wizards draw their power and summoned creatures from.”

“What was the nature of your dealings with Quinn?” Brennen asks.

“He came to consult with me last summer,” Dahloss answers.  “He was interested in the Plane of Shadow, and wanted to visit there.  He had heard that there was a Gate in this area, and that I would be able to show it to him.  I did, and that was about the end of it.”

“When did he come back?”

“I don’t know.  I just took him to the Gate, and he went in, along with some hired guards.  I didn’t see him again until this past winter.”

The party decides that they trust him, and unties him.  Brennen apologizes for all the hassle, and offers to pay him for his time.  Dahloss is unhappy, but accepts their offer.  As they are about to leave, he stops them.

“Does this have anything to do with Johann, Quinn’s friend?”

Jovah turns and looks at the sage.  “Yes.  What do you know about him?”

“That’s why Quinn came back the second time.  Johann came here last winter, and said he was supposed to meet Quinn here in Tor.  He was here for a few weeks, then Quinn showed up, and they left.”

“Anything else?”

“Well, he’s a Maulaugrym…”

“Whats that?”

“The Maulaugrym are a race of shapechangers that dwell in the Plane of Shadow.  They may be native to it, or perhaps not.  No one really knows for sure.  There’s one other thing…”

“And that is?”

“He was very interested in acquiring diamonds.  Big ones.  He quizzed me a couple of times on where he could find cut diamonds of _at least_ twenty-five carats.”

“Whew!” Jalea says.  “A 25 carat diamond is _big_.  Pricey too.  Probably 20,000 gold pieces, maybe more.  Not likely to find those anywhere but the biggest collections, and crown jewels.  Maybe Dwarven mining towns, too.  Did he find any here?”

“Not that I know,” Dahloss said.  “I pretty much told him the same thing.  Very rare, very expensive.”

“What did he want them for?” Aris asks.

“He never told me,” Dahloss answers.


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## Gavin (May 16, 2002)

*Eureka!*

I figured out why they need the diamonds!

Mordax wants to ask Loraxus to marry him, and he needs a big chunk of glass for a nice engagement ring.  A plot subtly fiendish in its intricacies. KidC you've done it again!


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 16, 2002)

*Tor, June 18th, AE 420*

The party mulls this over for a moment.  Then Jovah asks Dahloss one last question.

“Do you know anything about Mordax?”

Dahloss thinks hard for a few moments.  “From what I know, Mordax is a kind of early demon-god.  Long since destroyed.  However, I’m not really the person to ask such questions, its really not my specialty.”

“Whose specialty _would_ it be ?”

“Well, the preeminent demonologist in the Southern Kingdoms is Count Rosof DiJornal of Ghithor,” Dahloss responds.

“Oh, lovely,” Corwin groans.

Back at the Inn, Jovah asks Corwin what he meant by his comment.  “What’s the deal with DiJornal?  I don’t know much about him.”

“Count DiJornal has got a pretty dodgy reputation,” Corwin replies.  “Lots of questionable actions, including one almost certain murder of another Count.  Back around AE 402 or so, he attacked Count Stormrunner over some minor quibble.  Stormrunner was a Paladin of Pendorianus, and DiJornal had a reputation for dealing in demonology.  He was considered Ghithor’s top mage.  He ran the Academy of the Arts Arcane in Speyer, which is where all the rich and noble wizards go to learn the trade.

“He attacked Stormrunner, and killed him during a siege.  But he himself vanished during the fight, and went missing for fourteen years.  He popped up again right at the end of the civil war.  King Denghar had just issued a blanket pardon to all the rebel nobles, pardoning them for any crimes committed against other nobles. It was a big part of ending the war, giving everyone a new start, basically.  Elros Ekozius was the only one specifically exempted from the pardon.

“At that point DiJornal showed up and reclaimed his lands.  His son had fought in the civil war with Ekozius, and was killed, so the lands were up for grabs again.  They checked him out thoroughly, and they had to give him his lands back, even though they knew he had killed Count Stormrunner.

“But he is considered the best when it comes to demons.”

“Great,” Gavin moans. “So do we have any reason not to think that this guy may be behind all of this himself?”

“it’s possible,” Brennen says.  “But we need information.  And maybe we can get an idea if he’s involved by talking to him.  His lands are only a few days ride from Oakendell, we could _fold_ there and ride over and see what he has to say.  Jovah, do you want to ask Bes if this is a good idea?”

Jovah casts a _divination_ to see if going to speak to DiJornal would be wise.  The answer comes back: 

_Cautious questioning will reveal much to you; incautious questioning will reveal much about you_.

“Yup, it’s a good idea!” Jovah says, not revealing the exact response.

The next day Jovah _dimensional folds_ the party to Brennen’s estate near Oakendell.  They then ride off to see Count DiJornal, after warnings from Count Rovan and Reana’s grandfather not to trust him any further than they need to.

Before setting out, Corwin _scrys_ on Kentfield.  He catches him discussing course settings with the Captain of his ship.

“What course should I set, sir?”

Kentfield waves his hand dismissively.  

“Whatever you like.  It doesn’t matter.”

A couple days later during the ride to DiJornal’s castle, he tries again.  This time, he sees Kentfield packing a small valise.  One thing that catches his eye is a canvas satchel that contains a variety of tuning forks, of all things.

“Tuning forks?” Gavins says.

“_Plane Shift_?” Corwin wonders.  “That’s all I can think of.”

Several days later finds the party riding up to the DiJornal family castle, which is undergoing renovations and repairs.  Jalea and Soldago stay in the nearby village to try and drum up some rumors on the Count, while Jovah, Brennen, Corwin, Gavin, and Reana go to meet him.  They are let in after a short wait, and DiJornal is a gracious and friendly host, offering them dinner and drinks.  It would be rude to decline, so despite misgivings, they accept.  Finally, Jovah broaches the subject that brought them here.

“I’m not going to beat around the bush, sir,” the gnomish priest says.  “We came here because we’ve heard that you are the most learned man on this subject in the land, and we truly need the help of such a distinguished scholar.”

Gavin rolls his eyes as Jovah continues to butter up the Count.

“We’ve encountered a cult of demonologists who involved in something about a god named Mordax.  We’ve only got bits and pieces of information about this Mordax, and were hoping that your study in this area might help us.”

Rosof DiJornal raises an eyebrow at the question, and a gleam seems to appear in his eyes.

“Well, you are correct in that I have studied these subjects more than perhaps any other man in Ghithor,” he says.  

“I do know of Mordax.”

“He dates back to days before Vecna.  There’s not a lot of hard information from those times; Vecna destroyed historical texts predating him with regularity.  Mordax was the principal diety of the realm of Coldruin.  Coldruin was a powerful realm of the far north that raided and attacked the major kingdoms of the day until it was destroyed roughly 4,000 years ago.  Mordax was weakening even at that point, and with the destruction of his last group of followers he ‘fragmented’ as I would call it.”

“You may be aware that there are a number of gods that have gone dormant, or ‘dead’,” Rosof continues.  “Nolon Destro gave way to Pendorianus and Elonkor, who split his life-death cycle between them.  Jehru’s portfolio of healing and justice was split amongst Kelloran, Urakos, and Tenos.  They are commonly referred to as the ‘Dead Gods.’”

“When Mordax fragmented, the bits and pieces of his divinity were snapped up by what we now know as Demon Princes.  Their strength originates from his death.”

“Is it possible to ‘re-empower’ a Dead God?” Aris asks.

“I don’t know,” Rosof responds.  “If it were possible, it would be incredibly difficult.”

“Do you have any idea why Pazuzu would be working with other Demon Princes to bring about such a thing?”

“If you have any knowledge of the Abyss,” Count DiJornal says, ”you are aware that each layer is ruled by a Demon Prince.  Pazuzu, however, has dominance over the skies of _all_ the layers.  As such, he often acts as messenger to the Princes, and is relatively well-liked.”

“Does Mordax have any connection to the Plane of Shadow?” Corwin asks.

“He had a servant who did.  Solomoriah, also called the Shadowcat, was one of his main servants, and survived his destruction.”

Brennen, Aris, and Jalea all wince at that name.  Corwin looks at them inquiringly, but they don’t give him any clue as to the cause of their consternation.

“Where do the Shadowcat’s interests lie?” Brennen asks the Count.

“He is the opener of Gates.  After Mordax’s destruction, he threw in with Xante, who is the goddess of secret knowledge and portals, and they worked together for a time.  There’s been a love-hate relationship there for millenia, back and forth between aiding and opposing one another.”

“Yeah, we know,” Aris says softly.

Some more questions are asked, but the main questions have been answered as well as DiJornal can.  The party tries to keep from using Kentfield’s name in conversation, just in case.  Count DiJornal offers to let them stay in his guest quarters, and they accept.

“Whew!” Jovah sighs.  “And that was only half the divination!”

“What??” Brennen exclaims.

“Okay, so what’s all this about Solomoriah?” Corwin asks as soon as they are by themselves.

“Umm,” Brennen starts.

“Well, you see…” Aris says.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time…” Jalea continues.

“Didn’t he take care of all those priestesses of Tyaa and Xante for you?” Jovah asks, having heard the story before.

“Uh, yeah,” Brennen says.  “Here’s the deal.  This was three or four years ago, when we were dealing with the orcs who were trying to use Gates to bypass the Hammerhold pass and invade Ambardor and Ghithor.  We were in a tower fighting some priestesses and Drow north of the Mountains, and we came into a room with a gem.  Captured inside it was Solomoriah.  He had been captured by the priestesses of Xante, and wanted revenge.  We let him out in exchange for him taking out the preistesses of Xante and Tyaa.”

“Anything else?” Gavin asks.

“Uh, no, that’s about the whole of it,” Brennen says.

“What now?”  Reana asks.

“I have an idea on how to figure out what’s stopping us from _folding_ onto Kentfield’s ship,” Jovah says.  “Then I want to do a _divination_ on Kentfield to see where we can intercept him.  But we need to leave here and go outside somewhere.  I’ll be calling a servant of Bes for the help.”

They leave the castle and find a nice glade in the forest.  Jovah makes the preperations for a _lesser planar ally_ spell.  When the casting is complete, a tall, stork-headed figure carrying a crook and ankh appears before the gnomish priest.

“Jovah of Bes,” the celestial being asks, “what would you ask of me?”

“We are opposed by a man named Kentfield, and he has warded his vessel against our approach so that we cannot _dimensionally fold_ to it.  I’d like to know what it is that is stopping us, and if it is an item, I’d like you to go there and take it.”  Jovah hands the celestial a sketch of the vessel to aid it in teleporting there.

“I see,” the being responds.  “And you understand that I will ask a service of you in return?”

“Yes,” Jovah says, _really_ hoping it’s not anything too major.

“The service will depend on the difficulty of the task,” the stork-headed celestial says.  He stops and concentrates for a moment.

“I see the problem.  I cannot go there any more than you can.  The vessel is warded with an _unhallow_ spell, reinforced with a _dimensional anchor_.  None but those allowed may move through the dimensions on that ship.  It is an enchantment, not an item that prevents travel.  There is nothing I may do to help you in this regard.”

Jovah sighs.  He isn’t too surprised by the answer; he’d been looking into _hallowing_ the Fox Club.

“Here is your task, Jovah of Bes,” the celestial says.  “You have in your possession copies of the Qurvalos Scrolls.  Take a translated and an untranslated copy of the Scrolls to the city of Augrim, and deliver them to the Guild of Scribes there.”

“Is that it?” Jovah asks.

“That is it,” the celestial answers, and vanishes.

“That’s not too bad,” Jovah says.  “Not bad at all!”

“Uh, Jovah?” Corwin says.  “Augrim is the last place Elros Ekozius was sighted at.”

The gnome then casts his _divination_. “What is the best port for us to intercept Kentfield’s ship?”

_Kentfield is no longer on board his ship._

Hearing this, Corwin springs into action, _scrying_ Kentfield again.  This time, the mirror takes longer to come into focus, but it finally does.  Corwin sees Kentfield and Quinn strolling through the courtyard of a castle.  It appears to be morning, although it is noon in Ghithor.  The knights in the courtyard all wear armor fashioned of bronze or copper.  Corwin sees a banner flying, depicting a griffon in flight.  He tries to get a good look at one of the knights, dressed in a bronze suit of full plate.

“Hey,” he says.  “That’s weird.”

“He’s an _elf_.”


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## Gavin (May 16, 2002)

*What does it all mean?*

Which brings us up to the end of the last session, where all the party members say, "an elf, where the heck is Kentfield going?" See ya in two weeks.

Why this is weird:

1. These don't seem like any elves we know of (we did make sure they weren't Drow/Loraxites, right?)
2. Most elves don't hang out with evil demon-worshipping priests
3. The style of dress/armor was from an ancient time
4. A lot of things point to Kentfield traveling to another time/plane
5. We still have no idea what Big K is up to
6. Mr. DM is letting us come up with wild, outlandish, and scary explanations for everything based on no real facts. Giving us enough rope to hang ourselves, I guess.

We play Sunday. 

Gee Dreadnaught, I don't think we're in Ghithor anymore.

And your little toad familiar, too! (Sorry Corwin)


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## Jovah (May 17, 2002)

I hope we are going back in time.  I got a few ideas on things that need changing.


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## Gavin (May 17, 2002)

"I hope we are going back in time. I got a few ideas on things that need changing."

Uh...note to self. Must stop Jovah from:

1. "accidently" ripping holes in the space time continuum
2.  creating alternate time lines
3.  "changing" us out of existence
4.  marrying his own grandmother to create a race of Super-Lucky Bes commandos
5.  going off to have tea with Vecna
6.  stepping on any butterflies


Good gods, what have we gotten ourselves into?


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 18, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> *
> “Here is your task, Jovah of Bes,” the celestial says.  “You have in your possession copies of the Qurvalos Scrolls.  Take a translated and an untranslated copy of the Scrolls to the city of Augrim, and deliver them to the Guild of Scribes there.”
> *




I know the scrolls have been mentioned, but it was a passing mention, and they may not have been called such in the Story Hour:

The Qurvalos Scrolls are the scrolls Jovah got from Llorghar (the former highest ranking priest of Bes in the World) when Llorghar died of old age in Karnof several years ago.  The Scrolls detail much about daily life and religion in the Murkraal Empire, and contradict the teachings of Reksus, who claims to be the chief diety of the Murkraal Pantheon.

In reality, Reksus was a trickster god, adversary of the good gods of Murkraal.  The others have faded into obscurity, but Reksus (through a trick of fate, or luck perhaps) regained prominence about a thousand years ago.

The Church of Reksus is becoming aware of the "heretical" nature of the scrolls, and Jovah is disseminating them in order to undermine the Church of Reksus.


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 18, 2002)

Very strange; it didn't bump after that last post...  maybe this one iwll bump it up.


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## Grifter86 (May 19, 2002)

Hey KidC,

I was just if you ever used premade game worlds, and, if so, which worlds did you use?

Thanks.


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 19, 2002)

Grifter86 said:
			
		

> *Hey KidC,
> 
> I was just if you ever used premade game worlds, and, if so, which worlds did you use?
> 
> Thanks. *




I created my world when 2nd edition was brand new, but before that I used Greyhawk mostly - although I didn't do as much DM'ing in those days...

I've never really run anything in the Forgotten Realms, or any of the other main TSR/WoTC worlds either, though I've played in some of them


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 19, 2002)

Grifter86 said:
			
		

> *Hey KidC,
> 
> I was just if you ever used premade game worlds, and, if so, which worlds did you use?
> 
> Thanks. *




Not really.  I used Greyhawk back in the old 1st edition days, but that's about it.  I've played in campaigns set in FR and Greyhawk, and I've thought of running something in Greyhawk, but I'm pretty happy with my own world...


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## Matchstick (May 20, 2002)

Hi guys!

Sorry I haven't been around for a while, rest assured that as usual this was my first stop when I decided to get caught up on my favorite story hours.

Great stuff as usual.  You know what's funny?  I don't remember the group being 10th level, I was thinking of them as being around 7th or maybe 8th.

Let's see, more comments, some of which I've probably said before:

- I really like when you interject, with a die roll result, or something along those lines.  I wouldn't like it constantly, you do it about right currently.  I especially like to see how the dice affected something, like on critical hits or on skill failures of 1.  You players can throw out stuff like that too if you like, I'd love to see a quick summary of Aris' fight when he got locked in the room with the three guys, that sounds like a magic dice moment!

- I do like that there's so much story in this thread.  So many of the other story hours get in a story every other page or so.  I know that means that you're getting fewer comments, but don't worry too much, your fans are just a bit quieter that's all.  We are out there though!

- Nice job bringing in past (WAY past) adventures KC.  I love that the old timers had to explain to the new guys who some of these people are.  Or at least I'm assuming they did.  

- Why is it that I don't think Thoth's task will be as easy as it sounds?

- I'm really looking forward to finding out if we are indeed going to be embarking on some planar adventures.  The planes hold unending challenges for any party.  And maybe time as well?  Phew.  Brennan you'd better get a leash for Jalea if you go back in time.  Preferably one made of titanium...      

Anyway, keep it up, all of you.  Your adventures are certainly being enjoyed out here in NC.  

Oh, I was also really glad to hear that you guys have fun gaming sessions.  That bodes well for a campaign, and speaks volumes about both the DM and the players.

Well done all!


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## Gavin (May 20, 2002)

*Foot in mouth*

Just played yesterday. Awesome session. A little fightin', a little role-playin', and a whole bunch of stranger in a strange land fun.

I should've known better than to make fun of Jovah's dice problems. Apparently, he prayed to Bes and had his "luck" transferred to me. Both Gavin and Soldago rolled from mediocre to laughably bad. Fortunately, the only real damage was to their pride. Then again, I don't think Corwin has rolled a succesful Spot or Listen check yet, so maybe I shouldn't feel so bad.


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 20, 2002)

Matchstick said:
			
		

> *Hi guys!
> 
> Sorry I haven't been around for a while, rest assured that as usual this was my first stop when I decided to get caught up on my favorite story hours.*




Good to see you!  I had wondered where you had gone off to...

*



			Great stuff as usual.  You know what's funny?  I don't remember the group being 10th level, I was thinking of them as being around 7th or maybe 8th.
		
Click to expand...


*
They were 7th towards the beginning of the last Story Hour, and began this one  at 9th, for the most part...  Jalea and Aris are getting close to 11th...

*



			- I do like that there's so much story in this thread.  So many of the other story hours get in a story every other page or so.  I know that means that you're getting fewer comments, but don't worry too much, your fans are just a bit quieter that's all.  We are out there though!
		
Click to expand...


*
Yeah, I know...  The views are pretty high up there, but it was fun right at the end of Part II where all kinds of people were posting...  I hope they're still reading!

