# A Tainted World (5/18/04)



## Teneb (Feb 10, 2004)

*Hopps Spring Eternal*
	Its been seven years since my self-imposed exile from Zardok Grove, and truth be told the solitude has left me feeling somewhat lonely.  I happened upon a young human bard with the illustrious moniker of Linder Goldentongue recently.  The boy was quite friendly and asked me to join him on a quest to locate some deceased skald’s hoard.  I agreed, and upon our success I earned myself a new spear and a nice ring that augments my natural druidic abilities.  Time well spent if you ask me.

	Having completed this task, Linder sought to rejoin his adventuring company.  He invited myself and Porkchop, my boar companion, to accompany him.  Heartened by the prospect of intelligent conversation (Porkchop isn’t very talkative), I readily agreed.

	On the way to Harwich, Linder filled me in on his group’s doings of late.  A local nobleman named Greely Prime sought the return of his fiance who had been kidnapped; he offered an astonishing 50,000 gold pieces for her rescue.  Naturally, everyone in the area was looking for the lass, Ianthe.  It turns out that Linder’s group had found the girl, but that she was trying to escape from Greely.  He was forcing her to marry him against her will.  Furthermore, he sought to kill Ianthe’s brother Edward, who was a local baron.  With the baron gone and his only heir married to Greely, Master Prime would be granted total legal control of the baron’s land.  This Greely doesn’t sound like a terribly nice fellow.

	We reached Harwich where Linder’s friends and Ianthe were hiding out at baron Edward’s estate.  Just outside of town we met one of the party members at a pub.  Sam was a tough looking monk, but the effect was somewhat mitigated by the fact that the lad had obviously been in the cups.  I imagine he’s nice enough when sober.

	On our way into the city proper, we were confronted by several men in Greely’s livery; they were thick like flies on a deer carcass.  They wanted to know if we had learned anything regarding Ianthe.  Linder put on quite a song and dance while I grunted noncommittally and Sam smiled drunkenly.  Exasperated, the guard waved us on.  As we walked past, I noticed a face peeking out of a nearby building, observing us.  I had the insight to realize Greely’s men seemed to be surrounding this same building.  Curious.

	We made our way to the baron’s manor via a circumspect route and met the rest of Linder and Sam’s group.  It is an....eclectic collection of people.  Most notable was Gruck, a half-orc barbarian.  Being a fellow Wilder, I liked him immediately.  Narissa is the group’s spellflinger, a female elf who seemed cold and aloof.  I suppose if I faced the Taint with every breath I’d be a bit distant as well.  Tarrick is the group’s sneak; a nice enough fellow, if a tad overconfident.  Finally, there’s Oskar.  At first my spirits lifted upon meeting a fellow dwarf.  My enthusiasm quickly dissipated upon learning he is a priest.  The Church and Wilders have a contentious relationship, a fact that played no small part in the last seven years of my life.  For the moment I’ll tolerate his presence, mainly by ignoring it.

	Introductions made, the rest of the group informed us that an assassination attempt had been made against Baron Edward using a poisoned pastry.  The staff alchemist discovered it was a two part toxin; both compounds were harmless until mixed.  The group had already swept through the bakers which delivered the pastry, fighting and killing the bakers (a powerful rogue/monk duo).  Evidence at the bakery implicated Zorrell’s brewery as the source for the second part of the toxin (Edward enjoyed his ale).  The brewery was our next objective.

	After placing the brewery under brief surveillance, the group moved in at midnight.  Tarrick expertly picked the lock on a side door, and quietly crept into the building.  Unfortunately, two concealed attackers pounced on the rogue and felled him in a flurry of knife thrusts.  As Tarrick lay dying, the attackers blocked the door, enticing us to assault them.  Fearing for his friend’s waning health, Sam attempted to summersault over the assassins, but was pushed back into the rest of the party.  Becoming angry, Gruck dealt a mighty blow to one of the attackers, while Narissa used a _scorching ray _ to further injure the man.  Seeing a bottleneck at the side entrance, I went around to the main delivery door and tried to batter it down after _wildshaping_ into a brown bear.  Sadly, I failed and the noise disrupted Gruck, costing him an awful gash in his arm by the hooded attacker.

	Desperate to save Tarrick, Sam launched into the man blocking the door, shattering his jaw with a well placed kick while Narissa again used _scorching ray _ on the other attacker, who fell back into the warehouse portion of the building.  Oskar healed Gruck’s wound while I continued to try and break down the door, failing (I had a cold).  Tarrick was tended to, though in the commotion I’m not sure by whom.  Sam pursued the fleeing assassin while everyone (except me, blasted door) crammed into the warehouse.  With a flurry of blows, Sam knocked the second attacker prone before he could reach a door to another part of the building.  Unfortunately, a third attacker chose this opportunity to drop a shelf full of barrels on Gruck, Oskar, and Narissa, barely missing the still reeling Tarrick.  This attacker was eventually backed into a corner and, failing to yield, was killed (only after dropping more barrels on Gruck “barrel magnet” and Sam).

	We regrouped, healing those that were injured, and prepared to enter the brewing area.  Upon opening the door, we spied a half-dozen workers and a half-orc overseer.  After seeing us, they all armed themselves with whatever weapons were nearby and stood in a confrontational manner.  At this point, I should point out that I had returned to my normal form.  I was frustrated by my inability to break the delivery door.  I was frustrated at the beating some of my new friends had taken.  I was angry at the pollution this brewery was adding to a nearby stream, which I had witnessed as we waited outside earlier.  When I saw a bunch of people standing before me armed, well, I flamestruck the lot of them.

	In retrospect, this may have not been the most opportune action.  Sam, who is a paragon of law, nearly had a conniption fit.  He screeched that he couldn’t countenance such criminal activity and immediately quit the battle.  As it turns out, I killed three of the workers outright, and the badly charred survivors quickly fled.  Gruck intimidated the half-orc leader, who indicated we should go through the front door, rather than through the brewing area.  He kept looking over his shoulder, clearly afraid of someone else nearby.

	We all withdrew, with Sam grudgingly bringing up the rear, and went through the front door.  Finding nothing of note, we located the stairs and went up.  Surprisingly, we found a young boy named Zeke playing in a small play area at the top of the stairs.  Linder kept the boy occupied while Gruck and Tarrick examined the two doors leading from the playroom.  Several things occur at once.  Tarrick went through one door as Gruck told him to go through the other.  Tarrick’s track record for walking into rooms at this point wasn’t stellar, and that trend continued as he was gutted yet again by a gnome wielding twin short swords.  At the same time, “Zeke” discarded the pretense of being a child and lunged at the distracted Linder.  Turns out Zeke was an assassin.  Who had been studying Linder’s movements.  So he could kill him.  Zeke shoved his hand into Linder’s throat and the bard collapsed into a heap of gelatin.  Things got ugly from there.

	The rest of us went pounding up the stairs while Gruck faced off against the gnome.  Upon reaching the top of the stairs, I cast _heat metal _ upon the gnome’s swords, hoping to distract him.  Narissa flung _ice knife _ after _ice knife _ at Zeke, but he expertly dodged them all.  Truth be told, the assassin was slippery as an otter.  No one could land a blow against him.  I summoned a minor thunderstorm in the room and directed lightning bolts at the assassin, and this thankfully seemed to hurt him a little.  Tarrick recovered a little from his second filleting of the night and went after the gnome.  Gruck succumbed to his inner fire and became enraged....I could see the gnome cringe from across the room.  He didn’t last long.

	That still left us with the problem of the insane assassin/monk.  In the blink of an eye, he had disarmed Tarrick, back flipped past Gruck, punched me in the face (hey!), and knocked Narissa out cold.  Oskar, who was wearing platemail mind you, actually TUMBLED past a few of us in order to help Narissa.  Seeing the odds finally turn against him, the monk/assassin retreated past Gruck into the room the gnome was in and jumped through a plate glass window that overlooked the brewing room.  We chose not to pursue (ok, he was moving at the speed of light...we couldn’t pursue).


----------



## Teneb (Feb 10, 2004)

*....And All Heck Broke Loose*
	After clearing the upstairs of opponents, the group got down to business.  Sam and I went outside to act as lookouts, while Gruck attempted to debrief the half-orc overseer we encountered earlier.  The others began searching the second floor for any incriminating evidence.

             Before long a number of town guards emerged from the darkness, arriving at a trot.  I stepped forward to try and delay them while Sam stuck his head back inside the building to give the “get out!” signal we had agreed upon earlier.  He contemplated fleeing, but a moment of indecision cost him as one of the guards slapped manacles on his wrists.  I was similarly subdued.

	Meanwhile, Gruck manhandled the half-orc out a side door.  The stupid brute refused to run and Gruck was forced to leave him.  Upstairs, Narissa, Oskar, and Tarrick scrambled to come up with a plan.  Narissa climbed out the window overlooking the brewing floor and headed for the door Gruck had just exited.  Unfortunately, the guard who had come to take possession of the stupid half-orc also collared the unlucky sorceress.  Oskar also tried to climb out the window, but slipped, attempting a back flip to lessen the impact (again, in plate mail).  Seeing Narissa’s capture, Oskar ducked into the small adjoining break room.  He was soon confronted by two town guards who were searching the building.  The cleric proceeded to lie his holy pants off and convinced the two that he was a newly hired guard for the brewery.  Sadly, the facade was broken when he asked for his manacles back, which we had earlier used to bind one of the ambushers when we first entered.

	As Sam, Oskar, Narissa, and I were led to jail, Tarrick grabbed a few items from the deceased gnome.  Hearing the searching guards coming up the stairs, our rogue opened the other door on the second floor and hid in what appeared to be a small alchemical lab.  Unbeknownst to Tarrick, the room had a timed trap on it; by not closing the door he set it off.  Several bottles of alchemists fire fell from the ceiling and the entire lab was engulfed in flame.  Fortunately, Tarrick had the presence of mind to grab one of the vials he spotted on a nearby workbench before it was consumed.  He managed to sneak out of the building and scurry off into the night.  [OOC: Linder's player was unable to attend this week's session, so we decided he "went invisible" and stayed that way the whole time.] 

	Obviously, I was unaware of all this at the time.  My compatriots and I were locked into the local jail; I was in the wilderness alone for seven years, but being locked in that iron and stone prison made me long for a bath for the first time since leaving my home.  Buildings make me nauseous.

	The next morning, we were publicly charged with robbing the brewery, as well as the local bakery (which technically I was not a part of, but no one seemed inclined to listen).  Furthermore, we were charged with the “murders” of several “prominent citizens”.  I distinctly recall hawking and spitting at that point.  A cleric of Suldane named Katra was presented to judge us.  She cast a spell (we presume it was Zone of truth) and we told our side of the story, leaving nothing out.  Katra informed the mayor that every word we spoke were lies, and promptly left.  I should take the time to point out that Oskar is also a priest of Suldane.  My opinion of the clergy grows by leaps and bounds.

	The mayor promptly ordered us hung, to be carried out at noon.  We were escorted back to our cells for the few hours remaining to us.  Sam ineffectually slammed at the iron door to his cell, while Narissa fiddled with her manacles to no avail.  Oskar chatted up the guards and managed to discover that they were tipped off to our activities at the brewery - that’s how they arrived so quickly.

	Word unexpectedly came to us that our execution was to be postponed.  Gruck and Tarrick had made it to Edward with proof of the plot against him.  Edward called in a favor with the mayor and we were given a stay of execution so that further evidence could be gathered.  We were still held, but at least we were still alive.

	Shortly after receiving the relatively good news, another guard entered the jail.  He didn’t quite smell right, and we pestered the original guards until they finally questioned the newcomer.  It turns out this was the monk who escaped us at the brewery in disguise.  He killed one of our guards outright, and was clearly a superior fighter when compared to those that remained.  All the while, he looked at us in our cells with murder in his eyes.  It was clear he intended to silence us forever.  

	I had taken quite enough by this point.  Deciding to take matters into my own hands, I _wildshaped_ into a squirrel and walked between the bars of my cell.  The homicidal monk didn’t pay much attention to me, knocking another guard unconscious in the meantime.  Then I _wildshaped_ again......into a bear.  I grabbed the little nutter in a bearhug, and bore him to the ground.  He was a slippery bugger, and nearly escaped my grasp a few times.  Introducing his skull to the stone floor several times took the fight right out of him, and he slumped unconscious.  I changed back to my dwarven form and raised my hands to my sides, indicating my surrender to the guards.  Sam whispered some invectives at the fallen monk (I think he wanted a rematch) while Oskar pleaded to aid the fallen guards.


----------



## Kalendraf (Feb 10, 2004)

*A Mayor's Dilemma*

Being the mayor of Cossor was certainly not an enviable job.  Most of the time, there was little actual governing to do in this small town.  To make matters worse, as of late, the Baron Greeley Prime of Harwich seemed to be having his say in all too many of the matters of importance in this region.  Greeley was persuasive, and he'd found it was best not to get in the baron's way.  Right now, the Prime guards were everywhere in Cossor, outnumbering the town's own city guards by almost two to one.  Of course they claimed to be searching for Greeley's betrothed, Ianthe, but there was no doubt that a few of those squads would stay behind even after the missing bride-to-be was found.

The mayor had found solace in a warm cup of brandy as he sat by the fireplace.  He'd been reading well past midnight once again, and it was time to hit the sack.  His wife had long since given up calling him, and his excuses of working late on "city business" had worn thin.  Suddenly, rapid knocks at the door were followed by loud voices in the hall.  He headed toward the ruckus and saw the town guard captain speaking to one of his personal guards.

Could the news get much worse?  In the last day, three prominent townsfolk had been murdered.  A respected baker and his helper were the first to be discovered butchered in a backroom at the bakery.  Now the brewery had been broken into, and its proprietor slain.  Fortunately, the guards had managed to round up the thugs that had done these dastardly deeds.  Reminder to self: make sure the captain of the guard gets a medal for this.

After writing a quick note to summon one of the priests from the temple of Suldane, the Mayor of Cossor handed it to his messenger, Padris, and finally went to bed.  The trial would be in the morning, so he needed sleep.  By the time he finally did fall asleep, it was over two hours past the witching hour.

The 's crow woke him at dawn, and he hurriedly washed then dressed in his judicial fineries.  His wife gave him a rude look, obviously not appreciating the late night noise and his even later coming to bed.  "There's been three murders, but they caught 'em dear.  Do I have this on straight?"  Finally, she helped him straighten the outfit, but never spoke to him.

He arrived at the town hall which served as court for matters such as this.  After a few quick accolades for the guards, he caught a glimpse of the priestess, Katra.  She'd been sent by the temple of Suldane a few times before this.  Long ago, the mayor's of Cossor didn't rely on outside help in determining the guilt or innocence of the accused.  But the temple had made some very persuasive offerings, and ever since it had been customary to have a priest on hand to oversee the proceedings.  Of course, he didn't really need their help as he had a knack for seeing thru lies and bluffs.  In fact, ever since he'd been mayor and had overseen this court, he had almost never missed noting such things.  He continued to wind his way to Katra, to greet her, but then was intercepted by one of the guards.  "They are ready for you sir."

He turned and walked into the hall, observing first the guards and what few other spectators had arrived.  Then he look squarely at the group accused of murder.  There were four of them.  A burly man, two dwarves and an elven lass.  One of the dwarves had the look of a wilding.  The other dwarf wore a symbol of Suldane.  Strange.  The elven lass was exquisitely beautiful.  The man looked rather plain.

The captain read the charges against them.  As he did, the mayor kept a very close eye on the group to see their reactions.  The mayor had already read a brief report, but there were a few new details.  The robes worn by the baker's helper were found in the possession of the man in this group.  There were also signs that both the baker and his assistant had been bound and then killed afterwards, probably tortured along they way.  There was also evidence of robbery at the bakery.  The biggest news was that one of their number had escaped.  A certain half-orc with a double-axe was seen running from the brewery.  The murders at the bakery and now at the brewery had been very bloody, and the weapons found on these four were not necessarily capable of causing such wounds.  This was troubling.  Finally, the report was complete, and it was time for the defendants to speak their side.

Katra invoked her truth spell, and then the accused were allowed to tell their tale.  They began quite a ways back, indicating they'd headed to Harwich to collect a reward for Ianthe.  So they were bounty hunters?  They'd headed into the swamp and managed to find her along with a certain healer named Quentin.  When Ianthe awoke, she accused Greeley of planning to kill her brother Edward and then kill her after the wedding, in order to gain control of land held by her family.  Interesting...such a plot would not be unlike Greeley, but I would never imagine him being that ruthless.  Still, it was amazing that these bounty hunters could think up such a tale.  After returning to Cossor, they'd foiled an assassination attempt against Edward.  His food and drink when mixed had somehow lead to it being poisoned.  Quite an inventive story.  The half-poisoned pastry had come from the bakery, and so the party had gone there to search for answers.  They'd broken in - they admitted that much - and then were ambushed by the baker and his helper.  According to the defendants, these were no ordinary bakers, but assassins.  There were a few chuckles in the courtroom at this.  In the basement they found a lab for making poison, as well as two very large spiders apparently being raised for venom.  They also claim to have found notes about combination poisons, and the baker's logbook also had some interesting notation.  Of course, they couldn't provide this book or the lab notes, as they claimed they'd taken it back to Edward's mansion.

The other half of the poison was in Edward's ale, so they headed to the brewery the next night to look for more evidence.  Once again, they broke in, but this time the night guards ambushed them.  Eventually, they headed upstairs to the main offices, and there they were attacked by...a child and gnome with a snake?  Again there were more chuckles in the courtroom.  They claimed that once again these were assassins.  The child managed to escape, but they killed the gnome and the snake.  It wasn't long after this that the guard showed up and captured them.

Each of the four took their turns speaking, and the mayor kept a close watch on them for any signs of a lie.  Amazingly, they seemed to be telling the truth.  Were these four innocent?  This case was far more complex than it originally seemed.  Katra finished her note-taking and stepped forward.  She handed the mayor the papers, and then turned and left.

The mayor watched her leave, and once again took a close look at the party.  They didn't seem to be afraid.  Perhaps it was the truth.  He then looked down at the papers.  The words were damning; their story was full of lies.  A few things were true, like the break-in and killing the bakers and brewer, but the rest was false.  How had he not been able to detect that?  They must be quite skilled at deception.  There was no going against the church on something of this magnitude.  There was only one verdict that would satisfy the town and the church.  "Guilty.  You will be hanged at noon!"  He saw the color drain from them, and noted their protests, but he walked out without looking back again.

Why couldn't he see thru their tale?  Maybe it was the alcohol from last night.  That could have dulled his senses.  Or perhaps it was the lack of sleep.  Only getting a few hours of shut eye once again was beginning to take its toll on him.  He headed back to the estate, not sure what to do between now and the hanging at noon.  Maybe he'd be able to finish his book.  He arrived at the estate and only then did he realize he was still clutching Katra's papers.  He tossed them on the desk and picked up the book he'd been reading.

As he curled up on the couch, he'd barely gotten thru another chapter before a messenger arrived with a satchel.  He looked at it and immediately noted the symbol on the flap.  It was Edward's crest.  He signed the messenger's confirmation note and then pulled open the satchel.  Inside was a book and a hastily written letter.

"Old Friend.  I hope it has not been too long.  I ask a favor of you.  Please delay the hanging of the group accused of murder.  Their tale may seem far-fetched, but it is true.  I'm entrusting this book to you as evidence to help clear them.  The special notes in the border indicate poisoned deliveries.  We still need to find hard evidence to link this to the baron.  Both of us would like to find a way to rid Cossor of the Baron's presence once and for all, and this may be our chance.  However, due to the current situation, I'm afraid I can't risk leaving my mansion.  I hope you can help find a solution.  Edward."

For a few moments, he thought it might be a forgery.  There was still that half-orc out there, and possibly another cagey fellow as well.  But that was surely Edward's writing.  He knew that handwriting...

And then it struck him like a mace across his brow.  The handwriting!

He jumped from the chair and headed to his files where he started digging through some old papers.  Finally found what he was looking for.  Late last year, Katra had come to help oversee a robbery trial.  He'd kept her notes from that case as well.  He looked at it, and it confirmed what he now knew.  The handwriting was totally different.  The previous writing from Katra was very fluid and had wide loops for the letters, but this new paperwork bore handwriting that was very tight and narrow.

A disguise?  Perhaps a magical one?  If their story is true, then there are assassins at work, and they could be anywhere in town, right under his nose.  He hastily wrote a note to delay the execution.  He went to the hallway and summoned Padris to deliver the note.  After the messenger had left, the mayor had another sudden insight.  What if they have agents here at the estate?  Who can I trust?  Padris was one of the only people who knew of the summons request.  Could he...no, he couldn't.  He's been a loyal servant for years, and there's no way he'd do anything to harm anyone.  Perhaps one of the guards is responsible.  He glanced at the guard near the door who was looking at him intently.  He quickly looked away and headed back into his study, closing the door firmly.

Think.  Who can I trust?


----------



## Kalendraf (Feb 10, 2004)

*Background info*

This is an OOC post.