*



			- Nice job bringing in past (WAY past) adventures KC.  I love that the old timers had to explain to the new guys who some of these people are.  Or at least I'm assuming they did.  

Click to expand...


*
I _love_ bringing in old elements back into the game.  It's one of the best benefits of having a long-running game set in your own world.  There were two players who hadn't been there when the whole Solomoriah incident took place, and two other players were playing different characters...

*



			- Why is it that I don't think Thoth's task will be as easy as it sounds?
		
Click to expand...


*
Well, it wasn't Thoth himself - that was _lesser planar ally_, after all...!  

As for Jovah's task, I'm sure it'll be a walk in the park....


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## Jovah (May 20, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> *
> 
> As for Jovah's task, I'm sure it'll be a walk in the park....   *




HA HA

We were just discussing how much of a bad-a$$ the vorpal-sword wielding Ekozius would be.

Heads-a-bouncin'

OTH- I like the cinematic scene of Brennen taking on Big E 
man2man.


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## Jovah (May 20, 2002)

Matchstick said:
			
		

> Brennan you'd better get a leash for Jalea if you go back in time.  Preferably one made of titanium...




Jovah has the bad feeling that at some critical time-sensitive point we will have to make the decision to Fold/Shift away quickly in order to foil Kenfield and Jalea will be "missing".

It is a *LONG* walk back from where we are....


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## MasterOfHeaven (May 21, 2002)

A question...  aren't the characters rather cavalier about losing an entire *year* of their lives when Jovahs Dimensional Folding spell goes awry?  A few glares when it goes wrong doesn't really seem sufficient, and the fact that the non Humans in the party don't seem to care at all really bothers me.  That kind of reaction, or the lack of a reaction at all, doesn't seem right, in my opinion.


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 21, 2002)

MasterOfHeaven said:
			
		

> *A question...  aren't the characters rather cavalier about losing an entire *year* of their lives when Jovahs Dimensional Folding spell goes awry?  A few glares when it goes wrong doesn't really seem sufficient, and the fact that the non Humans in the party don't seem to care at all really bothers me.  That kind of reaction, or the lack of a reaction at all, doesn't seem right, in my opinion. *




Well, I think they look at it from the point of view of the time that it saves them, as well.  They have probably avoided spending years on the road using the spell to avoid travel...  although they would have to speak for themselves.  I sometimes feel that they use it a little cavalierly myself, too.  But hey, that's me.


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## Gavin (May 21, 2002)

*Folding*

I wouldn't say the humans are cavalier about aging because of flubbed Fold rolls. I think it's only happened twice, for one year each. At the session, the humans were more upset than the Story Hour lets on.

On the other hand, we are aware of the risks. We try not to fold to places Jovah doesn't know (which greatly increases the risk), the risk is relatively low (Jovah should post an explanation of the numbers), and Jovah has a reroll if he screws up.

In my opinion the party only uses the Fold to go where we need to go. Jovah uses it for business purposes, but if he loses a few years it won't hurt him.

Besides, it's just one more risk in the life of a hero. I mean, how many years does a dragon attack take off your life?  Right now, I don't know if we could  effectively challenge Kentfield without it. It's a necessary risk. We may not like it, but we need it to get the job done.

At least, that's the way Gavin sees it.


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 21, 2002)

*Cape Varna, June 22nd, AE 420*

It is swiftly decided that despite Sir Brennen’s oncoming bout of stir-craziness, this latest twist in Kentfield’s movements will have to be researched.

“Research,” Brennen mumbles, twitching slightly.

Upon arriving in Cape Varna, they enlist Tolaro’s help once more.  They want to find a scholar at the university who specializes in the Planes.  The next morning, Tolaro introduces them to an elderly high elf named Selenar, and they explain the situation.  He has no knowledge of a Plane where elves of such a sort live, but he offers to research the subject for them.  Meanwhile Gavin finds a sage with a specialization in military history, and tries to research this from the armor/history angle.  He learns that the elves of this world never really used bronze armor, going more or less directly from leather forms of armor to chainmail made from iron and steel.

Jovah does some reading up on the _plane shift_ spell, which he can cast.  He learns a great deal about the manufacture of the tuning forks used in the spell; each plane has an associated tone that must be struck, and many planes require exacting specifications for their tuning forks, as even the specific harmonics come into play.  The same note with differing harmonic frequencies might get you to entirely different places.

Aris spends his day learning the spell _shadow spray_ from Johann’s spellbook.

Later that day, Selenar comes to see them at Tolaro’s house.  He carries two books under his arm; one is moderately old, while the other looks quite ancient.

“I think I may have found something here,” the elven sage says.  “It’s somewhat of a convoluted trail, I’m afraid, but the pieces match.”

He sets the newer book on the table.

“After speaking with you, I realized that there was something about your story that struck a bell,” he says.  “I thought I remembered reading something like that once.  So I went looking through my books, and found this.  It’s a work of fiction written by an elf named Silgar, written about a hundred years ago.”

“Fiction?”  Corwin asks.  “Oh, brother.”

“There are a number of matches with this tale and yours.  The story is of an elven hero who stumbles into another worlkd of elves, elves who are more like Fey than elves here.  They wear armor made of bronze, and the King of the Elves in the novel has a banner of a griffon in flight, just like the one you saw.

“Now here’s the interesting part.  This novel was supposedly based off the journals of an actual elf who travelled to this place, which is called the Kingdom of Caer Sidi in the novel.”

“Cool!” Gavin says.  “Is this elf still alive?”

“No,” Selenar says.  “He died about two hundred years ago.  He had been institutionalized, as he was quite insane.”

“Somehow, I just knew that was coming,” Brennen says.

“However,” Selenar continues, “I searched for most of the day, and found the original journal.  Many elven adventurers and people of note bequeath their diaries and journals to the Univeristy, and apparently he did as well.  It’s probably how Silgar found them, and wrote his novel.”

“I looked for the portions of the journals that mentioned Caer Sidi, and found this.”  

He sets down the older book, and opens it to a book-marked page.  In the margins of the page are a drawing of a banner of a griffon in flight, and a drawing of a tuning fork.  It also includes specifications for the manufacture of the fork; a core of bronze, covered in a thin layer of copper.

“If he wasn’t utterly insane and making it all up, this seems to indicate a method for reaching this place.  I know an instrument maker who can craft this tuning fork for you.  He’s done this sort of work before.”

The party decides to go with this information, and Jovah commissions two forks; one to reach this new Plane, and one to get him back home.  The others purchase some more concealing clothes, concerned that their steel armor and weapons might draw attention where they are going.

“Aris,” Gavin asks.  “What does it mean that these elves are more fey-like?”

“Well, the Fey are unpredictable.  They frequently do not have the same sort of concerns about good or evil that we do.  Be careful not to promise _anything_.  And whatever you do, don’t take anything from them.”

“Well, you should be telling that to Jalea,” Gavin responds.

“No, I mean even if offered,” Aris replies.  “Because then you _owe_ them.”

“Oh,” Gavin says.

The next day, Jovah picks up his two tuning forks, and they prepare to make the journey.  The eight party members link hands, and Jovah casts _plane  shift_.  There is a blinding flash of light, and when their heads clear, they find themselves in the depths of a primordial forest.  The animals of the forest grow quiet, then slowly resume their ordinary noisemaking.

“Did you hear that?” Soldago whispers.

“I heard something…” Reana replies.  “It almost sounded like…  laughing.  Quiet, high-pitched laughter.  I could be imagining things though.”

“No, you’re not.  I heard it clearly,” Soldago says.  “It was nearby, and I heard some rustling through the underbrush too.  But its gone now.”

“I was afraid of that,” Aris says.


----------



## Gavin (May 21, 2002)

"It’s a work of fiction written by an elf named Silgar, written about a hundred years ago.” 

Upon hearing that, several of the players exchanged some nervous glances. Then Jovah (the player) piped in with some line about the King in Yellow. The characters, of course, wouldn't make the connection, but all the players were thinking Call of Elfthulu.

We were wrong (well, hopefully), but the truth ended up being pretty weird, too.


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## Lazybones (May 21, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> *
> “Now here’s the interesting part.  This novel was supposedly based off the journals of an actual elf who travelled to this place, which is called the Kingdom of Caer Sidi in the novel.”
> *




A great "classic" D&D reference.  

LB


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## Jovah (May 21, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> *Well, I think they look at it from the point of view of the time that it saves them, as well.  They have probably avoided spending years on the road using the spell to avoid travel...  although they would have to speak for themselves.  I sometimes feel that they use it a little cavalierly myself, too.  But hey, that's me. *




I look at it as riding in a car.  There is always  a chance for an accident, but if you are careful you should be ok.

I don't think we could be the Kingdom saving heroes without being able to _Fold_

I also agree with Gavin that the human characters were more upset than portrayed in the story hour.  


Fold stats (off the top of my head)

Going to familiar 2% chance of aging 1 year
studied 5% of aging 1d3 years
seen 10% of aging 1d6 years
never seen 25% of aging 1d10 years

and don't forget Jovah's 2 rerolls per game day.


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## Jovah (May 21, 2002)

Just to make a point-

We can't _Fold_ across dimensions.


----------



## Kid Charlemagne (May 22, 2002)

*The Kingdom of Caer Sidi, June 24th, AE 420*

Brennen looks up at one the many very large trees in the area.  He picks out the tallest.

“Jalea, can you climb that tree and see if there’s any sign of what direction we should go in?”

“Yup.”

After about thirty seconds, Brennen narrows his eyes and glares at the scout.

“_Will_ you climb the damned tree… oh, forget it, I’ll do it myself.”

Brennen clambers up the tree expertly, and wedges himself between two large granches near the top.  The forest stretches for miles in all directions, ringed on three sides by low mountains.  The fourth side goes further as far as the eye can see, possibly ending in plains.  Brennen pulls out a spyglass to get a better look at a gap in the mountains.  Once he’s focused in, he can see several plumes of smoke.  _Signs of settlement,_ he thinks to himself.  _About twenty miles off._

Down on the ground, Aris, Jalea, and Soldago hear the sounds of something making its way through the trees.  Something big, and slow.  Jalea and Reana take cover while Corwin, Gavin, Soldago, and Jovah stay about thirty feet behind them.  Aris steps out next to a tree, and peers into the dark forest.  For a moment, he could swear he saw a tree _move_.

“We mean no trespass!  We have come into the forest by mistake, and only seek to find our way out!” the Bladesinger cries out.

Soldago hears the quiet rustling in the underbrush again.  It is accompanied by a fiendish snickering.  To his right, Reana cries out in pain; she’s just been stabbed in the calf by _something_, but she never caught a glimpse of what.  The rustling passes swiftly by all those in the rear of the group, and Jovah is stabbed also.  

Reana climbs up into a tree to avoid her unseen assailant.  In the front, Aris can see for certain that the tree he thought he saw move is _definitely_ moving.  Suddenly, he is caught from behind by a huge branch from the tree he is standing next too, and knocked for a loop.  The tree Reana took to for refuge seems to shrug twice, attempting to throw the Ranger from its branches.  She leaps out to avoid being thrown out.

Soldago receives a wound to the thigh, and feels a momentary sleepiness overtake him, but he fights it off.  He manages to track the rustling noise, and draws back his bow and lets an arrow fly.  The snickering stops, and a squeal of pain is heard as he pins something to the forest floor.

The larger tree now moves into the midst of the group.  It wallops Aris and Gavin heavily, sending them reeling.   The tree that attacked Aris first and the one that attempted to throw Reana now pull their roots up out of the ground, and shift to fight.  Aris and Jalea begin fighting one, while Reana and Gavin deal with the other.  Brennen is climbing down from his lookout perch as quickly as he can, while Jovah and Corwin prep spells on themselves.  Soldago keeps a lookout for more unseen calf-stickers, and is surprised by the long reach of the bigger tree.  He takes a step or two back to avoid it, and tries to peg a couple of unseen assailants, missing due to the underbrush providing concealment.

Aris gets smashed again by the big tree, and is almost knocked unconscious.  Brennen runs up to the big tree, and starts laying into it.

Jovah finds this all rather unusual, and tries to determine if the attacking trees are some sort of Fey illusion.  Strong concentration and observation doesn’t show this to be the case, though it does reveal something odd:  The big tree has a shield spike into a rotted area about twenty-five feet up its fifty foot trunk.  It is spiked in with heavy brass spikes.  The shield bears an insiginia of a tree split by lightning on a red field.

Jovah casts _fly_ and zooms through the branches up to the shield.  He grabs the top of the shield with both hands, and braces his feet against the trunk.  He gives the shield a strong tug, and the top portion pulls out from the trunk about eight inches.  He tries again, and can’t seem to pull it any further.  He notices however, that the big tree has stopped flailing about with its branches.

“Stop attacking the big tree!” he yells to the others, who are finishing up the other local flora.  

Meanwhile, Corwin takes a blow to his calf, and since he can’t see his attackers, decides to play sleepy.  Moments later, he hears a nearby malevolent giggle, and another needle sharp tiny blade cuts into him.  This time, he does succumb to sleep.

“He did a much better job of faking it the second time, Gavin,” Soldago says.  “Hey!”

He stops as he realizes that Corwin is being slowly drug off by little unseen creatures.  He and Gavin run over to help.

_Corwin tried to bluff the creatures into thinking he was asleep, and rolled pretty poorly.  Not a good actor at all._

Reana climbs up into the tree to help Jovah with the shield.  The tree hasn’t attacked since Jovah began trying to remove it.  The two of them give it a tug, and it pulls out a little farther.  Jovah takes a peek behind the shield, and sees a blackish piece of crystal imbedded into the rotted knot behind the shield.  He can just fit his arm in there, and pulls the crystal out.

“Yieeee!” the gnome yells, as he feels his hand burn from unholy energy coursing through the crystal.  Reana jumps down to the ground and brings her sword down on the crystal, cracking it.  Another blow causes it to explode into fragments, each of which evaporates into blackish mist.

Jovah _flies_ up to a part of the tree that resembles a face, and hovers there.  Gavin and Soldago try to revive Corwin.

The tree’s dark eyes open and look the gnomish priest straight on.

*“Thank you,”* the immense creature says.  *“I owe you a debt of gratitude.”*


----------



## Kid Charlemagne (May 24, 2002)

*The Kingdom of Caer Sidi, June 24th, AE 420*

Jovah moves back from the tree in surprise, and the other party members come over to see what is going on.  Brennen translates for those in the party who don’t speak elvish; namely Gavin, Soldago, and Jovah.  Gavin half pays attention as he tries to wake up Corwin.  Soldago goes over to the one small creature he pinned to the forest floor, and finds that it is a tiny humanoid shape, about a foot tall, with dark hair, pointy ears, and cruel features.  It is quite dead.

*”You have released me, for the moment, from the darkness that afflicts me,”* the huge tree says.  *”I apologize for any injury that I may have done to you before.  I was not in possession of my full senses.”*

Aris grumbles a bit, having been nearly killed by the tree moments before.  

“You are a treant, is that correct?” he asks.

The immense creatures nods in the affirmative.  

“What is your name?”

*”You may call me Broadleaf.”*

“Are you the only treant in this forest?” Reana asks. 

*”No, but I am the greatest of all the treants in the forest,”* the treant replies matter-of-factly.

“We came here to find a place called Caer Sidi, ruled by elves like myself,” Aris explains.  “Do you know where it is?”

*”Yes.  You speak of Duke Alfric’s lands.  They lie to the east of here.”*  Broadleaf points with one of his leafy arms in the direction of the gap in the mountains that Brennen saw earlier.

“Is there a path that leads to there?” Brennen asks.  

*”There is not.  But I can make one.  I will do this for you, but I can only keep the path clear for about one day.”*

“We should be able to make it there in a day,” Reana says.  “Maybe less.”

“Will the other treants still be a danger to us?”

*”Yes, but they will not interfere while you are on the path.”*

“You hear that, Jalea?” Brennen asks.  “Jalea?”

“Oh, damn.”  He shakes his head in resignation.

Corwin finally shakes his head and wakes up.  “What were those creatures that attacked us?”

*”They are called Quicklings,”* Broadleaf answers in his deep voice.  *”They are Fey creatures that once were as full of light as they now are of darkness.  They are accursed, as this forest is.  As I still am.”*

“What!?” Aris stammers.

*”The crystal splinter that you removed from my trunk will regrow in time,”* Broadleaf explains.  *”That is why I say that I can only keep the path open for you for a while.  I will succumb again; this has happened before, and no doubt will happen again.”*

“How did this forest become cursed?” the Bladesinger asks.

*”I do not know precisely how.  An elf like yourself came here once, a long time ago.  He made his lodgings deep in the forest, and I believe that something he did brought this upon us, unwittingly or not.”*

“And the curse emanates from his old lodgings?” Aris asks.

*”I believe so, though I know little about such things.  My mind is clouded about much that happens while under the effects of the splinter’s curse.”*

“We’re going to have to do something about that,” Aris says, as Reana and Brennen nod.

“Just remember,” Jovah pipes up.  “We’re here on a mission, with a potential time limit.  We need to get Kentfield before the summer solstice.  That’s five days.”

“Right,” Aris says.  He turns to Broadleaf. “We will try to come back here and do something about this curse, if we can.  Our path leads us elsewhere right now, but we will return.”

*”I look forward to that meeting,”* Broadleaf replies.  He waves his leafy hand again, and the trees to the east of the party part, leaving a clear and unobstructed path towards the mountains.

*”Good luck to you in your journeys, and may you find that which you seek.”*


----------



## Kid Charlemagne (May 28, 2002)

*The Kingdom of Caer Sidi, June 24th, AE 420*

The party has been up for quite some time; they _plane shifted_ here in the early evening, although it appears to be around noon here.  They decide to push forward and march through to the edge of the forest. The trees have parted to form a meandering but easy path, and they make good time for the next several hours.  Twilight comes early here, and seems to last far, far too long, making it difficult to estimate time.  A light rain begins to fall as darkness approaches.

In the failing light, they see the wall of a fortified town ahead.  Torch light illuminates buildings on the inside, but the gate is closed.  As they approach the gate, those who can read elvish see a sign directly over the archway:

*Welcome to Everbright.*

Guards walk the walls above, cloaks pulled up to ward off the rain.  Reana steps ups and knocks on the gate, and a small window slides open.  A cloaked figure looks out on them, and speaks in a gruff elvish.

“Gate’s closed after nightfall.  How be ye, and what be ye business?”

“We’re travellers from the west, looking for shelter,” Reana replies. “We’re passing through on our way to Duke Alfric’s lands.”

The gatekeeper looks them over, and finally relents.  As he opens the gate to let them in, they are surprised to realize that he is a hobgoblin!   A quick look around reveals that the guards on the walls are orcs and hobgoblins as well.

“Good thing I got rid of that Goblinsticker sword,” Gavin whispoers to Corwin.

Brennen engages the hobgoblin gatekeeper in conversation.

“Where would you suggest we look for lodging?” he asks, brandishing a few silver pieces.

“Definitely not from around here,” the gatekeeper mumbles, cryptically.  “Ye’ll probably be looking for lodging up on the High Street.  I hear the Riven Sword is good lodgin’s, I wouldn’t know meself, bit over me head cost-wise.”

The party leaves the gate, and makes their way up the deserted streets towards the Riven Sword Inn.  They whisper urgently amongst themselves, trying to figure out what to think about this place.  When they reach the Riven Sword itself, they find that it is a pleasant looking establishment, run by a hobgoblin in a starched white shirt and slicked back hair.  Aris goes up to him to arrange for rooms.

“Good evenin’ sirs! What can I do for you on this unpleasant evening?” the innkeeper says to the perplexed elf.

“We need rooms,” Aris responds.  

“I have three left this evening, they’ll be two gold apiece.”

Aris relaxes a little bit.  They had been concerned that the economic system here might be too different and that they might not have any suitable coinage.  The innkeeper takes Aris’ coin, and looks it over closely.

“We’re not from these parts,” Aris offers by way of explanation.  “We came from the forest west of here.”

“Broadleaf Forest?” the innkeeper reponds.  “Hmm, I suppose there are Thendar out that way,” he replies, motioning to the humans in the group, Brennen, Gavin and Corwin.

“Thendar?” Aris asks Corwin after they get a moment alone. 

Corwin has been reading the elvish novel in order to try and glean any customs and other information that might be hidden in its overdone prose.

“There is a character in the book called a ‘Thendar’,” Corwin says.  “He’s not given much of a physical description, but he’s a wizard who advises and aids the hero on some of his quests.  A generally helpful fellow.”

The bar area of the Inn is populated primarily by a variety of middle-class and upper-middle-class looking hobgoblins, well dressed and well-mannered.  Jovah joins in a few games of chance for the express purpose of losing a few gold pieces and finding out what the coin systems is.  He manages to exchange a few gold coins and gets back copper in exchange, at a rate of 10-1.  No silver changes hands.  Jovah tosses a couple silver into the pot, and gets a few raised eyebrows.

“Don’t use that ‘round these parts,” one of the hobgoblins says, and Jovah cheerfully picks his silver back up.

Aris returns to the innkeeper to ask a couple more questions.

“Have you seen any other Thendar in these parts recently?”

The hobgoblin scowls for a minute, thinking.  “There were a couple that came through here a few days back.  They went on to Duke Alfric’s castle.”

“I see,” Aris says.   

He is about to ask another question, but is interrupted by the door slamming open in the rain.  Out fo the darkness steps a figure in bronze full plate armor.  He removes his helmet after getting inside.  He is an elf, a high elf as far as Aris can tell.  He shares the same complexion and dark hair color as the majority of high elves, at least.  Following him into the room is another elf, this oine wearing bronze chain mail.

“Bronze chain mail?” Gavin says.  “I wouldn’t have thought you could make chainmail out of bronze.”

The second elf appears to be a kind of squire to the first, and sets immediately to drying off the first elf’s armor.  A third figure steps into the room.  This one is an orc.  He wears a bronze breastplate, and has a bow slung over his back, along with four massive suitaces and trunks.  He is so loaded down with luggage he has to step sideways to get through the door.  He also wears a bronze collar about his neck.

“Lord Evan!” the innkeeper exclaims in greetings.  “What can I do for you?”

“Rooms,” the Elvish lord states bluntly.  “We need two rooms for the night.”

“Uhh, sir, I’m afraid I just rented out the last rooms to these fine fellows…”

Lord Evan looks Aris up and down, and then looks around at the others.

“Well, just kick them out, then.”

“Uhh, pardon me sir,” the innkeeper says to Aris.  “I’m very sorry and all… Perhaps…  I’ll give you half off on the one room if you’ll give up the other two?”

Aris nods, and holds out his hand for his refund of five gold, attempting to make it very clear to Lord Evan who is being put out of a room.

“Glad to be of any help,” he says, with a hint of sarcasm.

“Good to see you know your place,” Lord Evan replies, and turns and heads upstairs to his rooms.


----------



## Gavin (May 28, 2002)

I love the idea of Gavin and Soldago standing with forced grins on their faces trying to figure out what is going on. They are the only party members who don't speak Elvish. Luckily, we didn't have to roleplay that too stringently or I'd have spent the entire session in the other room.

Of course, when you can't speak the language its a lot harder to say something really stupid. Right Aris?


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## Jovah (May 28, 2002)

Gavin said:
			
		

> *They are the only party members who don't speak Elvish. Luckily, we didn't have to roleplay that too stringently or I'd have spent the entire session in the other room.
> *




Actually, Jovah does not speak Elvish either.  But he was pleasantly surprised that the Hobgoblins spoke Gnomish.


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## Jovah (May 30, 2002)

*Kid Charlamagne ?*

troll for a story update/


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 30, 2002)

Short update follows; another short update to follow either this afternoon or tomorrow...


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 30, 2002)

*The town of Everbright, Kingdom of Caer Sidi, June 25th, AE 420*

Corwin stay up most of the night reading the novel and the journal in order to glean any clues from them.  He is aided in this by his _ring of sustenance_, which allows him to sleep only two hours a night.  He therefore is awake in the early dawn hours when Lord Evan and his retinue load up their horses and ride off.  Corwin notes that they are headed in the direction of Duke Alfric’s castle as well.

The next morning the party decides to purchase some horses and ride to Duke Alfric’s castle.  Aris has been curious about the way that silver is not used in the local economy, and he approaches the innkeeper, pulling a silver coin out of his coin purse and twirling it in his fingers.  The innkeeper’s eyes widen slightly in a curious expression.   Aris raises an eyebrow.

“Have you ever seen this sort of metal before?” the Bladesinger asks.

“What? Oh, yes certainly,” the hobgoblin replies.

“You looked like you’d never seen it before,” Aris says, curiously.

“Oh no,” the innkeeper responds.  “I’ve just never seen one of you Pharisees who can bear to touch the stuff!”

“Oh.”  Aris’ grin is frozen on his face, as he quietly puts the silver coin back in his pouch.

“That explains that, then.”

“You just called me a Pharisee,” Aris continues after a moment.  

“Well, that’s what you are,” the innkeeper replies.  “You, Lord Evan, and so on.”

“I see,” Aris continues.  “So the elves around here are known as Pharisees?”

“Didn’t know there were any of you that weren’t,” the innkeeper says.

“Definitely not from around here,” he mutters under his breath.

The party heads down to the marketplace, led there by one of the servants from the Inn, a young orc.  He bears one of the bronze collars similarto the one Lord Evan’s orcish servant wore.  Brennen asks him about it.

“What does that collar indicate?” he asks.  The orc looks at him like he’s from another planet (which he is, kind of).

“It means I am the property of the owner of the Riven Sword Inn,” he says.

“Hmm,” Brennen says.  “Is the slavery generational?”

“Jena-what?”

“Are you born into slavery?”

“Oh.  Yes.”

Gavin and Reana pick out some horses, but find that there are not enough for everyone.   Rather than arrive riding two to a horse, they decide to purchase a wagon and two horses.  Jovah wanders around the marketplace, and peeks into a blacksmith shop were horses are being shod.  The shop is manned by a trio of dwarves.

Each wears the bronze collar.

“Wonderful,” Jovah mutters.


----------



## Gavin (May 30, 2002)

Ah yes, nothing like maintaining a low profile and blending right in.

Yeah, ...uh...we're not from around here. We come from France.

It's a sad day when the guy with the flaming samurai helmet is comparatively low-key.


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## Lazybones (May 30, 2002)

When fish-out-of-water stories are well done, they can be a lot of fun.  This one is unique and interesting without crossing over into cliche.  Keep up the good work.

LB


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 31, 2002)

*The town of Everbright, Kingdom of Caer Sidi, June 25th, AE 420*

Before leaving, the party manages to find out another thing or two about this strange place that they find themselves in.  The Thendar (whom they have been mistaken for) are from the City of Thend, a place noted for its vast Library.  They speculate that perhaps the Library is the reason for Kentfield’s presence here, but set that idea aside, as he appears to be headed in the opposite direction of the Library.

Reana takes the leads of the horses and drives the cart down the road to Duke Alfric’s castle.  Brennen rides beside her, while the others sit in the back of the wagon.  They are coming down out of the mountains now, and into forested lands.  The underbrush has been cleared away, and the road is well-maintained, although rather deserted.

The journey is uneventful until Reana pulls up the horses and stops the wagon.

“I hear someone approaching,” she says.  “A wagon or cart, and maybe some other horses.  Coming pretty fast.”

A few moments later, a horse and cart come into view, approaching from the direction of the castle.  It is driven by an elderly fellow in grey-blue robes, and he waves frantically as he passes the group.

“Bandits on the road!  Bandits on the road!  Look out!”  

His cart careens past the party’s, and hits a rock along the side of the road.  One wheel breaks, and driver and cart contents go spilling out all over the road.

The party gets out of the wagon, leaving only Reana at the reins.  The Ranger casts an _entangle_ about eighty feet ahead, just where the road turns away.  Shortly afterward, a group of about eight bugbears, mounted on horseback, comes charging into view.  Several get stuck in the _entangle_, while some manage to ride around it.  Brennen braces for the charge of the first bugbear, sword ready.  Reana casts _speak with animals_.

“Stop running at us!” she says.  “Throw your riders!”

“OW!” the horses respond.  “Ow!  They keep kicking us with these sharp metal things!”

The first bugbear reaches Brennen.  The Sword of Kelanen looks in Reana’s direction.

“Don’t look, Reana,” he says, and swipes hard at the bugbear’s horse!

The battle is joined, and it’s not a pretty one from the bugbear’s point of view.  A number of them leap out of the _entangled_ area, and begin firing arrows at the party, but Soldago returns fire on them as well.  Gavin, Reana, and Brennen cut them down rather quickly, with aid from Aris and Corwin’s spells.

Jovah _flies_ over to the cart’s driver.  The old man is dazedly getting to his feet and surveying the situation.

“Are you all right?” the gnome asks in gnomish.

The old man nods yes, and Jovah flies back to the group, keeping an eye on him.  The luck-priest is concerned that this could be a trap set by Kentfield, although they have no reason to think Kentfield is aware of their presence in Caer Sidi yet.

The bugbears are being routed at this point.  Several mount up and flee in various directions, and Gavin and Brennen mount up to chase them. Brennen mounts up on the horse he had previously injured, which turns out to be a bad idea, as when he catches up to his quarry, the bugbear bandit swipes at the horse, not the rider, and Brennen goes down in a heap as his mount dies.  Gavin kills his quarry, and Jovah _flies_ off after one last bugbear, who surrenders.

Brennen trudges back to the group.  Reana looks at him disapprovingly.

“I’m not sure I’m talking to you right now,” she says.

“Hey,” Brennen replies defensively.  “I didn’t kill the horse, that bugbear did!”

“Right,” Gavin responds, bitingly.  “Way to rationalize, horse-killer.”

They round up the other horse, seven in all, and then turn to the elderly man.

“How’s your horse?  Is he injured?” Gavin asks, looking at the horse still lashed to the overturned cart.

“What? Oh, never mind him,” the old man says, and with a snap of his fingers, the horse vanishes.  “I will, however, be needing a new cart,” he adds ruefully.

He introduces himself as Theodisius, and as it turns out, he is a Thendar.  He explains that the Thendar are a group consisting primarily of scholars and sages.  He had just recently left Duke Alfric’s castle, and was headed to Everbright.  The party offers him a ride back to the castle to buy a new cart, and load his boxes and such in their wagon.  They quiz him all the way there, learning a great deal more about this land in the process.


He hasn’t seen Kentfield or Quinn.
He has no knowledge of any of the events from the elvish novel, and isn’t familiar with the name of the Thendar mentioned there.
He _has_heard of the insane elf, though, and remembers him being barred from the Library of Thend.
The Library is open to anyone who has a recommendation from one of the Thendar.
He is familiar with the party’s homelands, and with planar travel in general.
Duke Alfric is a powerful wizard in his own right, and will undoubtably require the party to see him.
If Kentfield is staying at the castle, he would be considered a guest, and therefore would have the Duke’s protection.
Duke Alfric is rumored to have the castle protected so that teleporting enemies get shunted off into dungeon cells if they try to teleport into the castle.
Although attacking someone in the castle would be  grounds for reprisals, any non-offensive spell casting would be overlooked.
The elves (or Pharisees, as they call themselves) are vulnerable to iron and steel, which is why they do not use those metals.  Silver causes them discomfort, but not injury.
The Pharisees are non-religious.
Summer Solstice here is taking place in 5 days, just as on the party’s homeworld.
There are Solstice Celebrations held at the castle.

As they ride to the castle, they begin seeing unusual things; they see several mounted griffons flying overhead, patrolling the skies; they see herds of sheep grazing on the grass, keeping it short and trimmed, and tended by dwarves wearing the bronze collars marking them as slaves; and finally, they see several unicorns, just at the limit fo their sight, grazing in the neatly kept forest.  The shy creatures bolt into the trees as soon as they realize they are being watched.

“The unicorns are protected by law,” Theodisius explains. 

It is late afternoon when the party arrives at the final approach to Duke Alric’s castle.  The castle is a tall, beautifully built structure, seeming to the party like something more out of a fairy tale than a castle of their world.  The Griffon-banners flutter over the parapets, and elven knights man the walls.  The gates stand open, and various people, slaves and free mill about in the outer bailey.

“You realize that we’re probably going to meet Kentfield, and we won’t be able to fight him directly,” Brennen says to Jovah.

“Yup.”

The group takes a collective deep breath, and rides in.


----------



## Kid Charlemagne (May 31, 2002)

The full .doc file of Kid Charlemagne's Story Hour, Pts I and II is available on the ENWorld Story Hour Page!

Want the  whole whoppin' thing in one big file?  Go check it out!


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## Jovah (May 31, 2002)

I sit here at work on this gorgeous Friday and my mind wanders to Caer Sidi.  

Is Theodisius a trap?
Can Jalea stop himself from "scouting" out the inside of the castle?
Will Brennen need to make a "Foul Sir" proclamation?
What year will it be when we get back to Fencig?
_Plane Shift_ allows 8 people- Who did Kentfield bring?
Is that "teleport to the dungeon" rumor true?
What the heck is Kentfield doing here?????

Who will feed Tut?


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## Gavin (May 31, 2002)

*Worries*

Not to mention:

Who's side is Alfric on? Will he really be neutral?
Are we walking into a trap? Are we totally screwed?


I fear the answers are: His own, No, Probably, and Absolutely.


I really do think we need to do that Mark of Justice thing right on Jalea's forehead.


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## Kid Charlemagne (May 31, 2002)

Here's one for the "Great Lost Quote" file:

For every bit of information that Theodisius gave out, he tried to mine the party for interesting tidbits of info.  He was especially interested in Broadleaf the Treant, and the curse of Broadleaf Forest.

Brennen said "We'll be going back there to take care of that curse..."

To which Gavin replies, "Wait a minute, you were _serious_ about that?!"


----------



## MasterOfHeaven (Jun 2, 2002)

Jovah In The D&D Rules Forum said:
			
		

> *
> 
> 
> has anyone used the Mark of Justice spell??
> ...




Bad Jovah!  Bad!  That's the same as casting a Flame Strike on a fellow party member.  Besides, I thought "Fortune Favors The Bold!"  Jalea certainly is being bold, heh.


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## Reana (Jun 3, 2002)

*Jalea & his wandering ways*



			
				MasterOfHeaven said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Jalea certainly is being bold, heh. *




That certainly seems to be his motto!


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## Jovah (Jun 3, 2002)

MasterOfHeaven said:
			
		

> Bad Jovah!  Bad!  That's the same as casting a Flame Strike on a fellow party member.




I did not think that story posted on the test boards.  I was just messing around / bored.



> Besides, I thought "Fortune Favors The Bold!"  Jalea certainly is being bold, heh.




He also believes there is a fine line between boldness and insanity.  

Having played with Jalea for about 5 real-world years I am kind of used to his actions.   
To be honest that part that bothers me the most about Jalea going off to do his own scouting is that lately he has had a hard time coming back and making his scouting report.


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## Reana (Jun 3, 2002)

Jovah said:
			
		

> *
> 
> To be honest that part that bothers me the most about Jalea going off to do his own scouting is that lately he has had a hard time coming back and making his scouting report. *




To defend Jalea - 

When he went off in Ulfang, the only reason he didn't return is because he got turned into a statue by the Retriever - as soon as he saw the thing, he took off running but his luck ran out & he got caught.  Had he known there was a big, mean, nasty demon on the prowl (probably looking specifically for him), I think even he wouldn't have been too ambitious to do any solo scouting.

Since that time he's been pretty tame and (grudgingly) stayed put (except for the very short time in Broadleaf forest - and he came right back).

And since I don't want to give away too much before the next updates ...

SPOILER (kind of)...

... he knows that everyone will be joining him the next day so he only has to hide out for a short time (granted, he doesn't know exactly how long).  And if he can appropriate any of the necessary items for the impending destruction of the world, all the better.


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## Jovah (Jun 3, 2002)

Reana said:
			
		

> And if he can appropriate any of the necessary items for the impending destruction of the world, all the better.




He is going to try and steal  the items ???

Eep.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 3, 2002)

Dang.

You're not gonna let me sit back on my butt at all...  Now I gotta get working on some updates...  First update tomorrow.  Find out how many enchantments Gavin can be under before his teeth start to rattle....!


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 4, 2002)

*Duke Alfric’s Castle, Kingdom of Caer Sidi, June 25th, AE 420*

As they enter the outer bailey of the castle, they take stock of the layout of the place.  The main keep is surrounded by walls, and is built on a an area of higher ground.  A winding, walled path leads down to the outer bailey, which is surrounded by the second set of walls.  

The Captain of the Guard stops the group, nodding to Theodisius, and asks them their business.  Aris acts as spokesman.  He introduces the party, using their actual places of origin; they have decided that being truthful is the best policy here.

“We’re searching for criminals from our realms who we believe have taken refuge here in Caer Sidi,” he says.

As the Captain listens to their story, Soldago notices a bronze raven that at first he takes to be a statuette.  Then, its head turns, looking at the party.  When the party has finsihed their tale, the Captain whispers something to the Raven, and it flies off, heading towards the main keep.

“The Duke will be notified of your presence, and will no doubt wish to speak with you soon,” the Captain says.  You may avail yourselves of the marketplace in the meantime.”