I'd first like to thank Shannon for starting this storyhour thread.  The campaign has been going on for several months now (since just before the time when 3.5 edition came out), and Shannon has recently joined our group.  For those interested, here are some details regarding this particular campaign.

The world is homebrew.  It's using 3.5 rules (we made a wholesale switch after the 2nd adventure and haven't looke back).  It's like most fantasy worlds, but has a few distinct changes.  Most notable is that the arcane spellpool of this world has become Tainted.  Exactly how it occured remains a mystery, but apparently it was the result of same ancient ritual gone awry.  All arcane casters alive at that time died or became Tainted.  A tremendous war ensued with the surviving un-infected peoples barely winning against the army of Tainted ones.  Since then, the arcane magics have been dangerous to use, and items crafted with arcane magic often become cursed.  Arcane casters risk becoming infected by the Arcane Taint which leads to bizarre transformations, as well as turning them into conduits for raw and unpredictable energies.  For a long time, arcane casters, then called witches and warlocks, were actively hunted down for fear of the threat they posed to the rest of civilization.  The churches that survived the coming of the Taint gathered together and created an organization called the Witchhunters, and they charged this new order with the disposal of all arcane things: casters, books, magic items, etc.  Eventually, the witchhunters orders were changed to only allow them to hunt down Taint-infected casters, but some of them broke off from the original organization and continue to hunt spellcasters.  All arcane casters still live very secret lives, fearing that those splinter groups might find them.  Bards have been found to be largely immune to the taint, but that is another story.  The impact of the Arcane Taint has led to a few strong churches filling the void in the power structure.  Most governments answer to the church, and the churches have the strongest armies between their orders of Knights and the witchhunters which still answer their call.  In addition, with magic being viewed as dangerous and unpredictable, there aren't as many magical items found in this world.  Besides there being far fewer crafters, the witchhunters have destroyed many of the older items of power.

Before the dwarf druid joined the group, there had been 6 primary PCs which are all currently 7th level: Sam (human monk), Gruck (half-orc fighter), Oskar (dwarf cleric), Linder (human bard), Narissa (elf sorceress), and Tarrick (human rogue).  Sadly, the player who runs Narissa is unable to continue play due to scheduling problems, so we are back at 6 PCs once again.

The campaign has used a few published adventures alongside several home-made ones.  To date, the published adventures have included: Evil's Lesser Minions (by Pinwheel Games), Hobgoblin Outpost (Wizards of the Coast web enhancement), Witch of Serpent's Bridge (Dungeon Magazine) and The Magic Dump (by Monkey God Enterprises).  I often make small changes to the published adventures in order to fit them into the campaign.  In the most recent one (Magic Dump) I changed up a few of the primary location names as well as some of the NPC's titles.   In my version, Harwich is a city in the 4 lakes region which lies just to the north of the town of Cossor.  Edward is a noble in Cossor while Greeley is the Baron of Harwich.  These small but important changes allowed me to fit this adventure into my campaign without much difficulty.

We try to play an average of 3 weeks out of 4, usually rotating hosting duties among the play group.  A typical session starts at 7pm on Tuesday nights and runs 3 to 4 hours.  All of us are professionals working in Rochester, MN.  Most of us are pretty hardcore gamers, playing a variety of games besides this such as Magic or various computer games.

I hope you enjoy our story.


----------



## Teneb (Feb 14, 2004)

*A Pox Upon Half-Orcs*
	Things quieted down fairly quickly.  I was locked back in my cell as a “precaution”, but the guards realized it was going to be hard to hold someone who could become a squirrel at will.  The would-be assassin was unceremoniously dumped in another cell and left in unconscious bliss.  Surprisingly, the mayor soon made an appearance and explained to us that he had deduced Katra was a fraud.  He was very concerned about the apparent abundance of trained killers in town and asked us to investigate matters.  To aid us, he agreed to spread the rumor that the monk was successful in killing us before himself being overcome by town guards.  The mayor also deputized us, giving us some official investigative powers; obviously somewhat limited since we’re “dead”.

	The mayor feared his household had been infiltrated by a spy, due to the quickness in which our capture was followed by our attempted murder.  His personal secretary, Padris, has been delivering the mayor's decrees but the mayor vouches for Padris’ loyalty.  All the same, we decided to follow Padris on his next message delivery (which incidentally was to the local church of Suldane, asking to come pick up our corpses).  Perhaps Padris isn’t a spy but is being followed or otherwise intercepted.

	We left the jail incognito, and soon hooked up with Gruck and Tarrick who were waiting outside to find out what happened to us.  Sam kicked Gruck in the shin to get his attention (which nearly got Sam killed for real) and the whole group moved towards Edward's manor.  Unfortunately, said manor was currently besieged by Prime guards.  Gruck, Narissa, and Tarrick used our newly acquired badges to get into the manor to apprise Edward of what was going on, as well as pick up Linder who was tousling the maids.  Narissa decided her attention was better spent researching the Taint and elected to stay behind at Edwards to do so.  (OOC: Narissa’s player has started taking classes and won’t be playing for a good long while; ergo we’ve lost our sorceress.  Ouch.)

	We decided to split up in order to follow Padris from the mayor’s house to the church of Suldane.  Tarrick would tail the courier on the ground while I followed from the air in raven form.  The others would station themselves along Padris’ most likely route and watch for anyone following him.  Padris set out and headed directly for the church.  Unexpectedly, he walked into Tavik’s Tavern on the way, going several blocks off the most direct path to the church to do so.  Tarrick followed the mayor’s man into the tavern, joined by Gruck who was stationed nearby.  I flew to the roof of the building and watched the rear.  Soon Padris, _sans _ Gruck and Tarrick, emerged.  Thinking my two compatriots on the ground had whatever was in the tavern taken care of, I followed Padris the rest of the way to the temple, as well as back to the mayor’s house.  The rest of the journey was uneventful.

	Eventually, we all meet back at the inn we had purchased rooms at.  Tarrick and Gruck had been slipped a sleeping potion in the tavern, and were non-sensical for a period of time.  Before dozing off, the two were able to overhear Padris meeting with a strange older woman, who told him “You have done well for Suldane and your country Padris”.  The woman left through a door marked “Staff only” and that’s all the human and half-orc could remember.  We rested for the remainder of the day and went back to Tavik’s to try and discover who the woman was and who she worked for.

	A large half-orc guarded the “Staff” door and refused entry when Gruck asked to go past.  I _wildshaped_ into a ferret and secretly explored the off-limits area of the tavern.  The kitchen and storage rooms were quite mundane, but a sturdy closed door piqued my curiosity.  From the sounds coming from the other side, I presumed there was some sort of gambling going on, though I couldn’t confirm it (I wish ferrets had opposable thumbs!).

	After reporting back to Gruck, he and Tarrick tried to fast-talk their way past the half-orc guard, whose name was Groth.  Apparently all half-orc names need to sound like a form of hacking cough.  At any rate, Groth was having none of their chatter and firmly told the duo the back rooms were off limits.  Tarrick then hit upon the idea to get Groth drunk.  After some initial reluctance (he wasn’t supposed to drink on duty), Groth was fairly well toasted.  Linder even tried to help get the brute to move by spreading rumors with the many Prime guards in the establishment that Groth thought they were a bunch of pansies.  Several of the guards moved closer to the half-orc while we watched gleefully.  Sadly, after seeing Groth’s immense broadsword, the Primers sobered up and backed off.

	We were all getting a bit frustrated with the door guard’s obstinacy.  Linder cast _invisibility _ on Tarrick in preparation for some sort of clandestine entry into the gambling room.  However, fortune smiled upon us (or not) as someone outside shouted something about seeing Ianthe.  The tavern promptly emptied of everyone except our party, Groth, and the bartender.  With the riff-raff gone, things got interesting mighty quick.

	The bartender started singing a song about a sheriff poking around in affairs that were too big for him; catchy little tune, but it didn’t lessen my desire to punch his face in.  Unseen by us below, a gnome stepped onto the balcony above and dropped a fireball on all of us.  We’re getting really tired of gnomes.  It was a pitiful little fireball and no one was injured badly, but the fight was clearly on.  Feeling the wizard was the greater threat, Oskar used a _spiritual weapon _ on him while I conjured a thunderstorm in the building and fired a lightning bolt at him; this is fast becoming a favorite spell of mine.  Sam raced up the stairs and also sighted on the mage.  A barmaid, presumably the person who yelled about Ianthe, stepped through the front door.  She raised a shortbow, a most un-ladylike weapon, and feathered Gruck twice.

	Oskar raised his voice, beseeching Suldane for assistance against these apparent evildoers.  His _prayer _ was answered and our spirits were buoyed by Suldane’s grace.  Linder began a song of his own detailing Tavrik’s parentage, which was not flattering.  I directed another lightning bolt at the wizard while Gruck laid into the bard/bartender with his double axe.  Sam took the mage out of the fight with a sweep kick that dropped the little gnome on his arse.

	Things were going fairly well for us at this point.  The mage was down, the bard wasn’t really doing anything, the barmaid was annoying (but I was heading for her...can you say “bear”?), and Groth was conflicted and not attacking.  We should have realized the other shoe was going to drop.  Another assailant came into view as she reached around Oskar’s shoulder and jammed a knife under his chin (OOC Invisible assassin NPC who had been observing Oskar for the first three rounds of combat - save or die attack.  Bleh).  He crumpled to the floor lifeless and things got a lot more interesting from there.

	In desperation, I gave up going after the bowman and instead _flamestruck _ her and the newly visible assassin, doing very little damage.  Both the bard and Groth engaged Gruck, dealing a fair bit of hurt to our half-orc.  The bowman continued firing at Gruck as well, while the assassin struck at me, grazing my tail.  I scurried over to Gruck, who by this time had taken a royal beating at the hands of the bowman and Groth, and healed him a bit.  Gruck stepped back from the fray long enough to quaff a healing potion as well.  Above, Sam finished off the hapless wizard and prepared to leap down into the battle on the main floor.

	Linder broke into a ditty on how humans are inferior fighters to half-orcs, which got Groth chuckling uncontrollably.  This eased the pressure on Gruck, who was able to score a number of hits on the bard.  Tarrick, better late than never, returned from his search of the back room in time to make use of his invisible state: he finished off the bowman with a well placed sword-thrust .  In return, the bard directed a song at him that sent Tarrick into convulsions of laughter.  Meanwhile, the female assassin flashed her cloak as a distraction, and everyone lost sight of her.  I caught a glimpse and directed a lightning bolt at her.  Homing in on that strike, Gruck landed a solid blow and the assassin went down.  Gruck hammered on the bard a few more times, and Sam smashed down on him from above, knocking him cold.  We gathered around Oskar's limp form and wondered aloud what to do next.


----------



## Gruck (Feb 16, 2004)

*Straight shootin from the half orc.*

gruck see stupid singing guy
not like stupid singing guy  
always yapping about how Gruck ugly
guess who is uglier, Gruck or singing guy with axe in head
Groth good guy.  Wish he would shut up.
Groth and sneaky guy laughing like loons
might need dose of axe to shut up.
bear guy good.  
not sure if he knock down holy guy but he make gruck feel good
healing drink taste like donkey crap.
cocky punchy guy always tell Gruck not to smash
gruck play dumb cause he like to smash
got lucky in fight cause sneaky guy not dead
gruck friends suck in fight, keep dying
see man about "make alive again" spell tomorrow
free beer now that singing guy not behind bar
Groth look like he need beer
not drink beer that have poison
which one not have poison????????
gruck find out
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


----------



## Oskar_the_Dwarf (Feb 16, 2004)

*A Message from Beyond....*

....  all of a sudden the tavern clears out.  Things seem mighty suspicious, so I get ready to attack the first thing that harms our party.  Turns out to be yet another Gnomish caster (I'm starting to tire of these guys.  I don't think I'll ever completely trust anything shorter than me again....)  so I evoke a _spiritual weapon_ of Suldane's favored weapon, a heavy flail, and send it againt the twerp.  Sam races up to engage him too.

My next action is to aid our whole party and demoralize our foes.  I pray for Suldane's aid in this.  He graciously grants my request.

I'm thinking that the 1/2 orc worker here, Groth, is a pretty good guy.  I'd hate to see any harm come to him becuase he was just following orders of some eveil master.  I think I'll hold him still for a while so that he doen't continue hurting my friend Gruck.

** W H A M **

Ouch that hurt!  Crit shot... sneak attack too!  Impressive, my armor is pretty good....   No big deal, I am tough...  whoa, what's this, something REALLY important was hit - I my body should able to fend of this ill wound...  I think I can.... 

darkness overwhelming......
noooooo...................... 


[OOC: even with a +10 to a fortitude save - rolling a 3 is not a good thing]


----------



## Teneb (Feb 16, 2004)

Oskar_the_Dwarf said:
			
		

> (I'm starting to tire of these guys.  I don't think I'll ever completely trust anything shorter than me again....




Oskar, we're dwarves...there ain't much that *is* shorter than us


----------



## Kalendraf (Feb 16, 2004)

*Dovena's Tale, Part 1*

As she left the town hall, she slightly straightened her armor.  At the moment it looked just like a suit of full plate with the emblem of Suldane, but that appearance wouldn't last for long.  A small group of guards bowed at her passing, giving all the respect rightly due to a ranking priestess of Suldane.  Of course, everyone saw her as Katra at this moment, so she kept up the ruse and responded, "May Suldane Be With You."

She rounded the corner and quickly pulled herself into a small recess, then waited just a moment to make sure she was out of sight, and more importantly that she had not been followed.  In a matter of seconds, she shed the disguise and adopted a new one, that of an elderly woman in tattered rags.  It was a disguise she used often to walk thru the town unnoticed.  Distinguished people stood out, while the downtrodden were commonly overlooked.  She headed back around the corner from where she had come.  This time the guards weren't so cordial.  Those that even bothered to notice her more or less sneered at her wretched appearance.  "Take a bath, old woman!  It's hard to keep the streets clean with your lot stinking them up."

It brought back memories of her childhood...a life she hated, but thoughts that still burned to give her motivation.  She'd been an orphan struggling on the street to survive.  At an early age, she fought the rats for scraps in the garbage, otherwise stealing what she couldn't find.  For many years, rags and rusty dagger were her only possessions.  Over the years, a few wealthy people and even one priest had taken her in promising to help her.  But instead, each of them had abused her in a variety of ways trying to turn her into their personal slave.  She'd grown to deeply hate all of them.  In her later years, she'd extracted escalating levels of revenge from burglary to murder.

As her hand moved instinctively toward the dagger under her outfit, she considered several methods she could use to swiftly kill that guard.  Though it would be an easy kill, this wasn't her mark.  She kept hunched over and walked very slowly past the town hall, pausing briefly to pull her tattered scarf and re-tie it around her head.  Soon another guard rushed out of the building and began speaking to the guards on the street.  "Guilty!  They're going to hang at noon."  The other guards started talking about it completely oblivious to the fact their conversation was being overheard by the old woman.  After she'd heard the details, she resumed her slow rickety walk.  After a few more blocks, she arrived at her destination, Tavik's Tavern.  She looked around, and found the place nearly deserted, and headed toward the back rooms.

"I trust it went well, Dovena.", Tavik whispered just as she'd reached the door.  Despite being a bard, his tone and timing always had a way of infuriating her.  "Of course.  It was easy.  The problem will be handled for us just as we planned."

Just then another figure emerged from the shadows.  "I still say we should have done it ourselves.  Lure 'em off into a nice little trap, and let me torch 'em.  Or let my cousin get another shot at 'em."  Jador was always impatient, which was somewhat of an unusual characteristic for a gnome.  He'd been Tavik's "advisor" for years, but that term was a fairly loose one.  He had useful abilities, especially when he could torch something with his burning hands, flaming ray or that big ball of fire he always suggested using.  The problem was, his methods were just too likely to attract attention, so they only used them when there wouldn't be any witnesses.

"Easy, Jador.  We all are going to miss your uncle Zirel, and I'm sure the town is going to miss his fine ale as well",  Tavik said with a slight curl on his lip, as if he'd told a sly joke.  Jador looked at him and frowned, but then eased up.  "Let the town hang 'em, and that should end this for once and for all."

"There is one small problem, or rather two."  Dovena began to tell the parties story, including the fact that the half-orc and their rogue had not been captured.  After she was done, Jador immediately volunteered to hunt them down.  "Zyten said it was that half-orc that killed Zirel.  Let me have him.  I'll roast him alive!"

"Wait for the hanging.  They might well try to rescue their comrades.  We can keep a watch on the proceedings and...assist the guards in stopping them.  Nothing too overt, just a helpful tripping here and there to slow them up and let the guards take all the credit."  Jador protested, but the plan seemed workable to Dovena and so she threw her support behind Tavic.  Elrina walked past carrying some food and then caught Dovena's attention.  "Your messenger boy is here."

Dovena immediately switched disguises again, this time appearing in her Matron of Suldane outfit.  She'd concocted this character long ago to earn the trust of Padris, the mayor's primary messenger.  After some research, she'd learned that Padris' beloved grandmother had been a Matron, and the boy ate up every word she'd told him.  She'd convinced him that she was helping the church secretly investigate some urgent matters of state, and any information from the mayor's office may be important.  It took several visits, but eventually she had earned his trust.  Over the last year, he'd been delivering nearly every important message to her before its intended destination.  She walked back into the common room and saw Padris nervously looking about.  He seemed to calm down the instant he saw her coming toward him.

Padris set down his case and slid the newest letter toward her under the table.  He'd learned that all by himself.  Dovena opened it quickly and read what it said.  After she had finished, she slid the note back.  "Thank you for bringing this to my attention.  May Suldane be with you."  She waited for Padris to leave and then headed back to the others.  They weren't going to like this.

"The execution is halted.  The mayor suspects something."  Her own mind was racing thru the trial events.  Had she been spotted?

Another voice from the shadows spoke up, "I'll handle it.  I deserve a shot anyways."  It was Zyten, who'd survived the attack on the brewery and had come to warn them about this group of bountyhunters.  Zyten and Jador were cousins, both of them nephews of Zirel.  Besides their hair color and eyes, and the fact they were gnomes, you'd have a hard time picking out family resemblence.  Zyten had a humanchild-like appearance, and often disguised himself that way.  He was strong and dextrous and was very patient: qualities that he had perfected in his monk's training.  Jador was impatient and weak, though he had a certain flare for sorcery.

After a short awkward silence, Tavic was the first to speak.  "We need to be cautious..  Zyten may be able to do this, but I think it would be best to wait and see what they know before acting to swiftly."  The look on both Zyten's and Jador's faces showed their opinion.  Dovena thought about her answer.  Tavic was right and she knew it, but Zyten deserved a shot at revenge.  Finally she threw her support behind the gnome's plan.  Finally Tavic relented.  "If you go, then you go alone.  Kill the four in their cells.  That should be easy.  If you're caught, drink this."

It could well be a suicide mission, and Dovena knew it.  Zyten was still wounded from his last battle, and this time he wouldn't have as many potions to rely on either.  Still, she would have gladly done the same thing had their roles been reversed.  As Zyten left the Tavern, she watched Jador give him a pat on the shoulder and overheard something about "for Uncle Z".  She looked back at Tavic, encountering his dull stare.  "We'd best begin making contigency plans" were his only words.  After a brief pause, she slowly nodded.


----------



## Teneb (Feb 17, 2004)

Industrious little buggers, aren't they?  I think we're going to enjoy questioning this bard.


----------



## Kalendraf (Feb 17, 2004)

*Dovena's Tale, Part 2*

After a lengthy discussion, they'd agreed upon a plan.  It was likely that this group of bountyhunters working for Edward would have a hard time tracking any leads back to the tavern, but if they did, they'd be ready.  The only problem could be one of timing.  If the party showed up at the busiest time of the evening, it might be difficult to keep an eye on their activities, and there would surely be too many witnesses if a fight ensued.  Of course, if they did show up during regular hours, that may just be coincidence as well.

Since she'd been up since the early hours, she decided to catch a nap.  She was just about to take off her armor and climb into her cot when someone started calling her name.  "Dovena, the messenger is back!"  She briefly considered not answering the summons, but it was too important to find out any new information.  She changed her appearance to the Matron outfit and headed for the common room.

Padris was there waiting for her.  She sat down and read the note.  The information was mixed.  She again thanked Padris for his fine effort, and then got up.  As she'd been talking to Padris, a pair of men, one a thin human, and the other a large half-orc had taken a booth near the door.  She was too caught up in the details of the note to think clearly, and she began heading for the back rooms.  As she was half-way there, she realized that those could be the two escaped bountyhunters. Could they have followed Padris?  The mayor suspected something.  It was too late to change her course and she continued on thru the staff door, passing the bouncer, Groth.

She found Jador and revealed the note's contents.  "Your kin appears to have been successful in killing the four held in the prison, but he was captured before he could escape.  I'm sorry."

Jador looked stunned, but then smiled.  "At least he took them down for Uncle.  Uncle Z would approve."  She also told the waitress Elrina, then assumed her own waitress disguise and went back to the common room to inform Tavic who was currently manning the bar.