Near the main gates to the fortress is a marketplace.  There are a good number of small shops here, selling everything from pastries and candies to carpets and tapestries.  There is an armorer/weaponsmith run by a hobgoblin but manned by dwarves wearing the collars indicating they are slaves.  There is an apothecary, run by a group of gnomes.  There is even a perfumer, which appears to be owned by a foppish looking kobold.  Free hobgoblins and wealthy looking elves mill about the marketplace, making purchases.

Gavin’s eyes are drawn to a practice field where some of the elvish knights are taking jousting practice.  Lord Evan is among them, tilting at rings.  

“Thinking about challenging someone?” Jovah asks.  “I could place some bets…”

“Nah,” Gavin responds.  “They’d probably throw me in jail for having steel armor.”

After an hour or so of milling about an shopping, Jovah has ordered a bronze dagger from the weaponsmith, and Brennen has attempted to test the quality of the bronze metal to see if its similar in strength to that back home.  

A young elf in long robes bearing the griffon emblem approaches Aris and Jalea.  He bows to them, and addresses Aris.

“Duke Alfric requests the pleasure of your presence in court…  now.”

Aris bows back.  “We would be honored.  Lead on.

He glances back at the others with a sly grin.

“Come, underlings.”

Gavin and Corwin glare back at the Bladesinger, who seems awfully pleased with himself.  They trudge on up to the main castle, and pass through the gates of the inner walls.

Inside the inner walls lies the main keep, which is surrounded by a wide moat that runs from the keep’s edge to the walls.  A bridge crosses the seventy or so feet to the keep.  The water appears to be fed by a mechanism that forces water out like waterfalls from the base of the keep itself.  The water is crystal clear, with a tiled bottom.  It is also populated by a number of immense goldfish, each about fifteen to twenty feet long.

“Well,” Gavin says.  “They do say that goldfish grow to the size of their container…”

They enter the keep and make their way up to the Great Hall, which is on the very top floor.  The Hall is designed to appear like a forest glade, with stone pillars carved to resemble trees, leaves made of elborate grreen enamel, and semi-precious gems sparkling as flowers.  Mechnical nightingales chirp in amidst the gilded leaves.  Inside  are dozens of elves lounging about with orcish slaves serving them.  A solitary gnome flits about the room with a small step ladder, examining and occasionally repairing some of the mechanical nightingales.

At the far end of the Hall, sitting upon a raised dias, are two thrones.  An elven man and woman sit upon them, dressed sumptuosly in fine fabrics and rich furs.  The elvish page who has brought the party this far leads them up to the dias and introduces them.

“Milord and milady,” he says.  “I present you with Aris Lyrell, and compatriots.”  

“This is Duke Alfric, and the Lady Meriven.”

Aris bows gracefully, and explains the parties presence and tells the Duke of their reasons for coming here.  Duke Alfric listens politely, and when the Bladesinger is finished, he speaks.

“I welcome you to the Kingdom of Caer Sidi, and grant you free right of passage within my realm.  While you are a guest here, you are under my protection.  Please accept my offer of lodgings for the night, and we would be honored if you would join us for dinner this evening.”

“Thank you, your majesty,” Aris says.  “I am curious; have you seen these two people that I have described?  Their names are Arlen Kentfield, and Quinn.”

“I must confess that all Thendar look much alike to me,” Duke Alfric replies.  “I do not recall seeing these individuals.”

The party takes their leave of the Duke and Lady, and goes to the chambers appointed to them, led by the elvish page.  As they arrive at the chambers, which are situated in one of the four towers of the inner wall, Aris turns to the page.

“Has there been anyone in the area matchign the descriptions I gave the Duke?” he asks.  “Have you seen those two men by any chance?”

The young elf looks up at the Bladesinger.

“Oh, yes!” he responds, and points to a nearby tower.  “They’re staying right over there!”


----------



## Jovah (Jun 4, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> After an hour or so of milling about an shopping, Jovah has ordered a bronze dagger from the weaponsmith




Which I just realized I never picked up.
@3%%$!!!



> Mechnical nightingales chirp in amidst the gilded leaves.   A solitary gnome flits about the room with a small step ladder, examining and occasionally repairing some of the mechanical nightingales.




I think both Jovah and Jalea were looking for a chance to _yoink_ one.


----------



## Dinkeldog (Jun 6, 2002)

I liked the dire goldfish (or would that be legendary?).  I hope those are statted up somewhere.


----------



## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 6, 2002)

Dinkeldog said:
			
		

> *I liked the dire goldfish (or would that be legendary?).  I hope those are statted up somewhere. *




There for a minute, I was thinking I might have to, but that's not for another update or so...


----------



## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 6, 2002)

*Duke Alfric’s Castle, Kingdom of Caer Sidi, June 25th, AE 420*

Preparations are made for dinner.  The group decides to “dress down” for dinner, leaving armor, and most weapons behind.  Jovah _glyphs_ the armoire in their chambers to guard the left-behind stuff.  Soon after, they hear the bells signalling dinner time.  

They return to the Duke’s Great Hall, and notice, among other things, that the painted ceiling, which earlier showed a day time sky, has now shifted to a night-time, twilight.  A long table has been set in the Hall, seating twenty to a side, with Duke Alfric and Lady Meriven at the head of the table.  

The party is not surprised to see Arlen Kentfield and the alienist Quinn sitting at the table.  The same, however, cannot be said of them.  Kentfield nearly chokes on a grape when he sees the party walk in, and Quinn’s eyes get wide in shock.

Jalea waves to them, cheerily.

The party is seated in the last eight chairs on the opposite side from Kentfield and Quinn.  Jovah is sitting closest, with Corwin nearby to translate, as the gnome doesn’t speak elvish. Jalea sits at the very far end of the table, as far from Kentfield as possible.  He notices Quinn and Kentfield urgently whispering to each other.  The elf takes a sip of wine, and chases it with a _potion of clairaudience_.

“How did they get here?” Quinn is asking urgently.  “This is terrible, terrible news! What do we do now?”

“Relax,” Kentfield replies.  “They cannot take any action here while we are guests of the Duke, right?  We’ll have to move up our plans.  We will finish our business here tonight, and then depart at the earliest opportunity.  We need to be back in our own world by the Solstice.”

Quinn nods, and tries to relax, but this seems to be a difficult task for the alienist.  

Meanwhile, an elvish lady sitting next to Jovah asks him something in elvish.  He graciously raises his glass and nods emphatically to whatever it is she said.

Midway through dinner, Jovah is trying to convince Gavin to challenge somebody to a joust in order to drum up some gambling.  Kentfield interrupts his conversation.

“I would think that you would have had your fill of pushing your luck,” the demonologist says, in perfect elvish.

“Really?” Corwin responds, also in elvish. “I would have that that it is you that would be concerned about pushing your luck.”

Jovah nudges Gavin excitedly.  “I think he’s placing some bets for us!”

The rest of dinner passes uneventfully.  The party returns to their chambers and debate what to do next.  After some heated discussion, they decide to keep an eye on their foes.  Corwin, Jalea, and Reana all head down towards the tower that Kentfield is staying in.  Aris’ hawk, Whistlethorne, is nearby ready to call his master if Reana gives the signal.  Corwin casts _detect thoughts_ and sneaks to just outside the oaken door.

The wizard identifies the two minds in the room.  He can’t read Kentfield at all, but he does worm his way into Quinn’s head.  It’s a strange, jarring mind, full of strange associations and add synaptic connections.  He gets the sense that Quinn is not completely sane.

The alienist asks for help moving furniture out of the way, and then Corwin sees the image of a protective circle that he intends to scribe on the floor.  After a few minutes of this, he hears the beginnings of a summoning spell, meant to call and bind a planar creature of some kind.

That’s all Corwin needs.  He has Reana give the signal, and back in the party’s rooms, about a hundred yards away, Aris notifies the party.

“Let’s roll,” he says, and casts _expeditious retreat_ on himself to get there as quickly as possible.  Jovah casts _fly_ and zooms out the window.

Back at Kentfield’s room, Jalea begins picking the lock on the door, as quietly as possible.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Reana asks Corwin.  “I’m not sure the Duke would like this.”

“Hey,” Corwin replies.  “Quinn is in their summoning something, something nasty, I’m sure, and I think that will push things a little in our favor.”

Jovah reaches the room first.  As he zooms down towards an open window, he sees Quinn casting a spell near a chalk-inscribed summoning circle.   Kentfield stands nearby, and happens to look out the window, seeing the gnome zooming in.

“Quinn!” he yells, pointing at the window.  “Look out!”

Quinn breaks off his spell, and turns to the window, seeing the gnome.  He gestures with his right hand in a fist, and a ram-shaped force field extends from his hand and through the window, just as Jovah reaches it.  The gnome is sent hurtling backwards from the window.

Outside the door, Jalea hears a sound like someone smacking a side of beef with a plank of wood, followed by the sounds of shifting furniture.  He finishes picking the lock, and opens the door just as Aris arrives.

They step into the room, swords drawn.  The room is arranged a little haphazardly, with a rug over the central area where Corwin believed Quinn to be casting his spell.  There is no outward sign of the summoning circle, and Kentfield is standing by one of the windows, calmly latching the shutters closed.  There is no sign of Quinn in the room.

“Well, isn’t it _nice_ to have visitors,” Kentfield says, sarcastically.  “What can I do for you?”


----------



## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 6, 2002)

*Duke Alfric’s Castle, Kingdom of Caer Sidi, June 25th, AE 420*

Corwin is stunned.  He expected to catch them in the act, and Kentfield is acting like nothing is going on. Aris looks around suspiciously.

“Where’s Quinn?” the Bladesinger asks.

Kentfield shrugs.  “It’s not my job to keep tabs on him.  He’s probably hanging around someplace.”

Outside the tower, Jovah recovers from his _ring of the ram_ induced tailspin, and starts checking out the tower.  He soon sees Quinn, crawling down the outside of the tower!  And at a good rate of speed, too.  He zooms over, and tries to grapple him, but his strength advantage is countered by Quinn’s size advantage.  Quinn casts a spell of some sort, and Jovah feels a tingly feeling in his spine, but with no effect.  The gnomish cleric tries to knock the alienist off the wall again, but the  _spider climbing_ wizard stays stuck.  Quinn tries a spell again, the same one, and this time Jovah fails to resist.

Jovah is turned into a carp.

Inside, Aris has gone to find a guard to report Kentfield’s shady dealings.  He finds one just as he sees Jovah get  _polymorphed_, and slaps his forehead in frustration.  Moments later, he sees the still-_flying_ carp zoom across the inner walls and flop into the moat, swimming with the over-sized goldfish.  He informs the guard of what’s going on in Kentfield’s chambers.  The guard laughs at the mention of the summoning spell.

“That’s not likely to work,” he says.  “The castle is protected from such things.”  He follows Aris back to the room.

In Kentfields room, Reana steps forward to the carpet, and Kentfield casually steps on the rug so she can’t pull it away.

“So is this a social call?” he asks.  “I’m sure that it must be, because otherwise you would be violating the Duke’s laws, and I’m sure you wouldn’t do that.”  He turns towards Jalea, who is poking about the room.

“Hello, Jalea.  You’re looking nice and…   _limber_…”

Jalea scowls back at the man who once tried to sacrifice him to Pazuzu, and more recently had him turned to stone.  He’s already spotted what he was looking for; a slightly visible edge of the circle, just poking past the edge of the rug.  He keeps looking around, hoping to spot where Kentfield has hidden the tuning forks that will allow him to _plane shift_ home.

Brennen, Gavin, and Soldago have arrived by this point.  Brennen advances towards Kentfield, and draws his sword.

He sticks the sword into the rug, and with a flick of his wrist, turns it back so that about half of the summoning circle is clear to all.

“We’ll see what the Duke thinks of that,” the Sword of Kelanen says.

“Oh my,” Kentfield says with mock horror.  “I wonder how  _that_ got there.”

“Oh well, no sense in hiding anything,” he continues, and pulls the rug all the way back, revealing the full circle.

“While we’re waiting, would anyone like something to drink?” he asks, walking over to a side table for a pitcher of water.  He grabs the pitcher and tosses it onto the circle, shattering it and smudging the circle.

“Oh dear, I’m so clumsy.  Let me clean that up.”

He begins smearing and smudging the circle with his boots to the extent that by the time the guard and Aris get back, it’s precise nature is unidentifiable.

Outside, Whistlethorne is following Quinn.  The alienist crawls all the way down to the market area, and casts an illusion that makes him look just like an elf.  He strolls through the market, eventually stopping at a large wagon.  He knocks twice on the door, and it is answered by a gnome; the one who was working on the clockwork nightengales in the Great Hall.  Quinn goes inside, and the door closes.

Back in Kentfield’s room, the atmosphere is tense.  The bemused guard listens to the two sides argue back and forth, with the party claiming that Kentfield was about to summon some demon to assault the castle.

“I was doing no such thing,” Kentfield says.  “I was performing a summoning spell, true, but it was to call a _friendly_ spirit, for purely informational purposes.  I had no intentions of using it to harm anyone, and I will submit to any divinations or magicks that you see fit to prove such a thing.”

Brennen and Reana scoff at the thought of Kentfield summoning any “friendly” spirit, and insist to the guard that they were in the right.  Finally the guards holds up his hand.

“Enough.  I cannot judge in this matter.  I’m afraid I will have to call the Duke in to deal with this.”

He sends another guard to go get the Duke, and while they wait, Aris uses his link to Whistlethorne to watch the wagon where Quinn is meeting with the gnome.

After fifteen ro so minutes, Duke Alfric arrives, with honor guard; two large elves bearing gold-plated scythes and wearing full plate armor, plated with gold and brass.

Brennen and Reana go over the accusations again, and Kentfield reiterates his version of the story.  Duke Alfric listens with an amused smile on his face.

“So, Kentfield,” Brennen asks.  “Where  _is_ Quinn?”

Kentfields begins to answer but is interrupted.

“I’m right here,” says Quinn, walking into the room with a bag full of pastries from the marketplace, and nibbling on a chicken wing.  Reana practically groans at the image.  _This is not how this was supposed to go_, she thinks to herself.  _We were supposed to find them summoning demons, whack them, and get congratulated_…

“He turned Jovah in to a fish!” Aris exclaims, pointing at Quinn.

“N…n…nonsense,” the alienist says, blinking rapidly.  “And if I did, I’m sure it was self-defense!”

Kentfield tries to shush the clearly less diplomatic wizard, and Quinn goes silent, muttering to himself as he naws on his chicken wing.  Then something occurs to the alienist, and he whispers something into Kentfield’s ear.  Kentfield smiles, and addresses the Duke.

“I have a suggestion, your majesty,” he says.  “Clearly, you are in a position where you cannot adjudicate in this dispute for lack of clear evidence.  I have an idea that will allow us to solve this, and remain within the laws of Caer Sidi.”

“Something my friends here seem unclear on,” he adds, glaring at Aris.

“What do you propose?”  Duke Alfric asks.

“A trial, your majesty.”

“A trial?” Brennen exclaims.  “What kind of a trial?”

“Well,” Kentfield answers. “By combat, of course.”


----------



## Lazybones (Jun 6, 2002)

I suppose the obvious question is...

Do 15-foot long goldfish eat gnome-sized carp?


----------



## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 7, 2002)

Lazybones said:
			
		

> *I suppose the obvious question is...
> 
> Do 15-foot long goldfish eat gnome-sized carp? *




As I said earlier, I was thinking there for a minute that Legendary Goldfish Stats might be required...

Anyway...

THe next installement of the Story Hour is brought to you by the numbers 18, 20, and 70.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 7, 2002)

*Duke Alfric’s Castle, Kingdom of Caer Sidi, June 26th, AE 420*

Reluctantly, the party agrees to the trial-by-combat proposed by Kentfield.  They repair to their chambers and begin plotting out how to best do this.  They question any elf they can find on the rules, and find that there aren’t very many:  Magic is absolutely allowed, the fight will be a joust until one combatant is unseated, and then it will proceed on foot.  

Reana approaches the Duke.

“We don’t have a suitable warhorse for a joust, perhaps we could borrow one from one of your knights?  We have the seven horse we got from the bugbears that maybe we could work out a trade of some…”

“Done!” the Duke exclaims.  “I will provide one of my best!”

“I think you just gave him seven horses to _borrow_ one,” Gavin says.

“I said, _no deals_!”  Aris wails.

“Well, it’s not like we can take them back with us,” Reana points out.

Gavin heads down to the moat in search of a bucket, and Jovah.  The flying carp zooms up from the moat, and away from the goldfish, and plops into the bucket, and Gavin takes him upstairs.

The spellcasters begin plotting out what spells they can use to boost their “champion.”  The larger question is who will _be_ the party’s champion?  Kentfield has declared himself to be his own champion, and the opportunity to take out their main foe in one shot is too good to pass up.

The decision is made that Gavin will be the participant.  He is the best horseman in the group, and is only a small step behind Brennen in combat skills once they are on foot.

The next morning, Corwin tries repeatedly to _dispel_ the _polymorph_, but is unsuccessful.  Aris finally manages to break the spell, and Jovah is returned to his full, gnomish splendor.

"Geez, about time!" he exclaims.

The “trial” will take place at noon that day, and the party is relieved to see Quinn and Kentfield walking around in the morning, and entering their tent to prepare for the fight.  Gavin and company set up shop in a tent at the opposite end of the jousting field, and begin preparations.  Stands are set up alongside the field, and they are beginning to fill up.  Nothing thrills the citizens of Caer Sidi more than the prospect of a good joust.

Spells are flying, and by the time the fight is to begin, Gavin has *eighteen* enhancement magics cast upon him!


True Seeing
Protection From Elements-Fire 
Protection From Elements-Sonic 
Protection From Elements-Acid 
Protection From Elements-Cold 
Protection From Elements-Electricity 
Expeditious Retreat
Jump
Freedom of Movement
Greater Magic Weapon on his longsword
Blur
Delay Poison
Divine Favor
Protection from Evil
Remove Fear
Aid
Bull's Strength
Endurance

When Gavin steps out and mounts his horse, he is practically buzzing from all the magic.  The crowd oohs and aahs at the obvious plethora of enchantment emanating from the horseman.  Kentfield emerges from his tent, visor down, and mounts his horse.  He is also sporting a number of enchantments, Jovah says.

Gavin’s perceptions are massively heightened by the _true seeing_.  He can tell easily that his opponent is actually _displaced_ by a small amount.  _Good thing I insisted on the true seeing,_ he thinks to himself.

The two opponents salute Duke Alfric and Lady Meriven, and take their positions.

The rest of the party is scanning the crowd.  Quinn is nowhere to be seen!  Fearing assault by an invisible alienist, they keep their eyes peeled.  The signal is given for the fight to begin.

The two horsemen charge each other.  Their horses thunder on a collision course, and Gavin guides his lance expertly under his opponents shield while deflecting his blow; his technique is perfect, and his lance finds a gap in the armor just under the breastplate.