The pair in the booth was not there, or at least not the same pair.  Now it was the half-orc and a plain-looking man.  He looked very familiar, but couldn't be sure who it was.  He was wearing a hood that he kept pulling over his face as if he was trying to stay hidden.  She quietly discussed her suspicions with Tavic at the bar.

"I think that's one from the trial."  "But he's dead!"  "We can't be sure.  The Mayor suspects, so that could have been a false message."  Just then, Elrina, the waitress came to the bar.  "The guys in the booth want another round in the king mugs."

"Here ya go."  Elrina walked off with the two oversized mugs.  Tavic winked at Dovena.  "Give 'em a few minutes, then check 'em out."

Sure enough, after a few gulps, both the half-orc and human had passed out from the drug that Tavic had secretly slipped into their mugs.  Dovena approached, watching carefully to make sure both fellows were truly unconscious.  Then she pulled back the hood and looked carefully at the human.  She nodded slightly for Tavic to see, confirming her hunch, then smoothly put the hood back.  She looked around and made sure no one had seen her.  With her present disguise, she just looked like a waitress, so it wouldn't seem to out of place to be checking on a drunken customer.  Her hand moved to the hilt of her dagger.  She could kill them quickly without anyone seeing her.  As she slowly began to draw the blade, a firm hand pulled her shoulder.  It was Tavic.  He was shaking his head and forcing her dagger back into its sheath.

"If they die here, it will merely confirm the mayor's suspicion and likely bring the wrath of their comrades.  For all these two know, they got drunk and passed out.  On the other hand, we've learned much.  The mayor has been tipped off.  The messenger is no longer useful to us.  And we know that these fellows are actually still alive."  Tavic picked up both of the drugged mugs and then switched them with two more from a nearby table that Elrina was about to take back to the bar.

Tavic headed back to the bar, leaving Dovena waiting by the table still contemplating a double homicide.  Once again, Tavic was right.  Sometimes that man was infuriating in his logic.  She kept watch as a waitress until the two men left, then she headed back to her room to take a nap.  She didn't fall asleep immediately; for quite a while she twisted the dagger back'n'forth in various grips imagining several ways she could have killed the men at the booth, but finally, she was out.

She had no idea how long she'd slept, but it was Jador who woke her up.  "Them bastards are back!  The balls they have to come walking in here with my cousin's and uncle's blood fresh on their hands.  I'm gonna fry 'em Dovena, but I want you to join the fun!"

"Have you cleared this with Tavic?" she asked, but the gnome was already gone.  She sat up from her bed, quickly pulled on her armor, and then she grabbed her knife by the pillow.  She moved cautiously toward the common room, realizing that the tavern could already be under attack.  As she neared the common room, she could make out the voices of many customers meaning that it must be a busy night.  As she reached the hallway, she thought she saw a rat scurrying back into the common room past Groth the bouncer.

Elrina, the waitress, nearly ran over her with an armload of dirty plates and mugs.  "Did Jador talk to you?"  "Yes.  He's the one who woke me up.  Does Tavic know?"  Elrina nodded.  "We're going with Jador's in-bar plan that we discussed earlier today.  Are you ready?"  Dovena nodded, realizing this would likely be a major fight.  "The place is full of Prime guards and a few bounty hunters.  You know what to do."  Dovena just kept nodding.

She made her way out the back thru the kitchen.  By now the cooks were used to seeing her come and go this way so they barely gave her any notice.  She rounded the building and got a look in thru the front door.  Prime guards were indeed everywhere.  She could just barely make out the bountyhunters in the corner.  She backed up a few feet and shouted, "It's Ianthe!  She's making a run for it!"

A couple of guards near the door rushed into the street, and Dovena pointed down the street toward a slender, cloaked figure walking at a brisk pace.  The intoxicated guards needed little incentive to begin rushing off shouting, "Ianthe!  Ianthe!  50 thousand gold!"  Within a matter of moments, nearly the entire bar had emptied into the street like lemmings rushing after the cloaked figure.  In reality, it was just one of the other waitresses who they'd paid to wear a cloak and then hurry off into the woods.  She was new, expendable, and knew nothing else of their plans.  If she got caught, it was anyone's guess what would happen, but that would be her problem, and by then, the guards would be long gone.

As the last few drunken guards staggered out, she took this opportunity to make herself invisible.  It wouldn't last long, but it should last long enough to slip in and make at least one key strike.

Already, she could hear Tavik beginning to sing.  She slipped into the bar, walking softly so as not to alert anyone.  A couple more drunks staggered out past her, almost colliding with her.  The bountyhunters presented badges, but that didn't matter.  Surrender was not an option for them.  Jador unleashed his fire upon them, but it didn't seem to hurt them very much.

Things didn't seem to be going according to plan.  Despite Groth's previous orders to attack, the half-orc bouncer was just standing there acting stupid.  The human who'd been drugged earlier had rushed up the stairs at an amazing speed and was within reach of Jador.  Meanwhile, the half-orc was pressing on to engage Tavik or Groth.  The other two bounty-hunters were holding back apparently casting spells.  The nearest of these was a dwarf, apparently a cleric of suldane while the other one in the corner appeared to be another bard.  Between them, there was a fuzzy creature on the floor, but it was hard to see below the tables.  Was it the rat she'd seen in the hall?  Perhaps a familiar?  Where was their 6th man?

She needed to choose one of them to attack.  The two most obvious targets were the dwarf cleric or the human bard.  She remembered Zyten mentioned that he had tried to kill the bard, and he'd managed to live, so it was possible he had some kind of ability to avoid this.  It was no secret that she hated clerics from her dark past, so she quickly set upon studying him.

The rest of the battle was like a blur around her.  Elrina was shooting arrows past her invisible form while other arrows from the bard nearly struck her at one point.  The dwarf barely moved and she had reached a spot right behind him.  She already had the dagger in her hand and moved into position.  She had a myriad of choices, but she'd settled on one.  A quick throat slash would end it quickly.  In a flash, she struck, landing a near-perfect strike.  She'd hit a critical artery and blood poured out in a deep red gush.  The target crumpled instantly.

She was instantly the new target of the bountyhunter's attacks, and she suffered several blows before she could react.  A quick leap placed her closer to the bar, next to Tavic.  As she landed, she quickly surveyed the situation.  Groth was laughing.  Tavic was badly wounded.  Elrina was still shooting arrows, and had landed a few good shots on the enemy half-orc.  She didn't see Jador, but it looked like he'd been knocked down.  Meanwhile, besides her work on the dwarf, and the arrows protruding from the half-orc, it didn't look like they'd been very successful yet.

She needed to hide again, so she tried to make a distraction.  She debated diving behind the bar, but instead opted to stay closer to the action.  She ducked down behind a table, hoping that no one had followed her quick decoy movement.  Suddenly, a spark of lightning came down from the ceiling, and she realized she'd been detected.  Even more suddently, a figure vaulted down from the 2nd level and struck her from behind.  She crashed to the ground under the weight of the blow, her neck broken, but her eyes stayed open for a few more seconds.

Her life flashed before her starting with her days in the streets fighting against the rats up to the battle tonight.  From her vantage point on the ground she could finally make out that fuzzy shape on the ground across the floor.  It wasn't a rat...

Thus ends the tale of Dovena Pane.


----------



## Gruck (Feb 19, 2004)

*Stupid Bard*

Translated from Orcish for the more discerning reader.

Sam closed the bar and Tarrick began to check out the back room.  Linder and I tied up the bartender bard, rouge waitress and the drunken half-orc.  Not me this time.  Linder and I went through several iterations of knot tying to get the bard secure.  Sam and Tarrik found a door to the upstairs apartments of the dead assasin and the bard.  Yet again there was a timed trap that they didn't check for and "KABOOM" three thunderstones and 3 viles of knockout gas dropped from the cieling.  Both of the guys fell and Linder went to save them.  He got them out and waited for the room to clear.  There wasn't anyone upstairs in the secret rooms.  We checked the other rooms and there wasn't anyone there either.  We decided to do a more effective search of the premises.  Before we could the town guards came and we showed badges.  They were going to guard the outside while we made sure the inside was clean.  Groth the other half-orc was passed out.  Guess i shouldn't have left the tap pouring directly into his mouth.  We searched the assasins room and found a knife collection worth about 1K.  Not bad.  we searched the bards room and found a big chest.  It was locked and there was a very simple trap on it, seemingly too simple.  Yes it was.  Snap, Tarriks arms were nearly cut off by a big bear trap looking thing.  In the box we found cooked books from the bar and notes implicating Kaitan, just like at the brewery.  We searched the gnomes room and the rougues room and the half-orcs room and a common room not finding much.  While we were searching the rouge and the bard tried to take some poison.  The rogue succeded and died.  The bard got the poison down but Sam got some antitox down his throat.  Linder cast a suggestion song on the bard and he finally told us what we wanted to know.  We got maps and logs and reports and loot from the whole of the bar.  The prime guards were coming back and we were appeasing them by putting free kegs of beer in the street.  Now it was time to leave.  Sam went to get Quentin to raise Oskar while the rest of us brought all the evidence and prisoners to jail.  The mayor showed up and we were going to have the trial the next day.  Sam came back and said that Ianthe was gone and Quentin too.  We took our share of the loot and went to the Temple to get Oskar raised.  They weren't to receptive since it was the middle of the night.  We camped on the steps and waited for the morning and the clerics to help us.  They were slow and said it would cost 2500 for the raise.  We gave them some magic armor as a down payment.  we went back to townfor the trial.  we got our sleep and felt better.  The trial came and the bard was guilty and hung but we got the half-orc off.  We got more sleep and the next day got oskar raised.  He is making Boots of Dex +1 for me and that is where this translation ends.


----------



## Oskar_the_Dwarf (Feb 20, 2004)

*My account....*

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....


... where am I???  This doen't look like the tavern!

Dammit, I just lost 10,000 XP and now you want me to piss away another 40 making your stupid boots?!

You'll pay me?  OK


----------



## Teneb (Mar 2, 2004)

Now *that's* a spider.

	After making a sizable donation at the church, Oskar was resurrected.  We spent the next few days recovering from the assassination conspiracy, with much of the party doing some shopping.  The cleric and I worked together to create a pair of boots for the rather clumsy Gruck.  I find myself warming slightly to the other dwarf – perhaps I can temper his religious zeal somewhat.  I guess we’ll see.

	Much interesting news reached us during our downtime: Greely publicly apologized for the treatment of his former fiancé.  His advisor Kaitin, who was supposedly responsible for the assassination attempts, was hanged.  We’re all fairly sure Greely was actually the one directing the attacks, but with no further proof that line of inquiry has hit a dead end.  I fear we haven’t heard the last of Greely Prime.  As for Ianthe, she has disappeared along with the sage Quentin.  Edward apparently knows where they are, but is tight-lipped.