His lance penetrates just below the ribcage, and strikes with such force that it emerges from his back, splitting the lance in two, and unseating Kentfield.  He lands with a thud on the field, and the crowd bursts into applause at a massively impressive single blow.

Kentfield does not move.  He doesn’t even twitch.

“Is that it?” Gavin says, wheeling his horse around.  “That can’t be it!”

The _true seeing_ kicks in again.  _His visor is down,_ Gavin thinks.  _Aw, hell!_

He runs over to the body lying motionless, and rips off the helmet.

It’s an orc.

“DAMMIT!” Gavin yells.

_Gavin rolled a natural 20 on his first blow, and then confirmed the crit.  He has a feat that boosts up his lance crit multiplier, and charging boosted it up further.  He did 70 points of damage in one blow.  Sadly, it was to a 2nd level warrior orc that Kentfield charmed into taking his place…_


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## Jovah (Jun 7, 2002)

Dinkeldog said:
			
		

> *I liked the dire goldfish (or would that be legendary?).  I hope those are statted up somewhere. *




I kept waiting for something to happen with the mega-goldfish.
KC mentioned it (them?) as a scene/visual setting.

Then referred back to them about 5 times.

Just becasue I am paranoid does not mean people are not out to get me.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 7, 2002)

Lazybones said:
			
		

> *When fish-out-of-water stories are well done, they can be a lot of fun.   *






			
				Lazybones said:
			
		

> *Do 15-foot long goldfish eat gnome-sized carp? *


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## Lazybones (Jun 7, 2002)

Well, you can take some solace in publicly showing Kentfield out as a coward... at least among the honor-loving elves of Caer Sidi.  

So, did someone find Jovah and dispel the polymorph?  I must have missed that.  Looking forward to seeing where the group goes from here.
LB


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## MasterOfHeaven (Jun 7, 2002)

That's too bad.  I thought Gavin was finally going to get some glory.  Heh.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 7, 2002)

Lazybones said:
			
		

> *
> So, did someone find Jovah and dispel the polymorph?  I must have missed that.  Looking forward to seeing where the group goes from here.
> LB *




Oops!  Yeah, it took all of Corwin's 3rd level spells, and one of Aris' to finally get Jovah back into gnomish form...    Gavin went down to the moat, and found a bucket, which they kept him in over night.  I think I'll go back and edit that in.


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## Jovah (Jun 7, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> Gavin went down to the moat, and found a bucket, which they kept him in over night.




The party can have Kentfield, but Quinn is mine !


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## Reana (Jun 7, 2002)

Jovah said:
			
		

> *
> 
> The party can have Kentfield, but Quinn is mine !
> 
> *




I don't think so, Jovah.  Unless Corwin or Aris can start casting Healing spells & Dimensional Fold, you better find a nice hiding spot behind Brennan & Gavin.  You're too valuable to be changed into a fish again!!!


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## Gavin (Jun 10, 2002)

MasterOfHeaven said:
			
		

> *That's too bad.  I thought Gavin was finally going to get some glory.  Heh. *





Well, at least he has the satisfaction of a job well done. I was very nervous that I was going to choke the dice rolls in Gavin's moment of triumph. Nothing like having everyone depending on you to go one on one with the big bad guy. KidC had us totally fooled. Nobody even suspected that Kentfield would trick us.

It was a beautiful hit, though. Any day when you shishkabob an orc can't be all bad, right?


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 10, 2002)

*Duke Alfric’s Castle, Kingdom of Caer Sidi, June 26th, AE 420*

There is a frenzy of activity as everyone searches high and low for Kentfield and Quinn.  Aris, sitting in the stands not far from the Duke, turns to him.

“What will be done to him now that he has run off like a coward?” he asks.

“Well,” Duke Alfric responds.  “He has forfeited his right to my protection.  I feel no compulsion to deal with him, but you may do whatever you wish.”

Aris nods, and then a thought occurs to him.

“Where did that gnome go?  The one who works on all the clockwork birds?”

The Lady Meriven speaks up.  “Wilfred?  I saw him leave this morning, just after the gates opened.”

There is some concern that Kentfield and Quinn might have snuck off then, almost four hours ago, but Soldago reminds the others that they saw both Quinn and Kentfield just before the joust.  Aris sends Whistlethorne out to scout around.  The hawk swiftly spies two horsemen, about a mile away from the castle, riding hard.  

“Aha!” Aris yells, and they make their way to their horses.

Before they go much further though, Aris sees (through his telepathic link with his familiar) that the two horsemen have stopped and dismounted.  At this distance, Whistlethorne can’t absolutely identify them.  The smaller gestures, casting a spell, and a hawk appears from nowhere.  Then the larger man casts a spell, and the two vanish, in a manner consistent with the effects of a _plane shift_.

“Great.” Jovah says.  “What now?”

They decide to split up.  Jovah will _teleport_, sight unseen, to the Library of Thend.  He will take Aris and Corwin.  They will seek out what info they can to see if there are any clues there as to why their enemies came here.  Gavin, Reana, Brennen, Jalea, and Soldago will track down the gnome, and try to get some info out of him.

The contingent heading to the Library depart.  They plan to _fold_ back that evening with whatever information they glean.  They get a written recommendation from Theodisius before leaving.

Duke Alfric graciously allows the others the use of what till recently were their own horses, and allows Gavin to use the warhorse he rode in the joust.  They ride off in pursuit of the Wilfred’s wagon.  He has a four hour head start, but Reana tracks him across the fields, and after about three hours, the spy him up ahead.  The gnomes wagon is a enclosed wooden wagon, with four solid walls and a roof, with doors in the back and side.

The wagon begins speeding up, as much as a heavy wagon pulled by two clydesdales can, and the party catches up quickly.  They can see that Wilfred is riding next to a Gnoll.  The gnome tosses the reins to his partner, and throws open a hatch in the wagon top and climbs in.  A short while later, he climbs back out, this time carrying a metallic crossbow that is linked by tubing to a pack on his back that contains a number of greenish vials.  He points the contraption at Gavin and fires.

He misses, and the ground sizzles and burns from the acidic substance in the crossbow bolt.  Soldago spurs his horse forward, and readies his longbow.  He slips off the horse, and fires the _darkness_ arrow into the back of the wagon, thereby blinding the gnome.  He mounts up again, and tries to catch up with the others who have now pulled ahead by a good distance.  

Reana and Gavin ride hard up to the front of the wagon. Reana moves in front of the horses, and casts _speak with animals_.  Gavin rides up alongside the gnoll, and takes a swipe with his sword.  He misses, and the gnoll responds by lashing the reins to a hitch, and then spinning and kicking at Gavin!  He misses as well, and gracefully lands back in his seat.  Wilfred has crawled forward out of the darkness back to the seat beside the gnoll.

Jalea rides hard up ahead of the wagon, and dismounts.  He preps his bow, and notches an arrow to fire as the wagon goes past him.  He lets a rapid stream of arrows into the gnoll.

Reana expertly jumps from her horse to one of the clydesdales.  She coaxes the animal into slowing down, aided by Gavin who spurs his horse to in front of the wagon.  He then reins in his horse, and the clydesdales are forced to slow down rather than run him over.  The gnolls doesn’t care for this at all, and grabs his horse whip.  He lashes out at Reana, and coils the whip around her arm.  He gives a yank with all his might, but the Ranger stays on the horse.

Wilfred climbs back into the darkness, as Brennen rides up along the right side of the wagon.  The Sword of Kelanen reaches out with his left hand until he feels the wagon in the dark.  He then climbs up so he is crouching on his saddle, and leaps to the wagon’s roof!  He doesn’t get very good footing on his horse though, and only half makes it, holding on for dear life with his feet dangling over the edge.  He pulls himself up onto the roof, and gains his footing, drawing both swords.

The wagon has nearly stopped now, and the gnoll, in a desperation move, leaps towards Reana, landing a heavy kick to her head, knocking her off the clydesdale.  He manages to land on the horse, but has to fend off Gavin, who is impressed with the gnolls moves.

“They don’t make gnolls like that where I come from,” he thinks.

Brennen swings hard in the darkness where Wilfred was, but comes up with nothing.

“Where did he go?” he wonders.  “Oh!  The hatch!”

He feels around with his swords until he finds the hatch.

“Hey!” he yells.  “We just want to ask you a few questions!  We won’t hurt you!”

“Yeah, sure!” the gnome yells back.  “That’s what they all say!  Then they leave out the parts about the forceps, and the water torture, and those thingies they use to hold your eyes open!”

Brennen hears the doors at the back of the wagon open.  Soldago has just begun to catch up with the darkened wagon when out of the darkness comes Wilfred, sitting in a seat attached to a four legged walking mechanism.  The gnome is tugging at joysticks and pushing buttons, and he approaches the archer, and he fires off a burst of flame at the archer and his horse.  

Gavin spins his horse around and rides over to the back, as does Jalea.  Pretty soon, the gnome is surrounded, and his spidery riding contraption has nowhere to go.

“All right!” he calls out.  “I give!”

“I’ll talk!”


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## Sir Brennen (Jun 13, 2002)

*Ker-bump*

Just a bump to let readers know. Kid C. is busy ruling how we spend our loot from the latest climatic battle  

So there's more to look forward to....


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 13, 2002)

* Kingdom of Caer Sidi, June 26th, AE 420*

The gnome orders his gnoll slave to stop fighting.  He does so, grudgingly.  Reana checks on the horses to make sure they are unhurt.  

“What’s your connection with Quinn?” Brennen asks the gnome.  “He came to see you last night, and we want to know why.”

Wilfred looks at the party, and thinks for a while, and then shrugs.

“He came to pick up some things from me,” he replies.  “I was paid to hold onto a few things, and make sure they got into his hands.”

“Paid by who?  What things?”

“Paid by a Thendar named Falco.  There was a dagger, a diamond, and a glove.”

“Who’s this Falco fellow?” asks Brennen, recalling one of Johann’s notes in his spellbook: _No one in area has suitable diamonds, Falco will have to find them elsewhere._  Apparently, Falco did.

“Thendar, maybe six foot, always wearing a heavy cloak when I saw him.  Can’t give you much more there. Had a goatee, hair going a little grey.”

“What do the items you gave Quinn _do_?” Gavin asks.

“I don’t know.  Falco handed them off to me, and I handed them off to Quinn.  I do know this: Falco said to make sure to tell Quinn that the dagger should only ever be handled while wearing the glove. And it was a _very_ sweet diamond.  Biggest stone I’d ever seen in my life.”

“Why did Falco trust you?”  Reana asks skeptically.

“I have a reputation for doing good work,” the gnome says proudly.  

They have a few more minor questions for the gnome, which he answers, and they let him go.  Jalea tries unsuccessfully to buy the acid-throwing crossbow, but the little inventor wants far too much money for even the heavy-pocketed elf to pay.

They ride back to Duke Alfric’s castle, where they meet up with Corwin, Aris, and Jovah.  They have just come back from the Library of Thend, and can offer little more information than what they had before.  There seems to be no reason for them to stay any longer in Caer Sidi, so Jovah prepares to _plane shift_ them out the next morning.  

They ride out a mile or so from the castle, and depart in a flash of light, appearing back in their own world on a well-worn road, apparently high in the mountains.

“Where are we?” Reana asks.  “This doesn’t look like Fencig!”

“Relax,” the luck-priest says.  “_Plane shift_ isn’t a very targetted spell, you can be off by hundreds of miles.  I’ve got a _fold_ to use just as soon as I figure out…  oh, crap.  I know exactly where we are.”

“Hey, Jovah!  I hear horses coming this way!” Soldago yells from a little down the road.  “And wagons!”

“Everybody form up!  No time to enjoy the scenery!” Jovah barks, urging everyone to gather around so he can cast _dimensional folding_.  A group of horsemen round the bend to the east, bearing banners and devices that are familiar to the party.

“Those cavalrymen are Caradinian,” Brennen remarks, slowly realizing where he is.

“We’re in _Carandor_?” Reana asks incredulously.

“Aren’t we wanted there?” Gavin adds.

“Yup.” Jovah replies.  “Murder.  Virenzo Staris, remember?  Like I said, time to go!”

“Mu..mu..mu…murder?” Corwin stammers.

He casts _dimensional folding_ and in moments the party is in the courtyard of Jovah’s house, across the street from the Fox Club.

“That’s much better,” Jovah sighs.

As soon as he can set up, Corwin _scries_ on Kentfield.  He finds him quickly, striding across a grassy portion of ruined fortress.  The fortress appears to be just off the shore of a small island, probably in the Retic Sea, south of Ulfang.  He is speaking to a man carrying a staff topped by a carved cat’s head, as well as to Quinn and the captain of his ship, the Seahawk.

“We need maximum security here, Kwarion,” Kentfield says to the man with the staff.  “I want you to take care of that.  I will do some castings in order to boost our capabilities.  We _will_ be assaulted sometime in the next two days, I guarantee it.  I may or may not know when the attack will come.  We need to be prepared to fight them off, at least until the solstice.”

After the spell is over, Corwin describes what he saw.  “I don’t think that guy with the staff was a mage.  Too graceful and strong looking.”

“Another assassin?” Aris asks rhetorically.

“We’re going to need to _fold_ there,” Jovah says.  “But that will mean a big chance of aging…”

“Great.  Going to save the world, excuse me can I hit you with my walker?” Gavin sneers.

“Wait a minute.  I have an idea.” Jovah says.  “I’ll make a _dimensional folding_ portal somewhere up on the island.  We’ll have about twelve seconds to look through it and see what we can see.  Then I’ll let it close, and tomorrow we can _fold_ there with a better chance of success.”

Jovah casts the spell, and the portal opens up.  They are high up on the island overlooking the fortress, and can see the area well.  The fortress is about two hundred feet square, and about one hundred and fifty feet offshore.  About four hundred feet off to the east of the fortress is a large outcropping of rocks.

Throughout the area lie four large ships at anchor, in addition to Kentfield’s ship, which is docked at the fortress.  Twenty or so tents line the beach near the plankway that leads from the shore to the fortress.

“Wow, there must be a hundred or two people there on those boats and on the beach,” Corwin says.  “Lots of spectators for whatever Kentfield is doing.”

“Okay, let’s get ready to go tomorrow,” Jovah says.  “We’ve seen all we can see tonight.”

The portal closes.

But not before Jalea jumps through.


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## Lazybones (Jun 13, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> *The portal closes.
> 
> But not before Jalea jumps through. *





Why I am not surprised?


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## Reana (Jun 14, 2002)

Lazybones said:
			
		

> *
> 
> 
> Why I am not surprised?   *




Well - you're actually the only one.  You should have seen the looks on the faces of the players when Jalea announced 'I'm going through'!  He's now been banned from any pre-screening folds.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 18, 2002)

*The Fox Club, Fencig, June 27th, AE 420*

“Wow,” Jovah says with a hint of resignation.  “I really think we could have seen that coming.”

“Well, that will certainly stir things up a bit, don’t you think?” Brennen adds.

A quick huddle results in a plan:  They will get to sleep early, and get up a few hours before dawn, with the intention of folding to the rocky outcropping off the shore of the island.  They decide to hope for the best in regards to Jalea.

The next morning, very early, the party borrows a rowboat from the docks in Fencig, and paddles it out several hundred feet into the lake.  Early morning fisherman sail past, looking in wonderment and confusion at the rowboat laden to the bursting point with seven heavily armed and armored adventurers.  Jovah casts _dimensional folding_ in front of the boat, and they coast the rowboat through the portal, into the open sea by the outcropping of rocks.  It is dark and drizzly, and quite warm.  The waves crash against the rocks, and Brennen and Gavin hold the boat steady against the current pushing them towards shore.

Jovah sits in the very front, and looks towards the fortress, which lies on the opposite side of the rocks.  The distance is roughly four hundred feet, and the gnomish priest can see lanterns lighting the walls, and guards patrolling the site.

The fortress is about two hundred feet from one side to the other.  It has fallen ruin over the several centuries since it last saw military use; only the foundations remain, with remnants of walls and columns.  There is a dock on the north side of the fortress, and Kentfield’s yacht, the _Seahawk_, is docked there.  On the other side is a thirty foot bridge to a small gatehouse, and from there, a hundred foot long plankway running just a few feet above the waves like a long narrow boardwalk.

_I’m going to post a top-down view of the fortress after this post, we’ll see if it makes things clearer or murkier!_

Reana draws her weather-controlling shortsword, and begins chanting the ritual that will activate its powers.  It takes ten minutes to activate it, and ten more minutes for the weather it calls to take full effect.  

The party waits, bobbing up and down in a tiny rowboat on the Retic Sea.  Slowly, a fog builds up.

***

And now let’s back up a few hours…

Jalea gets his bearings after jumping through the portal.  He’s on the highest part of the island, looking down on the fortress below, and on the encampments on the beach.

_I’ll go check this out, get a little info, and with luck I can get my hands on either the glove, the dagger, or the diamond_ the elven scout thinks.  _Then they can’t have their little ritual!_

He makes his way down to the beach.  Its dark, and its beginning to rain slightly.  The sound of the waves agaisnt the sand helps drown out what noise he makes, but Jalea is quite skilled at being unnoticed; he passes by even most animals unseen.  He starts at the east end of the beach, where he sees a trio of old women gathered around a campfire, discussing things with four or five men.  He crawls to within twenty feet of them in order to catch their conversation:

“…hope he knows what he’s doing,” one man says.  “I’m here, but I still don’t know what this Kentfield is actually going to do!  Something big, I guess.”

“You should pay more attention to your portents,” one old lady responds bitingly.  “I understand he is going to attempt a sort of ascension.  He is going to try and merge himself with his patron, I hear.”

“Well, well,” says one of the other men.  “Nothing like that has been attempted in at least two centuries!  You’re right to wonder if he knows what he’s doing, if he fails it will be a mess.  If he suceeds, though, we’ll just have to see what he can do with that kind of power.”

“Things would be very different in Ulfang, and all along the Retic Sea,” the old woman cackles.  “Many people would pay for their offense against us!”

Jalea leaves the gloating demon-worshippers to their dreams of grandeur, and moves further west along the beach.  He wants to get closer to the plankway, figuring that the richer, more important cultists would have their tents set up there.  _Better quality of information_, he thinks.

He settles in near a tent decorated in the Ralt Gaitherese style.  Sitting out front is a man in armor, sitting cross-legged with a katana across his knees.  Nearby, under a sheltering flap, sits a man decked out in fine silks, bearing a katana and wakizashi.  _Marks of a nobleman_, Jalea recalls from his time in Ralt Gaither.

A man that Jalea pegs as a rich merchant walks up to the tent, and addresses the nobleman.

“They won’t let me into the fortress to see Kentfield!  I sail hundreds of miles to be here for an event that I am promised will change our very lives, and then the man won’t even speak with any of us!  This is outrageous!”