	A letter arrived one afternoon at the inn we were staying at, delivered by none other than Padris.  The lad was somewhat frightened of us due to our previous encounter with the boy.  Gruck growled at him a bit but was otherwise restrained.  The letter was from the mayor, inviting us to a banquet at his home in our honor.  We prepared ourselves and set out.

	The meal was simple country fare, but it was plentiful and very tasty.  After the meal the mayor led us outside and presented us with six fine horses, a two-axle wagon, and two donkeys to pull it.  He apologized that this was all the village had to offer by way of reward for our assistance; to my mind it was quite generous.  [OOC: Gruck made some comment under his breath about gaining access to the village virgins, stating “Hey mayor, want a quarter-orc?”]

	After spending a few more days resting and relaxing, my companions started putting out feelers for employment opportunities.  I’ve had a rollicking good time with these boys and decided I’d continue on wherever the winds took them.  Before too long we were approached by a merchant named Theraf, who bought us all drinks (prompting Sam and Gruck to immediately declare Theraf to by an upstanding citizen).  

	The job Theraf had in mind for us was straightforward: he wanted us to escort him to Meloral for the Festival of Life.  We readily agreed and prepared to set out the next morning.  With a heavy heart I bid Porkchop farewell; I know my friend would not be comfortable around city dwellers, and it appears my path goes through such urban areas for the foreseeable future.  I located a small boar heard in the area and spent some time getting Porkchop acquainted with them.  After promising to come back and visit, I joined my companions on the road to Meloral.

	The trip was relatively short, but perilous.  Scouting ahead in raven form, I was able to warn my companions of an enormous spider hiding in the trees above the well-worn trail.  A vicious struggle ensued (the thing was nearly twenty feet across!).  Oskar beseeched Suldane for aid while I laid some enchantments upon Gruck and Sam.  The two of them were able to beat the creature into a messy pulp, but not before it speared Tarrick with its massive stinger, pumping the unlucky rogue full of venom and knocking him unconscious.  Searching the nearby area for the spider’s lair, we discovered an elf wrapped in spider silk, barely alive.  He was dressed in the garb of a Meloral town guard, wearing their distinctive facemask.  We cut him free and treated him as best we could.  

	Taking to the air again, I scouted once more while Sam likewise moved forward on the ground with the wagons coming along behind.  Ahead was a small clearing with a stone obelisk conspicuously located in the center.  Sam moved to investigate when I noticed a very large owlbear skulking along the edge of the clearing.  Such creatures are abominations of nature, and I immediately dropped a _flamestrike _ on it.  Sam, thusly alerted to its presence, downed a potion of _enlarge _ and engaged the beast in combat.  The two wrestled for a time, but Sam’s superior skill was no match for the brute.  In the creature’s defense, we noticed (after it was dead) that it had apparently been attacked recently; we surmised by the spider we killed earlier.

	Oskar was able to decipher the script on the obelisk: “May those that spawn below forever remain below”.  Whatever the meaning, it didn’t sound good.

	We reached Meloral without further incident, dropping off the injured guard with his colleagues.  It’s an elvish town, full of trees and platform houses.  Great tables were laid with all sorts of foods and delicacies, all free for the taking.  Theraf paid us the agreed upon sum for our escort, and everyone went their separate ways to enjoy the festival.  
Early the next morning, Theraf woke screaming and ran from camp.  Sam pursued him, eventually bringing his unconscious form back to the town-center.  The rest of us investigated the merchant’s tent, finding nothing out of the ordinary that would cause him to flee.  He apparently had some sort of fit or dream, feeling as though he were being pursued and herded to a particular part of the forest.  We decided (being heroes and all) to investigate the direction in which Theraf fled.  After a brief excursion we discovered another of the stone obelisks.  Ominously, this one was tipped over, revealing a chasm in the earth.  With a minimum of investigation, we were assaulted by what appeared to be human heads with bat-wings from within the hole.  They put up a horrible dirge, spooking all of us.  We were resolute, however, and slew the creatures with a minimum of difficulty.  It’s strange; peering down the hole I feel a sense of dread, but also a feeling of……home.


----------



## Kalendraf (Mar 2, 2004)

*From Cossor to Mellorn*

This is another OOC post...

Several weeks ago, the party finished up the "Magic Dump" adventure, but it left too many loose ends for my taste.  It seemed logical (to me at least) to build on the storyline from "Magic Dump" which would lead into a further development of the assassination plot.  With this being a small town, I needed some way to integrate those assassins into the population, and I decided that their methods of killing should be unconventional as well.  The result was baker/assassins and brewer/assassins using combination poisons to kill their victims.  I thought it was a fairly brilliant scheme, and possibly something that hasn't shown up in a D&D adventure before.  However, with so many other creative folks out there creating stuff for the game, perhaps this too has been done before.

The party finished off the assassins, though not before losing one of their own to a well-placed death attack.  That assassin ability is something to be feared, especially by PCs with low fortitude saves.  The dwarf cleric had one the best fortitude saves in the party, yet still managed to succomb to the attack.  Fortunately, his temple was nearby, and they were willing to raise him for half the normal price.

While the rewards of running your own adventure can be great fun, the effort in creating them can be taxing.  I was finding myself hard-pressed to get all of the information together in time for the next session.  Between work and other activities, it's sometimes difficult to get more than a few hours a week to work on the next adventure, but I find my prep work usually requires about 2 hours of planning for 1 hour of game time.  Plus, it's a drain on the creative juices as well.  On several of the last Tuesdays, my printer was spitting out pages at 6:50.  Then I'd drive and arrive at the 7pm game a few minutes late.  Too hectic...  

Thus, I was hoping to find another published adventure to use primarily to reduce my amount of prep work again.  I managed to spot one in my recently received Dungeon #107 called "Mellorn Hospitality".  It's written for a 7th level party, but this party is now effectively 8th level, so I made some small adjustments.  However, I didn't directly follow all the scaling guidelines to the letter.  Instead of making the 4 large spiders into phase spiders (IMHO, a very difficult encounter), I replaced them with one gargantuan one, and instead of swapping out the ancient owlbear for the other option, I decided it was just too cool to drop, so I kept it but applied less strength and hit point damage to it from its previous spider encounter.  Theraf's nightmare sequence was foiled by the monk's 50 foot movement (allowing him to easily catch up and grapple him), so it appears that faster movement was likely not playtested very well for that part of the module.

As a bonus, this adventure features an opportunity to buy fairly expensive items, which is something the party has been hoping to do for a while.  Most of the towns they've been in have only had a 3K gold limit or less.  Kudos to the author, Russel Brown, for providing a nifty opportunity like this.


----------



## Gruck (Apr 13, 2004)

*Gruck the Spelunker*

Gruck get to go under ground.

Bear changer guy make Gruck thick skin.  

What Spelunker?  Next Singing guy mention that get eaten.

Time to kill no face angry guys.


----------



## CapnCarrot (Apr 19, 2004)

*Lindor the Spelunker*

Soon we're going to have to go into the mines we've discovered.  A sixth sense tells me what we find there is going to keep us occupied for quite some time.  I hope I can compose some new songs regarding our adventures deep underground.  Who knows what demons lurk within us, waiting to be unleashed when we are confronted by the oppressive eternal darkness of domains better left to Dwarves, Drow, and things that go bump in the night?

I hope I still look this good after spending days or weeks deep underground.  I should have bought one of those new fangled traveling mirrors when we at that market.  On the plus side in the flickering torchlight that will be our only illumination in the tunnels of the mine I won't have to look so close at the other members of this party.  They are good at what they do, but they are one ugly bunch!


----------



## Teneb (Apr 20, 2004)

I just wanted to pop in here quickly and apologize for not updating in so long.  I have up to two sessions ago written up.  I just need to type them and get them posted.  This is my main priority for the next couple weeks, and after that I hope to keep updates more timely.  Check this space soon!  (and thanks to everyone else in my group for not lynching me).


----------



## Teneb (Apr 27, 2004)

*Spelunking for Danger*
	After casting numerous buffing spells, we proceeded into the pit.  Unfortunately, our forethought was for nothing as we traveled for a number of hours without encountering anything.  Along the way we discovered pieces of cast off clothing, much of it elven.  Apparently, others had come this way but judging from the cast-offs and a number of tracks we discovered, they might not have come willingly.

	We proceeded down the winding tunnel which eventually opened into a large chamber.  Sam and Gruck went around opposite sides of a central stone pillar to scout when a piercing keen assailed our ears.  Linder informed us it was a shrieker, and the mushroom was quickly located and silenced.  We prepared for combat.

	From out of the darkness came a number of grey skinned humanoids wearing only loincloths, bearing spears.  Disturbingly, they had no eyes.  The creatures were surprisingly savage, but stood little chance against us.  We proceeded through the cavern to another tunnel.  Near the mouth, Gruck noticed a large creature waiting in ambush and, with the aid of Linder, quickly identified it as a basilisk.  Wanting to end the threat as quickly as possible, Gruck charged the beast with Sam right behind.  The poor thing didn’t have a chance.  Oskar’s _spiritual weapon _ finished it off.

	A while later we discovered a small chamber stacked full of discarded clothing.  We poked around half-heartedly, since everything appeared to be quite mundane.  A lot of it was also very old.  Nearby was a larger room with a huge stone door at the far end.  The door was partially ajar.  Gruck decided to stay and guard our backs while the rest of us proceeded a short way.  We didn’t make it very far.

	With a startled shout, Gruck was pierced by a number of spears.  More of the grey humanoids had been lying in wait in this room, and the half-orc was an inviting target.  Gruck was nearly surrounded by the time the rest of us arrived.  Sam charged into the middle of the fray to take some attention off Gruck.  It worked, and Sam was sorely hurt.  Linder began a rousing dwarven war chant as Tarrick unfurled his spiked chain and dealt death at ten feet.  I saw more of the creatures moving up from the rear and let loose a new spell: _ice storm_.

	Gruck had regained his composure and began separating heads from shoulders from arms from feet (and so on).  Sam somersaulted past his foes to the rear and healed with additional help from Oskar.  The enemies’ cohesion began to falter, and with it their one advantage.  With only one enemy remaining I flung a _bolt of power _ which careened off the creatures arm, doing little damage.  Gruck’s next swing removed the arm, making it a moot point.