“Relax,” says the Ralt Gaitherese nobleman. “This is a very tricky time.  The fortress will be opened to us when the ritual is ready to be performed.  Security is tight in the meantime.  There are forces that would stop this from happening, and Kentfield is taking reasonable precautions to ensure that things go smoothly.”

The merchant blusters some more, but no more enticing news reaches Jalea’s ears.  He slips down to the shore, slowly, taking his time, and manages to sneak his way unseen to the beach end of the plankway.  The tide is low right now, but rising quickly.  The distance from shore to the gatehouse is about ninety feet, the waves are about five feet high, and Jalea is not a strong swimmer.

He reaches up and grabs a plank, and slowly begins to climb, hand over hand across the underside of the plankway, like a child on a set of overhanging bars.  Everything is going smoothly when one of the planks snaps in the elf’s hand as he swings out to grab it!

He barely manages to hang on with his other hand, and his foot kicks out for balance, splashing into a wave, fairly loudly.  Jalea holds his breath and tucks his legs up underneath him, hoping no one heard the noise.  A shape moves under the waves beneath the hanging elf, circles once, then swims off to the west.  _Too small for a shark,_ Jalea thinks, _just about right for a sahuagin!_

He swings forward and grabs the next plank, which holds, and begins moving with greater purpose now.  Within seconds, he has made it to the rocky foundation of the gatehouse, and melts into the darkness to the side of the front gate.  He recovers his breath, and waits.

A few moments later, a sahuagin breaks the surface, and grabs the edge of the plankway.  He pulls himself up in one fluid motion, and looks around searchingly.  He then approaches the gatehouse.  There is no actual gate to the gatehouse, just the archway where one used to be before time and the sea claimed it.  A challenging voice calls out for him to stop, and the sahuagin does.  Jalea recognizes the voice.  It’s Glaron, one of the assassins that the party fought in the Gregarious Gargoyle Tavern.

_That would be the assassin that shot Gavin for 48 points of damage in two shots._

“What is it?” Glaron asks.

“There is an intruder nearby,” the fish-man says. “One of my sentries spotted him under the plankway, but we’ve lost him.  He can’t have gone far.”

“Alright, I’ll notify the fortress.  Have your men keep an eye on the seas.”

The sahuagin nods, and dives into the water.  Jalea strains to hear what is going on in the gatehouse, but can only hear the sound of someone running up the bridge to the fortress.  The elf waits again for things to die down, and then starts to move back along the edge of the gatehouse, where the foundation meets the rocks that is built on.  He stops short, as he realizes that someone is now on the roof of the gatehouse!

_That was close,_ Jalea thinks.

He melts back into a dark corner, and begins to climb up the wall of the gatehouse.  It’s only a one floor building.  He peers over the edge through a crenelation, and sees that there are two guards on the roof, where before there were none.  They’re thirty feet apart, Jalea could get to one, but not the other.  Not before he raised the alarm, at any rate.

At that moment, Jalea notices that an unnatural summer fog has developed, thickening quickly to the point where he can’t see more than ten feet in front of his face.  He grins.

“Thanks, Reana,” he whispers under his breath.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 18, 2002)

Here's a top down view of the fortress, roughly 175' from side to side.  The opposite side from the ship is the bridge leading to the gatehouse and the beach.  The columns are roughly 30' tall, and are connected by planks, some stonework, and rope bridges.  Water comes up to the very edges of the walls, which rise about 40' above the waves.  The ground is flat at the level of the top of the walls - that's the base of the foundation, everything above is long gone.


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## Gavin (Jun 18, 2002)

Hey! How come we didn't get a spiffy CGI map like that for the game?! Of course, what use is a map when you can't see your hand in front of your face?

Welcome to Air Kelanen. In the event of a water landing, the gnome may be used as a flotation device. 

This is just one of many times KidC has used bodies of water to terrify Gavin. He'll stand up to a Shadow Dragon, evil cultists, and Ghour demons, but throw a lake in his way and he starts to get nervous.


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## AvarielAvenger (Jun 18, 2002)

You have an interesting story hour here.  I like your take on the Drow, you make them very intriguing and unique.  They are also quite lovably ruthless, at least if you're not one of the players.  I look forward to reading more of this campaign.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 19, 2002)

AvarielAvenger said:
			
		

> *You have an interesting story hour here.  I like your take on the Drow, you make them very intriguing and unique.  They are also quite lovably ruthless, at least if you're not one of the players.  I look forward to reading more of this campaign. *




Snared myself another reader, yay!  I'm glad you've enjoyed it, there's still plenty more to come...

Up next: A  battle royale bigger than anything the party has seen in quite some time!  Rogues!  Monks!  Assassin-monks!  Kentfield!  Quinn!  Sahuagin!  Sharks!  More Rogues!


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## Jovah (Jun 19, 2002)

AvarielAvenger said:
			
		

> *You have an interesting story hour here.  I like your take on the Drow, you make them very intriguing and unique.  They are also quite lovably ruthless, at least if you're not one of the players.  I look forward to reading more of this campaign. *




And I suppose you thought the Loraxites (vampiric drow from Kid C's story Hour part II) are cute and fuzzy.  We still have not seen a 3E version.    Shudder.


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## Jovah (Jun 19, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> Reana draws her weather-controlling shortsword, and begins chanting the ritual that will activate its powers.  It takes ten minutes to activate it, and ten more minutes for the weather it calls to take full effect.
> 
> The party waits, bobbing up and down in a tiny rowboat on the Retic Sea.  Slowly, a *fog* builds up.




Ahh the fog, another one of our great ideas that comes back to put a serious chomp in our ass.


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## Jovah (Jun 21, 2002)

*saved from page 2 oblivion*

a little pre-weekend bada bump.

sheesh -  I can't believe that Piratecat has over 100,000 views.


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## Sir Brennen (Jun 22, 2002)

Gavin said:
			
		

> *Welcome to Air Kelanen. In the event of a water landing, the gnome may be used as a flotation device.
> 
> This is just one of many times KidC has used bodies of water to terrify Gavin. He'll stand up to a Shadow Dragon, evil cultists, and Ghour demons, but throw a lake in his way and he starts to get nervous. *




Hmph.  Gavin joined the party long after Brennen earned his reputation as a human divining rod.  "Nasty hole with water in the bottom? Don't worry, I'll handle this!"  Gavin may be threatened with bodies of water, but he seldom goes in.

Look at the upcoming battle, for instance.  Water. Brennen.  What do you think's going to happen here?  This time, though, he get's to relive Jalea's experience as underwater statuary.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 25, 2002)

Update tomorrow!  Or thereabouts.  I'm stretching these out a bit, since we played two weeks in a row, and are now in the midst of a multi-week gap - we won't play again until the Sunday after the 4th.

In the meantime, here's a trivia question:  Can anyone  guess where Solomoriah the Shadowcat comes from?  I'm not sure if ever told my players this or not...


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 25, 2002)

*An Unidentified Island in the Retic Sea, June 28th, AE 420*

Hidden by the fog, Jalea slips over the wall and up to the first watcher.  His sword bites deep into his foe’s side, but doesn’t kill him.  Thanks to the _sword of speed_, he finishes him off before he can react.  He dumps the body over the wall and into the sea, and turns to find the other watcher.

The figure moves towards Jalea through the fog, and strikes quickly, drawing blood with a shortsword.  Jalea fights back, but is a better fighter when he has the drop on someone.  He cuts his enemy, but not deeply.  One more slice from his enemy cuts Jalea, then the figure slips back in the fog, disappearing after ten feet or so.

Jalea stops and listens.  He hears nothing for a while, then the sounds of feet running across the bridge to the fortress. The elf checks the roof quickly; he is alone.  He picks a spot overlooking the seaward door of the gatehouse, and hems himself in with caltrops, so that no one can approach, and then turns to watch the bridge.  Moments later he sees Glaron run to the fortress.

Meanwhile back in the rowboat, the party has identified a problem with their original plan.  The walls of the foundation of the fortress are forty feet tall!  

“I could cast fly on myself,” Jovah says.  “Then I could go check things out…”

“Could you carry us over there?” Aris asks.

“Not really,” Jovah replies.  “I can only carry as much as I normally could.”

“Then cast it on me,” Brennen says.  “I can carry quite a bit.  Especially after a _bull’s strength_.”

Reana is speaking to the fishes.  She dumps a little chum in the water to find a shark, and one shows up distressingly fast.

“Hello,” Reana says, using _speak with animals_.  “Are there any more of you in the area?”

“Oh, yeah,” the shark replies.  “There are about five of us.  We’re watching the fortress.”

“Have you seen any sahuagin?” Reana asks.

The shark nods.  “Can we make this quick?  I’m hungry and there’s a body in the water over that way,” he says, indicating the fortress.  “If I don’t go now, there won’t be anything left.”

“Uh, wait!” Reana says.  _Oh no, Jalea!_ 

“Can you go over there and bring the body over here?”

“Umm,” the sharks responds, “do you need _all_ of it?  I can probably bring a piece or two…”

“No!” Reana says sternly.  “All of it!”

The shark darts off into the distance.  Brennen and Jovah have worked out the particulars of having Brennen fly the party to the fortress.  Reana informs them of what the shark had to say.  Shortly thereafter, the shark returns, with an arm clenched firmly in its razor-sharp teeth.  The arm is muscular and tatooed, clearly not belonging to Jalea.  The party breathes a collective sigh of relief.

“Can you escort us over to the fortress?” Reana asks.

“Sorry,” the shark says.  “We’re supposed to attack anyone that gets closer than this rock.”

“Who told you to do that?”

“The fish-people.”

“I see,” Reana says.  “Where are the fish people?”

“There are three or four right under here…” the shark says.

As soon as the shark says this, the sahuagin burst forth from the water.  Two on the starboard side of the boat grab the side of the boat, and pull down, while two on the port side push up.  Caught off guard, Corwin tumlbes over the side and into the surging sea.  Jovah nearly follows him into the drink, but his cloak catches on a slightly raised nail in the seat of the rowboat.

_Jovah used up a re-roll from his Luck domain to not get tossed in the water!_

Brennen, Gavin, Reana, and Aris swiftly fight back the sahuagin, killing three.  The last one lets go of the rowboat, and drops into the inky water.  Reana looks around – the shark is nowhere to be seen.  They fish Corwin out of the water, uninjured.

Jovah casts _fly_ on Brennen, and _silence_ on Soldago.  He also casts _water breathing_, dividing its duration up amongst all party members.  Then, the swordsman grabs Reana and Gavin and flies off.  They land on the edge of the fortress’ main section, atop the flat base of the foundation, overgrown with grass.  The fog limits their ability to see beyond ten feet or so, but as soon as they land, they spot a guard.  

Soldago puts two arrows into him, and Reana drops him with a shortsword blow, all in utter silence.  Brennen flies back to the boat, picks up the others, and flies them back to the fortress.  They regroup, and begin to make their way to the center of the area, where they had seen a courtyard-like area, several floors lower.  Visibility is a little better the further in they go.

That helps them see the three squads of assassins as they slip into flanking positions all around them, each one glimmering with a dark nimbus of black energy.  Arrows fly, catching the party off-guard…


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## Jovah (Jun 25, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> _Jovah used up a re-roll from his Luck domain to not get tossed in the water!_



I should have known then to turn back.


> Jovah casts _fly_ on Brennen, and _silence_ on Soldago.  He also casts _water breathing_, dividing its duration up amongst all party members.



Jovah is pulling his weight 

Add Soldago's _silence_ to the list of ass-bite spells.



> That helps them see the three squads of assassins as the slip into flanking positions all around them, each one glimmering with a *dark nimbus of black energy*.  Arrows fly, catching the party off-guard…




kudos to Kid C - we were NOT ready for that Nimbus.  Still have a lot of questions.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 28, 2002)

*An Unidentified Island in the Retic Sea, June 28th, AE 420*

The three teams of assassins are led by Kwarion (the cat-headed-staff wielding man Corwin saw in an earlier _scry_), Glaron, and the half-orcish Tuck.  Each leads two other roguish types.  Tuck and Glaron’s teams approach through the mist near Aris, Brennen, Corwin, and Jovah, while Kwarion’s team shows up very near Gavin, Soldago, and Reana.

The fog is quite thick; it is difficult to see anyone past ten feet, making bowfire and distance magic difficult.  The assassins get the drop on most of the party, and proceed to make them pay for it.  Brennen and Aris take multiple deep dagger wounds from thrown daggers that find vital spots, and Gavin gets hit by Kwarion himself, who strikes open-handed.  Meanwhile someone has cast _fly_ on Tuck, and he swoops out of the mist to swipe at Brennen and zooms right past him to land on top of one of the columns, landing just out of sight.

Aris blasts Glaron with a _lightning bolt_, but the magical energy surrounding him counteracts the spell, rendering it inneffective.  On the other side of the fight, Gavin strikes at Kwarion, and feels his strength ebb in return.  Corwin stops by a staricase leading down from the surface, and prepares a spell.

“Hey!  They’re draining me!” the former mercenary yells.

_I’ve got a Mea Culpa to point out here; the spell giving the assassins their bonuses is Unholy Aura, and it only affects good aligned creatures – Gavin is the only party member who is neutral in alignment, thus he should not have been affected.  We figured that out after a few rounds.  But it all evens out – I forgot to have Kwarion use an item he had that would have hasted him for most of the fight!_

Reana begins wailing into the rogues near her, and luckily resists the weakening effects of the _unholy aura_.  On the far side of the fight, Brennen is less lucky, and is severely weakened.  To add insult to injury, Tuck swoops down again and wacks him with his greataxe, laughing all the time.  He zooms back into the fog, untouched.

At the gatehouse, Jalea can hear the commotion at the main fortress.  He clears a path through his caltrops, and makes a running jump off the roof of the building, aiming for the bridge.  Just as he passes the apogee of his leap, his _ring of feather falling_ kicks in, and he lands noiselessly on the wooden bridge, tossing a few caltrops behind him as he touches down.  He pauses, listening to see if anyone in the gatehouse heard him. There is no reaction.  The elf runs up the bridge to the fortress to see what is going on.

Corwin fires off a _magic missile_ or two, but they are mostly being resisted by the _unholy auras_.  The assassins are proving tough to hit as well, though they are beginning to get whittled down by the fighters.  Soldago is finding it hard to target anything; his enemies are concealed too well by the fog.

Kwarion blows a retreat signal with a whistle, and the remaining assassins pull back into the mist and away from the party.  The group is fairly badly wounded, mostly from the intial sneak attacks and the effects of the _unholy aura_.  Jovah is thinking hard about _folding_ everyone out and coming back tomorrow.

“We’re in trouble, guys,” he says.  “We’re hurt, and we haven’t even seen Kentfield or Quinn yet!”  

Tucks zooms down to whack at Brennen one last time, still chortling at his strategy of spring attacking and flying.  Unfortunately, Jovah and Brennen are ready for him.  Jovah casts _dispel magic_ on his _fly_ spell, and Brennen takes a readied attack, cutting deep in the assassins hide.  Tuck tries to fly away, but quickly realizes he’s on foot and seperated from his allies.  He runs off into the fog, but Brennen and Aris follow him and cut him down.  Jovah moves over to the staircase by Corwin

Reana sees another figure appear out of the mist.  She readies her swords, but it’s only Jalea!  The elf waves and grins and continues towards the center of the fortress.  She shakes her head and follows Gavin, who is trying to keep up with Kwarion and the rogues.

Closer to the center of the fortress, the mist is a little less dense, and visibility is closer to fifteen feet.  Gavin sees that the assassins are heading down a staircase opposite to the one that Corwin and Jovah are watching. Reana joins him, and they peer down into the misty central courtyard, which drops roughly thirty feet to a floor that they cannot see.  The only way they can tell how deep it is is from several torches that light up the fog eerily.  The sounds of running feet can be heard down there, somewhere.

“Hang on, Gavin,” Reana says.  

She grabs him with one arm, holding her _shortsword of controlling weather_ in the other, and jumps into the central courtyard.  The _feather fall_ property of the sword kicks in, and they float down to the bottom.

Corwin steps away from the stairway for a moment, leaving Jovah alone.  The gnomish priest sees Jalea approaching, but before he has a chance to say anything the elf leaps into the open stairwell, trying to avoid the top steps entirely.  Nice try, but it doesn’t work; the _glyph of warding_ is triggered anyway.  Jalea manages to tumble down the stairs and avoid damge from the loud sonic _glyph_, but Jovah is not so lucky and is bowled over by the thunderous roar.

The gnome shakes his head free of cobwebs, and runs down the stairs, following the elf.  To back him up, or to beat him up, he’s not quite sure yet.

Reana and Gavin hit the ground at about the same time that Jalea reaches the bottom level of the courtyard.  It’s three stories, with the surface level being the third story.  In the center, they can dimly make out the figures of Glaron, Kwarion, Quinn, one of the other rogues, Lord Kentfield, and one other – a young woman, cloaked and unarmored.  She draws two wicked looking longswords from sheathes at her side and brandishes them skillfully, twirling them and turning to face Reana and Gavin.  

Quinn turns towards Jalea, and punches out towards him with his _ring of the ram_.  The elf is sent hurtling back fifteen feet, over Jovah’s head and into a wall.  Jovah can hear the crash of his friend smashing into the wall.  Jalea manages to keep his footing, and staggers for a moment.

“What was I thinking?” Jalea wonders out loud.  “Running into the room first should be Brennen’s job!”

The rogues and the cloaked woman fall back a little bit, to protect Quinn and Kentfield, who have their backs to a oaken door.  Jovah grins.

“Don’t get too close there,” he grumbles, and calls down a _flame strike_ on them!  The fire burns away the fog in the courtyard, and Quinn look particularly unsteady.  Moments later, Aris drops a _fireball_ on them.  This time, Quinn goes down.  The assassins look unhurt, as does the cloaked woman.  Gavin and Reana advance, and the battle is joined again.


----------



## Lazybones (Jun 28, 2002)

Nice action scene.  Sometimes I forget that the chars can dish it out as well as take it.  Should be interesting to see how they fare against Kentfield, if he hangs around long enough for them to lay a blade on him.


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## Reana (Jun 28, 2002)

Lazybones said:
			
		

> *... Kentfield, if he hangs around long enough for them to lay a blade on him. *




Believe me it was a concern.  There's a point coming up in which I asked KidC "So is he still there?"  Stay tuned for the answer.


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## Reana (Jun 28, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> *
> 
> “Hang on, Gavin,” Reana says.
> 
> ...




Boy that was fun!!!  Reana has been man-handling Gavin quite a bit in the last few sessions.  Score another one for the token female in the party!!!


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## Gavin (Jun 28, 2002)

Wouldn't that be _wo_man-handling then?