	We decided to clear the other leg of the tunnel before checking out the door.  The passage went a short way and ended in a refuse pit.  A strange sense of foreboding tickled the back of my mind, and the word otyugh floated to the surface.  Giving in to my sixth sense, I dropped a _flamestrike_ on the two largest piles of trash (singeing Sam’s eyebrows).  The otyughs present roared to the attack, with Sam roaring back.  Sam 2, Otyughs 0.


----------



## Teneb (Apr 27, 2004)

*LOVE what you’ve done with the place* 
            Having taken out the garbage, we clustered around the entrance to the chamber with the stone door.  Tarrick confidently cracked his knuckles and began to creep his way to the door.  Unfortunately, he had a piece of otyugh stuck to his boot and he “squish, squish, slurp”ed all the way there.  We tracked his progress in this manner.  Giving the all clear, we all moved through the door into an immense pillared temple.  The depictions of impalings and blood sacrifice pointed away from the notion the temple was dedicated to the heavenly hosts.  A sickly grey light washed over the mosaic tiled floor, emanating from an archway at the far end of the hall.

	I _wildshaped _ into a bat and flew to the other end of the room while my companions proceeded on foot.  A number of the same winged death’s heads we fought at the obelisk attacked those on the ground, but were quickly dispatched.  Everyone else proceeded through the archway while I searched a collapsed portion of the floor I noticed while flying around.  I discovered three caged captives and released them.  Some kind of monster had kidnapped them and reserved them for future meals.

	Meanwhile, my companions entered a strange room devoid of all color.  A disk of swirling clouds was suspended in midair in the northeast corner.  In the center wall was a stone demon head set above a pool.  Presumably at one point this was a fountain.  The remaining far corner was occupied by a lovely young female human.  She, predictably, was also devoid of color.  She offered the party employment as her bodyguards.  There was a murmur amongst the party until she noticed Oskar, calling out to him.  Upon questioning, the dwarf proudly declared his dedication to Suldane, at which point the woman declared that everyone was going to have to die (sigh).  

	The woman seemed to shrivel into herself as her illusion faded and a wrinkled old crone stood before my comrades.  She flung _magic missiles _ at the party and battle was joined.  Sam rushed in and tripped the woman to prevent further casting, and Gruck drove home the point by hitting her with his axe.  The weapon didn’t seem to do as much damage as normal, but the barbarian was unphased.  Linder launched into an old halfling ditty as the woman stood again and buried more _magic missiles _ in Gruck’s face.  Sam tripped her again as a light went off in Linder’s mind and he shouted “She’s a night hag!”  With an evil twinkle in her eye, the hag stood and decided to do something about the pesky monk, tearing his flesh with her diseased claws.  Linder cast an _illusion _ of a celestial, but the malevolent opponent ignored it.  The battle continued in a stalemate for quite some time, with few attacks penetrating the night hag’s defenses, and Oskar healing the party as needed.  Finally, the group surrounded the hag and began to wear her down.  She turned _ethereal _ and slipped past the party and through the portal.  Ominously, the portal remained open.

	We searched a bit and discovered a secret door which led behind the wall with the fountain.  Tarrick and Gruck took the lead, discovering three bedrooms.  One was devoid of anything, one contained a number of books about the planes, and the last contained a metal chest.  Sam complained of a loud humming emanating from the chest, but the rest of us heard nothing.  Growing frustrated, Gruck approached the chest triggering a multi-armed monster to appear.  Gruck, meet xill.  Xill, meet Gruck’s axe. 

	Within the chest we discovered a scroll of _seal portal _ (which we used on the gate) and the a staff (which we _identified_).  The staff turned out to be a minor artifact known as the _Staff of Harmony_.  It was perfectly attuned to monks, and Sam was quite pleased.


----------



## Teneb (Apr 27, 2004)

*Oooooh.  Shiiiiiiny.*
	We left the Underdark with the three freed prisoners in tow.  Only one died on the way back, victim of one last Grey Guy ambush.  We met the leader of the elves who explained that these disappearances had been occurring for some time.  They discovered that the portal we saw opened every seven years; the elves set up the Festival of Life to run concurrently so the nighthag wouldn’t kidnap elves but instead clueless merchants.  Nice of them.

	Thoroughly sick of elves we decided to leave, picking up a young lass who’s master had left her.  Linder took young Gabby under his wing and started teaching her the ways of the bard.  We located a gentleman who needed stalwart adventurers to check up on a silver mine he had bought.  It seems the man had sent a number of agents to check out the previously abandoned mine, but they never returned.  Dangling the possibility of mithril in the mine which the group could use as payment, we set out for the Moonfog Hills.

	Several days into our journey to Malthyn, the nearest village to the mine, we approached a small farm.  Somewhat out of place was the giant standing over the barn.  The brute was huge and misshapen, a third arm jutting from its chest.  Gruck and Sam charged at the thing on horseback while Linder, Tarrick, and Gabby (from the wagon) fired arrows at it.  Oskar rode around to flank while I _summoned _ a water elemental to attend to the farmhouse, which was on fire.  I’m afraid I lost track of the details of the battle in all the chaos, but the giant was defeated.  Sadly, the farmer was killed.  We escorted the remainder of his family to Malthyn and gifted them with some gold to get them back on their feet.


----------



## Teneb (Apr 27, 2004)

*I hate bugs.*
	Malthyn was probably one of the smallest, most rundown human encampments I’ve ever encountered.  The residents of the village had erected a crude earthen berm around their home for some apparent defensive purpose.  The villagers, as a whole, were nervous and appeared despondent.  Giants had been attacking much more than usual, killing a number of “prominent” citizens including the local shaman.  Furthermore, aerial beasts were attacking at night, carrying victims away.  For this reason, no one ventured outside past sunset.  These people had the look of trapped animals.

	Striving to uplift the morale of the townsfolk, several of us decided to deal with this night terror before heading up to the mine (which we were told had been abandoned for some time).  Tarrick endeavored to set some sort of net trap on the roof of the inn while the rest of us watched dubiously.  Notably, Gruck refused to have anything to do with the entire operation and bedded down in the inn’s common room for a nap.

	Sam and I spent dusk outside.  The creature(s) reportedly attacked after sundown, so we were wary.  Our caution paid off when three large moths descended upon us.  The drone of their wings caused me some confusion (Fort save, rolled a 1), but I had the presence of mind to _wildshape_.  Sam simply hit one a bunch of times, which seemed effective.  Each of us was struck a number of times; Sam shrugged the hits off while I found myself unable to move (Fort save, rolled a 1).  Inside, Gruck stood up, awakened by the commotion.  Tarrick, _confused _ as I was (Fort save, rolled a 1), thumped Gruck in the back with his spiked chain.  Gruck was.....unhappy; he burst through the door and used his double axe to good effect on the moths.  Linder began humming, overriding the moths’ drone while Oskar freed me from immobility.  Sam and Gruck made short work of the moths from that point.  We joked a bit that the only combat damage came from our own party.  Tarrick looked sheepish - Gruck just looked mad.

	The next morning, we decided to check in on a family living in a nearby manor prior to heading for the mine.  We learned of the manor from one of the villagers and feared for the isolated family’s safety.  Our concern was warranted as we were ambushed twice on the way to the manor.  A rolling log trap maimed a number of the group’s horses, but the deformed giants who had set off the trap lay dead shortly thereafter.  A group of ogres later attacked, but we had some forewarning as I had taken to the air after the first ambush.  Battered and bloody, we made it to the manor.

	The family, it turns out, was fine.  They had noticed an upsurge in giant activity, but it seemed directed against Malthyn specifically.  We stayed the night, unfortunately awakening two guardian gargoyles the family didn’t know about.  Gabby was sorely hurt, but Oskar was able to heal her.  The head of the household, Milo Mathin, was quite distraught we had been attacked, confessing the family had just recently re-acquired the estate.   The previous members of the family living here had installed a number of protections Milo was unaware of.  Now he had two less to worry about.


----------



## Gruck (Apr 28, 2004)

*Rust Monsters Suck*

Gruck minding own business killing giants when little buzzy things start eating Gruck's armor.  Gruck say "Fine, You want some....Come get some."  An put axe through buzzy thing.  It not like axe since axe explode buzzy thing.  Axe head disappear when smash buzzy thing.  Gruck new most hated enemy is buzzy thing.


----------



## Teneb (Apr 29, 2004)

Gruck -> English translation:  buzzy things = rust monsters
They'll be making an appearance in the next update.  Also in the next update: Tarrick's worst day ever.  Really.


----------



## Gruck (Apr 29, 2004)

Gruck think sneaky guy(Tarrik)'s worst day have to be when sneaky guy die twice by other sneaky guys(Hopps Springs Eternal).  Gruck think it funny when sneaky guy dies since sneaky guy tries to hit Gruck when confused(I hate bugs).


----------



## Teneb (May 7, 2004)

*Ogres and trolls and rust monsters, oh my!*
	From the Mathin estate, we decided to head cross-country with me scouting ahead in raven form.  I spotted a group of ogres (deformed of course) lying in wait and promptly _ice stormed _ them.  As this was quickly becoming our warning signal, the rest of the group ran towards the fight, weapons drawn.  I rained lightning down on our foes as Sam broke the neck of one with a flying scissors kick.  The ogre’s companion skewered the monk in the thigh with a spear as a troll approached and raked him with its claws.

	Seeing his friend in trouble, Gruck charged the ogre engaging Sam, cleaved its spear in two, and sliced it from stem to stern.  The dumbfounded ogre keeled over dead.  Sam somersaulted away from the troll while Tarrick popped out of concealment and buried an arrow square in the creature’s back.  

	A second troll had snuck behind our front line and loomed over Linder.  Mustering incredible courage, Linder stood toe-to-toe with the brute and buried his morningstar in its chest (followed by a blast of lightning courtesy of me).  The troll, being rather unhappy with this turn of events, gripped Linder’s shoulders and tore him in two (while biting his face off).  There was a moment of stunned silence on our part.

	Gruck and Sam dropped their troll and advanced on the second, carnage on their minds.  Tarrick put an arrow in each eye of the “dead” troll to make sure he stayed that way.  He repeated the exercize a few moments later with the second troll after Oskar beat it to death.  Linder (-9 hp) was patched up and we continued to the mine.

	Being more cautious, I scouted ahead by air as Tarrick did the same on the ground.  We spotted a three tiered plateau ahead, which by our calculations was the location of the mine.  Tarrick spotted five mutated half-ogres gathered around a campfire on the second tier on the backside of the hillock.  He headed back to the group while I kept an eye on the brutes.  My companions laid out a clever plan whereby the half-ogres would be led into an ambush of missile fire.  As they were getting into position, the ogres turned and moved stealthily towards them; our heroes had been noticed.

	Giving a cry of warning (ie. _flamestrike_), everyone scrambled into position.  The lead half-ogres threw spears with little effect.  Then things got interesting.  Two small creatures the size of dogs appeared next to Gruck and Tarrick on the left side of our line.  Instead of attacking directly, the things lashed their antennae at the pair’s armor.  Realizing they faced rust monsters, both stalwarts gave cries of great terror and backpedaled quickly.  Not recognizing the new threat, I used my last _flamestrike _ against the half-ogres again and Sam ended one of their lives.  About that time a carrion crawler appeared behind Linder.  Fearing the bard would fall for the second time that day, I used my affinity with the earth and _summoned _ two small earth elementals to aid him.  It wasn’t necessary as Linder, driven by desperation, smote the crawler right quickly.

	Tarrick began firing arrows at the rust monsters, not wishing to close with the creatures.  Sam was having a harder time with the remaining half-ogres, being pummeled a number of times with their oversized clubs.  I dropped to the ground next to him to offer some badly needed healing.  Running out of room to flee, Gruck finally sunk his double-axe into a rust monster, killing it.  The act dissolved the head of the weapon, leaving the furious half-orc with a single-headed-double-axe.  In frustration, he casually sunk the unbalanced weapon into the head of the remaining half-ogre.  The other rusty was a pincushion by that point, and no longer a threat.

	With monsters appearing out of thin air, I was certain an enemy summoner must be nearby.  Hoping to nab the caster, I cast _entangle _ on the hilltop.  The spell proved useless, and I circled high above, keen eyes searching.


----------



## Teneb (May 7, 2004)

*Dude, you’ve looked better*

	The half-ogres had been using a cave nearby as a base of operations it seems.  Oskar and I examined the stonework and concluded this was likely a naturally sealed former entrance to the mine.  We decided to camp and recover from our previous battles.

	The respite didn’t last long.  Our sentries noticed a figure running from the cover of the surrounding woods towards our position about fifteen feet above the forest floor.  The man gained the summit and we noticed he was horribly misshapen, arms ending in tentacles.  Fearing for our safety, we warned him to stay back and explain who he was.  The man (understandably) was nearly mad, gibbering about “them” and begging us to help “the others”.  

	Focused on the stricken human, we didn’t notice the four ogres emerge from the woods.  The walked up behind the cowering man and felled him with one terrible blow.  We scrambled out of the cave and engaged the brutes, our wounds and exhaustion hanging heavy upon us.  Nevertheless, the monsters were defeated and we all survived.

	Realizing there was no rest to be had at the mine, we scurried back to town, luckily without incident.  We left Gabby and the wagon behind for their own safety.  Fully rested (and with a full complement of spells) we made our way back to the cave, avoiding a roving band of trolls.

	After some heated discussion, we decided I should scout the mine entrance.  In bat form, I discovered the mine was hastily bricked up about eighty feet in.  We opted to climb to the top of the plateau where I had noticed a bit of a crevasse on our earlier trip here.

	Sam and Tarrick climbed a number of ledges to the summit one hundred feet above, with me keeping lookout still in bat form.  An otyugh appeared out of thin air and began flailing at Sam.  It was soon joined by a number of ettercaps.  I flew around hurriedly, trying to find the caster with my echolocation.  Oskar _airwalked _ Gruck who made the summit.  Meanwhile, Sam killed the Otyugh with an assist from Tarrick.  Ettercaps threw webs at both for their trouble, snaring Tarrick.  Three rust monsters appeared around Tarrick and lashed out at him.  Tarrick’s mithril chain armor disintegrated into nothingness (Touch attack, and Tarrick was flat-footed).  Gruck waded in, smashing rust monsters with the haft of his axe.  Three more ettercaps appeared, surrounding the half-orc and webbing him.  At Gruck’s signal, I reluctantly dropped a _flamestrike _ on him.  He weathered the assault well, though the ettercaps did not.  The spell had the added benefit of burning through the webbing, freeing Gruck.  Tarrick was forced to attack the nearby rust monsters with his sap, while Sam made good use of his fists.  The battle ended soon thereafter.

	I flew down the crevice as Gruck _airwalked _ down carrying Sam.  Linder _featherfall_’d  the rest of the group and we all descended.  Upon reaching the floor eighty feet down, we were confronted by a bug eyed human with tentacle arms.  Sam tried to knock him out, but the bug-man would have none of it.  Oskar’s mace decided the matter.

	Two doors led from the unremarkable room.  One opened into a bedroom.  After a cursory search, Tarrick located a concealed lever in a bookshelf.  Not finding any traps, the rogue pulled the lever and triggered a good sized _fireball_.  Tarrick was unscathed, but everyone else in the room (i.e.. everyone but me) was fairly singed.  

	Inside the secret panel we discovered a spellbook with “Mildridge” embroidered on the front.  Could this be the name of our mysterious caster?  We also discovered a number of papers which might shed light on what’s going on.

	A person named Fluopollith, presumably communicating with Mildridge, talks about the Ethereal Diadem.  Also mentioned is the Heterochilet portal, which Linder indicates is named after some sort of arcane society.  Putting the pieces together, it seems that whoever controls the Ethereal Diadem and takes it to the Chaos Obelisk (located in the mine?) can open the Heterochilet portal and warp normal creatures (including people) into abominations.

	As most of us were reflecting on these revelations, Tarrick located a secret door elsewhere in the room.  Trying to open it, he set off another warding spell and was _polymorphed _ into a fledgling carrion crawler worm.


----------



## Gruck (May 11, 2004)

*Tarrick's a toad hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha*

Gruck like toad legs.  Mmmmmmmmmmm slimy..(drool)


----------



## Kalendraf (May 18, 2004)

*Trails of slime...*

"Floth!"  The female voice echoed ominously through the watery cave.  "There are intruders.  Be prepared to deal with them."

The humanoid frog motioned his hand over the nearby water, clearing his magical view.  "It shall be done, mistress," he half-croaked.  "Will you grace us with your presence?"

"Not this time.  They have invaded my lab, and they have proven rather resourceful.  I'm not sure the wards in place will be enough to deter their progress.  In any event, I'm heading to alert Fluopolith and then send word to the others.  I have faith in your abilities Floth.  Do not disappoint me."

"Yes, mistress.  You are kind to Floth.  These intruders will be dealt with and fed to our pets.  Or did you have other intentions for them?"

"My sister said that she already has enough subjects to test the portal, so we do not need more at this time.  However, if you are successful in capturing some of them alive,  I would be very interested in questioning them to learn who they are and who sent them.  These are certainly not like the miners sent to explore the mine, nor are they like those damned relentless witchhunters we managed to ambush & decimate on the east branch.  Could be adventurers, I suppose, but this area has had little to offer thrillseekers.  Why choose to come here, and now, when we are so close..."

"Fear not mistress, Floth will deal with them."  The image faded leaving floth seeing his own reflection in the filthy murky pool.  Floth barked some commands to his followers and prepared for visitors.  "Soon you will enjoy fresh carrion", he croaked while lightly stroking the tentacle of the creature in the garbage mound next to him.

Meanwhile, back in Malthyn...

A cry rose up from the grainery, and everyone turned to look that way with fear.  Could a giant or troll have gotten this close without the guards sounding the alarm?  
Gabby pulled out her bow and ran toward the sounds.

One of the townsfolk was wrapped by a hideous tentacled worm.  One of the tentacles was wrapped around his neck strangling him.  She took a shot, but missed, nearly hitting the farmer by mistake.  She called for help, but almost everyone seemed paralyzed with horror at the sight.

As she closed, she dropped her bow and drew her sword.  Then she charged at it and landed her blade deep in the slimy body of the worm.  The skewered worm loosed it's grip on the farmer, convulsed wildly and finally lay still.  Quickly, Gabby knelt down, let go of her blade, and helped tend to the farmers wounds.  His eyes were still in a panic from his near death experience.  His lips tried to move, but his crushed wind pipe was unable to sound any words.  "Rest now.  No need to talk," Gabby reassured him.  She started to cast a healing spell on him.

But he kept trying to say something.  Suddenly, Gaby felt something wrap around her arm and neck.  It was another one of these worms!  She reached for her sword, but before she could grab it, the worm had pulled her to the ground.  It was strangling her and now had both her arms wrapped as well.  She struggled to break free, but couldn't seem to escape its grip.

A few townsfolk had seen this and started shouting for help, but only a few moved to aid her.  They came bearing pitchforks, but were tentative to strike at the creature.  Then a large figure rushed forward and swung a hammer.  The blow connected squarely with the worm, but grazed Gabby in the process.  The hammer felt very hot and even singed her skin, and she immediately knew who had come to her rescue.  It was the half-orc blacksmith.  He struck at it one more time before it finally let go and lay motionless.

"Thank you."  Gabby said after catching her breath.  She'd had deep bruises on her arms and neck from this, but at least she'd be able to heal herself.  However, she saw yet another worm scurrying out of the grainery.  She quickly pointed and reached to recover her sword.  The blacksmith closed with it, but missed.  On the next round, she got to her feat and started singing a song to hopefully inspire the blacksmith's ability.  It seemed to help, as the next turn, the smith connected with a crushing blow that broke the gooey worm into two quivering pieces.  Fortunately, unlike earthworms, this kind died when divided.  After a few seconds, this one stopped moving.

Gabby finally healed the farmer then herself.  Then she and the blacksmith searched the grainery for more worms, but found none.  They had to watch their step as the worms had coated everything with a slippery coating of slime.  They did find the remains of 3 large egg sacs that appeared to have recently hatched.  These were the likely source of the worms.  Could the moths that came each night be laying these?  They relayed the information to the villagers and then started searching building to building for any other eggs or worms.

"Where are those guys," she thought to herself.  Had the others encountered hideous creatures like these as well?  Hopefully, they'd come back soon, and the town would be back to normal...whatever normal was for this place.


----------



## Teneb (May 18, 2004)

Just to get everyone caught up, we've cleared the upper level of the mine.  It was mostly smaller monsters, so it wasn't too difficult.  Ursa managed to befriend a little (non-summoned) rust monster - but don't tell the group.    

We descended into the lower levels where Tarrick's run of bad luck continued in a big way.  I have a suspicion that we're nearing the final confrontation and will update accordingly once we're victorious (confident, ain't I?)


----------



## Gruck (May 19, 2004)

*Gruck 12 B!@ch Witch 2*

Gruck make save after save after save and still get armor eaten.

If Gruck ever see rust monster again.  Throw big rocks at it.

Gruck only fail 2 saves.  Stunned so can't get revenge on B!@ch Witch and armor gets eaten.

IF stunned sooner then kill witch.  

Gruck have talk with Bat Guy.  Need speak to bat guy potion though.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAh!!!


----------