Gavin didn't even have a chance to say, "What are you talking abouuu..." as Reanna tackled him over the edge. Nobody told me Reanna had _feather fall_.

I loved the scene of Soldago (who is also Neutral, by the way) stuck in his envelope of _silence_  and unable to see very far in the fog. He looks over where Gav and Reanna were standing and sees nothing but a *poof* of fog. He never even knew what was going on until the _flame strike_ went off.

KidC forgot about the fireball arrow Soldago shot down the hole after the _flame strike_ . There was a whole lot burning going on down there. Poor Quinn. Poor blackened, crispy, smoking Quinn.


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## Jovah (Jun 28, 2002)

Gavin said:
			
		

> KidC forgot about the fireball arrow Soldago shot down the hole after the _flame strike_ . There was a whole lot burning going on down there. Poor Quinn. Poor blackened, crispy, smoking Quinn. [/B]




Corwin also had a _Lightning Bolt_ in there.
Flame Strike, Fireball, Fireball Arrow, Lightning Bolt
BooYah !

We were feeling pretty tough...until we noticed everyone but Quinn shook most of it off.

_Pointy teeth ?  Eep._


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 28, 2002)

Gavin said:
			
		

> *
> KidC forgot about the fireball arrow Soldago shot down the hole after the flame strike . There was a whole lot burning going on down there. Poor Quinn. Poor blackened, crispy, smoking Quinn. *




Didn't forget; I was saving that for the kickoff of the next installment...  

Quinn had a very bad day.  He was one of several people on yoyo strings... up-down-up-down.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jun 28, 2002)

*An Unidentified Island in the Retic Sea, June 28th, AE 420*

Arlen Kentfield screams to the cloaked woman.

“Keep them off of us!”

He then kneels down and _cures_ Quinn.  The battered and blistered alienist opens his eyes, and looks hazily around the courtyard, visibility now excellent since the fire has burnt off all the nearby fog.

And Soldago, now with a clear view of the situation, draws back his bowstring and lets fly with the _fireball_ arrow from his bow.  Quinn goes down again.

Kentfield utters a cry of frustration and starts working on his ally again.  Meanwhile, the cloaked woman advances on Reana and Gavin, swords whirling.  Gavin is unsettled to notice that she appears to have razor-sharp teeth and reddish eyes.  He gulps and engages her in combat.  

Kwarion uses the opportunity to move into postion for sneak attacks.  The _unholy aura_ has worn off by this time, so Reana and Gavin are having an easier time dealing with him.  Glaron stands by Kentfield and begins pepering the area with _frost_ arrows.  The other rogue moves into sneak attack position as well.  

Upstairs, Brennen looks down and thinks he knows where the door Kentfield is standing in front of comes out.  He begins flying towards the dock where Kentfield’s ship is anchored.  On the way, he sees Jalea heading the same direction, and grabs him.  They land by the door, but before Jalea can begin picking the lock, a half-dozen sailors from the ship run towards them, shortswords held high.

A couple of seconds later, four of them lie dead on the dock, and the remaining two back off carefully…

Brennen sighs in relief, but then two figures leap out of the water and pull themselves onto the dock.  It is the Sahuagin priestess from Ulfang, and her four-armed warrior guardian.

“Oh, boy,” Brennen groans, and prepares for a fight.

Kentfield manages to resuscitate Quinn again, and the beleaguered wizard stumbles to his feet.

And Corwin drops a _lightning bolt_ on his head.

Quinn goes down for good this time.

Kentfield is enraged.  He’s also been taking damage from the various blasts, and has futilely tried to save Quinn’s life.  He abandons that plan, and casts a spell.  Reana feels her joints stiffen, as she freezes in place.

The cloaked woman makes a motion with one of her swords, and a inky-black cloud descends over Gavin, Jovah, and Aris.  They shake off the worst of its effects.

The cloaked woman throws back her hood and laughs.  A third arm appears from her side, drawing a scimitar.  A fourth arm appears, drawing yet another.  A fifth, then a sixth.  Her legs have merged into a long snaky tail, and she grows in height to about nine foot tall, grinning evilly, wielding 5 weapons in her 6 arms, each glowing with magical power. 

She beckons to Gavin.  “Come here, little man, and meet your doom!”

Jovah has been waiting for confirmation of her demonic nature, however.  He casts _dismissal_.  The Marilith shrieks in anger, and resists the effects of the attempted banishment.

Jovah isn’t done yet, though.  Using his Luckmaster powers, he bends the laws of probability back a bit, and forces her to resist his spell _again_.

And this time she fails.

With a plaintive wail and a puff of brimstone and sulfur, the demon vanishes into thin air, sent back to whatever layer of the Abyss she came from.  Kwarion is stuck next to Gavin, having manouevered into sneak attack position to finish him off.  Instead, Gavin makes short work of him.  Aris takes down the other rogue.

With a moment to breathe, Kentfield begins another spell.  This time however, Corwin is waiting for him.  He has readied a _summon swarm_, and the demonologist is engulfed by biting, swooping bats.  They render him unable to cast any spells.  He screams in anger.  He is burnt, bruised, bloodied, and now getting bitten to death by a swarm of bats.

He turns towards his enemies and gestures with his right hand.  From a ring on his finger fly three shooting stars; one lands on Jovah; burning him badly; one lands on Gavin and Reana, and Gavin drops, unconscious.  The third shooting star lands on Aris and Kentfield himself.  The swarm is instantly burnt away, but the demon-priest is badly hurt as well.

Jovah _dispels_ the _hold person_ on Reana, and she begins to advance on Kentfield, who is now all alone.  Jovah then moves over to help Gavin.

Kentfield pulls a wand from his belt and aims it a Jovah, who is near death.  Suddenly everything goes black.  Jovah wonders if he was killed instantly, then realizes he can still hear the battle.  The area is enveloped in _darkness_.  Reana stumbles forward through the darkness and comes out right next to Kentfield, who is headed for the door behind him.  Two quick sword strokes are all it takes, and Arlen Kentfield goes down in a heap.  

Reana cuts his head off for good measure.  She thinks of doing the same to Quinn, but he’s pretty much ash at this point.  

Back at the dock, Brennen and Jalea are attempting to hold off the sahuagin.  Brennen has lost one of his swords, but is holding his own.  The priestess gestures towards him, and the Sword of Kelanen is _held_.  With a nasty grin, the four-armed sahuagin grabs him, and tosses him off the dock!

_Luckily, Brennen had water breathing cast on him!_

Jalea now is facing off the Sahuagin warrior alone, and not doing well.  The thing’s dual harpoons cut and slice into the elf.

“Help!” he yells, abandoning all decorum in the face of death.  “Somebody!  Help!”

Reana and Corwin hear the screams.  The Ranger moves to the door.  She looks around to see if she can see any signs of glyphs.  The screams for help stop.

“Aw, hell,” she says, and opens the door, throwing caution to the wind.

The sonic _glyph of warding_ knocks Jovah unconscious, but Reana survives.  She runs down a hall to another door, and guesses that Jalea is on the other side.

“If he’s unconscious, and I open this door, and it’s _glyphed_, I could kill him,” she thinks to herself.

Corwin runs down to Jovah, and feeds him a _potion of cure light wounds_.  The gnome groggily wakes up.

“What happened?”

Soldago is looking out for any activity.  He sees one of the Ralt Gaitherese cultists run up the stairs to near where he is.  He draws back an arrow, but is surprised as the katana wielding man is much faster than he expected.  He approaches Soldago, and swings viciously.  Blood sprays, and Soldago cries for help.

No noise comes out, since the _silence_ is still in effect, centered on the archer.  Instead he backs away.

The cry has gone up that Kentfield is dead.  The crew of the fallen demon-worshipper raise anchor, and begin to sail off; the sahuagin priestess yells something to the four-armed warrior and dives off into the water.  The warrior looks at the unconscious Jalea at his feet, curses loudly, and dives off the dock himself.  Brennen pulls himself out of the water onto the dock, the _hold person_ having worn off.  He sees Jalea down, and goes over and stabilizes the dying elf.  He tells Reana on the other side of the door that they are safe.

Soldago braces for a charge from the katana-wielding man that never comes.  He sees him look suddenly to his right, apparently listening to a command from an unseen source.  He then bows sharply, and runs off, as quickly as he arrived.

After saving Jalea, Brennen amuses himself, flying into the sails of Kentfield’s vessel, cutting rigging, until he draws some crossbow fire.

Soldago heads downstairs and over to Jovah, gesturing to his mouth.  Jovah looks at him puzzled, then with understanding.  He _dispels_ the _silence_.

“That spell nearly was the death of me,” Soldago grouses.


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## Jovah (Jun 28, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> Soldago braces for a charge from the katana-wielding man that never comes.  He sees him look suddenly to his right, apparently listening to a command from an *unseen source.*




A nasty red herring or a villian we have not yet met?


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## Gavin (Jun 28, 2002)

And here's an insight into my thoughts as Gavin was facing down the 6 armed demon:

"Oh good, _six_ arms! Lessee, Reanna's held and Gav has 20 hit points, a 12 Str (thank you tons KidC), and only 2 arms.....maybe I'll be a cleric next. Now where did I put my PHB. Lessee...clerics...hmm...she vanishes! Alright Jovah! Thank you Bes!"

And Jovah's player was debating the wisdom of taking _dismissal_ and _water breathing_ before we folded in. Apparently Bes works in a metagame sense, too.


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## Reana (Jul 1, 2002)

Kid Charlemagne said:
			
		

> *Reana stumbles forward through the darkness and comes out right next to Kentfield, who is headed for the door behind him.  *




This was where I asked, "So is he still there?"  Fortunately for us, he was.



> *Two quick sword strokes are all it takes, and Arlen Kentfield goes down in a heap.
> 
> *




It was actually only one critical hit (20 pts of damage) - I still had 3 more attacks to use that round.


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## Jovah (Jul 5, 2002)

*time off- players and characters*

Well we have not played in 3 weeks- major withdrawal.

The characters have had a few "non-adventure" weeks also.  that has not happended since we started going after Kentfield.

Lots of stuff going on.  We get to stretch our "high level" a bit.

Ta


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## Big Head Tod Monster (Jul 5, 2002)

*This is the Koolest Story Hour*

This is the best thing I have ever read !!!!

Way better than that hack Piratecat.    

I especially like the Jovah character.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jul 11, 2002)

*Re: This is the Koolest Story Hour*



			
				Big Head Tod Monster said:
			
		

> *This is the best thing I have ever read !!!!
> 
> Way better than that hack Piratecat.
> 
> I especially like the Jovah character.    *




Watch it there, troll-buddy!  I'll take away those extra 65 XP I gave you to let you hit 11th level...


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jul 11, 2002)

BTW, I noticed I forgot to mention one somewhat major thing:

Right before going to get Kentfield, Anthius finally came through with a couple of items that he found in trade for Johan's shocking rapier and Corwin's miscellaneous stuff.

He got Gavin a +2 longsword of defending, with the extra added bonus of granting him a +4 on reflex saves;

And he got Corwin a Pearl of Power, whihc allows him to recover a 2nd level spell, once per day, IIRC.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jul 11, 2002)

*An Unidentified Island in the Retic Sea, June 28th, AE 420*

The battle is ended, and Reana causes the fog to lift, which happens slowly.  They survey the area, and see that the people on the beach are in a frenzy, getting back on their ships and sailing away to avoid Kentfield’s fate.  The party has defeated Arlen Kentfield, and  there isn’t anyone left to deal with here.

They search the bodies of the fallen for magic, finding a pretty significant amount of loot.  Jalea finds a locked chest in the area that Kentfield was using as his command post.  _Dispelling_ any traps on it, he opens it up to find two of the items that the gnome had told them of; namely, a finely made and engraved ceremonial dagger (brand new), and a velvet glove etched with arcane symbols yet radiating no magic.  On Quinn, Jalea finds the biggest diamond he’s ever seen.  It’s a round cut diamond, roughly twenty-five carats worth.

“Woo!” the elf exclaims.  “A stone like that could bring maybe twenty grand in the right place!”

“Be careful with that,” Aris says.  “It radiates conjuration magic.”

“So does the dagger,” Corwin adds.  “The two dweomers are practically identical.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Jovah says.  “I don’t want to stick around here any longer than I have to.”

They _fold_ to Fencig.  They take Kentfield’s head, just to be safe.

Over the next several days, Corwin and Aris do a number of _identifys_.  They figure out what most of the magic items they recover do.  The dagger and diamond remain a problem.  The diamond defies Corwin’s attempts at idenitification, and to identify the dagger, he would have to touch it without using the glove, which turns out to have magic-suppression powers.  

Anything that is held in the hand wearing the glove has it’s magical properties dampened – swords, daggers, wands, small items of various kinds. Since no one wants to defy the gnome’s warning not to touch the dagger, they instead leave it alone, and cast _dispel magic_ on the diamond.  It takes a few tries, but eventually, the enchantment on the diamond breaks.  

“That’s interesting,” Corwin says.  “As soon as the _dispel magic_ on the diamond succeeded, the dagger stopped radiating magic…”

The other items they identify turn out to be:


Chainshirt +1
Scimitar +1
Vest of Escape 
2 potions of Cure Moderate wounds
1/2 Plate +2
Morningstar +1
Hand Axe +1
Wand of Wonder- 42 charges
Ring of Shooting Stars
Gloves +3
Monk’s Belt
3 +1 Chakrams, 1 of Returning, 1 of Shocking, and 1 of Seeking
Ring ofJump
2 Amulets of natural armor +2
Bottomless Quiver (Quiver of Ehlonna)
Rod of Cats
Ring of the Ram
Shortsword +1
Chain shirt +2
16 arrows +1 Frost

They also found a collection of six tuning forks for use with the _plane shift_ spell, but can only determine what two of them are for (the prime material, and Caer Sidi).  They decide not to experiment.

They divy up the magic, and decide to sell a good portion of it, using Anthius as broker.  They plan on using the money to commission magic items more suited to their actual needs.  They have no pressing concerns, so they take their time – pretty much the entire month of July, in fact.


Brennen goes to the Academy of the Arts Arcane in Speyer, and commissions a wizard there to boost two +1 longswords he has had for years (and that have religious significance to him, having once belonged to one of the very first Swords of Kelanen) to +2.  One of them he also gets enchanted with the _frost_ enhancement.  He also commissions a _cloak of resistance_.
Reana decides to spend her hard-earned loot building a small keep in the hills between Hawk’s Roost and Shadow Springs as a waystation for the Rangers, and a back-up base for the party.  She arranges with Ryla, the Druidess from Sylvan Fields, to have someone assigned to man the small fort, and watch over the construction process.  It will take some time to build, but it should be finished by the end of summer.
Gavin takes the fancy set of full plate armor he had made some time ago for courtly purposes, and gets a wizard in Belluin to enchant it to +2, and add the _nimbleness_ enhancement, allowing him full use of his natural quickness.
Jovah talks to Cian Bardson, former Regent of Fencig, and Cian points him to a priest of Urakos (god of retribution and law, avenger of the wronged) who can take his magical mace and make it into a _holy_
Aris heads to Cape Varna, and gets an elven wizard to do some work for him.  He has a cloak made from the wing material of the Green Dragon that nearly killed Brennen and Gavin so long ago, and he has the wizard imbue it with several powers, most especially _resistance_ and _flying_ (with a 1/day limitation to keep the cost down).
Corwin accompanies Aris to Cape Varna and spends the time feverishly transposing spells from Johann’s and Quinn’s captured spellbooks.  He has just mastered 5th level spells, and is quite excited about it.
If Jalea is up to anything (and he almost always is) he does not let anyone in on the secret.  He does let the party know that the Thieves’ Guild situation in Ulfang has devolved into a gang fight, now that their patron has been killed, along with a good portion of the leadership of the Assassin’s Guild.
Soldago commissions himself a set of _bracers of archery_.  He also puts a couple of skill points into Climb.


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## Gavin (Jul 11, 2002)

Not only is Gavin covered from head to toe in shiny steel, its also etched and engraved and fancy-pancy. Its like every day is a parade!

Nothing says "low-profile" like masterwork full parade plate. Of course, Aris still has him beat on AC, which he never fails to mention. Stupid elves and their stupid dancey-prancey light armour wearin', Jump +75, uhh....

KidC: You forgot to mention Jovah's new "favor" that he owes. It's starting to feel like a Gnomafia game. Or would that be _cosa gnomstra_ ?


p.s. I also like my shiny new sword. God bless that reflex save boost.


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## Jovah (Jul 12, 2002)

Gavin said:
			
		

> Nothing says "low-profile" like masterwork full parade plate. Of course, Aris still has him beat on AC, which he never fails to mention. Stupid elves and their stupid dancey-prancey light armour




That is only if he has a chance to cast spells - mainly _shield_

If you are both just standing around ya' got'im beet.



> KidC: You forgot to mention Jovah's new "favor" that he owes. It's starting to feel like a Gnomafia game. Or would that be _cosa gnomstra_ ?




I don't think Jovah owes any other favors.  He has done several favors for some upper class types- dukes, kings, merchant guild.

Favors are more powerful than armories or treasuries.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jul 16, 2002)

*The Fox Club, August 3rd, AE 420*

During the month or so of relative inactivity, the majority of the party meets with Count Cortez in Belluin to bring him up to speed on Lord Kentfield’s activities.  The Count thanks them profusely, and takes over the job of making sure that the mass graves at the old Kentfield estate are emptied and properly interred, back on Ghithorian soil.  Upon hearing of their plans to visit Augrim, he advises them to lay low.

“Ekozius is handling the defense of the town,” he says.  “He has some sort of agreement with the Duke, or perhaps has used some influence on him to gain a base of operations.”

“We’ll just be there for a little while,” Jovah says.  “Drop off the scrolls, and leave.”

“Maybe check out the horse markets before we leave,” Gavin adds hopefully, wanting to take advantage of what is considered the pre-eminent horse breeders in the eastern world.  He’s been thinking of starting up a horse ranch in Shadow Springs to breed warhorses.

When the party finally regroups in Fencig, Jovah _folds_ them to the edge of the Forest of Malboria, just north of Augrim.  Soldago looks around a little uneasily, prompting a look from Jovah.

“I’m sure the stories of the Forest being haunted are just stories,” Soldago explains nervously.

“Great,” Jovah replies.

Haunted or not, they have no problems until they reach the North Gate of Augrim.  There, sitting in what little shade can be found in the blistering August sun, they find a Lieutenant of Elros Ekozius’ Red Flame Elite guard commanding the Gate.  He does not seem to notice who passes by his post, as the party has taken care to disguise themselves.  

They tell the guards that they are here to purchase horses at the market, and Jovah says they are from Amberg, picking a nearby city off the top of his head.

The Augrim guards motion the party on, as the lieutenant sips on a cool drink, trying to stay warm in the oppressive heat.

“Can you point me to the Scrivner’s Guild?” Jovah asks the guard, who looks at him blankly. The guard shrugs unhelpfully.

“How about the horse market?” Gavin asks.

“Center of town.  You can’t miss it, just follow your nose,” the guard replies.

“Did you have to say Amberg, Jovah?” Brennen asks.  “That’s where Xavier is from.”

“Xavier?” Gavin says questioningly.  “The guy who handed your ass to you?”

Brennen glares at the horseman.

The city of Augrim is a large, dusty, old settlement on the edge of the Plains of Nali.  Along its western side runs the Great River, the longest continuously navigable river known to the sages.  The city is far more spread out than any of the cities in Ghithor, with a crumbling thirty foot tall wall surrounding the baked mud hovels of the poor and the grand stone dwellings of the rich.

The Scrivner’s Guild turns out to be a couple of blocks just off the main town square and bazaar.  The square bakes in the 95 degree heat, and is filled with the sounds of merchants selling their wares.  The smell of the horses is unmistakeable in this weather, and Jovah tries to hold his nose.

“Ugh! Lovely…” he says.

The Guild building is a two story stone affair, solidly built, but not appearing to be terribly rich or powerful.

“Tell me again why we’re bringing these scrolls here?” Jalea asks.

“Because the servant of Bes told me to,” Jovah replies.  “I’m not really sure why.”

“Maybe this is the kind of place that the worship of the Murkraal Gods could really take off?” Brennen ponders.  He stops a man walking past the door of the Guild.

“What’s the biggest church here in town?”

“Uh, that would probably be the Church of Reksus,” the man replies.  “Although the Temple of Marlak is quite powerful as well…”

“Reksus.” Jovah states drily.  “This is getting better and better.”


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## Gavin (Jul 16, 2002)

*“Xavier?” Gavin says questioningly. “The guy who handed your ass to you?”* 

Uh...I just sorta blurted it out. It must have been the spirit of Gavin speaking through me. And then I hear KidC chuckling evilly and writing in his notebook. I'll have to watch my mouth from now on. You never know what could end up in the Story Hour.

It seems that party members are competing for rank in the "infamous incidents" category.

Gavin: Beat up by a girl, falling down walls, getting all worked up to joust an orc
Brennen: unplanned watersports, unwise swordfights, sticky peace bonds, horse-killing
Aris: catching rocks, using monsters as gymnastics equipment
Corwin: chum buckets, absolute blindness and deafness
Jalea: Too numerous to mention
Jovah:Inopportune paralysis, incomplete disclosure of divinations, Reksus-baiting, turning into fish
Soldago: inability to climb 6 foot fences
Reanna: Extremely poor horse-trade negotiations, wrestling party members, jumping off balconies with said party members

Well they say that every hero has tragic flaws....


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## jalea (Jul 18, 2002)

Just checking in and giving a little bump

Jalea


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## Sir Brennen (Jul 19, 2002)

Gavin said:
			
		

> It seems that party members are competing for rank in the "infamous incidents" category.
> 
> Brennen: unplanned watersports, unwise swordfights, sticky peace bonds, horse-killing



Hey, it wasn't _me_ that killed that horse (not the last one, anyway.) Talk to the bugbear.  All Brennen did was soften...err, slow it up first.
And as for Xavier "handing Brennen his ass" - Sir D'Loxor still contends it wasn't an honorable duel.  


> Aris: catching rocks, using monsters as gymnastics equipment



And let's not forget (since the party takes every opportunity to remind him): Aris - Roaster of Dwarves.


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## jalea (Jul 19, 2002)

Sir Brennen said:
			
		

> *
> 
> And as for Xavier "handing Brennen his ass" - Sir D'Loxor still contends it wasn't an honorable duel.
> *




A loss is still a loss 



			
				Sir Brennen said:
			
		

> *
> 
> And let's not forget (since the party takes every opportunity to remind him): Aris - Roaster of Dwarves.  *




Being a fellow elf I wasn't going top mention that one myself


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## Kid Charlemagne (Jul 26, 2002)

Just a quick note to apologize for the lack of updates recently!  Two reasons for the slowdown - first, we're in a stretch where we'll only play twice in seven weeks; secondly, things have been extremely busy for me at work and after work, limiting the time I've had recently...  

I hope to get back on track early next week!

In the meantime, a sampler of upcoming events:

-a return to Caer Sidi...
-Jovah communes with Bes about Mordax...
-the party goes to see a 300 year-old librarian...


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## Kid Charlemagne (Aug 12, 2002)

Gavin said:
			
		

> *It seems that party members are competing for rank in the "infamous incidents" category.
> 
> Well they say that every hero has tragic flaws.... *




Don't feel bad; in one of my other campaigns, the high-level thief got chased around the village by a 12-year old stable boy.

Okay, a 12-year-old _vampiric_ stable boy, but, still...


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## Reana (Aug 12, 2002)

Does this mean that an update is on the horizon?!?


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## Kid Charlemagne (Aug 13, 2002)

*Augrim, August 3rd, AE 420*

Jovah and the party enter the Scrivners’ Guild, and ask for the librarian.  They are met by a young, bookish, looking man who takes the offered scrolls eagerly.  He quizzes Jovah for a while about them, and shows the party around the library.

Reana taps Jovah on the shoulder, and leans in to whisper something to him.

“Did you see that woman who walked out just as we were entering the Guilhouse?” the Ranger asks.

“No,” Jovah replies.  “Anyone important?”

“One of Ekozius’ wizards.  I recognized her from Norridge.”

“Did she see us?  Would she even know who we are?”

“I’m pretty certain she didn’t notice us, but she would probably recognize us.  She was sitting with Ekozius when Zaric pulled his ‘Arcane Sight’ stunt.”

“Uh oh,” Jovah groans.

_Zaric was a Caradinian ex-gladiator that the party travelled with, some years back.  He was almost as bad as Jalea for getting into trouble – he had an even lower wisdom.  He had aquired a sword that had a special ability of Arcane Sight, and used it for the first time while sitting in a fine restaurant several tables over from Elros Ekozius, who was in town at the same time.  He wanted to check out the magical power on display, however, he didn’t realize that using the power caused his eyes to glow brightly while in use.  Ekozius and his allies were well aware of Jovah and his dining companions that day, and of the fact that they were specifically being checked out._

“Let’s just hope she didn’t see us,” Jovah says.  “She’d only recognize you and me, anyway.”

The librarian thanks Jovah again for his donation, and locks the scrolls up in a desk.  The party leaves, and ventures back into the hot, dusty square.

“As divine commandments go, that wasn’t bad,” Brennen remarks.

“There’s gonna be something more to this,” Jovah says.  “I just know it.”

Gavin takes this opportunity to go visit the horse market, which he has heard is one of the world’s best.  He has been hoping for some time to build a herd of breeding stock to breed warhorses, and he sets about selecting ten or so horses to purchase, with Reana’s help.  Aris and Jalea also purchase new riding horses.  Jovah wanders off, not wanting to get trampled, nor caring much for horses.

A few hours later, they meet up at a tavern just off the square.

“Where have you been?” Corwin asks the gnomish priest.

“Oh, nowhere special,” Jovah replies with a sly grin. “Just popping over to the local religious establishment to see how things are in town.”

“The local religious – hey!”  Gavin exclaims.  “The big church in town is Reksus! Don’t tell me you went to the Church of Reksus!”

“Relax, I was just paying my respects, so to speak.  Stirring up the pot a little.”

“Great,” Brennen moans.  “I think that’s our cue to leave town, don’t you?”

“Umm,” Jovah ponders, “That’s probably not a bad idea.”

_Jovah went into the Church of Reksus and got embroiled in a brief philosophical discussion with the local priests…  I wish I had a tape recorder running, there were a few good exchanges in there!  Jovah left before getting too bold…_

There is no opposition to their exit from Augrim, and as soon as they get far enough from town, Jovah _dimension folds_ them all back to Fencig.


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## Grifter86 (Aug 19, 2002)

What? On the 2nd page? I say nay!


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## Gavin (Aug 20, 2002)

Summer is a tough season for gaming, at least for our group. Too many scheduling conflicts are interrupting our usual every-other-week schedule.

A few glimpses into the future:

*Jalea slips his leash again
*Reanna and Soldago in a running Battle of the Spot Checks
*Big nasty thing-Shootout at the OK Corral
*"Stay to the left...the left!"
*We find some answers, except they only lead to more questions
*We are so stupid


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## Jovah (Aug 20, 2002)

Gavin said:
			
		

> A few glimpses into the future:
> 
> *Jalea slips his leash again
> *Reanna and Soldago in a running Battle of the Spot Checks
> ...




You forgot " Volunteered again."


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## JacktheRabbit (Aug 23, 2002)

You guys ever have an opening?


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## Twinswords (Sep 3, 2002)

bump
I`m a longtime lurker on this storyhour. And i hope that there will be an update soon.

Twinswords

Two swords are better then one.
(as Brennen knows all too well)


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## Kid Charlemagne (Sep 4, 2002)

Twinswords said:
			
		

> *bump
> I`m a longtime lurker on this storyhour. And i hope that there will be an update soon.
> *




Geez.  A new guy shows up, now I _gotta_ write an update!  Okay, here ya go!


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## Kid Charlemagne (Sep 4, 2002)

*The middle of a field of barley in Caer Sidi, August 6th, AE 420*

It is a quiet, still, Caer Sidi day.  A family of gophers is roused from their foraging by a flash of light, and a sound like distant lightning.  Papa gopher pokes his head through the grain and sees a strange sight: Eight outlandish-looking visitors, standing in the midst of the barley field, miles away from any elven habitation.   The tallest of the eight, dressed in gaudy, shiny metal, addresses the smallest.

“Good job, Jovah.  This really looks like the Broadleaf Forest.  No Treants ‘round here!”

“Oh, relax, Gavin,” Jovah replies in an exasperated voice.  “I told you _plane shift_ was not a very precise spell.  We could be hundreds of miles away.  I’ll try a _dimensional folding_ spell to get us there – one to scout the center of the forest, another to actually go.  I remember Broadleaf’s description of the corrupted tree in the center, so I should be able to get us there.”

The gnome casts another spell, and a purplish circle opens up in front of them.  Looking through, they can see a low hill rising to a great, rotting tree.  All the trees in the area seem dead.  Hanging from the branches of the immense tree are shields, trophies of Knights of Caer Sidi who have fallen trying to cleanse the Forest of the evil that has dwelled there for centuries.  Tried and failed.

Jovah studies the scene intently through the open portal, taking care not to cross the threshold.  A scant few seconds later, the portal collapses on itself.

“Okay, everyone,” the gnome announces.  “I’m going to do this again, and this time it’ll be the extended version.  It’ll stay open a grand total of _twelve_ seconds.  Don’t dilly-dally.”

He casts _dimensional folding_ and this time the party charges through.

Papa Gopher sits up on his haunches, blinking a few times, cocks his head in curiosity, and then, losing interest, goes back to foraging.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the _fold_, the party meets immediate resistance.  They are beset by four winged creatures with the heads of stags, dark of plumage and unpleasant of disposition.  The beasts are clumsy fliers and must alight near Gavin and Brennen to fight; there is a brief moment of concern that they block the _dimensional folding_ portal sufficiently to not allow the entire group to pass through in time, but Aris and Reana move through the danger zone, and help Gavin and Brennen quickly clear them out, just as the portal snaps shut behind Jovah.

“How did they know to attack us so quickly?” Brennen asks.

“Hmmm,” Reana replies, with a touch of sarcasm.  “Could it be the magical portal that we opened right here moments ago that tipped them off?”

“Oh.  Yeah.”

The party regroups to face the immense tree, and they begin to approach.  Jovah casts _fly_, just as a figure steps from the shadows beneath the canoply.  It is a gaunt figure, the height of a tall elf, clad in the armor of an Caer Sidi knight, covered in a heavily worn cloak.  He wields an immense scythe, with a blade made of a dark crystal identical to that which Jovah removed from the Treant Broadleaf on the party’s first trip to this plane.

The elf gestures at the party, and the grass itself begins to grasp at people’s ankles.  At about this time, Soldago hears the distinctive sound of small creatures zooming through the underbrush.

“Quicklings! Look out!” the archer yells.

The Quicklings rely on their preternatural speed and dexterity, braving the twisting, tangling vines that surround the party and darting in and out, stabbing at various party members.  Jovah zooms up to the scythe-wielding elf, and unloads on him with his _holy mace_, gratified to find that the holy damage takes effect.  He’s slightly less gratified to find that the elf’s scythe deals out _un_holy damage to him.  He’s also unpleasantly surprised to find that the tree itself tries to grab him and squeeze him to death!

That is all that Reana was waiting for.  The party has had a few days to prepare, and Reana went to Ryla, the Druidess of Sylvan Fields, and had her prepare a scroll for her.  She pulls the scroll out, and casts _control plants_.  The tree stops grasping at party members.

After that, it really doesn’t take long for the outnumbered accursd elf to fall in battle.  He tries to escape back to the sanctity (such that it is) of his tree, and the party discovers a huge block of dark crystal embedded in its roots.  Jovah smashes it with his _holy mace_.  It takes a few blows, but it eventually cracks, and dissolves.  At the same time, the blade of the elf’s scythe dissolves.

“Hopefully that happened to the crystals embedded in the Treants,” Corwin says.  “Otherwise, we’ll have a lot of angry trees to fight in not too long a time…”

Gavin gathers up the shields of all the fallen knights, planning on returning them to Duke Alfric.  Jalea finds several nests that appear to belong to the stag-headed vultures, and gathers up some loot that he finds there.

The quicklings appear to have fled.  Soldago looks around for any evidence of them, and stops short, as he sees something large an lumbering approaching from the deep forest.

It is Broadleaf, the eldest treant of the Forest that bears his name.


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## Twinswords (Sep 4, 2002)

Thanks, in the words of Horacio: Great update.
If i knew my post helped for an update i would have posted sooner. 

Twinswords
Two swords are better then one.


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## Jovah (Sep 4, 2002)

*quicklings*

I don't know who hates the quicklings more Saldago " i can't shoot them" or Corwin "I am not actor"

They are impossible to hit and even theogh the do 1 pt of damage they seem to hit quite often.  That is a lot of saves vs sleep.

Unholy Scythe
<shiver>


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## Kid Charlemagne (Sep 4, 2002)

*Re: quicklings*



			
				Jovah said:
			
		

> *They are impossible to hit and even theogh the do 1 pt of damage they seem to hit quite often.  That is a lot of saves vs sleep.*




Weapon finesse rocks when you have a DEX of 26.

Actually, I first used these versions of Quicklings (from the Creature Catalogue website) in a different game - there was just one against a party of 9th level characters.  They just couldn't deal with it, until the Druid in the party readied an action for when she heard the Quickling coming, and punted it over the edge of a bridge.

"Yiaaeeeeee!"  -SPLASH-

Their DEX maybe 26, but they only have 3 HP.


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## Jovah (Sep 18, 2002)

Something went BUMP in the dark.

Jovah peers into the darkness " Any demons in there?"

A gruff voice replies "NO"

Jovah is not fooled.


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## Gavin (Sep 18, 2002)

"Nobody in here but us chickens", says the voice.

"I don't know," says Gavin. "They really look more like giant vultures to me."


I had this funny image of Gavin stepping in the room and his bandana o'flame poofing out. Sort of like Hades in the Disney Hercules movie.

Things have gotten considerably worse than evil Quicklings.


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## Sir Brennen (Oct 3, 2002)

*Wishful bump*

What? The gnome's in Ireland so we get no updates?

What's to keep us going between sessions without pending demons to overanalyze?

You must share with the (EN)world our recent exploits (that is, the session where everyone exploited us... from beholders to library cats)


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## Jovah (Oct 10, 2002)

*Gnome Abroad*

Greeting from Ireland : The land of rolling hills, crashing cliffs, blind corners and heart-attack breakfasts.

I have learned one thing - hundreds of years ago all people were gnomes.  I must have hit my head 10 times on low doorways.

I can't imagine running around a castle during a melee.

I have a new visual for spiral staircases - 10 ft wide phht!

I do recommend Ireland to all D&Ders to get an appreciation of castles, forts and ruins.  And no indoor plumbing.

All of you SUV drivers or those squeamish about sharing a 10' road with a tour bus going the other way - 60 kph -  probably should stay home.

_________

Game stuff

Now that we killed  the ______ and recovered the _______ and found out what the ______ contained - what does the group do next?  Did we make plans - I don't recall.


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## Gavin (Oct 23, 2002)

Sneak Preview-since the last Update

1.  Little Nasty Flying Things (Brennen takes up cliffdiving)
2.  Big Nasty Flying Thing
3.  Extortion and Stand-off
4.  Dreary Library, fun in the stacks!
5.  B&E, arson, and other felonies
6.  Missing Villain
7.  Big Really Nasty Flying Thing or Plans & Paranoia or Gavin  thinks about his next character (again)
8.  Overdue Books
9.  New information mixed with wild conjecture 
10. Jovah gets really close to Evil

Last session (Oct. 20th) had one of our most intense encounters, but there was no actual fighting!  Hopefully we'll get EXP just for keeping our heads...uh...I mean keeping our cool.


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## Mathew_Freeman (Oct 23, 2002)

Hello, I'm another new reader!

Just popping in to say how much I'm enjoying this Story Hour. I'm going to add it to my list to read, it's great! I've discovered that I like the mid-to-high level story hours better, as the parties involved have more flexible approaches to combat.

What are the stats of that dimension fold spell? Is it a domain spell or what? What's the source? It's fun, whatever it is!

And I'm glad to hear you found out about real old castles, UK and Ireland style. Fighting in castles really was much more difficult than you could believe. I'd think a minimum of a -2 penalty for fighting on a spiral staircase, unless you've made sure you're left handed first!

Keep up the good work, all!


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## Jovah (Oct 24, 2002)

*Dimensional Fold*

The DF spell was converted from a spell in the 2E Tome fo Magic.

We added it to the new Prestige Domain: Chance

Level:4
Casting Time: 1 round
Target: 10 ft area
Components: V,S,M
Range: 5 ft
Duration: 1 round

The spell creates a 10 foot glowing portal.
There is a risk of aging during each Fold depending on the knowledge of the destination

Very Familiar 2% of aging 1 yr
Studied 5% of aging 1d2 years
Seen casually 10% of aging 1d3 years
Viewed Once 15% of aging 1d6 years
Never seen 25% of aging 1d10 years

Component: 1 sheet of platinum worth 15 gp - destroyed in casting.


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## Grifter86 (Nov 4, 2002)

*Long time no see*

Hey,

Just wanted to bring this back to page one.


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## Gavin (Nov 12, 2002)

Coming Soon!


Soldago's Adventures In The Freezing Cave Of Stupidity

Another shining cohort moment.


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